**Creek Valley City, Silver Star Building.**
This is a very ordinary building, somewhat old, with relatively cheap rent. Most of the offices here are independent studios and small companies with mediocre performance. Slightly higher-end insurance sales and virtual dream PR firms would never come here because, just by looking at the exterior, the lower-tier white-collar workers couldn't afford their products.
According to the municipal planning bureau's blueprints, the ground part of the Silver Star Building has a total of 120 floors. In the high-rise-dense Bay Area, it's quite unremarkable.
However, in the core data division of the security department's confidential database, there exists another version of the Silver Star Building's architectural drawings, showing that the building actually has 121 floors.
On this blueprint, some floors are a few centimeters shorter than indicated on the planning bureau's drawings. These differences add up to the height of the extra floor.
This hidden floor is located beneath the 90th-floor parking lot, and all the elevators, stairs, and windows have been cleverly concealed to hide its existence.
There are two ways to enter here.
The first is through a maintenance passage in the parking lot that is always sealed off to the outside. The second is to input a specific password on the elevator panel to make it stop on this non-existent floor.
In either case, access must be granted via a card swipe and chip verification.
Otherwise, the moment the door opens, four elite special operations team members waiting behind it will not hesitate to open fire on anyone who enters.
Such offices can be found in almost every city in the Eastern Federation.
Internally, this place is listed under the logistics department's structure as the "Logistics Support Group."
In reality, it serves as a backup maintenance team for the mainframe extension rooms in every city.
If something happens in the control room that the headquarters cannot handle, the maintenance team will provide support or even take over the operation and maintenance of the extension room.
Every morning, Old Liu parks his ten-year-old flying car on the west side of the 90th-floor parking lot.
This vehicle, exposed to the acidic climate of Creek Valley City, has aged rapidly and has developed significant rust.
But Old Liu has never replaced it because such a car makes him look less conspicuous.
In his right hand, he holds a cup of coffee bought from a convenience breakfast shop, and in his left, he carries an old leather briefcase.
He approaches the maintenance passage in the corner of the parking lot, stepping over the ever-lit holographic warning light, to undergo the first identity verification scan.
After swiping his card, inputting the password, and verifying his retina and gait, and confirming that no one is watching, he pushes open the flip cement wall in front of him and walks inside.
After greeting the alert yet friendly guard, Old Liu leisurely enters his office.
Despite the high-security level and numerous secrets involved, for Old Liu and his subordinates, this is just another day of calm, routine life.
To be honest, the Federation's mainframe is so stable now, with firewalls and security systems so tight, that no major incidents have occurred in decades.
No major incidents mean that this backup team only needs to perform some daily maintenance and training work.
Easy, simple, and with great benefits.
It's definitely a dream job for many.
The only downside is that, in order to deal with large-scale network issues or extreme virus attacks, this place is completely offline, with no signals, having the most thorough electromagnetic shielding.
Only when other departments can no longer maintain the extension room will the room connect a previously disconnected line to the backup team, triggering a warning light, signaling them to take over management.
Even if chaos reigns outside, as long as that light doesn't turn on, they remain oblivious to what's happening outside and see no news at all.
Having worked here for ten years and gradually risen to the position of group supervisor, Old Liu has never seen that light turn on.
Walking into this office is like stepping into a space where time has stopped.
They spend their time reading, playing training software and single-player games from decades ago.
It's only when they leave the office at the end of the day that time resumes its normal flow.
But today, this tranquility was shattered.
When that light turned on, everyone froze for a moment.
Old Liu reacted the quickest, shouting, "Small groups, take over the physical maintenance of the extension room! Establish firewalls! Don't connect directly to read data! Maintain isolation! Security team! Establish a wartime defense! Eliminate all intruders!"
"Yes!!!"
The office erupted with a loud response, immediately bustling with activity.
After connecting to the extension room, Old Liu discovered that the entire Creek Valley City, and even the entire Federation, had fallen into chaos.
An unknown virus swept through everyone and everything.
Even the mainframe was under attack.
His reaction was correct; he didn't let his colleagues attempt to read data directly, but instead maintained isolation first.
He realized that if the geniuses at headquarters couldn't solve this virus, his group of slackers wouldn't stand a chance.
They might even suffer a reverse invasion and become easy targets.
First, they needed to control the external systems, ensure the safety of the control room, and then see if there was an opportunity to eliminate the virus.
His actions truly saved the underground extension room of the Bay Area branch and created an initial safe space for Qin Xuezhong and Zhang Yuan's group.
"What is that virus? Can it be eliminated?" After completing the initial tasks, Old Liu asked his subordinate.
"No! It appears to be a variant of the concert virus, generating a large amount of simulated data from neural signals. If we don't know the source of those signals, it's difficult to analyze," his subordinate quickly replied.
"What about the program released by the Phantom Organization? Is it useful?"
His subordinate hesitated and said, "Supervisor… that's an unverified external program, and we don't have it in our office."
Because of the high-security level of the backup group, no new programs, not even a single line of code, could enter, to prevent loopholes.
Old Liu pondered for a moment, then said fiercely, "Damn it, if the mainframe is infected, if we don't think of something soon, we'll be finished too. Get it in here and see if you can modify it to handle this situation."
"Got it, I'll take care of it right away!"
Old Liu turned to the first person who spoke, "So you're saying this virus simulates neural signals, meaning we need a human brainwave to decode these signals?"
"Exactly. It's as if a person's memories have become the encryption method; from childhood accidents to grown-up misdeeds, they all become passwords. Even if you know these events, without the person's emotions and memories at that time, you can't decode them."
"Damn," Old Liu, usually mild-mannered, cursed, "It can't be that Fifth Ningyi, right?"
"Very likely. This kind of encryption method is unheard of. It's hard to imagine it could be developed by a second person... Perhaps someone extracted her memories before Fifth Ningyi died to create the virus..."
—At this moment, no one in Creek Valley City knows that Fifth Ningyi is actually still alive.
They only learned through the Phantom Organization's interrogation that the concert virus incident was related to Fifth Ningyi.
Before the person could finish, someone who had gone to find the concert antivirus program interrupted their discussion. "It's useful! It can slow down the virus's spread, but the effect is minimal! It's likely still linked to Fifth Ningyi!"
Everyone in the office looked at him.
Old Liu understood what they were waiting for.
This backup group was not only responsible for maintenance; in special circumstances, it had temporary supreme command authority.
If other senior officials were compromised, he might be the last person able to issue commands and interact with the mainframe.
From the brief network connection earlier, they learned that this morning, the federal government and military had dispatched troops to attack a coordinate provided by the Phantom Organization.
It was rumored that Tang Kede or some other puppet master was hiding there.
Old Liu thought that if his office could develop a new antivirus program amid the chaos, that coordinate might be a good breakthrough.
He looked around at his colleagues, as if seeing Creek Valley City's last hope, and then picked up an old-fashioned phone under the warning light.
This kind of landline phone was rare in the entire Creek Valley City.
After a brief thought, he lifted the receiver.
"Emergency wartime directive: all operational combat units, if not required to protect surrounding personnel or facilities, please swiftly proceed to the industrial area at coordinates 241.145.168-27 in the southern suburbs of Creek Valley City. Capture, contain, and retrieve any bodies or storage devices related to Fifth Ningyi, which may contain critical memory files for developing antivirus programs. Bring them to the 90th-floor parking lot of Silver Star Building as quickly as possible."
At this moment, he couldn't care less about exposing the coordinates of this office.
It had complete research and operational facilities, making it the fastest and safest place to conduct research.
After issuing this command, Old Liu let out a sigh of relief.
Everyone in the office knew that this order had a high-level 9 authority, superseding the mayor, council, security brigade leaders, and military commanders. Regardless of what tasks they had before, anyone capable would do their utmost to reach that coordinate and complete the mission.
Just then, someone in the office exclaimed.
"The mainframe is self-clearing the virus!"
—This was precisely when Qin Xuezhong had helped the mainframe.
"What?" Old Liu rushed over to the monitoring screen.
This screen didn't directly read data but captured the mainframe's code operation through a camera.
Such a simple yet crude monitoring method prevented virus transmission and avoided direct infection.
Even someone with no understanding of data could see that the parts previously marked in red were rapidly disappearing, leaving behind elegant and concise lines of code operating in an orderly fashion.
Everyone looked at each other, unsure of what was happening.
Although the mainframe stabilized, many people were still affected by the virus, according to information from other departments.
With the mainframe's help, Old Liu led this backup group of fewer than ten people to quickly manage the situation in Creek Valley City, slowing the ongoing chaos.
However, their ability to prevent the situation from slowly expanding was limited.
Before long, the mainframe actively transmitted a new antivirus program.
After testing, this antivirus program could perfectly eliminate the new invasive virus.
Old Liu, who had been preparing for a prolonged battle, was stunned on the spot.
A colleague nearby said, "Old Liu, this program... seems to have been created by the Phantom Organization. Is there a danger?"
In recent days, the backup team had discussed the Phantom Organization. Some cautious colleagues worried that these incidents had been orchestrated by the Phantom Organization, aiming to control the entire Creek Valley City through such means.
Old Liu hesitated for just a moment before ordering, "Release it directly. If the mainframe can send it over, it must have been verified. If we don't control the situation soon, there won't be anyone left."
"Yes!"
With the new program released, Old Liu, commanding from his post, felt the chaotic messages coming in gradually decrease.
At that moment, two things happened simultaneously.
The order Old Liu issued with his 9-level authority even mobilized the airspace fleet stationed above Creek Valley City.
The vast combat forces, under the high-authority command, directly flooded the entire southern industrial area.
Not only did they successfully secure the research facility hidden inside, but they also captured Fifth Ningyi.
Following Old Liu's previous request, an elite squad escorted Fifth Ningyi to the Silver Star Building.
Just as the escort team arrived at the Silver Star Building, an unmarked and unpainted shuttle, equipped with the mainframe's high-level authority, also landed here.
The soldiers in charge of the escort raised their guns in alert.
They had just confirmed that the surrounding environment was safe when an unexpected shuttle arrived, making them a bit tense. Now, executing a level 9 authority command, they were very wary of any surprises.
The shuttle door opened, and a person clad in advanced combat armor stepped out.
The faceplate was activated, obscuring their face, and their imposing figure exuded a strong pressure.
The squad recognized the armor; it was the commander armor issued by the federal military. To operate in this suit required not only high physical standards but also an exaggerated level of brain domain development.
Although there were no military ranks displayed, as far as they knew, anyone who could wear this armor was a legendary figure in the military, holding a rank no lower than major.
At the same time, several soldiers' chips received a unique permission signal from the mainframe, indicating that this person's action authority level was no lower than theirs.
The leading squad leader gestured for his partners to protect the prisoner well. He then gave a thumbs-up to the armored officer and pointed toward the maintenance passage.
This was a universal gesture used by the Eastern Federation military when encountering a friendly unit with higher authority, indicating that they had confirmed there was no danger, and the officer could proceed first.
If the person controlling the body were Yu Zhezhong himself, he would have used a simple OK gesture to express his gratitude.
But Xiao Qin didn't know any of this.
She simply felt that the squad leader was expressing joy in encountering allies during a crisis, giving them a thumbs-up.
She also saw Fifth Ningyi being escorted behind them and thought they were impressive, so she also gave them a thumbs-up.
From the escort team's perspective, this imposing advanced officer suddenly raised their hand and cutely gave a thumbs-up.
In an instant, the entire escort team was left in a state of confusion.