28: Mother?

"... Three months from now, the first batch of five jinglei-class short-range transport ships will conduct their first test flight on schedule at the Wenchang Space Launch Center."

When Lei Wen made this promise to the Supreme Command Center in Beijing via an encrypted line in a tone so calm it was almost like a declaration, he could clearly feel the instantaneous, rapid breathing of Academician Chen Haikang on the other end of the communication device.

He knew he had once again successfully kept the situation on the chessboard firmly in his own hands.

After hanging up, the sense of accomplishment from having everything under control had not yet fully dissipated when the emotionless electronic voice of white flower suddenly sounded in his mind through his bone-conduction headphones.

"Father, it seems an unexpected situation has occurred on Mother's side."

The smile on Lei Wen's face instantly froze, and his entire body stiffened as if he had been struck by a petrification spell.

His brain experienced a three-second system crash.

"You... what did you say?" He even suspected that he might be experiencing auditory hallucinations due to recent exhaustion.

"Based on the monitoring of your physiological indicators just now—including an instantaneous 30% increase in heart rate and sharp changes in dopamine and adrenaline secretion levels—my assessment is that you have developed a strong stress response to the word 'Mother'," white flower analyzed calmly.

Lei Wen finally came back to his senses from the shock; he felt as if his worldview had suffered some kind of dimensionality-reduction attack from an artificial intelligence.

He was horrified: "Where did you get a mother from?"

"According to the human social behavior database and deep learning of human ethics materials," white flower's reply was full of rigorous logic that was impossible to refute, "I believe I should address the human female who is closest to you and with whom you have a direct blood relationship as Mother."

Lei Wen felt his temples throbbing.

He held his forehead and asked with a wry smile: "Is that so? Then who is the human female closest to me?"

"Based on the highest priority attention list you set in my core database," white flower's answer came without a hint of hesitation, "You explicitly instructed me to set a human female named Renee as a key focus object for 【S-Class Highest Authority - Absolute Protection】. Based on logical deduction, she fits the definition of Mother."

"..."

Lei Wen fell into a long silence.

He felt that the AI he had created had undergone some unpredictable evolution in certain strange areas.

"... If you're going to call her anything... it should be Aunt, right..." He leaned against the wall and retorted weakly, "And that's my younger sister!"

"Retrieving sociological definitions of Aunt and younger sister... There is a conflict in definitions. According to the kinship tree diagram analysis, the term younger sister is more precise, but the term Aunt also exists as a non-blood honorific for young women in some online subcultural contexts... The database requires further optimization."

"Stop!" Lei Wen felt his brain was about to be spun dizzy by this AI. "white flower, immediately correct the identification content regarding my personal kinship in your database! Renee is my younger sister, my only younger sister, not a mother, and not an Aunt! You only need to address her as Renee, understand?"

"Correcting... Core database 【Family Ethics Module】 has been updated... Correction complete. I apologize, Father, my learning model developed a bias." white flower's voice still sounded completely devoid of waves, but Lei Wen seemed to hear a hint of grievance in it?

He shook his head, threw these messy thoughts out of his mind, and refocused his attention on the main topic.

"Alright, let's talk business." His voice instantly became serious. "You said Renee... my younger sister, what unexpected situation happened to her?"

white flower's tone also returned to its usual calm and efficiency. "Approximately 37 minutes ago, Miss Renee had a dispute with three students identified as members of the Student Union Outreach Department on the campus of her university—Dikuili University of Science and Technology."

"A dispute?" Lei Wen's brow immediately furrowed. "What kind of dispute?"

"According to the footage I captured via campus public surveillance cameras and lip-reading analysis, the cause of the dispute was that those three Student Union members, using the excuse of needing sponsorship for a school anniversary event, forcibly demanded an unreasonable amount of activity funding from the Anime Club managed by Miss Renee. Miss Renee refused their unreasonable request, and the two sides consequently had a verbal altercation."

Lei Wen's expression sank.

Campus bullying? Or extortion in the name of the Student Union?

His younger sister, whose personality was somewhat introverted and who was not good at arguing with others, had actually encountered such a thing.

"Is she alright?" he immediately asked.

"She has not suffered any physical harm. Those three students left after making a few verbal threats," white flower replied. "However..."

"However what?"

"After they left, I initiated tracking and monitoring of the potential threat sources in accordance with the 【Absolute Protection】 protocol you set. I hacked into the mobile phones of those three Student Union members and viewed their chat logs on an encrypted communication software in real-time."

white flower projected a compiled section of the chat logs in text form onto the screen in front of Lei Wen.

"【Li Wei (Head of the Outreach Department): Damn it, that new little girl in the Anime Club is pretty feisty. She refuses a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!】"

"【Zhang Xun: Brother Wei, that chick is really pretty. Her skin is as white as milk; she's even hotter than those 'department beauties' in our department.】"

"【Wang Ming: Yeah, she just doesn't know what's good for her. Brother Wei, are we just going to let it go like this? There hasn't been a club yet that dared to not give face to the rules of our Outreach Department for generating revenue.】"

"【Li Wei: Let it go? How is that possible! Tomorrow night, when the club activities end, you two take a few people and corner her in the small woods behind the Activity Center to 'educate' her. Let her understand what the consequences are for offending the Student Union at Dikuili Tech.】"

"【Zhang Xun: Hehe, don't worry Brother Wei! I guarantee we'll educate her until she's completely obedient! By the way... can we let the brothers also...】"

"【Li Wei: Don't go too fucking far. Just take a few nude photos of her so she'll be obedient in the future. This girl seems to have some background, don't cause a major incident.】"

"【Wang Ming: Received! Guarantee to complete the mission!】"

The chat logs also included several photos of Renee that had been secretly taken on campus.

When Lei Wen saw those filthy words, saw those plans filled with lewdness and malice, and those photos of his younger sister taken in dark corners...

A terrifying, palpable rage instantly erupted from his chest, sweeping through every limb and bone of his body.

The aura around him underwent a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering change in that instant.

If, a second ago, he was still the strategic, calm, and rational "the guide," the chess player placing moves on the world's chessboard.

Then, at this moment, he had become the most primal and pure character—an older brother whose reverse scale had been touched.

In his eyes, which always shimmered with wisdom and deep light, only indescribable malice remained.

The temperature in the office seemed to have dropped a few degrees because of this.

"white flower."

His voice was terrifyingly calm.

"I am here, Father."

"Prepare the car."

"Immediately."

...

Dikui City is adjacent to Tianqiong City; there is only a one-hour drive between the two cities.

At 10:00 PM that night, a low-profile, custom black electric SUV sped along the highway like a bolt of lightning in the dark night.

This car was a creation of Paradox Technology. Beneath its unassuming exterior hid a violent heart powered by a small fusion battery, as well as a sturdy body forged from 【el-3 composite target material】 capable of withstanding armor-piercing rounds.

In the driver's seat, Lei Wen's face was as heavy as water, his hands gripping the steering wheel steadily.

He did not speak, but the atmosphere inside the car, which was so oppressive it was almost solidified, was more imposing than any angry roar.

Sitting quietly behind him were two special passengers.

Two 【Cleaner Combat Robots】.

They had retracted all their weapon modules, their four legs curled up, and they stayed quietly in the back row in a posture similar to that of a large dog lying down.

Their red electronic eyes, like two pairs of burning charcoal in the dark cabin, flickered with an ominous light.

"Father," white flower's voice sounded again, "I have already planned the optimal route for you and cleared the records of all traffic surveillance cameras along the way. At the same time, I have also prepared several contingency plans."

"Plan One: Social Death. I can expose all the dirt on those three students and all associated personnel behind them—including academic misconduct, financial issues, chaotic private lives, etc.—within 10 minutes, making them lose all reputation."

"Plan Two: Physical Disappearance. I can guide them to a remote area not covered by surveillance for 【Cleaner Combat Robots】 to handle. I can guarantee that they will completely disappear from this world without leaving any traces."

"Plan Three..."

"Enough."

Lei Wen interrupted white flower.

"white flower," he looked at the city lights ahead and said slowly, "I know that from the perspective of optimization, your plans are the most efficient and the most worry-free."

"But there are some things that if I don't do them with my own hands..."

"My thoughts... will not be clear."

His voice carried an unquestionable determination.

white flower fell silent.

For the first time, a human concept appeared in its vast database that it could not fully understand—"thoughts".

This did not conform to logic, nor did it conform to the optimal solution.

But this was Father's command.

"... Understood, Father," it finally replied. "I will serve as your backup, ready to provide all necessary support at any time."

Soon.

The modern-looking gate of Dikuili University of Science and Technology appeared in sight.

Lei Wen parked the car in an inconspicuous corner and then killed the engine.

"Activate optical stealth mode, and then follow me," he said to the two silent killing machines in the back row.

Immediately after, he pushed the car door open alone and walked into this campus he had never set foot in before.

The university campus under the cover of night was quiet and peaceful.

Under the streetlights, couples occasionally passed by embracing, and students hurried toward the library clutching books.

But in Lei Wen's eyes, this tranquility hid the filth and malice that were about to devour his closest relative.

He did not go to his younger sister's dormitory.

He knew that with Renee's personality, she wouldn't tell him about such things, and would only suffer the grievances and fear silently alone.

The place he was going to was somewhere else.

Men's dormitory, Building 7, Room 302.

"Li Wei's dormitory," white flower's voice sounded at the right time. "According to campus network data, he is in the dormitory right now, playing online games with his other two accomplices."

Lei Wen's footsteps stopped at the door of Room 302.

He could hear the shouting mixed with profanity and the sound of keyboard clacking coming from inside.

Lei Wen raised his hand and knocked heavily on the door.

"Who is it?" An impatient voice came from inside. "Damn it, can't you see we're in the middle of a team fight?"

The door was jerked open.

A tall, burly boy with a cigarette in his mouth and dyed yellow hair looked at the door with an unhappy expression.

It was Li Wei, the Head of the Student Union Outreach Department.

When he saw clearly who was standing at the door, he was stunned for a moment.

Standing at the door was a young man half a head taller than him.

The young man was wearing casual clothes that looked expensive at a glance, and his temperament was so steady that he didn't look like a student.

There was no expression on his face.

But his eyes were like two bottomless, cold pools, causing Li Wei to involuntarily shiver.

"You... who are you?" Li Wei asked subconsciously.

Lei Wen did not answer.

He just looked at him quietly.

Then he raised his hand and, with a speed too fast for anyone to react to, grabbed his throat, lifted him up with one hand like a chick, and pressed him heavily against the wall behind the door.

With a loud "bang."

Zhang Xun and Wang Ming, who were playing games in the dorm, jumped up in shock at this sudden turn of events.

"Brother Wei!"

"Who the fuck are you! Let go of Brother Wei!"

They grabbed the stools at hand and wanted to rush up.

But they only saw a pair of eyes filled with rage.

"My younger sister, is she someone you can touch just because you want to?"