Life Dungeon Game

It was He Ao.

He didn't have much time. When Zadi returned empty-handed, the first thing he would do was open the metal door again and put the reagents back, and that would be the time for him to leave.

The whole incident was actually not complicated; it was simply a diversionary tactic.

However, during this process, Heo added a little bit of his judgment about Reed's character, slightly increasing the complexity of the plan so that it could deceive Reed.

Given Reed's suspicious nature, even if Heo were to use a diversionary tactic, Reed would remain skeptical and inactive, even if he couldn't find any clear clues.

So, Heo devised several layers of schemes. First, he used a diversionary tactic to draw Red's attention to Romack. Then, he used a feint to make Red believe that Heo's purpose was to protect his daughter. Finally, he guided Red to make the decision to ambush and surround them.

In fact, there were many serious intelligence gaps in this struggle. For example, if it weren't for Roger, a C-level bodyguard, Heo would definitely have tried to protect his daughter. Reed's judgment was correct.

For example, Reed thought that Heo didn't know his background, but in fact Heo had already roughly figured out that Reed was backed by Star Pharmaceuticals when he used the airship to 'pretend to leave the city'.

Moreover, he also had a mark on Coles, and found Coles immediately upon returning to the city, obtaining deeper information.

These intelligence gaps left Reed without some crucial information when making judgments; even the smartest person cannot piece together a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces.

Even now, Reid is unaware that He Ao already knows about the existence of the sixth-level safe in the research institute.

If he had known, he would never have let anyone open the safe.

…

On Coles' side, 'taking Heo to the safe' was the second thing Heo asked Coles to do for him.

This was in Coles's interest; the old professor had already gone to some kind of madness over the data behind the safe.

Of course, He Ao's entry into the research institute was also completely compliant with regulations.

Coles first used his authority to grant him a 'volunteer' status, and then he smoothly followed Coles into the research institute.

While inside the research institute, he didn't always hide himself by walking at night. Instead, he walked around calmly wearing a mask, and no one suspected his identity.

Afterwards, he changed into the assistant's uniform that Coles had prepared for him, and then Coles recruited him into the "assistant candidate" under the guise of "recruiting an assistant," and they went down to the fourth basement level.

The content that Coles and Reid discussed in the meeting room was also instructed by Heo through a mini-earphone.

First, make an impossible request, then take a step back to make an extremely difficult request, and then have Roger and Annie, who act as 'bait,' provoke Reid so that Reid will come up with a 'solution' within Heo's plan.

The whole process was very natural.

People tend to trust themselves more easily, even though their decisions may be made under deliberate guidance.

The reason why Coles needed to find a reasonable excuse to go downstairs, besides covering for Heo, was more importantly:

At this critical moment, if Coles went straight to the safe after entering the research institute, it would easily arouse Reid's suspicion.

The main purpose of this series of 'arrangements' was to lower Reed's guard.

This entire plan is also why He Ao didn't immediately come to the research institute to cause trouble for Reid after returning to the city.

Red's life or death is not that important, but the information he possesses about the Mars Project and the Fountain of Youth is extremely important.

He needs to obtain more information about the Fountain of Youth and Project Mars from Reid.

Now, he has arrived at the place where these documents are stored.

He glanced at the refrigerator, then walked to the supercomputer. He walked around the supercomputer once, then looked up at his wristband.

There is absolutely no network inside this 'safe', and to prevent data from being stolen by hackers, the computer also appears to be disconnected from the outside via network cable.

This is a host machine with 'physical anti-hacking' protection.

He Ao reached out and pressed the power button on the computer, turning it on.

Chapter 464 Suspicion (Long Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Officer Zadi had already left the research institute with his men.

Coles sat down in front of Reed.

The old professor looked calmly at Reid and said, "I think I am qualified to see the institute's most valuable materials."

At this moment, He Ao's voice was no longer in his earphones; after entering the safe, all signals were blocked.

However, he did not panic. Heo had anticipated this situation from the beginning and advised him to remain calm no matter what happened.

Coles wasn't some clueless old professor who only wanted to do research; he knew exactly what attitude he should maintain.

"Of course, Professor, you are qualified to be a core member of the project, but you should also know that I cannot show you the project data before you have core access."

At this point, Reed looked at the old professor in front of him and frowned slightly. "Professor, you seem a little excited?"

Coles' tone was a bit too fast. After failing to get into the safe, he should have been frustrated or annoyed, not in this slightly excited, upbeat tone.

“Frustration won’t solve anything,” Coles said calmly. “I’m now full of enthusiasm for getting to the heart of the project. I don’t think you’ll wait until the day I die to let me see the most crucial information, right?”

This statement already carries a slightly threatening connotation.

“Professor, don’t get excited,” Reed smiled, seemingly pondering something, and walked back to his chair step by step. “As you know, the corporation will not mistreat anyone who works for it.”

“Reed,” Coles suddenly looked at Reed and said softly, “I remember the first time I met you was at the school’s scholarship award ceremony. You received a first-class scholarship, and I was sitting in the front row as a guest. You said that your dream was to change the world and free more people from the suffering of disease.”

"Senior Coles, which medical student hasn't dreamed of healing the sick and saving lives, of practicing medicine to benefit the world?"

Reed leisurely picked up the coffee on the table and slowly brought it to his lips. "But people always have to bow to reality."

He took a sip of coffee. "I remember our teacher would give every new student a piece of advice: 'Keep your ideals, but also respect reality.' Although you had already graduated more than ten years ago and become a teacher at the school when I was in graduate school,"

His gaze lingered on Coles's cheek.

"There are diseases in this world that cannot be cured by human intervention, and there is also death that we have to face. This is reality."

"An important dividing line in a person's growth is recognizing the reality of this world, realizing that some things cannot be changed by effort, and recognizing that you are not the hero in the story who changes the world, but the numb masses walking around the hero."

At this point, he put down his coffee cup and looked at Coles. "Ideals have boundaries, senior."

Coles fell silent.

He and Coles had the same mentor.

“We are born with different destinies. The children of the poor will remain poor, the children of workers will become workers, the sons of grocers will inherit grocers, the sons of senators will be senators, and the sons of the rich will remain rich.”

”…

Reed stood up and leaned against his desk. "That's the reality of this world. Some things you're born without, and you never will be."

He turned his gaze to the window; the fiery red sunset was sinking below the city skyline, and the sky was ablaze with evening glow.

"Ideals are like this beautiful sunshine; they are pleasing to the eye and comforting, but they cannot fill an empty stomach and will eventually sink into the silent night."

“I remember you used to be a ‘medicine bag doctor’ for a while.”

Coles paused for a moment, then said slowly, "I started working with you from that point on, and it was because of your experience that I trusted you and joined this project."

The so-called "medicine bag doctor" is a doctor who treats the poor for free because they cannot afford medical care.

These doctors walk in the darkest corners of the city, surrounded by the stench of disease.

Many of their "clients" not only cannot afford to see a doctor, but also cannot afford medical expenses. Therefore, the medicine bag doctors often buy some herbs or raw materials for medicine from wild hunters and some drug dealers, and make some simple medicines to give to patients for free.

These medicines were usually quite bulky and not very attractive. Doctors would carry them in a large bag, either on their backs or hanging them on their waists, as they went from street to street.

This is also the origin of the name "Medicine Bag Doctor".

“Yes, so it was ‘formerly’.” Reed smiled, then seemed to remember something, and gently shook his head.

"And how do you know that I'm spending money to 'buy' the lives of those 'patients' and let them participate in experiments, isn't that a form of salvation for them? Compared to living in pain, dying a pleasant death is also a kind of relief."

He looked at Coles and said, "Alright, Senior Coles, the game of changing the subject and stalling for time is over. I think you should take a break."

Reed raised his hand, and two fully armed mercenaries rushed into the room.

“Take good care of Professor Coles.”

Two mercenaries quickly stepped forward, subdued Coles, and removed his bracelet.

"Let me go!"

Coles struggled violently, "Reed, you have no right to restrict my personal freedom."

At that moment, Reed had already turned and walked towards the door. He heard Coles calling, but did not respond.

He rubbed his wrist and walked towards the elevator next to his office that went directly to the sixth basement level.

Coles' reaction was a little off; normally, Coles would never bring up such old stories.

This unusual situation made him uneasy, and he decided to check the 'safe'.

-

The black screen slowly lit up, displaying a simple boot page.

While this old-fashioned screen isn't as flashy as a holographic projection screen, its advantage is that it's durable and not easily damaged.

He Ao stood in front of the screen, watching the brief startup animation flash by.

Immediately afterwards, an identity verification interface appeared in his field of vision.

This verification also requires biometric authentication and a password.

The appearance of this interface was not unexpected for He Ao. It would be unreasonable for a computer storing confidential information to be accessible to anyone without authentication.

He Ao's mind raced, then he reached out and touched the edge of the screen. ...

Touching the screen

He paused at the lower edge, then briefly activated his super memory to scan his surroundings.

After that, he took two steps back and shut down the computer.

As the screen gradually went dark, He Ao's gaze shifted to the massive supercomputer.

Storing a small amount of data naturally doesn't require such a massive supercomputer to provide computing power. Besides data processing, this computer is probably mostly used to deal with hackers' brute-force attacks on encryption systems.

However, this computing power is not difficult for Eve, who has a huge server matrix. Given enough time, Eve should be able to crack the computer's security system.

The only problem was that there was no signal inside the safe, so Heo couldn't connect to Eve.

If all else fails, Heo will have to try moving the entire computer away and having Eve crack it when there is a network connection, which would require adjusting the original plan.

He thought for a moment, then took two steps back, deciding not to touch the computer for the time being.

Then he walked up to the big refrigerator.