Watching a group of fully equipped cleaners being allowed into the gate after agents checked they were unarmed, the deputy minister, who temporarily took over power due to the 'assault' on his superior, felt a slight relief.

"Has the municipal department figured out the cause of this incident?"

This is no longer just a blunder.

The secretary wearing a mask replied,

"Recently, there hasn't been any sewage maintenance work on the company square, and the municipal system has no records of such, nor have other companies reported similar issues. If there were to be any updates to our building's water supply system, we should have been notified in advance..."

In other words, this was an attack specifically targeting Zeta Technology.

Moreover, the means employed by the opposition were extremely vicious, completely surpassing all pre-arranged contingency plans of the action department, making it impossible to guard against.

He asked the secretary, "Who do you think could be behind this?"

The secretary pondered for a moment,

"Ordinary mercenaries wouldn't have the technical resources to carry out such a task. It must be another company, possibly due to one of our recent projects catching someone's attention, or it could be retaliation for past conflicts."

The company's recent projects... 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

If there is something of paramount importance that Zeta Technology is currently researching, it would be the Human Brain Array.

Regardless of the opponent's objective, it is always wise to maintain strict security measures.

"Enhance defenses, close and lock the gate on the 31st floor, and during this period, no one is allowed to enter or exit. Even hovercar inspections must be conducted stringently."

"Understood."

————

The scene inside the company was a hellscape that took every cleaner's breath away.

They weren't without experience, having seen their share of messy rental houses piled with trash and crawling with cockroaches, or even decomposing corpses that stank to high heaven.

But this scene before them was one they had truly never witnessed before.

Black, stinking sewage pooled into pits, the floor was covered with half-digested remains, torn plastic bags, tissues, and even water was continuously flowing down from the stairs to the first floor.

It was more like a grand dung hell than a high-tech company.

The cleaners swallowed hard, imagining the despair the employees at Zeta Technology must have felt when the incident occurred.

Even wearing protective suits and gas masks, walking through this mucky water was a struggle, overcoming the psychological barriers was tough enough, and the thought of the cleanup work ahead was enough to make them lose their appetite.

Yet among all the cleaners, it was only the employees from the Ogasawara company who acted unusually natural, as if the filth beneath their feet was invisible to them, striding across the cesspool with the poise of seasoned soldiers charging towards battle.

Someone exclaimed,

"Doesn't this disgust you at all?"

Their voice was heard by a player, who turned back and left them with a light, floating remark:

"You'll get used to it; this isn't much compared to what we've seen before. You've never witnessed a real hell."

Kidding? Last time they encountered something similar, they didn't even have protective suits, battling through a sea of excrement in the flesh, something no normal human could endure.

What's happening now is mere peanuts.

Yet the players' words commanded respect from everyone who heard them.

No wonder they hailed from a Neon cleaning company.

Otherwise, why would they be called the Legendary Sweeping Immortals?

People had long heard how meticulous and focused the Neon People were, striving for perfection to the point where they would wash tableware dozens of times, their toilet water was even drinkable.

And seeing them now, it truly lives up to the reputation!

Some petty leaders couldn't help but tell their own cleaners,

"Learn well from them, or else why are they a developed nation? Their quality is simply undeniable; our United States is far behind, both in development and personal caliber."

"I heard that in Tokyo, the dust on each brick on the avenue is strictly regulated..."

These flattery words weren't heard by the players, and even if they were, they wouldn't care.

Because after being in Night City for so long, they had embraced such topsy-turvy settings, simply treating them as antics from the writing team.

Potato couldn't help but mention in the channel,

"Didn't Tutu claim they could reach the 49th floor? Why did they stop at the 30th floor? I should never have trusted those garbage people's words, ruining my flawless plan."

Along the way, Brother Ni carefully observed, gathering more intelligence than others.

"No, I just heard someone say that below the 30th floor is the office area, and from the 31st to the 45th floor is the experimental area. The water usage systems are different there, hence they have a separate drainage system and escaped this disaster."

Potato: "What now? We can't blend in upstairs anymore, how do we collect the mission items?"

The players' plan was to sneak upstairs under the guise of cleaning, locate the experiment data, and steal the technology. Now, not being able to reach the target floor seemed like a total failure.

Brother Ni was constantly observing the surroundings,

"We'll act according to circumstances; once I settle the issue at the monitoring center, I'll let Exchange Coupon and the others try moving upward. If that fails, Pandora and her team might have to risk accessing Zeta Technology's data fortress and give us a fighting chance."

At this stage, giving up was not an option; they would steal the technology by any means necessary.

For a large company like Zeta Technology, the internal structure of the building was always divided into public and non-public areas.