Urban System in America-Chapter 44 - 43: Bombshell Evidence

"NO."

Rex hurriedly grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"Wait, wait for a while. This is the moment when most people let their guard down and get caught. Always wait longer than you think you need."

Adrian frowned, a bit confused, but in the end, he still trusted Rex and obeyed.

Minutes passed, and the tension in the air thickened.

Suddenly, the door creaked open again.

Four or five staff members exited the building, talking and laughing, and waving their goodbyes.

Adrian watched, stunned. Cold sweat broke out, if they had moved even a bit earlier, they would’ve walked straight into them.

He gulped and turned to look at Rex, who watched the scene calmly.

He’s different... definitely different... calm... calculating.

He didn’t know that Rex had this side to him.

But instead of being stunned, Adrian felt admiration for him, heartfelt admiration.

Ten more agonizing minutes passed.

Finally, there was no more movement.

"Alright, let’s move," Rex said, standing up slowly, his voice calm but firm.

"You stay here or find a better place to hide and keep watch. Rex instructed, looking Adrian in the eye. "As long as anyone comes in your field of vision, text me immediately, even if you don’t think they are suspicious. Don’t hesitate."

"Alright," Adrian nodded heavily with determination in his eyes, then moved toward a better location to keep an eye on the way leading here.

Rex watched him hide carefully, stretched his body and then exhaled deeply,

With slow, calculated movements, he slipped into the shadows, carefully treading toward the backside of the building while avoiding the line of sight of CCTV cameras.

After finally reaching the designated location, he slowly walked out of the shadows. Fortunately, there was no surveillance on the backside of the building.

Seeing that the window of Professor Clement’s office was still open, he felt a sense of relief wash over him and breathed a sigh of relief.

Carefully moving closer, he came under the window.

His gaze fell on the sturdy metal drainage pipe nearby, exactly as he had planned.

Taking a deep breath, he started climbing the pipe, the tension in his muscles coiling with every movement.

It wasn’t the first time he had done something like this; he had done more outrageous things in his past life, but in this life, it was definitely his first time.

The pipe groaned slightly under his weight, which scared Rex a bit, but it held.

His finger slipped on the rust, which scared him so much that he almost fell, but he gritted his teeth and still held on.

Finally, with a soft grunt, he reached the ledge, shoved the window open, gripped the window frame hard, and managed to slip inside as he landed softly on the polished hard floor.

Once inside, he took long deep breaths to calm his pounding heart.

After finally calming down, he finally had time to look around.

The office was dark, the air heavy with the scent of coffee, leather, and old wood. Faint sunlight filtered through the window, casting long shadows across the room, but it wasn’t enough to illuminate the space fully.

So, he turned on the flashlight of his mobile and looked around.

What came into his view was a seemingly simple but luxurious office with leather sofas, abstract paintings on the wall, and a thick rug sprawled across the center of the room.

An antique heavy wooden desk anchored the space, and on top sat a sleek high-end laptop beside a vintage-looking globe, an empty ivory pen holder, and a round crystal paperweight.

To the right was a glass cabinet, which neatly displayed various items like academic awards, thick volumes, and a few personal items, including a picture frame with his photo.

Even after looking carefully, he didn’t find any CCTV cameras, which made sense, as someone like him wouldn’t risk being recorded in his dirt.

He walked over to the desk, sitting in the plush leather chair. A groan of discomfort escaped him, not from the chair, but from the power that seemed to emanate from everything in the room. Everything was pristine, controlled, luxurious.

But now wasn’t the time to appreciate these things. Pulling out the small USB device, he powered up the laptop.

Locked.

As expected.

But he didn’t care; he had already considered it in his plan and carefully loaded this USB with a custom tool.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he plugged in the USB. His hands moved swiftly as he launched the bypass sequence. his heart beating faster as the process began.

The minutes felt like hours, as the process took some time, his skills were still limited, but even then, in about four or five minutes, he unlocked the device easily.

With a soft final click, the lock screen vanished, revealing a perfectly organized desktop.

He was overjoyed and exhaled slowly, steadying his fingers on the trackpad.

But he didn’t waste time and hurriedly started digging in.

At first glance, everything looked perfectly normal.

The desktop was clean and organized, the folders labeled with typical academic jargon—Course Plans, Research Papers, Student Evaluations, Conference Reports.

There was even a folder titled Grant Applications 20xx–20xx. A well-crafted illusion of a respectable, high-performing academic.

But Rex didn’t buy it. He wasn’t here for mundane academic files.

He opened a few documents, skimming through mundane attendance logs and dry academic correspondence just to be sure. Still, nothing out of place.

He narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn’t keep your filth in the open, would you?" he muttered.

He navigated deeper into the file system, opening hidden folders, searching for odd file sizes, strange extensions... anything that felt off.

Then he finally found it.

Buried under layers of subfolders inside a seemingly random folder titled "BackupSettingsOld" were several encrypted virtual drives... unmarked and locked with strong multi-tiered encryption.

Bingo!

His heartbeat quickened as he launched the bypass sequence, a specialized program he had prepared just for this purpose.

The screen flickered. A loading bar crawled forward as lines of code scrolled across.

Decrypting...

One minute... two... four...

Then... Access Granted.

The drive mounted with a soft chime, and its contents spilled across the screen.

What Rex saw made his blood run cold.

Dozens of folders, each labeled with a girl’s first name and an initial. Blair M., Ellie C., Hannah J. The list went on and on.

He clicked one. Inside were photos and videos, each timestamped, taken across different locations—the professor’s office, a car, hotel rooms, classrooms, even the university parking lot.

Not just Blair. There were many. Too many. And looking at the timestamps, it was obvious that it had been going on for years.

Some videos looked like secret recordings, blurry camera angles, muffled audio, while others were disturbingly clear and staged. It wasn’t just about favors and money anymore.

This was systematic. Organized. Sickening.

His hands trembled slightly as he scrolled. His lips tightened into a thin line, rage boiling beneath his skin.

This wasn’t just abuse of power. It was a predator running his operation under the nose of a prestigious university.

And it wasn’t just these explicit pictures and videos. There was more.

He also found several folders named with student IDs and vague titles like "Special Cases" and "Pending Favors."

Opening the first one, his eyes widened.

’Bank receipts.’ Screenshots of large money transfers with subject lines like "Support for Academic Resources." Some were paired with follow-up emails from parents, clearly hinting at expectations—"Hope this helps with our daughter’s performance this term."

Photos of gift boxes, receipts, or even expensive items—handbags, watches, phones—that were photographed.

Recommendation letters clearly praising students far beyond their abilities, some reused with different names and minor tweaks.

A document with student names and short notes beside them:

"Blair – compliant, useful"

"Hannah – hesitant, keep pressure"

"New target – Math major, needs funding"

One section even contained audio files—snippets of calls and in-person recordings, some with threats, some with deals being made in hushed tones.

Rex sat still, breath shallow.

This wasn’t just a scandal, it was a whole empire of corruption.

Then, just as he began preparing to copy the data—

Ding.

A message from Adrian popped up on the screen.

"Someone’s here."

(End of Chapter)