Chapter 271: Whispers in the Silent Alley

Below the photo was that line of small text, crooked and nearly a blur: "Project codename: Xiao Ya-001, biological electronic fusion experiment, first stage complete."

Xu Xiaochuan stared at the blurry photo, his throat dry.

That little girl in the white dress, clearly unable to see her face, yet there was an indescribable familiarity, as if he had seen her somewhere before.

His fingers trembled slightly as he clicked on the next file, the screen jumping with fragmented experimental records.

"Biological electronic fusion... consciousness upload... data stability... failure rate..."

Words like fragments flashed on the screen, each one making Xu Xiaochuan's heart skip a beat.

He slammed his hand on the table abruptly, making a dull "thud."

"These dog-day madmen! Using a living little girl for experiments!"

Lin Yu's work didn't stop, pushing a dose of painkiller into Xuanyuan Qing's arm. The medicine slowly entered, and Xuanyuan Qing's tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

"The things back then were messier than you think." Lin Yu's voice was very low. "Zhou Weihong was mad, but at the beginning..."

"Beginning my ass! What reason could there be to stuff your own daughter into an iron shell?" Xu Xiaochuan roared, interrupting him, his fingers typing rapidly on the keyboard, trying to dig more out of that pile of rotten data.

Xuanyuan Qing gritted her teeth, her arm hurting excruciatingly, but her attention was entirely on the screen. "Scroll down, that folder, named 'Original Records'."

Xu Xiaochuan clicked it. Inside was only one video file, mostly corrupted, with only a few seconds still watchable.

He clicked play.

The image shook violently, blurry as hell, but one could tell it was a laboratory. Zhou Weihong's face flashed by, much younger than when he was at the hub. Beside him stood a woman—Zhou Lin, and a man, with his back to the camera, his figure looking particularly like his old man Xu Jianhua when he was young.

"... last hope..." Zhou Weihong's voice was intermittent, mixed with noise.

"... Xiao Ya's brain..."

"... No, too risky..." the man with his back to them was objecting.

"... no other way..." Zhou Lin's voice, laced with sobs.

The image jumped abruptly, a little girl with pigtails lying on a strange-looking instrument, her head covered in dense, colorful wires. Her eyes were closed, her face looking quite peaceful, just like she was sleeping.

The video went black at this point.

All three of them were silent.

"Looks like Xiao Ya was really sick," Xuanyuan Qing spoke first, her voice drifting from pain, but still steady. "They wanted to use technology to save her."

Lin Yu tied a dead knot in the bandage. "The technology back then, consciousness upload was bullshit, pure theory, basically impossible to succeed."

"But they did it anyway." Xu Xiaochuan stared fixedly at the little girl's face on the screen, his heart feeling blocked.

He continued scrolling down, the remaining files even more corrupted, pieced together and still making no sense. Suddenly, a file folder with a particularly high encryption level popped up, named "Xu Jianhua Personal Records."

"This is... Dad's diary?"

He clicked, and a password box popped up.

Xu Xiaochuan tried "Xiao Ya," wrong.

"Donkey Meat Burger," still wrong.

He even typed in his own birthday, but it was still a red cross.

"Fuck!" he slammed the table again in anger.

Lin Yu walked over, scanning the screen. "Your dad, that man, looked rough, but he was clear-headed inside. The most important things, the password definitely isn't simple."

Xuanyuan Qing leaned against the medical station, her face pale but better from the medicine. "Try... your mom's name, plus your name?"

Xu Xiaochuan typed "Lin Xiaoyu Xiaochuan."

Access denied.

"Wait," Xuanyuan Qing seemed to remember something, "that Old Well, старый колодец, try this."

Xu Xiaochuan typed in this string of Russian.

The screen flickered, but the folder remained locked.

The room fell silent, leaving only the low hum of the computer cooling fan, and Xuanyuan Qing's occasional suppressed gasps.

Xu Xiaochuan leaned back in his chair in frustration, closing his eyes. The taxi driver's words rang in his ears again: "That tension suddenly loosened, clear!"

The Zero Machine is gone...

People's suppressed emotions were exploding uncontrollably. What would happen next, no one could say.

"Uncle Lin," Xu Xiaochuan opened his eyes, "we have to go find Xiao Ya."

Lin Yu was rummaging through the safe house cabinets, not even turning his head. "Take care of yourself first. It's unclear what's going on outside, Xiao Chengzhou's lackeys must be searching the city for us."

"But I heard her voice!" Xu Xiaochuan stood up, his voice rising, "She was crying for help!"

"That was the data noise of the system collapsing!" Lin Yu turned around, his tone hard. "If you want to find her, fine, wait until we catch our breath, get our gear ready, and figure out how to find her!"

"By then, the signal will be gone!"

Xuanyuan Qing suddenly spoke: "Stop arguing, see what else is usable in this room."

This made both of them calm down a bit. Xu Xiaochuan took a breath, suppressing his anger, and began to rummage through the small safe house.

Lin Yu checked the storage cabinet, which contained compressed biscuits, bottled water, a few knives that looked dangerous, and some medical kits, enough to last a few days if used sparingly. "Your dad prepared quite well."

Xu Xiaochuan found a heavy metal box under the bed and dragged it out, opening it to reveal a set of old but well-maintained communication equipment. "What's this?"

Xuanyuan Qing leaned over to look, somewhat surprised. "Early quantum entanglement communication prototype, stuff phased out by the military, you can't see it on the market at all."

Lin Yu frowned: "What exactly did your dad do?"

Xu Xiaochuan fiddled with the machine, discovering it could actually turn on. The screen lit up, showing a very simple interface, just a place to input frequency.

"What kind of signal can this thing receive?"

Xuanyuan Qing fiddled with the equipment knob with one hand. "Theoretically, as long as it's a quantum encrypted signal, it can receive it, even if it's shielded. If Xiao Ya's signal is still there..."

Xu Xiaochuan understood instantly, asking eagerly: "Frequency? How to set it?"

"The problem is, we don't know the frequency." Xuanyuan Qing shook her head. "If we try blindly, we won't find it in a hundred years."

Xu Xiaochuan pondered, a flash of inspiration hitting his brain. He ran back to the computer and pulled up the chip data again. In a pile of garbled code, he found a special string of numbers that kept repeating.

"Could it be this?" he pointed to Xuanyuan Qing.

Xuanyuan Qing entered that string of numbers into the communication equipment.

The machine began scanning immediately, and faint signal fluctuation lines jumped on the screen.

"There's something!" Xu Xiaochuan was so excited he nearly pressed his face against the screen.