First-level authority, counter-kill the lead planner

Ghost's tracking data only sat in GM Xiao Zhou's hands for half a day. It wasn't that Xiao Zhou didn't want to report it immediately; it was that when he followed the clues Ghost provided to check the backend security group, the first name that popped up made his blood run cold. That person was the deputy leader of the security group, surnamed Liu. He had been with the company for seven years, was usually taciturn, and everyone thought he was an honest man. Xiao Zhou stared at the name on the screen, remembering that the security group leader had gone on maternity leave last month. The audit permissions for the entire server were now held solely in the hands of this deputy leader.

He didn't dare make a scene and sent a private message directly to Lin Ye: "Brother Ye, there's a problem with the deputy leader of the backend security group. The cancellation process for the lead designer's revoked backup account was signed by him. After signing, the account permissions weren't fully reclaimed; a backdoor was left in the system. This is too much of a coincidence; I suspect he's also in contact with Qin Wentian."

Lin Ye was on the third floor of the Unscrupulous Business Center reading the weekly report for power-leveling orders when he received the message and glanced up at Ghost. Ghost was sitting in the corner, the holographic screen in front of him packed with code. Today, he wore a faded gray hoodie with the hood up, huddled in his chair like a cat perched on a windowsill. But his fingers were incredibly fast, the sound of the keyboard as dense as a rainstorm hitting glass.

"Ghost, the deputy leader of the backend security group, surnamed Liu. Investigate him."

Ghost didn't answer; his fingers merely paused for a moment before typing even faster.

At the same time, Qin Wentian was also waiting for news. He sat in front of a holographic screen in a rented room, with three windows open. On the left was the lead designer's encrypted chat box, in the middle was the execution log for the backend data scraping hook, and on the right was the latest internal studio information sent by the old subordinate who owed him a debt. The lead designer sent a message: "That guy surnamed Lin has been staying in the business center these past few days and hasn't crossed servers much. The hook has been hanging for days without triggering once. Are you sure he'll cross servers again?"

Just as Qin Wentian was about to reply, the old subordinate's chat box suddenly flashed: "Brother Qin, I've made contact over at the Unscrupulous Business Center. I can get a copy of Fatty Wang's logistics scheduling schedule, and I've mapped out Pojun's security patrol routes. But there's a situation you should know about—they've hired someone new who stays locked in the office all day and never shows his face. I don't know what he's doing, but it just feels off."

Qin Wentian's fingers hovered over the keyboard. Lin Ye's new hire, never shows his face, stays locked in the office all day. A bad premonition flashed through his heart, but he quickly suppressed it. He was already in too deep; the hook was already planted, and the deputy leader's backdoor was open. Backing out now would only lead to faster exposure.

He replied to the lead designer with a very certain tone: "He will definitely cross servers. The renewal rate for overseas protection fees is still rising; sooner or later, he'll have to visit each server in person." Then he sent an instruction to his old subordinate: "Keep an eye on that person who doesn't show his face and find out his identity. Also, watch Pojun closely; the Heavenly Temple had a deep relationship with him back then, maybe you can get something out of him."

The old subordinate replied with a "Understood" and said no more.

By this time, Ghost had already dug up all of the deputy leader's secrets. He took over the largest holographic screen in front of Lin Ye, which was now filled with detailed information on the backend security group's deputy leader. His surname was Liu, named Liu Jingming. He had worked at the game company for seven years and had joined in the same batch as the fired lead designer; their employee IDs were only three digits apart. His criminal record was hidden much deeper than the lead designer's, but the evidence Ghost unearthed was more shocking with every piece. Over the past six months, Liu Jingming had used his backend security permissions to help the remnants of Qin Wentian's Heavenly Temple bypass ban rules to re-register over a dozen shell guild accounts. These accounts were scattered across major overseas servers, seemingly unrelated on the surface, but actually secretly purchasing materials to prepare for new counter-actions. He used his deputy leader permissions to pull up the logs of Lin Ye's cross-server travel. It was through these records that Qin Wentian had precisely calculated the pattern of Lin Ye's cross-server trips, thereby deducing the moment when the Talent energy resonated strongest with the underlying code, locking in the optimal trigger point for the data scraping hook. Most crucially, the massive bribe Qin Wentian sent to the lead designer didn't go through a real bank account, but rather a gold transfer account disguised as game item transaction records. And the auditor for this transfer account happened to be Liu Jingming himself. Every transaction detail was traceable, and the capital chain was incredibly clear.

Lin Ye looked at the dense, ironclad evidence on the screen, picked up his teacup, and took a sip: "Send it all to GM Xiao Zhou."

Ghost hesitated for a second and asked softly, "Don't we need to keep a card up our sleeve?"

"No need. This stuff is enough to keep him in prison for several years."

Less than two hours after the message was sent, official headquarters established a special investigation team overnight. Liu Jingming's workstation was sealed on the spot by the security department, and he was taken away. Bodycam footage showed that he didn't speak the entire time he was being led out; he just stood in front of his workstation staring at his computer screen for a long time, only slowly lowering his head and walking into the elevator after a security guard tapped him on the shoulder. When the elevator doors closed, he shut his eyes.

The official investigation team found a hidden encrypted folder on Liu Jingming's backup work computer. Inside, there were not only detailed logs of Lin Ye's cross-server travels but also an unfinished "Decay Talent Data Analysis Report." The report was nearly seventy percent complete, and the preliminary analysis concluded: "This Talent energy can resonate with the game's underlying code, and theoretically, there is a possibility of cross-dimensional replication." The technical experts on the investigation team looked at each other, and someone whispered, "If this thing gets out, the core architecture of the entire game will be exposed."

When the news reached the Unscrupulous Business Center, Su Qinghan was organizing the day's contracts. She put down her tablet, her brow furrowing slightly: "Qin Wentian isn't looking for revenge this time; he wants to use your Talent for experiments. If he really manages to replicate even a portion of the Decay effect, he might bypass the boundaries of the game and do things in reality that you and I currently cannot predict." Lin Ye didn't answer immediately; he opened the world channel. Qin Wentian was still online on the screen, his ID positioned on the edge of a remote town in the Korean Server, a location Ghost had just unearthed and locked in real-time.

"Qin Wentian, I know you're looking at your private messages." Lin Ye's voice traveled through the private channel, as calm as if he were discussing the weather. "The lead designer you found has been fired. The deputy leader you bribed was taken away this afternoon. The person you arranged to contact Pojun—Pojun turned around and sold you out. I'll give you one minute to go through the traps in those chat logs yourself."

Qin Wentian didn't reply. His avatar remained lit, motionless.

Lin Ye continued typing: "You think Liu Jingming helped you for money? He wrote a report and sold your Talent data analysis results to several overseas factions for a price many times higher than the bribe you gave him. You were a pawn in his hands from beginning to end. Once the pawn is used up, it will naturally be discarded."

After a long time, Qin Wentian replied with a message containing only four words.

"I am not reconciled."

Lin Ye looked at those four words and slowly typed a reply: "You're not reconciled because you've always felt that Talents should belong to wealthy people like you. But a Talent never belongs to anyone. The game chose me. Whether I'm worthy or not isn't for you to decide. But you can see for yourself today what I can do."

He closed the private messages and stood up. Ghost finished archiving the tracking data, Su Qinghan finished organizing the contracts, and Fatty Wang woke up from a nap and rubbed his eyes. Pojun stood at the door, silent as always. Su Qinghan looked up at Lin Ye and asked if they were going to find Qin Wentian. Lin Ye shook his head: "Not finding him. Closing the net."

He stepped into the teleportation array. The dark red light of a cross-server teleportation lit up on the array on the first floor of the Unscrupulous Business Center, and all the independent players in the plaza saw that light. Someone posted in real-time on the forum: "Brother Ye is crossing servers again; I wonder who's going to be unlucky this time." Just as the post went up, Ghost sent Qin Wentian's real-time coordinates to Lin Ye's private message box.

When Lin Ye arrived, Qin Wentian already knew who was coming. He didn't run, but stood on the edge of that remote town in the Korean Server, surrounded by abandoned mine tunnels and overturned mine carts, with the purple light of the Abyss Rift flickering faintly in the distance. Lin Ye stood before him, neither drawing his sword nor applying debuffs, but simply raising his right hand and snapping his fingers.

A system announcement popped up simultaneously on the world channels of the Korean Server and the US Server in gold font, pinned to the top of the server. The content was concise: The following is a list of accounts involved in conspiring with Lead Designer Liu and former Deputy Leader of the Backend Security Group Liu Jingming to steal Talent data. Qin Wentian's name was first on the list, followed by over a dozen shell guild accounts, all permanently banned. Cross-server permissions were revoked, account assets cleared, and associated real-world identity information was placed on the game alliance's permanent blacklist.

Independent players in the Korean Server went wild, spamming the world channel. Kim Hyun-tae of the Goryeo War God Temple also sent a message with only three words— "It's about time." Qin Wentian's character model began to flicker; it was the final countdown before the account was permanently banned. His character stood in the shadows of the abandoned mine entrance, his face buried in darkness, his expression unreadable. When five seconds remained on the countdown, he sent one last private message to Lin Ye.

"If there is a next life, I want to be the sixth man in your team."

Lin Ye looked at the message and didn't reply. A moment later, he looked up at the gradually transparent figure and said softly, in a voice only he could hear: "We'll talk about it in the next life."

Qin Wentian's account completely vanished. On the edge of the abandoned mine in the Korean Server, only the rustling sound of the breeze swirling mine slag remained.

Lin Ye turned and stepped into the teleportation array. When he returned to Dawn City, Su Qinghan had already organized all the tracking data submitted by Ghost into a complete case transfer report and sent it to the official special investigation team. Fatty Wang posted a pinned message on the world channel with a concise title: Those who spread rumors and steal Talent data will be banned and removed, never to be unbanned. Pojun leaned against the entrance of the Unscrupulous Business Center; seeing Lin Ye walk out of the teleportation array, he gave a slight nod and said nothing.

Qin Wentian's antagonist line, which had run through the first volume, reached its final conclusion today. But Lin Ye knew that Liu Jingming's unfinished Decay Talent Data Analysis Report had already been transmitted overseas through multiple channels. The sentence in the report, "theoretically, there is a possibility of cross-dimensional replication," would sooner or later attract opponents more troublesome than Qin Wentian. But he didn't plan to think about that right now. He sat in the chair by the window and picked up the cup of tea that hadn't yet gone cold. In the direction of the Abyss Rift, the mining lights were still on.