The Secret in the USB Drive

Lin Xiuwen's home was located in a luxury residential area in the city. It was actually a detached villa with its own private courtyard, complete with a swimming pool.

It was clear that Lin Xiuwen came from a wealthy background.

Zhang Shuai was somewhat astonished. Aside from what he had seen on television, this was his first time seeing such a mansion in reality. In his own meager social circle, he never had the chance to come into contact with wealthy people of this stature.

Lin Xiuwen's mother, Zhou Wei, happened to be home. She was a mature woman in her forties who kept her figure in excellent shape and possessed striking features. Her eyes and brows bore a slight resemblance to Lin Xiuwen's. Seeing that her daughter had brought two friends home, Zhou Wei greeted Sun Xiaoya with a smile first: "Xiaoya, you're here?"

Sun Xiaoya said sweetly, "Auntie, your complexion has been getting better and better lately. You look so much younger."

Zhou Wei beamed, "Really? My close friends have been saying the same thing. It's all thanks to practicing the Big Dipper Long Fist. This Big Dipper Long Fist is truly miraculous. Since you're all on summer break, you should practice it more often. By the way, Xiuwen, who is this young man?"

Lin Xiuwen said, "This is our good friend, Zhang Shuai. He's learning to drive at the same school as us."

Zhou Wei turned her gaze toward Zhang Shuai and praised, "The young man looks very spirited."

Zhang Shuai greeted her politely, "Hello, Auntie!"

Zhou Wei nodded and turned to ask her daughter, "Xiuwen, how did your second-stage driving test go?"

"Mom! Of course I passed without any problems. You promised me that once I got my license, you'd buy me a car. You have to keep your word."

"Of course. When have I ever lied to you? As soon as you get your license, I'll take you to look at cars immediately. However, since you're still in school, don't buy anything too expensive. You'll have to choose something under five hundred thousand."

"Fine, as long as it's a car, I'm not picky. Mom, I'm taking Xiaoya and Zhang Shuai upstairs now."

After exchanging a few more words with her mother, Lin Xiuwen led Zhang Shuai and Sun Xiaoya to her room on the second floor of the villa.

Lin Xiuwen's room was quite spacious, and there was a high-spec computer on her desk.

Lin Xiuwen sat in the computer chair and said to Zhang Shuai, "Handsome, give me your flash drive. I'll help you remove the password."

Zhang Shuai took out the flash drive. As he placed it into Lin Xiuwen's hand, he didn't forget to emphasize, "You only need to help me unlock the password. Please don't open or look at the contents inside."

Lin Xiuwen rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. "Alright, I'm not interested in what's on your flash drive. You don't need to keep repeating yourself."

Zhang Shuai gave a slightly embarrassed, awkward laugh. He watched as Lin Xiuwen took the drive, but instead of plugging it into the computer immediately, she first unplugged the computer's network cable. Only then did she insert the drive, followed by a flurry of rapid keyboard clicks.

After about ten minutes, Lin Xiuwen pulled out the flash drive and handed it back to Zhang Shuai. "There, the password has been removed. You can read the files directly now."

Zhang Shuai thanked her quickly. "Thank you, Xiuwen. I'll treat you to a meal another day."

Lin Xiuwen replied immediately, "Didn't you already treat us yesterday? There's no need to be so formal with me over such a small matter."

Sun Xiaoya, standing to the side, heard this and said with some dissatisfaction, "Handsome, we agreed yesterday that it was my treat. What was the meaning of you sneaking off to pay the bill? No, we have to go out for a meal today to celebrate us safely passing the second-stage test. I must be the one to pay for this meal."

Zhang Shuai said with a bitter smile, "Xiaoya, didn't we already eat yesterday? Is there really a need to go again today?"

Sun Xiaoya said firmly, "Absolutely not. Who told you to rush to pay the bill yesterday? We have to go again today. The food at Louzhonglou Restaurant is delicious, and there are still many dishes we haven't tasted yet. We're going to eat there tonight, and I'm paying for it first—none of you are allowed to fight me for it!"

Seeing Sun Xiaoya's stance, Zhang Shuai knew that if he didn't go tonight, she likely wouldn't let it go. He could only say helplessly, "Fine, what time tonight? I'll be there."

"Seven o'clock. Let's meet at the entrance of Louzhonglou Restaurant at seven. Don't you two be late."

Lin Xiuwen said, "Alright. But since we're eating at Louzhonglou tonight, why don't you stay for a meal here at noon? I'll have our chef cook something good..."

Zhang Shuai's head started to ache upon hearing this. Are all female college students this hospitable? If this had been before his body underwent its mutation, he would have jumped at the opportunity. But now, eating was a complete waste of time and food for him. He only needed to recharge; he had no need for food at all. Furthermore, his mind was currently set on going home to see what secrets were hidden on the flash drive; he truly had no appetite for a meal.

"There's no need for lunch. I have some things to take care of when I get back, so let's just meet at Louzhonglou tonight."

Seeing that Zhang Shuai had things to do, Lin Xiuwen didn't insist on keeping him for lunch.

Zhang Shuai apologized to Lin Xiuwen and Sun Xiaoya, left the Lin residence early, hailed a taxi, and returned to his rented apartment.

Once home, Zhang Shuai immediately took out the flash drive and plugged it into his computer.

Sure enough, this time Zhang Shuai was able to open the folders on the drive without issue. There were two folders in total, named in Japanese. Zhang Shuai couldn't understand the names.

He clicked into the first folder and saw images and text descriptions, but the text was all in Japanese. Since the island nation had once been a vassal state of the Dragon Kingdom in history, Japanese text often contained characters from the Dragon Kingdom.

Although Zhang Shuai could recognize a few of the Dragon Kingdom characters, he couldn't make sense of them when they were combined with the Japanese script.

However, the images left Zhang Shuai feeling extremely shocked.

The first image was of a corpse placed inside a crystal coffin. It was a male corpse, completely naked. Strangely, the man had long, jet-black hair and looked quite imposing, with a square face and large earlobes. The entire body looked as if it were still alive.

Unfortunately, Zhang Shuai couldn't read the explanatory text below the image, so he had no idea of the true identity of the person in the coffin.

However, as Zhang Shuai looked at the strange male corpse in the photo, for some reason, he suddenly recalled a bizarre incident that happened when he was twelve years old.

At that time, he and Wang Qiang were playing on a mountain when they saw a silver spaceship floating in the sky above them. Just as they thought they had encountered an alien craft, a gust of wind blew, and under the influence of a mysterious force, Zhang Shuai was lifted directly into the sky.

Shortly after, Zhang Shuai found himself inside the spaceship.

This alien craft was very strange; it lacked any of the high-end electronic instruments seen in science fiction movies. It looked more like a dragon boat floating in space.

Then, Zhang Shuai saw two aliens wearing golden robes. In fact, these two didn't look like aliens at all; their appearance was no different from people of the Dragon Kingdom—yellow skin and black eyes. The only difference was that both aliens had long hair, which was coiled up and held in place by a hairpin. Rather than aliens, Zhang Shuai felt their attire was more in the style of ancient people from the Dragon Kingdom.