The male supporting character was actually myself.

The other party's demands were all reasonable, and it could even be said that they showed the usual indulgent attitude towards talent.

The problem is that I absolutely cannot let Lin Ruochu escape my control!

If you capture her, you capture the key to passage.

"You did a great job." Ji Linyan first affirmed Lin Ruochu's work, and then made a unilateral decision, "You signed a contract and know that you must be completely under the company's protection. Once you leave the company's protection, the other party can completely manipulate you."

Moreover, as our company's long-time rival, they have complete information about you.

If you show yourself, your undercover identity will be discovered. At that time, M Technology Company will not listen to your explanation. They will not only kill you on the spot to silence you, but also ban your account and steal Jingzhe.

However, M Technology Company wants to control your personal demands and you can't refuse. How about this... let your younger brother take your place and be protected by M Technology Company. If you two can cooperate well, you can fool everyone."

Lin Ruochu felt like a million curses were running through her mind, but she still managed to hold back from blurting out "MMP!" and raised her voice slightly two octaves as she said urgently, "Then how can I guarantee my brother's safety? If my identity is exposed, he will become a hostage and be in great danger!"

Hearing her get anxious, Ji Linyan chuckled silently.

How can individuals resist massive technology corporations?

The Lin siblings have no way out. If they betray G Technology Company, she will die, and her brother will also die if his false identity is exposed. But if they don't accept M Technology Company's conditions to join, they will face a fate worse than death.

"Xiao Lin, you're a smart man. You know how to protect your siblings' lives without being exposed." He held the phone in one hand and slowly rubbed the ring on his thumb with the other, a sly smile spreading across his face. "Being an undercover agent always carries risks. I trust you unconditionally now, but if you're not valuable in obtaining core secrets..."

Ji Linyan didn't say what came next.

Jiang You's side has already started using any means necessary. It's only the first key, so there's no need to use the highest-level undercover agent. They can only put her in a difficult position for now.

To save her own life and her brother's, Lin Ruochu had no choice but to obey orders.

As for how she will outwit and outmaneuver M Technology Company, that's something the siblings need to consider.

This is the power of absolute power!

With someone else's life in your hands, you don't need to worry about anything. Lin Ruochu would never let her step out of the villa area. Either she dies or she sends her brother to be a hostage and finds a way to solve the problem herself.

Ji Linyan has always been good at using people. Even if Lin Ruochu doesn't care about her own life, she won't abandon her younger brother.

Women, no matter how smart, can still be entangled and dragged down by their emotions.

She lost to Ye Zhaoqiu because of this: she was all alone and had no ties, which led to the failure of the Digital Life Project. If she had a family member or even a child she cared about, the escape would never have happened...

His thoughts wandered a bit too far, and Ji Linyan sighed inwardly once again that old people tend to overthink things, especially meaningless ones.

I need to hurry up and prepare to experiment with the game pod; I don't have much time to waste!

The blatant and undisguised threat made Lin Ruochu clench her hands so tightly she almost crushed the plastic casing of the phone. She sneered, "Is this how G Technology treats its executives and undercover employees? Mr. Ji, aren't you worried about alienating people and ruining the company's future?"

"Cool?" Ji Linyan laughed as if he had heard a very funny joke. "I am only providing you with comprehensive protection because I care about my employees. Isn't M Technology Company the same?"

"All crows are black, so no one should laugh at anyone else. The other executives and the undercover agent don't know your situation. Do you think they'll trust the company or a traitor who defected to M Technology?"

Holding the other person's life in his hands, able to make them disappear from the world with a flick of his finger, he was too lazy to feign impatience anymore and said impatiently, "You have no way out. Prove your loyalty to me with actions. Follow the company's orders and start the game pod release project after I get all the keys. At that time, you will be the technical director."

"You've spent too much time alone with the other team members; I need to see your actions to believe you haven't betrayed us. Hand over your first key within ten minutes. It will be returned to you when you find the second checkpoint. After successfully completing the checkpoint, you'll need to hand over two keys, and so on. Do you understand?"

Lin Ruochu breathed heavily, remained silent for a moment, and then replied coldly, "I understand."

"Great, from today onwards, you'll have to stay home and play games with the people from M Technology Company. All your daily necessities will be supplied by our company."

Don't overthink it. The root of human suffering comes from thinking. Just do what you're supposed to do and you'll naturally have no worries.

You are a very talented person, and the company will need you in the future. We don't want to lose you easily. Don't let me down.

After hanging up the phone, she slumped into her chair, her whole body trembling slightly.

"Sis, did they threaten you?" Lin Xiaoyun couldn't hear what the other person said, but she could glean some inside information from her sister's words.

G Technology Company killed the doctor and is now threatening me and my brother; we must not trust them.

What about M Technology Company?

If they really send their brother as a hostage, what if something goes wrong and they harm him?

Lin Ruochu felt very confused. She was isolated and helpless and was about to be separated from her. She didn't know what to do next.

"Oh my god! What's going on?" A panicked cry came from the housewife next door. Lin Xiaoyun went over and peeked through the curtains, immediately gasping for breath. "Sis, they've gone all out and are now using real weapons."

Lin Ruochu stepped forward and pulled back the curtains. She saw that her villa had been surrounded. Long guns and short guns were all aimed at the villa, and it could be razed to the ground with just one order.

"I'm too lazy to even pretend anymore." She sneered and grabbed her brother's arm, leading him to the next room. "Xiao Yun, I don't have much time, we need to come up with a plan quickly."

After removing his helmet and exiting the game, Jiang Chen closed his eyes and watched the scene of the encirclement of the villa from the first-person perspective of the Soul Weapon. He couldn't understand how the isolated and helpless male and female protagonists managed to escape under the halo of power in the original plot. It was too damn ridiculous!

Chapter Twenty-Five: Planting Minefields

The stay-at-home mom next door was clearly terrified; her voice trembled as she asked, "What are you doing? What happened to Xiaoyun's family?"

"Unauthorized personnel are not permitted to approach the temporary military control zone." The military leader of G Technology Company waved her back and said coldly, "During this special period, we must ensure the absolute safety of Ms. Lin Ruochu, a senior technical executive; in addition, her younger brother has signed a contract to join the executive department of G Technology Company as a senior executive and will soon be carrying out a secret mission for the company. We have special personnel to escort and protect his personal safety."

Protect?

The stay-at-home mom next door took two steps back and rolled her eyes inwardly. She really thought he was treating people like idiots.

Lin Xiaoyun is still studying, and suddenly she's hired as a senior executive and even sent away. Isn't this clearly using her younger brother as a hostage to control her older sister?

The fact that M Technology Group cleared Treasure Island is common knowledge. Judging from this, G Technology Company must be desperate and trying to force Lin Ruochu to do something.

But she's just a senior technical executive. She's good at R&D, but what role can she play in the competition for the key?

The full-time housewife bent down to carry her pet cat back to her room, intending to go into the game and chat with her husband.

The main problem is that G Technology's hostage situation is terrifying. My son and daughter are both young and attend schools founded by G Technology. If my husband gets involved in anything, I have to plan ahead for how to settle the children to prevent them from being taken hostage.

"Sis, I've remembered everything you said. I don't know what dirty tricks Ji Linyan will pull. Remember to stay on the first floor from now on. If anything happens, you can go to my secret base in the basement."

I set up a little trick there; I'm sure you'll understand when you see it.

"Once I get there, I'll assess whether Jiang Chen is trustworthy. If he's really as you say, we'll devise an operation to rescue you as soon as possible. Remember, if there's a firefight outside, run to the basement!" Lin Xiaoyun quickly accepted everything.

After all, the siblings' initial goal was to find the doctor. They only knew that she eventually joined G Technology Company to look for clues, so they didn't feel any sense of belonging to the company and could leave at any time.

Now that G Technology has abandoned all pretense and is resorting to threats and coercion, the siblings have nothing to worry about.

If M Technology Company isn't so outrageous, what's wrong with joining them?

"What have you prepared?" Lin Ruochu was a little confused. She was very busy with work and devoted almost all her time to trying to infiltrate the inside to obtain more clues. She only knew that her younger brother often tinkered in the basement.

Lin Xiaoyun whispered in her ear, "The escape route, you'll see it when you get there, it extends all the way to the scenic river. If Jiang Chen really intends to rescue you, I'll bring people there to meet you; if you're mistaken and Jiang Chen only wants to use you and not rescue you, at least you'll have a way out if you run into trouble."

Following the scenic river downstream will lead to the slums, where the crowds and chaos offer at least temporary safety.

Unexpectedly, her younger brother had prepared such a large escape route project. Lin Ruochu, who had always treated him like a child, felt a pang of sadness and tears welled up in her eyes. "I remember, when you get there, you must make sure you are safe first."

Ji Linyan doesn't dare to make a move against me yet. I know he must have other backup plans, but he certainly won't give up the shortcut if he can threaten me into working for M Technology Company to get the key. I won't be in danger until the final hurdle.

But you…

She wasn't entirely confident about her brother's safety.

What if Jiang Chen can't be relied on either?

Company M owns 80% control of "Perfect World" and can easily ban the account and take over Jingzhe, making themselves worthless.

What will happen to my younger brother then?

He left himself a way out; what could I do for him?

"Boom boom boom!"

G Technology Company obviously didn't give them much time. Someone stepped forward, politely knocked on the door, and then pushed it open, holding an appointment letter in their hand. They announced loudly, "Mr. Lin Xiaoyun, congratulations on being exceptionally recruited by the Executive Department of G Technology Company. You are hereby appointed as the leader of the Special Operations Group of the Executive Department."

Lin Ruochu's face immediately darkened, her almond-shaped eyes filled with anger.

"Sister, Ji Linyan is setting a trap for us. Don't be impulsive." Lin Xiaoyun sneered, "At least they used to pretend, but now they don't even bother to pretend anymore. It seems that their game pod breakthrough should be coming to market soon."

Just take care of yourself, don't worry about me.

Even if things over there are just as unreliable, Jiang Chen wouldn't dare do anything to me. After all, M Technology Company will definitely be interested in the game pod project. I can use that as leverage to protect myself, and I might even try to rescue you if the opportunity arises.

He patted his sister's shoulder and whispered, "I'm all grown up now, don't worry."

After saying that, Lin Xiaoyun opened the door and slowly walked down the stairs, a faint smile on her fair and delicate face. "Oh, I didn't expect the company to have such good judgment. They recognized my talent even before I graduated. Not bad, not bad."

"Our company has always been good at discovering and making good use of talent. Congratulations! Team Leader Lin, please sign the employment contract." The other party placed the employment contract on the table with a polite smile and reminded, "We have already arranged a suitable place on the edge of the inner city. Please go there as soon as you are ready, lest they discover anything suspicious."

Lin Xiaoyun didn't even glance at the employment letter. She quickly signed her name, grabbed her gaming helmet, turned around, waved goodbye to her sister, and said, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of myself. You need to eat and rest well, and don't overwork yourself."

"Okay, you take care of yourself too; if we work together well and don't give ourselves away, you'll be safe." Lin Ruochu nodded with slightly red eyes.

Her brother's words just now reassured her that even if Jiang Chen went back on his word, he wouldn't give up the good opportunity to get the game pod's secrets, and he wouldn't make things difficult for Xiao Yun even if it was just to obtain information.

Watching her younger brother being taken away by the fully armed army, she sat on the sofa in silence for a long time, rubbed her face to cheer herself up, went back to her room, took out a new helmet, registered a new account, and hurriedly leveled up, hoping to clear the game again as soon as possible.

"I've logged into a new account, I need to level up first." She sent a message to Jiang Chen's email as soon as she entered the game.

Treasure Island has very high requirements; new accounts with insufficient levels simply cannot enter.

Moreover, each helmet has a unique account that is directly linked to the registered user, and the brainwaves have been matched, making it impossible to use someone else's existing account.

"Wait a minute, I have some upgrade scrolls here." After accepting her friend request, Jiang Chen sent her a bunch of experience scrolls that were extremely rare and expensive, with limited quantities available internally. After using them, her level would increase rapidly without her having to train.

It only takes a stack of scrolls and a few minutes to turn an account from a level 1 alt into a level 100 master.

The same team all changed to new accounts, and after half an hour with the same setup, they were standing in front of the Brave Canyon again.

"Don't be careless with the experience from last time. We're not in a rush, we just want to play it safe." After instructing his teammates, Jiang Chen walked over to Lin Ruochu and whispered, "I've arranged for the staff to temporarily block the key list as well."

There's no traitor in the team, and all data on Treasure Island is blocked. We'll ensure that G-Tech remains completely unaware of our progress. Once I've picked up your brother and settled him in, I'll send someone to rescue you.

Lin Ruochu thought about it carefully and shook her head, replying: "Ji Linyan has completely broken off relations. My residence is surrounded by a barrage of cameras and cannons. With a single order, he could raze the villa to the ground in an instant. The entire park is under the supervision of G Technology Company. It would be too dangerous to come and rescue us rashly."

Anyway, I can keep them in check for now, let's wait and see.

Based on my deduction, Ji Linyan doesn't trust anyone; he definitely has a backup plan. We must ensure absolute safety before taking any action.

"A backup plan?" Jiang Chen had already received the confidential information sent by the tail ball clone, and smiled lightly, "It's nothing more than that they've planted a mole within our ranks."

"We're just waiting for you to hand over the nine keys, then we'll confiscate them and trap you. Then, risking exposure, we'll use an undercover agent to complete the final mission. At that point, Ji Linyan will definitely personally intervene to ensure the core secrets remain in his hands."

Lin Ruochu was immediately stunned.

"He has an undercover agent, and so do I." He smiled slyly and asked, "Do you think there will be any backlash if Ji Linyan's betrayal and threats against his undercover employee are exposed?"

Before she could answer, Jiang Chen patted her shoulder and comforted her, "Don't worry, I've already sent someone to pick up your brother. If nothing goes wrong, he'll be able to safely use the new helmet to enter the game and meet you soon."

"Once we've cleared the area, we'll devise a coordinated strategy to rescue you from your residence. G Technology's actions will be exposed, and his digital life project will be impossible to complete."