The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Yu Qing's choice to live in the control room actually had another reason.

He knew almost nothing about the technology of this era and hoped that Donghao could explain everything to him in this scene filled with instruments. He couldn't be seen as a modern-day fool.
At the same time, he really needed to familiarize himself with Shengtian's business operations as soon as possible—even if it was just superficial. Otherwise, he would remain an outsider here.

Chang Sheng sent his daughter, Ya Shi, to "keep him entertained," which, whatever his purpose, undeniably disrupted Yu Qing's rhythm. He even suspected that Chang Sheng was deliberately trying to distract him.

Many things have unfolded in ways he initially anticipated. Yu Qing's original motive was quite simple: to spend the next ninety days peacefully, and then quietly enter the ultimate underground office to shut down "Operation Demon" in the second program.

He was still too young and lacked experience in dealing with people and situations. He had no idea that from the moment he stepped into Shengtian, hundreds of eyes were silently watching his every move.

His move into the control room certainly put Chang Sheng at ease, but it couldn't prevent unrest among the staff. The employees gossiped privately, feeling that the new chairman was weak and incompetent, merely a pawn in Chang Sheng's hands.

Once they completely lose faith, Yu Qing will truly find himself unable to move an inch. Moreover, he can forget about ever gaining a foothold in Shengtian Company again; he'll become nothing more than a rubber stamp. But this era doesn't need rubber stamps! At that point, Chang Sheng will likely soon have other ideas.

Once a person sits in a certain position, there is nowhere to retreat, even if they want to. Realizing this, Yu Qing quickly took remedial measures.

Naturally, he needed to make good use of Chang Sheng's daughter as a "stepping stone." He casually asked Ya Shi, "Do you think if people find out tomorrow that I've been locked up in the control room all day, will they say that your father is putting me under house arrest?"

Ya Shi was clearly stunned for a moment, then exclaimed, "This is just like my dad locking you up! No, you have to go to the chairman's office for a report during the day!"

"Let them say what they want, we'll do what we want." Yu Qing said casually.

Ya Shi took it seriously and immediately contacted Chang Sheng directly through the control room's communications, insisting that he prepare to leave the chairman's office, and explained her reasons.

The next morning, Chang Sheng indeed came to invite him in person. Yu Qing finally sat in the chair that symbolized the highest power, and the first order he issued was to appoint Ya Shi as the chairman's special assistant and office director.

This action made Chang Sheng wonder if his daughter had already consummated her marriage with Yu Qing last night—although in fact, Yu Qing and Ya Shi had only sat there and happily bickered all night.

Immediately afterwards, Yu Qing instructed Ya Shi to provide compensation to the families of the employees who died in the previous attack, and also urged her to quickly build her own team, bringing in a group of Yu Qing's supporters. Although Chang Sheng had his doubts, he couldn't very well stop his daughter.

Ya was in high spirits and expanded her office to over two hundred people in one go, not even having enough space to stand. But she couldn't go back on her word and dismiss the people she had just hired. So Yu Qing gave her another suggestion.

The following arrangements encroached upon Chang Sheng's authority and responsibilities. Yu Qing instructed Ya Shi to discuss with her father the possibility of establishing a "Chairman's Office" in each branch company—a clear indication of decentralization. Chang Sheng, of course, refused.

Ke Ya used all her charm and pleading to finally get him to agree, and he even had to cooperate with the arrangements. Seeing his daughter so engrossed, Chang Sheng even wondered if she was planning to form a "husband-and-wife team" with Yu Qing, and couldn't help but sigh that daughters grow up and leave home.

These deployments, which should have sparked fierce conflict, were silently defused by Ya Shi. Yu Qing also used her to successfully extend his reach throughout the entire company.

Most importantly, the newly transferred personnel have all been authorized to use the company's administrative management system. From now on, if Yu Qing has any instructions, they can be directly issued to the various branches, instead of just being symbolic documents or waiting for Chang Sheng to implement them.

In Chang Sheng's view, Ya Shi was ultimately "one of his own," and Yu Qing was still under his control, so no matter how much trouble he caused, it would be useless.

What Yu Qing wants now is precisely this framework. At least for now, he doesn't have the ability to manage a company. As for Ya Shi, if she gets out of control one day, replacing her wouldn't be difficult; but once the entire structure is built, no one can dismantle it without his approval.

At this point, Yu Qing finally had eyes, ears, and a mouthpiece within the company. He knew he had to remain calm for the time being and not act rashly, lest Chang arouse suspicion and backlash.

Chang Sheng is currently accepting of this situation and continues to manage the company's daily operations efficiently, even appearing more humble and cooperative than before. He and Yu Qing tacitly demonstrate "trust and cooperation" in public, which is beyond reproach.

However, in investigating the attack on Yu Qing and the hacking of the administrative system, the two investigated separately and never shared information with each other.

Yu Qing utilized the hidden resources of the ultimate office, dispatching his assistant to bypass all the group's overt and covert systems and conduct an independent investigation. He meticulously reviewed every detail of the attack scene, compared the attackers' methods with the common tactics of known factions within the group, and secretly monitored the movements of Chang Sheng and his inner circle.

Donghao was also busy. She and her team worked around the clock, doing their best to calculate the cause of the system vulnerability and track the source of the mysterious intruder.

Chang Sheng then initiated the highest-level internal investigation within his inner circle of absolute confidants.

While thoroughly investigating the vulnerabilities of the parallel system in an attempt to find the source of the strange access record, he also quietly traced back all the details before and after Yu Qing's return, especially the assistant who revealed the "invisible key"—whose identity and whereabouts remain a mystery.

Chang Sheng knew Yu Yunshan's former residence like the back of his hand; there were only a few old, humanoid figures there. Given the old man's cautious nature, he would never entrust such a secret to them.

Chang Sheng knew perfectly well the origins and assembly modules of those humanoid creatures—they didn't even have encryption modules installed, so secrets couldn't possibly be hidden on them.

So, who exactly was the "assistant" who informed Yu Qing to follow the procedures? If this person is still hiding in the shadows... Chang Sheng felt uneasy.

As the investigations by both sides progressed, the water became increasingly turbid.

Yu Qing discovered that the technical equipment used by the attackers vaguely pointed to a security company that had long cooperated with Sheng Tian and had been promoted by Chang Sheng's father.

Chang Sheng discovered that although the access record pointed to a canceled employee number, the encryption method of its underlying redirection protocol was extremely similar to the method used by E Ying, who was close to Yu Qing, to contact the former residence.

They seemed to be groping in the dark, each discovery pointing to the other, yet each clue remained ambiguous and lacked concrete evidence. They both cried out to find the "third force," but were even more afraid that the final answer would be each other.

Suspicion, like a smog, spread once more. Chang Sheng and Yu Qing began to avoid meeting, afraid that they wouldn't be able to hide their emotions.

What's even more awkward is the reality of power and responsibility: Yu Qing is just sitting there, should he get involved in important company matters? If Chang Sheng lets him participate, he feels constrained; if he completely ignores him, it confirms his suspicion of ousting the chairman.

Yu Qing knew he was still a novice and shouldn't get involved in specific matters, but if he ignored everything, it would be tantamount to declaring himself a useless puppet... This delicate stalemate was suddenly broken late one night a week later.

Donghao suddenly detected an anomaly on the holographic interface in the control room: an unidentifiable data stream was attempting to access Shengtian's core database in an extremely covert manner.

Its encoding protocol is exceptionally advanced, and its encryption methods far exceed the current technological level in the west. Donghao initiated a real-time database comparison and found that its characteristics share a 79% similarity with the technological lineage prevalent in eastern Asia.

Even more disturbingly, when she tried to trace back the nodes of the intrusion into these data streams, she discovered that the relevant records had been completely wiped out just minutes earlier.

At almost the same time, Chang Sheng also received an urgent secret report from his confidant: the group's external security network detected a signal of unknown origin attempting to infiltrate the internal system, and its technical characteristics did not match any known faction or organization in the west.

The two ordered a pursuit without prior agreement. Yu Qing used the secret access to the ultimate office to activate the Yao Zi computing array buried deep underground, only to find that these outdated facilities were no match for such a sophisticated intrusion.
Chang Sheng then used his control of the security network to activate the highest level of anti-intrusion procedures. A silent pursuit unfolded in the virtual world.

The data stream moved like a ghost through the network labyrinth, constantly changing its path and encryption methods, clearly under extremely sophisticated control. Sheng Tian's forces nearly caught its trail several times, but it always managed to cleverly escape.

Ultimately, with the combined efforts of Dong Hao and Chang Sheng's top technicians, the data stream was forced into a virtual "dead end." But just before the source was deciphered, it suddenly self-annihilated, leaving only a fragmented piece of information.

This fragment, restored using a super-elemental computing array, revealed a shocking image: a perfectly smooth, mirror-like Earth emblem, and a short, eerie string of characters—"1480956238005698074086321@".

Even more alarming is that the energy frequency that erupted before the data stream self-destructed perfectly matched the unknown energy signals left at the scene of Yu Qing's attack and even the mysterious access records that infiltrated the administrative system.

The truth, like ice water splashed on their faces, instantly extinguished their suspicions of each other, but brought an even more chilling feeling.

Chang Sheng immediately connected with Yu Qing, whose holographic image appeared in the chairman's office, his expression more solemn than ever before: "You saw it too?"

Yu Qing nodded, his fingertips tapping unconsciously on the table: "That string of numbers... do you know what it is?"

"We don't know yet," Chang Sheng said dejectedly.

Yu Qing hesitated for a moment, then whispered:

"Let me tell you, what they were trying to issue was an order to immediately launch 'Operation Lutai'. Fortunately, the order they used wasn't entirely correct, but it was about six or seven parts similar."

Chang Sheng asked in surprise, "'Operation Lutai'? You can't hide it from me anymore now."

“I didn’t mean to hide it from you. It’s the disaster I mentioned before that might happen on December 31st – the old man called it ‘Operation Lutai’.”

After a moment of silence, Chang Sheng spoke again, his tone more formal than ever before: "Chairman, it seems we'll have to put our differences aside for now. But could you tell me... from what channel did you obtain this information?"

Yu Qing raised his head and met Chang Sheng's gaze—which was no longer full of calculation and probing, but sharp with shared hatred. He slowly stood up: "The outside hand has already reached in the door. We can discuss our own affairs behind closed doors."

After a brief pause, Yu Qing slowly continued, "But I can't reveal this channel right now. The old man left me two assistants, and their instructions are: if a second person learns of the channel's existence, immediately activate 'Project Lutai'."

“…I understand. This is in line with the old man’s style. He believes that if you reveal the ultimate secret to someone else, it means you have been controlled. He would rather die than live in dishonor.”

"So please don't investigate or inquire about this matter anymore. We must focus our efforts on dealing with the hand that has already reached in."

There was a two-minute silence.

“I just remembered something,” Chang Sheng suddenly said.

Seeing his hesitant expression in the video, Yu Qing pressed him for an answer: "What is it? Don't hold back, let's get down to business."

Chang Sheng stammered, "It's about... Yu Guiyi."

Yu Qing was taken aback: "So you guys are involved with him too, right?"

Chang Sheng hurriedly protested, "No, absolutely not. I haven't heard from him for at least thirty years..."

"If that's the case, why did you suddenly bring up this brutal fellow? He killed thousands of his people in the east; he was utterly depraved. I arranged for the old man's organization to execute him—you should have investigated this matter thoroughly by now."

“As I said, I only found out about it afterward. But what I want to say is that he used to work for a data security company that we had worked with, and that company later dissolved for no apparent reason.”

Yu Qing exclaimed in shock: "Someone from that company is suspected of hacking into our administrative system, is that right? This is the fox's tail... What about the ambush on me? Yu Guiyi is already dead, could someone be avenging him because of this?"

“I don’t think anyone will avenge Yu Guiyi. Back then, he was just a low-level employee at that security company, and when he appeared in the eastern region, he was just an investor in two or three small companies. Who would go to such lengths for such an insignificant person?”

"From this perspective, Yu Guiyi is either a lone wolf fighting me for the inheritance, or... just someone's pawn."

"The latter is more likely. On his own, it would be impossible for him to obtain the pre-screening qualification as a beneficiary of your foundation. His family has been arguing for a hundred or two hundred years without anyone paying attention. This time, if it weren't for your intervention, he would have almost succeeded."

"Then we need to find out who helped him obtain that qualification. But... there's still a question: if he wanted to seize the assets through Yu Guiyi, then there's no reason for him to rush into launching the 'Lutai Plan'—that would only be a mad madness that leads to mutual destruction..." (End of Chapter)