Phantom Hands Under the Titan Shield

Cheap Stock Offers

Elara remained frozen in the dimly lit hallway, staring at my back as I slowly disappeared behind the wooden door leading to the back warehouse. The echo of my voice mentioning predators and the limitations of the Titan system still rang in her ears. That night, the scent of roses from her expensive perfume felt heavy, as if the air in Vance's residence had just shifted because of my presence. I could feel her curiosity soaring, but her pride was too high to run after me and beg for an explanation.

The next evening, the atmosphere changed drastically from the kitchen of Vance's residence to the silvery light of Le Monarque Restaurant—the most exclusive restaurant in town, which usually required a six-month reservation. Elara insisted on taking me as her companion. She said it was her grandfather's condition that her husband start “socializing” in business circles, even though in Elara's eyes, I was just a cheap ornament that she had to polish so as not to damage her reputation.

“Listen, Lucas,” Elara whispered as we got out of the car. She was wearing an emerald silk dress that hugged her body perfectly, drawing every pair of eyes in the parking lot to her. "Tonight we're meeting Vivian from Zenith Corp. She's a shark in the world of defense technology. Don't say a word. Don't offer your opinion. And most importantly, don't try anything silly like you did yesterday with your ginger tea. Just sit there and look... present.“

I adjusted the collar of the black shirt Elara had bought me that afternoon. Although the label was quite luxurious for the average person, to me the fabric felt rough compared to the handmade silk from the Nexus artisans I usually wore. ”A companion ornament. I understand, Elara. I will be the most obedient shadow you've ever had.“

Elara snorted, her eyes narrowing in doubt. ”Shadow? I'd rather call it a burden. Come on, Vivian doesn't like to wait."

We entered the restaurant lobby. A ceiling decorated with gold leaves and the soft tinkling of harps welcomed us. Waiters in formal uniforms greeted each guest with trained elegance. As soon as my name was mentioned at the registration desk, I saw the restaurant manager—an old man with a sharp gaze named Monsieur Dupont—flinch for a moment. His eyes were fixed on my wrist, as if looking for something that wasn't there.

I just gave a slight smile and an almost imperceptible shake of my head. A signal for him not to burst into public adoration or servitude.

“Of course, Madame Vance,” Monsieur Dupont said in a slightly trembling voice, guiding us to a private table in the most exclusive corner. “Please, this table is the best we have... for the two of you.”

Vivian was already waiting there. Her hair was short and blonde, her gaze was as strong as steel, and she was busy sipping a dark red liquid from a crystal glass. In front of her was a stack of digital documents glowing bright blue.

“Elara,” Vivian stood up, giving a smile that was more like a declaration of war than a warm greeting. “I almost thought you would back out because of the rumors of your G7 Chip's failure on the stock market today.”

Elara sat with her chin up. "Rumors are just rumors, Vivian. VanceTech still has control over this city's defense infrastructure.“

”Oh yeah? With an encryption system that's already starting to get moldy?“ Vivian chuckled softly, then her eyes shifted to me. ”And who's this guy next to you? The courier who met your grandfather? What's his name... Luke? Oh, Lucas. News travels fast among the directors, dear. Taking a parasite husband off the streets is the most reckless move you've ever made.“

Elara clenched her hands under the table, I could see the muscles in her neck tense. ”Lucas is my husband. His status is none of your business, Vivian. Now, let's talk about your cheap stock offer. I'm not interested in selling ten percent of Titan's assets just because of a few minor hacking issues.“

Vivian put down her glass with a sharp clink. ”Minor? G7 has a vulnerability in the ‘Prime-Prime-Zero’ protocol. Everyone in military security knows that.

In forty-eight hours, VanceTech's value will drop thirty points. The two billion dollar offer for ten percent of the shares is me being merciful."

Elara was silent. Information about the vulnerability was supposed to be a state secret. If Vivian knew about it, it meant there was a leak at the internal director level—most likely Marcus's doing.

“The ‘Prime-Prime-Zero’ vulnerability doesn't actually exist at the core protocol level, Miss Vivian,” I said suddenly, breaking the suffocating silence.

Elara turned to me with a deadly look, as if I had just detonated a bomb in the middle of the room. What are you talking about, Lucas?! Shut up! she whispered emphatically.

Vivian laughed mockingly, her eyes sparkling with delight at seeing her prey fall into the trap. “Oh, the parasite husband wants to talk? Tell me, little courier, do you even know what encryption means?”

I leaned forward slightly, my voice becoming very flat and professional. "G7 encryption is built on a continuous elliptic algorithm. What you call a vulnerability is actually a ‘honeypot’—an artificial trap to catch low-level intruders. The real vulnerability is in the asymmetric layer of the fourteenth module that Zenith Corp used to illegally copy our code this morning."

Vivian froze. Her smile vanished in an instant, replaced by an expression of confusion and fear that she tried to hide. “How did you... that's technical stuff that no layman could possibly know.”

“The military's Titan architecture uses a low-level programming language called ‘Shadow-Syntax,’” I continued expressionlessly, ignoring Elara's gasp. "If you try to break in through what you think is ‘Prime-Prime-Zero,’ the system won't crash. Instead, it will launch a ‘counterattack’ that will paralyze Zenith's entire central server in a matter of minutes. You weren't trying to save Elara with that two billion offer, Vivian. You were trying to buy the ‘kill switch’ because your system was already infected due to your own sabotage, wasn't that it?"