478: Chapter 478 Don't break it for me

Lin Que pushed open the door that hadn't been fully closed and walked inside.

The lights in the lecture hall were still on.

The seats that had been filled with thirty students just moments ago were now empty.

Near the podium, three people stood in a relaxed manner.

Elder Cui Wen was crouching beside the equipment table, his fingers skillfully adjusting something.

Su Mubai stood on the left, a thin booklet tucked under his arm, his gaze fixed on the ginkgo tree outside.

Xu Zhengqing was on the right, both hands resting on the handle of his cane.

The sound of Lin Que's footsteps was exceptionally clear in the empty classroom.

His rubber soles struck the terrazzo floor, step by step, neither fast nor slow.

Elder Cui Wen didn't even look up.

"You're here."

Su Mubai turned around and glanced at Lin Que, his gaze gentle.

He didn't ask why he had returned, simply switching the booklet to his other arm and nodding at Elder Cui Wen.

"Having sat for so long, it's time to go for a walk outside."

Xu Zhengqing also walked over at this moment, leaning on his cane.

He stopped when he passed by Lin Que.

Lin Que stood very straight.

Xu Zhengqing did not speak.

His wrinkled hand raised and landed on Lin Que's left shoulder.

Once.

The force was not light, as if confirming whether the frame beneath these shoulders was solid.

Twice.

The second tap was heavier than the first.

As if tamping something down.

Lin Que didn't move either.

He stood there, bearing the weight of the old man's palm, and looked up at Xu Zhengqing.

Xu Zhengqing looked at him.

"Can your shoulders still carry the load?"

The voice was very soft, with no hint of probing or worry in his tone.

Lin Que's reply was equally soft.

"It's sufficient for now."

Xu Zhengqing's hand remained on his shoulder for another second.

"Then don't be in such a hurry to collapse."

Having said that, the old man withdrew his hand and walked toward the front door, leaning on his cane.

Su Mubai had already stepped out the door first.

The two met at the doorway and walked side by side into the corridor.

Su Mubai said something, and Xu Zhengqing chuckled, the sound mostly muffled by the door panel.

The front door of the classroom was gently pulled shut.

The sound of the latch clicking shut echoed in the empty classroom.

Only two people remained in the classroom.

Elder Cui Wen packed away the last data cable and snapped the inner shockproof panel of the suitcase shut.

He straightened up, stretched his knees after crouching for so long, and looked up at Lin Que, who was standing in the middle of the aisle.

Lin Que walked to the front of the podium.

His gaze fell on the silver-gray suitcase behind the podium.

The suitcase shone with a cold white light under the fluorescent lamps, its corners worn, the latches made of old-fashioned metal springs.

Lin Que stopped and bowed slightly.

"Thank you, Elder Cui, for your generosity in lending this to me."

The words were spoken solemnly.

Elder Cui Wen looked at him.

The classroom was quiet for two seconds.

Then Elder Cui Wen smiled.

He picked up the suitcase from the table, walked off the podium, and carried it in front of Lin Que.

"You kid called me and said you were 'very interested' in the brain-computer interface."

"I think it's not that simple, is it?"

Lin Que did not deny it.

Elder Cui Wen didn't intend to press further, and he pushed the case forward.

"Take it."

Lin Que reached out and took it.

The moment the metal case was in his hand, his wrist sank; it was heavier than it looked.

He adjusted his grip and steadied the case.

Elder Cui Wen let go and took half a step back.

"This thing has been off the top-secret list for a while now, so it's fine for daily use."

His tone became casual, as if he were giving instructions for an old tool being lent out.

"However, there are a few sets of underlying algorithms that are still registered under the Research Institute's reference numbers."

"Just use the input and audio modules; don't take the shell apart, don't run the underlying protocols, and don't let any third party touch the hardware fingerprint."

Lin Que noted them down one by one.

"Understood."

Elder Cui Wen nodded and paused for a beat.

Then he added one more sentence.

"Don't break it for me."

The sentence was spoken very lightly, but the tone at the end lifted slightly.

Lin Que carried the case and nodded earnestly.

"I guarantee it will be returned in perfect condition."

Elder Cui Wen looked at him for three seconds.

As if confirming the weight of this promise.

Three seconds later, he gave a grunt of acknowledgment and waved his hand toward the door.

"Alright, take it and go."

Lin Que turned around.

When he reached the door, Elder Cui Wen's voice came from behind him.

"Kid Lin."

Lin Que stopped and looked back.

Elder Cui Wen stood by the podium, the fluorescent light shining down from above, stretching his shadow out long.

"Remember to return it when you're done."

This sounded like he was talking about the case.

Lin Que looked at him and nodded deeply.

He pushed open the classroom door and walked out.

Before the door crack closed, Elder Cui Wen kept watching the back of the young man carrying the silver-gray suitcase.

The boy's shoulders and back were straight, his gait steady.

He looked down at his own empty hand, then raised his eyes to the door.

After a long while, the old man clicked his tongue softly.

The sound was very low, dispersing into the empty lecture hall.

The corridor was empty.

The autumn afternoon sunlight slanted in from outside the window, spreading across the terrazzo floor with a warm yellow glow.

A few ginkgo leaves were blown in by the wind, spinning along the corner of the wall.

Lin Que went downstairs carrying the silver-gray suitcase.

He kept the swaying of the suitcase to a minimum.

When passing through the Qingbei campus, he didn't take the main road.

Although most students were in the cafeteria or classrooms at this time, the case in his hand was far too conspicuous.

The silver-gray metal shell, black combination lock, and rubber corner bumpers—it didn't look like something a student should be carrying.

He took the path along the western wall, and as he passed the perimeter of the playground, the whistles for physical fitness tests and the panting of students drifted from afar.

He quickened his pace.

After exiting the west gate of Qingbei, he turned two corners along the road and stopped at the third floor of a residential building.

He locked the security door of the studio from the inside.

He lowered the blinds automatically.

The light was shaved away layer by layer, and the room darkened, leaving only the faint glow from the computer's standby screen.

The white noise device was turned on.

Low frequencies filled the entire room like a blanket made of sound, shutting out the noise of traffic and voices from outside the walls.

Lin Que placed the silver-gray suitcase in the center of the desk.

He didn't rush to open it.

He sat down in front of the computer first.

Retinal scan.

Dynamic password.

Offline key.

After the three-step verification, a minimalist black interface popped up on the screen.

No desktop wallpaper, no flashy icon arrangements.

Only a few folders named with numbers, quietly lined up in a row.

Lin Que clicked on the top one.

Folder name: QBL_93.

The screen was immediately filled with dense audio waveforms.

Every single one was named with a short phrase.

[Opening]

...

[Bystander Restraint]

...

[Question: Technology]

...

[If Class Is Interrupted_Emergency Transition]

[Special Question]

A total of ninety-three tracks.

Lin Que leaned back into the chair, resting his hands on the armrests.

Only at this moment did his shoulders truly relax.

That class this morning.

From the outside, it was the first remote lecture by the mysterious author "Jian Shen."

Five literary titans were all present to accompany, and literary geniuses selected from across the country listened with bated breath.

The voice on the other end of the line was deep, restrained, and seasoned; every sentence hit the students' weak points with precision.

When it ended, everyone stood up and applauded.

Everyone thought they had just experienced a lecture remotely transmitted by a hidden master of the literary world through an encrypted node.

But what was the reality?

The so-called "Su Province encrypted node."

The so-called "secondary voice-changing channel."

The so-called "one-to-two-second system latency."

It was all done by him alone, sitting in the front row of the classroom, right under everyone's noses.