Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 151: Echoes in the Mainframe

The air became tense the moment I issued my ultimatum. The atmosphere thickened—almost electrifying, crackling with invisible sparks of unease.

But a few seconds later, the commander raised his hand and ordered everyone to "halt."

Though hesitant, the soldiers gradually lowered their weapons, the distrust in their eyes still sharp—like they were following orders purely out of obligation.

"Good, good."

I stepped forward, closing the distance between us, stopping just before the commander. I lightly tapped his cheeks a few times with a grin.

"At least you know what's best for you," I said. "Our main force is just one jump away, after all. One wrong move from you, and you'll be remembered as the man who doomed his entire race."

Of course, it was a half-bluff laced with truth.

The main force of the Shadowless Hawks truly was only a single jump away.

But even if they arrived after these guys wiped us out, their likely reaction wouldn't be vengeance. More than likely, they'd thank the Voltherians for taking care of a reckless impersonator, maybe even reward them for their efforts.

Still, everything had already come down to this moment.

"Don't worry, Mr. Soldier," I said, patting his cheek again, gently this time. "We're not here to cause trouble. We just need to make a brief stop, restock a few things. We'll be gone in a few hours, and you'll never see us again."

The commander looked torn, visibly anguished. He clenched his jaw hard, debating silently—then, after a long pause, he sighed heavily.

"Alright. But try any funny business in my station, and you bastards will regret it!"

I smiled, giving his shoulder a pat before turning and walking away—doing my best to hide the goosebumps prickling under my armor.

'That bluff worked better than I thought!' I inwardly cheered, unable to suppress a smug grin.

If the bluff had failed, we could've fallen back on Nyssra's trump card—her identity as the Princess of the Voltherian Empire. But doing that would be a last resort. Risking exposure now would jeopardize the entire Primula Heist.

As I rejoined the girls, back within the safety radius of the Black Halberd's shielding system—

"Bastard! That was way too reckless! You should've let me take that role instead!"

"Fucking hell! My heart almost gave out! Don't pull stunts like that again, got it?!"

Eva looked furious—her face red with worry and frustration. It was clear she was genuinely mad about my recklessness.

Nyssra, on the other hand, didn't seem concerned for my safety at all. Her irritation stemmed more from how close we came to getting caught. A single slip-up could've jeopardized her entire plan.

"Anyway, we don't have much time," she said, turning her gaze to the retreating officers. "I'll lead the way—stay close."

"Right…"

"…"

Instead of following the path the soldiers had taken, we diverted downward—through a hidden service passage in the floor. Nyssra bypassed the normal exits entirely, expertly navigating through the less-traveled routes.

I felt a pang of worry, knowing full well the dock's surveillance cameras were active and could catch us mid-movement—

"I've already tampered with their camera feeds," Nyssra assured us confidently. "Also made a fake supply request, so they'll be too busy preparing phantom cargo for our ship to notice we're missing."

Relieved by her foresight, we followed the narrow stairs that descended into the lower levels. It wasn't a zero-gravity zone here, but the artificial gravity was definitely on the weaker side.

After descending, we moved through the twisting corridors under Nyssra's guidance. The pathway felt more like a labyrinth than a service tunnel—so complex that I quickly lost any hope of finding my way back alone.

Just in case, I activated my personal terminal to keep track of our route—leaving virtual breadcrumbs like Hansel and Gretel, to retrace our steps later if necessary.

Strangely enough, we didn't encounter a single patrol. Not one. It was like this whole section had been intentionally left unguarded.

"This is the place."

Nyssra finally stopped in front of a massive, sealed door. Off to its side, a glowing green panel pulsed softly. The imprint of a palm was etched into it—biometric identification, no doubt.

"Biometrics?" I murmured. "I can crack it open, but..."

"No need."

Without hesitation, Nyssra revealed her palm from under her suit and popped open her helmet's visor. She placed her bare palm on the scanner. The device buzzed quietly as it read her hand—then two beams of light emerged, scanning her irises.

That... was unexpected.

Had I only overridden the palm scanner, the retinal system would've flagged the attempt and likely triggered a laser-based defense—burning straight through my eyes and into my brain. A classic trap for secure installations like this.

"But won't that leave a trail?" I asked, lowering my voice, concern rising. "Using your own biometrics here... won't they be able to trace it back to you?"

It would be strange if the Voltherians didn't track something as obvious as this.

"No worries," Nyssra replied, flashing a confident grin as the large doors began sliding open behind her. She casually pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "This little corner of the station is my private hideout. No one knows it exists but me."

For a moment, only darkness filled the interior. But soon after, the swirling "fog" began to dissipate.

"Woah…"

It was a wondrous sight.

Machines cluttered the space, their monitors flickering gently in the shadows, casting soft glows that lit the entire area like makeshift stars.

At the center, suspended from the 20-meter-high ceiling, loomed a massive sphere, bound by dozens of thick wires. It wasn't just some simple mechanism—it resembled a grand fusion of processors and architecture. A massive computer, an engineering marvel, possibly boasting computational power that even Leviathan-class ships couldn't match.

"I… can use that?" I asked in awe.

Even during my time in the game, I'd never interacted with something of this magnitude. Just imagining the experience was exhilarating.

"Oh, that?"

Nyssra chuckled, shaking her head with a smirk.

"It's nothing but a gorgeous pile of scrap. Just a toy I cobbled together out of boredom—it doesn't actually function. Linking thousands of units only slows things down with all the data relays between them."

"…"

Way to crush a man's dreams flat.

"The console you'll be using is over there." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

She pointed toward a corner of the room—an impressive station, sure, but nothing compared to the suspended monument of circuits and wires above us.

"That's my old workstation. Outfitted with the fastest hardware, Qubit cores, quantum intranet access, and fully linked to the underworld's dark web—almost entirely untraceable."

"Almost, huh?" Eva muttered, catching the nuance in her words.

"Yes, naturally. Hacking into a military-grade network carries a high chance of exposure, regardless of precautions." Nyssra sighed, giving a half-hearted shrug.

I mirrored her motion, moving toward the station and taking my seat. "Well, just watch."

First things first—I got a feel for the system.

I explored the OS, skimmed through the UI, and took stock of all installed software. To my pleasant surprise, it was practically built for infiltration—everything I needed, and even tools I didn't expect but definitely welcomed, were already pre-installed.

"…"

There was no doubt she used this terminal regularly. Every firmware and app was up to date.

Before diving in, I spent a few minutes preparing utility snippets. Reusable code I could deploy mid-hack—macros ready to fire with a single keystroke. Since I'd be breaking into a military network, there was no room for laziness.

Five full minutes went into building the perfect toolkit. Then I spent three more analyzing the structure of this station's network—and mapping out the broader infrastructure shared across other stations throughout the galaxy.

It was astonishing, really—information seemed to flow faster than the speed of light.

"All right, I'm ready." I exhaled, loosening my shoulders. "Eva, Nyssra, quiet mode. Any distraction, and I'll seriously make you regret it."

Eva scoffed but complied, leaning casually by the entrance, her eyes still alert, watching her surroundings warily. Nyssra sat farther back—about five meters behind me. Close enough to observe, but distant enough not to bother.

Once they were settled, both maintaining silence, I got to work.

First, I accessed one of the military's public relays.

A direct breach of their system was impossible. It would be like trying to mine through a mountain of titanium using only a spoon—it'd take me centuries.

Through that relay, I introduced a seemingly harmless virus. A simple, latent bug designed to infect every subsystem it encountered.

"First phase complete," I murmured. "Now initiating phase two."

I cloaked my activity using layers upon layers of proxy routes, then made a very visible and blatant attempt to hack directly into the military base. Exactly what I said couldn't be done earlier.

But this wasn't meant to succeed—it was bait. A move to stir the hornet's nest and get them to check their systems.

As predicted, I failed. Immediately, I backed out of the proxies and turned my attention back to the relay.

Within seconds, the military began tracing the phantom signal—and the moment they pinged the relay, my second phase kicked in.

The seemingly harmless virus latched on, hitching a ride through their own returning packets. It slipped past their firewalls, blending seamlessly into legitimate data streams. After a few keystrokes…

"And I'm… in!"

I had breached their mainframe.

Getting in was the easy part.

The real challenge lay ahead—retrieving the exact information I needed without raising any red flags. If I started combing through files blindly, the spike in resource usage would get me caught instantly.

I had to be precise. Surgical.

"It should be in the…"

Nyssra's voice suddenly came from behind me, startling me mid-focus. My irritation flared, but I quickly registered the location she'd pointed out.

Following her lead, I navigated to the folder she mentioned—carefully scanning through its contents.

There it was.

The encryption key.

The very one used to create access passes!