?279 Chapter 279 – Hole
Nick was above a Containment Unit.
Due to security reasons, Containment Units didn't have their entire ceiling covered in glass.
Or, more specifically, the cheap ones didn't.
The expensive ones were made of materials either treated with Zephyx or directly harvested from powerful Specters.
After all, level three Specters and higher could basically break through any kind of material that was created in the traditional sense.
Since the materials were treated with Zephyx, windows, entrances, and walls weren't really any different for the expensive Containment Units.
The only difference was the price, and the difference wasn't even that big.
This Containment Unit didn't count as one of the expensive ones.
The Containment Unit was lit up by one window on the ceiling, about one-by-one meters wide.
Even more, the window was over two meters lower than the light layer.
This meant that there was essentially an empty space above the window, about one by one by two meters in size.
Nick could materialize here without any issues.
However, there was no exit from this empty space.
When Nick looked through the window, he saw the Specter inside the Containment Unit.
It was a small grey ball with eight metallic legs coming out of it.
In a way, it looked like a cyber spider without eyes.
Nick wasn't sure what kind of Specter this was or what it could do.
Manufacturers kept their Specters secret, except for their biggest Specter.
For the Spartans, their biggest Specter should be their only Adult Specter, but it used to be the Grey Room.
Nick was certain that the Specter was not their sole Adult since the Containment Unit could only keep Adolescent Specters securely locked away.
An Adult would be able to break out of here with a bit of effort.
Nick also didn't think that this was the Grey Room.
It wasn't that it was impossible, but that Nick didn't think that he was that lucky.
For a while, Nick just looked at the Specter.
'I can't find a good exit from the light shaft, which means I have to go back to the entrance and enter the traditional way.'
Nick furrowed his eyes.
'But that's risky.'
He just kept looking at the Specter.
'Or…'
Nick took a deep breath.
A moment later, Nick looked at the window more closely.
He was searching for something specific.
After a while, he found it.
'Eight connection points,' Nick thought.
Naturally, as a Chief Zephyx Extractor, Nick needed to know how Containment Units worked, and he was making good use of that knowledge.
'The Specter is barely ten centimeters wide. I think I can get it through the connections.'
'But only if it is cooperative and listens.'
The next moment, Nick turned corporeal, and his ability deactivated immediately.
After all, he was now blocking a big part of the light shaft, which made a huge shadow appear in the middle of the Containment Unit.
The small Specter moved to the side of the Containment Unit.
It didn't have any eyes, but Nick was sure that it was perceiving him right now.
The next moment, one of Nick's metallic nails dug a hole in the middle of the window.
Naturally, the nails were made by an Elder.
Nick didn't even need to use a lot of power to poke a tiny, smooth hole into the window.
However, Nick deliberately didn't make the hole too big.
"Are you sentient?" Nick whispered through the hole.
The Specter just continued standing at the edge of the Containment Unit without saying anything.
"If you understand what I'm saying, make a scratching noise with your right leg."
The Specter didn't do anything.
"Listen, I'm not here to scout you out. I'm here to damage the Spartans. I wouldn't break such a valuable Containment Unit just to ask you questions."
"Do you want to go out and kill a couple of them or not?" Nick asked.
The Specter didn't move.
Nick waited for a bit.
Scratch.
Nick's eyes shone when he saw the front right leg of the Specter scratching on the ground.
"Alright, you understand me, right?" Nick asked.
Another scratch.
"Good," Nick said. "Are you willing to cooperate with me temporarily? Right scratch means yes, left scratch means no."
Right scratch.
"Alright," Nick said. "I am going to get you out of here. After that, we'll be traveling through the building and doing a couple of things. Maybe kill a couple of people. In exchange for your help, I'll let you escape out of the building on your own."
"Deal?"
Right scratch.
"Good to hear," Nick said with a smirk. "Can you climb the walls?"
The next moment, the small grey cyber spider scurried up the wall with impressive speed until it stopped below the window.
Right now, Nick was looking at the grey spider from up close, just a window between them.
"Move to the side a bit," Nick said. "These kinds of windows are connected with thin electrical wires."
"There are eight connection spots at the edge. Here, here, here, here, and on the opposite sides of them."
"Every spot has a wire coming out of it, leading into a mash in the middle that connects all the spots."
"If any of these wires get exposed to air, their current will change, which will trigger the alarm. We don't want that, obviously."
After Nick explained all of these things, the spider moved out of the way.
"I'm going to make a hole in the middle. When you move through the open space later, you have to be very careful not to crack the window."
A moment later, Nick put one of his nails on the window.
And then, he started to create smooth cuts in the middle of the window.
Without these extremely advanced and powerful nails, Nick wouldn't be able to cut a hole in the window without creating any cracks.
It took over three minutes until Nick finally managed to remove the layers of glass.
In the end, there was a hole about 30 centimeters in diameter in the middle of the window.
"Alright, you can come out," Nick said.
Then, the spider moved slowly and carefully towards the hole.