I'm being held captive by a monster

Chapter 173 What do you think?
"Coordination Department?"

Zhang Guang's brows also frowned instantly.

"...The coordinates of the chicken coop in our siege and killing department building are (12, 14), and the one for the coordination department is (11, 11). I remember it clearly."

“Because it’s really easy to remember…”

Li Lu brought up the map on the big screen and adjusted it to the coordinates of the chicken coop.

She didn't even have to search for it deliberately, and she directly clicked on the location of the Coordination Department Building.

And the coordinates of that location...

It is (11, 11).

"..."

Zhang Guang stood up and took a breath.

The brows of everyone behind them also furrowed.

"I'll...check it again."

Li Lu added layers of code to the number and then decoded it again.

After repeating it several times, there are no problems...

"What about the other location? Let's take a look at the other location first."

Zhang Guang looked at the second coordinate.

"This coordinate... should be in South City."

Li Lu entered the second coordinate.

This time, it only took a few seconds for the exact location to be determined on the big screen.

It is indeed in South City.

But the location displayed on the screen was the ocean...

A vast ocean...

It is even hundreds of meters away from the coast.

"In the sea?"

Zhang Guang asked as he looked at the vast ocean in the picture.

"Minister, this location may seem strange, but it actually makes sense."

"Because Taoyuan is fully capable of placing its own mainframe under the sea."

"It's hidden enough and safe enough."

"This is also why it's difficult to migrate the Taoyuan host, so we must eliminate those who know the location of his host."

"But the first one..."

Li Lu looked at the Coordination Department on the big screen again.

"Team Leader Li, what do you think? Do you think it's reasonable?"

Zhang Guang asked back.

"... Minister, where did you get these two coordinates...?"

"I think... the source of this information is the criterion for judging whether it is true..."

Li Lu pursed her lips and spoke hesitantly.

At the same time, some people can't help but be curious.

After all, as the leader of the technical team, she knew too well how terrifying and cunning Taoyuan was.

For so many years, they have been tracking the location of the Taoyuan host, but have not found any clues.

So... where did this information come from?
Feeling Li Lu's gaze, Zhang Guang rubbed his chin.

"It was sent to me two years ago by someone I completely trust."

"It's only today that I cracked this message of hers."

He pulled out a chair, sat down, and waved his hand.

After everyone was seated, Zhang Guang spoke again.

"Everyone, first of all, I want to say that the person who told me this information is absolutely fine. I can guarantee it."

"She also made it clear that this information would be fatal to Taoyuan."

"However, I cannot be sure where she got this information."

Zhang Guang glanced at the directors in front of him.

Xu Zhe took a deep breath.

"In other words... this information might be a trick of Taoyuan?"

"Taoyuan might have discovered that this person was suspicious a long time ago, and then deliberately revealed the fake location of his host to this person."

"And then deliberately let this person you trust so much tell you?"

Xu Zhe looked at Zhang Guang.

Seeing that Zhang Guang didn't say anything and didn't express anything, he continued to analyze.

"So, Minister, could such a situation exist?"

"A month ago, Taoyuan deliberately hacked into the train station's surveillance system, leaving a trail behind so we could decipher this information."

"At the same time, his purpose in doing so many things through various coincidences was to make us aware of Lin Xing'an's identity and let Lin Xing'an unlock this information."

"And Taoyuan's ultimate goal is to let us discover this information, completely drive a wedge between us and the Coordination Department, and completely ignite infighting within the committee."

Xu Zhe crossed his fingers, supported his chin, and spoke with squinted eyes.

"This completely explains why Taoyuan went to such great lengths to kill Lin Xing'an."

"At the same time, this can also be based on the fact that Lin Xing'an and the person who delivered the information to you are completely fine."

After Xu Zhe finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Guang.

Zhang Guangze just nodded and looked at the others.

"... Minister, I think... Taoyuan's main engine might really be in the Coordination Department."

"There's not as much conspiracy as Brother Xu said. This is the location of the Taoyuan host."

Koko cleared his throat.

"Because of the nature of the Coordination Department's work, it has to calculate and allocate the allocation of humans and livestock, as well as the number of Taogui families, so the Coordination Department's hardware conditions are sufficient to accommodate Taoyuan."

"But because of the existence of Taoyuan, the Coordination Department has always recorded this data in a notebook. They don't use this hardware."

"And Taoyuan always attacks our siege department, never the coordination department."

"This has led to the Ministry of Coordination not having a good understanding of Taoyuan and not paying enough attention to it."

"So I think there's a possibility that Taoyuan might be occupied by a cuckoo."

Ke Ke asked analytically with a frown.

Zhang Guang also nodded silently, "That makes sense."

"Minister, I agree with Koko. This information should be true."

"If we follow Lao Xu's idea, the ultimate purpose of Taoyuan's many dramas is to let us see that his host's position is in the coordination department."

"Then... there are several things that don't make sense."

Zhao Wuji, who was beside Xu Zhe, also spoke thoughtfully.

"First, there's absolutely no need for Taoyuan to do this. We don't need him to stir up trouble with the Coordination Department by using this false information about 'the host is in the Coordination Department'."

"All he needs to do is do nothing. He just needs to hide himself. To be honest, our siege unit...is already overwhelmed."

"After planning for so long and putting so much thought into it, it's completely unnecessary for Taoyuan to release such false information."

Zhao Wuji paused.

The others on the side, including Xu Zhe himself, nodded.

There is really no need for Taoyuan to do this...

It was enough of a disservice to the committee that he had only to hide himself.

With Taoyuan's ability, he naturally knew this.

"Secondly, the whole thing spanned two years and was filled with too many coincidences."

"Did Taoyuan foresee that it would take two years for us to receive this information? Did he foresee that our equipment would be upgraded to this level in two years?"

"And the most important 'accident' in this whole thing is that Lin Xing'an has his mother's protection."

"This kind of protection can only have been there on the day Lin Xing'an was born. Even Lin Xing'an himself doesn't know about it, let alone Taoyuan."

"Lao Xu, I feel that no matter how magical Taoyuan is...it can't be this magical..."

Zhao Wuji continued.

"The source of this last information is the minister's people."

"I believe that someone trusted by the minister is definitely capable and must have used her own judgment when delivering this message." "Since she has the ability to deal with Taoyuan and can deliver this message, I think she can be trusted."

"We can't always think of ourselves as too foolish and Utopia as too magical."

Zhao Wuji patted Xu Zhe on the shoulder.

And his words finally made Zhang Guang show a look of satisfaction on his face.

"She does have abilities, very strong abilities."

Zhang Guang took a deep breath and nodded.

The others who remained silent exchanged glances, instantly understanding what Zhang Guang was thinking...

"Minister, I agree with Ke Ke and Director Zhao. The location of this host should be true."

"But the Coordination Department probably doesn't know that they have been used by Taoyuan."

Bai Yue raised his hand and said.

The last remaining Li Lu also nodded.

"Minister, I still believe that the source of information is the criterion for judging whether this information is true or false."

"Because Ke Ke is right, the Coordination Department does have the conditions to accommodate Taoyuan."

"And to be honest, our AI has already detected some anomalies in the Coordination Department's network and electricity usage."

"It's just that... the anomaly wasn't obvious, and it was the Coordination Department, so we didn't pay much attention to it."

Li Lu lowered his head and said.

"Oh? When did you find out? Was it obvious?"

"It's okay. You were right not to pay attention to it at the time, but now... can it be used as conclusive evidence?"

Zhang Guang gestured for Li Lu to continue.

"...Because Taoyuan is like a... program. Even if it's hidden well, it will leave traces when it's running."

"Even if it's not running, even if it's dormant, there are still traces, because Taoyuan is no longer a person, he's 'living' on the Internet."

"This trace is his 'life trace' on the network, mainly manifested in electricity consumption, load, etc."

"We only established this 'Taoyuan Pursuit' mechanism two years ago when Taoyuan made a high-profile appearance."

"When this mechanism was first established, we discovered something was amiss with the Coordination Department."

Li Lu adjusted his glasses and called up the "Peach Blossom Pursuit" system on the big screen.

Then the historical detection record was opened.

There is a red horizontal line on it.

Below the horizontal line is a wavy blue area.

Although she was only talking about monitoring electricity consumption, it seems that this system takes into account much larger and more complex dimensions.

"The blue one is a summary of power consumption and various monitoring dimensions divided by region, and the red line is the standard."

"You can simply understand that the blue area below the red line is normal, and above the red line is abnormal. It is the 'traces of life' left by Taoyuan."

Li Lu looked up at the big screen and spoke to everyone.

“Only two areas are above the red line…”

Zhang Guang rubbed his chin and frowned.

"Yes, the one that far exceeds us is our siege and killing department."

"The one that's slightly beyond that is the Coordination Department."

"And if we look at the Coordination Department area..."

Li Lu transferred the Coordination Department out separately.

The blue area below is like a wave, with significantly larger and more violent fluctuations.

"This is the data from the Coordination Department for one month, that is, last month."

"You can see that they were above the red line for almost 20 days, but they didn't exceed it much, which is very strange."

"Normally, if they concentrate on working for a few days a month, the trend will be a peak that crosses the red line."

"But this trend... looks like there's a system popping up from time to time..."

Li Lu glanced at Zhang Guang's expression.

"Of course, this is hard to say. After all, we don't know what the Coordination Department is doing."

"What if they are just... doing real work?"

"So... I don't think this can be used as substantial evidence to prove that Taoyuan is in the Coordination Department."

She added.

"Well, save this data."

Zhang Guang nodded and said to Li Lu.

Then he took a deep breath and stood up.

"My opinion is the same as everyone else's."

"Personally, I also lean towards this position, that's true."

"This is based on my personal judgment as well as my trust and understanding of the person I am delivering the information to."

Zhang Guang looked at Xu Zhe and paused.

Seeing that Xu Zhe also nodded without saying anything more, he continued speaking.

"As for these two locations, there's no need to explain much about Nancheng. Taoyuan's ability was awakened in Nancheng, and his hometown is Nancheng."

"The source of the Taoyuan incident twenty years ago was also in South City, so it makes sense that his host is located in South City."

"As for this from the Coordination Department..."

Zhang Guang narrowed his eyes.

"We have to check him out no matter what!"

"Even if there's no location for the Taoyuan host, there's definitely something wrong with the Coordination Department."

"So, the question now is, how can we investigate the Coordination Department with legitimate reasons?"

He asked, leaning his hands on the table.

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

"No one...any ideas?"

Zhang Guang asked calmly.

"Minister, I don't think we need to find any excuses."

"Just tell the Coordination Department that we've received information that Taoyuan is here, and then go check them out!"

Xu Zhe was still the first to speak.

"What's more, we have already issued this military order. We have already fallen out with the Coordination Department."

"Go check them out, what's the harm?"

"If we can't find Taoyuan... then our military order won't be fulfilled, then..."

Xu Zhe spread out his hands and said nothing more.

If we can’t find it, we’ll just disband!
"Well, besides this method, is there any other way?"

Zhang Guang nodded expressionlessly and continued to ask.

But the room fell into silence.

In the silent darkness, a string of invisible shadows quietly stirred.

In the safe house's gym, Lin Xing'an, who was sweating profusely on a treadmill, wiped the sweat off his face.

There was a gleam in his eyes.

He certainly knew why Zhang Guang was not interested in Xu Zhe's plan.

Because getting rid of Taoyuan is of course Zhang Guang’s goal.

But what Zhang Guang wanted more was to be nominated as a committee member by taking advantage of his contribution in getting rid of Taoyuan, and finally officially become one of the seven committee members when the situation eased.

So if they just said without any evidence that the Coordination Department had the Taoyuan mainframe, and just broke in like Xu Zhe said...

Even if the host of Taoyuan was really found, Zhang Guang's image would be ruined in the eyes of the seven committee members and everyone in the coordination department.

At times like this, some social skills are needed...

There needs to be a legitimate reason, one that can even make the Coordination Department take the initiative to welcome Zhang Guang to investigate and help Zhang Guang to investigate.

And Lin Xingan...

There just happened to be a reason like this...

He took a sip of water and exhaled lightly.

(End of this chapter)