Chapter 56: A Soft Meat to The Grinder
— Meanwhile - IHB (International Hero Bureau) Local Branch —
Strauss sat in his personal office, staring at the screen in front of him. It displayed footage sent by the observation team he had assigned to monitor Maximilian.
The screen showed Ricardo and his gang entering Maximilian’s house, and just two days later, emerging completely transformed—buffed, full of muscle, and walking with the unmistakable posture of trained martial artists.
In just two days, these people had gained physiques and skills that would normally take at least a year or two to develop. There was no way that kind of transformation could happen without the help of alien tech or some kind of experimental equipment.
The question was... which one?
Even though Strauss had Level 9 clearance, he wouldn’t claim to know every secret the UEC had locked away. Some secrets were better left unspoken. He didn’t want to know things that were far above his pay grade... not if he wanted to stay alive and sane.
Should he submit a formal request for information regarding what he’d discovered? No... he shouldn’t.
Just because he liked working within the system and following rules didn’t mean he would follow them blindly. Sometimes, it was wiser to pretend not to know something.
If he submitted a request citing his team’s observations, and it turned out that what they had seen was classified information of the highest sensitivity meant only for top brass or the dead. He’d be shooting himself in the foot.
He wasn’t going to do that.
"Ugh..." Strauss groaned, clutching his head as dizziness and nausea washed over him. His hand fumbled through his drawer until he pulled out a small white inhaler.