Helena spent three days familiarizing herself with the new resident in her body.
She was in no rush to transform; in fact, during those three days, she never once let the Symbiote cover her skin.
She was conducting tests.
On the first day, she sat at the table and tried to communicate with that thing.
She formed a clear thought in her mind, and the Symbiote would respond with a certain frequency of vibration.
“What can you do?”
The response was a demonstration.
A very thin layer of black film shimmered slightly at the tips of her right-hand fingers, and then an invisible sound wave was emitted from her fingertips.
A pencil on the table was pushed three centimeters.
Helena measured the distance.
“What is the frequency?”
The response was the concept of a number transmitted into her mind.
Seventeen Hertz.
Infrasound.
The frequency of Infrasound is below 20 Hertz; humans cannot hear it, but it can produce physical effects on matter and the human body.
Helena studied molecular biology and had a basic understanding of the biological effects of sound wave radiation.
Infrasound at specific frequencies can trigger discomfort in the human body, including feelings of fear, nausea, vertigo, and even arrhythmia.
In extreme cases, high-intensity Infrasound can cause internal organ damage.
“Can you control the frequency and direction?”
The Symbiote’s response was affirmative.
Helena nodded.
On the second day, she conducted more detailed experiments.
She crouched in the room, emitting sound waves of different frequencies at the wall, observing the effects of different frequencies on different materials.
She discovered that low-frequency Infrasound has the greatest impact on the human body, but it has strong penetrating power and poor directionality, making precise control difficult.
High-frequency ultrasound has weak penetrating power but good directionality, allowing for directional emission.
Within a certain frequency range, sound waves can interfere with the operation of electronic equipment.
This discovery made her fingers pause on her notebook for a few seconds.
She opened the calendar.
There were eleven days left until Professor John ferren’s product launch.
On the third day, she began to formulate a detailed plan of action.
“I need you to do two things.”
Helena sat at the table, typed a line of text on the keyboard, and then deleted it.
She was talking to that thing in her mind.
“First, help me paralyze the security system of a building.”
The Symbiote’s feedback was a questioning vibration.
Which building.
“The headquarters office building of Professor John ferren’s company, Building B of the Chengdong Technology Park. The security system uses standard infrared and magnetic induction alarms, with the central control in the security room on the second floor.”
The response was a brief sense of calculation.
Then a plan was formed.
Infrasound can interfere with the magnetic field calibration of the magnetic sensors, causing the system to trigger false alarms.
When the frequency of false alarms reaches a certain level, the security personnel will manually turn off the alarm system, thinking it is a device malfunction.
Enter during the window when the system is turned off.
Helena drew a timeline in her notebook.
She tapped her fingers lightly on the desk twice.
“On the day of the launch, I need you to take over the venue’s sound system.”
This time, the Symbiote’s response took a little longer.
Then, more complex information was transmitted into her mind.
Possible, but physical contact is required.
“Physical contact?”
The Symbiote’s interference with electronic equipment via sound waves is remote, but to completely take over a professional-grade sound system, it needs to establish a direct sound wave resonance link on the system’s central control equipment.
“That means I need to enter the venue before the launch and make contact with the main control equipment of the sound system.”
The Symbiote’s response was affirmative.
Helena thought for a moment.
“The launch is being held in Hall A of the City Convention and Exhibition Center. The venue setup begins two days in advance, and the sound equipment is being installed and debugged by a company called Ruisheng Technology.”
She turned on the computer in the middle and searched for recruitment information for Ruisheng Technology.
They were hiring temporary workers for equipment transport and wiring the day before the launch.
Helena closed the search page.
That night, she went out.
Building B of the Chengdong Technology Park, the headquarters office building of Professor John ferren’s company.
At 2:00 AM, most of the streetlights in the park were off, with only a few emergency lights flickering with a pale light in the distance.
Helena, wearing a black hoodie and dark sweatpants, stood behind a tree opposite the Building B office block.
She closed her eyes.
The Symbiote vibrated slightly inside her body.
Then, an invisible sound wave was emitted from her position toward the second floor of Building B.
Nothing happened.
At least on the surface, nothing happened.
But thirty seconds later, the alarm terminal in the security room on the second floor of Building B began to flash.
The magnetic induction door on the first floor alarmed, the infrared detectors on the third floor alarmed, and the corridor surveillance on the fifth floor alarmed.
All alarming at the same time.
The two security guards on duty in the security room looked at each other.
“Malfunctioning again?”
“It happened once last week too. We had the manufacturer come and fix it, and they said there was no problem.”
The alarm lights were flashing frequently, and the buzzing sound rang out one after another.
One security guard grabbed a flashlight and went to patrol the building, while the other stayed in front of the monitors to watch the feed.
There was nothing unusual in the surveillance footage.
The patrolling security guard walked a lap and checked every alarm point; the doors and windows were locked tight, and the corridors were empty.
He returned to the security room and discussed it with his colleague.
“False alarms, all false alarms. This crappy system.”
“Turn it off. We’ll call someone to check it tomorrow during the day.”
The main control of the security system was manually switched to maintenance mode.
All alarm and access control linkage functions of Building B were paused.
Helena waited for five minutes, confirmed that the system had been shut down, and then stepped out from behind the tree.
It was locked.
But the door was an aluminum alloy framed glass door, and the lock cylinder was an electromagnetic lock.
The electromagnetic lock does not receive power when the security system is in maintenance mode.
Helena pushed gently, and the door opened.
She entered the building.
Professor John ferren’s office was on the seventh floor.
Helena went up the stairs; the corridor was very dark, with emergency lights every ten meters or so, providing dim lighting.
The office door on the seventh floor used a combination lock, four digits.
Helena tried two combinations, but it didn’t open.
She closed her eyes and let the Symbiote emit an extremely fine high-frequency sound wave to scan the internal structure of the combination lock.
The pattern of the sound wave rebound formed a blurry 3D image in her mind.
Mechanical structure, four-digit code; the four number keys pressed most frequently recently were 1, 3, 6, 8.
Helena tried 1368, but it didn’t open.
Tried 6381, but it didn’t open.
Tried 8631, but it didn’t open.
Tried 3168.
The door opened.
She walked into the office and turned on Professor John ferren’s computer.
The computer required a password to log in.
Helena took a USB drive out of her pocket and plugged it in.
This USB drive contained a simple brute-force program she had written herself, targeting Windows local account passwords; it wasn’t very efficient, but Professor John ferren’s password wouldn’t be too complex.
Twenty minutes later, the password was successfully cracked.
Helena’s fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard, finding the entry point for the financial system on Professor John ferren’s computer.
The company’s financial data was not stored locally but on an intranet server, requiring a jump host for access.
She spent forty minutes breaking through two layers of intranet permissions and finally entered the administrative backend of the financial system.
Complete account records, every single income and expense from the company’s inception to the present.
Helena spent twenty minutes copying all the key files onto the encrypted portable hard drive she carried with her.
Then she cleared the access logs, shut down the computer, unplugged the USB drive, and restored the office to its original state.
The whole process took less than two hours.
When she came out of the side door of Building B, the security guard was still dozing in the security room.
At 4:30 AM, Helena returned to the rented apartment.
She imported the data from the portable hard drive into her computer and spent an hour doing preliminary organization.
It was more complete, more detailed, and more lethal than the materials in the anonymous email.
The total amount of embezzled research funds was 4.3 million.
Helena backed up the data in three copies, storing them in three different locations.
Then she lay down on the bed.
Looking at the ceiling, she felt no sleepiness.
Ten days later.
Professor John ferren’s product launch.
Helena closed her eyes.
Deep beneath the city, Knull received the emotions fed back by Shriek.
There was no rage, no roaring, only a precise, cold pleasure as things proceeded according to plan.
Knull’s satisfaction with the third sub-Symbiote was extremely high.