Chapter 136: Data Countermeasure·HP Crisis

Zhao Jianguo's hand was still pressing on the Terminal, his palm burning as if holding a piece of iron just pulled from a furnace. The red text on the Screen kept scrolling, one line after another popping out: 【External Command Injection】 【Permission Hijacking】 【HP Shared Channel Anomaly】. He stared at the string of numbers—37%, 36%, 35%—each tick felt like someone twisted his chest hard.

He exhaled, pressed the Terminal's rear vent firmly with his left hand, swiped twice in the air with his right hand, bringing up the low‑level log interface. His fingers trembled a bit, but he still closed the unnecessary processes one by one, leaving only the thread linked to Chen Jianguo's Terminal afterimage.

"Lao Chen!" his voice hoarse, "If you dare cut the signal now, I'll never recognize you as my brother in this life!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the Terminal jolted violently, the image flickered a few times, and a video clip popped up. It was Chen Jianguo's face, pale as paper, but his mouth twisted in a goofy grin.

"I knew you'd scold me," the voice in the video crackled intermittently, mixed with electrical noise, "but if you don't answer, what I'm sending will really be gone."

Zhao Jianguo gritted his teeth: "Cut the nonsense! Where are you right now? How long can you hold on?"

"Where I am isn't important," Chen Jianguo raised his hand and wiped his face as if wiping sweat, "What matters is this—"

The screen switched, and a yellowed front page of a newspaper leapt out, the headline bold and black: "College Entrance Exam Restored, Knowledge Changes Destiny." The date was clear: October 21, 1978.

Zhao Jianguo was stunned for a moment.

Isn't this just news? Something the whole country knows. Yet the instant he stared at that line, the system suddenly emitted a sharp alert tone: 【Detected high‑dimensional data anchor point, establish link?】

Before he could react, his HP started dropping again—34%, 33%, 32%—the rate faster than before.

"What does this mean?" he shouted, "Can a newspaper save a life?"

"It's not the newspaper," Chen Jianguo's voice suddenly deepened, "Do you remember what you did that day?"

Zhao Jianguo's mind buzzed.

That day… he was squatting at the Siheyuan gate fixing a radio, heard the broadcast of that news, his hand trembled and solder smeared the whole board. A neighbor kid ran over, patted his shoulder, and said, "Uncle Zhao, I'll be able to take the college exam too!" He laughed and replied, "Alright, just don't flop it when the time comes."

It was that simple.

But now that he thought about it, the system seemed to have chimed then; he thought it was a sign‑in reminder and ignored it.

"You mean…" his throat tightened, "That day was the Starting Point of the Historical Correction Force eruption?"

"It's more than a Starting Point," Chen Jianguo stared at him, "It's a turning point. The Chief Engineer and others wanted to change exactly this day. Yet you signed in that day and casually helped three students check their college preference forms. The system logged it, and when the civilization witness certification passed, history was 'confirmed.'"

Zhao Jianguo's whole body shivered.

He had always thought he was just an ordinary transmigrator, picking up a system to pass the days. But if that were true, why was he the one who activated it?

"So…" his voice lowered, "I wasn't just passing through; I was supposed to be there all along?"

"Right." Chen Jianguo nodded, "You're not a variable; you're an anchor point."

Before the words finished, the Terminal suddenly shook violently, the whole Screen flooded with blue light as if about to explode. Zhao Jianguo's vision went black, he nearly fell, and hurriedly grabbed the Wall Base to steady himself.

【Warning: Dual‑system resonance triggered, HP shared channel forcibly opened, deduction rate increased to 2% per second】

2%!

He looked up; the number had already dropped to 28% and kept falling. Cold sweat streamed down his temples, his clothes clung to his back, chilling.

His mind also began to scramble, foreign scenes pouring in— a man in a Zhongshan suit standing at a podium reciting a list, a crowd of youths below sobbing; in an alley, someone kneeling with a backpack, shouting "I want to study"; a funeral, a pair of glasses placed before the coffin, next to a half‑filled college entrance exam admission ticket…

None of them were his memories.

Yet each scene pressed on his chest as if he had lived through them.

"Stop… stop for me!" he snapped his head back, his fingers slashing wildly on the Terminal, trying to cut the link.

But the system didn't respond at all.

"Don't cut!" Chen Jianguo's voice suddenly blared, "If you cut now, everything before is wasted! Listen, 1978 must be 're‑confirmed'! Only you can do it!"

"How to confirm? By saying it with my mouth?" Zhao Jianguo panted heavily, his legs trembling.

"Use your cognition to acknowledge it!" Chen Jianguo almost shouted, "Tell the system this day cannot be altered! It's real! It's bound to happen!"

Zhao Jianguo clenched his molars, raised his hand, and pressed the Terminal tightly against his chest.

"I acknowledge!" he shouted into the air, "October 21, 1978, the college entrance exam restored! This is fact! No one can change it!"

The voice echoed a few times in the Courtyard, no one responded.

But the Terminal fell silent suddenly.

The red warning stopped, HP froze at 18%.

A few seconds later, a blue light spread from the Terminal, crawling up his arm to his shoulder, slowly flowing over his whole body. He felt his body temperature return, his limbs stopped tingling, and even his breathing became noticeably smoother.

【Detected strong‑link spacetime anchor point, Historical Correction Force Fluctuation weakened… HP loss paused】

Zhao Jianguo leaned against the wall, slowly slid to sit on the ground, still clutching the Terminal, his finger joints turning white.

Done?

He looked down at the Screen; the image of the People's Daily was still there, quietly frozen, as if nailed.

"Lao Chen?" he whispered.

The image didn't move, nor make a sound.

He called out again, still no response.

"You… still there?"

After a while, the picture trembled slightly, and Chen Jianguo's face reappeared. This time he didn't smile; his gaze was calm, as if looking far away.

"Be careful of 1978." He finished the sentence, his lips moved as if to say more, but finally just nodded.

Then the image flickered and went completely black.

The Terminal reverted to a normal interface, only a faint breathing light blinking on and off.

Zhao Jianguo sat where he was, unmoving.

Wind blew in from the Courtyard side, carrying a hint of coal‑ball stove smell. From a distant Hutongkou came the sounds of children chasing and shouting, and somewhere a family was chopping dumpling filling, the cutting board clacking loudly.

Everything seemed unchanged.

But he knew some things had changed.

He looked down at the Terminal, his fingers gently tracing its edge. The previous shock had been so harsh the chassis deformed slightly, the vent cracked a slit. Yet he couldn't bring himself to shut it down, nor dared to.

Because as long as it stayed connected, he felt Chen Jianguo was still there.

Even if only a fragment of afterimage remained, it counted as companionship.

He slowly raised his head, gazing at the sky.

That crack was almost invisible now, only a faint trace remained, as if rubbed away by an eraser. The Special Forces' energy shield was still operating, and the silver box in the corner emitted a faint hum.

But just then, the Terminal suddenly trembled again.

It was not an alarm.

It was a new message.

It came from the internal protocol channel, with the highest encryption level.

The title consisted of only two characters: **Reboot**.

Zhao Jianguo stared at those two words, his heartbeat skipped a beat.

He hadn't even had time to open it when a faint dripping sound suddenly sounded in his ear, as if coming from underground. Immediately after, the Terminal screen automatically switched, displaying a countdown:

**00:04:59**

Below, a line of small text read: 【Self-destruct program activated, cannot be terminated】.