Success or Failure

After washing up and changing their clothes, the two went out one after the other.

The morning light slanted in from the window at the end of the corridor, gently spreading across the floor.

Ye Xinglan walked ahead, her pace quickening slightly compared to usual.

Yun Jingheng followed half a step behind her, his hands in his pockets, seemingly calm and collected, but his ears were still burning.

As Ye Xinglan rounded the corner of the corridor and approached the living room, she suddenly stopped.

Yun Jingheng followed her gaze.

Tang Wulin sat at the tea table in the living room, slowly sipping a cup of tea.

He had clearly been up for quite some time; there were a few unfinished pastries and an open morning newspaper on the small table beside him, as if he had been waiting for them there since early morning.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and his gaze swept over the two of them unhurriedly.

Then he raised an eyebrow.

In that instant, Ye Xinglan's face flushed red.

The redness came out of nowhere, spreading from her neck all the way to the tips of her ears.

Almost instinctively, she took a step back, hiding behind Yun Jingheng, revealing only half of her flushed face and her fingers clutching the hem of Yun Jingheng's clothes.

Yun Jingheng remained relatively calm, but he froze for a moment when Ye Xinglan pulled him like that.

He gently took Ye Xinglan's hand that was clutching his clothes from behind, patted it reassuringly, and then looked at Tang Wulin, his lips twitching in a half-smile.

Tang Wulin didn't speak, but covered most of his face with his teacup, slowly took a sip of tea, and a very faint teasing expression, the kind only men could understand, appeared between his brows and eyes.

His gaze slowly moved from Yun Jingheng's face to Ye Xinglan, who was almost hiding behind him, and then back to Yun Jingheng's face. He raised an eyebrow, said nothing, but said everything.

Yun Jingheng let out a silent sigh.

He shifted his body slightly to shield Ye Xinglan more completely, then raised his left hand and subtly gave Tang Wulin a thumbs-up in front of him.

Great assist!

Tang Wulin put down his teacup, pretended to straighten his collar, and then picked up the morning newspaper to cover his face.

Yun Jingheng sat down opposite Tang Wulin and casually settled Ye Xinglan into the chair beside him.

Her hand was still on the hem of his clothes, and although she had sat down, she was still slightly turned towards him.

Tang Wulin folded the morning paper and set it aside, then poured another cup of hot tea from the tea tray and pushed it in front of Ye Xinglan.

The playful expression on his face had vanished, replaced by a serious and composed demeanor.

"We've found a way to locate the USB flash drive access point."

He said he took out a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it on the table.

It was a hand-drawn map, with lines clearly marked in black and red pencils. Three locations were circled on it, labeled "East Suburban Communications Station," "Northern City Military Supply Depot," and "Central Soul Guidance Tower."

"Skynet's nodes are not centralized."

Yun Jingheng glanced at the map and tapped "East Suburban Communications Station" with his finger.

"The main control center is located in the Federation capital, while local nodes are responsible for data relay."

"However, local nodes share a common characteristic: they need to maintain real-time synchronization with the main control center, so each node has an independent encrypted channel."

"The place where you insert the USB flash drive must be a location where you can physically access this channel."

"The most suitable location would be the East Suburban Communications Station."

Tang Wulin nodded. "That place is responsible for the data transfer of Heaven Dou City and the surrounding area. Usually, there is a company of Federation soldiers stationed there, but because of this, it is located at the easternmost part of Heaven Dou City."

"Being close to the radiation shield, the Spirit Pagoda has deployed a significant number of personnel to the area in the past two months under the pretext of 'monitoring radiation.' As a result, the Federation itself is hesitant about whether to withdraw some of its troops. The resulting internal and external chaos presents the best opportunity."

"Stationing troops is not a problem."

Yun Jingheng lightly drew a line on the map with his finger, connecting the East Suburban Communications Station to the Northern City Military Supply Depot. "The problem is, once the USB flash drive is inserted, it becomes unusable, and its physical location is locked in reverse the instant it's inserted. In other words, the location of the USB flash drive is exposed after it's inserted."

Tang Wulin frowned slightly. "What about the lock-on range?"

"Theoretically, it can be accurate to the meter."

Yun Jingheng said calmly, "But the premise of locking down is that it is still transmitting data. But I completed the core data stream hijacking within a minute, causing Skynet's tracking program to be overridden, and they didn't have time to lock down."

"My goal isn't to sneak in, but to directly penetrate that encrypted channel and disable Skynet's core scheduling logic."

"Dismantle Skynet?"

Tang Wulin repeated those four words, his breath catching slightly, "Cripple it from the front?"

"It can't be hidden."

Yun Jingheng shook his head. "This USB drive is a one-way ticket. Inserting it renders it useless; its location will be illuminated on the Skynet like a lighthouse."

"Hiding is pointless. We can only be fast, so fast that they don't have time to react, so fast that before the tracking program has even finished running the location sequence, I've already disabled Skynet's identification and scheduling capabilities."

"With Skynet disabled, the Federation military will be blind for at least a month, and the Spirit Pagoda's mobile monitoring towers will lose their unified scheduling, leaving them to fight independently."

"This month is enough for us to move everything that needs to be moved and relocate everyone who needs to be relocated."

Tang Wulin remained silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

Yun Jingheng had already factored in the possibility of failure.

This kind of one-way ticket mission has no backup plan; you can only win, you can't lose.

Tang Wulin asked, "After inserting that USB drive, how long will it take you to disable Skynet?"

"Data can be injected into the hijacking core schedule in as little as seven minutes."

"If there's a countermeasure from an electronic checkpoint in between, it will add two minutes. In the worst-case scenario, it will take nine minutes."

"The Skynet tracking program takes about eleven minutes from startup to precise location. We have a two-minute window."

"These two minutes will determine whether we can escape unscathed."

Tang Wulin leaned forward slightly, his gaze fixed on the red circle around the East Suburban Communications Station, as if trying to etch that place into his eyes.

After a moment of silence, he added, "Complete the data injection within nine minutes, then evacuate immediately. Even if Skynet crashes later than expected, as long as you disconnect before the crash, they won't get the complete coordinates."

"Right."

Yun Jingheng said, "But at the moment of disconnection, Skynet will record the last valid location data."

"Therefore, we cannot take the original route when we evacuate. We must exit from the north side of the East Suburban Communications Station, where there is an abandoned underground sewage pipe that leads directly out of the city."

"You come out of the sewage pipe, head south, and meet Xing Lan at the rendezvous point. I'll stay here and launch a long-range attack on Skynet."

Tang Wulin tapped the words "north side sewage pipe" lightly with his finger and nodded in approval.

He folded the map back up and put it in his pocket, then picked up his teacup and took a sip.

The tea had gotten a little cold, but he didn't mind and just slowly swallowed it.

After a moment, he suddenly changed the subject, his tone softening, yet carrying a very serious, inquiring tone:

"Jing Heng, the relationship between the Federation and Star Luo Empire is becoming increasingly strained."

"What... is your view on the conflict between the Federation and Star Luo Empire?"

His gaze fell on Yun Jingheng's face, neither looking away nor flinching, yet it was not as businesslike as when they had discussed the plan earlier.

His tone was even more somber; this was a question that had been weighing on his mind for a long time.

Zang Xin has talked to him about this many times, but the two of them still don't have a good solution.

If Yun Jingheng doesn't have any better ideas, then they'll have to stick to the path they've already discussed.

Tang Wulin knew that this man always had a broader perspective on the situation than others, and there were some questions he could only ask him.

Yun Jingheng did not answer immediately.

He picked up his cup of tea, slowly turning it in his palm, his eyes lowered.

Ye Xinglan sat beside him, watching him quietly with a gentle and focused gaze, without interrupting his thoughts.

After a long pause, Yun Jingheng spoke, "Wulin, some things, if successful, are called resolving conflicts; if unsuccessful, are called..."

"Deliberately betraying the country."

Yun Jingheng raised his eyes and looked directly at him, "Do you dare to bet?"