After moving into her new apartment, Little Qin still didn't sleep well. She never expected to encounter so many issues just stepping out for a bit.
—This world is too dangerous!
She decided that once things stabilized, she would hunker down at home and absolutely avoid wandering around.
That night, she spent her time searching for information about citizen chips, hoping to see if there was any chance for her to change her identity and start anew.
Since everyone in Xigu Valley had a citizen chip, most daily affairs could be handled through it, so she hadn't really considered why people here would get these implants.
At the age of one, a chip was installed in the spine through a surgical procedure.
Just thinking about it felt cruel.
In reality, the Federation had its reasons for this. About fifty years ago, due to severe environmental degradation, many people suffered various degrees of physical damage and disability.
As a result, an increasing number of individuals underwent prosthetic modifications. They replaced their overburdened original organs with limbs and organs that had stronger pollution resistance.
At that time, no one anticipated that the mechanical signals from the modified limbs would disrupt the neural functioning of many individuals' brains.
The Federation had to call upon a large number of scientists to develop a chip that could integrate deeply with the nervous system, resolving the increasingly troublesome prosthetic issues.
Statistics showed that fifty years ago, the average age for a citizen of the Eastern Federation to replace a kidney was twenty, while today, it had dropped to eleven.
Everyone lived alongside pollution and prosthetic organs throughout their lives.
Gradually, the chip became something that every citizen of the Eastern Federation was implanted with at birth.
Originally designed to save lives, the chip's primary functions now included experiencing virtual dreams and data drugs, immersing oneself in advertisements, and escaping the hopeless world.
The chip was also one of the most private possessions.
It was said that the earliest chips could pinpoint a person's location at any time, a feature that was removed after strong protests throughout the Federation.
Now, aside from its basic function of harmonizing signal conflicts, the chip primarily served as a small terminal, making payments and operating devices easier.
Even analyzing others' memories before death required system authorization.
Aside from that, the chip had virtually no other functions and contained no personal information.
Logically speaking, this factory-made chip in Qin Xuezhong's hand should have had no clues.
However, when she tried to access it with her consciousness, she still managed to retrieve a fair amount of data—albeit it was all gibberish.
Having learned to manipulate others, Little Qin sent this data to Zhang Yuan.
[Help me check what this data is; keep it confidential.]
Zhang Yuan replied quickly: [Hello, team leader, are we communicating?]
Without hesitation, Qin Xuezhong called him.
As soon as the call connected, Zhang Yuan spoke, "Team leader, this should be the underlying data of the citizen chip, using the central brain's unique neural fusion encoding."
"Can you analyze the information in it?"
"I can; please hold on." There was silence on Zhang Yuan's end for several seconds, and then his voice took on a fearful tone, "T-Team leader, this is… an unactivated chip?"
"Correct." Little Qin's tone was casual.
Zhang Yuan fell silent.
He was genuinely a bit frightened.
In the entire Federation, aside from people in the core data department of the Security Department and the chip manufacturing factory, almost no one had ever accessed an unactivated chip.
This was truly a matter that could cost someone their head!
But then Zhang Yuan thought again; it wasn't unusual for the team leader, with her formidable skills, to obtain such a chip.
Regardless of what the team leader intended to do, as someone on the same boat, he had to fully cooperate.
Even if it cost him his head, he would rather be captured by the Federation than be dealt with secretly by the team leader due to inadequate performance.
Calming himself, he said, "The unactivated chip contains no personal information, only self-test data and initial location information. I'll send it to you."
Qin Xuezhong looked at it; it was indeed quite simple.
It consisted of a series of codes indicating the chip's normal operation and a sequence of information about the chip's previous locations.
The first address was: [Xigu Valley, Southern Suburb Industrial Area 241.145.167-23]
"These addresses…"
Qin Xuezhong started, and Zhang Yuan, like a diligent subordinate, quickly followed up, "You see, before a chip is activated, it has temporary location data to confirm the chip's safety."
Zhang Yuan paused and continued uncertainly, "Generally, the initial location of all chips is at the core data department's automatic factory in each city, with some also in special research institutes. But… this chip's initial location is in the old factory area in the south of the city… which is quite strange."
Qin Xuezhong nodded thoughtfully, "Alright, we'll leave it at that for now."
She didn't mind.
After all, she couldn't investigate it herself; if there was an opportunity, she could just find someone in the black space or at Cass's mercenary club to help.
After today's events, Little Qin had learned her lesson: if she could avoid action, she would. If something needed to be done, she would leave it to others.
What neither she nor Zhang Yuan anticipated was that the next day, both of them encountered the same address again. The only difference was the coordinates at the end.
[Xigu Valley, Southern Suburb Industrial Area 241.145.168-27]
This address came from the remnants of the gun found at the scene yesterday.
With the powerful intelligence capabilities of the Ghost Organization, the information about the gun was quickly traced back to its origins. It turned out that this gun had leaked from within the Security Department—after passing through internal channels, the black market, arms dealers, and smugglers, it finally ended up in the hands of a small organization among scavengers, and was sent to the Southern Suburb Industrial Area.
From the map, that area was the center of the old industrial district, which had long been overtaken by mutated plants and creatures.
Many members believed that the gun had merely fallen into the hands of the scavengers and then made its way to the killer from yesterday. After all, it was quite normal to use a weapon with an unclear origin.
But Zhang Yuan knew something was off.
The coordinates Qin Xuezhong had asked him to investigate were almost within 500 meters of where the gun had appeared.
This place definitely had issues!
So, he was waiting—waiting for Qin Xuezhong's orders or actions.
Just as Zhang Yuan thought, Little Qin was contemplating what she should do.
It was clear that something was wrong with that location.
The biggest trouble was that the chip the original owner had prepared for herself also came from that place.
Qin Xuezhong even speculated that the original owner might have made some sort of deal with Tang Kede or another behind-the-scenes boss to replace her identity and escape.
But something must have gone wrong along the way, leading to someone trying to kill her.
Only this could explain the subway bombing and the ambush in the alley last night.
If she hadn't coincidentally witnessed the original owner's memories and been nearby, perhaps the fat guy from the virtual dream club would have already met a terrible fate.
Such circumstances left her feeling quite uneasy.
Being in a constant state of uncertainty, waiting for an unknown danger to strike was truly uncomfortable.
She realized that her old way of thinking hadn't changed.
From childhood, Qin Xuezhong had always been a well-behaved child. She had never skipped classes, was never late for work, and always completed her tasks on time.
Perhaps because of this, before her crossing, she ended up in such a dire situation at work.
Most of the time, she passively accepted her tasks, without taking the initiative to resolve the troubles around her.
Now, she was in control of a secret organization that had never existed in this world. Through her unique abilities, this organization could shock the Federation with several major events within a few days.
Yet her responses were still quite passive.
Today, she had even decided to stay home and let others handle any problems that arose.
Now she realized this attitude wouldn't do.
Because regardless of the world, life is a quagmire, and most people must struggle to carve out a small space for themselves—whether in life, work, or the mental realm.
If luck was on their side, they could then enjoy a bit of leisure in that space.
In this world, having a unique ability meant she was already more fortunate than most.
In such circumstances, she had the capability, the opportunity, and even the ease to tackle the problems surrounding her.
Little Qin gritted her teeth and made a resolution—she would take them down!
—No matter what was at that coordinate, she would turn it upside down and drag out the culprits disturbing her life, stopping all this chaos.
Not for justice, not for peace, not for the stability of Xigu Valley—though those reasons mattered, the most important thing was to ensure she could lie low for a few days without being disturbed by an endless stream of troubles.
She wanted those people to know that the Ghost Organization was not to be trifled with!
Not only was it not to be trifled with, but she also wanted to hit them hard, making the Security Department, the Fifth House, and the entire Xigu Valley aware of how terrifying the Ghost Organization truly was!
Ideally, in the future, if any trouble arose, all she would need to do was speak a word, and the wrongdoers wouldn't dare to act.
With this in mind, Little Qin entered the black space to post:
[To all members: There is a high possibility that the culprits behind the recent series of events are hidden near the coordinates of the Southern Suburb Industrial Area in Xigu Valley, and it is extremely dangerous.]
[I hope we can mobilize all united forces to conduct a decisive sweep of the area and resolve the issue as soon as possible.]
The moment this post appeared, it ignited the entire black space.
Contrary to Little Qin's expectations, the initial reaction from everyone was not to act but to discuss just how dangerous this place might be.
After all, even the leader of the Ghost Organization said it was "extremely dangerous," which might be lethal for ordinary people.
Thus, it was essential to treat the matter with caution!
This news spread through the black space, growing more significant with each passing moment, and the fear of the unknown enemy intensified.
Unbeknownst to Little Qin, the Security Department had already put the entire special operations team and SWAT on standby, and the Federation's military had directly mobilized an aerospace fleet to station at the southern suburb of Xigu Valley.
The government and military also initiated a joint ground operation, forming a surrounding perimeter with numerous armored vehicles and snipers.
Countless mercenaries and scavengers were also lurking around the industrial area, eager to take a piece of the action.
The scene was reminiscent of the eve of war.
It was about to erupt.