Sasha had once caused a major international incident after hacking into the Pentagon and stealing ssified national secrets, which ignited tensions with Russia.


    As a result, the Pentagon put a bounty on his head, and he became a wanted figure.


    Currently, Sasha works as a gray hat hacker, specializing in testing and reinforcingpany firewalls.


    Long before Hera returned, he had been working for the Avery Consortium, primarily offline.


    His main task was to strengthen and upgrade thepany’s firewall, which was crucial due to their centralized system that attracted numerous hacking attempts over the years.


    Hera, understanding this vulnerability, had Sasha secure Avery’s system even before she officially took over the consortium.


    Within Avery, few knew much about Sasha, except that he had a reputation as a dark web hacker.


    Over time, he rose through the hacker rankings, reaching the top while defending Avery’s systems, making him a force that deterred further hacking attempts.


    Anyone who attempted to breach Avery’s system quickly regretted it.


    Sasha not only traced their locations but also retrieved detailed activity histories from their devices before shutting down their servers. He then forwarded the incriminating data to the police in their respective countries.


    To make matters worse for the hackers, he ensured their devices crashed, leaving them scrambling to rebuild everything from scratch.


    If they were lucky and they had backups, then they can start over; if not, their only option was to flee the authorities and attempt to rebuild their lives while evading capture.


    And this well known hacker that was feared by many was only a teenager and if many found out about it, many would try to take advantage of him or target him more because of his talent and this scary idivisual is not licking his lollipop as he type on his keyboard.


    "You know what? ept that order but offer a discount—let’s only take 1 million for now," Sasha messaged.


    "Ah!"


    "What happened?!"


    "I just sent a reply declining the offer," the broker said, nervous and palm mping.


    "Why were you typing so fast?! Hurry, message them again and tell them I’m epting the offer!"


    The broker stared at Sasha’s message, speechless. Was he supposed to respond as slowly as a sloth?


    "And make sure you exin that you were replying to a different client, and sent it to them by mistake!" Sasha urged.


    The broker’s lips twitched in frustration. It wasn’t believable to im a mistake like that—each client had unique codes and usernames.


    As hackers living in the dark web, they were hyper-aware of such details.


    iming he made an error would not only damage his credibility but turn him into aughing stock. Still, he couldn’t argue with Sasha; they all knew how terrifying he could be.


    "A-alright, I’ll contact them again," he muttered reluctantly as he type his reply.


    Sasha didn’t have to wait long before he was connected to the client—Rafael’s assistant—who immediatelyunched into an exnation of the situation and what they needed Sasha to do.


    The assistant quickly provided Sasha ess to the security cameras’ backend, hoping he could determine if the system had been tampered with.


    They were at a loss over Minerva’s disappearance, and theck of footage itself suggested something critical: someone had hacked their system and deleted the evidence.


    "No need. I’ll handle it myself," Sasha typed back confidently before diving into action.


    Sasha replied even before Rafael’s assistant had a chance to send over the backend ess.


    As an experienced hacker, getting in on his own was a breeze for him.


    The assistant knew this, but offering the ess was more a gesture of trust, showing that they were fully willing to cooperate and provide Sasha with anything he needed.


    Without dy, Sasha began reviewing the security footage.


    As suspected, it had been hacked. He quickly restored the original footage and searched for the specific timeframe mentioned by the bodyguards when they were knocked out.


    Sure enough, Sasha uncovered something crucial. He immediately forwarded the recovered footage to Rafael’s assistant.


    Impressed, the assistant quickly asked if Sasha could also help trace the individuals and the vehicle they had used during the incident.


    The reason they hired Sasha was that restoring deleted files is no easy task, and tracking vehicles is even more challenging.


    To locate the vehicles, a hacker would need to breach the national security system, essing the city’s CCTV cameras and scouring the streets for clues.


    This process typically takes considerable time and requires a team of experts.


    Alternatively, they could seek permission from Dave to ess the entire city’s security footage to find Minerva.


    However, even that routees with its own protocols, which could further dy the investigation.


    Rafael didn’t have the luxury of time; by the time they received the green light, Minerva could be miles away.


    They had already lost too much time, and any further dys were uneptable.


    After receiving the footage from Sasha, the assistant stepped forward and yed it on his phone for Rafael, who was still seething with anger. As Rafael watched the original footage fromst night, his fury intensified.


    "Damn it! Get ready to move!" he barked at the bodyguards standing behind him, gripping the phone tightly, ready to smash it against the ground.


    "Sir! We need to consult Sasha to help us locate the young miss!" the assistant quickly intervened, stepping in front of Rafael to prevent him from destroying his phone.


    <i>’I just got this new phone after myst one got smashed a month ago,’</i> the assistant muttered to himself, ncing anxiously at the device in Rafael’s hand.


    As soon as he heard the assistant’s words, Rafael promptly returned the phone before striding away with heavy steps, his fury palpable—he moved as if smoke were billowing from his nostrils.