A Hasty Explanation and a New Crisis

The car eventually made a wide loop, and only returned to the company after confirming that it had shaken off the suspicious black sedan.

Throughout the drive, the atmosphere inside the car was as oppressive as the dead silence before a storm.

Lin Chen hardly dared to breathe. He could clearly feel the coldness and gravity emanating from Yan Qingyue, a pressure unlike anything he had ever experienced from her, charged with intense vigilance and scrutiny.

What on earth happened? Why is President Yan so angry?

Was the information I gave her so worthless that it made her lose face at the seminar?

Or... did we take a detour because we ran into trouble?

His mind was in a whirl, but he didn't dare ask a single question.

Back at the company, Yan Qingyue walked straight into her office and slammed the door bang, so hard that Lin Chen jumped outside.

He sat down at his desk, uneasy, feeling as though he were perched on the rim of a volcano.

Before long, the intercom rang, and Yan Qingyue's icy voice came through:

"Assistant Lin, come in."

Lin Chen's heart tightened. He steeled himself and pushed open the door.

The pressure in the office was so stifling that he could barely breathe.

Yan Qingyue stood before the floor-to-ceiling window with her back to him, her figure straight but radiating a chilling, deadly air.

"Close the door."

She didn't turn around, and her voice was cold as ice.

Lin Chen closed the door as instructed, feeling like a prisoner under interrogation.

Yan Qingyue slowly turned around, her gaze as sharp as a hawk's as she fixed it on his face, as if she meant to see right through him.

"Lin Chen."

She addressed him by name, her tone an uncompromising demand for answers. "Tell me honestly, where exactly did the technical documents you gave me this morning come from?"

Under her gaze, Lin Chen's scalp tingled and his heart pounded.

So it really is because of that! Did she notice something?

Is there something wrong with the technology? Is it fake?

Or... has it caused trouble?

Under Yan Qingyue's intensely oppressive gaze, the story he had prepared about "some netizen messing around" instantly crumbled to dust.

He felt as though he had been stripped naked and stood in front of an X-ray machine, with nowhere for any lie to hide.

Overwhelming fear made him blurt out the words, his voice trembling:

"It... it was in Macau!

"The last time I went to Macau, I bought an old iron box at a secondhand stall!

"Inside... there were all sorts of random parts inside, and one of them looked like a chip!

"When I... when I got back, I used a computer... uh... I used some tools to try reading it, and found some data and code I couldn't understand!

"I... I thought it was some discarded technical document or a prank, so... so I tried to organize the parts that looked most important..."

He spoke incoherently, telling her everything he could, leaving out only the crucial information about the system and Golden Eye and glossing over it with "computer tools."

When he finished, he looked at Yan Qingyue nervously, his face pale:

"President Yan... is... is there something wrong with that thing? It... it isn't dangerous, is it?"

Seeing how frightened he was, pouring out his confession like beans from a bamboo tube, actually eased Yan Qingyue's taut nerves a fraction.

A secondhand stall?

An iron box?

A chip?

It sounds... bizarre, but doesn't it seem a little more plausible than some "mysterious netizen"?

At least the source pointed to a specific, seemingly accidental event.

But the doubts in her heart had not completely vanished.

An iron box from a secondhand stall just happened to contain technology ahead of its time?

The coincidence was far too incredible!

She stared intently into his eyes, trying to find the slightest trace of a lie:

"A secondhand stall? What was the seller like? Do you remember exactly where it was?"

"I... I remember!"

Lin Chen nodded hurriedly, struggling to recall the details. "It was on an old street near the Ruins of St. Paul's. The seller was an old man with graying hair, dressed a little scruffily, and his stall was full of scrap metal and junk... I paid three hundred patacas for it!"

He even gave her the price to make his story more credible.

Yan Qingyue remained silent, her mind racing.

If he was telling the truth, then the source of this technology was even more bizarre and harder to control.

It could have come from any faction, ended up at a secondhand stall in Macau, and then fallen into Lin Chen's hands by a twist of fate.

That meant there could be more than one faction tracing the source of this technology!

The danger had increased sharply!

And if Lin Chen was lying... then the faction behind him could fabricate details that seemed so plausible yet were so hard to verify, making its purpose and capabilities even more terrifying.

Either way, they had already been drawn into the center of a tremendous whirlpool.

Just then, the system's notification abruptly sounded in Lin Chen's mind, with unprecedented urgency and gravity:

[Warning! Warning! The host and an associated individual have been detected as involved in a high-level unknown risk event!]

[Emergency side quest issued: Crisis Survival.]

[Quest requirement: Ensure the basic safety of yourself and the key individual (Yan Qingyue) during the crises that may arise ahead.]

[Quest hint: The source of the risk is unknown, and its level is extremely high.

Host, remain highly vigilant and make reasonable use of your existing skills. If necessary, you may request temporary assistance from the system (requires a large expenditure of points).]

[Quest rewards: Determined according to the degree to which the crisis is resolved. 500–2,000 system points, 1 random advanced skill fragment, and 1 mysterious life-saving item.]

[Failure penalty: Severe damage to the system, and an extremely high probability that the host will face mortal danger or severe damage to consciousness.]

[Ding—another reminder to the host: Less than 50 days remain for the main quest "The Foundation of a Business Empire"!

Please complete it as soon as possible!

Otherwise, you will face the severe penalty of skill deprivation and having your points reset to zero!]

The string of notifications exploded in Lin Chen's mind like thunderclaps!

His face turned deathly pale in an instant, and cold sweat streamed down his body!

High-level unknown risk?! Mortal danger?!

The main quest is almost due too?!

Wh... what on earth is going on?! All I did was pick up a chip?!

Overwhelming fear and pressure left him barely able to stand, the panic and despair in his eyes impossible to conceal.

Yan Qingyue keenly caught the sudden change in his expression and the fear that came from the bottom of his heart. That couldn't have been faked.

This made her even more certain that Lin Chen might really have no idea how deep the waters behind that technology ran; he was just an unlucky soul who had accidentally stepped on a landmine.

The realization made her a little less wary, but her concern rose sharply.

If even Lin Chen himself was this frightened, then the danger was real, and it was right on their doorstep!

She took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the turmoil in her heart. Her tone was still icy, but held less accusation and more gravity:

"Lin Chen, listen carefully. That thing you picked up may be far more trouble than you imagine.

"From now on, you must not breathe a word to anyone about anything concerning this technology!

"That includes your 'netizen'! Understand?"

As though clutching at a life-saving straw, Lin Chen nodded desperately.

"I understand! I understand! I won't tell anyone! President Yan, will... will we be in danger?"

Seeing him so utterly at a loss, Yan Qingyue felt her heart soften for no apparent reason.

She turned around and looked out the window again, her voice low but carrying an unmistakable strength:

"With me here, I won't let anything happen to you. Just do your own work. You don't need to worry about the rest."

Those words were like a calming pill, easing Lin Chen's pounding heart a little.

Looking at Yan Qingyue's straight, resolute back, he felt for the first time that his usually ice-cold boss was somehow giving him a sense of security.

"Yes... President Yan."

He answered quietly and left the office.

The moment the door closed, Yan Qingyue wearily shut her eyes.

She knew that the real storm had only just begun.

She had to act immediately, strengthen security, investigate the origin of the people following them, and prepare for the worst.

Lin Chen, meanwhile, slumped into his chair at his desk, feeling drained all over.

The system's warning and Yan Qingyue's grave attitude made him fully realize that he might have landed himself in enormous trouble.

What do I do... what do I do...

I haven't even finished the one-million quest, and now there's a life-or-death crisis...

Big Brother System, you have to save me!

He wanted to cry but had no tears. His life felt like a roller coaster ride, so thrilling that his heart was about to stop.