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nAlong period of calm in the system space was shattered by a direct intrusion from outside.

nOn becoming aware of the intrusion, the monitoring system first dispatched a team of emergency personnel with the intention of coming to deal with the nasty incident.

nBut it wasn’t until they arrived and understood the situation that they realised that the real ‘accident’ had been going on for decades in the shadows, developing into a large, unseen gangrene festering.

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nA dead-faced Lord GOD was imprisoned in “The Space Between” and the investigation team moved in as quickly as possible to receive an immediate review and questioning of all the data.

nAll systems were asked to return to their rooms and those that could were recalled as much as possible, and the whole Lord GOD space was suffocated in a stormy atmosphere.

nIn contrast, Chi Xiaochi is much easier.

nThe most difficult phase, for him, was over.

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nHe ordered a bottle of good wine and sat down at the system’s own mini-bar, which he called a shock, but was actually a diversion.

nLou Ying is called in for questioning by the surveillance system, while Ji Zuoshan sits with Chi Xiaochi, spending time together.

nJi Zuoshan sits in the standard military posture, but with the air of a good student facing his teacher.

nChi Xiaochi hands him a glass of wine and he takes it without refusing, drinking it in one go.

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nChi Xiaochi propped his head up and asked him, “Can the mental body drink?”

nJi Zuoshan shakes his head, points to the suction device mounted on his exoskeleton cheek, disassembles it and pours a full glass of wine from it like a squirrel from its crop.

nChi Xiaochi smiled, “If you can’t drink, just let me know.”

nJi Zuoshan protects the glass of wine in his palm and looks at him sincerely, “I will not refuse any request from Mr. Ji.”

nThis is true.

nThis time, Chi Xiaochi simply took the peace knot he had left Lou Ying last time and allowed Ji Zuoshan to travel thousands of miles, jumping through time and space and breaking through barriers to contact him again through a ring of Na Man metal.

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nAs for the karma of the PA system, it was planted at the time of the second system intrusion.

nZhan Yanchao, who had gone on a special trip to bash “In Between”, didn’t want to be surprised by 089, so he kept an eye out for it and tried to copy back all the peripheral systems of “In Between” in case he couldn’t get enough of Ji Zuoshan this time.

nOnly he hadn’t had time to sneak in for a few more smash-and-grabs of his own before the awakened Ji Zuoshan took control and behaved like a little quail.

nJi Zuoshan lives on a planet where technology is already at the top of its game, not to mention the fact that social resources are still skewed wholesale towards the Alpha community.

nLuo Qian was able to find several vulnerabilities in the Lord GOD defence system based on the information copied back from Zhan Yanchao.

nThe vulnerability of the PA system was also one of her discoveries in the laboratory.

nChi Xiaochi is not a bad drinker himself, and his face is not red even after a few glasses of two taels of wine.

nSomeone came to call Ji Zuoshan and asked him to go to the “Between the Hours” to tell his story as a host and to accuse Lord GOD of his deeds.

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nJi Zuoshan, including Tan Hu, did gather a lot of evidence and had a lot to say.

nWhen confronted by outsiders, Ji Zuoshan quickly regains his generous appearance.

nIt seems that the aura of the God of War has worn his heart to maturity and competence.

nIt is only in front of Chi Xiaochi that he doesn’t hesitate to leave his halo behind and return to the naive, shy and gregarious teenager he was.

nAfter Ji Zuoshan left, Chi Xiaochi drank to himself for a while longer before someone else was seated next to him.

nThe visitor asked softly, “May I buy you a glass of wine.”

nChi Xiaochi had already heard the footsteps coming in, so he didn’t even look back, pressing the mouth of his half-full glass down with his index finger, letting it swirl around the bar table as he moved his fingertips: “What’s your price, little brother?”

nThe voice was soft, tolerant, and even afraid of tickling Chi Xiaochi by blowing hot air into his ears as it rang in his ears, “What do you want?”

nChi Xiaochi lifted his glass and rubbed the mouth of the jasper-coloured liquid against his lips so that the flush that had failed to appear on his face after half a kilo of wine would look like the result of drinking: “It depends on what price you offer, sir. If the price is not good, I will not exchange it for the sky; if the price is good, I will pay for the set.”

nWith a clang, something slides down the wall of the glass and into the liquid, interrupting Chi Xiaochi’s credulity.

nThe jewel on the silver finger ring still glows a rich, bright precious blue in the amber liquid.

nLou Ying took the glass from him and drank half of it.

n”This ……” Lou Ying asked politely, “can I lasso one of Mr Chi Xiaochi’s hearts.”

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nAs she spoke, Lou Ying gently took his hand in hers.

nLou Ying didn’t expect Chi Xiaochi to do such a shocking thing before he entered the “in-between” category.

nWhen the door closed, Lou Ying thought it would be years before she saw him again.

nLittle did we know that just ten minutes later, the door to the “In Between” would open again.

n…… He’s still in there.

nNow, his hand is in his palm, and one of his tears is still buried in his heart like an aged brew, fermenting a tantalising, intoxicating fragrance.

nIt is a feeling that Lou Ying is not very familiar with, but she knows what it means.

nChi Xiaochi sensed his intentions and tried to hide, and said with a straight face in Cantonese, “Subordinates must not boink their bosses’ mouths.”

nLou Ying smiled cheerfully, took him around the waist, kissed him from the ear like a dragonfly, and closed the bar door with her hand, sending a short message to the surveillance system outside that had come to the door and was going to summon Chi Xiaochi for questioning: “Just a moment. Three minutes.”

nThey spent a quiet and undisturbed three minutes in a tavern.

nThey were not yet very familiar with each other and kissed with such youthful discipline that neither dared to stick their tongues out.

nBut in their brief togetherness, it became clear to each that whether Lord GOD’s fate was tragic or worse, they had found in each other the satisfaction of their lives.

nAfter three minutes had passed, the surveillance system waiting outside the door put down the timer and knocked politely on the bar’s hidden door.

n”Host 1198, Mr Chi Xiaochi?”

nChi Xiaochi poured the remains of the bottle into a glass and smothered it in one gulp, “It’s me.”

n”I hear that you still have a copy of the physical evidence there. Could I trouble you to make a submission.”

n”Yes.” Chi Xiaochi agreed with a flourish, picking up the sapphire ring in the empty glass with one hand, “But there’s a code on my physical evidence. I need someone to crack it with me.”

nWith that, he glanced at Lou Ying, the implication in his gaze unmistakable.

nLou Ying, despite not knowing how he could help, was at least aware that Chi Xiaochi needed him now.

nSo, together with Chi Xiaochi, he walked into a small, newly created room.

nNot long afterwards, a man in a suit walked into the house.

nTaking her eyes off the uniform on the visitor, Lou Ying whispered to Chi Xiaochi, “The chief of the surveillance system.”

nThe name is only enough to distract Chi Xiaochi for a moment to look at the faces of the people coming down the street.

nWhirling, he continued to look down and fiddle with the sapphire ring.

nLou Ying looked a little nervous, fearing that Chi Xiaochi would slip the ring onto his hand and see what little was left of his mind.

nAlthough Lou Ying had already secretly placed a ring made of exotic metal on Chi Xiaochi’s right ring finger, the ring had been taken away by the watchdog as evidence of Chi Xiaochi’s communication with Ji Zuoshan, and the sapphire ring was given to Chi Xiaochi in a very different state of mind from the one he had given to Na Man metal ring.

n…… was much more deliberate, overwhelmed and bewildered at that point.

nAt that time, he was Lou Ying, who would have been embarrassed by Chi Xiaochi.

nThe chief of the opposite party ignored the petty thoughts of the two men across the table and opened the door: “Physical evidence?”

nChi Xiaochi took something out of storage and pushed it across the table, his tone as dry as the man across the table: “The disk.”

nThe disk, which contains evidence of Lord GOD’s crimes, was sitting in a corner of the warehouse in plain view, having only been hastily examined by Lord GOD without arousing the slightest suspicion.

nLord GOD is so conceited that it believes Chi Xiaochi will never go out of the “between” again, so this disk, which is mixed in with a myriad of other items and commodities, seems to it no different from ordinary objects.

nThe chief executive fiddled with the disk, “There’s encryption.”

nLou Ying quietly squeezed Chi Xiaochi’s hand under the table, which was met with a look of innocence.

nHe spread his left hand, the sapphire ring still loosely attached to his left pinky, and slid it up and down twice as he claimed it: ” Brother Lou, the password.”

nLou Ying is in tears.

nChi Xiaochi knowing full well that he has everything ……

nHowever, in the next instant, his mind turned abruptly.

nLou Ying looked at Chi Xiaochi with an inquiring look as if she had guessed something.

nThe chief executive across the table pinned up his eyebrows, equally waiting for the two browbeaters to be able to give him a reasonable answer, “32-bit code, what exactly is it?”

nChi Xiaochi took the question and tossed it back to Lou Ying: “Yes, Brother Lou, the 32-bit password, what is it exactly?”

nLou Ying looked at Chi Xiaochi with such admiration in her heart and eyes that she couldn’t contain it.

nIn an affirmative tone he inquired, “You know?”

nChi Xiaochi replied, “Don’t forget what my old job was. I’m very good at substitution.”

nChi Xiaochi believes that 089 has done enough to crack the code.

nAfter getting the disk from 089, Chi Xiaochi began to put himself in Lou Ying’s shoes.

nLou Ying, at the time, knew that the disk was important and would not have used ordinary, easily guessed characters as a password.

nAt first, however, even he couldn’t guess the truth behind the tedious string of passwords Lou Ying had set.

nHowever, after reading Lou Ying’s memories, Chi Xiaochi had an idea.

nLou Ying gave the disk to 089 just before he went to meet Chi Xiaochi for his appointment.

nLou Ying’s initial reason for backing up the evidence was because he was worried that he might be tampered with by Lord GOD and have some of his memories purged without his knowledge, so he would have left something behind to act as a prompter after forgetting.

nSomething like that could be used as a prompt, firstly, that would not be easily destroyed and, secondly, that would be sufficiently clear.

nBefore setting the password, Chi Xiaochi could only think of one thing that Lou Ying could access that would inspire his design ideas and that had to do with numbers and letters.

n…… ring.

nFor 16 carat sapphires, an internationally qualified, GRS Gemological Certificate of Authenticity is required.

nThe ring, however, is designed with a scattering of star-like white diamonds around the sapphire.

nThe diamond also has an appraisal certificate from the GIA Diamond Appraisal Institute.

nThese two certificates of authenticity, unique certificate codes, are the equivalent of identity cards for sapphires and white diamonds, perfect as a source of inspiration for a flip of the letter, and constant and indelible, so that even if you forget, as long as the ring is still there, then you can trace the easy source.

nAt the time Lou Ying took a photograph of the ring and sent it to Chi Xiaochi with these two stacked GRS and GIA certificates in the background.

nThe certificate code is 14 digits for the GRS and 11 digits for the GIA, adding up to a total of 25 digits.

nChi Xiaochi dictated the certificate codes one by one to the General Manager, giving the highest priority to the carats, placing the certificate codes for sapphires first and for diamonds second.

nLou Ying’s heart was pounding: “You went to investigate the ring?”

nChi Xiaochi readily admitted, “Yes. I want to find out who ordered the ring.”

nThat year, Chi Xiaochi’s wish fell through.

nThe person who ordered the ring paid the real money but used a false name.

nEven Chi Xiaochi himself could not have imagined that he would get his wish and find the person who ordered him the ring years later.

nMoreover, the other person also took this ring and made an important code to lock the door of his heart.

nLou Ying said, “25 places, seven to go.”

n”Yeah.” Chi Xiaochi made a ‘please’ gesture, “I’ll leave the next seven figures to Lou.”

nThere is only one element left to confirm the unique value of a ring, apart from the number of the precious stone it is set with.

nRing code for the owner of the …… ring.

nChi Xiaochi looks at Lou Ying: “I’ve done a few ring commercials before and I remember my own ring size.”

nLou Ying understands Chi Xiaochi’s meaning, and her cheeks flush slightly as she laughs.

nChi Xiaochi continued, “In millimetres, the circumference of my left middle finger is 56 and its diameter is 17.75.”

nHe asked, “So, the last seven digits, is it 5617.75.”

nThe main person in charge is also looking at Lou Ying.

nHalf lost in thought, Lou Ying’s mind wandered back to that distant afternoon when she sneaked in to buy a ring.

nWhen he was filling in the data, he had a hard time knowing which finger to fill in. He specifically consulted the lady at the counter who advised him to buy the size of Chi Xiaochi’s left middle finger.

nLou Ying is also in agreement with this proposal.

nHowever, when he put pen to paper, he filled in a very different number.

n”In millimetres, the circumference is 55 and the diameter is 17.50.” Lou Ying took a breath and replied, “The final seven digits, is 5517.50.”

nThe numbers he quoted belonged to the ring finger of Chi Xiaochi’s left hand.

nIt was designed by Lou Ying for Chi Xiaochi and is the only code of its kind in the world.

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