??Chapter 205: Chapter 204 Practice, the Ladder to Success
Chapter 205: Chapter 204 Practice, the Ladder to Success
“That thing you’ve always kept by your side, that’s the cross brought from Paradise, isn’t it?” Anthony stared at Cui Zhen’en’s tightly wrapped item with a glint of greed in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed that emotion. “I don’t know how much use this thing actually has, but there are definitely people in the world who would be willing to pay a lot of money for it.”
“This is a mission item provided by Paradise. Once this matter is over, it should automatically disappear,” Zhang Zhiyuan stressed the words “Paradise” and “disappear” deliberately.
“Heh… You’re too sensitive, Mr. Righteous. But that also fits your nickna,” Anthony said with a chuckle, shaking his head. “If I hadn’t been to Paradise, or if I were twenty years younger, I might have been a bit tempted. But now… I just want to enjoy my life in Paradise.”
“What are you talking about?” Cui Zhen’en was sowhat confused.
“Nothing,” the other party stood up, “I’m going to give the coordinates to the pilot, and he’ll notify us once we reach New Ground Island.”
After Anthony left the guest cabin, Gao Wei spoke in a low voice, “I rember him now, he’s from the Ross Family, Anthony must be an alias. This family is still one of Russia’s oligarchs to this day, mainly dealing in natural gas and finance.”
“Wow, no wonder he’s so rich,” Cui Zhen’en clicked her tongue, “Among this group of Paradise players, Zhang Zhiyuan and I must be the poorest.”
As other players were ntioned, Zhang Zhiyuan couldn’t help but be curious, “After Joe Jas was captured, why hasn’t Tyler shown up either?”
“He may well be dead.”
“What, dead?”
“Yeah, didn’t you know about the big event in the hacker world a while ago?” Cui Zhen’en shrugged, “A super-hacker used the Twin Towers Bridge’s elevator system to kill a rich man nad Flynn, the whole process was bizarre. And this rich man just happened to own a dical company, after which Tyler never ca online again.”
Zhang Zhiyuan was hearing of this for the first ti, “Do you actually think this person was Tyler?”
“Britannia guy, rich, pharmaceutical company CEO, all the characteristics are pretty similar,” she said with a pout, “And control over the Twin Towers Bridge in City L, not to say it’s extrely difficult to do so from a technical theory perspective, it’s downright impossible—that’s an internal network isolated from the outside world! Which hacker do you think could achieve that?”
Easily crossing physical barriers… as long as it’s seen through a cara…
Hair stood on end on Zhang Zhiyuan’s arms, as an experienced individual, he imdiately thought of the answer: Paradise.
He looked towards Gao Wei subconsciously, only to find the latter’s expression remained calm, as if he had known about this all along.
He was the only one in the dark.
“Why didn’t you tell ?”
“Without concrete evidence, the higher-ups are just speculating, and you never asked. Why should I tell you about these ambiguous matters and add to your worries?” said Gao Wei, spreading his hands.
“I thought Paradise… wouldn’t lay hands on a player…”
“That’s not so certain. Don’t be fooled by how smoothly we’re cooperating now, but don’t forget, Paradise has never exposed itself. Plus, with their ability to control the network, they, in a sense, have the power of extrajudicial judgnt,” said Gao Wei quite matter-of-factly, “Don’t be blinded by peace, we always need to be ready for anything.”
Zhang Zhiyuan suddenly felt much heavier in his heart.
“Director Gao, don’t make it sound so scary,” said Cui Zhen’en with a chuckle, “Actually, it’s quite a mystery. The hacker community thinks this person was actually a military spy, who overstepped during intelligence gathering and provoked the super-hacker’s retaliation. Of course, that’s just one theory. There’s now a cult following in the hacker community, with all sorts of discussions, so even say he was a divine being.”
At that mont, the cabin door opened, and Anthony’s return interrupted the conversation among the three.
“My pilot said the coordinate information is sound, and we should arrive in about an hour.”
“Then how long can we circulate with the fuel we have?” Gao Wei asked.
“Two or three hours, at most. Considering we need to return, I didn’t let them fill up the tank.”
“That should be enough.” Cui Zhen’en took a deep breath. “According to Paradise’s instructions, there isn’t that much for
to actually do.”
“If that’s the case, why don’t you all take a nap,” Anthony dimd the lights considerately. “Until the mission is completed tomorrow, we will have to spend it on this narrow and noisy plane.”
…
One hour later, the cabin speaker relayed the pilot’s reminder, “Boss, we are now above New Ground Island, less than a quarter of an hour from the coordinate position and altitude. However… to reach the coordinate we need to descend below four thousand ters, and there are certain risks associated with doing that…”
Anthony grabbed the microphone and interrupted, “Fly according to the coordinates on the map, and if you deviate even slightly, you’re in for it!”
“Yes! I understand,” the other party quickly responded.
“How about it, are you ready?” He looked toward the three people opposite him.
At such a crucial mont, no one could sleep. The mont the speaker ca to life, Cui Zhen’en was already awake. She slid open the small window panel and looked down from the plane. The world outside was still pitch dark; she could neither see the sky nor the sea, much less the narrow strip of New Ground Island. It was rumored that the Soviet Union had conducted over a hundred nuclear tests here, and many areas still harbored deadly radioactive dust.
“No problem, just let the pilot fly,” Gao Wei pulled out a black box and turned the trigger, which imdiately displayed a set of coordinate information with corresponding distance and ti to the target. Clearly, this was a satellite navigation device, and with this black box, they could roughly gauge when they might overlap with the key node.
Cui Zhen’en also removed the cover from the cross, revealing its silvery-grey shell. From its outward appearance, it looked like an ordinary craft item, even sowhat crude, but only those who understood the mysteries behind the Divine Artifact knew why it was called “Divine Artifact”.
She placed her hands on the crossbeam and spoke in a low voice, “It’s ti for you to wake up.”
With her words, the cross emitted a series of clicking tremors, and a fine crack appeared in the central part. Cui Zhen’en, well-practiced, inserted her finger deep into it, and the Ouroboros opened slightly, connecting with her arm—there was almost no excess motion in the process of rging, unlike the initial aggressive snapping.
“It’s hard to believe…” Anthony marveled. “I never thought I’d see such miraculous things on this side of Earth. Does Paradise allow
to shoot it?”
“They didn’t ntion it,” Gao Wei replied. “But leaking it would an you alone bear the consequences.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to show off. I just want to commorate it.” Anthony took out his phone and began taking pictures of Cui Zhen’en and the Divine Artifact.
The estimated ti on the black box gradually shifted from minutes to seconds.
“Ready,” Gao Wei counted down. “Thirty… twenty… ten seconds! Nine, eight…”
Cui Zhen’en closed her eyes, calming her mind as she felt her thoughts progressively rge with the Ouroboros. Though it couldn’t speak and theoretically wasn’t a life form, she could sense its emotional feedback: it craved for flesh and yearned to be used; it rejoiced at achieving its purpose and beca angry at failures. This unspoken understanding couldn’t be expressed in words; it was as if it were both a long-ti partner and a part of her own body.
“One.”
The mont Gao Wei finished counting down, Cui Zhen’en activated the Ouroboros’s power. A golden ring of light blood at the top of the plane, expanding rapidly! It didn’t illuminate the surrounding clouds or the plane’s wings; its light could only be seen with the naked eye. Within a brief three seconds, it vanished into the night sky, as epheral as a bubble.
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