ATFBETIBM Chapter 505

Bai Lixin tried to reply to the number that sent the message: [Li Cangshan?]

After waiting for a few minutes, he didn’t receive a reply from the other party.

Bai Lixin continued to send messages: [Where are you?]

Another long wait.

Still no reply.

It wasn’t until the next day when Bai Lixin went to check the chat content with this unfamiliar number. The latest conversation was still his two sentences [Li Cangshan?] and [Where are you?]

Those four messages were like a flash in the pan, then disappeared again.

When Bai Lixin found Li Cancan, Li Cancan was typing on the computer with her cheek resting on her hand. She seemed to be in a good mood. It wasn’t until Bai Lixin walked over to her that she noticed someone had come.

Li Cancan greeted Bai Lixin with a smile, “God Xin, how did you sleep last night?”

Bai Lixin glanced at the computer, “Chatting?”

Li Cancan nodded, “Yeah, chatting with Li Cangshan. Although he’s usually very brave, he’s actually just a big kid. He’s been alone in Dr. Serkhi’s lab, but after contacting us, he said he really wants to reunite with us. He’s feeling lonely.”

Long eyelashes trembled slightly, and the young man stood silently behind Li Cancan, looking at the messages exchanged between them.

Li Cangshan: [Sister Cancan, there’s no one I can talk to here, I really want to meet you guys soon.]

Li Cancan: [Take it easy, where are you now? Won’t you be discovered by someone?]

Li Cangshan: [It’s okay, it’s my break now. I’m in the rest area, in the dormitory, no one is around so it’s safe. When can I see you guys?]

Li Cancan: [Haha, soon, soon. It seems dangerous for you to be alone at Dr. Serkhi’s. Can you leave? Otherwise, send us your location and we’ll come to pick you up.]

Li Cangshan: [Okay, I have a surprise for you to see.]

Li Cancan: [What surprise? You’re being so mysterious.]

Li Cangshan: [It’s definitely a surprise you’ll like, trust me, I can deceive anyone but you.]

Li Cancan: [Alright, stop teasing, just send me your location.]

Li Cangshan sent the location afterward.

Li Cangshan: [Sister Cancan, let me know in advance before you come, so I can go out to meet you. I’ve made a big discovery about the secret of this copy, but I need to meet you in person to tell you.]

Li Cancan: [Okay, got it. You just take care of yourself first, we’ll talk when we meet.]

Li Cangshan: [I’m Li Cangshan, what danger can I be in, I can handle anything. Hey, Sister Cancan, I’ll stop chatting with you now, my roommate is back, I’ll contact you when I get the chance.]

Li Cancan: [Okay, see you later.]

Bai Lixin’s crystal pupils reflected a faint blue light as he glanced at Li Cancan, “You and Li Cangshan seem pretty close.”

Li Cancan: “Yeah, according to him, both of our last names are ‘Li’, and there’s ‘Can’ in our names. We have a lot of common topics to talk about. He’s also very talkative, often chats with me, and helps me move things.”

Bai Lixin recalled the Li Cangshan he knew, “Is he very talkative?”

Li Cancan tilted her head, “Isn’t he?”

Bai Lixin: “…” ‘Is he?’

“Did you notice anything different about Li Cangshan after you contacted him?” Bai Lixin paused slightly and asked.

“There’s no problem, he talked normally, just like usual.” Li Cancan’s smile slowly faded, she thought seriously for a moment before continuing, “If you really want to say, it’s that he did something he hadn’t done before.”

“He never asked me to find him before completing a task. There’s quite a gap between our floors, and we don’t usually meet in a copy. I met him once in a copy and I was very safe. He came to meet me only after completing the task and confirming it was safe.”

“Why do you ask? Did you find something?”

Bai Lixin: “I received a message from an unfamiliar number yesterday, claiming to be Li Cangshan and saying he found something and wanted to talk to me. But when I messaged back, the number didn’t reply. Help me check the source of this number.”

Li Cancan was stunned for a moment and quickly said, “Okay, send me the number, I’ll check it now.”

After sending the number to Li Cancan, Bai Lixin saw Li Cancan’s fingers dancing on the keyboard so fast they were almost smoking.

Li Cancan worked on the computer for two minutes, and the green codes on the blue screen kept changing.

It wasn’t until all the code turned into the words “no such person found” that Li Cancan stopped her actions.

She stared at the computer for a few seconds, then suddenly deleted all the content and continued to search from scratch.

The second time, it was still “no such person found.”

She was unwilling to give up. She tried several times in a row, but the result was the same each time.

“Okay, Cancan, don’t search anymore.” Bai Lixin stopped Li Cancan’s attempt again.

Li Cancan: “Let me try another method, if this number messaged you last night, it shouldn’t be untraceable. Maybe I made a mistake somewhere, maybe I can find it this time.”

Seeing Li Cancan’s determined look, Bai Lixin finally nodded, “Okay, if you still can’t find it this time, stop.”

Li Cancan tried again, but the result remained unchanged.

Only then did she look at Bai Lixin, “I can’t trace the signal source, it’s a blank number. Did it really claim to be Li Cangshan? If this number is Li Cangshan, then who have I been chatting with all this time? Did someone impersonate Li Cangshan to send me messages and a location? Is it to lure me there?”

Bai Lixin; “It’s also possible that the Li Cangshan who messaged me is fake.”

Li Cancan added, “It’s possible that both are fake. Isn’t that how the scam gangs operate, they use familiar people to lure victims into committing fraud?”

She hesitated slightly, then said, “But…”

Bai Lixin: “But what?”

Li Cancan: “Even if we know the other party might be a scammer, we still have to go. Communication identity information is bound to individuals. If this person can use Li Cangshan’s number to message me, it proves that Li Cangshan is in their hands.”

Bai Lixin looked at the screen in front of Li Cancan, “Where was the location sent by Li Cangshan’s number just now?”

Li Cancan opened the location, and a huge three-dimensional map spread out on the screen. There was a conspicuous red mark on the map, but there was nothing special around it. It was just an outdoor wilderness park.

Li Cancan checked the address and said, “This park is in the suburbs and has been abandoned for a long time.”

[Lord Host,] S419M: [the park is just a decoy. There are obvious heat reactors below, indicating that there are many large machines operating. The place below is likely Serkhi’s secret experimental base.]

Li Cancan quickly searched for news about this park on the Star Network.

“Although it looks like an abandoned park, I found that at different times, several people posted messages on social, saying they heard strange noises while playing in this park and suspect it’s haunted.”

“These people don’t know each other, and their living environments and social circles have no intersection.”

“They all have one thing in common: shortly after the message was sent out, it was deleted.”

“I found out about this park through previous online traces.”

“I speculate that below this park should be Serkhi’s laboratory base.”

Her gaze remained on the screen throughout, with numerous windows stacked on the huge translucent blue screen. Windows kept opening and closing, stacking and overlapping, while Li Cancan’s fingers never stopped. “I’ll see if there are any traces.”

There were even more windows on the screen now.

The rapidly jumping windows resembled sparkling waves on a blue sea, shimmering and jumping under the sunlight, and there were so many of them.

Suddenly, Li Cancan stopped, and the translucent blue screens stopped moving, as if a pause button had been pressed.

Then Li Cancan opened a window, and an inconspicuous maglev truck passed by on the road, disappearing quickly.

Li Cancan pressed the rewind button, freezing the image on the maglev truck.

“I found it!” She breathed a sigh of relief. “This truck appears in this park every five days. It always drives into this alley, which has no surveillance, and finally stops in an abandoned garage. After about four or five hours, it drives out of the abandoned garage. I tracked the route of this truck, and it always undergoes two modifications halfway before finally entering Dr. Serkhi’s publicly known research institute.”

“I guess this truck transports supplies to the base.”

“We can follow this truck into Serkhi’s underground experimental base.”

“The truck will make two stops for modification midway. Each modification lasts thirty seconds. If we want to sneak in, we can use these thirty seconds.”

After finishing her thoughts, she took a deep breath and realized that Bai Lixin was looking at her with a subtle expression.

Li Cancan scratched her head in embarrassment. “What’s wrong, God Xin, is there something on my face? Or is there something wrong with my plan?”

S419M: [This plan is okay, Lord Host. This player named Li Cancan is good, just that her calculation speed is a bit slower than mine. Lord Host, there should be shielding devices around the underground base, so I can’t scan the map of the underground base and find the entrance and exit. But I also found the truck that Li Cancan found.]

Bai Lixin smiled and looked at Li Cancan with his starry eyes. “There’s no problem, let’s go with your method. How many people do we need to go?”

Li Cancan: “Although there’s a saying ‘the more, the merrier,’ the truck has limited capacity. If there are too many people, it will attract attention. At most three people.”

Bai Lixin: “Then it’s me, Xia Chi, and…”

Li Cancan was afraid that Bai Lixin wouldn’t take her, and said anxiously, “Take me too, I can be useful.”

There was a pause in Bai Lixin’s voice. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t take you. I was just about to say you.”

He watched the expression on Li Cancan’s face change from nervousness to relaxation, and couldn’t help feeling a little distressed.

Someone who subconsciously blurts out “I can be useful” in an emergency situation must have experienced being abandoned many times before.

The current Li Cancan was already different from the one he first met, and had grown into an independent individual. But deep down, she still retained her original self.

Bai Lixin had spent nearly three years in the Eternal Diamond Mountain. When he saw Zhou Guang and the others again, they they had changed a lot.

Strong, calm and enthusiastic.

And he knew that all of this didn’t come out of nowhere, it was a process of change, and what hardships they encountered during this process, only they themselves knew.

In this game that tests physical fitness and courage, men have always had the advantage, as can be seen from the leaderboard.

Among the top 100 players, 80% are male players.

Female players who can become significant figures will have to put in more effort than male players.

They not only have to endure the torment of the game, but also the arrogant prejudice of their teammates.

But they still stood there, standing in a powerful and fearless posture that no one could criticize.

Li Cancan was like this, Sun Ning was like this, Hongyue was like this, and all the female players who persisted in this game were like this.

Bai Lixin asked Li Cancan, “When should we set off?”

Li Cancan was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, “The day after tomorrow. According to the rule of once every five days, this truck will transport supplies again the day after tomorrow.”

Bai Lixin: “Alright, let’s do as you say. I’ll go inform Xia Chi.”

Li Cancan stared blankly at Bai Lixin, then after a few seconds, a bright smile appeared on her lips. Her eyes curved upward like two beautiful crescent moons. “Okay, God Xin.”

Escape System: [Master Bai Lixin, I understand bringing Li Cancan along, her professional skills are strong, and she’s most familiar with Li Cangshan. But why bring Xia Chi? I feel like he’ll just make noise.]

S419M: [Don’t you understand this? Only Xia Chi’s heavenly luck can balance out the Lord Host’s hellish bad luck, bringing him along will let us experience what it means to clear the game lying down.]

The Escape System suddenly realized: [Oh! I see now!]

Bai Lixin: […]

————————-

In the next two days, Bai Lixin briefly learned about the rebels operations.

In traditional interstellar stories, rebels are usually on the side of justice. For example, in works like “Star X Hegemony,” the persecuted rebels ultimately defeat the evil forces and lead all humanity into a new era.

But in these two days, he found that the rebels in this copy couldn’t really be called the just side.

To cause trouble for the Order Legion, the rebels would launch attacks on prosperous urban areas. This offensive behavior naturally threatened ordinary people and even accidentally injured the lives of many people.

The distress calls he received in the virtual world were a true reflection of this world.

There was no so-called justice; if anything, it was a confrontation between two different factions.

The Order Legion aimed to further advance artificial intelligence to maintain its order.

The rebels, on the other hand, opposed artificial intelligence completely, seeing it as a threat to human civilization that should be eradicated.

Under the pull of these two forces, only powerless civilians suffered direct harm.

Bai Lixin found it somewhat ironic.

Using “the people” as a reason and excuse, ultimately, it was “the people” who suffered the most.

He wondered what the Order Legion and the rebels on this planet were up to.

————————————-

The day when the truck appeared finally arrived. Zhou Guang had already taken them to the location where the truck passes early in the morning. The three of them disguised themselves and made up as three travelers sitting on a bench, quietly waiting for the maglev truck to arrive.

This place was an energy replenishment station. After waiting for a while, a magl truck slowly stopped here.

Li Cancan quickly pulled Bai Lixin’s sleeve when she saw it. She whispered, “Here it comes, that’s the truck.”

In this era, equipment was limited only by one’s imagination. Even an ordinary-looking truck could change its appearance in an instant.

The three of them sneaked to the back of the truck while it was changing its appearance.

Li Cancan connected a data cable to the password lock at the back of the truck and began unlocking it.

Xia Chi crouched down and looked at the truck. His eyes gleamed as he saw it transform from a red truck into a shabby gray one. He grabbed Bai Lixin’s sleeve excitedly and whispered, “Brother! Isn’t this like the movie I watched when I was a child? That’s just like Transformers! Do you think this truck might be a Transformer, the kind that turns into an Autobot?!”

Bai Lixin and Li Cancan exchanged a glance, and Bai Lixin suddenly had a bad feeling.

The next second, the originally flat rear of the truck suddenly changed, and a slightly protruding mechanical face appeared on the door of the cargo hold. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Bai Lixin: “…”

Xia Chi: “…”

Li Cancan: “…”

Bai Lixin: “What if we said we want to be friends with you, would you believe that?”

The mechanical face frowned, and the next moment, weapons extended from both sides of the cargo hold, aimed at the three of them. “Warning, please leave my vicinity immediately. If you do not leave within three seconds, I will consider you rebels disrupting order and eliminate you.”

Xia Chi muttered softly, “In a way, if we die, we wouldn’t have been wronged.”

Bai Lixin: “…”

‘Please, just a few words.

Has your luck turned into a crow’s mouth, my precious Xia?’

Destroying this truck was easy. As long as he held the scythe for less than three seconds, the truck would be gone in one second.

But they weren’t here to destroy the truck; they were here to sneak into the experimental base by riding the truck.

Bai Lixin glanced at Li Cancan and noticed she was still typing on the keyboard rapidly.

The robot’s countdown had already begun. Li Cancan gestured toward Bai Lixin, sweat glistening on her forehead.

“Wait.” Bai Lixin spoke to the mechanical face. “Do you know who we are? Do you know the consequences of shooting us?”

The mechanical face had reached “2” but stopped. “I don’t know who you are. What are the consequences of shooting you?”

Bai Lixin: “You dare to shoot without knowing who we are? Who gave you the authority to do so?”

Mechanical face: “According to the program, no one is allowed to approach the truck. If someone fails to leave after being warned, I can use force.”

Bai Lixin: “If Dr. Serkhi finds out you killed us…”

Mechanical face: “Dr. Serkhi… Dr. Serkhi… Who are you to Dr. Serkhi? From the information we have, Dr. Serkhi’s family is all dead, he has no relatives in this world. Who are you people?”

Li Cancan hands suddenly stopped and quickly pressed the enter key.

The next moment, the mechanical face stiffened, and with a “click,” the electronic cargo door opened.

Li Cancan dragged Bai Lixin and Xia Chi into the cargo hold, then continued to press several keys on the computer before unplugging the data cable from the truck.

A few seconds later, the door closed by itself, and then the truck started and got back on the road.

Xia Chi: “Sister Cancan, what did you do?”

Li Cancan slowly tidied up the wires to calm herself down. She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. “I modified the memory program of this truck, deleted that segment just now, and made it think we’re also a kind of cargo. Xia Chi, I’ve checked for you. Although this truck looks like the Autobots in movies, it’s actually just a high-end truck equipped with artificial intelligence. At most, it can expose its face on the truck but won’t transform. Give up.”

Suddenly, Xia Chi’s eyes dimmed.

Li Cancan smiled, obviously feeling much more relaxed.

Bai Lixin: “…”

‘Cancan, do you know you’ve ruined a child’s childhood?’

The advantage of maglev trucks is that there is no sense of bumpiness at all, and there isn’t even the roar of an engine during movement.

The vehicle is propelled by electric power. Maglev trains create a stable vacuum zone by counteracting with coils hidden underground, allowing the train to travel in a frictionless environment. This not only reduces wear and tear on the train but also increases its speed.

However, even in the future, there are speed limits in city centers. The truck didn’t drive too fast but transported goods at a certain speed. Although there was almost no feeling, Bai Lixin could still sense the truck moving.

Li Cancan’s computer could retract and expand. When it retracted, it was just a small wristband hanging on her wrist.

She seemed a bit distracted, occasionally glancing towards the location of the cargo door.

Bai Lixin: “Has Li Cangshan contacted you these days?”

Li Cancan nodded. “Yes, he has.”

Bai Lixin: “Is he still insisting you come over?”

Li Cancan nodded again. “Yes, he keeps saying he wants to give me a surprise, and asks me to come over.”

Xia Chi: “Such an obvious trick, isn’t this the usual tactic of the cross-border yaozi organizations?”

“I just want to see who’s pretending to be Li Cangshan and let him know who’s giving surprises to whom.”

Li Cancan: “It’s not that I haven’t done nothing. I’ve locked the other party’s account during our chat. Once we enter the base, I’ll be able to locate him and find him as quickly as possible. But we can’t startle the snake. Our main goal is to rescue Li Cangshan.”

Xia Chi: “Understood, until we confirm Li Cangshan’s safety, we’ll be as cautious as mice in the sewers.”

Bai Lixin: “…”

‘Don’t use that adjective, my dear Xia Chi.

Mice in the sewers are all cat food.’

In his mind, the red dot representing the truck had entered the park. Just as the truck turned into a deserted alley, Bai Lixin received a message.

Unknown: [Don’t come in!]

Unknown: [It’s dangerous!]