Chapter 91 Embedded Trajectory

After returning from the "cloud top", the air in the apartment seemed to have become a little different. The layer of ice had not melted, but it seemed that some tiny cracks had appeared on the surface, allowing a faint ray of light to penetrate.

Huo Shen no longer completely excluded Su Yan from his life. He began occasionally letting Su Yan sit in on filtered, non-essential conference calls, and even casually brought up a business case at the dinner table and asked for Su Yan's opinion. This was no longer a simple test, but more like... an exploratory exchange.

Su Yan responded cautiously. He no longer blindly played the role of weakness or ignorance, but began to selectively display his thoughtful insights. He keenly sensed that Huo Shen's appreciation for his "cleverness" and calm analysis seemed to exceed his interest in a mere "stand-in" or "pet."

That morning, Huo Shen did not go to the company immediately, but was processing documents in the study. He asked Chen Mo to ask Su Yan to come in for the first time.

When Su Yan walked into the study, Huo Shen was standing in front of the huge French window, talking on the phone, his back straight. He motioned Su Yan to wait.

"...The remaining data of 'Prometheus' must be cleaned up thoroughly, especially all test records and logs related to the 'initial sequence'..." Huo Shen's voice was calm and decisive, but when he mentioned the "initial sequence", Su Yan keenly noticed a very subtle tension in his tone.

Su Yan's heart skipped a beat. He stood quietly by, eyes downcast, as if he hadn't heard.

Huo Shen quickly ended the call, turned around, and his eyes fell on Su Yan. He walked to the desk, picked up a document and handed it to Su Yan.

"Look at this."

Su Yan took the document, which turned out to be a preliminary assessment report on the acquisition of a biosensor technology company on the verge of bankruptcy. The company's core technology seemed to have a weak connection with an early branch of the "Prometheus" project.

"What do you think?" Huo Shen sat back in his chair, folded his hands in front of him, and looked at him.

Su Yan quickly scanned the report. This company had some impressive technology, but its management was chaotic and it was swamped with debt, posing a significant acquisition risk. He paused for a moment, then organized his words:

"The technology is relatively scarce, especially their patents for capturing microscopic biological signals, which may be of complementary value to...follow-up research and development in certain specific areas." He avoided directly mentioning "Prometheus." "But integration is very difficult. The management mess will require a lot of effort to clean up, and the financial hole is also quite large. Unless... there is a compelling reason to acquire them, or the acquisition price can be extremely low, low enough to cover all potential risks."

He did not give a clear "good" or "bad" conclusion, but objectively analyzed the pros and cons, and implicitly returned the final decision-making power to Huo Shen.

Huo Shen listened quietly, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table. After Su Yan finished speaking, he looked at him for a few seconds and suddenly asked, "If you were to make this decision, what would you choose?"

Su Yan was stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected Huo Shen to ask so directly. He weighed the options and chose the safest answer: "I'm not a decision maker. I lack sufficient information and a global perspective. My analysis is limited to paper."

Huo Shen didn't seem satisfied with this answer. He leaned forward slightly, his gaze becoming more oppressive. "Put aside those excuses. Based on what you've seen, your intuition tells me, should you swallow it or give up?"

Su Yan met his gaze. In those deep eyes, he saw no longer a test, but a genuine scrutiny, waiting for him to reveal his true colors. He knew this was a crucial moment. If he was too conservative, Huo Shen might think he lacked courage; if he was too radical, he might reveal his undue ambition.

He took a deep breath and made a judgment: "If the price can be pushed down to less than one-third of the valuation, I can take a gamble. Otherwise, I'd rather give up. Although the core technology is scarce, it is not irreplaceable, and the input-output ratio may not be cost-effective."

Huo Shen stared at him for a long time, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled up into a very faint, almost invisible arc.

"The judgment is quite clear." He retracted his gaze, picked up another document, and returned to his usual indifferent tone. "Unfortunately, the other party refused to give in. This project has been abandoned."

Su Yan's heart skipped a beat. Was Huo Shen... explaining something to him? Or was he simply stating a fact?

"Come with me somewhere this afternoon." Huo Shen said without raising his head.

"Where are you going?"

"Company." Huo Shen said concisely, "There is an internal technical seminar. You can sit in the back and listen."

Su Yan was completely stunned. Taking him to the Huo Group's headquarters? To attend an internal seminar? This completely went beyond the scope of being a "canary" or a "stand-in." It was more like... cultivating a potential participant?

He didn't ask why. He knew that every decision Huo Shen made had his purpose. He just had to obey and observe.

That afternoon, Su Yan first entered the Huo Group's headquarters, a massive steel behemoth towering over the city center. Chen Mo followed him, but more like a bodyguard than a watcher.

The seminar took place in a strictly confidential conference room. Su Yan was seated in a corner, unassuming. The attendees were all members of Huo's core R&D team, and the discussion involved some cutting-edge AI algorithm optimization problems, which were highly technical.

Su Yan spent most of his time listening quietly, trying to digest the obscure technical terms. He noticed that Huo Shen was extremely focused during the report, and his occasional questions were sharp and pointed, showing a deep understanding of the technology itself that was completely different from his usual cold businessman image.

During a break in the meeting, Huo Shen was surrounded by several executives. Su Yan got up to go to the bathroom. In the corridor, he overheard two technicians talking in low voices while smoking.

"...The underlying logs of the 'echo' architecture are really troublesome to clean up because they are too interconnected..."

"Who says it's not? I heard the big boss is personally watching over it and demanded that all traces of testing be wiped clean, especially those related to the 'initial sequence' verification..."

"Sigh, I wonder what back-up plan Mr. Akatsuki had that made the higher-ups so nervous..."

Mr. Xiao! Initial sequence!

Su Yan's footsteps paused imperceptibly, then he continued walking forward as if nothing had happened. However, his heart was beating uncontrollably.

Huo Shen went to such great lengths to clean up the traces related to the "Initial Sequence" and "Echo" architecture. Was it to cover up the "backup plan" left by Xiao, or to... prevent others from discovering something?

When he returned to the conference room, Huo Shen seemed to have finished his discussion and was standing alone by the window, gazing at the ant-like traffic below. The golden glow of the setting sun cast a soft halo on his hard-edged profile, but it couldn't dispel the deep thought between his brows.

Su Yan looked at his back and suddenly realized that Huo Shen's world was far more complicated and dangerous than he had imagined. And he was being irresistibly pulled into the center of this vortex bit by bit.

He was no longer a bystander.

His trajectory has begun to become closely and dangerously intertwined with Huo Shen's.

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