The face she had been thinking about day and night appeared right before her eyes, vivid and real.
Fei Chaichai immediately forgot all about her escape plan.
At this moment, curiosity won out.
She took a step forward again, boldly walking toward the night in that alley, wanting to confirm a few things with this boss.
But unexpectedly, someone was faster than her. Like a gust of wind, they whooshed past her, shouting, "Boss, bad news, bad news! The station sent people again!"
…
The… station?
Again?
Fei Chaichai's sense of danger snapped awake. She made a smooth U-turn and headed straight out of the alley, her movements so crisp it was as if the person who had been willing to sacrifice herself for love a second ago wasn't her at all.
In stark contrast to her was "that gust of wind"—Zhou Yi, who had been sent to fetch the boss.
He plunged into the alley, rattling off a whole bunch of words, but got not a single word in response. Puzzled, he reached out and waved a hand: "Boss, what are you looking at?"
His originally intact field of vision was shattered by the waving.
The alley entrance was empty.
The figure that had fled at the last moment had faded into a dark shadow on the ground, stretching out from behind the corner wall, passing over the abandoned blue hair tie, and then lying perfectly still.
Hearing this, Li Yuyuan removed the cigarette from his lips, but his gaze didn't retract. His tone was languid, his answer completely unserious, as he said slowly: "Watching a bird lose its feathers."
"…"
It was the middle of the night—the birds had all gone home to their moms. When would they have time to put on a feather-shedding show for him!
Zhou Yi took his "read and randomly reply" behavior as him being too lazy to engage, and grew even more anxious: "Boss, please be serious! The one who committed the crime this time is only fourteen! If this keeps up, our company is really going to become a juvenile delinquency base!"
Fei Chaichai, crouching by the wall and observing quietly, thought: "?"
What company, what background, what business—actually specializing in taking in underage criminals? This was way too lawless!
She clenched her fists tightly, afraid that if she kept watching, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from taking action against this group of evil forces.
Besides, how could a social scumbag like that possibly look exactly like No. 108?
She must have seen wrong.
Maybe… she should confirm again?
While she hesitated, Fei Chaichai heard the "social scumbag's" voice again—low and indifferent, carrying a casual air of not giving a damn, as he replied, "Easy fix": "Next time tell the station to send more adults over."
"…"
So as long as they turned this base into an all-ages crime hub, no one could nitpick about minors, right?
"What a vicious idea!" Fei Chaichai accidentally cursed out loud.
The next second.
"Hm?"
The same voice sounded again, this time with more interest.
And closer.
So close… as if it came from right above her head, the ending syllable dragging with laziness, but containing no confusion—more like someone watching a show.
Fei Chaichai: "…"
No… no way!
When did this guy get over here?
Half of Fei Chaichai's body instantly stiffened, all her attention focused on her right side.
She didn't dare turn to confirm, and she couldn't run away at the moment either, so she could only sneak a glance to the side.
Unfortunately.
The "social scumbag" was indeed right beside her.
Within her field of vision was his Adam's apple, his bulging veins, and a vast expanse of desolate, cold tattoos.
It was a withered tree. Branches jagged and gnarled, densely interwoven, like cyan blood vessels piercing through flesh, startling inch after inch of cracks, drawing ravens circling above.
A dangerous sense of pressure crashed over her.
Fei Chaichai immediately stopped her scanning and instead put on the act of having her studying interrupted, diligently saying: "Hey, where was I? Oh, 'Five-flowered horse, thousand-gold fur,' uh, uh… 'All things in frosty sky strive for freedom! Strive for freedom…'"
When people feel guilty, they're always busy.
Her eyes stood guard, her ears kept watch, her brain was completely overwhelmed, reciting whatever line came to mind.
But before she could think of the next line, a gust of wind suddenly rose at the alley entrance.
The man beside her moved his arm, reaching toward her.
Fei Chaichai's heart gave a sudden leap.
Was he going to strike her down this quickly?!
She immediately stepped back half a pace, raising her drawing tube as a weapon, about to issue a loud warning—but just then she looked up and collided with that face that had robbed her of sleep and appetite.
The features were clearly the same, yet upon closer look, they seemed somehow different.
He had a pair of eyes that knew how to deceive. The inner corners tilted slightly upward, seductive and beautiful, creating the illusion of deep affection when they looked at you.
But his emotions were too cold.
Even with a trace of barely concealed interest mixed in, it still felt like being stared down by a wild beast.
Fei Chaichai refused to back down. She mustered her courage and met his gaze, but a sudden, enormous clang rang out right by her ear.
She was startled out of her wits. Her feigned composure shattered as her gaze darted around wildly—and then, by accident, she saw that the large hand reaching toward her had passed her by and pressed against an iron door.
…A door?
Fei Chaichai realized something was wrong. She turned to look and discovered that what she had been crouching against wasn't a wall corner, but an iron door, with words painted on it in oil paint: "Fat Auntie's Home Cooking—Go Straight Ahead."
At that moment, the boy walking alongside him poked his head out with a grin and reminded her quite amiably, "Hey, classmate, you might want to find another spot to recite your texts in the future. It's windy here, and you could easily get hit by the door again. Next time, there might not be my boss around to block it for you."
"…"
So, he wasn't trying to hit her—he was blocking the door for her?
No way.
Fei Chaichai didn't believe in such a twist, but out of politeness, she set down her drawing tube, averted her gaze elsewhere, and squeezed out two words in a barely audible whisper to the man before her.
Her answer came in the form of a rusty creak.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man pull open the iron door and duck inside, as if he hadn't heard her at all.
Seeing this, the boy hurried after him and asked in a lowered voice, curious, "Boss, what did that classmate say to you just now?"
"Told me to get lost."
Fei Chaichai: "…"
He could read minds too, huh?
But what she'd actually said was "thank you"!
Fei Chaichai threw a few frustrated punches at the air and shot a glare toward the doorway.
The corridor of the old single-story building was low and cramped, with peeling plaster on the walls. The black-clad figure walking ahead had broad shoulders and a tall, imposing frame, nearly blocking out the few dim rays cast by the old hallway light.
A sudden wave of melancholy washed over Fei Chaichai.
She wondered if that "scum of society" had any news about Building 108.
Past the corridor, they reached the small stir-fry restaurant.
It was already past the peak dining hours, and only one table of customers remained—one adult and one kid.
The kid was wolfing down his meal, while the adult was waging war, rattling off into his phone: "Uncle Yan, are you treating our N.Found like a reform school? You can't just stuff anyone in here… and no, stuffing money in won't work either!"
Looking across the tech industry, where giants loomed large, N.Found was a new company as young and inexperienced as a child.
No one had expected that within just a few short years, it would carve out its own path in the fiercely competitive field of cybersecurity, relying on its one-of-a-kind Deep Offense-Defense Technology, leaping from "a company no one's heard of" to the top of the industry.
Now it wasn't just hailed as the industry's Whampoa Military Academy—some even joked that the country's top hackers were either in prison or at N.Found.
The latter half of that was meant as a joke, but now it seemed it was about to come true.
The reason was simple.
In recent years, cybercrime had been trending younger. The bureau, worried that these kids would go astray again after getting out, decided to take a detour themselves. Whenever they found promising talent, they'd first try to stuff them into N.Found, and only if that failed would they look for other options.
Qin Ling resolutely opposed this practice and fought Yan Fan tooth and nail: "Perfect timing—your precious boy is here. I'll let him talk to you… Hey, don't hang up so fast… Hello? Hello, Uncle Yan!"
In the span of a second, all that remained on the other end was the busy tone.
Qin Ling: "…"
Even the nationally renowned director of the Yunxia City Cybersecurity Bureau was no better than this—bullying him, a soft persimmon, while fearing Li Yuyuan, that tough bone!
Qin Ling accepted his fate, put away his phone, and unloaded on the "tough bone" walking over: "Look at what kind of crappy place you picked—you got bombed straight from the sky!"
"Haven't blown up yet, have we?" Li Yuyuan pulled out a chair and sat down across from Qin Ling, his expression so calm you'd think even if it did blow up, it wouldn't be his company going down.
Qin Ling: "…"
With the new arrival, the kid stopped focusing on his meal and freed up his mouth to ask, "So you're Li Yuyuan?"
The reaction was like he was eager to confirm something.
Li Yuyuan raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Old Yang, the cyber police officer who'd stepped out to take a call, happened to return just then. Hearing this, he scolded the kid for being "rude and disrespectful," then handed a document to Li Yuyuan with a smile, explaining his purpose: "President Li, I'm really sorry to bother you again. Director Yan asked me to bring this kid by for you to take a look at. Here's the case file."
"Ah, nothing worth looking at." The kid shoveled a mouthful of rice and humbly remarked, "Compared to the big shots at N.Found, I just did a tiny little hack on Pinduoduo's 'cut a knife' feature. Nothing to brag about."
What most people couldn't accomplish in a lifetime became "just" something in his mouth.
Qin Ling clicked his tongue, wanting to criticize these talent-showoffs who attracted so much resentment.
But the man across from him just went "Mm" and said, "Indeed, nothing to brag about."
The moment those words landed, the kid's barely concealed pride froze solid.
Li Yuyuan didn't even look up, continuing to flip through the case file like he was browsing a menu, his tone as flat as if he were critiquing a dish that didn't suit his taste: "Zombie machines with sloppy system name changes, IDs without proper deep obfuscation, price-cutting code patched together from scraps, and you even forgot the loop."
His proud masterpiece had instantly become garbage riddled with holes, and with each mistake listed, the color drained a little more from the kid's face.
Fortunately, the torture didn't last long.
After a quick scan of the file, Li Yuyuan closed it as if bored.
Old Yang saw this and knew things had gone south. He tried to explain, but was cut off by a "Captain Yang."
Li Yuyuan propped his chin on his hand, lazily lifting his eyelids to look at the kid across from him—full of defiance yet struck speechless—and finished his sentence: "You can send people over, sure, but a Script Kiddie who can't even pull off a clean SQL Injection? I can't afford to take that on."
It was said very politely, just not very pleasantly.
After all, the term "Script Kiddie" was highly damaging and even more insulting, referring specifically to those half-baked amateurs who only knew how to copy scripts and code without understanding the underlying principles.
At the age of thirteen or fourteen, self-esteem mattered more than anything.
The boy couldn't bear such humiliation, so he slammed down his bowl and chopsticks and stormed out the door.
Old Yang was at his wit's end, quickly apologizing to Li Yuyuan before chasing after him.
Zhou Yi couldn't bear to watch: "Boss, don't you think you were a bit too harsh?"
"Exactly." Qin Ling nodded in agreement, completely forgetting who had been shouting the loudest just moments ago. "At least give the kid some face. What if he does something drastic?"
The two of them chimed in to defend justice, only to receive a completely irrelevant response: "Aren't you tired standing there for so long?"
Qin Ling and Zhou Yi, who were still looking out toward the street, turned around in confusion. "?"
Not understanding what was going on, they both looked back in unison.
The shop still had only their table as customers, but there was now a young girl carrying a cylindrical art tube on her back. She stood with her back to them, legs crossed in the aisle, one hand against the wall and the other on her hip, looking like she was waiting for a bathroom stall to open up.
Qin Ling skipped right past that and asked Li Yuyuan, "Who are you talking to?"
"An angry bird."
Li Yuyuan's expression was relaxed as he leaned back in his chair, lowering his head to wipe the tea that had splashed onto his left hand. His tone was as unhurried as his movements, and he said calmly, "If you're so eager to listen, why not come sit over here?"
Fei Chaichai, who had failed at cosplaying as air: "…"