The System of Justice

Chapter 4: The Predator’s Shadow

Arga did not waste a single second. He grabbed Hardi’s phone from the floor to confirm one final detail.

[System Command: Security Data Extraction in Progress... 100%]

[Data Successfully Stored in Virtual Evidence Vault.]

"Smoke!" Arga muttered.

Arga grabbed a remaining bottle of high-proof alcohol from the table, smashed it near the electrical wires exposed during the previous fight, and ignited it with Hardi’s fallen lighter.

WHOOSH!

A small flame licked the alcohol, creating a plume of smoke and triggering the room's sprinkler system. Water began to spray from the ceiling, adding to the chaos. Amidst the mist and smoke, Arga pulled the pin on a flashbang grenade belonging to an unconscious aide and tossed it toward the door.

BANG!

The deafening explosion coincided with the door being kicked open from the outside. A blinding white light neutralized the twelve newly arrived guards. In that split second, Arga leapt back onto the marble table and grabbed the edge of the ventilation opening.

[Evacuation: 5 seconds remaining. Pull yourself up now!]

With a powerful pull of his arm muscles, Arga vanished into the darkness of the air duct just as bullets began to rain blindly into the room.

"General, are you alright?" one of the guards asked.

"Damn it! Where is he?!" shouted a guard below, but all they found was Hardi crawling in terror and General Anton standing frozen with a shattered expression.

"Catch him. Search for him until you find him!" Anton ordered, consumed by rage.

"General, forgive me," Hardi said, approaching Anton. However, Anton immediately brushed his hand away.

"You are incompetent, Hardi!" he roared before leaving, escorted by four guards.

On the other side, Arga crawled quickly through the narrow metal pipe. His breath was ragged, but his mind was working clearer than ever.

[Mission Completed Perfectly.]

[Bonus Reward: Justice Points +500]

[Feature Unlocked: 'Safe House' Secret Base Location (Abandoned Apartment, Sector 7).]

Arga successfully exited through the roof. Heavy rain immediately lashed his face—cold but refreshing, as if washing away the remnants of his overflowing anger. He stood at the edge of the building, gazing at the glittering lights of Jakarta below.

"I will expose their rot!" Arga whispered, his emotions surging. "Prosecutor Pratama Putra... you are the next target."

Suddenly, the system screen flickered purple—a color Arga had never seen before.

[Encrypted Message Received from Anonymous Sender: 'Ghost']

"Good work in VIP 1, Detective. But if you're only targeting the prosecutor, you're just clipping the dragon's claws, not taking its head. Need help hacking his private server?"

Arga narrowed his eyes. Someone was watching him through the club's security system.

"Who are you?" Arga asked the void.

[System Suggestion: 'Ghost' identity detected as a hacker highly sought after by Hardi's institution. They hold the keys to destroying Pratama Putra's career overnight.

"A hacker? Does this mean someone else has a system like this?" he muttered.

[System Reply: Negative. 'Ghost's' hardware is high-level human technology, but not connected to the Detective System Protocol.

Arga breathed a sigh of relief, though his guard remained high. "Okay, Ghost. If you’re really that good, prove it. I need the original CCTV footage and the autopsy report falsified by Prosecutor Pratama," Arga said into his watch, hoping the system's microphone would catch his voice.

[Message from Ghost: Check the coordinates I sent. I've planted a 'backdoor' in Pratama's private server. You only need to get within a 50-meter radius of his residence to d******d the encrypted data. The rest? I’ll handle making the internet explode tonight.]

Arga wasted no time. Using a Black Cab ordered through the system, he sped to an elite residential area in the South. There, a magnificent house with a high fence stood arrogantly—the home of Prosecutor Pratama Putra.

"I have to sneak in and get all that evidence," he muttered, grabbing a black cap and all-black clothes he had stashed in a bag on the backseat.

Arga parked the Black Cab in the shadows of a large tree, about forty meters from the prosecutor’s main gate. The atmosphere was silent, save for the rustle of leaves in the strong wind. In his eyes, the system screen began to map the house's security layout.

[Security Detection: 8 Infrared CCTV Cameras, Motion Sensors in the Garden Area, and 4 Private Guards at the Front Post.]

"Ghost, do you hear me? I’m going in," Arga whispered while tightening his black gloves.

[Ghost: I've disabled the motion sensor feedback on the east side for 60 seconds. Move fast, Detective. If you get caught, I can't erase the physical footage in their control room.

Arga dashed forward, leaping over the three-meter fence with a physical boost from the system that made him feel as light as cotton. As soon as his feet touched the grass, he pressed against the wall, moving with precise rhythm through the camera blind spots.

[Warning: Encrypted signal weakening. You must get closer to the target's study on the second floor.

"Damn it," Arga cursed. He had to get inside.

Relying on structural weakness analysis, Arga found a small window on the second floor that wasn't locked tight—his entry point to the prosecutor's study. He nimbly climbed a concrete pillar and slipped inside. The smell of expensive cigars and masculine perfume filled the air. Arga found himself in a study lined with neatly arranged legal books—a bitter irony for an owner who had just sold the law for bribes.

Arga quickly approached the laptop on the desk and plugged in a flash drive. "Ghost, I'm connected."

[D******d Process Initiated!]

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed from behind the large teak door. Arga, on high alert, watched the door while waiting for the d******d to finish.

The teak doorknob began to turn. Arga's heart pounded—not out of fear, but from a peak of adrenaline. His eyes darted to the laptop screen, where the progress bar crawled slowly.

[D******d Progress: 78%... 82%...]

"Dammit, just a little more!" Arga whispered.

He immediately searched for a place to hide. The study was spacious but lacked furniture large enough to hide his frame. With a tactical move, Arga slipped behind the heavy velvet curtains covering the large window just as the door opened.

A man in an expensive suit entered the room. It was Prosecutor Pratama Putra. His face looked haggard, and his phone was pressed to his ear as he spoke with heavy emotion.

"Listen, General! The situation at the Abyss has spread everywhere! Hardi is completely useless!" Pratama barked as he paced directly in front of his laptop. "I’m moving all physical evidence copies tonight. We can’t let the original CCTV recording stay on this server."

Arga held his breath. His fists were clenched behind the curtain. If he jumped out now and took down Pratama, the d******d might be interrupted.

[D******d Progress: 92%... 95%...]

"I know! I know!" Pratama slammed several files onto the desk, just inches from the plugged-in flash drive. "Tomorrow morning, I'll make sure all key witnesses are silenced forever. Including Arga's wife in the hospital. We can't take risks."

Hearing Sarah’s name mentioned in a murder plot, Arga’s jaw tightened. The flash of fury in his eyes almost made him lose control. However, a subtle notification on his watch gave a signal.

[D******d Complete. 100%.]

[All original data, including unedited CCTV footage and bribery flow records, secured.]

"Ghost, get me out now!" Arga thought.

Suddenly, the indicator light on the flash drive blinked a bright red—a glitch or perhaps a security feature of the prosecutor's laptop.

"What is this?" Pratama frowned. He saw the foreign object plugged into his laptop. His eyes widened. "Who’s there?!"

***