Chapter 269: Ghost Signal

Led by the Pirate Leader, Lu Yuan and the players walked through a passage originally designed for drones, arriving at the Big Squid's cranial cavity.

A icosidodecahedron device, approximately 5 meters in diameter, appeared before everyone.

It was the 'brain' of the giant war mech, a large carbon-based chip computer with a very compact structure. It used an Entropy Zero Element Furnace for auxiliary cooling, eliminating the need for additional heat dissipation mechanisms.

The computer's exterior also had terminals and panels for manual operation.

"Did you add these devices?" Lu Yuan asked the leader.

"No, when we came in, it was already in this state, including the driving hall outside. We actually didn't touch it again."

Oh?

"So you just reactivated it here?"

"Yes, sir—"

"What about the device the mysterious person sold you? Is it here too?"

"It's stored at the headquarters. It hasn't been moved for many years—"

An hour later, Caoyuan led his subordinates to an overwhelming victory, successfully capturing the Dark Sun headquarters and sweeping away the last remaining forces.

After identifying Dark Sun's crimes, he brought the device and Mr. Sang back as per Lu Yuan's request.

The device looked unremarkable, just a black box with an antenna, somewhat like an oversized router.

"The valuable part inside should just be the software."

Jubian said after scanning.

"I checked the main control computer. The Big Squid's system should theoretically be locked by quantum encryption. If Dark Sun can unlock it by broadcasting a signal, there's only one possibility: a backdoor was already left in place."

Hmm?

Lu Yuan's eyes darted.

A backdoor program? Good heavens, there's a lot of information here!

"Are you saying someone had already cracked its system before the apocalypse, captured it, and reprogrammed it?"

"Yes! The technology required to crack quantum encryption is so advanced that we can't imagine it for now. However, with the golden age of human technology, anything is possible!"

It seems that the mysterious person who sold the key device to Dark Sun must have inherited the technology for reprogramming the Big Squid from before the apocalypse through certain channels.

However, they only inherited a portion of it, otherwise, they wouldn't have been unable to unlock all permissions.

The problem now is why they would sell such an important technological product to a group of pirates.

If it was just for money, why didn't they unlock it themselves and then disassemble and sell other technological samples from the Big Squid?

That would obviously yield higher profits...

Lu Yuan walked up to Mr. Sang.

The other party had completely lost his spirit, looking like a shriveled old man.

"Did the person who sold you the technology not make any other demands?"

Mr. Sang was silent for a few seconds, then mechanically replied, "Yes."

"What demands?"

"...The other party asked us to run a program on the main control computer, and then, periodically, send the calculation results back through the mech's superluminal communication base station."

Hearing this, Lu Yuan gestured.

Jubian immediately went to the terminal to verify.

"That's it! He's not lying! There really is a superluminal communication facility installed here, and it was sending information five times a day until 5 years ago! It continued for a full 10 years!"

"What's the content?" Caoyuan asked from the side.

"I can only confirm now that the key first inserted here was actually a hard drive. Besides the boot password, there was also a Trojan horse payload! A huge encrypted data block of over twenty ZB. The host had been using a large amount of computing power to decrypt this data block and send the decryption results! Damn it—it's been too long, it's probably very difficult to recover the original data now!"

"Was the data block also quantum encrypted?"

"Yes! So the hardware that initially encrypted it, and the Big Squid's host, likely share the same set of hardware architecture, or at least the software programming logic is similar, which is why it could be successfully decrypted within 10 years!"

The same architecture?!

A heavy sense of unease rose in Lu Yuan's heart.

"Can the target direction of the sent signal be determined?"

"It should be!"

Jubian operated the terminal a few times, and a ray was then marked on the screen.

This...

This ray, starting from Ruins Star, passed through New Hope and Paradise Island in the "southwest" direction, through the territories of many forces,

and through the entire known Star Alliance space, pointing towards deep dark space.

Lu Yuan's unease deepened.

Beyond the Star Alliance, there must be other highly developed civilizations.

Moreover, the other party had already extended their reach to the unregulated Paradise Island, using the Dark Sun Pirates, who had no sense of responsibility for interstellar security, to secretly try to unlock something extraordinary.

Releasing the natural disaster again!

These six words, like an instinctive crisis, suddenly appeared in the minds of Lu Yuan, Caoyuan, Jubian, and Xian Yu, and all the thoughtful and vigilant Cangyuan Future Technology people, making goosebumps instantly crawl up their entire forearms.

What the hell have you done!?

Lu Yuan grabbed Mr. Sang by the collar.

With over 60 points of strength, he yanked the not-so-tall man off the ground, his feet dangling.

"Have you had any contact with that mysterious person since then?!"

"Yes, yes!"

Mr. Sang was an old hand and immediately felt the sharp, no-nonsense killing intent in the Executive Officer's eyes. How could he dare to lie?

"If we kept transmitting data, we could get a good reward. Before, we met him every few months to complete phased transaction payments. The last time we met was 5 years ago! And it was on Paradise Island!"

"You truly know nothing about the mysterious person's identity?"

Mr. Sang raised both hands in surrender.

"Nothing! I swear!"

"Alright then, by intuition, which force do you think he is more likely to belong to? The other party is at least human. His accent, his habits, where in the Star Alliance is he more likely to have been born?"

Mr. Sang thought for a few seconds, then said, "This is a question I've also considered, but, Executive, generally speaking, those who conduct such transactions are just professional middlemen. Their identity doesn't reveal anything."

"But on the other hand, excellent middlemen will work in this profession for a long time and stay in places they are familiar with. Generally, that's how it is—"

Lu Yuan seemed to ponder, then released Mr. Sang and looked at Caoyuan.

"Interrogate him. Get every detail about that mysterious person out of him."

"Yes!"

"Also, contact Anya. I need to send people to Paradise Island to investigate as soon as possible. Ask her if she has any connections."

"Okay! Also, should we anonymously release this information through Anya in the Star Alliance? If we do that, it's very likely to cause panic soon; but if we completely conceal it to maintain military technological advantage—"

Caoyuan slowly shook his head.

That's not right either.

"I also don't like to conceal dangers. That's very foolish."

Lu Yuan took a deep breath.

"But let me think about it for a few more days—all the bad premonitions we have now are just our guesses. At least we need to further confirm the information.

"Then, in a formal setting, as Cangyuan Future Technology, we will officially announce our findings."

Caoyuan nodded silently.

Yes.

Clearly, the Executive Officer thought the same as him.

Outside the Star Alliance, someone is trying to unlock and activate more powerful war machines similar to the Big Squid.

Judging from the other party's secretive and underhanded style of doing things, there is a high probability of malicious intent behind this attempt.

If they successfully bring this level of power under their control, then whether or not they launch military action against the Star Alliance in the future, it will likely become a huge obstacle to Cangyuan Future Technology's progress.

Such sensitive information should not flow into the Star Alliance as gossip; that would be too childish. The Executive Officer's approach is indeed better.

From now on, Cangyuan Future Technology will also be a responsible major force in the Star Alliance!

"Then I'll be responsible for data recovery." Jubian volunteered, "Hmm—I need to post new missions and recruit a few guys or gals who are good at programming in reality!"