Chapter 375: Chapter 375

After reading it several times, Zhu Xinyu signed her name on the document Xiang Shan had provided.

Xiang Shan put the document away. Then, when he looked up, he saw the young girl with a sullen face.

"I’ve essentially sold myself," said Zhu Xinyu.

Xiang Shan said, "You won’t regret it. Now, let’s talk about the issue of remedying the situation. First of all, I need to confirm whether you have set up any ’negative trigger mechanism for automatic disclosure of information’?"

A "negative trigger mechanism" refers to "continuously sending a certain signal to a program or machine, and once the receiver does not receive the signal, the mechanism is triggered."

To be more intuitive, it’s like "the bomb explodes when my heart stops" or "if I don’t send a message after three hours," these are typical "negative trigger mechanisms."

Zhu Xinyu was silent for a moment, seemingly engaged in a difficult internal struggle.

But in the end, she shook her head: "No, I haven’t. I only stole three documents... if that one ’collateral damage’ case was also part of your project..."

"Not ’your project,’" Xiang Shan corrected, "It’s ’our project.’"

"I... our project..." Zhu Xinyu repeated awkwardly, "This batch of ’Fire Stealer Virus’ returned a total of four documents. If that collateral damage biological document also belongs to you... our project, then there should be four. But I haven’t set up a negative trigger mechanism for their automatic disclosure."

Xiang Shan looked at Hartman. To ensure Hartman could understand, Xiang Shan was now speaking in English.

Hartman nodded. This was consistent with his findings. Indeed, the data that had leaked consisted of four documents.

However, Hartman was confused. He looked at Zhu Xinyu and asked, "How are you still alive?"

"What?" Updates are released by Nove1Fire.net

"As a hacker, shouldn’t you have prepared all kinds of sensitive materials and set them to ’automatically disclose after I’m missing for twenty-four hours’?" Hartman said, "That way, you’d have some leverage during negotiations after being arrested."

Zhu Xinyu’s face turned red: "What are you taking me for... I did this for the poor masses..."

"No. I know what idiotic idealism drives you to steal data from corporations," Hartman said. "But ’sensitive materials’ are not limited to the technical intelligence you usually steal; they also include various scandals among high-profile individuals."

Zhu Xinyu felt insulted: "I have no intention of invading personal privacy..."

"But you’re clearly a criminal."

Zhu Xinyu grew angry: "So are you!" The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, and she reached out to Hartman: "Give me back my computer."

Hartman glanced at Xiang Shan. Xiang Shan coughed twice: "Ahem, Miss Zhu. Although you’ve joined ’us,’ your current position... I’m sorry, but at least before we land, we can’t let you have access to any electronic devices. Besides, having Mr. Hartman check your computer is a necessary part of the workflow. He’s in charge of this matter, ensuring that there is nothing even more dangerous inside your computer."

Zhu Xinyu sat down hard, crossing her arms.

Then, her stomach let out a loud noise.

Perhaps it was due to the pressure of the movement, or perhaps because relaxation had brought a surge of hunger.

In any case, Zhu Xinyu’s stomach made a loud noise.

The girl felt she had lost all her dignity.

Xiang Shan, however, just smiled, picked up the headset from the table, brought the microphone close to his mouth, covered his mouth, and said softly, "Do we have any food on the plane? Get her a portion. Preferably that kind from our Republic. This little one has been through a lot today."

Colonel Lei sounded somewhat helpless: "Director Xiang... you this..."

He wanted to reprimand Xiang Shan for something, but Xiang Shan’s actions, although somewhat presumptuous, were indeed rational and legal, each step well within his authority.

And his motives appeared to be pure—the pursuit of research.

Zhu Rong was useful to his research, so he tried every means to keep Zhu Rong on this side.

Faced with such purity, Lei Chaoyang felt it was difficult to reprimand him.

He quietly ordered those around him to prepare food, and then said through the communication, "Have you considered this? By keeping ’Zhu Rong’ within the Rama Project in this manner, you are tying your fate to hers. If she commits another illegal act, you’ll be responsible. If this unstable element causes more trouble, you’re finished."

This is also one of the reasons why nations do not harbor Black Hats on a large scale.

Nobody wants to be responsible for these individuals with prior offenses.

What happens if you bring a criminal into the system, and the criminal commits another crime? Who is responsible? Their current supervisor? The person who granted them amnesty? Or the one who was monitoring them?

This problem exists in every country.

On the other hand, these national machines operate based on organization. "Freestyle experts" can easily reduce the efficiency of an organization.

Even if someone reached Hartman’s level of being "unmatched in human expertise" in a specific field, to become part of the national machinery, they would face numerous restrictions and refining. Only then would the person in charge of the FBI conclude, "recruiting this person, the benefits outweigh the risks."

And now, Xiang Shan had solved this problem.

He was the most professional person in researching the "Orunmila Project". He used his expertise to judge "recruiting ’Zhu Rong’, the benefits exceed the risks". Others would have to weigh their grounds to question it. And for the sake of research, he was willing to serve as his own guarantee.

Xiang Shan feigned nonchalance, "What’s finished? It doesn’t involve my life or property at the end of the day. At most, it affects my career in officialdom. And I’m not after that."

Lei Chaoyang sighed, "I won’t say much more, Director Xiang. In this position, you are always a representative of the Republic."

Xiang Shan said, "Solving the ’Orunmila Project’ is my greatest mission. And to complete this mission is also the task entrusted to me by the Republic. I believe it’s worth it."

"As long as you are clear in your mind."

Meanwhile, on the other side, Hartman was talking to Zhu Xinyu.

"Hey, ’Zhu Rong’. Who is this friend of yours with the ID Ichigo in real life?"

The computer was seized directly by those "Peacekeeping Forces agents"; all the interfaces were left open. Hartman could easily bypass the locks and see what Zhu Xinyu was just working on.

Zhu Xinyu rolled her eyes.

Hartman said, "Hey, girl, don’t be so cold..."

Zhu Xinyu crossed her arms, "Don’t talk to me in such a familiar tone, you running dog!"

Hartman blinked, "If the ’running dog’ you refer to is a derogatory term... I think it could also apply to you."

Zhu Xinyu’s face flushed, but she quickly retorted, "I won’t betray a friend. The contract doesn’t stipulate such a duty!"

Xiang Shan sighed, "I think she may not know the real identity of the other party."

Hartman said, "But she clearly trusts this Ichigo guy. She should know about the guy’s level in biology."

"It could also be an introduction from someone within her circle. When interacting online, you don’t necessarily need to know the other person’s real identity. There are many different ways to verify someone’s expertise in their field."

Hartman said, "Shouldn’t we care about this guy? She still has some data that hasn’t been leaked. If we can recover it..."

Xiang Shan pinched the bridge of his nose. Honestly, his faith as a scholar made him reluctant to take action against these internet guerrillas who disclosed information. But now the situation was out of his hands.

Xiang Shan asked, "Which data set?"

"Mr. Yawgmoth Voigt’s," Hartman glanced at the screen, "Yes, that’s the name. I remember that one of the contaminated computers I found belonged to Mr. Yawgmoth."

At that moment, a soldier came in with a self-heating meal, most likely some kind of sticky rice with chicken and spices, the scent going straight to the nostrils.

Zhu Xinyu’s stomach growled even louder. She couldn’t care less about her image and snatched it away to eat.

Xiang Shan felt a headache coming on, "Yawgmoth... that guy’s research is the hardest to explain... Damn it, if this gets out..."

"Ah, chief, our crazy little lady here seems to have dug up something explosive," Hartman chuckled, "It looks like Mr. Yawgmoth’s leaked data may involve suspicions of plagiarism."

"Plagiarism? How is that possible?" Xiang Shan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

If someone like Yawgmoth, so passionate and angry, would stoop so low, then capitalists might as well be running charities to support the workers.

"How is it not possible..." Zhu Xinyu struggled to swallow the still hot sticky rice, "Men plagiarizing women is not impossible, right?"

"Women? What... His target of plagiarism is a woman? That’s not the point." Xiang Shan said, "Regardless if the researcher is male or female, Yawgmoth would not plagiarize their findings. The simplest reason is that his research subject is not Earth-based life forms. That research data could only exist within ’our park’. Unless every biologist in the research center is an idiot, any act of plagiarizing external biological research wouldn’t go unnoticed."

Hartman clapped, "Could it be Mr. Voigt couldn’t afford the divorce settlement, so he took research materials out of your park? Settling debts with papers? So it’s the other way around?"