662: Chapter 657 I'm Back

She wore a pair of rimless glasses, her long hair casually pinned up with a wooden hairpin. In front of her sat a cup of steaming Pu-erh tea, and in her hands, she held a yellowed copy of 'A Brief History of Time'.

She looked like an ordinary tourist relaxing in an ancient town, tranquil and detached.

But Shen Yan knew, it was her.

The ghost who stirred up the financial storms of half the world, toyed with the European Space Agency, and treated the casinos of Macau like an ATM.

Su Mei.

Shen Yan did not walk over. He simply found a spot nearby and sat down, also ordering a pot of tea.

He didn't speak.

He was waiting.

Half an hour later, Su Mei closed her book.

She looked up and faced Shen Yan, as if she had known he was there all along.

Her gaze was calm, like a deep pool, revealing no emotion.

"My 'City of No Light' is very beautiful, isn't it?"

She spoke, her voice cool and crisp, like jade striking jade.

"A remarkable design," Shen Yan admitted frankly. "Using the world's zombie network as nodes, and quantum encryption algorithms as barriers. Theoretically, no one can find you."

"Then how did you get in?" Su Mei asked.

"I didn't go in," Shen Yan said. "I just placed a lamp at the entrance."

"A lamp called 'Spark'."

Su Mei fell silent.

She picked up her teacup and took a light sip.

"How is Teacher Fang... is he alright?"

"Not well," Shen Yan shook his head. "He hasn't had a good life these past fifteen years."

"But he's back now."

"Wei Zhengxun has been firing porcelain in kiln fires for fifteen years. Qian Liyang has been hiding in code within the game world for fifteen years. Lin Wanqing has been drawing typhoon maps in the weather forecast for fifteen years."

"Now, they are back too."

"We are all waiting for you."

Su Mei's eyes became slightly red.

She turned to look at the rain outside the window.

"Do you know why I had to hide?"

"Because of Mei Hongyuan," Shen Yan said for her. "The second young master of Yongsheng Group."

Su Mei's body trembled almost imperceptibly.

"Before the accident at the laboratory, I was responsible for the final data backup and verification."

"In an energy exploration data set marked 'obsolete,' I discovered something that shouldn't have existed."

"A model."

"A model that utilized the 'Tidal Eye' to trigger a directional deep-sea earthquake, thereby manipulating global commodity futures."

"They weren't trying to develop new energy."

"They were trying to create a weapon capable of controlling the world's economic lifeline."

"I reported this discovery to Academician Zhang, Teacher Fang's mentor."

"Three days later, the laboratory caught fire."

"I later learned that Academician Zhang had an 'accident' on his way to meet me."

Shen Yan's heart sank.

So this was the root cause of the 'yacht accident' involving Fang Zhizhuo's mentor.

"I ran away," Su Mei's voice carried a trace of trembling. "They have been looking for me ever since. Yongsheng Group's power is too vast; I could only erase everything about myself and live like a ghost."

"Aren't you afraid that I was sent by them?" Su Mei turned back, looking at Shen Yan.

"They couldn't give you the real-time ocean current data for Jingluo Bay," Shen Yan said lightly.

Su Mei laughed.

It was a smile of surviving a disaster, tinged with a haunting beauty.

"I saw your project model."

"It's insane, even crazier than fifteen years ago."

"But you lack a brain."

"A central brain capable of processing all the ocean current data for the entire Western Pacific."

"Yes," Shen Yan nodded. "So, I came to invite you."

"I will not only give you a brain," Su Mei stood up, her gaze fixed intently on Shen Yan.

"I will also give you a knife."

"A knife made of data that can pierce the heart of Yongsheng Group."

"Take me with you," she said.

"I've had enough of this damned place."

When the private jet landed smoothly on Jingluo Bay's dedicated runway, Su Mei looked out the porthole and saw a world completely different from the peaceful ancient town of Heshun.

There was no misty rain here, no flagstone alleys.

Only precisely calculated coastlines, clusters of buildings gleaming with a cold metallic light, and visible security posts every three steps and sentries every five steps.

The air was filled with the saltiness of the sea breeze and... the smell of money.

"Welcome to Jingluo Bay," Shen Yan's voice sounded beside her.

"Or, the new home of the Spark Laboratory."

Su Mei didn't speak. She just watched the security personnel waiting on the tarmac.

They lacked the slackness of ordinary guards; every person stood perfectly straight, their eyes sharp, carrying the unique bearing of soldiers.

She knew this wasn't just an ordinary research base.

It was a fortress.

A solid fortress that Shen Yan had built for them, the 'ghosts'.

Passing through several iris and voiceprint recognition gates, Shen Yan led Su Mei directly into the core laboratory on the third underground level.

It was brightly lit, and the massive server clusters emitted a low hum.

On the holographic projection, complex ocean current data and tidal models were scrolling by.

Wei Zhengxun, Lin Wanqing, and Qian Liyang—all three 'sparks'—were present.

When they saw Su Mei following behind Shen Yan, everyone stopped working and froze on the spot.

The air seemed to solidify.

"Boss... Boss..."

Qian Liyang pushed up the glasses on his nose and stammered, "Is this..."

He dared not confirm it.

This name had become a legend in their small circle, a symbol that had vanished for fifteen years.

Shen Yan didn't answer. He just stepped aside, making room.

Su Mei's gaze swept past everyone and landed on the figure deepest inside the laboratory.

Fang Zhizhuo was leaning on a cane, standing before a huge data screen.

He heard the movement and slowly turned around.

When he saw Su Mei's face, familiar yet strange, the cane in his hand clattered to the floor.

His lips moved, and his cloudy eyes instantly filled with moisture.

Fifteen years of wandering, fifteen years of hiding his identity.

The pain of a broken home, the regret of unfulfilled ambitions.

Everything converged into one sentence at that moment.

"Xiao Mei..."

Fang Zhizhuo's voice was hoarse, as if sanded by sandpaper.

"You're still alive..."

Su Mei's eyes also reddened.

She quickly walked forward and supported the teetering Fang Zhizhuo.

"Teacher Fang."

"I'm back."

That single sentence caused uncontrollable sobs to erupt throughout the entire laboratory.

Wei Zhengxun, the man whose skin was rough as old tree bark from years by the kiln fire, turned his head away and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

Lin Wanqing was already in tears.

Only Qian Liyang, the genius programmer, stared blankly at Shen Yan, his mouth agape wide enough to fit an egg.

He had imagined the Boss being omnipotent, capable of digging each of them up from their remote corners.

But he never dreamed that Shen Yan could actually find Su Mei, the 'ghost', again.

This wasn't something money alone could accomplish.