8: Chapter 8 The Devil in the Data

The damp smell of mold mixed with the acrid scent of scorched circuit boards, drilling incessantly into their nostrils.

Lin Fan and Michael crouched low, sneaking into an abandoned internet cafe deep in the old district of Los Santos.

They propped the rusted iron door shut from the inside. The dust-covered computer screens were draped in thick cobwebs, and only a few could barely turn on; the hum of the running mainframes sounded exceptionally jarring in the deathly silent space.

Lin Fan inserted the USB drive, which still held the warmth of Razor, into the port, his fingertips trembling slightly from tension.

He took a deep breath and pulled up the system panel; the icon for [Hacker Intrusion] was still glowing blue, but a small red padlock symbol had appeared in the bottom right corner.

"Can't worry about that now." He gritted his teeth and forcibly activated the skill. A dense stream of data instantly flooded his mind, and a mechanical system prompt sounded in his ears.

"Parsing USB data... Progress 10%... 30%..."

Michael leaned against the cold wall, vigilantly staring toward the doorway, his gun never leaving his hand.

His wound was still throbbing with dull pain, blood seeping through the bandages in dark red stains, and his face was even paler than paper.

"Be careful. The people from the Snake Fang Gang have noses sharper than dogs; we won't be able to stay here for ten minutes."

Lin Fan didn't respond, his entire focus concentrated on the screen.

Data streams flashed by rapidly, mostly garbled code, with only a few scattered keywords popping up—"Red Scorpion", "Reset Plan", "72 hours".

Just as the progress bar hit 90%, the screen suddenly went black, followed by the pop-up of an encrypted video file that required a top-level access password to open.

"Damn it." Lin Fan cursed under his breath. Just as he was about to attempt a brute-force hack, a system warning suddenly exploded in his mind, so sharp it made his eardrums ache.

"Warning! Illegal data intrusion detected. Host's current access level is insufficient; unable to parse top-secret files!"

"Punishment mechanism initiated: Skill [Hacker Intrusion] temporarily locked. Unlock time TBD!"

Lin Fan's eyes widened abruptly. He tapped the skill icon on the system panel again, but the blue light had completely faded, replaced by a glaring red padlock mark.

He slammed his fist onto the keyboard in frustration. The keyboard let out a brittle, overwhelmed crack, and several keys popped off.

"What's wrong?" Michael turned around at the sound, and upon seeing Lin Fan's ashen face, his heart sank.

"The skill is locked; I can't decrypt what's on the USB drive." Lin Fan's voice carried a sense of suppressed fury. He pointed at the encrypted file on the screen. "But I saw a few keywords: Red Scorpion, Reset Plan, and... 72 hours."

Michael's pupils contracted sharply. He stumbled over to the computer, stared at those words for a long time, and his lips trembled: "Red Scorpion... is that the codename of that mysterious organization? What on earth are they and Victor up to?"

Lin Fan didn't answer. His gaze was locked onto the thumbnail of the video file—it was a blurry silhouette of two people in black trench coats standing face-to-face. The profile of one of them was identical to Victor on the wanted poster.

Driven by an inexplicable impulse, he double-clicked the file. To his surprise, a silent clip popped up on the screen, looking like a fragment of leaked data.

In the footage, Victor had his back to the camera, facing a person wearing a Red Scorpion mask. The voice, having undergone special processing, was as sharp as fingernails scraping against glass: "The plan has been initiated. The reset of Los Santos will be completed in 72 hours. All anomalous data must be cleaned up."

Anomalous data?

Lin Fan's heart sank abruptly. He suddenly remembered his identity as a transmigrator and recalled that this world was actually a tampered-with game world. Could the "anomalous data" Victor spoke of refer to people like him who shouldn't exist?

"Reset... Do they want to destroy all of Los Santos?" Michael's voice trembled with disbelief. He looked at Lin Fan, his eyes full of terror. "Or are they trying to tamper with the rules of this world?"

Before Lin Fan could think it through, a piercing roar of engines suddenly came from outside the window. The sound of tires screeching against the ground approached from afar, finally stopping at the entrance of the internet cafe.

Immediately following were heavy footsteps and the crisp clatter of metal—it was the assassins from the Snake Fang Gang! They had caught up after all!

"Damn it!" Michael's expression changed drastically. He grabbed Lin Fan. "They must have tracked the USB drive's signal! Move, quickly!"

Lin Fan hurriedly pulled out the USB drive and stuffed it into his inner pocket. The back door of the internet cafe had been nailed shut with wooden boards, so they had no choice but to rush out through the front entrance.

But the footsteps outside were getting closer and closer; he could even hear the assassins talking in Russian.

"If we keep going like this, we'll both die." Michael suddenly stopped. He looked at Lin Fan with a resolute gaze. "Split up. I'll draw them away; you run toward the east side of the city and find Franklin."

"Franklin?" Lin Fan was stunned for a moment. "That black-market arms dealer?"

"He's not just an ordinary arms dealer." Michael said quickly, pulling a badge engraved with a scorpion pattern from his chest and stuffing it into Lin Fan's hand. "Take this; he'll recognize it. Franklin knows Red Scorpion; he knows Victor's background! Give him the USB drive and let him help you decrypt it!"

"No! I can't leave you behind!" Lin Fan said urgently. How could he let Michael go to his death alone?

"That's an order!" Michael's voice rose sharply, and he gave Lin Fan a hard shove. "The USB drive in your hand is the only thing that can stop Victor! If you die, all of Los Santos is finished! Go, now!"

Before he could finish speaking, Michael had already raised his gun and charged toward the doorway. He pulled the trigger, and bullets struck the iron door with a deafening sound. "You Snake Fang Gang scum! Grandpa is right here! If you've got guts, come and chase me!"

The gunfire and roars instantly attracted the attention of all the assassins. A burst of chaotic gunfire erupted outside, accompanied by the angry bellows of the assassins.

Watching Michael's back, Lin Fan's eyes instantly turned red. He clenched the badge in his hand, gritted his teeth, and turned to sprint toward the back window of the internet cafe.

He smashed the cobweb-covered glass with his elbow and leaped out. Behind him, the gunfire grew more intense, mingled with a muffled grunt from Michael.

"Hold on, Michael!"

Lin Fan sprinted through the alleyway. Cold rain soaked his clothes, sticking to his skin with a bone-chilling cold. He didn't dare look back, only running forward with all his might. The USB drive in his pocket pressed against his chest like a red-hot branding iron.

His system skills were locked, Michael's fate was unknown, and the Snake Fang Gang assassins were still in hot pursuit.

This was the first time since Lin Fan had transmigrated into this world that he had felt such intense helplessness. He was like prey backed into a corner by a hunter, with boundless darkness behind him, and the road ahead shrouded in fog, without a glimmer of light to be seen.

He didn't know how long he had run, but when he could no longer hear the footsteps behind him, he collapsed beside a trash can, panting heavily.

He took out the scorpion badge and, by the faint moonlight, looked at the exquisite patterns on it, his heart filled with bewilderment.

Franklin... could he really help him?

And what kind of devil, capable of overturning the entire world, was hidden within the "Reset Plan" that Victor spoke of?