Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
The base of the CNC Technology Application Center was extremely discreet, a decision made by the country due to the value of the technology. Surrounded by lush green foothills, only a winding highway cut through the area. On the map, there wasn't even a road leading to the Fengta Biotechnology Center; all vehicles could only move forward, with no choice but to continue on. The Fengta Biotechnology Center was situated at the highest point of the eastern foothills.
Inside the vehicle, no one spoke; only the car's music played a loop of love songs. Yang Meng stared blankly out of the window at the trees, resting her chin on her palm, her mind filled with memories of her previous encounters with An Xiaotian. Now, this bittersweet longing was destined to repeat itself like the car's music.
The already overcast sky made the trees lining the road appear even darker. Suddenly, there was a flash of black; Yang Meng's eyes took a moment to adjust as she looked up and realized they had driven beneath the highway.
The off-road vehicle carrying Yang Meng and her colleagues had not taken to the highway but was climbing steadily up a mountain. Ahead lay a narrow dirt path worn by tires, clearly the only route leading to the Fengta Biotechnology Center.
Since starting her job at the Satellite Bureau, this was Yang Meng's first visit to such an important location. After all, she was just a new employee and her understanding of the Satellite Bureau had been limited to its headquarters in City S. However, this emergency gathering required all technical staff to assemble here, regardless of their tenure, highlighting how seriously upper management regarded the recent "Control Lock Disturbance."
Twenty minutes later, the off-road vehicle reached the mountaintop. The slope was gentle, and surprisingly, the base appeared flat without any obvious tiered structures. The beige gate scanned their vehicle and automatically granted entry for Yang Meng and her group.
"Ugh... I really don't get it," said a plump uncle who stretched lazily after stepping out of the car and walked over to Yang Meng. "If they wanted to report something, why not just do it? How could it possibly be us? I really don’t understand what they’re thinking."
"Exactly! We all have clear alibis," another colleague chimed in.
"Who has nothing better to do than cause trouble here? Isn’t it better to nap in the office?"
Soon enough, colleagues gathered around, voicing their complaints about this emergency assembly. Yang Meng felt similarly disgruntled but noticed that most of her coworkers were middle-aged men and women in their thirties or forties—some even in their fifties. She felt a generational gap and quietly followed behind them toward the designated meeting point.
Due to geographical constraints, the entire base was small, consisting of only three white single-story buildings. Besides the administrative office and cafeteria located at the center of the base, the other two buildings housed nearly all technology and control systems related to the Heavenly Eye satellite and its Armed Satellite Matrix. Nearby was an open-air experimental site managed by Unit Three's control center.
"This unexpected situation is very serious," began one of the officials addressing them. "First of all, the Heavenly Eye satellite and its Armed Satellite Matrix are currently our country's only operational space combat strategic system. I have emphasized its importance countless times before each of you officially joined! Unauthorized thoughts regarding Control Lock are strictly prohibited! Only personnel from our technical department know the specific location of the control center; you should also understand what could happen if this information is leaked..."
Yang Meng's group arrived last; as they pushed open the door, they found that Director of Satellite Bureau was already speaking at the front. As Director's secretary, Yang Meng recalled asking him beforehand if she should retrieve a USB drive from his safe. However, for some reason, he had firmly refused her offer this time—a stark contrast to his usual gentle demeanor that trusted her completely—indicating that he now viewed everyone in technical department with suspicion, even Yang Meng.
"Secondly," he continued, "the Control Lock Disturbance has already made headlines. Do you know what that means? There will be accountability from above! I must provide them with an explanation. I hope those responsible will step forward voluntarily so we can resolve this quickly without dragging everyone else down."
However, after he finished speaking, everyone in attendance exchanged curious glances with one another but no one showed any signs of guilt or raised their hands as if they were waiting for someone else to take responsibility—much like a teacher asking who broke a classroom window.
"Okay," said Director sternly as he surveyed everyone around him. "Since you're all afraid of being investigated for dismissal, shall we proceed according to plan?" He added ominously, "You can't escape this; we are at Satellite Bureau after all—police expect us to pinpoint suspects' locations."
What puzzled Director was that despite his pressure tactics, everyone seemed detached and indifferent as they surveyed their surroundings—clearly waiting for something entertaining to unfold. He decided then and there to contact headquarters for recent GPS satellite footage. After thorough investigation, everyone's movements appeared consistent with reality; no one seemed idle enough to tamper with Heavenly Eye's Control Lock system.
Yang Meng had solid evidence proving her innocence; Captain of The Celestial Warriors Alliance was her boyfriend—she could simply make a call.
Director was aware that The Celestial Warriors Alliance had recently revealed its identity but after Yang Meng provided her alibi and everyone else presented theirs as well, it became impossible to identify who had caused trouble.
"Someone must take responsibility for this," Director lamented while tugging at his graying hair in frustration. He firmly believed that whoever caused this incident was present in that meeting room; if they didn't find out who it was soon enough, he would bear responsibility himself.
Yang Meng looked around at her colleagues; everyone appeared relaxed—not at all like people who had caused trouble.
Since we can't find out who it is... Yang Meng lowered her head. Since we can't find out, why not investigate what kind of attack the Control Lock was subjected to? The intruder bypassed all system authorization steps and directly attacked the last line of defense. What kind of hacker could so easily crack the information protection measures designed for national secrets? However, regardless of the circumstances, the intruder did not succeed, which means there must be traces left on the last line of defense. The staff from the Information Security Department could trace back the intruder's movements from these traces and surely find the source information...
This thought suddenly surged into her mind. Yang Meng looked up just in time to see the Director wave his hand on stage, saying, "Meeting adjourned!"
Like a group of children rushing to the cafeteria after class, all employees immediately lined up at the back door, whispering to each other with puzzled expressions. Most of the people from the Technical Division had never been here before and wandered around in the corridor. Only Yang Meng squeezed out from the back door and hurriedly ran towards the Director.
"What's wrong?" The Director looked at his secretary approaching him with some disbelief, as he thought Yang Meng was one of the leaders.
"Director, I have an idea that should help us investigate the source. Basically..." Yang Meng whispered in the Director's ear.
After a long moment, the Director nodded and patted Yang Meng's shoulder. "As expected of my secretary. However, if we are to trace it this way, we will need to use the USB drive in my safe. Because investigating backwards also requires us to go through system authorization; each layer of protection requires a randomly generated key string to unlock it. And the software for generating that key string is installed on the USB drive."
"You mean we have to plug the USB drive into the main computer of the control platform?" Yang Meng immediately understood what the Director meant.
"Follow me," the Director beckoned Yang Meng, as she was his most trusted employee. "Let's go to Control Room Three. Since everyone is here, you Technical Division One and Technical Division Two should take this opportunity to resolve last time's conflict. If it really is an issue with the images generated by Technical Division Two, then that’s easy enough to address. But..."
As they walked, the Director suddenly fell silent. Yang Meng was momentarily taken aback by this abrupt change in atmosphere and looked up at him.
"Xiao Meng, do you remember three years ago when the military asked us to launch Satellite Beam?" The Director slowed his pace. "Those uninvited guests... I dread to think what would happen if they returned... We would definitely be the first to see them and also be the first to face trouble."
"Xiao Meng, do you understand what I mean? I hope that whoever is tampering with Control Lock is still human; otherwise..."
The Director extinguished his cigarette and tossed it towards a nearby trash can. However, it hit the metal bin with a thud and fell into a shadow cast by the light, still smoldering at its tip and emitting faint white smoke.
Watching the Director's tense yet solemn expression, Yang Meng couldn't help but glance back. As An Xiaotian's girlfriend, she was not an outsider; she knew that The Celestial Warriors Alliance was facing aliens who had already infiltrated Earth. This meant that this war had already sparked into flames. If any member of the Technical Division had ulterior motives, it would ironically be a reassuring thought.
The Director was right; those in-the-know could not dismiss that chilling possibility—that aliens had already infiltrated Satellite Bureau, attempting to destroy everything related to space strategy systems here.
Could they even wipe out all personnel here?
As this thought crossed her mind, Yang Meng felt a chill run down her spine, and a bead of cold sweat trickled down her forehead.
At the same time at M City Military Base...
It was around one o'clock in the afternoon, and a lazy atmosphere enveloped General Jiang in his office like a cozy blanket. The teacup on his desk was still emitting gentle steam. After last time's turmoil subsided, life had become very peaceful—much more so than what members of the alliance had worried about...
"Ding dong!"
While General Jiang's mind was blanking out, an unread message notification sounded from his already-sleeping computer.
His friends were probably taking their afternoon nap at this time; who could it be? Fearing it might be another directive, General Jiang sat up and clicked on his computer screen.
"General, I have an urgent matter I need to ask you."
In the Song Family Villa District of L County, T City, An Xiaotian sat in front of his computer, resting his chin on his hands as he stared blankly at the message he had sent. Anxiety gnawed at him; yesterday, he had received a message that seemed alarmist yet impossible to dismiss.
"You say, Xiaotian," General Jiang replied immediately.
"Besides having access to various civilian satellite information and perspectives, does the Satellite Bureau have anything particularly special?" An Xiaotian asked.
"Yes, when faced with complex situations, the police or our military often collaborate with the Satellite Bureau," General Jiang typed. "Currently, the most representative space strategic system—the 'Heavenly Eye' optical mirror and its Armed Satellite Matrix—should be considered the most unique existence."
Upon seeing the words "Heavenly Eye," a thunderclap echoed in An Xiaotian's mind—he remembered clearly how Yang Meng often boasted about being involved in research related to space strategic systems.
"Why are you suddenly curious about the Satellite Bureau?" General Jiang inquired.
An Xiaotian's fingers hovered over the keyboard, randomly tapping a few keys before hitting undo repeatedly. After several rounds of this, he finally typed: "I received a... rather strange message yesterday; it was a quantum encrypted communication."
"Quantum Technology..." General Jiang pondered for a moment before continuing to ask, "Have you decrypted it?"
"Dr. Chen helped me with that. It told me that the Satellite Bureau is in danger," An Xiaotian replied. "So I want to know more about the Satellite Bureau. I suspect other Prophets are trying to tell me that a year from today, internal Human has new targets."
An Xiaotian covered his mouth and sighed deeply before continuing to type: "My lover Yang Meng also works at the Satellite Bureau and is involved in research on the space strategic system. I don't know what that message truly means—whether it refers to the entire Satellite Bureau or hints at Yang Meng being in danger."
"But no matter how you look at it, it's not good news. I can't shake off this worry; I need to put on my armor and head to City S."
Comment 0 Comment Count