General Archives?
The senior executives who are still in the Data City are all hard workers. Many jobs are inseparable from them, which is why they were delayed in going to the New World. Moreover, most of them are not old, but relatively young, and they are very familiar with the business. The moment the female secretary mentioned the general archives, the group of people realized what was going on.
The Federation Archives records the authority arrangements and the persons in charge of regional data permissions for all regions.
Wang Ye's intelligence revealed a technique that allowed for spatial teleportation, which was why the higher-ups were so wary of him. A powerful data being with such a bug-like ability as instant teleportation would probably give any leader a headache.
However, within the Data City, there are still some restrictions on him, because any data life form that appears anywhere within the Data City will be recorded. This is a characteristic of data life forms, provided that he does not have the necessary permissions!
No matter what form people take, privilege will never be lacking. According to Federation law, everyone's records must be archived, but there are always some powerful people who can use their authority to erase their traces and make their actions impossible to be recorded in the data logs.
With privilege comes vulnerabilities. Many top hackers can exploit these vulnerabilities to do the same thing. Outsiders like Wang Ye are heavily guarded, and all data about him is closely monitored. Even the most skilled hackers wouldn't be able to help, but privilege can.
"Immediately notify the senior members of the community with authority!" the middle-aged man in the lead said immediately after realizing what was happening. "Restrict the authority of all retired councilors!"
People currently working in the government form groups Heavenly Capital, so it's easy to find out who has disappeared. If the other party is smart, they won't go after existing officials. Instead, some retired old people who are still queuing up to go to the New World have the ability to cover up Wang Ye's whereabouts.
Normally, it would be very difficult to find these elderly people with access to information, and it would be hard for an outsider like Wang Ye to know which ones didn't. But if Hou Jie had worked in the general archives, it would be different. He probably had some of the elderly people's confidential files memorized.
"It's already half the night," the female secretary said coldly. "It's too late to realize we need to restrict his access now. What we need to do now is determine his purpose and find out where he might go."
"Whose subordinate are you?" someone finally couldn't help but ask.
A copywriting secretary repeatedly interfered, and although what she said made sense, she was indeed not qualified to interrupt.
"You haven't changed at all." The female secretary, facing the questioning, wore an undisguised sarcasm. "Everyone says that making officials younger will eliminate the corrupt formalism of the older generation, but in reality, once you're in this position, to demonstrate power and status, whether you're young or experienced, don't you all prefer to be a bit more formalistic? Otherwise, what's the point of the superiority of power?"
Everyone's expression changed; they wondered if the female secretary had gone mad.
Who recruited this?
But then someone immediately realized that any secretary who could appear in this conference room, even if their job was just to serve tea to the big shots, would be from a prominent family. Yet this woman seemed to know no one.
"Who exactly are you?" the middle-aged man in charge of the meeting asked, frowning. By now, how could he not realize that the female secretary in front of him was definitely not an ordinary person, or even an ordinary person from a prominent family?
Upon closer reflection, it's clear that the role of a female secretary for this level of meeting isn't one that just anyone can take on. If the identity is incorrect, even the most skilled data analyst would be alerted. Since the other party doesn't have one, there are only two possibilities.
The other party is a full-time secretary who has passed the formal assessment process, but that's highly unlikely; their tone doesn't sound like that of a newcomer at all.
There's another possibility. The other party has the highest authority, allowing her to come here without even notifying them.
The middle-aged man's face grew solemn at the thought. He was currently the acting prime minister of the Eastern Federation Parliament, possessing almost the highest authority. There were very few people in the entire Federation who could enter without his knowledge, and those few had basically already entered the New World. Who was this woman?
"Who I am is unimportant; what's important is that you're in deep trouble now." The woman smiled and opened the data page in the conference room. This action made everyone freeze in place, because everyone saw that the page contained a directory of all authorized personnel in all regions!
These are the confidential files of the powerful and wealthy, not to be made public. Even these high-ranking members of parliament have to go to the general archives to retrieve them. Yet this woman was able to remotely access the data—they had never even heard of such access!
"You should have realized from the beginning that Chen Qing wasn't just here as a bridge for communication between the two sides. Wang Ye is the inheritor of the Flying Star Secret Technique. In the entire New World, there are only two people who have mastered this secret technique. He is a top-tier sorcerer. Do you think it's realistic to keep such a person here as a diplomatic mouthpiece?"
"So what do you think his purpose is?" the person in charge of the conference room asked cautiously.
"Our goal is naturally to find a way to cut off your ability to pose a threat!" the woman sneered.
"You jest. We are currently in a cooperative relationship with Mr. Chen Qing, and have already signed a contract with him regarding the techniques of his world. It is not permissible to go back on our word."
"You bunch of laymen, what do you know about magical contracts?" the woman chuckled. "He left you with a thousand backup plans and you still couldn't detect them? You actually believed in that stuff? You grew up in political families, yet you're so naive. If he could completely control you, why would he cooperate with you? Your existence is a sword hanging over his head, ready to fall at any moment. Would an ambitious figure like Chen Qing allow someone like you to exist?"
"We are in a mutually beneficial relationship."
"He doesn't need you to benefit from this cooperation. In fact, you're the ones who profit. He has to open up his territory, let your people in to share resources, suppress the discontent of his own people, and once your power is established in the New World, he'll have to be wary of you. What does he gain? The only benefit is that you can continue to keep this world open."
"Right? So you're a threat to him, not a partner. At least he's cooperated with you because you can shut down the New World world at any time and destroy it. Do you think he wouldn't refuse a group of threats like you if given the chance?"
"But when he was in the Federation, he already demonstrated overwhelming combat power. If he wanted to do that, he could have done it then."
"That's because his resources are still in the game, so naturally he wouldn't dare to fight you to the death. But if given the chance, he certainly wouldn't hold back."
What do you think he will do?
"Shut down Data City!" the woman said coldly. "Except for that game, shut down and restart all your data lifeforms. The entire Data City will collapse. Then he can send capable people to guard the power supply to the New World, and he will have complete control over this place."
"Has he gone mad? Shutting down Data City? That's a massacre worth tens of billions!"
"You think he cares?" the woman chuckled. "You're still trying to understand him with modern thinking. Anyone who's survived in the New World has long lost the basic moral principles of modern people. In their world, deciding the life and death of billions of people is a normal thing. Why do you think he'd hesitate towards people from your Data City? Just because you're from his hometown?"
"But as an outsider, he doesn't have the authority; how can he shut down Data City?"
"Yes, as long as we can restart one place, that will do," the woman said quietly.
"You mean..." The person in charge immediately understood what the other party was referring to.
"Command room?"
"It seems that among the people the old man left behind, there are still some who are smart enough."
The group of people immediately turned ashen-faced.
In the command center, Chen Qing, along with the heads of many powerful families, had once imprisoned a madman. And now, he was about to reactivate that place?
"Who's in charge of that abandoned command center now?" the woman asked directly.
"I'm in charge!" The middle-aged man looked at the other person solemnly and said, "There are only two people in the entire Federation who know the coordinates of the command center. He couldn't possibly have gotten them. Besides, I have a feeling that you're the one who wants to find the command center."