Chapter 376: Chapter 376

At this moment, Xiang Shan became distinctly aware of one thing.

His friend Yawgmoth Voigt might not be able to come out from the solitary confinement for the time being.

Xiang Shan had initially thought that after Zhu Rong was caught, Mr. Voigt would be able to clear himself of suspicion and continue with his work.

It turned out he was still unable to clear himself of the suspicion.

"Ex-wife... tsk..." Xiang Shan held his head. "Such a headache, why do people even get married? It’s such a hassle."

Yawgmoth, who had a moral cleanliness complex, wouldn’t plagiarize nor let others plagiarize his work. However, in the course of criminal investigation, "personal character" is a factor with low priority.

After all, anyone could be living with a mask in this world. You never know whether a well-reputed good person might turn into a demon in private.

At least the phrase "we all believe in Mr. Voigt" couldn’t convince the UN Security Council.

Could this potentially be a point of entry?

According to what Zhu Xinyu had just said, Yawgmoth’s ex-wife was researching organisms inside Earth’s seabed volcanoes?

And then she discovered similar proteins?

Meaning that some of the proteins that had appeared in the "Obatala Project" could actually be synthesized by organisms on Earth?

Xiang Shan scratched his head. He wasn’t a biologist, and couldn’t assess this possibility. But from a scientific research method or logical standpoint, it was very likely.

—Of course, assuming that Yawgmoth really hadn’t leaked any information.

If his ex-wife had secretly looked at the data he took with him and then got inspired...

"Let’s first see if this person, Ichigo, has sent out the data. If this person has already passed on the data to a third party, then it’s all meaningless." Xiang Shan looked at Hartman. "This chat tool was written by her herself, wasn’t it? Filter all scholars who have had contact with Niyaguti Endeby and then check their students’ personal devices for similar chat tools? Wouldn’t that be too much of a commotion...?"

"This chat tool has considered the ’arrest of a user’ scenario, so it’s impossible to trace back the real IP from the records unless I can monitor during the chat process," Hartman said. "If ’Zhu Rong’ doesn’t know the guy’s real identity either, then the method you mentioned would be the fastest."

"Are we sending a message to that Ichigo now?"

"According to the records, unless there is urgent information, they wouldn’t connect randomly. If we just send a message , it might startle the snake. Besides, Ichigo must have gone to his mentor by now. We probably won’t make it in time."

Xiang Shan held his forehead. "If these files also get leaked... damn, Yawgmoth’s friend will have to wear the ’plagiarist’ hat for a while then..."

After all, for a short while, both "Argon" and the "Obatala Project" shouldn’t be exposed.

In comparison, Mr. Yawgmoth’s personal honor or disgrace...

Xiang Shan pressed his forehead in agony. Then he turned to Zhu Xinyu, "Hey, young lady, are you really clueless about who your Ichigo friend is...?"

"Ah..." At this moment, Zhu Xinyu had a blank stare, as if she hadn’t heard Xiang Shan’s words at all. "Ah ah ah... Ah!"

The girl suddenly stood up. "Did you just say ’not of Earthly origin’? Did you? Did you?"

"Ah!" The girl let out another short, sharp scream. "So you really were hiding news of the aliens? Are the legends of Area 51 of the Federation true? The Roswell incident, is it real? Or is it Bermuda... or is it... or is it... Oh my gosh, what am I even saying?"

Zhu Xinyu hugged her head, her hands starting to tremble.

It seemed she finally realized what kind of thing she had stolen.

"Considering the nature of your future work, I can indeed answer you that a manned spacecraft from aliens was captured in outer space and brought back to Earth. As for more specific information, you do not currently have the clearance to know," Xiang Shan tapped on the table. "Once you officially join the project, we will tell you the full picture. But for now, this is all I can tell you."

In fact, Hartman also knew almost the same amount. Hartman only knew about a "Rama Project" which was a "special project jointly advanced within the UN Security Council by various major countries," studying an "unmanned spacecraft captured by the Federation." He also knew "there is an Orunmila Project and an Obatala Project." As for who is researching these two projects and how they’re progressing, he had no idea.

Xiang Shan and Hartman asked Zhu Xinyu a few more questions. However, Zhu Xinyu seemed to be out of sorts, her mind plunged into some kind of confusion. It looked like they couldn’t get any more out of her. In this state, even if they asked her to pretend to be her "former self" and contact those from the Open Access Movement, she would likely be detected as being off. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel·fiɾe·net

Seeing this, Xiang Shan knew they wouldn’t get anything more and called on Hartman to leave the room.

This was a Gulfstream G750 medium-sized business jet. Its entrance was registered under the name of an "anonymous rich man." If needed again, certainly another wealthy owner would step forward to claim the jet. The room where Zhu Xinyu was located was an interrogation room refitted at the tail end of the business jet. The rest of the plane was also sectioned off separately.

The Peacekeeping Forces responsible for the actual capture operation took a separate customized toolcraft. Aboard this plane were only Xiang Shan, who was the leader; Zhu Xinyu, who was the subject of the capture; Hartman, the special technician; and the most sensitively positioned UN military Staff Officer. These people obviously could not fill the plane, which had a capacity for thirty people and a small amount of room.

They returned directly to the Rama Project complex.

Xiang Shan let out a slight sigh of relief. This matter was more or less settled.

No, it couldn’t be said to be completely settled.

At least there were a few unexpected aspects.

The first was the "plagiarism" that Zhu Xinyu and her team had unearthed, which truly was unexpected. Without it, the data lost from Yawgmoth’s device would have remained garbage on the internet that nobody cared about, or "a joke some academic decided to play" for a long time. If push came to shove, Xiang Shan could also have found a biologist to claim, "This is a setting from a science fiction novel I plan to write." After all, everyone anticipated that the offerings of the "Obatala Project" would be too different from Earth’s biology to be compatible with the enzyme system. Before this, the biologists of the Rama Project had all declared, "Anyone would think this isn’t terrestrial life."

But the issue of "plagiarism" was bound to attract unwanted attention.

Especially since Yawgmoth’s ex-wife had a bit of a "politically correct internet celebrity" tendency.

Another aspect was Zhu Xinyu’s age.

Zhu Xinyu was still a minor, and although with limited capacity for conduct, whether to notify her family about this matter was also a problem.

Of course, these weren’t "big problems."

The exposure of Yawgmoth’s research materials was a significant oversight, but this loophole had been left by the previous director of the research center. He was the one plugging the leak. In the report, Xiang Shan would only appear as the person "who led the workgroup with insightful strategies and quickly focused on the core issue." Besides, "Zhu Rong" was already securely in custody; they wouldn’t just release her on the spot because she was a minor.

For Xiang Shan, the operation was quite a success.

He turned to Hartman and said, "Thanks."

"Boss, for what?" Hartman didn’t understand.

"After I proposed a judicial deal with ’Zhu Rong’, you were very cooperative," Xiang Shan nodded, "And before that, if it weren’t for your full assistance, I wouldn’t have captured ’Zhu Rong’ so easily."

Hartman was quite pleased with himself, "Yes, I am the best. And you really are a good guy. It’s easy working under you, boss. A young girl like ’Zhu Rong’ doesn’t belong in jail. Working for you might just be the best outcome for her."

Xiang Shan was surprised. He had thought that the Great Hacker was the kind of person completely oblivious to human warmth and coldness.

"I thought you would be a colder technical person. Or that you had some... hatred or disdain for hacker groups? I didn’t expect you to hold some goodwill towards ’Zhu Rong’."

"I used to think officials from the Republic like you had to be idiots," Hartman said. "You’re generous."

Following Federation customs, Xiang Shan raised his palm, "Well then, good guy, let’s celebrate—Give me five."

Hartman was somewhat unaccustomed to this kind of thing. He hesitated a moment before slapping Xiang Shan’s palm, "To this victory."

.................................

Faulkner V pulled himself out of this segment of the historical record.

In that instant, countless pieces of information directly stimulated the depths of his brain. In that moment, many questions slid across the outside of his consciousness.

"Do you support or oppose the Dyson principle?"

This was a method akin to processing "junk information." The system suppressed the activity in his hippocampus, and from a database of thousands of discerning questions, it pulled random ones to pose to his brain and observed the neural feedback directly.

Shortly afterward, having confirmed the accuracy, Faulkner V reconnected his Prosthetic Eye.

A virtual figure appeared before him.

Feheart, the instructor of the Martial God Special Operations Unit, asked Faulkner V, "So, Ranger, after observing that memory segment, what changes have you experienced in your concept of ’Martial God’?"

Faulkner V pondered for a moment. He was almost entrapped by those "memories."

After a long pause, he finally said, "He’s truly frightening..."