I Have A Super USB Drive

by <unknown>

  Bruno was certain that the concealed object was a gun used to threaten him.

  "Hey buddies, I'll come with you guys alright. Just don't point that thing at me, I'm not a big fan…"

  Bruno quickly yielded to them and left without the airport with his gracious escorts.

  After exiting the airport, the men in black took Bruno to a black multi-purpose vehicle. When they pulled the door open, Bruno saw someone lying inside who had his arms and legs bound together with duct tape. Even this person's mouth was muffled. This person was none other than Ackerman who was on the phone with him just yesterday.

  "Oh d*mn!"

  All Bruno could do was curse out loud before he was tossed into the back of the car within seconds. The engine was promptly started and the car drove out of the parking lot.

  "Guys, what are you trying to do here?"

  Bruno was about to break out in hysterics. He gestured wildly in the back of the car. "Is there a need to go this far just for sixty thousand?"

  "Sixty thousand? Ahem, ahem…"

  It was at this moment when Bruno suddenly heard bouts of coughing coming from further behind in the backseat. He turned around and saw another silver-haired old man speaking to him, "This means that you're the one who fed the news to Ackerman yesterday?"

  "What news?"

  Bruno glanced at the tightly bound Ackerman right next to him.

  The old man did not answer Bruno. Instead, he took out his phone and showed Bruno an online article.

  Bruno quickly investigated it and saw the title of the article — [Breaking news! Racist idealist James Watson receives brain restoration surgery in Eco Science City.]

  The main contents of this article were none other than the medical records stolen by Bruno.

  [ol][li data-annotation-id="6f148fc3-9765-5dae-897e-cc6d67d2da71"]A popular Marathi song[/ol]

  Chapter 405: Astral Catalyst |

  "Ackerman already publicized it?"

  Bruno felt his heart drop when he saw this and he quickly pleaded for mercy, "This only has to do with Ackerman All I did was take several pictures of the medical records, I don't have anything else. You can look at my phone if you don't believe me."

  He presented his phone to the old man when he said this, "You can take a look for yourself if you don't believe me. Ackerman has these exact pictures as well, there's no need to come for me, believe me!"

  "Ahem ahem, hack.. Hack hack!"

  The old man went into another coughing fit, he quickly produced a handkerchief and placed it over his mouth for him to cough loudly into.

  Bruno felt what may be a sense of pity when he saw this old man in such a sickly state.

  "It's alright… Ahem."

  After what seemed like forever, the old man took the phone from Bruno's hand and turned it off right away. "It doesn't matter whether you have it saved in the cloud or some drive somewhere. I'm sure you'll remember where you put it after we put you through a round of torture."

  "This…"

  Bruno's heart sank when he heard this. His body collapsed weightlessly under him.

  Half an hour later, they parked at the entrance of a large private estate.

  Bruno stepped out of the car with a depressing gloom cast over his head. Two more men in black quickly trailed after him.

  "Hold on, what about Ackerman?"

  When he saw how the group of men in black seemed to have the slightest intention of untying Ackerman or carrying him out of the car, he turned to look at the car suspiciously.

  Bruno turned around just in time to see a gun mounted with a silencer pointed at Ackerman's temple.

  "Poof!"

  There was a muffled sound of a gunshot, immediately followed by Ackerman's head bursting like a flower dyed red. Bruno's eyes became so widened it felt like his eyeballs were going to roll out of their sockets any second. He thought he was going to collapse onto the ground because his feet could no longer support his weight.

  Ackerman was dead.

  Bruno's legs trembled endlessly, his mind was blank.

  Bruno could hardly remember how he managed to walk into the estate on his two feet, nor could he remember when he told them the password to his phone's storage. When he came to his senses, he found himself in a room built with metal, completely isolated from mobile signals.

  The room was drowned in darkness but he could still make out the outline of a large collection of tools meant for torturing. He already spilled everything he knew before any of the tools could be put to use.

  The pictures in his phone had been exported and printed, all put together in an album.

  It was around this point when a middle-aged man with blond hair, blue eyes, and sporting a beard with tied-back ponytail stepped into the room.

  The old man in charge of supervising immediately stepped forward. "Ahem… Young master, we've obtained all of James Watson's medical records. Should we delete the online digital copy?"

  "Delete them. This medical record is extremely invaluable and may very well contain the blueprint for mankind's future biological sciences development, we cannot risk having it leaked."

  The middle-aged man ordered before turning to Bruno. "Have you searched him for anything resembling a tracker or wire? Is there anything suspicious in his phone?"

  "We inspected everything thoroughly, he's clean."

  The old man answered confidently, "Don't worry, young master. It doesn't matter how broad Blackwatch's online presence is, they still can't bypass a physical Faraday cage principle."

  "Very well then."

  The middle-aged man nodded contently before he took a look at the medical records. "Use the government's emergency encrypted transportation network to deliver this to Yellowstone Park and into the hands of my father. It's up to him to decide where we go from here."

  Before leaving, the man they called young master turned to look at Bruno and grinned, revealing a row of pearly-white teeth.

  After he left, the old man coughed several times again before giving a signal and exited the room as well.

  After that, the only thing that could be heard from inside the room was the muffled wailing of Bruno followed by faint gunshots.

  …

  "Bruno is dead."

  In the Spire Laboratory, a huge, semi-transparent map of North America appeared in front of Little X. The map that hung mid-air was a projection created by the holographic environment simulator.

  On top of the map were densely packed tiny white dots numbering up to tens of thousands. These white dots took up nearly the entirety of the North American region. Among this collection of white dots, three yellow dots distinctly stood out.

  The yellow dots were at least ten times larger than the white dots and were more noticeable.

  Just as Little X finished saying this, one of the three yellow dots packed closely to one another suddenly vanished as if a spark of flame had been put out.

  "Fascinating indeed."

  When he saw the phenomenon observed on the holographic projection, Chen Chen rubbed his Chen and remarked, "To be able to detect a target's position at all times, even updated accordingly in the event of death."

  "Yes, this is the latest product created from my recent study of E Language."

  Little X stated, "The Astro Catalyst made into watermark is also a Basilisk pattern and belongs to a class of meme catalysts. Unlike the previous 'Eye' and 'Filth' Basilisk patterns, it's not dangerous and only serves to 'mark' its target.

  "Although its functionalities are considered very basic as far as memes go, its usage is also considered the most practical. No matter where the target escapes to, whether the target vacates to the Moon or Mars, the effect of the meme remains undisrupted by spatial factors. Anyone infected by the 'Astro' meme can be easily detected by me."

  Chen Chen nodded and turned to the holographic projection again.

  The white dots on the holographic projection represented the first type of "Astro". When Bruno sent the first few pages of the medical rec
ords to a media firm, that media firm immediately distributed them to gain traction to their network.

  This was how hundreds of thousands of people in North America came to be infected by the "Astro" meme.

  Chen Chen specifically considered this factor and made it so that there were three variants of this Basilisk pattern in the medical record. The first tint of the infection was white, the next tint was yellow while the ones in the last few pages came in red color.

  Most common civilians would only get a glimpse of the first few pages, therefore displayed as white color. The crucial information was located in the middle to ending sections of the document. The ones infected by this variant of "Astro" were marked as either yellow or red.

  This meant that only the ones who got a glimpse of the important, central information were labeled as yellow or red color, also making them the higher ranking officials among Blacklight Biotechnology's rivals.

  "But Sir Godfather…"

  There was a hint of hesitation in Little X's voice. "Will this approach of ours allow us to maneuver around the quantum machine's predictive abilities?"

  "Of course."

  Chen Chen nodded and started to explain, "Keep in mind that our target isn't the quantum machine itself but the higher-ups that make direct contact with the quantum machine.

  "The federation's quantum machine is set up to protect humanity from any upcoming disasters. It's extremely invaluable, but apart from being able to foresee upcoming disasters, it's only built with self-defensive mechanisms. How was it supposed to do anything about the high-ranking officials?

  "As long as the quantum machine itself isn't our direct target, we shouldn't have to be concerned about being discovered by its predictive calculations."

  Chen Chen smirked coyly as he said this, "Now that we've intentionally set off this heavy-weight cannon that's the brain restoration technique, chances are our enemies who have eyes everywhere will be notified of it almost immediately. If they realize this is a trap set up by us, then what? Are they going to choose to not go through this crucial medical record anyway?

  "Even if they pull all of their tricks out their pockets, would they ever expect our method of tracking them is something that surpasses common laws of physics?"

  "I see."

  Little X nodded. "That's true, our actions are next to impossible to be traced as long as we play around the quantum computer. But then… Why are you downloading this movie?"

  The display of the computer in front of Chen Chen suddenly turned on. A movie was placed on the desktop in MP4 format.

  The title of the movie was — Spectral.

  Chapter 406: The Federation's Quantum Lab |

  The news that Blacklight Biotechnology had cured James Watson quickly made headlines all over the world.

  Not many people knew the name James Watson and some of them only knew him for his racially discriminatory remarks. Nonetheless, the news that James Watson had been assassinated some time ago exploded all over the Internet and became the most viral headline concerning James Watson…

  Now it had only been two months. Suddenly there was news that James Watson was cured. At once, this news shook up the entire Internet.

  Hidden forces were already stirring beneath the surface as countless parties tried their best to get a firsthand account from Blacklight Biotechnology.

  In response to this news, Chen Chen did not let Blacklight Biotechnology provide any explanation. He neither admitted the authenticity of this news nor clarified that it was a rumor, simply allowing it to go viral on the Internet.

  Soon, countless experts and professors began to speak out, saying that this news was just a rumor. After all, everyone who had paid attention to James Watson's brain injury two months ago knew that it was not a problem that modern medicine could solve.

  Now, all of a sudden several second-rate media claimed that James Watson was cured in Eco Science City. Although it was plausible and there were even medical records as evidence, most people still did not believe it.

  As more people followed this news, more people naturally paid attention to other aspects of this case. Soon, groups of black people gathered in several cities across North America began to protest against Blacklight Biotechnology in the form of demonstrations.

  The reason for this was very simple. As James Watson was a racist, if Blacklight Biotechnology saved him, naturally, it was also racist…

  Still, this view was rather extreme and did not trigger a greater chain reaction. What was more frequently discussed was the veracity of this news.

  At the same time, in the Yellowstone Park of North America, a square building was hidden deep in the large forest within the nature reserve.

  This was a large building with ten floors and a width of one hundred meters. It was like a huge shopping mall, yet it was not built in a bustling city but a primitive no man's land instead.

  The walls of this building seemed to be extremely sturdy. The entire building was encased in ten meters of concrete, so it was gray all over.

  In front of the building's gate, there were dozens of massive golden strips inserted in the ground, forming a special arrangement structure.

  If someone scraped off the gold paint on the surface, they would find that these long strips were made of lead. Dozens of lead strips surrounded the gate of the building, forming a kind of impenetrable barrier.

  The combination of all this formed an area that could isolate all electromagnetic radiation and remain unaffected by any radiation.

  At this time, this building that looked so silent and still was filled with busy activity within — hundreds of staff members and researchers from all over the world continuously streamed through the hall and laboratories inside the building. Everyone moved at an urgent pace, wearing solemn expressions.

  In the highest-level conference room deep in the hall, dozens of representatives from various continents sat around the conference table, discussing something fervently.

  "Delegates, please settle down. Today's 'Quantum Deity Conference' shall officially begin."

  A gray-haired old white man walked to the front of the conference table. He first bowed in greeting and then said in English, "According to the order of our initials, the position of chairperson for this week's Quantum Deity Conference will be held by me, Buckle Murphy, for one week."

  With that said, the projector displayed a data map on the screen behind the old man. The data map was composed of curves and various incomprehensible symbols. The average person would not understand it at all, but everyone present appeared to be highly invested and would occasionally exchange a whispered comment.

  "Alright, this is the forecast report of 'Adam' yesterday."

  The old man turned around and slowly said to the screen behind him, "As you can see, in this forecast chart, the Earth Federation has generally maintained a stable index in recent years. This shows that in the next month, there won't be any event that endangers human civilization. The probability of a crisis in the next year is 0.1% and the probability of a civilization crisis in the next ten years is 12%, which is still in the normal curve…

  "However, the curves in the fourth index and the seventh index show a small decrease and the curve in the eighth index has undergone a 15% increase. These curve disturbances also mean that in the next year, something that will have an impact on the structure of the world is likely to happen…"

  "Oh, d*mn it…"

  "Surely that can't be?"

  Many people in the conference room instantly grumbled and became vigilant. Obviously, to these people, a stable world structure was preferred.

  "We should be thankful. It's better than having a 'crisis disturbance'."

  The old man chuckled and consoled everyone. "You should've noticed that in the past ten years, the crisis outbreak index has been showing higher and higher numbers over this period, and it's even diverging drastically from the previously predicted results. According to the prediction, there would be no crisis in 2023, which w
as last year, but in March 2023, Adam suddenly overturned its previous prediction, predicting that the onslaught of the African virus will cause an Ekhi-level social disturbance.

  "Subsequently, at the end of 2023, an Amida-level disturbance, which is one level higher, was predicted."

  The old man said in a low voice, "This is the first time we've come across an Amida-level disturbance. The disturbance index exceeded 1,000%. The probability of human civilization's extinction exceeded 300%. Fortunately, after we performed many calculations and ran through countless quantum collisions of the interference wave, the general region of the crisis's source was finally determined."

  Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.

  Of course, they knew what the old man was talking about. At the end of 2023, the quantum computer "Adam" suddenly rescinded its previous predictions and issued an epic crisis alert — human civilization was already on the verge of destruction.

  It was just that the predicted interference this time was far stronger than usual, so strong that they could not even predict the source of the crisis. In desperation, all the continents emptied their pockets together and purchased electricity for a short time to overclock Adam's forecasting ability. In the end, they obtained two key phrases —

  "North America" and "statue".

  In the face of this crisis, the quantum computer that had always been so definitive was unable to give any specific clues. This cast a shadow of despair in the hearts of countless people.

  Fortunately, this crisis was finally solved when remedial measures were taken although the Earth Federation had not yet figured out who or what had taken the three statues.

  In the end, North America had used up their precious, once-a-year forecast.

  However, it was the same as the previous prediction. When it came to predicting the three statues this time, "Adam" completely lost its effectiveness and could not predict any valuable clues.