It was not until the very last version update of the game that Li Chen and the other players learned of the existence of an organization known as the ‘Foundation.’

Before that, just like most residents of the Hive City, he believed that the owner of this so-called ‘final refuge of human civilization’ was the group of lofty consortium families seated at the very top of the hive.

Grasping singularity technology in their hands, with affiliated companies controlling every field of this massive city cluster, the daily lives of hundreds of billions of Hive City residents were inseparable from those consortiums standing at the apex of the food chain and gazing down upon all living beings.

But they were not the true masters of the Hive City.

If the consortium families were the entities positioned at the top of the food chain, then the so-called ‘Foundation’ was the ‘god’ that had established this entire food chain system.

They were the true creators of the Hive City.

All initial technology chains excavated from the pre-civilization era could only be put into use within the Hive City after receiving their ‘purification’ approval.

The patent rights held by the consortiums and even singularity technology itself all had their ownership determined in the hands of the Foundation.

They were the source of everything in the Hive City.

Yet such a mysterious organization had a completely different way of operating compared to the major consortiums and municipal officials who appeared in news broadcasts every day, scrambling to occupy every headline. Apart from a very small number of core figures within the top-tier hive consortium families, almost no one even knew of their existence.

‘No wonder. I always thought that, given how organized the consortiums are in the original story, even if Xiao Mengya herself could rampage through the upper hive again and again, there was no way she could completely wipe out an entire consortium family without leaving a single survivor.’

But Xiao Mengya, this so-called ‘Rebel Against Order,’ could not do it.

Then what about the creators of order themselves?

‘But that said, an eighth-tier martial artist doesn’t really seem worthy of an organization with the kind of status the Foundation has, does it?’

Glancing at the blue-haired woman whose mere appearance had terrified the security personnel near the storage area into trembling uncontrollably, not daring to harbor even the slightest thought of resistance, Li Chen still did not feel that she qualified as one of the ‘true masters of the Hive City.’

‘Eighth-tier is strong, sure, but even just among those officially registered with the Mercenary Guild, there are at least a thousand of them.’

Although compared to the Hive City’s population of hundreds of billions, a mere thousand or so was already extremely rare.

Considering the identity and status the Foundation displayed in the game’s expansion materials, however, it was completely mismatched.

‘But no matter what, my current situation is really bad.’

Although he had used certain secret techniques to completely block off his aura, in theory, as long as he was not seen with one’s own eyes, even a peak ninth-tier martial artist would never be able to perceive Li Chen’s true form.

But the problem was…

‘At the level of an eighth-tier martial artist, compared to rational and objective analysis, a warrior’s sixth sense and intuition often have an even higher accuracy rate.’

So there was a very high possibility that Li Chen would be discovered.

‘Unless…’

Li Chen looked at his own hand, white and flawless as if it had been meticulously sculpted by a top-tier artist, a trace of hesitation flashing through his eyes.

‘Lift that seal? …No.’

Li Chen shook his head forcefully.

‘I already promised Xiao Wei that I’d marry her safely and peacefully.’

So he could not take risks.

And he absolutely could not draw the unnecessary attention of certain troublesome figures within the Hive City.

That naturally included the unfathomably mysterious ‘Foundation.’

Tap. Tap.

Just as Li Chen was brainstorming alone, the female martial artist chimera from the Montmorency family’s personal guard unit had already advanced to the guards’ front line.

The supervisor who had just been sternly lecturing his subordinates stumbled backward several steps in terror before finally steadying herself, forcing up her courage as she glared at the woman radiating a horrifying aura.

“Deregister our company? Hah, what an outrageous claim!”

The seventh-tier female martial artist from Titan Heavy Industries let out a sharp clang as she drew a dagger from her waist. Her fingers danced swiftly and nimbly, instantly whipping up gusts of wind.

“Even if you really are an ace under the Montmorency family, you think you can deregister an entire consortium? Haha, that’s absolutely laughable.”

Indeed.

By conventional logic, although an eighth-tier powerhouse was formidable, in the eyes of top-tier hive consortium executives, they were at most just a particularly capable enforcer.

Which consortium hadn’t secretly cultivated or recruited a group of experts?

Relying on her alone to ‘deregister a company’ was nothing but a pipe dream.

“As for the Montmorency Consortium backing you…”

A hint of fear flashed through the woman’s eyes. What truly terrified her was not this woman herself, but the power represented behind her.

The Montmorency family was a true ruler of the Hive City in every sense of the word. Even among the top ten consortiums, it ranked second only to Solares in strength.

“At worst, we’ll just start a corporate war.”

Clenching her teeth, the woman forcibly suppressed her fear and rallied the other guards beside her.

“Trying to seize the singularity technology we secretly excavated? Heh, the last corporate war ended with the defeat and absorption of the Sakura Consortium, which used to rank even higher than us.”

However, in the face of her hardline stance, the Montmorency family’s ace merely raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“You don’t know about the Foundation?”

“What Foundation?”

But before the security manager could finish speaking, the blue-haired woman made the first move.

Crackle.

An electric current flashed.

As if some forbidden words had been spoken, the air itself seemed to freeze.

The security manager’s eyes widened as she stared at the blue-haired woman who ignored the security measures that should have been triggered and casually walked right up to them.

“I see.”

The blue-haired woman reached out and removed her glove. Dense electronic patterns began to surface across the tender skin of her palm.

“How could an ant like you possibly understand the truth of the Hive City?”

“Hacker intrusion?!”

Worthy of a professional, even under the pressure of an eighth-tier martial artist, the security manager quickly deduced the cause of the bizarre phenomenon.

“Correct.”

The blue-haired woman smiled faintly.

“Unfortunately, there’s no reward.”

She lightly moved her finger.

Whoosh—

A violent wind swept through.

Crack.

The guards beside the security manager didn’t even have time to scream before their tactical helmets and superalloy armor shattered with spiderweb cracks, bursts of blood mist spraying out.

“Guh?!”

The security manager sucked in a sharp breath.

“Eighth-tier martial artist? No, impossible. Even if you are eighth-tier—”

Mmngh.

The blue-haired woman extended her other hand and clamped it tightly around the woman’s neck.

“Hand it over.”

Her icy gaze fixed on the security manager.

“What if I don’t?”

Facing imminent death, the security manager took a deep breath and stubbornly shot back.

“Then you’ll go—”

Boom!!!

Before the blue-haired woman could finish her sentence, red points of light suddenly appeared near the storage area. Countless autonomous combat robots that had been lying in ambush rose up one after another, their fully charged gun barrels locking onto the blue-haired woman.

“Subconscious overlay stealth device?”

The blue-haired woman stroked her chin in surprise.

“I see. So you’ve already secretly developed things to this level?”

“Hahaha, that’s right.”

The security manager took a deep breath and for some reason, the fear of death suddenly vanished.

“The old madam already knew that our development of emerging singularity technology might break the existing balance of the Hive City and draw suppression from other top-tier consortiums. She made preparations for this research long ago…”

‘Old madam?’

Li Chen pondered.

‘The current head of the Schufestan family, then?’

The same person Dr. Lisa referred to as the ‘old mother wolf.’

Now Li Chen was truly curious what kind of major move the Schufestan family had made to provoke the Foundation, which had always remained shrouded in mystery in the original work, into personally intervening.

Infringing on other consortiums’ singularity technology patents?

Impossible. That kind of thing happened several times every month in the upper hive. Although each patent lawsuit caused major upheaval and often resulted in many deaths, there had never been a case of an entire consortium family being exterminated over it.

‘Perhaps that blue-haired woman would reveal the truth right before my eyes?’

Li Chen held his breath and focused on the unfolding scene.

“Suppression from other consortiums?”

Facing the security manager’s resolute, death-defying determination, the blue-haired woman fell silent for a moment. A trace of pity flashed through her eyes.

“Even at the moment of death, you still don’t know who your real enemy is? Very well. Then carry this ignorance with you as you depart.”

Whoosh—

The woman swung her arm.

“The ones who’ll die are you Montmorency dogs!”

With her final breath, the security manager shouted an order at the ambushed combat robots.

“Activate Protocol 001!”

Beep beep!

Countless gun barrels locked onto the blue-haired woman. Energy output sufficient to annihilate a high-tier martial artist began to converge wildly, the entire space trembling as if it would shatter in the next instant.

‘Orbital cannon?!’

Li Chen was shocked by the Schufestan family’s extravagance and prepared to witness the clash between a high-tier martial artist and top-tier technology.

But… he didn’t.

Crackle.

[Authorization protocol has been modified. Cancelling current command…]

The robots froze just as they were about to fire.

“You hacked in successfully? How is that possible?! The old madam said that this storage facility’s security level would be raised to the absolute maximum this time, including a level-five super artificial intelligence—”

“There is nothing in this world that cannot happen.”

The blue-haired woman replied calmly.

“No matter how powerful an AI built on SkyNet may be, how could it possibly resist SkyNet itself?”

The security manager’s pupils shrank. At last, she realized that her enemy was not simply another competing consortium.

“SkyNet? But SkyNet isn’t—doesn’t it lack open-source consciousness—”

Crack.

The blue-haired woman gave her no chance to finish. With a sharp twist, she snapped the neck of the seventh-tier martial artist like breaking a rag doll and tossed the body aside.

Squelch.

With chilling calm, she reached out and forcibly plucked out the security manager’s still-wide-open eyes, then carried them to the storage room door.

Buzz—

[Biological authentication confirmed. Welcome back, Manager.]

The storage room door that Li Chen had long coveted opened just like that.

Yet there was no joy in his heart.

After witnessing the blue-haired woman’s brutal methods, Li Chen knew that obtaining Eternal Gold would be far more difficult than he had imagined.

‘This was bad…’

“Found it.”

Hearing the voice, Li Chen looked over and saw the blue-haired woman emerging from the storage room, a container cradled in her arms.

“Mm. Contaminant recovery complete.”

She muttered to herself.

“According to the boss, once the Foundation’s activation protocol is triggered, we must carry out the mission unconditionally. But after completion, we can return to work… Tch, to be honest, I really don’t want to clash with the Solares family’s personal guards. Well, whatever. I’m just a worker.”

Pat. Pat.

The blue-haired woman patted the biological canister in her hands.

Inside the container filled with unknown liquid, a twisted tentacle writhed incessantly.

‘That is—!’

Li Chen’s eyes widened as he instinctively looked at his own flawless arm.

In the dim environment, a streak of emerald-green glow was flowing beneath the skin.

The seal in his hand stirred.

“Hm?”

The blue-haired woman suddenly looked up, her gaze snapping toward Li Chen’s direction.