[SYS.MDLX-ARCHIVE]
Jin paused.
The folder was full—over 10 gigabytes of raw logs, encrypted messages, shell company charts, and worse—transaction records.
She opened one of the older files. It was a financial breakdown for something called Maddox Logistics.
Offshore payments, shipment IDs, drone maintenance logs.
She stared at the files, her face shocked. These were projects none of them knew about, secret projects that were done under the surveillance of Maddox Corporation.
What baffled her more was that none of it made sense. What would a company as big and well-made as Maddox Corporation be doing with NetVigil?
She decided to go deeper, searching through the files labelled "corporations."
There were transaction shells—sloppy but hidden in plain sight. Blank grants with NetVigil letterheads that routed funds into offshore hardware deliveries of drones outfitted for combat.
She pinged deeper, making sure she read through each file that popped up on the screen.
Files nested beneath the redacted headers unpacked slowly. NetVigil's AI protocols were here—scraped logs, conflict-response tables, predictive kill-chains. They weren't designed for surveillance. They were war machines.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The projects she and her colleagues worked on for months and years were all bought by Maddox Corporation.
The most confusing part was Maddox Corporation had nothing to do with biodrones. They were a business organization that had multiple subordinate companies.
Some dealt with oil drilling, some fashion, others movie production—but none of them dealt with anything related to any of these.
Maddox wasn't just laundering money through dead shell companies. They were running live operations—using NetVigil's old AI systems to pilot black-market weaponized drones. This wasn't corporate espionage. It was a war engine built under the pretense of a billion-dollar legacy firm.
This was something Liam needed to know. Everything his father built under his name was being used to secretly buy and sell military weapons on the black market. And if the government found out about this, it would lead to so many contradictions—thereby leading to the downfall of his father's company.
She immediately dialed Liam's phone number, which she got from the site that he added her on, and put him on the line.
The first ping didn't reach him, and so he didn't answer. But she didn't stop calling. She tried over and over again until it reached him—and he answered.
It sounded like he was sleeping before he answered the call because his voice was hoarse at first. But then it slowly became normal.
"What's up?" he murmured over the phone.
"There's a lot I just found out and you've got to see it, though you can't come here. I'll ping the files to you," she said, responding to his question.
"What do you mean you just found out? I literally just left that place like how many minutes ago? Didn't you go home?" he questioned, his voice now better than when he answered the phone.
"No, I didn't go home after you left. I decided to head over to the facility and see if I could find anything reasonable about the company," she muttered as she surfed through the documents.
"Ohh I see," he yawned. "So what did you find?"
"I found some important details regarding the downfall of NetVigil—and they all relate to your family's company that is currently run under your cousin," she explained.
"My cousin? You mean Kieran?" he asked, before sipping a cup of water.
"Yes. Maddox Corporation was behind the downfall of NetVigil, and it's all because of a secret operation both companies went into. And now Maddox Corporation is secretly selling their products on the black market," she fully explained, subtly glancing around the room and checking for noise in the facility.
"They're that deep? I want to know more about this as soon as possible. Did anyone notice you while you entered the facility? Did you see anyone in the facility when you entered?" he asked, making sure she wasn't already caught.
"No, I didn't. And can we get back to this later? I need to ping you these files and get out of here as soon as possible," she responded quickly, tapping on the download option she brought up on the screen after typing in a couple of codes on the laptop.
"Alright, we'll talk about it later—or better, tomorrow," he said.
"I'll get back to you," she said before ending the call.
She brought out her phone cord and attached it to the computer system, then attached the other end to her phone and began downloading the file into her storage system.
After a couple of downloads, she was done with it and immediately turned off the system.
Then she removed the hard drive of the system, making sure no one else gets the information on it.
Then she turned everything off, including the light switch, before she stepped out of the room.
She glanced back at the hole. It was wide open and very much noticeable now, and there's no way anyone wouldn't see it.
She thought for a while, then went to the construction room and brought their tape. She taped the hole shut and added a sign on it for closing.
Then she walked out of the office, making sure no one else was still in the facility.
On her way out, she saw two personnel who came for the construction work in their uniforms and immediately hid behind the door, making sure they didn't see her as they both passed by chattering. Then she slipped out the door carefully.
She released a breath of relief as she stepped out of the building, then went ahead to stop a cab.
■Liam's POV■
Liam sat on the parlour cushion, reminiscing about everything Jin just told him about his father's company.
"So they're not only into laundering but black market ammunitions? What are they turning my father's company into?"
"If he wanted money, then why is he indulging in so much corrupt activity? It just doesn't make any sense to me."
He folded his hands and bent forward on the cushion. "I'll have to get to the bottom of this soon enough, before my father's hard work goes down the drain."