As the shuttle headed toward the Junk Guild, ripples of unseen undercurrents stirred on the Mendel Satellite.
Inside an office at the genetic research institute, a senior executive from GARMR&D Corporation in a business suit sat behind a desk, speaking to a young girl across from him.
"It's been confirmed that Professor Keller committed suicide. The autopsy shows no traces of biochemical virus contamination. You'll soon be able to claim your grandfather's remains."
The girl, about sixteen years old, had shoulder-length brown hair that appeared dull and dry from neglect. Her delicate face showed no vitality, and her gem-like green eyes stared blankly at the desk.
The executive sighed. "Miss Lainesse Brown, I deeply regret your grandfather's sacrifice. We had to handle things this way because we're being pressured by that Zhou Hanxiang. We need to gather as many leads as possible."
A cold laugh escaped Lainesse as her green eyes sharpened their focus on the executive's face. "Grandfather told me about your company's methods. Save the act—I just want the truth."
The executive's expression darkened as he slammed the desk. "The truth is Zhou Hanxiang is behind everything. Our investigators confirmed she tampered with data in the Data Center. She's far from innocent."
"That's your problem. Grandfather spoke highly of Zhou Hanxiang—they had a good relationship."
"So what? Two-faced people are everywhere. What matters is who benefits."
Lainesse fell silent. As the sole survivor, Zhou Hanxiang was undeniably the beneficiary.
"This institute houses our corporation's most classified project. Call it corruption if you want, but we bribed the Garrison to enforce strict security here. Combined with rigorous checks at the Spaceport, no outsider could've breached it without inside help."
"Furthermore, our investigation revealed all security personnel's weapons were locked in the armory. That's the real reason the institute couldn't mount a defense before being overrun."
"Everyone in the institute—including invaluable researchers—was slaughtered." The executive's face twisted with grief. "How is that our fault?"
Lainesse's expression gradually shifted, showing signs of being swayed.
Just as the executive prepared to present more evidence, a knock interrupted them.
Frowning, he gave Lainesse an apologetic nod before calling out, "Enter. What is it?"
A female staff member stepped in. "Director, the data engineer hired by the corporation has arrived."
"Take him to the Data Center. Have him assess the damage immediately—I need to know how much data can be recovered."
"Yes, sir."
The staff member closed the door behind her as she left.
The executive said to Lainesse, "You must believe that losing Professor Keller is also a huge loss for us. We have absolutely no reason to do this, but that woman Zhou Hanxiang—well, that's another story. Think about it yourself."
With that, he left the office without another glance at Lainesse.
Lainesse sat motionless in her chair for a long while before finally standing up and muttering to herself, "Grandpa would never abandon me by taking his own life. Zhou Hanxiang, whether you're human or a ghost, I will uncover the truth."
She strode out of the room and noticed the surveillance room was eerily empty as she passed by.
Glancing around, she saw only a group of workers clearing debris and wreckage. Seizing the moment when no one was looking, she slipped inside.
Fumbling with the surveillance system, she pulled up the footage from that day, but most of the data was inaccessible. After searching for a while, she finally found the only intact clip that could be opened.
The footage was shaky, the images distorted and fragmented, accompanied by a harsh static noise.
Still, it was clear enough to see Zhou Hanxiang's slow, injured figure entering the medical room, followed shortly by Keller.
The footage cut off. Lainesse's face darkened as she stared at the snowy screen.
She continued searching, but the rest of the recordings were all corrupted and unplayable.
Clicking through one after another, her persistence paid off when she discovered another playable file.
It was a pitch-black video with no visuals, but in the midst of the silent darkness, a gunshot suddenly rang out—then the footage ended abruptly.
"What are you doing?"
A stern voice sounded behind her.
Lainesse didn't respond, biting her lower lip hard and clenching her fists as she whispered in anguish, "Grandpa..."
...
Deep in the underground Data Center,
a large number of workers were inspecting the Storage Devices, connecting them to tablets with specialized cables.
The executive walked past, questioning the workers, but each one shook their head in frustration.
"It's no use. Most of the data has been scrambled."
"How much can we recover?"
"The issue isn't whether we can recover it—it's whether the recovered data will match the original files."
The executive's expression grew grimmer with each report. He pressed on until he reached the back, where Vitt, the highly paid Data Engineer—a man in his fifties with graying temples—was working.
Vitt sat on a black rectangular case, a laptop on his knees, fingers flying across the keyboard in a rapid, unbroken clatter.
The executive approached and glanced at the screen. A torrent of data cascaded down, moving too fast for him to follow despite his understanding of it.
Still, the sight of Vitt's work eased his tension slightly. "Any progress?"
"It's complicated. Whoever did this was smart—they didn't delete the data, which would've triggered the defense protocols. Instead, they used a basic Shredder software, easily found online. Its function is simple: it randomly rearranges the characters in the files. The longer it runs, the more scrambled the data becomes, making recovery harder."
"Is there no solution?"
Vitt paused and looked up at the executive. "The only way is the hard way. Since the data isn't lost, just scrambled, we can reconstruct the original files by reverse-engineering from your experimental samples."
"How long will that take?"
Vitt jerked his chin toward the endless rows of Storage Devices beside him. The executive took one look around, his face darkening.
At that moment, hurried footsteps approached from a distance as a man rushed over shouting, "Director, those troublesome lawyers are here again!"
Veins bulged on the executive's forehead as he took several deep breaths to suppress his anger, though his bloodshot eyes betrayed his fury. Through gritted teeth, he said, "Take them to the office. I'll be right there."
"Zhou Hanxiang—!" The name came out like a beast's growl. The executive turned to Vitt and said, "Money isn't an issue. Do whatever it takes to recover the data."
Vitt gave an OK sign and immediately resumed his work. Seeing this, the executive strode off toward the office.
As the footsteps faded, the surroundings fell silent except for the sound of Vitt typing on the keyboard.
Suddenly, the typing stopped.
His eyes swept the area. After confirming no one was around, he quickly stood up, grabbed the case beneath him, and moved forward.
Following the coordinates displayed on his computer, Vitt swiftly reached the target location and began searching carefully. However, he soon noticed that the Storage Device's serial number didn't match its position. A smirk curled his lips. "Clever, but still too green."
Typing rapidly, he pulled up a list on the screen that clearly showed the timestamps when each Storage Device had been disconnected from the Disk Array.
After entering a line of code, the list rearranged itself in an instant, calculating the current locations of the swapped Storage Devices in less than a second.
Following the coordinates, Vitt removed the Storage Devices one by one, then opened his case and replaced them with the pre-prepared ones inside. He even thoughtfully restored them to their original serial numbers.
Once done, he picked up the case and returned to his spot, resuming his work as if nothing had happened.
Before long, a man in a research institute uniform approached, carrying an identical case.
Vitt nodded with a smile. "Bulo, take these back for analysis. We're bound to hit the jackpot this time."
"But wasn't this data scrambled? Can it still be recovered?"
"All we need is the sequence in which the characters were converted. Once we know the order, we can reverse-engineer the data."
Bulo's eyes widened in surprise. "You can even get that?"
Vitt raised an eyebrow. "It's pretty convenient when it's your own stuff."
With a few keystrokes, the computer screen displayed the backend program of the 'Shredder' software.
The two exchanged knowing grins before Bulo left with the case, while Vitt stayed behind, 'diligently' working away.