Chapter 87 All or Nothing
——＜A sharp dividing line＞
The apartment was unnervingly quiet after Huo Shen left.
The powerful, omnipresent aura that belonged to him temporarily dissipated, leaving behind an even more unsettling vacuum. Su Yan knew that this was his only chance. Just as Cinderella had to leave the ball before the stroke of midnight, he had to find the clues before Huo Shen returned, or... face the consequences.
He couldn't go to the laboratory on the outskirts of the city; that would be a trap. His only hope was in this apartment, on the powerful main computer connected to Huo Shen's private intranet that he had caught a glimpse of—even though he knew the risk of trying to hack into that computer was countless times greater than using the backup computer before.
But he had no choice. The recording drew him in like a magnet, and also tormented him like a maggot in his tarsal bones.
That afternoon, he asked Chen Mo for the use of the study's computer, using the excuse of needing to look up detailed data for some financial cases. Chen Mo stared at him in silence, his expressionless eyes devoid of any emotion. After a moment, he nodded, a gesture of tacit agreement, but he remained guarding the study door like a door god.
Su Yan entered the study again, his mood completely different from the last time. This time, his goal was clear and he was even more determined. He didn't look at the spare computer, but went straight to Huo Shen's ebony main desk.
The main computer was in sleep mode, and his pale face was reflected on the dark screen. He took a deep breath and pressed the power button.
The system starts and requires a password.
This is not something that can be solved with the black authority card.
Su Yan's mind raced. He recalled every possible piece of information related to Huo Shen. Birthdays, company anniversaries, Ah Xiao's birthday... He even tried variations of "ECHO," but none worked.
Time passed minute by minute, and he could feel Chen Mo's real gaze behind him.
Just as he was about to despair, his eyes stumbled upon a corner of the desk. There sat a simple metal frame, but inside was not a photo, but a yellowed, handwritten fragment of sheet music. He remembered seeing something similar at the old house, next to Ah Xiao's music box.
Sheet music...
For some unknown reason, he tried to convert the main notes (C, A, F, E) on the music sheet into alphabetical spellings.
CAFE.
He typed in those four letters.
The screen flashed and entered the system!
Su Yan's heart nearly jumped out of his chest! He suppressed his excitement, not wanting to delay even a moment. He quickly inserted the USB drive containing the encrypted recording and found the file "Xiao-Last Recording.enc."
The subsequent cracking proved far more difficult than he had imagined. This wasn't a simple password, but rather a highly encrypted code requiring a specific decryption algorithm and key. He tried every possible piece of information he could think of related to Huo Shen and Ah Xiao as a key, but none worked.
Sweat trickled down his forehead as he realized that with his current knowledge and equipment, it would be almost impossible to crack it in a short time.
Is it going to fail at this last moment?
Just as he was getting overwhelmed, his eyes swept across an inconspicuous folder on his computer labeled "Prometheus Project - Old Files." Was "Prometheus" the abbreviation of "Prometheus"?
He clicked on it subconsciously. Inside were a large number of early technical documents about the "Prometheus" project, meeting minutes, and... some backup communication records marked as "destroyed."
One of the communication records caught Su Yan's attention. It was a call between Assistant Zhou and an unknown encrypted number, with timestamps around the time of Ah Xiao's accident. The content was encrypted, but there was a note file next to it, which seemed to have been marked by Huo Shen when he had someone analyze it later. Several key pieces of information were deciphered from it:
[Unknown Number]: ...Critical data has been backed up. ...The 'key' is in the 'echo'. ...Make sure to 'clean' it up.
Assistant Zhou: ...Understood. ...Music Score will handle it.
Sheet music! Echo!
Su Yan's pupils suddenly contracted.
“The key is in the echo”… “The score will take care of it”…
Could it be that the "key" to decrypt this recording is hidden in the "musical score" related to "ECHO"?
He suddenly looked at the fragment of music in the frame on the desk! Could it be that this piece of music itself was not only the password to enter the system, but also the key to decryption?
He immediately took a picture of the sheet music with his mobile phone, and then tried to input the melody rhythm of the sheet music, or its digitized sequence, as the key into the decryption program.
Once, failed.
Twice, failed.
He tried various encodings and conversions.
Just when his fingers were shaking from nervousness and exhaustion, and he was about to give up, he tried a key generated by a specific arrangement and combination of the frequency values corresponding to the musical notes...
The progress bar of the decryption program starts moving!
Su Yan held his breath and stared at the screen.
The progress bar slowly but surely reached the end. The encrypted file was successfully decrypted and converted into a playable audio file.
With trembling hands, he put on the headphones connected to the computer and pressed the play button.
First, there was a rustling electrical noise in the earphones. Then, a young, clear male voice, but with unspeakable fatigue and despair, sounded. It was...Axiao's voice.
[Ah Xiao]: ...I know you're listening, Huo Shen...or, someone in the future who can hear this recording...
...I was wrong. I shouldn't have participated in 'Prometheus', and I shouldn't have trusted Zhou Mingchen...
...They want more than just technology; they want control... They want to eliminate all uncontrollable factors... including me...
...I've tampered with the data. The true core...is hidden in the 'initial sequence'. It can only be activated using the 'melody' we agreed upon...
...Huo Shen, if you hear this... be careful... they...
The recording was interrupted here by a sharp, interference-like noise, followed by the muffled sound of an object falling to the ground, and a brief and chaotic struggle. Finally, everything returned to silence.
Su Yan sat stiffly in the chair, his whole body cold.
This recording almost confirmed his guess - Ah Xiao's death was by no means an accident, but was related to the "Prometheus" project, Assistant Zhou, and even a conspiracy that Huo Shen failed to detect at the time!
"Initial sequence"? "Promised melody"?
What is this?
Just then, there seemed to be some movement outside the study.
Su Yan snapped back to his senses, his heart instantly in his throat! He quickly closed the decryption program, cleared all temporary files and operation records, unplugged the USB drive, and restored the computer to its original state.
As soon as he stood up, the door of the study was pushed open.
The person standing at the door was not Chen Mo.
It’s Huo Shen.
He seemed to have rushed back in a hurry, with dust from outside still on his body. His eyes were as sharp as an eagle, staring straight at Su Yan and the USB flash drive in his hand that contained the decrypted recording and which he had not yet put away.
The air froze at this moment.
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