A deep, heavy quiet filled the dusty basement after Ace finished explaining his daring plan. The only sounds were the steady drip... drip... drip from a leaky pipe and the quiet hum from Kaito's computer. What Ace was suggesting was so bold it was almost hard to believe. They weren't just going after a single executive like Vance, or even his dangerous assistant, Sterling. Now, they were targeting the company's very core—its Board of Directors, the group of twelve powerful people who were truly in charge.

Evelyn, always the practical planner, was the first to break the silence. Her mind was already working through the details. "So, we need to create twelve different blackmail packages," she said. "Each one has to contain secret information that would ruin a specific board member. And we have to send all twelve at the exact same time, in a way that can never be traced back to us. Pulling that off will be incredibly complicated."

"It's our only real option," Elara said, her voice steady and sure. "If we dump all the secrets online for everyone to see at once, it will force the board to band together to protect the company. But if we send each of them a private message, threatening to expose their own personal scandal, it will make them paranoid. They'll start looking at each other with suspicion, worried about what secrets their fellow board members are hiding. They'll be too focused on saving their own reputations and fortunes to effectively protect OmniCorp."

"Then let's stop talking and start working," Silva grunted. He tried to shift his position on the wooden crate he was using as a seat and winced in pain. His body was covered in bruises from his capture, but his will to fight was stronger than ever. Even if he couldn't throw a punch right now, he could still help plan the attack. "Take this guy, Charles Whitlock, the head of the board. His public file makes him look like a perfect family man. But his secret is that he has a child with his former secretary that no one knows about. That's the kind of secret that would destroy his carefully built image. We should make sure his blackmail package focuses on that."

For the next two days, the basement was a center of focused, non-stop work. Everyone had a role to play, and they worked together perfectly.

Kaito, the hacker, and Elara, the digital ghost, became an unstoppable team. They worked side-by-side, their fingers dancing over keyboards as they built a secure way to deliver the threats. They created fake email accounts that would delete themselves after sending the messages, bouncing the data across the globe so it could never be followed back to their basement.

Evelyn, the strategist, worked with Silva to write the actual blackmail messages. They were designed to create maximum fear. Each message started with a simple, chilling statement: "We know your secrets." Then, it listed the board member's worst scandal in clear, undeniable detail. The message ended with the same demand for all twelve: The information would stay secret only if the board publicly shut down all of OmniCorp's secret operations, apologized for the Riverbend project, and set up a fund to pay back the communities they had targeted. They had 72 hours to hold a vote and make it happen. The most important part was the final sentence, which told each member that all of their colleagues had received a similar message about their own secrets. This was the masterstroke that would turn them against each other.

Ace moved through the basement, directing the entire operation. The mysterious "Corporate Espionage" ability in his mind was working at full power, giving him flashes of insight into the board members' lives. He checked a nearly finished blackmail package for a board member named Isabella Rossi.

In his mind, a cool, digital text appeared, analyzing her weaknesses:

<<<>>>

SUBJECT: ISABELLA ROSSI.

- MAIN WEAKNESS: SHE IS HIDING MONEY IN THE BAHAMAS TO AVOID PAYING TAXES.

- EXTRA WEAKNESS: HER SON IS ILLEGALLY USING HER INSIDE KNOWLEDGE TO MAKE MONEY ON THE STOCK MARKET. SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW HE'S DOING IT.

- RECOMMENDATION: USE THE EVIDENCE AGAINST HER SON. THIS WILL TERRORIZE HER AS A MOTHER, NOT JUST AS A BUSINESSWOMAN.

<<<>>>

"Kaito," Ace said, looking over the hacker's shoulder. "Check the stock trades from that 'Hydra Holdings' account against the student ID of Mark Rossi, her son at Stanford. I have a feeling you'll discover he's been gambling with stolen money, and his mother has no idea."

By doing this, Ace ensured their threat wouldn't just scare Isabella Rossi financially—it would strike at her heart as a parent, making their blackmail far more powerful.

Kaito followed Ace's instruction, typing rapidly. His eyes grew wide with surprise as the information appeared on his screen. "You're right! How did you even know that?" He started to ask Ace for an explanation but then stopped himself, thinking better of it. He had learned that Ace sometimes just knew things. "This is perfect," Kaito continued, his voice filled with grim satisfaction. "This doesn't just threaten her money; it threatens her family. It's a much more powerful weapon."

This scene repeated itself over the next few hours. Again and again, Ace would have a sudden flash of insight, pointing out a hidden connection or a secret weakness that the others had completely missed. This mysterious ability of his—the "System" in his mind—was finding layers of vulnerability, turning their blackmail plans from simple threats into perfectly targeted attacks, designed to hit each board member where it would hurt the most: their personal lives.

As the team put the final touches on the digital blackmail packages, preparing to send them out into the world, a deep, throbbing pain began to build behind Ace's eyes. This was more than just being tired from lack of sleep. It was a complete mental exhaustion, a feeling like his brain was being stretched too thin. The constant, intense use of his special Corporate Espionage ability was draining him in a way that physical labor never could.

The strain became too much. He lost his balance for a moment, stumbling and grabbing onto the edge of a dusty, old table to steady himself.

"Ace?" Evelyn was by his side in an instant, her hand on his arm to support him. Her voice was full of concern. "You look terrible. You're white as a sheet. When was the last time you actually slept?"

"I'm fine," he mumbled, trying to brush it off. But as he spoke, the room seemed to tilt and swim before his eyes. The System in his mind, which usually felt like a cool, calm computer, now felt like a heavy, overheated weight pressing down on his thoughts. Then, a stark, warning message flashed in his vision:

<<<>>>

WARNING: MENTAL OVERLOAD IMMINENT.

- CAUSE: YOUR BRAIN HAS BEEN WORKING TOO HARD FOR TOO LONG.

- SYMPTOMS: SEVERE HEADACHE, CONFUSION, MENTAL EXHAUSTION.

- ACTION REQUIRED: YOU MUST STOP AND REST IMMEDIATELY. CONTINUING COULD CAUSE PERMANENT DAMAGE TO YOUR MIND.

<<<>>>

Permanent damage to your mind. The words cut through his exhaustion with terrifying clarity. The System wasn't just a tool he used; it was connected to him, and if he pushed it too far, it could break him completely.

"You are not fine," Evelyn insisted, her voice firm as she guided him to sit down on a stack of old newspapers. "You've been pushing yourself for days without a break. The rest of us are tired, but you... you're the one coordinating everything. You're running on empty. You have to rest."

"But the packages..." Ace protested weakly, his thoughts fuzzy.

"Are finished," Kaito said, looking up from his computer screen. "They're encrypted, the delivery path is set, and they're ready to send. All we need to do is press the button. We can handle the final step. You need to sleep. Now."

From across the room, Elara watched the exchange, her face unreadable. She finally spoke, her tone practical and cold. "The most important part of any machine is the person running it. If the operator breaks, the entire mission fails. You should listen to the warning."

Ace wanted to argue. He wanted to be awake to see their plan through to the very end, to know the moment their counterattack was launched. But his body was giving up. A wave of dizziness and nausea swept over him, and the pounding in his head became unbearable. He had no choice. He surrendered, giving a slow, weary nod.

Evelyn helped him over to a corner they had cleared for their sleeping bags. He collapsed into his, the world fading away into a fog of pain and extreme tiredness. The last things he was aware of were the gentle weight of a blanket as Evelyn covered him, and the soft, determined sound of Kaito's keyboard in the background, a signal that the final phase of their plan was in motion, even as he fell into a deep and troubled sleep.

Ace's sleep was not peaceful. It was a chaotic jumble of nightmares. He saw the cold, mocking smile of Mr. Sterling. He relived the terrifying moment Silva fell on the rooftop. Most disturbingly, his mind was flooded with endless streams of computer code—ones and zeroes that twisted and morphed into terrifying, monstrous shapes. In his dreams, the System inside him felt less like a tool and more like a living creature, changing and adapting, forced to evolve because he had pushed it so far beyond its limits.

When he finally awoke, it was hours later. The basement was hushed and still. The sharp, stabbing pain in his head was gone, replaced by a dull, steady throb he could manage. Looking around, he saw the others were still asleep: Evelyn was curled tightly on her side, Silva was softly snoring on his crate, and Kaito had fallen asleep slumped over his laptop. Only Elara was awake, sitting as still as a statue, her eyes alert and scanning the darkness, keeping watch.

As Ace's mind cleared, he realized something fundamental had changed. The System in his head felt different. It wasn't just silent; it felt seamlessly connected to him. The sensation of a separate, alien intelligence sharing his mind had faded. Now, it felt like a natural part of him—a powerful instinct or a sixth sense. The knowledge from the Corporate Espionage module wasn't like a file he had to open; it felt like his own understanding, ready for him to use without even thinking.

A status update appeared in his mind, simple and clear:

<<<>>>

SYSTEM STATUS: STABLE.

- INTEGRATION: 87%. YOUR MIND AND THE SYSTEM ARE NOW IN SYNC.

- CORPORATE ESPIONAGE MODULE: FULLY ASSIMILATED. IT NOW WORKS AUTOMATICALLY IN THE BACKGROUND.

- WARNING: IF YOU OVERLOAD THE SYSTEM AGAIN, THE DAMAGE WILL BE PHYSICAL. YOUR BODY COULD SHUT DOWN.

<<<>>>

He understood. He had pushed himself to the absolute edge, and to survive, the System had fused with him more deeply than ever before. The power it offered was now greater and easier to access, but the risk was terrifyingly higher. The next time, the price for failure might not be a headache or lost money—it could be his heart giving out.

He sat up slowly. The first light of morning was creeping through a grate near the ceiling, painting weak, dusty stripes on the concrete floor.

The movement stirred Kaito, who blinked awake. The moment he saw Ace was up, a wide, relieved grin spread across his face. "Ace! You're awake. It's done."

"The packages?" Ace asked, his voice still rough with sleep.

"Gone," Kaito confirmed. "We sent them six hours ago. Silica and I launched them all at once. They're out there now. There's no taking it back."

Ace let out a long, slow breath, releasing a tension he had been carrying for days. The final, most daring move of their war had been made while he was unconscious. He looked at his team—at the sleeping forms of Evelyn and Silva, and at the ever-watchful Elara. They had executed the complex plan perfectly without him. They were more than just people who followed his lead; they were a fully capable unit, a team that could shake the foundations of power from a dusty, forgotten basement.

A strange feeling of peace settled over him. The heavy burden of leadership was still there, but he no longer had to carry it alone. His team had evolved, just as the System within him had. They were no longer just victims struggling to survive. They had become a genuine force to be reckoned with.

As the city above them began to stir, completely unaware that its balance of power had been permanently altered, Ace knew that whatever happened next—whether the board surrendered or Sterling launched one last, desperate attack—they would face it as one. They were no longer just fighting for their lives. They were finally taking control, deciding for themselves what their future would hold.

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