Hawk handed the documents to the two women; it was a preliminary filtered and analyzed list of TCRI's core assets and financial weaknesses – the concentrated essence of Cypher's intelligence.
"Ladies," Hawk began, his voice not loud, but instantly lowering the pressure in the entire conference room. "Target locked: TCRI."
Andy looked up, her brow slightly furrowed, but she didn't interrupt.
Emilia's eyes flashed with keen interest, and she leaned forward slightly, like a lioness spotting prey.
"No prelude, no probing. Go all out to short it immediately."
As soon as Hawk finished speaking, Andy and Emilia both paused, then carefully looked at the documents.
But after a long look, besides some financial issues, they found nothing else unusual about TCRI. Andy cautiously asked, "Hawk, do you have some inside information?"
Emilia also looked at Hawk and said, "TCRI is a well-known unicorn, with a market value of four billion dollars, and its momentum is still strong."
Honestly, from their perspective, shorting TCRI at this moment was definitely not a good choice.
Hawk took a sip of water and smiled, "Just pretend I have inside information. This will be a perfect... 'hostile takeover'! Just do as I say."
Andy and Emilia exchanged glances, then nodded: "Don't worry, the group will give Emilia all assistance."
Emilia nodded: "Then thank you, CEO Andy."
Subsequently, at Hawk's signal, Lane Capital established hundreds of overseas companies and thousands of overseas accounts, then began shorting TCRI.
For this, Emilia initially prepared fifty million US dollars in funds, with five times leverage.
This leveraged 250 million US dollars.
Although this massive amount of capital was far less than TCRI's market capitalization, it reached 6.25%, and under extremely covert operations, short positions were built.
In the afternoon, in a completely dark safe house within the Lane Group Tower.
No lights were on; only dozens of screens on the console emitted a faint blue glow, illuminating Hawk's calm and focused face.
On the large main screen was the coordinate of the underground secret laboratory labeled "Titan Crucible" on Cypher's provided list – located deep within an abandoned mine in Nevada.
Several split screens beside it displayed real-time satellite thermal images, footage from the limited surface surveillance cameras around the laboratory, and complex architectural blueprints.
Hawk's fingers danced across the virtual keyboard, moving so fast they left afterimages.
He was programming a highly customized virus worm, targeting the laboratory's independent, physically isolated industrial control systems and security network.
Location: Nevada abandoned mine, "Titan Crucible" perimeter
Joo Ja-yoon and Eun-bi, dressed in lightweight black tactical suits with optical camouflage capabilities, lurked in the shadows at the edge of the mine.
On their lightweight tactical goggles, Hawk's shared laboratory structural blueprints and real-time path guidance were clearly overlaid.
"Ja-yoon, Eun-bi, target confirmed, 'Titan Crucible.' Coordinates and structural diagrams have been synchronized to your tactical goggles." Hawk's voice came clearly through the encrypted channel to the two operatives. "Ja-yoon, the main ventilation shaft is a backup access point. Objective: physically destroy the main power disconnect switch group on the east side. Eun-bi, objective: the western perimeter's backup diesel generator cluster, use the 'Buzzer' to disable its control core. Then await my command to simultaneously sever physical connections."
"Received." Joo Ja-yoon responded concisely, her figure moving like a leopard blending into the night, silently creeping towards the large ventilation shaft entrance marked by Hawk.
"Understood." Eun-bi responded softly, her figure drifting like a ghost towards the west, where several inconspicuous reinforced concrete buildings housed the backup generators.
Inside the safe house, Hawk's fingers danced across the control panel, as if playing a silent overture of destruction.
He retrieved a carefully prepared malicious software package, targeting the laboratory's external communication satellite relay node and internal control system core gateway.
"Network intrusion initiated... countdown 5 seconds." Hawk's voice was utterly calm.
On the screen, the progress bar representing network intrusion began to advance.
4... Joo Ja-yoon had already pried open the reinforced grate of the ventilation shaft, sliding like a nimble cat into the depths of the dark passage.
3... Eun-bi bypassed two inattentive patrol guards, precisely attaching a coin-sized ultra-miniature electromagnetic pulse device, the Buzzer, to the core of the generator's main control board.
2... Hawk's software successfully bypassed the final logical firewall.
1... "Execute power cut! Sever network!" Hawk's command dropped.
Bang!
Joo Ja-yoon, at a red-marked node deep within the ventilation shaft, struck like lightning!
Her hand chop, imbued with her powerful strength, precisely severed the critical connection hub, sparks flying!
The main power line on the east side was physically cut instantly!
Sizzle!
Eun-bi pressed the activation button, and the generator cluster control panel before her instantly erupted in a burst of electrical sparks. All indicator lights went out, and the backup power was completely disabled!
Hum... The laboratory's network node icons on the main screen turned from green to red in patches, then completely gray!
The virus Hawk unleashed devoured all data streams from internal surveillance, access control, and alarm systems like greedy piranhas, locking them down completely!
"Power and network cut complete. Monitoring system disabled. Action window: 28 minutes 30 seconds."
Hawk's voice remained calm. He quickly switched screens, retrieving the physical location and access protocol of the laboratory's core database servers. "Ja-yoon, target Area A7, server array room. Eun-bi, clear the path and guard. Data copying task will be executed remotely by me; you ensure the interface device connection."
"Understood!" The two operatives, like drawn blades, quickly entered the underground world, now silent due to the power outage, illuminated only by the faint green light of emergency lamps, following the navigation in their goggles.
Their body cameras transmitted real-time footage back to the command center.