Beichen's End

The "Dual Shadow" protocol was quietly activated at dawn. This is a deception system that is more complex than the "Mirror," and its core lies in creating two completely identical action trajectories—one an obvious "bait" and the other a real "executor."

Shen Zhiyan remained in the studio, busily debugging equipment and frequently contacting the outside world, deliberately giving the impression that he would forcefully break into the Beichen Research Institute the following day. Meanwhile, under the cover of the electronic fog he created, Jiang Mo drove alone to Beichen twelve hours in advance.

This was a risky move, but also the best solution at the moment. With the enemy's attention firmly drawn to Shen Zhiyan, almost no one would have expected that the one who would be the first to enter the dangerous area would be Jiang Mo, who seemed to need more protection. Before leaving, Shen Zhiyan clipped a button-sized tracking device to the inside of her collar. His voice came through the miniature earpiece, still calm, but with a barely perceptible tension: "Maintain communication. Safety is paramount."

The abandoned Beichen Research Institute was more desolate than imagined. Rusty iron gates, broken windows, and overgrown weeds almost swallowed the path leading to the main building. Following the blueprints, Jiang Mo avoided potential blind spots in the surveillance cameras and, like a hunter infiltrating enemy territory, silently made her way to the basement.

The boiler room reeked of rust and dust. She moved aside the partition behind a huge, long-disused boiler, revealing an alloy door. Her palms were slightly sweaty as she entered the key provided remotely by Shen Zhiyan, based on the "∞" symbol.

The door slid open silently.

The space behind the door wasn't large; it was more like a personal meditation room than an archive. The low hum of machinery contrasted sharply with the deathly silence outside. In the center of the room, the screen of an old server emitted a ghostly blue light, displaying the "Termination of the 'Heart Domain' Project and the 'Vaccine' Agreement."

Jiang Mo quickly read through the document. Li Qingyun's wisdom ahead of her time and her final decisive action filled her with awe and regret. At the same time, she noticed an old logbook next to the server. Opening it, she found that in addition to technical records, there were also some personal fragments, mentioning a supervisor codenamed "Shepherd," and that "Lin" had participated in the early project meetings as a young researcher.

“Mo,” Shen Zhiyan’s voice came through the earpiece, tinged with urgency, “The decoy has attracted a lot of ‘observation’ traffic. You need to speed things up. I’ve detected another signal approaching Beichen, it’s not one of ours.”

"Understood," Jiang Mo replied in a deep voice. Following the instructions in the document, she began executing the "vaccine" protocol. Just as the progress bar reached 90%, hurried footsteps sounded from the basement entrance!

"It's too late." Jiang Mo made a quick decision, photographed the key pages of the logbook, stuffed the entire logbook into a scan-proof sealed bag, and hid it deep in an abandoned pipe.

Almost the instant she concealed herself, three people dressed in black combat uniforms and wearing masks rushed in. They moved with professional skill, their guns pointed directly at Jiang Mo and the server.

"Stop operating! Leave the terminal!" the leader shouted sternly.

Jiang Mo slowly raised her hands, her heart pounding, but her eyes remained calm. She needed to buy Shen Zhiyan a few last seconds to remotely complete the final instruction.

"Are you 'shepherds' or cleaners?" she tried to confuse them with the information she had just acquired.

The other party was clearly not expecting her to know the code name, and paused slightly in their movements.

Now!

The progress bar on the server screen instantly reached full! The lights in the entire room flickered violently, the server emitted a final, low hum, and the screen went completely dark. All data, along with the core of "Heart Domain," was permanently locked and erased.

"No!" the leader of the men in black roared angrily.

Just then, the piercing sound of police sirens rang out from outside the basement, growing louder as they approached. Shen Zhiyan's calm voice rang out again: "The police have arrived. I anonymously reported the illegal assembly and unlicensed burning here."

Seeing this, the man in black knew that the situation was hopeless. He glared fiercely at Jiang Mo and quickly retreated through the backup passage.

A few minutes later, Jiang Mo walked out of the Beichen Research Institute accompanied by the arriving police. The morning sun pierced through the clouds and shone on her face. She saw Shen Zhiyan's car parked in the distance, and he was leaning against the car, looking at her.

She walked over, and without asking any questions, he simply reached out and gently pulled her into his arms. The embrace was brief yet powerful, carrying the relief of surviving a close call and unspoken worry.

"Is it all over?" Jiang Mo asked softly as she got into the car, her body relaxing slightly.

“The core part is over.” Shen Zhiyan started the car and glanced at the rearview mirror. “‘Heart Domain’ is dead. Decades of observation have lost their target. What remains are legal matters and liquidation.”

The car smoothly drove away from this land that held so many secrets and obsessions. Sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the interior with brightness and warmth.

The car was quiet. Jiang Mo leaned back in her seat, a wave of exhaustion and relaxation washing over her. She hesitated for a moment, then decided to speak: "I found some old journals inside. They mentioned... your mother, Ms. Lin, who, in her youth, apparently participated in early meetings of 'Heart Domain' as a researcher."

Shen Zhiyan's grip on the steering wheel tightened almost imperceptibly, his gaze suddenly turning deep. He didn't respond immediately, but drove in silence until they rounded a bend, at which point he slowly spoke:

"I know."

His voice was calm, yet it was like a stone thrown into a deep pool.

"That's why I never completely trusted all the information she provided from the beginning."

He paused, his gaze still fixed on the road ahead, his voice carrying a complex emotion: "But what I didn't expect was that she not only participated in the early meetings, but even after Li Qingyun's incident and the project being shelved, she might... have taken over some of the 'observation' duties. The timing of that warning photo sent to your parents' house was too coincidental."

This conjecture sent a chill down Jiang Mo's spine. If Lin Jing still had intricate connections with the "Observers," and might even be the "Shepherd," then their recent victory was far from being celebrated. The undercurrents of family relationships were far more complex and unpredictable than external enemies.

Shen Zhiyan slowly parked the car on the side of the road, turned his head, and looked deeply at Jiang Mo: "This matter needs to be resolved. Before we start our new life, I must face her and ask her everything."

In his eyes, there was a resolute determination, a hint of barely perceptible pain, but more than anything, a clarity that came after the dust had settled.