Blind spot

"Sir."

Bardan glared at the one who spoke but didn't say anything.

"I know how we can get in."

"... How?"

"Well, he forgot about the walls..."

Ahh.

If the doors were much stronger than the walls then it would be better to break through the walls. Bank vaults were designed to be a cubic room with similar material for their walls and doors to be impenetrable against demolition attempts by thieves.

Lazarus was just a scientist after all. He was too focused on his research to think too much. He installed doors that were worth more than the mansion itself. In his opinion, that was more than enough security.

Besides, there were previously security guards stationed there and sentry guns but they were deactivated by the electrical engineer.

Bardan possessed the blueprints of the mansion. It wasn't difficult to breach an unmanned territory.

"Hahahaha!"

Bardan began laughing heartily. The men around him slowly joined in.

"What an idiot! The smartest man in the world is also the dumbest!"

They laughed even harder at the dead man.

Bardan gave a clap and everyone returned to their serious expressions.

"Let's get to work."

"Sir, should I cut the wall?"

"No, I'm an old man. I tire of waiting. Use the B5 bombs."

"Yes sir."

They all cleared out while two of them set up the B5 charges on the wall.

B5 is the latest in the series of plastic explosives. A decade earlier, the B4 was most commonly used across Ratuka and is analogous to C4 on Earth. Although B4 was an old favourite of many countries it was becoming outdated by other newly manufactured plastic explosives like MTEX.

However, the composition B series made a comeback by introducing B5 which is 25% stronger than MTEX, boasting an explosive velocity of 15,109 m/s (49,570 ft/s).

The wall of Lazarus's mansion was lined with sheets of lonsdaleite. The hardest material to land on some planets including Earth from outer space.

It comes from a carbon-filled asteroid that contains graphite. When it is hurtling through the atmosphere, only the outer layers become hot; for most of their journey before the collision, the insides remain cold. While most substances are forged in heat, Lonsdaleite is the opposite.

The pressure inside the meteoroid becomes greater than any other natural phenomenon on the surface of the planet as it hits the planet, allowing the graphite to collapse into a crystalline form.

However, it does not have a diamond cubic lattice, but a hexagonal lattice, which can actually achieve hardnesses that are 58 per cent greater than what diamonds accomplish.

On Ratuka, lonsdaleite meteor strikes are much more common and are even harvested by asteroid collectors, spacecraft that detects valuable resources inside asteroids and collects them back onto the planet for processing.

Therefore, the diamond tip carbide steel saw blade would not have been able to saw through the walls but with four B5 charges implanted at the corners of a square, a 2kg total of explosives was enough to blow a hole.

The resulting shrapnel would cut through a heavily armoured tank even if it was made of lonsdaleite.

Although the wall could have been cut down by an advanced model of a demolition laser, the B5 chargers were much quicker. Since Bardan wanted them to do it faster, he decided to use the B5 charges they brought regardless of the expense. It was because it was his idea of a celebration. Much like candles for a birthday cake.

The charges were activated by remote control and thunderous crash and a flash of flames blew the wall open.

The explosion was much stronger than anticipated so the opening created was much larger than the rectangular area that the B5s had marked.

After half of the dust has settled and they could see clearly, the vanguard entered using tactics similar to the SWAT team.

After they secured the area, the backline entered. Bardan nonchalantly looked at the destruction of the wall.

The materials used to make the wall were all blown away except for the sheets of lonsdaleite that was bent inwards at the edge of the hole.

The blast was so strong that all of the debris was broken into tiny pebbles and dust and shrapnel of lonsdaleite were embedded into the staircase in the grand foyer. In contrast, the adamantium door was completely untouched.

After signalling to each other, the men all scattered to search the mansion. After a couple of minutes, they returned.

"There's nothing related to his research upstairs. There are a few valuables but it's odd... there's hardly any furnishings." One man reported.

"Downstairs is the same, although there's a safe filled with a bit of cash." Another man reported in a deep accent.

"How much?" Bardan asked.

"10k."

It was more than enough to last for a month or so in food and utility bills but it was probably leftovers from buying the expensive research materials. If Lazarus could have used it, he would have before he died.

In contrast to the value of even a single sofa in the mansion, it wasn't much.

"He's dead in the basement. Some gadgets are laying around and a couple of lab equipment."

He was telling Bardan what he already knew. Still, they had to search the place before heading straight to the basement in case it was a trap.

"Right, show the way," Bardan asked.

"Let's go." The leader of the mercenary group said.

They entered the basement. The lighting was so bright it was like the sunrays were coming in from the walls.

There were some glass cabinets, shelves and long tables filled with prototypes and gadgets while the work table was clattered with tools and parts. That was the left side.

On the right was all the equipment for biochemistry including conical flasks, beakers, weight scales, refrigerators, centrifuges, pipettes, reagents etc. Then in the centre was a dried-up corpse in a wheelchair facing a person-sized capsule.

In the glass capsule was a man in his 30s.