164: Chapter 164 Feinting to the East and Striking in the West, Stealing Secrets

Ling Ye's gaze swept rapidly toward the equipment room.

Not far behind the technician was an independent, aged backup power status indicator panel with several LED lights of different colors, all currently glowing with a steady green light.

Below the panel were connected cables that seemed untouched for a long time.

That was it.

Ling Ye focused his mind, condensing his "Spiritual Sense" into an extremely fine, almost invisible "needle," and carefully probed the side of the indicator panel, where there was a small section of exposed wire connected to a green LED light.

He did not attempt to damage it; instead, he used his "Spiritual Sense" to simulate an extremely weak current disturbance with a specific frequency, gently "pricking" the wire.

Buzz...

On the panel, the green LED light touched by his "Spiritual Sense" flickered and shifted in brightness extremely slightly and irregularly, then returned to normal.

The entire process took less than two seconds and made no sound, just a change in light.

However, for a technician who dealt with equipment all year round and possessed high vigilance, this "anomaly" was enough to catch his attention.

"Hmm?" The technician indeed noticed the momentary flicker in his peripheral vision.

He immediately turned his head, brows furrowed, and looked at the indicator panel.

"Backup power circuit C? Loose connection?"

He muttered, clearly unfazed by such minor issues with old equipment, but as part of his duty, he still stood up, walked toward the panel, and bent down, preparing to check the connection.

Now is the time!

During those precious few seconds when the technician turned to the panel, with his back to the main terminal and the small door where Ling Ye was hiding, Ling Ye flashed out from behind the door like a phantom, his movements lightning-fast yet light and silent!

He did not rush toward the technician's main terminal (which would require sitting down to operate, consuming time and posing high risk), but instead lunged toward an open tool and parts rack on the other side of the equipment room!

On the rack were some common replacement parts, data sticks, portable communication modules, and even a few strangely shaped devices that looked like encrypted communicators or individual battlefield information terminals!

His goal was clear—portable hardware devices that might store information or have communication functions! And, storage media that could read data quickly!

His hands swept across the rack like phantoms, instantly grabbing two things: a high-capacity, military-standard encrypted data stick (usually used for backing up or transmitting sensitive data), and a palm-sized, old-looking but functional individual tactical information terminal (PIT, similar to an enhanced personal terminal, capable of encrypted communication, data reception, offline maps, etc., and usually not dependent on the base's central network, making it harder to track).

He stuffed these two items into his chest (the inside of his jacket had long been sewn with hidden pockets) in a flash.

At the same time, his gaze swept across the main terminal screen.

Although the distance was far, the dynamic vision enhanced by his "Spiritual Sense" allowed him to instantly capture the titles of several rapidly scrolling key information windows:

"Purification Net" target list (partial) - Priority: High (Below was a string of constantly refreshing avatars and codenames; he saw his own avatar, labeled as "Escapee-Zero", status: Extremely Dangerous, Priority: Highest.

Beside it were status updates for Su Qing, Zhou Ming, and others.)

Old Factory District barrier status real-time monitoring - Energy load: 89%, continuing to rise.

"the key" characteristic spectrum matching result - Current match: 0%.

Positions and status of various action teams - Most showed "Deploying" or "Searching".

The information was valuable, but there was no time to read it carefully or copy it.

The technician had finished checking the indicator panel, seemingly finding no problems, muttered "It's fine again?", stood up, and prepared to return to his seat.

Ling Ye did not linger for a second.

At the last moment before the technician turned around, he had already retreated like an ebbing tide into the equipment shaft behind the small door, gently closed the door, and latched it.

The entire process, from striking to retreating, took less than five seconds.

Almost at the same time he retreated into the equipment shaft and closed the door, the technician sat back down, glanced suspiciously at the seemingly normal indicator panel, then looked at his main terminal screen, found nothing unusual, shook his head, and continued to focus on his work.

Inside the equipment shaft, Ling Ye leaned against the cold wall, his heart pounding like a drum.

Those few seconds were like dancing on the edge of a blade.

But the harvest was huge!

He had obtained an encrypted data stick (which might contain valuable information), an individual tactical information terminal (PIT; if it still worked, it would be an excellent tool for communication and information gathering, and relatively independent), and had personally seen the latest information on the screen regarding "Purification Net" targets, the status of the Old Factory District, and the search for "the key"!

Most importantly, the other side had marked him as "Escapee-Zero", with the highest priority and extremely dangerous.

This meant he was indeed the number one target.

This place was not suitable for a long stay.

He had to evacuate immediately, return to the underground cavern, find a safe place to check the loot, and use the PIT to try to obtain more information or find a way out.

He crawled back along the ventilation duct the way he came, carefully reinstalled the grille, and then quickly withdrew in the direction he came from.

This time, he was even more careful, knowing that there might be temporary sensors in the ventilation ducts.

He relied on his "Spiritual Sense" to perceive energy anomalies in advance and avoided some potentially problematic forks.

He returned to the ventilation vent leading to the underground cavern without incident, removed the grille, climbed out, restored the grille, and then quickly moved away from the base's rock wall, re-entering the dark and complex underground world.

It wasn't until he was far enough away from the base that he found another relatively hidden rock crevice and crawled in.

He couldn't wait to take out the two "trophies".

First, check the data stick.

It was a standard military encrypted interface, requiring specific decoding equipment or authorization to read.

He couldn't open it for the time being, but it might be useful to keep.

Then there was the individual tactical information terminal (PIT).

The terminal was powered off, the surface was slightly worn, but it looked basically intact.

He tried pressing the power button.

The screen lit up, flashing a boot screen with the "The Scavengers" organization logo (a horizontal broom with a background of broken stars), and then entered a lock screen that required biometric identification (fingerprint/iris) or a dynamic password.

Sure enough, there was a password.

Ling Ye's heart sank.

But he didn't give up.

Such old PITs sometimes had backdoors or vulnerabilities, or... could they be bypassed using technical means?

He tried to recall the default or general initial setting options he had vaguely seen while watching the technician operate the terminal earlier.

At the same time, he focused his "Spiritual Sense" on the PIT, trying to perceive the weak energy flow and information structure inside.

Just as he was concentrating and his fingers were unconsciously rubbing against the PIT shell, his fingertips suddenly touched an extremely tiny, almost imperceptible dent on the edge of the shell.

The shape of the dent... was it like a part of a scratched-off serial number or identification code originally engraved there?

His heart stirred, and he carefully scraped away the dirt at the dent with the tip of his multi-purpose knife.

Underneath, a line of extremely blurry, laser-etched small characters was revealed:

"PIT-7 B-041 / Default Initial Code: SF0719"

Default initial code?!

Ling Ye's heart jumped violently!

This might be a factory setting or a general password for testing!

Could it not have been changed yet?

He immediately tried entering "SF0719" on the PIT's password entry interface.

The screen flickered, the password box disappeared, and a simplified operation interface popped up!

Unlock successful!

Ling Ye suppressed the ecstasy in his heart and quickly browsed the PIT's functions.

Although many Advanced functions and encrypted communication channels could not be used due to authorization issues, he could access:

Offline maps (including detailed terrain of Dawn City and its surroundings, even marking the approximate paths of some undisclosed underground tunnels and cave Systems! This was a priceless treasure for him!)

Local public information reception (could receive news and announcements from city public channels; although it might be filtered, it was better than being completely isolated).

Basic encrypted text information sending and receiving functions (seemed to be able to connect to some independent, low-priority encrypted information network, possibly for peripheral personnel or backup communication).

Logs and cache files that came with the device (might contain some records of previous users).

He first opened the offline map and quickly located himself.

According to the map, the underground cavern System he was currently in was about 150-200 meters below Dawn City, with a vast range, partially intersecting with several abandoned ancient mine tunnels and the city's early drainage System.

The map marked several possible "potential exit points" to the surface or city pipe networks, but they were all marked "Dangerous - Structurally Unstable" or "Unknown - Unexplored".

With a map, he had a direction!

Next, he tried to receive public information.

The PIT connected to a weak signal and began to receive scrolling information.

Most of it was official soothing announcements and traffic information.

But suddenly, an encrypted sub-channel message from the "Dawn City Public Safety Emergency Broadcast" popped up.

Although the content was partially blocked, the headline was shocking:

"City-wide Level 3 alert status upgraded! Curfew implemented in areas around Oak Street! Citizens urged to cooperate with security screening! Report suspicious persons immediately!"

The manhunt had already become public and escalated.

Then, he opened the PIT's local log cache.

There were only a few residual records inside, which seemed to be sporadic operations of the previous user:

"Received instruction: Monitor energy reading anomalies in the Academy District... Target marked: Sun Li (female, student)... Abnormal behavior, suspected sensitive reaction..."

"Old Factory District barrier reading anomaly, Command Center requests increased monitoring frequency..."

"Search for 'the key' has no progress, high pressure from above..."

"Peripheral action team 'Nightingale' (Zhou Ming) reports discovering suspected traces of 'Escapee-Zero' activity near Rust Town, requesting reinforcement for search..."

Seeing the last entry, Ling Ye's pupils shrank!

Zhou Ming found his traces near Rust Town?!

Was it left by his previous activities? Or... did he infer it based on other clues?

In any case, this meant that Zhou Ming and his action team were very likely conducting a dragnet search in the area where he had previously been active (Rust Town, Industrial Zone)!

And he was currently underground, temporarily safe, but the stronghold in Rust Town... and other clues he might have left behind...

Wait!

Ling Ye suddenly remembered that in his temporary stronghold in Rust Town, he still had an old, disposable terminal used to contact "Midnight Wind"!

Although it was out of power and hidden, if it was found by a professional like Zhou Ming, could they recover some data through technical means, or even track down "Midnight Wind"?

"Midnight Wind" was in danger!

He (or she) was his important civilian information source and might possess more inside information.

If they were found by the "Cleaning" side because of him...

Ling Ye's heart sank.

It was he who implicated him (or her).

Moreover, if Zhou Ming followed the clues from Rust Town and found "Midnight Wind", and perhaps even learned more about the "screening" and "strange disease" civilian inside story through "Midnight Wind", this might be unfavorable for the "Cleaning" side to control public opinion and execute the "Purification Net", but for him, this "Escapee-Zero", it also meant the loss of a possible information channel and a potential ally.

He had to find a way to warn "Midnight Wind", or at least confirm their safety.

But he was underground, how to contact?

Although the PIT had encrypted communication functions, contacting the anonymous social account of "Midnight Wind" directly was extremely risky and might be monitored.

Perhaps... he could use the PIT's encrypted text function to send an extremely cryptic warning message that only "Midnight Wind" could understand?

For example, using specific slang or keywords mentioned during previous exchanges?

The risk still existed, but the safety of "Midnight Wind", and the potential network of more civilian insiders who might be exposed, made him unable to sit idly by.

Moreover, he also needed to understand the latest and most truthful dynamics on the surface.

Official filtered information was far from enough.

Should he take the risk to contact, or for the sake of his own absolute safety, cut off this line completely?