Chapter 94 Undercurrent at the Edge of the Core
——＜A silent dividing line)
Since the almost out-of-control ambiguous contact in the living room that day, the relationship between Huo Shen and Su Yan entered a strange "cooling-off period".
Huo Shen no longer engaged in overreaching, suggestive physical contact, returning to his usual condescending, businesslike demeanor. But Su Yan could sense that the gaze that fell upon him held a more complex, indescribable quality, like the assessment of a collection whose value had just been partially confirmed.
After his initial panic, Su Yan forced himself to calm down. He viewed that night's experience as a warning of danger, further solidifying his resolve to gain a firm foothold in Project Dawn. Only by holding enough leverage could he gain a say in this dangerous game, rather than remaining passive.
Huo Shen began to fulfill his "promise." Su Yan obtained an internal system account with strict authority division, which allowed him to access the meeting minutes of the "Dawn Project" regarding the construction of the infrastructure, some non-core algorithm logic, the timeline of project management, and some non-sensitive content.
This information was like a puzzle. Although each piece had been processed and the complete picture was unclear, Su Yan, with his keen observation and quick learning ability, began to construct the outline of "Project Dawn" in his mind. He spent a lot of time studying those boring technical documents and meeting minutes, trying to find any clues that might be related to the "initial sequence" left by Xiao.
He discovered that Project Dawn had invested far more resources than normal in the data cleansing and architecture reconstruction phases. This was particularly true when it came to handling data related to the "Echo" architecture, a legacy of the older Prometheus. The team's caution bordered on paranoia. All test records, logs, and even marginally related data related to the "initial sequence" were marked as top priority for cleanup.
This confirmed the sporadic conversations he had heard at the Huo Group. Huo Shen was trying his best to erase all traces of the "Initial Sequence"'s existence.
But Axiao said in the recording, "The real core is hidden in the 'initial sequence'."
The thing that Huo Shen went to such great lengths to completely eliminate might just be the truly valuable, or in other words, the most dangerous, core of "Prometheus".
That afternoon, Su Yan was called to Huo Shen's study. Chen Mo was not there, so it was just the two of them.
Huo Shen sent an encrypted electronic file to Su Yan's internal account. "This is a simplified early test model of the Dawn core interaction module, along with some desensitized user feedback data. Take a look and see if you can spot any issues from your perspective."
This was the first time Su Yan had come across something so close to the core. He suppressed the throbbing in his heart, nodded, opened his tablet, and began to analyze it intently.
The document was highly technical, involving the deep coupling of biological signals with AI decision-making logic. Su Yan struggled to read it, but he forced himself to focus, not missing a single detail.
Time passed in silence, with only the slight sound of Su Yan's fingertips sliding across the screen and the occasional rustling sound of Huo Shen flipping through documents.
Suddenly, Su Yan's fingertips paused on a page of a complex algorithm flowchart. Within a branch of exception handling logic, he noticed an extremely obscure, almost commented-out call instruction pointing to an interface called Legacy_Verify. The interface's description was blank, but within its parameter list, there was an inconspicuous field labeled [Optional] Melody_Key.
Melody Key!
Su Yan's heart skipped a beat. This matched the clues he had gotten from Ah Xiao's recordings and the decrypted music score!
He forced himself to remain calm and didn't say anything immediately, but continued to read. He found that the Legacy_Verify interface seemed to have never been actually called in the entire test model, like a forgotten ghost, hidden deep in the complex code.
Was this a backdoor left by Ah Xiao? Or was it an accidental omission during Huo Shen's cleanup? Or was it... a mark left intentionally?
He took a deep breath, raised his head and looked at Huo Shen who was reviewing documents.
"Mr. Huo," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "In this exception handling process, there's a call to Legacy_Verify, and the parameter mentions 'Melody Key'. Is this... part of the planned design?"
Huo Shen's fingers, which were flipping through the documents, suddenly paused.
He raised his head, his eyes like lightning, instantly locking onto Su Yan. His eyes were so sharp that they seemed to pierce through him, filled with shock, scrutiny, and a hint of sharpness that touched the most sensitive nerve.
The air in the study seemed to freeze.
Huo Shen didn't answer immediately. He put down the documents in his hand, slowly leaned back in his chair, crossed his hands in front of him, and looked at Su Yan with an extremely deep gaze.
"Did you see it?" His voice was not loud, but it was filled with heavy pressure.
"Hmm." Su Yan met his gaze without dodging, "It looks... as if it has not been used, and the annotations are not clear."
Huo Shen was silent for a moment, the sharpness in his eyes gradually replaced by a complex thought. He seemed to be weighing something.
"That's redundant code left over from the old architecture." Huo Shen finally spoke, his tone returning to calm, but Su Yan could hear the deliberate suppression beneath that calmness. "'Melody Key' was an immature idea from Ah Xiao's early days and has been abandoned. The new 'Dawn' system doesn't require this unstable verification method."
His explanation was reasonable, but Su Yan keenly noticed that when Huo Shen mentioned "Axiao" and "Melody Key", his crossed fingers tightened unconsciously.
Was he lying? Or at least not telling the whole truth.
Su Yan didn't point it out, but nodded to show his understanding: "I see. Then do we need to remind the development team to clean up this redundant call to avoid leaving any potential risks?"
Huo Shen looked at Su Yan deeply, his eyes seemed to say: You are more sharp and... bold than I thought.
"No need." Huo Shen looked away and returned to his files, his tone indifferent, "The development team has a complete cleanup list, they will deal with it. You should focus on user feedback and optimization suggestions for interaction logic."
"Okay." Su Yan lowered his head and continued to look at his tablet, but his heart was already in turmoil.
Legacy_Verify, Melody_Key…
Huo Shen was hiding something. This interface, labeled "legacy" and "redundant," was definitely not as simple as he said. It could very well be one of the keys to the "initial sequence" left behind by Xiao!
This unexpected discovery was like finding a glimmer of light in a dark maze. Su Yan knew that he had touched the edge of the core secret that Huo Shen had tried so hard to hide.
Huo Shen's attitude also showed that he noticed Su Yan's discovery and... tacitly allowed him to go deeper, at least to a limited extent.
This is a dangerous tacit understanding.
Su Yan was using the authority given by Huo Shen to spy on secrets, and Huo Shen seemed to be using Su Yan's keenness to verify or find something that he himself might not have fully mastered.
The relationship between them, on the basis of "accomplice", has added a more complex layer of "explorer" color, like dancing on the edge of a knife.
The sunlight from outside the window shines through the glass, casting bright spots on the floor of the study, but it cannot illuminate the silent game between the two people.
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