Lian Han did end up having the celebratory feast he wanted, but it was at Jing Li's villa in the city, and he ordered takeout from Yizhen Pavilion. Because of this, Lian Han was very skeptical of Ling Wei's earlier claim that Ling Xin had gone to great lengths to bring the food from Yizhen Pavilion.
Are you sure you're not kidding her? How did Ren Jingli resolve it with just one communication?
After the meal, Jingli took out two boxes, "Your AI."
"I have one too?" Lian Han asked in surprise.
Jingli said irritably, "Your AI is about to be riddled with holes by hackers. This is a special AI developed within the God Alliance, with excellent self-defense capabilities, and it doesn't intrude on the consensus of God Alliance hackers with this type of AI. It's definitely better than the original one."
"Really won't it hack in?" Lian Han asked doubtfully. The God Alliance hackers—judging from what we've seen so far, none of them care about other people's privacy. There's no reason why changing the AI would stop them from peeking.
"Because only members of the Divine Alliance and those close to her possess this kind of AI, it can quickly track and mark any other hackers who infiltrate. Then it leads to internal struggles within the Divine Alliance, so they usually avoid this kind of AI."
Lian Han understood. After all, if they didn't tread carefully, they might offend some hacking mastermind.
"Thank you, senior brother." With that, Lian Han put the smart device, which was a light purple bracelet, on his wrist, entered his account and password, and logged in again.
In the interstellar era, replacing an AI with a new one is extremely common. As long as you log back in, everything on the old AI will appear on the new AI exactly as it was, except for items in the AI's internal storage.
“I’ve taken your previous AI and destroyed it,” Jingli said.
"Okay, no problem. By the way, when Teacher woke up in that basement, didn't Cangming sense it?"
Xing Yucheng, who was checking Gu Dan's account, was speechless. "You only remembered now? Your reaction time is really long. Many of the building materials in that place have the effect of shielding mental power, otherwise my body would have been discovered and taken away by that guy long ago."
He's right.
Lian Han: ...Okay. It turns out she was worrying for nothing.
"You should go back to the Ling family," Xing Yucheng suddenly said.
"What?" Lian Han was taken aback.
"Have you forgotten what you promised the night before last?" Xing Yucheng raised an eyebrow. "You went to the New Year's Eve party with someone else, and the Ling family hasn't come knocking on your door yet, which is already quite patient. But you can't expect them to feel comfortable with a minor girl like you living in an adult man's house."
Lian Han: "Do you really have to go?"
Noticing her avoidance, Xing Yucheng frowned. "Girl, you can't hide forever. Besides, your identity has been exposed. You two need to have a serious talk."
Lian Han looked to Jing Li for help, and the latter said, "I'll take you there."
Lian Han: "...Alright, alright. I'll go now, you don't need to see me off. You two, master and disciple, should just enjoy your relationship."
A flash of purple light appeared, and the little fox, whom she hadn't seen for many days, reappeared in her arms. Lian Han carried her away, saying, "See you later."
Watching her leave, Jingli frowned. "She and the Ling family..."
“This girl is very conflicted. On the one hand, she feels that being an enemy of the Blood Nether Palace will implicate the Ling family, and she wants to sever ties; on the other hand, she can’t control her soft heart towards these relatives, which is why they have her firmly in their grasp,” Xing Yucheng said helplessly. “But no matter what, it’s best if she doesn’t run away anymore.”
Jingli frowned. "Then what will Junior Sister choose?"
“Some courage is used up once and then it’s gone. She couldn’t completely break free then, and she couldn’t break free afterward,” Xing Yucheng said with certainty. Moreover, Lian Han cared about these family members more than she had thought.
"That's good. Marshal Ling is no ordinary man; he holds half the military power despite being attacked by General Ning and the other two factions. With him as a backer, Junior Sister will be safer."
"Let her handle her own family affairs. Xiao Li, you must have heard a lot about them when you were collecting artifacts from other races back then."
This was definitely one of his darkest moments. Jing Li's lips twitched, and she asked, "What does the teacher want to know?"
"About the Nore Galaxy, which vanished overnight."
...
After leaving Jing Li's house, Lian Han thought for a moment and decided not to take a taxi, so she found the hovercar that Ling Xin had given her two years ago, which was covered in dust in the bracelet, and then drove it to Ling's house in autopilot mode.
Although I still wanted to escape, the old man wasn't wrong; we have to face it eventually.
However, plans can't keep up with changes, and there are always some unexpected events that are beyond our control.
After Lian Han completed the identity verification, she entered the Ling family home, only to find the living room empty. Lian Han activated her smart device and vaguely remembered that they had granted her access to the Ling family home. After inquiring about the home's security system, she quickly received the reply that no one had returned home.
Today is only the 2nd! They were just talking about having a holiday this year at a dinner party a couple of days ago. Where can people go now?
Lian Han frowned and made a video call to Ling Xin, which was quickly connected.
"Xiao Han, what's wrong? Did you have fun?" Ling Xin smiled across from her, but her brows betrayed her weariness.
"I'm at home," Lian Han said, then added, "the Ling family home."
Ling Xin was surprised, then said, "Could you wait a moment? We have something to do right now, and we'll probably be back tonight."
"Xiao Mei and I just booked tickets for this afternoon's trip, and we might not be back until school starts." Lian Han looked at the dark background opposite him and said, "Where are you? I'll come find you."
Ling Xin frowned, but quickly said, "No need. It's not like we'll never see each other again. Have fun. Be careful out there."
The person on the other end hung up the call abruptly.
Lian Han frowned. She had already said she went to find them; this wasn't the answer she expected. And—though it might sound narcissistic, Ling Xin had genuinely never hung up on her.
Ling Xin's reluctance for her to go there stems from his desire to keep her in the dark; his attitude essentially reflects the Ling family's stance. Therefore, it seems something has happened at home, and they are all determined to conceal it from her.
"Locate Ling Xin's location," Lian Han instructed the AI.
"The other party is in a military zone and cannot be located at the moment."
"Locate Ling Yue."
"The other party has turned off the location tracking system for friends."
"Locate Lingze."
"The other party is in an area with no signal and cannot be located at the moment."
Lian Han: ...We should really put a tracking card on each of them!
Her gaze lingered on her father's and aunt's names for a moment before she gave up on locating them. After all, neither of them seemed like someone who would be in trouble, and hastily locating them, regardless of the success of the attempt, would only make them more aware of her.
Lian Han dialed Ling Ze's number, but only received a "no signal" reply.
"Could you check if Ling Ze has any records of leaving the capital planet?"
"Yes," the AI's mechanical electronic voice replied, quickly providing the answer, "No record of leaving the flight."
"What are the no-signal zones on the capital planet?" Lian Han asked the AI.
A map of the capital planet was quickly projected, marking the areas without signal—only a very few places in the wasteland!
Lian Han: ...Why would someone go to a deserted area during the New Year? It must be him.
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