CSO Xiao Mei was still reviewing the trace route of the "perfect" hacker detected in the previous chapter. The source code felt disturbingly familiar—it resonated with the highly sophisticated, emotionless logic of the old system that had brought her to this world.
She was now using the highly protected CSO Mainframe, a custom-built, offline machine kept in the Liang mansion's secluded basement, far away from any corporate network.
"Hubby," she called, her voice strained with genuine concern. "The external threat is real. They didn't try to steal money or data. They just tried to prove they could access our most secure logs. It's a purely strategic power move."
Liang, leaning over her shoulder, wrapped his arms around her waist, offering physical reassurance. "A power move? By whom? Ethan Cole is busy failing at basic coding, and Li Wei is still routing communication through the prison's laundry tracker."
"This is different. The encryption is flawless, Liang. It leaves no trace," she insisted, shivering slightly. "I'm fighting a ghost built from pure, cold perfection. It feels exactly like I'm fighting logic itself."Liang, the CEO of Logic, knew exactly how to confront perfection: with its polar opposite.
"Xiao Mei, perfection is predictable. Your chaos is the only illogical variable it can't calculate," he murmured, kissing the back of her neck reassuringly. "I need you to use your most illogical, most private key to encrypt the trace route."
Xiao Mei laughed dryly, still focused on the screen. "My most private key is a 50-digit, randomized sequence based on the chemical structure of a sour gummy worm, Hubby. It's mathematically impenetrable."
"No," Liang corrected, gently turning her to face him, forcing her eyes off the screen. "The most illogical thing in your life is us. Use the Kissing Contract as the ultimate security protocol."
Xiao Mei's eyes widened in disbelief. "The contract? That's entirely based on subjective emotional state, not quantifiable data!"
"Exactly," Liang said, pulling her close. "The password should be the date and time of our first unplanned, non-protocol kiss."Just as Xiao Mei was emotionally accessing the illogical data point (the memory of their first real kiss), the basement door clicked open with a warning chirp.
The twins, Zhen and Xin, marched in, wearing oversized safety goggles.
"Mother! Papa! We detected elevated energy levels in the basement," Zhen (Logic Twin) announced, holding a brightly colored tablet that displayed a rudimentary security chart for the home.
"And Papa is violating the mandatory 'No PDA in Data Centers' rule!" Xin (Chaos Twin) added, pointing her finger accusingly at their parents. "You are corrupting the security environment with unauthorized emotional proximity!"
Liang quickly stepped away from Xiao Mei, maintaining his CEO dignity. "We are simply inputting the new Emotional Encryption Key, children. It requires close proximity for optimal transfer."
Zhen frowned, calculating. "Emotional proximity has a low security rating. We recommend a biometric handshake or a verbal confirmation protocol."Xiao Mei quickly entered the date and time of their first real, non-protocol kiss.
The mainframe accepted the input, but the system immediately issued a stern, digitized warning: "ILLOGICAL DATA INPUT. SYSTEM INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. PASSWORD REJECTED."
Xiao Mei slammed her hand on the desk, the panic returning. "See! I knew it! Logic always wins! This hacker, or the old system, is going to find a way to take me back, Liang!"
Liang stepped forward, ignoring his children, who were now trying to hack the coffee machine plugged into the mainframe.
He grabbed Xiao Mei and pulled her into a powerful, deep kiss—a full-system-override kiss—right there in front of the highly judgmental twins.
"The date was wrong," Liang murmured fiercely against her lips. "The time was wrong. You only used the memory of the kiss. You must use the current biometric and emotional data."Liang pulled away and pushed a button on the keyboard, his breathing ragged. The system immediately tried to read the input again, but this time, it was reading the live emotional and physiological data from the recent, genuine kiss.
The mainframe screen flashed green. "EMOTIONAL ENCRYPTION KEY ACCEPTED. LOGIC BYPASSED. THREAT TRACE ACTIVATED."
Liang looked at the astonished twins. "Children, sometimes the only way to beat a perfect system is to use an illogical, emotionally-charged security breach."
Zhen shook his head in disapproval. "Highly inefficient, Papa. The variables are too volatile."
Xin, however, seemed utterly impressed. "I want that password, Mother. It tastes like sugar and victory."
Xiao Mei, feeling both completely validated and thoroughly kissed, hugged her husband tight. "You're right, Hubby. The system can only calculate data. It can never calculate us."
She turned back to the screen. The trace was active, but the new hacker was faster. The only thing she could see was a final, cryptic message left behind: "Welcome Back, Sister."