Chapter Twenty-Nine: Old Lu's Legacy (Part Two)
“…You’re… planting a ‘seed’ within the enemy!” When Lin Feng’s hoarse, tear-streaked cry of elation reverberated through the quiet studio, even Xiao Ran’s holographic projection flickered violently, shaken by the magnitude of his revelation.
Her face was etched with an indescribable shock.
Lin Feng no longer wallowed in grief. He wiped his tears away, and in his reddened eyes, an unprecedented fighting spirit blazed—a resolve to carry on his late mentor’s legacy.
He began to explain to Xiao Ran, and to Old K and the others who were watching through the secure line, the secret of the “seed” that had lain dormant for five years.
His fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, enlarging, deconstructing, and displaying for all to see the segment of code he had named “Legacy.”
“Back then, before Old Lu’s sacrifice, he wasn’t making a futile last stand,” Lin Feng’s voice was hoarse but powerful. “He created a ‘dormant trojan’—just 1KB in size, compressed and disguised to the extreme—masquerading as redundant data from a system crash, and forcefully injected it into the Ouroboros’ core program!”
On the screen, that unremarkable string of code was highlighted by his glowing red cursor.
“This ‘seed’ is a super-spy. It remains in absolute deep hibernation—never executing instructions, never consuming resources, undetectable by any antivirus or firewall in existence.”
“It has only one function,” Lin Feng’s tone rose, filled with pride. “—‘homology recognition’!”
“As long as any code with the same origin, structure, or even partial algorithm as the Ouroboros core program runs within its range, it will awaken like a time-bomb triggered by ultrasonic waves—instantly activating!”
“Once awakened,” Lin Feng’s eyes turned devilishly intense, “it’ll quietly exploit a ‘logic backdoor’ that Old Lu had embedded in Ouroboros—a secret known only to him—opening a silent, undetectable, highest-level access channel straight into the enemy’s system core!”
The entire command center was stunned into silence.
Everyone was shaken to the core by Old Lu’s unfathomable, beyond-the-grave stratagem.
This was no mere sacrifice—it was baiting the enemy, planting a five-year time-bomb of devastating power right in the heart of their defenses.
“My god…” Old K, the technical chief, stared at the code on the screen, his voice trembling, “Lu… Old Lu was… he was a monster!”
“He wasn’t a monster,” Lin Feng gazed gently at the gleaming “Legacy” on the screen, “He was a guardian.”
Xiao Ran, too, recovered from her shock. Her eyes now blazed with chilling brilliance.
In that instant, she understood what this “master key” would mean for their operation two days hence.
“Lin Feng!” Her voice was taut with excitement, “The auction site! Anderson’s security system! Can we use it?”
“No,” Old K cut in immediately, “The summit uses Honeywell’s public security system, which has a completely different origin—‘Legacy’ can’t be triggered!”
“No,”
Lin Feng slowly shook his head, a knowing, almost mystical smile playing on his lips.
“Old K, you’re right. But you’re forgetting one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Human nature.” Lin Feng looked Xiao Ran square in the eye, speaking each word with weight. “Anderson is a control freak. Do you really think he’d entrust his own safety and that of a priceless painting to the summit’s riddled public security?”
“He never would.”
“He’ll absolutely use his most trusted, impenetrable Ouroboros security system to control the innermost sanctum—the VIP suite housing ‘Tempest at Sea!’”
It was a bold deduction, but fit Anderson’s arrogant character perfectly.
Xiao Ran’s eyes flashed with resolve.
“Team A!” She barked into her communicator, “Deploy a Hummingbird micro-drone immediately! Target: International Art Center on the Huangpu, penthouse, VIP Suite A-1! Reconnaissance mission!”
…
Ten minutes later.
In the night, a micro-drone no larger than a dragonfly and nearly transparent clung soundlessly to the thick bulletproof glass outside VIP Suite A-1.
In Lin Feng’s studio, the fateful “Legacy” code was already loaded into the drone’s signal transmitter.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Begin,” Xiao Ran commanded, brooking no doubt.
Lin Feng drew a deep breath and pressed “Activate.”
A feeble probe, carrying the “Legacy” protocol, slipped through the bulletproof glass and seeped into the suite.
At first, nothing happened.
One second…
Two seconds…
Everyone in the command center held their breath.
Had Lin Feng’s deduction failed?
Just as their patience was about to snap—
A sudden change!
On the drone’s signal spectrum, a red signal—representing a “private security system”—flared to life inside the suite!
Anderson’s system had activated! It had detected the probing!
And almost simultaneously—
On Lin Feng’s monitor, the icon for “Old Lu’s Legacy,” dormant for five years and billions of milliseconds, suddenly erupted with radiant golden light!
A system prompt, brimming with power and warmth, appeared at the center of the screen:
System Notice: Homologous signal detected…
[“Legacy” Protocol…]
[…Awakened!]
“We did it!”
A thunderous cheer exploded in the command center.
Everyone was shouting and leaping with excitement.
This was not just a technical triumph.
It was the witness of a great legacy—one that transcended life and death.
And Lin Feng, staring at the golden, unobstructed backdoor passage automatically built by “Legacy,” felt his eyes well up once more.
Through this backdoor, he could now see, with perfect clarity, the dense web of infrared alarms, pressure sensors in the floor, vibration detectors in the walls—all laid bare before him, unguarded, defenseless.
He had become the sole god within this fortress of steel.
Slowly, he wiped the tears from his eyes, and that devilish “Zhurong” smile returned to his lips.
He picked up the encrypted communicator and connected with Xiao Ran.
“All right, Your Majesty,”
His voice brimmed with absolute, unprecedented confidence and control.
“Now, shall we discuss…”
“…whether, in two days’ time, the painting will grow legs and walk out on its own…”
“…or if Anderson himself will respectfully deliver it into our hands?”