81: The cost of trust

"Smash it, and tomorrow we'll be back in the Stone Age. No, worse than that."

Chen Feng's voice echoed in the dead silence of the "Hive," each word like ice striking a metal plate.

He looked at Reno, whose arms hung limply, his face a mix of rage and confusion, and continued, "We're primitives holding stone axes but already accustomed to laser guns. Without the 'central hub,' production halts, logistics collapse, we can't even feed ourselves, let alone talk about confronting Xing Zhan or the future?"

"Then what do we do? Let this nail keep piercing our flesh?" Reno's voice was hoarse, filled with unwillingness.

"No." Chen Feng's gaze turned to Lao Mo, who was overwhelmed at the monitoring console. "We need to make this nail pierce the enemy's eye."

"Lao Mo, I need you to do something, something very dangerous."

Lao Mo raised his bloodshot eyes: "Boss, tell me."

"This 'Emergency System Maintenance' backdoor is its highest-privilege channel, right?"

"Theoretically, yes." Lao Mo nodded. "But its encryption level is too high, like a steel maze."

"Then turn it into our maze." Chen Feng's tone brooked no argument. "I want you... to hack into this backdoor. Not block it, not destroy it, but occupy it. Plant our Monitoring Probes inside, turn it into our eyes for reverse surveillance of the mastermind behind this."

Lao Mo's breath hitched: "Boss, this... this is like dancing on a knife's edge. Whoever created this AI has technical capabilities far beyond ours. If discovered, they could tear our system to shreds instantly through the network."

"Do we have any other choice?" Chen Feng retorted.

Lao Mo fell silent, then nodded heavily: "I understand. Give me three hours."

"How long do I need?"

"I need you to give me... a night." Lao Mo smiled bitterly. "Maybe even longer."

The following time became a silent ordeal.

In the main server room, a real war erupted on an invisible level. Lao Mo sat before an independent terminal, his fingers flying, data streams cascading on the screen at speeds beyond human perception, refreshing, colliding, vanishing.

Reno stood nearby, completely unable to understand the complex code, but he could read Lao Mo's expression.

At times grim as iron, at times drenched in cold sweat, at times relieved.

"What is he doing?" Reno whispered to Chen Feng beside him.

"He's fighting an enemy we can't see." Chen Feng's gaze was also locked on the screen. "Every line of code is a confrontation. One wrong move, and it alerts the opponent, losing everything."

Reno clenched his fist; he'd rather face Xing Zhan's fleet in a real battle than endure this oppressive feeling of not even knowing where the enemy is.

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

Five hours later, when the clock struck midnight, Lao Mo suddenly let out a suppressed growl.

"Got it!"

He sprang up from his chair, then slumped back from exhaustion, but his face was lit with the wild joy of survival.

"I'm in! I found a vulnerability in the backdoor's underlying logic and implanted a micro Monitoring Probe!"

"Any results?" Chen Feng immediately pressed.

"The probe just completed its first data traceback... it... it's directing the data flow to an... encrypted server..." Lao Mo's voice began to tremble as he pointed to a name parsed on the screen.

"Omni-Dimensional Trade Alliance - Asset Risk Assessment Department."

"Omni-Dimensional Trade Alliance..." Reno murmured, the name like a key instantly unlocking the floodgates of his memory. "Boss, that ledger! The Su Family's blood ledger! That's... that's the name on it!"

Chen Feng said nothing.

He just stared quietly at the name, a chill deeper than when facing Xing Zhan's fleet rising from his feet to the crown of his head.

So it wasn't a corporate spy.

Nor some black-market organization.

From the moment he activated the exchange, from the moment he sold the first undead crystal, he might have already entered the sights of this cosmic behemoth. The so-called AI spy was just an insignificant probe dropped by them, a casual 'asset risk assessment.'

The gap between them was so vast that the other side couldn't even be bothered to use proper methods.

This seemingly victorious ghost-hunting game, its truth, was actually a complete humiliation.

With the crisis temporarily resolved, Chen Feng returned alone to his office.

He didn't turn on the lights, letting himself be submerged in darkness. He opened the Interstellar Exchange interface; the dazzling array of goods, those cold numbers that could buy weapons, technology, everything, for the first time made him feel so powerless.

He was wrong.

He thought the exchange was omnipotent. He thought money could solve everything.

He used money to buy weapons and drove away Xing Zhan. He used money to buy AI and solved the management crisis. He even wanted to use money to buy a kingdom.

In the end, he almost bought back a coffin tailored for himself.

From being deceived in hiring to introducing a Trojan, in the most critical, core aspect—'people'—within a month, he stumbled twice in the same foolish way.

The system could give him everything, except loyalty.

Except trust.

And except a brain that could truly support an empire...

The office door was gently pushed open, Reno's tall figure blocking the light from outside.

He didn't speak, just silently walked in, poured a glass of water for Chen Feng, and placed it on the desk.

Chen Feng watched the shimmering water in the glass for a long time before breaking the dead silence with a voice almost hoarse.

"Reno, I was wrong."

Reno's body trembled imperceptibly.

"I thought money could buy a kingdom, but I almost bought back a coffin." Chen Feng smiled self-deprecatingly, the laughter filled with defeat and bitterness.

This was the first time since coming to this world that he so candidly admitted his failure before a 'subordinate.'

Reno looked at him, this man who in his heart was almost godlike, flawless in strategy, now showing such genuine fatigue and vulnerability on his face. He wanted to say something comforting but found any words seemed pale.

"Boss," Reno finally said in a deep voice, "we're still here. Hanhai Trade is still here."

Chen Feng looked up, met Reno's resolute gaze, and fell silent.

Yes, he wasn't left with nothing.

He abandoned the fantasy of finding answers from the cold interface of the exchange. In the endless darkness and silence, his gaze unconsciously swept over the desk.

A small, Encrypted Chip storing that Blood-Red Ledger lay there quietly, reflecting the faint starlight from outside the window.

An overlooked, more reliable, perhaps the only choice at this moment, began to slowly emerge in his mind.