Messing With Her? Are You Crazy! novel Chapter 1681

It was a palm-sized keycard, pitch black with a razor-thin silver trim lining its edges.

Devoid of any logos, it held only a micro-encrypted chip embedded in the center.

Serena flicked the black card with her thumb, a sly smirk playing on her lips. "If Obsidian Sun dared to smuggle Specimen Fourteen all the way from the cargo hold into the backstage of the auction, it means this was their prepared backup transit route all along."

"A pod like The Apex Bio-Transfer Pod isn't exactly something you can shove in your pocket and walk away with. If they planned to evacuate through here, there's no way they wouldn't have sorted out the security clearances and routing in advance."

Julian fell silent.

Jerrick mirrored his silence.

For a brief moment, neither spoke.

The quiet stretched on.

Serena toyed with the keycard, her eyes drifting back to them. Her smile was lazy, yet undeniably wicked. "Since they were so kind as to lay out an Emergency Green Corridor for us, it would be a shame not to use it."

Julian and Jerrick remained speechless.

In unsettling synchrony, they both stared at the access card in her hand before exchanging another brief, calculating look.

A heavy, eerie silence hung in the corridor for a full two seconds.

Julian pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses.

Jerrick turned his gaze away, his expression unreadable.

For once, neither man traded their usual barbed insults.

They had actually overlooked something so obvious.

If Obsidian Sun had chosen this logistics route, how could they not have prepared the necessary clearance?

They had both overcomplicated things—Julian using his Joker persona to stall the ship's crew, and Jerrick using his Fenris identity to secure the perimeter.

Yet the simplest, most direct key had been sitting right in the pocket of the Obsidian Sun operative bleeding out on the floor.

The Panacea never missed a beat.

Obsidian Sun had meticulously paved this path, only for Serena to hijack it and deliver Specimen Fourteen straight to the auction stage.

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