Chapter 84 Peeping into the Abyss
The black authority card remained heavy in Su Yan's pocket for two days.
He did not use it immediately. Like a wild animal on the prowl near a trap, he watched with great patience, waiting for the most opportune moment.
He continued reading as usual, went downstairs with Chen Mo's "accompaniment", and even tried to have some extremely limited and insignificant communication with the silent "assistant". He needed to appear normal and not show any anxiety for the computer in the study.
Huo Shen was still busy, but he returned to the apartment every night. He'd occasionally ask Su Yan what book he was reading or what he thought of a piece of business news. His tone was casual, like a teacher assessing a student, but Su Yan could sense the sharp scrutiny behind it. He answered carefully, neither appearing ignorant nor overly pretentious, striking the perfect balance.
He knew that Huo Shen was waiting for him to take action.
Finally, one afternoon when Huo Shen clearly told him that he would be back late, Su Yan felt that the time had come.
He excused himself to be tired and wanted to go back to his room to rest, and sent Chen Mo away. After confirming that no one was in the living room, he took a deep breath and walked to the heavy wooden door of the study.
His heart pounding in his chest, he took out the black card and tapped it against the access control area.
There was a soft "beep" sound, the green light came on, and the door lock opened.
Su Yan pushed the door open and walked in, then gently closed it behind him.
The study was enormous, its design style mirroring that of the living room: cool, simple, and imbued with a sense of power. Huge bookshelves were filled with hardcover books and file boxes. A large ebony desk sat by the window, upon which lay a dormant desktop computer and a few spread-out documents. The air was filled with the faint scent of cigars and worn paper; Huo Shen's presence was everywhere.
He didn't touch Huo Shen's main computer, as that would undoubtedly be courting death. His target was the ordinary-looking spare computer placed in the corner of the desk.
He swiped his card again, booting up the computer. The screen lit up, and after a brief loading process, it entered the system interface. The interface was clean. Besides the system's built-in software, there were only a few folders labeled "Basic Financial Case Studies," "Market Analysis Models," and "Contract Templates." It certainly looked like a machine for studying and research.
Su Yan did not let down his guard. He quickly scanned the folders. Although the contents were in-depth, they were all formal business knowledge and he could not see anything unusual.
Would Huo Shen give him a "clean" computer so easily? He didn't believe it.
He scanned the computer screen carefully, not missing a single detail. Finally, in an obscure corner, he found an icon disguised as a system log viewer. The icon's style was slightly different from other programs, and it was impossible to detect without careful observation.
His intuition told him that this was the key.
He clicked on the icon, and a dialog box popped up, requiring him to enter a password.
Another password. Su Yan frowned. He tried the same string of characters he'd used to open the USB drive before, but it failed. He then tried Huo Shen's birthday, the company's initials, and even the name "Ah Xiao," but all failed.
Time passed by minute by minute, and he had to leave the study before Huo Shen came back.
Just when he was about to give up, his eyes accidentally swept across a document spread out on Huo Shen's desk. It was a plan for a certain island development project, and the project code name - "Echo" - was printed on the title page.
ECHO
A thought flashed through his mind like lightning. He remembered the dusty room in Huo Shen's old house that belonged to "Ah Xiao." In that room, there seemed to be an old-fashioned music box with an echo effect.
Holding on to the last glimmer of hope, he entered ECHO in the password box.
The dialog box disappears and a hidden file browser window pops up!
Su Yan's heart skipped a beat.
There is only one folder in the browser, named "Archives".
He clicked on the folder, which contained several subfolders named by date. He clicked on the most recent one.
There were no business documents inside, but rather... photos and a few short videos.
The protagonist of each photo, without exception, is him, Su Yan.
There is his quiet silhouette as he reads on the balcony, his focused expression as he runs in the gym, and his confused eyes as he stares out the window... The angles are different, and some are even obviously shot through hidden cameras in the apartment.
Su Yan felt a chill run from his feet to his head. It turned out that his so-called "limited freedom"—his every move—had always been under Huo Shen's surveillance. This omnipresent sense of being watched was even more chilling than Chen Mo's constant presence.
With trembling hands, he clicked on a video. It showed him, awakened by a nightmare a few nights ago, sitting in bed, hugging his knees and crying silently. The video was silent, just his fragile, helpless figure, trembling slightly under the dim nightlight.
At this moment, an audio file caught her attention. The file name was "Xiao-Last Recording.enc." The file was encrypted, and the encryption method used was different from the previous ones.
Axiao's last recording?
Su Yan's heart began to beat wildly. Could this be related to Huo Shen's obsession, or even the cause of Ah Xiao's death?
He tried to crack it, but couldn't figure it out. This encryption was clearly more complex.
He didn't dare stay any longer, forcing himself to calm down and quickly copying the encrypted audio file to an encrypted storage device he had prepared in advance, disguised as an ordinary USB flash drive. Then, he carefully cleared the operation logs and access records on the computer - hoping that Huo Shen would not notice the higher-level log records.
After doing all this, he turned off the computer, restored everything to its original state, and quietly left the study as he had come in.
The door closed behind him, isolating the space filled with prying eyes and secrets.
Su Yan leaned against the cold wall, breathing heavily, his back soaked with cold sweat.
Not only did he confirm that he was always under surveillance, but he also got a glimpse of Huo Shen's deeper, unknown side - that kind of paranoid, almost pathological desire for control and collecting.
And that encrypted recording about Axiao is more like a Pandora's box.
He knew that he might have touched Huo Shen's deepest sore spot.
But at the same time, a bolder idea began to grow in his mind.
Could Huo Shen's complex "special attention" to him, a mixture of surveillance, control, and perhaps even a hint of attention that he himself wasn't aware of, also become a weapon that he could use?
He touched the encrypted USB drive in his pocket.
Anyone who peers into the abyss will be peered into by the abyss.
And he has already taken the first step.
------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
