Master of Lust-Chapter 323 - -

Chapter - 323

The Swiss Alps at night were a vast, suffocating void of freezing darkness. The wind howled through the passes like a dying animal, stripping the warmth from anything foolish enough to be alive outside.

Rick, Sharon, and Nadia were huddled inside a stolen Land Rover Defender, parked on a snowy logging trail three miles below the peak where Valerius’s stronghold, ’The Observatory,’ sat like a brooding cyclops eye against the stars.

The heater was blasting, but the tension inside the cab was colder than the glacier outside.

"He’s stopped moving," Rick said, staring at the holographic map floating in his vision. The red dot representing the Quantum Marker he’d slapped onto Kovac’s neck was stationary. "He’s inside. Coordinates confirmed. Altitude: 3,500 meters. Structure is reinforced concrete, subterranean levels, and shielded against satellite imaging."

"It’s a Bond villain lair," Sharon muttered, checking the magazine of her MP7. She was wearing a new tactical snow-suit Rick had purchased from the System—sleek, white, thermal-lined, and ridiculously expensive. "Why do they always build these things on top of mountains? Do they hate pizza delivery?"

"It’s about control," Nadia said from the back seat. She was typing furiously on the black laptop, her face illuminated by the screen’s blue glow. "Isolation means they see anyone coming from miles away. There’s only one road up. It’s mined, camera-monitored, and guarded by drones. If we drive up there, we’re dead before we hit the first switchback."

"Which is why we aren’t driving," Rick said. He rubbed his temples. The Berserker’s Brew crash was long gone, but the impending cost of his next move was already giving him a phantom migraine.

He opened the System Inventory.

[Item: Quantum Marker]

[Active Link: Subject ’Kovac’]

[Action: Teleport to Marker?]

[Cost: 50% Stamina. Side Effects: Severe Nausea, Disorientation, potential molecular instability (minor).]

"I’m going in," Rick announced. "Solo."

Sharon looked at him sharply. "You’re teleporting? Rick, you said it takes half your energy. You’ll be warping into a fortress, exhausted, surrounded by enemies, with no backup."

"I’ll have the element of surprise," Rick countered. "And I won’t be alone for long. Once I’m inside, I’ll disable the external perimeter defenses. That’s your cue. You two take the Rover up the road. When the guns go offline, you breach the front door and bring the rain."

"This is a terrible plan," Sharon said. "It relies on you not vomiting on your shoes the second you materialize."

"I have a strong stomach," Rick lied.

He turned to the System Shop. He needed to prep the battlefield before he even got there. He needed something that would turn Valerius’s high-tech fortress into a haunted house.

[Shop > Gadgets > Espionage]

[Item: ’The Poltergeist’ Protocol Drive]

[Description: A USB drive containing a sentient, chaotic AI fragment. When inserted into a network, it randomly opens doors, triggers alarms, overloads lights, and plays polka music at 100db. Distraction Rating: S-Tier.]

[Cost: $75,000.]

"Bought," Rick said. A small, skull-shaped USB drive appeared in his hand. He tossed it to Nadia.

"Change of plan," Rick said. "I’m not just disabling the guns. I’m plugging this into their mainframe. Nadia, once this is in, I need you to ride the chaos. Use the backdoor it creates to upload the fake Croft Ledger virus."

Nadia caught the drive, examining it. "This looks... malicious."

"It’s very malicious. Sharon, give me the C4."

Sharon handed him the bricks of plastic explosive from the inventory supply. Rick stuffed them into the inner pockets of his suit jacket. He checked his tie. He checked his Patek Philippe. He checked the suppressed MP7 strapped under his arm.

"Okay," Rick said, taking a deep breath. "If I don’t radio in five minutes, assume I materialized inside a wall and just drive away. Go to Fiji. Have a margarita for me."

"Rick..." Sharon started, reaching out to touch his arm.

Rick winked. "See you on the other side, partner."

He focused on the red dot in his mind. He visualized the space behind Kovac’s neck. He willed the universe to bend.

[ACTIVATE QUANTUM ANCHOR]

The world didn’t dissolve; it shattered.

Rick felt like he was being squeezed through a straw made of ice and static. His vision went white, then black, then a kaleidoscope of impossible colors. His stomach lurched into his throat, and his ears popped with the force of a gunshot.

ZAP.

He slammed into existence.

He wasn’t in the car anymore.

He was standing on a polished concrete floor. The air was warm and smelled of antiseptic and ozone.

Rick doubled over, dry heaving. The nausea was instant and violent, like the worst hangover of his life multiplied by ten. His knees shook. His stamina bar in the HUD flashed red.

[Stamina: 50%]

[Status: Disoriented.]

He forced himself to breathe. In. Out. Don’t puke on the expensive floor.

He looked up.

He was in a medical bay. Bright surgical lights. Stainless steel tables.

And sitting on the edge of a bed, shirtless, with a doctor bandaging his leg, was Kovac.

Kovac looked up. His eyes went wide. He dropped the bottle of water he was holding. It shattered on the floor. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Rick stood up, straightening his suit. He fought down the bile rising in his throat and forced a winning, terrifying smile onto his face.

"Hello, Kovac," Rick rasped. "I believe you owe me ten million dollars."

The doctor froze, the bandage half-wrapped. Kovac stared, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "How... you were... on the mountain..."

"I’m everywhere," Rick said, stepping forward. "Now. Take me to your leader. Or I trigger the implant I put in your neck and blow your head off."

He didn’t have an implant in Kovac’s neck that exploded. He had a tracker. But Kovac didn’t know that. Kovac knew Rick had put something there, and he had just seen Rick materialize out of thin air. Kovac believed in magic now.

Kovac touched the back of his neck, his face draining of color. "Valerius... he is in the Core. The server room."

"Excellent," Rick said. He looked at the doctor. "Doc, you’re taking a nap."

"SLEEP."

The Voice of Command hit the terrified doctor. He slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Rick grabbed Kovac by his uninjured arm, hauling him up. "Walk. And if you try to alert anyone, I press the button."

They moved into the hallway. The Observatory was impressive. It was carved directly into the granite of the mountain. The walls were raw stone meeting high-tech glass and steel. It was silent, sterile, and crawling with guards.

Rick kept Kovac close, using him as a human shield and a passkey. They passed two guards in a corridor.

"Mr. Kovac," one guard nodded, eyeing Rick suspiciously. "Who is this?"

"A... a consultant," Kovac stammered, sweat beading on his forehead. "Brought in by... by the Boss. Urgent meeting."

The guard frowned, his hand drifting to his sidearm. "I wasn’t informed of any—"

Rick didn’t wait. He didn’t have the stamina for a prolonged fight. He needed to be efficient.

He activated his Inventory.

[Equip: High-Voltage Taser Knuckles]

He let go of Kovac, stepped forward, and punched the guard in the throat. ZAP.

The guard convulsed and dropped. The second guard reached for his radio. Rick spun, a backfist connecting with the man’s temple. ZAP.

Both guards were down, twitching on the floor.

"Move," Rick hissed, dragging Kovac over the bodies.

"You are insane," Kovac whispered. "Valerius will dissect you."

"He can try," Rick said. "Where is the security hub? I need to plug something in."

"It... it is on the way to the Core. The door on the left."

They reached a heavy security door marked SERVER ACCESS. It was locked with a biometric keypad.

"Open it," Rick ordered.

Kovac pressed his hand to the scanner. Access Granted.

Rick shoved Kovac inside. The room was filled with humming server racks and a single technician monitoring a wall of screens.

The tech spun around. "Hey! No entry!"

Rick shot him with the taser knuckles. The tech slumped over his keyboard.

Rick pulled the Poltergeist Drive—the skull-shaped USB—from his pocket. He found the main terminal. He jammed the drive into the port.

[System Notification: Virus Uploaded.]

[Poltergeist AI: Online.]

[Chaos Initiated.]

Instantly, the lights in the facility turned red. Then green. Then strobe. A deafening, polka-beat version of "Flight of the Bumblebees" began blasting over the PA system at maximum volume.

DOOT-DOOT-DOOT-DOOT-DOO-DOO-DOO...

"What have you done?" Kovac screamed over the music.

"I rang the doorbell," Rick yelled back. He tapped his earpiece. "Sharon! Nadia! The perimeter is confused! Come on up! It’s a party!"

He dragged Kovac back into the hallway. The strobe lights were flashing. Guards were running around in confusion, shouting orders that were drowned out by the aggressive polka music. Doors were opening and closing randomly.

"Now," Rick said, reloading his MP7. "Take me to Valerius."

** ** ** ** **

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