Chapter 176

When Zhao Jianguo returned to the dormitory, it was already pitch dark. He put his bag on the desk, didn't turn on the light, went straight to the bedside, lifted a corner of the mattress, and his finger touched the edge of the iron box. It was still there.

He let out a breath, lay down again, but couldn't sleep. His mind kept going over what happened yesterday—the Special Forces team arrived quickly and left just as fast, without leaving any official document. What's more strange, the system hadn't sounded an alarm since then, as if nothing had happened.

But he knew something was off.

Early the next morning, he didn't go to the classroom but went straight to the courtyard house. Jia Dongxu was tinkering with a newly assembled machine in the central courtyard; its casing was a modified old radio, with several copper wires plugged in, and a round dial in the middle, the needle trembling slightly.

"You're here." Jia Dongxu looked up, "Perfect, this thing just got powered on—I haven't dared to turn it up fully yet."

"What is it?" Zhao Jianguo approached.

"The 'detector' you mentioned." Jia Dongxu turned the knob, "Set to the frequency you gave me, it can sense abnormal signal fluctuations."

Zhao Jianguo crouched, stared at the dial, and nodded: "Give it a try."

Jia Dongxu pressed the switch.

The machine buzzed to life, its casing instantly heating up, the gears inside spinning rapidly. The needle on the dial jumped violently, then shook wildly, and finally steadied, pointing toward South Street.

"Something happened?" Zhao Jianguo frowned.

"Not a minor issue." Jia Dongxu unplugged and replugged the power, repeating the test three times with the same result: "The signal source is stable, within five hundred meters, and… it's responding to some kind of command."

Zhao Jianguo stood up: "A coffee shop recently opened on South Street."

"A coffee shop?" Jia Dongxu blinked, "Where did it come from?"

"I don't know." Zhao Jianguo's tone sank, "The décor doesn't match our local style—glass walls, leather sofas, and even some greenery by the door."

Jia Dongxu whistled, "Just hearing about it sounds off."

"Come on, let's go check."

The two left the courtyard house, walked down the alley toward South Street. As they neared the intersection, Zhao Jianguo slowed his pace and peeked ahead.

That shop really stood out. A wooden plaque hung by the door, listing hours from 8 a. m. to 10 p. m. Through the glass window, a few people could be seen inside, dressed sharply, holding porcelain cups, with notebooks on the tables.

"Who uses a notebook to jot things down these days?" Zhao Jianguo said quietly.

"Want me to go buy a coffee?" Jia Dongxu asked.

"I'll go." Zhao Jianguo stopped him, "You wait outside; if things look wrong, knock three times on the car bell."

Jia Dongxu nodded and took cover under the eaves of the opposite convenience store.

Zhao Jianguo straightened his clothes and pushed the door open.

A fragrance hit him—not the smell of water boiling over a coal stove, nor the grease of a big pot dish, but a scent he couldn't name. Light music played in the shop, low volume, yet it made his chest tighten.

He walked up to the counter: "Give me a hot one."

The waiter nodded: "Latte or americano?"

"Whatever." Zhao Jianguo pulled out a few tickets, "Is this enough?"

"Enough." The waiter turned and brewed the coffee, movements practiced.

Zhao Jianguo carried his cup to a corner, deliberately passing by a table.

Two men were talking. One wore a gray suit, the other wore glasses and was scribbling in a notebook.

"This node must be held." the man in the gray suit said, "If the blockchain data chain breaks, the whole decentralized network will collapse."

Zhao Jianguo's steps paused.

He hadn't misheard.

"Blockchain?"

He lowered his head, pretending to drink, and pricked up his ears.

"Headquarters means, first stabilize the local ecosystem." the glasses-wearing man interjected quietly, "Once the second batch of carriers arrives, we can activate the hidden protocol."

"Time is running out." the man in the gray suit looked around, "This area has already begun to reject external information flows."

Zhao Jianguo slowly retreated to the door, pulled it open, and walked out.

Jia Dongxu came up to meet him: "How was it?"

"There's something fishy in there." Zhao Jianguo lowered his voice, "They mentioned 'blockchain' and 'decentralized network'—terms nobody uses anymore."

Jia Dongxu's eyes widened: "You mean… like us?"

"More than that." Zhao Jianguo fixed his gaze on the side profile of the man in the gray suit inside the glass window, "I just got a clear look—that face… is about seventy percent like Xu Da Mao."

"A relative of Xu Da Mao?"

"Maybe he arranged it himself."

The two fell silent for a few seconds.

"Should we call someone?" Jia Dongxu asked.

"No." Zhao Jianguo shook his head. "We have no evidence now; acting rashly will only scare the snake."

"Then what should we do?"

Zhao Jianguo fished out the iron box from his pocket, pressed a small button on its bottom. The red light flashed once, then went out.

"I've already notified the system." He said, "Now we wait for a response."

As his words fell, an engine sound came from afar.

A silver-gray armored vehicle turned the corner, not fast, but headed straight for the café. It bore no markings, its windows were tinted dark, and it stopped five meters from the shop entrance.

Two Special Forces team members jumped from the vehicle, wearing standard uniforms with identification badges on their chests. One stood motionless by the vehicle, the other walked toward the shop door.

The man in a suit inside the café suddenly looked up, his gaze meeting Zhao Jianguo's through the glass for an instant.

In that glance there was no panic, rather a hint of a cold smile.

Immediately afterward, he closed his notebook, stood up, and walked toward the back room.

When the Special Forces team member pushed the door and entered, he was already gone.

"He ran?" Jia Dongxu gritted his teeth.

"It doesn't matter." Zhao Jianguo stared at the door leading to the back kitchen, "He knows we've found him."

Now?

"Go back," Zhao Jianguo put away the iron box, "set the detector to resident mode, monitor signal strength 24 hours. Also, find people to keep watch on this shop, in shifts, and don't let them move the equipment."

Do you want to act?

"It's not time yet," Zhao Jianguo turned and walked back, "but since they dared to show up, they won't come only once. Next time, we have to be ready."

Jia Dongxu hurriedly kept up: "What about the class over there…"

"Classes continue as usual," Zhao Jianguo kept walking, "the children can't suspend their studies; the more this moment, the more we must keep steady."

"But what if they come targeting the education point?"

"Then we'll let them see," Zhao Jianguo glanced back at the café, "what true knowledge inheritance is."

The two walked through the alley and returned to the Siheyuan.

The sky darkened, and the Central Courtyard was already lit by Oil Lamps. Several children sat around the table doing homework, He Yushui corrected notebooks beside them. Sha Zhu stuck his head out of the Kitchen, "Will the stewed cabbage tonight be enough to eat?"

"Enough," Zhao Jianguo walked in, "just add some vermicelli and it'll be fine."

Sha Zhu replied with a sound and retreated.

Jia Dongxu went to the Laboratory to reconnect the detector's power. Zhao Jianguo stood in the middle of the courtyard and looked up at the sky.

The cloud layer was thick; the stars were invisible.

He brushed the iron box in his pocket, confirming the switch was in receiving mode.

Half an hour later, the detector emitted a slight tremor again.

Zhao Jianguo rushed into the room, saw the dial's hand move again; this time the deflection angle was larger than before, the Signal Source location unchanged, but the strength increased by nearly threefold.

"They're transmitting data," Jia Dongxu stared at the Waveform Diagram, "and it's not scattered; it's a whole‑segment upload."

"Sending to whom?"

"Don't know," Jia Dongxu shook his head, "the frequency is encrypted; we can't crack it."

Zhao Jianguo stared at the jumping curve on the Screen and suddenly remembered something.

"The last system alarm, was it this kind of waveform?"

Jia Dongxu pulled out the records and compared: "Almost the same. It's just that this time… more urgent."

Zhao Jianguo stood up: "Prepare the second plan."

"Really going to act?"

"It's not about acting," Zhao Jianguo walked to the doorway, "it's about setting a trap."

He opened the door and said to the San Daye guarding outside the courtyard, "Starting tomorrow, the night class will be moved half an hour earlier; just say there's new material to cover."

San Daye nodded: "Make a sign?"

"Write it," Zhao Jianguo's mouth twitched slightly, "just write 'Limited‑time open, missed it won't return.'"

At eleven at night, Zhao Jianguo sat alone in a corner of the Laboratory. The detector kept running, and the light dot on the dial flickered on and off.

He closed his eyes and leaned against the chair back.

After an unknown amount of time, a very faint chime sounded by his ear.

【Basic Protection Protocol Activated】

He opened his eyes, took the iron box and pressed it to his ear.

Inside came a fragmented voice, as if someone were reciting code.

He didn't catch the specifics, but the last word was clear.

"Countdown."