The Retired Mercenary's Great Retaliation

"This is atrocious!" Greg yelled angrily because his authority had been challenged. "Mr. Chapman, didn't I tell you before that the warehouse investigation has to be conducted by professionals? How can you allow a stockkeeper to simply look into this?"

He went quickly to the screens and glanced at the red warning with a disappointed look on his face. He slammed the table hard. "Damn it! The footage has been destroyed! It could have been salvaged, but everything is gone now because someone looked at it without thinking!"

His words were a huge blow to everyone listening, and Tony's face fell. "What do you mean?"

Greg pointed at the screen. "Someone tampered with the system and overwrote the footage. We won't be able to continue investigating via security footage anymore."

Tony's expression turned darker with every word Greg said. Soon, his pale face turned red with anger as he suddenly turned to stare at me. He looked like he wanted to eat me alive. "James Leigh..." His voice was frighteningly low.

The contract I signed, which demanded $3.6 million in compensation, felt heavy on my shoulders. Everyone in the warehouse started whispering again. Some were gleefully waiting for more drama, while others took pity on my situation. There were some who gloated over my situation as well.

I looked right into Tony's murderous eyes and Greg's arrogant face, and I replied calmly, "He's wrong." The warehouse turned silent right away as I looked at the red screen and continued slowly, "The footage isn't damaged. This portion of the footage was deleted earlier by someone."

Greg burst out laughing. "That's ridiculous. What a bunch of nonsense!" He pointed at me and said to everyone around, "Did you even hear what he said? What does a stockkeeper know about surveillance systems? Do you know that deleting security footage requires permission from a higher authority?"

He turned to look at Tony while trying to provoke him. "You put too much trust in someone like him, Mr. Chapman. Now look where it's gotten you. The surveillance is gone, and we've lost all traces of any clues."

Tony clenched his fists slowly as the veins on the back of his hands throbbed. He pointed at me as his voice trembled with anger. "Explain yourself, Leigh, or else…" He glanced at the contract and said coldly, "Or else you won't walk out of this warehouse in one piece."

Intense pressure washed over me from every direction like a tidal wave. Tony's eyes glinted viciously at me, as if he could tear me apart the very next second. Greg stood to the side with a small smile on his face.

What little respect the workers of the warehouse had just developed for me vanished in an instant. They turned back into an audience, awaiting more drama. However, I was particularly calm. I pointed at a warehouse record in the footage on the screen and said to Lynn, "Look here."

She was taken aback but leaned closer to look.

"Number 4711," I remained levelheaded and said it loud enough for everyone in the warehouse to hear. "It's not a normal warehouse record. The real serial number for damaged equipment or system mishandling is usually the same, but this is a completely different number. This serial number means that someone tampered with the system from the outside.

"To put it simply, someone managed to bypass higher authority to modify the warehouse's security settings, which caused the system to go into auto lockdown," I said while turning to look at Greg.