Chapter 200 - 80: The Pioneer

Chapter 200: Chapter 80: The Pioneer

Seeing that Yang Yiyi remained silent, Yu Xian continued in a deep voice, "Right now, we are standing on the edge of a storm. If we retreat, we’ll just be sitting ducks waiting for the ’Judgment and Reckoning’ to descend upon us, watching the people around us fall one by one as we forever play the role of passive, sacrificial lambs. If we push forward, we might be stepping into an unknown fog, but at least... we’d have a chance to seize the initiative.

"Is it better to cower and wait for death, or to take a little risk to master this tool and accumulate more chips to fight back? To me, the answer is obvious."

Wen Xiao met his gaze. Although her body was still trembling slightly, she nodded firmly. "I... I’m not afraid to take risks."

Over the phone, Yang Yiyi remained silent for a few seconds before her voice came through. "You’re right, Yu Xian. That makes sense."

Her attitude grew resolute. "If necessary, I can also enter the Dream Net as a tester. After all, I’m more familiar with the waveform of that audio file."

Yu Xian frowned. "But my biggest concern is still your safety, Yiyi. Even if the development is finished, we definitely can’t release this audio file in the short term. A ’Dream Net multiplayer’ game like this will certainly cause a massive stir once word gets out. Professor Mo and his team are extremely sensitive about the Phase Locking technology. The moment they notice a similar technical application on the market, they will absolutely pay attention and immediately trace it back to find the source of the leak.

"When that time comes, they will likely conduct a thorough investigation, and there’s a high probability that the lab’s access logs won’t stay hidden. If your login history hasn’t been overwritten by then, you will be the prime suspect."

"Login logs..." Wen Xiao suddenly looked up from the side and interjected. "What login logs are you talking about?"

"It’s our lab’s internal management system. I didn’t expect that old system to record every single time an email was viewed," Yang Yiyi explained over the phone.

"But fortunately, it overwrites on a loop, and its storage cycle is one month," Yu Xian added. "As long as we make it through thirty days, that record will be replaced by new data."

Wen Xiao bit her lip thoughtfully and asked toward the phone, "Yiyi, is the system your lab uses... the one uniformly developed by the school? The one where the login screen has a purple and white striped background, and a blank pop-up window appears every time you log in?"

"Yes, that’s the one." Yang Yiyi was a bit puzzled. "Why do you ask?"

"If it’s that system... then the so-called ’one-month overwrite’ doesn’t mean a ’rolling thirty days’." Wen Xiao turned to look at Yu Xian and said with certainty, "That system is very old; our college uses it too. Its log clearing mechanism settles according to the calendar month. In other words, it doesn’t keep a rolling thirty-day log from the day the record is generated. Instead, at midnight on the first of every month, it clears the cache."

Yu Xian and Yang Yiyi fell silent. Yu Xian abruptly pulled out his phone and lit up the screen.

November 24th, Saturday.

His heart gave two hard thumps. If what Wen Xiao said was true, wouldn’t that mean...

"There’s less than a week left?" Yu Xian hurriedly asked. "Are you sure?"

"I’m sure, as long as your lab hasn’t done any deep secondary development on it. But generally speaking, secondary development wouldn’t change such an inconspicuous feature anyway," Wen Xiao nodded forcefully.

"In other words, we don’t need to wait another month. In the best-case scenario, we just need six more days..." Yang Yiyi’s voice grew a little excited. "Wait until the first of next month, and that record will be cleared?"

"Correct. When the cache is cleared, that data won’t be found," Wen Xiao said seriously.

"That’s fantastic." Yu Xian also felt a wave of relief. This was undoubtedly the best news he had heard in the past few days. "By then, this ticking time bomb will be dismantled. But we should still try to discreetly confirm whether the system’s log records have truly been cleared, just to avoid any blunders."

"Okay, I’ll ask some friends from other labs to help look into it. It should be the same system," Yang Yiyi replied.

"Since that’s the case, we’ll use these next few days to hurry up and test the multiplayer function while designing the dreamscape in advance. Once Yiyi’s side is safe, we can prepare to launch."

Yu Xian looked at Wen Xiao, who was also looking right back at him. Her large eyes were sparkling with eagerness.

"Mhm, then we’ll divide the work and prepare separately for now." On the other end of the phone, Yang Yiyi’s voice returned to its usual composure. "Wen Xiao, is it convenient to exchange contact info? If you’re unsure about anything regarding audio parameters or neuroscience, feel free to discuss it with me anytime."

"O-Okay, Yiyi! I’ll add you right now!" Wen Xiao hastily opened her social app, searched for Yang Yiyi’s account, and sent a friend request.

The three of them briefly verified the division of labor for their upcoming plans before ending the call.

"Tonight, I’ll first try to write the parameters for Mirror Failure and Time Compression into the script to create the most basic multiplayer test scene." A glimmer of hope, like the sun parting the clouds, appeared in Wen Xiao’s eyes. "If we’re fast... we’ll be able to conduct the first multiplayer test tomorrow."

"Alright, thanks for your hard work." Yu Xian nodded and picked up his umbrella hanging by the door. "Get some rest soon too. Don’t stay up too late."

Bidding farewell to Wen Xiao, Yu Xian walked out of Building 3, North Campus alone.

He stepped through puddles, his mind constantly calculating their next course of action. If Wen Xiao’s test script could run smoothly, and if the multiplayer function could truly be implemented with stability... then what they would face next was an unprecedented, colossal project.

They needed to construct a super dreamscape—one capable of attracting everyone, while simultaneously combating the Midnight Bus and the problem of source memory confusion. This required not only technology but also a precise grasp of human nature and a profound understanding of game mechanics. It seemed it was time for Old Shi to step up to the plate.

Returning to the South District Dormitory and pushing open the door to his room, a familiar sight greeted him once again.

Zhang Yang and Li Boxue had already entered dreamland, but their respective desks looked like miniature e-waste recycling stations. Seven or eight old phones and tablets, scavenged from god knows where, were all set to their lowest brightness. Tangled charging cables crisscrossed like spiderwebs, while the devices’ screens displayed the Rabbit Hole interface.

Both of these gold miners were contributing computing power to the underground network that was still incubating.

"Old Yu! I thought you weren’t coming back tonight! Quick, quick, quick, come look at this!"

The moment Shi Zuozhou saw Yu Xian enter, he sprang up from his chair. He was about to continue speaking but was instantly silenced by a warning look from Yu Xian.

Yu Xian pointed out the door, then pointed at the two beds with their blackout curtains drawn shut, and shook his head. Shi Zuozhou immediately understood. The two of them stepped out onto the balcony and closed the door behind them before finally daring to speak aloud.

"Old Yu, you sure are cautious." Shi Zuozhou leaned over the railing and lowered his voice. "Those two sleeping gods wouldn’t wake up even if we sang karaoke in the room. What difference does it make if we talk inside?"

"What if?" Yu Xian looked down at the rainy campus below and replied in a heavy tone. "What if one day they’re faking it, or they wake up early? If they hear us, the consequences will be severe."

Shi Zuozhou paused and scratched his head. "I was being careless, Old Yu. You’re right. Better safe than sorry."

"Alright, let’s get down to business," Yu Xian nodded. "What did you want to show me?"

Shi Zuozhou’s eyes lit up again, unable to conceal the excitement in his voice. "Old Yu, take a guess. How many Rabbit Hole nodes have connected in our area?"

Yu Xian thought for a moment. He had checked on Thursday, and the number of nodes around the boys’ dorms was around a hundred and forty. Although it had spread quickly over the past few days, the base population was limited after all.

"It couldn’t be three hundred, could it?" Yu Xian guessed an exaggerated number. "This building houses a few hundred people at most. Even adding the building next door, that kind of coverage rate would already be extremely high."

"Three hundred?" Shi Zuozhou wagged a finger in front of Yu Xian’s face. "Guess again. Guess bigger."

Yu Xian was taken aback. Three hundred was still too low? Had Zhang Yang and the others’ practice of running multiple devices already become widespread?

"Five hundred? Did everyone get a bunch of devices like Zhang Yang and the rest?"

Shi Zuozhou stopped keeping him in suspense. He mysteriously lowered his voice and enunciated every word, "Too small! Old Yu, you’re thinking too small!"

He shoved his phone screen directly toward Yu Xian. "Take a good look!"

Yu Xian focused his gaze.

Current Active Nodes in Area: 3012.

"How many? Three thousand?!"