Chapter 14
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Upon arriving home, Qi Yan went straight upstairs to take a shower.
Without turning on the lights, Lu Fenghan sat on the sofa with his long legs sprawled out, idly tossing the oval pebble that Qi Yan had just picked up from the roadside.
After tossing it a few times, he held the cold stone in his palm and dialed Vincent’s communicator.
The call connected quickly.
“Commander?”
The respectful address indicated that it was safe to talk. “Can you hack into Turan’s internal system? You don’t need to do anything else, just find a document on one of their optical computers.”
Vincent was silent for several seconds before asking, “Commander, what kind of impression did I give you in the past that made you think I’m capable of hacking into Turan’s intranet?”
Lu Fenghan: “Can’t you?”
“Of course not! Although it’s a matter of dignity for a man to admit he can’t do something, this really can’t be done!”
Vincent quickly provided Lu Fenghan with some insights, “You know, I used to study intelligence gathering at the First Military Academy. Back then, we often had simulated combat exercises involving hacking into the Starnet. A good rabbit only eats the grass around its burrow, and since Turan is just across the river, everyone liked to visit Turan’s intranet from time to time, and occasionally even offered to provide Turan with protective advice for a fee.
“Later on, the people at Turan might have gotten fed up with our frequent visits and our habit of demanding money every now and then—I always say, it’s important to know where to draw the line!”
After sighing deeply, he continued, “When Turan grew tired, they sought out someone to redesign their intranet firewall. That wall became impenetrable. From then on, the First Military Academy’s intelligence division had to bid farewell to Turan’s intranet with a heavy heart and tear-stained eyes.”
Lu Fenghan saw through it at once. “A good rabbit only eats the grass around its burrow, huh, or is it the generosity of Turan with its money that lured you?”
Vincent endeavored to salvage his pride, “Commander, it’s not as one-sided as you make it sound. Our interactions are mutually beneficial. After all, the vulnerabilities we unearthed were critical. Turan’s prominence makes it a constant target for cyber attacks.”
Lu Fenghan sought confirmation once more, “You’re certain we can’t breach it?”
Vincent affirmed, “Absolutely certain. The individual who erected that firewall is exceptionally skilled.” Then, with a hint of curiosity, he asked, “Commander, what exactly are you searching for?”
Lu Fenghan summarized the information he had gathered earlier, “A month ago, Dison’s death coincided with a major frontline defeat. His replacement, Weiss, rose to acting commander-in-chief. It’s evident that we weren’t the only ones who took notice.”
“You’re saying that someone else smelled something fishy, too, quietly obtained data from that hovercar, and conducted a covert investigation? Once they confirmed it was a murder, they realized they were in too deep, so they had the teacher delete all the data and pretend like nothing happened?”
Vincent concluded with a touch of sarcasm, “An Expeditionary Force where all its soldiers were unsure if they can live to see tomorrow, yet it is still being schemed against by so many forces. Quite impressive, isn’t it?”
Lu Fenghan’s gaze turned icy, akin to a blade shrouded in frost.
Vincent couldn’t hold back. “On the front line, everyone points their guns at the rebels, willing to use themselves as shields to protect the stars behind them. But this lot in Leto? They smile while aiming their barrels at their comrades. Commander, when you return to the front line, don’t forget to bring me along. Leto is exhausting, and staying here too long can shorten my lifespan.”
“Wait,” Lu Fenghan interrupted his complaints, halting the conversation abruptly. “Let’s put that aside for now.”
As the communication ended, footsteps echoed from the staircase, followed by the illumination of lights downstairs.
Qi Yan, fresh from the shower, approached in a loose silk nightgown. Tall and slender, his shoulders appeared delicate, while the light from the lamps bestowed a radiant glow upon the skin of his neck.
However, Lu Fenghan frowned. “What happened to your neck?”
A prominent red mark adorned Qi Yan’s neck, drawing attention conspicuously.
Examining the area, Lu Fenghan pondered, “Did something happen at school—”
Neither “scratched” nor “scraped” seemed fitting. Obviously, tree leaves wouldn’t have such sharp edges. Lu Fenghan settled for a more plausible explanation, “Did you get brushed by some leaves?”
It had been a while. How come it was not healed yet?
Could those leaves be toxic?
Qi Yan handed over a tube of healing gel, “You should apply this. It’s itchy.”
Lu Fenghan stepped closer and applied the clear healing gel, catching a whiff of its subtle, watery scent as he did so.
He asked in what sounded like an idle inquiry, “Who used to apply the ointment for you?”
Qi Yan tilted his head slightly and replied, “The nanny robot.”
Not his grandparents, nor anyone else, but a nanny robot had always been taking care of him?
Lu Fenghan naturally followed up, “Then why not have one at home as well?”
“It’s not safe.” Qi Yan waited for Lu Fenghan to retract his hand before adjusting his loosened collar. “Plus, I have you.”
Detecting the underlying sense of certainty in his words, Lu Fenghan didn’t take offense. Instead, he smirked. “Well, can’t argue with that.”
After applying the ointment, Qi Yan didn’t immediately leave. He asked Lu Fenghan directly, “If you want to access Turan’s intranet, I can help.”
Lu Fenghan’s gaze slightly darkened.
Having one’s thoughts laid bare wasn’t the most pleasant feeling.
His expression remained unchanged, giving no indication of what he might have been thinking in those brief seconds. He simply replied, “Well, thank you in advance.”
The two of them arrived at the study’s optical computer.
Watching Qi Yan methodically boot up the machine, inputting a series of commands, Lu Fenghan leaned against the desk, his gaze drifting to Qi Yan’s fair locks. Casually, he remarked, “The person who came last time was named Vincent. He studied intelligence gathering at the First Military Academy. He said Turan’s rebuilt firewall is unbreachable.”
Qi Yan’s fingers paused over the keyboard, somewhat surprised that Lu Fenghan had brought up Vincent.
He replied, “The person who designed this firewall is named August. He told me where he left a backdoor in the program.”
August?
Judging from the tone, they seemed to have a good relationship.
Unreasonably, Lu Fenghan felt a trace of unspoken animosity towards this person he only knew by name. Feigning indifference, he asked, “Someone you know?”
By this time, Qi Yan had already accessed Turan’s intranet through the backdoor and successfully logged into Tilia’s optical computer.
He answered Lu Fenghan while navigating through the system, “Yes.”
After a moment of contemplation, he added four more words, “Opponent I once defeated.”
Any hint of animosity that Lu Fenghan felt earlier vanished instantly.
Just an opponent he had once defeated.
“Tilia has wiped all the data, but it can be recovered.” Qi Yan made a copy of the data before exiting Turan’s intranet.
Scanning through the information swiftly, he continued, “Tilia examined the entire auntomatic driving system of the hovercar and found traces of intrusion three days prior to the accident.”
Qi Yan pointed out a section of abnormal data to Lu Fenghan. “Here, this implanted micro-program is called ‘Trigger.’ It’s extremely covert, undetectable by conventional means. Tilia’s expertise should be quite remarkable.”
“Trigger?” With his right hand propped on the edge of the desk and his left hand resting on the back of Qi Yan’s chair, Lu Fenghan leaned in to examine the data Qi Yan had marked. “What does it do?”
The glow of the screen illuminated his face, adding depth and severity to his features in the alternating light and shadow.
Due to his posture, Lu Fenghan was too close. Qi Yan’s fingers curled, and it took him a moment before he replied, “‘Trigger’ was originally developed by the rebels, used by them to assassinate individuals on the blacklist. Once implanted into the automatic driving system, the rebels can manipulate the vehicle at any time and location, making murder appear as a routine hovercar accident.”
“And it’s hardly detectable?” Lu Fenghan turned his head to look at Qi Yan.
Too close.
Avoiding Lu Fenghan’s gaze, Qi Yan focused on the screen. “Yes. To prevent detection by the Alliance, ‘Trigger’ has always remained under the control of the rebels and hasn’t leaked.”
This meant that Dison’s hovercar accident was orchestrated by the rebels.
Assuming Dison was the one who provided the jump point coordinates to the rebels on the front line.
But there was no evidence.
Furthermore, if Dison was indeed the traitor, then what role did the newly appointed acting commander-in-chief on the frontline play when he immediately ordered the Expeditionary Force to retreat to Turin Star and conceded twenty-three planets to the rebels upon taking office?
Could it also be possible that Dison wasn’t a traitor but was silenced because he knew some secrets he shouldn’t have known?
Seeing Lu Fenghan lost in thought, Qi Yan waited for a moment while seated, then couldn’t resist speaking up, “I’m going to bed now.”
Lu Fenghan hadn’t fully snapped out of his reverie. “This early? Well, it’s also good to sleep early and rise early for good health.”
Half of Qi Yan was shadowed by Lu Fenghan’s figure, and any movement would cause them to touch.
He had to remind, “Could you move aside first?”
“What?” Lu Fenghan snapped back to reality, only then realizing that his arm propped on the table and the one loosely draped on the chair back formed a half-circle, enclosing Qi Yan.
Qi Yan, like a small animal trapped in the middle, seemed rather restless.
Lu Fenghan straightened up. “Are you going to bed now?”
“Yes, I stayed up too late last night. I feel tired.”
With a glance at the fading mark on Qi Yan’s neck, Lu Fenghan replied, “Alright, I’ll wake you up tomorrow.”
In Classroom 6, a public lecture was underway, with every seat filled to capacity in the auditorium capable of accommodating hundreds of people.
Following the seat number received on his personal terminal, Qi Yan found his place and sat down with Lu Fenghan.
Xia Zhiyang and Chen Mingxuan were seated in front. Upon seeing Qi Yan, they turned around energetically to greet him, “Morning!”
Qi Yan, still feeling sluggish from the medication he had taken not long ago, responded briefly.
Xia Zhiyang noticed and asked Lu Fenghan, “Is Qi Yan sick?”
Lu Fenghan casually fabricated an excuse, “He didn’t sleep well last night.”
Qi Yan discreetly glanced at Lu Fenghan—he had actually gone to bed at eleven last night.
Xia Zhiyang subconsciously trusted what Lu Fenghan said and didn’t bother Qi Yan with further conversation. Instead, he moved aside to play games with Chen Mingxuan.
The classroom was somewhat noisy. Qi Yan rested his chin on his hand and heard someone calling his name. He turned his head and saw a guy with black hair and monolids standing nearby.
Qi Yan’s reaction was still a bit slow. “You called me?”
“I’m Mondrian,” the newcomer introduced himself with his name and didn’t waste a second, “I spent a few days deconstructing your PVC93 model and roughly understood your architectural approach.
“You abandoned the approach in the RN3 model, which focuses on noise reduction to improve data mining accuracy by sacrificing some low-quality data. Instead, you used PVC as the basic logic, emphasizing the intrinsic correlation between data. Through this method, you’ve managed to enhance both the speed and accuracy of data mining.
“But I couldn’t understand how you managed to simplify PVC even further, to the extent that it could run on a small optical computer.”
Qi Yan considered the limited time before class and wasn’t sure if he could explain it properly. So, he suggested, “Could you share your personal terminal number with me? I’ll send you the process of how I simplified PVC. Take a look, and if there’s anything unclear, feel free to ask.”
“Can I? Thank you so much!” Mondrian couldn’t hide his surprise. He had expected Qi Yan to be cold and aloof, and he had even prepared himself to come back and ask several times.
After Mondrian left, Xia Zhiyang turned around again, sighing. “That guy’s name is Mondrian. He’s in the same year as us. When he was in the first year, he applied for two patents, shocking us ordinary people! It’s said that both his parents were researchers, and their names were on the blacklist. They were assassinated by the rebels a few years ago. But Mondrian is determined, saying that no matter what happens, he will continue to pursue research.”
Qi Yan nodded, recalling the brightness in Mondrian’s eyes when he talked about the PVC93 model.
At the mention of the blacklist, Xia Zhiyang couldn’t resist boasting, “Speaking of which, in recent years, the most open-source tool models and programs are from God Y! If I ever create something in the future, I’ll choose to open-source it too!”
Qi Yan encouraged him, “That’s the way.”
Chen Mingxuan, engrossed in gaming, stabbed him in the back. “You can take the first step—try getting a couple fewer Cs on your exams.”
The next morning, the weather was gloomy, with continuous rain.
Personal terminals were equipped with air umbrellas, capable of completely shielding the rain.
Qi Yan, however, enjoyed the moist vapor of the rainy day, so Lu Fenghan had to hold up a large black umbrella, shielding Qi Yan as they walked through the rain.
Along the way, Lu Fenghan reminded him, “Qi Yan, you forgot to take your medication today.”
Initially, he assumed Qi Yan had just momentarily forgotten. But now, he suspected it was more than just forgetting to take his medicine.
“I did take my medication,” Qi Yan described the scene in detail, “After I finished the bread, I asked you to bring me the medicine bottle, and when you did, you also brought me a glass of water. After swallowing the medicine, there was still one-third of water left in the cup.”
Raindrops splattered on the ground, and the surroundings were filled with the rustling sound of rain, making distant objects appear blurry.
Holding the umbrella handle, Lu Fenghan looked at Qi Yan and pointed out, “I didn’t bring you the medicine or pour you water this morning.”
Qi Yan blinked slowly.
In his memory, Lu Fenghan was wearing the same white shirt as he was now, which prevented him from being suspicious.
So, was this memory also false?
“So, you must have remembered it wrong. Let’s go, we’ll be late.” Lu Fenghan didn’t say much more, just tilted the umbrella towards Qi Yan and didn’t mind his left sleeve getting wet with rainwater.
Under the umbrella, Qi Yan looked at him, “Did you bring the medicine then?”
“Yes, I was afraid you might forget, so I brought twice the amount in the car. You can take it later.” Lu Fenghan sighed lightly in his heart and added, “I also brought a water cup, so don’t worry.”
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Thanks for the chapter! When your own brain fails you, it is reassuring to have someone trustworthy who’ll remember for you.