Chapter 108 Transfer of Authority: Dawn Before the Decisive Battle
Shi Wan immediately stood up, "So fast?"
"Well, it's almost time." Xinglin looked at her, his gaze lingering on her face for a long time, as if trying to remember something. "You... take good care of yourself. Eat on time, don't overwork yourself. The cats on the farm are all very nice, but you also need to rest. If you're too busy, hire a few more people, but don't overwork yourself."
His instructions were very detailed, as if he wanted to say everything he could think of.
Shi Wan felt a little sore for no reason, but she still tried to smile. "I know! You too, be careful!"
Xinglin nodded.
Then, his body began to become somewhat transparent, with tiny streams of data emanating from his edges.
Shi Wan subconsciously reached out, wanting to grab him, but her fingers slipped through his sleeve.
The entity is dissipating.
"Starfall!" she called out.
Xinglin smiled at her one last time, a smile so gentle it was unbelievable.
Goodbye, Shi Wan.
As soon as he finished speaking, his figure completely transformed into countless tiny specks of light, like fireflies on a summer night, flickering a few times in the air before slowly dissipating and merging into the morning light.
Silence returned to the living room.
Only the half-finished glass of soy milk on the table still retained its warmth.
Shi Wan stood there, lost in thought for a while, feeling empty inside.
But soon, she patted her face and cheered herself up, "It's okay! Xinglin said he needs energy, so I'll gather lots of energy for him! I'll give him a surprise when he comes back next time!"
She turned around, ready to start her new day's work, but suddenly felt the cat head bracelet on her wrist, which she had been using as an ornament, seem to tremble slightly.
Since the bracelet was put on her wrist, it has been completely silent. Shi Wan had almost forgotten that the bracelet was the medium for binding the farm system.
She opened the system interface and saw a prompt pop up on the screen.
"System optimization and upgrade detected."
New feature: The fully automatic energy dispatch module has been activated.
Note: This module is an independent encryption system. The energy output channel has been established and can be cut off unilaterally at any time.
Enjoy using it!
Below that is a very small, inconspicuous smiley face symbol.
Shi Wan was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding what this meant.
The energy transfers went smoothly before, didn't they?
Why did they suddenly open a new channel this time?
She didn't understand it, but after being confused for a while, she stopped thinking about it.
Anyway, Xinglin is a good person, so he must have his reasons for doing this.
Shi Wan walked to the balcony, where Little Orange had recovered its spirits and was playing with a ball of yarn with its front paws.
Upon seeing her, it happily let out a "meow".
Shi Wan squatted down and patted its little head. "It's okay, I'll definitely remember to clean it for you more often in the future. But..."
Recalling the disastrous scene that morning, she couldn't help but laugh out loud. "We still need to figure out how to teach the floor scrubber to recognize cat poop and automatically avoid it."
Little Orange seemed to understand but not quite, and rubbed against her hand.
Just then, regular footsteps and a soft bark came from outside the door.
It was Chen Xi who had returned from his morning exercise with Shan Feng.
Shi Wan quickly tidied her hair and pajamas, cleared her throat, and adopted the composed image befitting a farm owner—at least that's how she saw herself.
There was a knock on the door, and Chen Xi's clear voice came through, "President Shi, are you awake? I smelled something in the mountain breeze. Are you alright here?"
Shi Wan opened the door, revealing a perfect smile, "It's nothing, it's nothing! Everything's fine! Just now... uh, Little Orange had a little accident, but it's all taken care of now!"
Chen Xi glanced at the clean and tidy living room, then at the lively little orange toy on the balcony, and nodded. "That's good. I'm going to the cafeteria now. Do you need me to bring breakfast back with you?"
"No, no, I've already eaten!" Shi Wan quickly said. "By the way, Chen Xi, what are today's work arrangements..."
She began to skillfully assign tasks, as if she weren't the one who had broken down and wanted to disappear on the spot that morning.
Chen Xi listened attentively, occasionally offering suggestions.
Shanfeng sat quietly at her feet, his sharp eyes scanning every corner of the living room. Finally, he seemed to relax only after confirming that there was nothing amiss.
Tangyuan was also awakened by the noise. She walked out of the bedroom with elegant cat steps. When she saw Shanfeng, she immediately meowed and went over to him. She skillfully jumped onto Shanfeng's back and spread herself out like a cat pancake.
The mountain breeze stood firmly, letting Tangyuan ride it.
A hint of a smile flashed in Chen Xi's eyes, but she quickly returned to her serious work demeanor.
As Shi Wan watched this scene, the last bit of gloom in her heart dissipated.
A new day begins, and the farm remains vibrant, with reliable staff, adorable animals, endless work, and boundless hope.
She wants to manage this place well and accumulate lots and lots of positive energy.
Sunlight bathed the farm, and the sounds of roosters crowing and birds chirping drifted from afar.
Life goes on, warm and solid.
At a hidden point in the data world, Xinglin slowly opened his "eyes".
He clearly felt that maintaining his stealth was becoming more difficult.
Maintaining a brief physical projection and completing the farm's system encryption transformation consumed more resources than he had anticipated.
But he doesn't regret it.
An extremely thin, one-way transparent energy channel extended from his body, quietly connecting to the small farm in the distance.
This is his only and final connection to the farm. He has transferred all his system permissions to Shi Wan, so even if he disappears, it will not have any impact on the farm system.
He could feel the warm and abundant vitality emanating from there.
Shi Wan's focus while working, her joy upon harvesting, her gentleness when petting her cat, her laughter while chatting with friends...
These pure, positive emotions, through the natural transformation of the farm's land, plants, and animals, form a unique, high-quality energy that is being continuously transmitted through encrypted channels.
This energy will be a crucial support for his next actions.
He pulled up the path map of the slumbering zone given to him by Zhulong and began the final deduction.
The infiltration time is set during the system's routine maintenance window, which is 72 hours later.
At that time, the main system's monitoring would have periodic fluctuations of about 0.3 seconds, which, although brief, were enough for him to break through the outermost firewall.
He needs to get himself into peak condition within those 72 hours and prepare all possible contingency plans.
The risk is extremely high.
Whether it's the nightmares warned about by Zhulong, the main system itself, or those unknown traps... every step could be a dead end.
But Xinglin remained calm.
He remembered Shi Wan's gentle yet devastated gaze that morning, her sparkling eyes when she patted her chest to assure him that "there's plenty of energy," and her earnestness when she said, "There will always be a place for you on the farm."
There's also Little Orange's guilty meowing, Tangyuan lounging lazily on Shanfeng's back basking in the sun, Chen Xi's rhythmic footsteps during his morning exercise, and Shanfeng's alert yet loyal gaze...
That small farm, those vibrant lives, that ordinary yet precious warmth.
It's worth protecting with everything he has.
Within the core code of Starfall, a calm yet resolute instruction flowed.
"Countdown begins: 71:59:59"
"Mission Objective: Infiltrate the dormant zone, locate and awaken potential allies."
"Secondary objective: Collect direct evidence of violations in the main system."
"Ultimate goal: End the plundering, punish the main system, and protect world number NF-0073."
"Note: If the mission fails, the final contingency plan will be executed—the self-destruct protocol will be activated, and the system will be attacked with all evidence, resulting in mutual destruction. At the same time, the energy transmission channels of the NF-0073 world will be completely severed to ensure its absolute safety."
Command confirmed, loading underlying protocol.
Xing Lin closed his eyes and began to enter a state of deep breathing.
He waited quietly in the darkness, like a steadfast and lonely star in the distant sky.
The final action before dawn.
Even after Xinglin left, the farm continued to operate at its own pace, and even became more vibrant.
The first thing Shi Wan does every morning is check Xiao Ju Bao's litter box.
Previously, the litter boxes in the house were mostly just for decoration. Most of the cats developed good habits and would go to the fertilizer machine to relieve themselves. Of course, some cats would use the litter box.
Shi Wan didn't force them to go to the fertilizer machine. Anyway, she would go to the cat house twice a day and scoop out any poop in the litter box.
Little Orange Treasure has a special situation, so Shi Wan specially prepared a litter box for it. If it gets a little older and wants to go to the fertilizer machine to relieve itself, then Tangyuan will take it there.
But for now, you should obediently adapt to the litter box.
Since that "floor cleaning machine tragedy," she has set a special alarm on her phone to check it every night before bed and every morning after waking up, eliminating all possible factors and determined not to let history repeat itself.
"Our house can't afford a second 'Poop Smearing Art Exhibition'," she said to her little orange cat, who had come over to supervise, as she cleaned the litter box.
Little Orange sat on its little stand, gave a shy "meow," and rubbed its head against Shi Wan's wrist, just in time to brush against the cat head bracelet.
The bracelet felt a slight warmth, so slight that Shi Wan thought it was just her imagination.
She didn't pay any attention and continued humming a song as she tidied up.
In the living room, Tangyuan had already skillfully jumped onto Shanfeng's back, directing this "mount" to patrol the house.
The mountain breeze strode along with good temper, while the cat on its back held its head high and puffed out its chest, looking as if to say, "This king is going to inspect the territory today."
This is what Chen Xi saw when he returned from his morning exercise.
A hint of a smile flashed across her eyes before she quickly returned to work. "Mr. Shi, the initial draft of the interior design plan for the activity room in Zone Two is ready, and we need your confirmation."
"Great!" Shi Wan's eyes lit up. She took the tablet Chen Xi handed her and walked towards the office while looking at the design drawings. "The soft upholstery material for this pet play area needs to be the most environmentally friendly. And over here, could the design of the cat tree be optimized further..."
Chen Xi followed beside her, methodically taking notes of the key points. "The material samples will be delivered this afternoon. I contacted a local woodworking shop, and they are willing to make the cat tree according to our design, which will be 30% cheaper than buying a ready-made one."
"Reliable!" Shi Wan gave a thumbs up.
With Chen Xi in charge of logistics and infrastructure, and Su Qing in charge of external liaison and sales, Shi Wan can finally free herself from tedious administrative work and devote more time to the overall planning and product development of the farm.
This feeling of "having someone to back her up" occasionally reminds her of Xinglin.
If he were here, he would probably quietly arrange everything in the same way.
Thinking of Xing Lin, Shi Wan subconsciously touched the bracelet on her wrist.
The newly activated "fully automatic energy dispatch module" ran so quietly that she almost forgot it existed.
Only occasionally, in particularly happy moments, such as seeing the first hydrangea in Zone 2 bloom, receiving positive feedback from customers, or after a busy day when Tangyuan hadn't seen her all day, would come over to rub against her and ask for a hug, the bracelet would emit a slight warmth, like some kind of silent resonance.
She didn't know that the positive emotional energy she generated was being transmitted to a distant place through an encrypted channel.
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