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Chapter 194 Decryption
In the infirmary, Lin Che sat upright for a while, clenching his fists.

He looked at Xiaoling, the little girl touching her sleeve and humming a strange tune, showing none of the seriousness she had when she said "the stars will be angry" earlier.

Lin Che composed himself, tucked the blanket in, and asked, "Xiao Ling, what does 'Uncle Golden Eyes' usually say to you?"

Xiaoling shook her head: "You said to lock the door after dark, and that we shouldn't touch the energy core. Brother, are you still looking for the 'star'?"

Lin Che asked in a low voice, "What do you mean?"

Xiaoling thought for a long time, then opened her palm and said, "You have stars on you, you have to find them all."

After she finished speaking, she stopped looking at him and lay down, pretending to be asleep. Lin Che was unsure of what was going on, but he kept those words in mind.

On the other side, the lights in the control room had just come on. When Lu Zhao pushed open the door, a USB drive sat alone on the table.

He glanced at the door, didn't call anyone over, and sat down directly to connect to his laptop.

He has tried the conventional cracking method three times, but no matter how he changes the algorithm, there is always an impenetrable encryption wall blocking his way.

He flipped through the memos Han Xue had left behind with some irritation, his eyes falling on the picture book Xiao Ling had drawn under the table—the cover of which featured her drawing of "Orion".

Lu Zhao casually flipped through the book and saw a page with the words "Stars together make a path" written crookedly on the margin.

He then remembered Xiaoling repeatedly mentioning "stars." He paused for a moment, then entered the words "stars" and "Orion" into the decryption program. The screen flickered, the USB drive indicator light flashed rapidly, a string of unfamiliar code flowed across the screen, and soon a "automatic unlock" prompt appeared.

Lu Zhao blinked and quickly started typing. A large number of files automatically expanded, and many hidden directories appeared.

He held his breath, his fingers tightening slightly. He instinctively opened the folder first; the files inside were meticulously categorized by year and experiment number.

Clicking on the top document, the title of which is clearly "Project Orion - Human Gene Adaptive Remodeling Project".

The document was quite long, and Lu Zhao quickly skimmed through it—the plan was to be carried out collaboratively by scientists from 21 countries at a secret base.

For more than a decade, the research objective has always revolved around "integrating an ancient gene fragment into the human genome in hopes of resisting anticipated large-scale biological variations," with the document repeatedly mentioning "stardust sequences."

According to reports, this sequence originated from unknown human bones that were frozen thousands of years ago at a site in Siberia and has been named "Stardust Genetic Factor".

The document describes in detail that after the project was launched, 108 children with special genetic characteristics were screened worldwide, and "stardust sequence" fragments were injected, fused and transplanted respectively.

Most of the experimental subjects experienced severe rejection and irreversible damage.

Only the child numbered "Star-7" and the other two children, codenamed "Star-13" and "Star-44", showed no rejection reaction and were identified as having "stable fusion" after repeated follow-ups.

Lu Zhao stared intently at the experiment list—after “Star-7”, the first two letters “XL” were marked. He immediately realized that this was Xiao Ling’s identification code.

Subsequent reports tracked the survival of each experimental subject year by year, with 96 declared failures, the vast majority dying within two years, and nearly 10 missing.

All three successful cases were transported independently under multiple layers of security. Some information indicates that they were sent to security test zones on different continents, except for "Star-7," which has the current test number of the fortress as a note.

Sweat slowly beaded on Lu Zhao's forehead.

He then jumped back to the main directory, where several researcher notes lay.

In Han Xue's private folder, the latest article is titled "Second Stage Inference".

She wrote: Project Orion is actually divided into two steps. The first step was to complete the initial integration of genes and screen a few special cases. The second step was to deliberately release engineered viruses with the aim of activating the general population carrying the recessive genes of stardust on a large scale, thereby selecting individuals who can heal themselves and adapt to infection.

Han Xue specifically noted that a real vaccine must use a "complete stardust sequence" as an active template. The fusion rate of ordinary infected individuals is extremely low, and only a small number of "full sequence carriers" such as Xiaoling can generate truly effective serum.

The last page of Han Xue's notebook was filled with messy handwriting: "I suspect there's someone else behind the scenes at the higher-ups; the virus going out of control isn't surprising at all. Xiaoling is not only the only key, but the active factors within her body are extremely easy to manipulate. If she falls into the hands of the military or Dawn, the consequences would be unimaginable. My brow furrowed... The real disaster may have only just begun; Project Orion is just a fuse." Below these folders were multiple biometric data collection reports and virus experiment data, all identified with X7 codes.

Lu Zhao leaned back in his chair quietly and tapped the table. He saved the screenshot to another external hard drive.

The detailed experimental texts and death reports in each folder made it extremely difficult to breathe.

A biological outline data image pops up on the screen, which is a holographic skeleton of an approximately eight-year-old girl—X7, with star-shaped annotations next to the major organs indicating "fusion successful".

Han Xue added a note to her post: "The 'stardust' gene in X7 is active, showing extremely high metabolic repair potential. It can heal itself and secrete special antibodies under extreme infection conditions. Theoretically, the active substances derived from this sequence can be used as core raw materials for universal vaccines."

There's also a sentence: "A request has been submitted to higher authorities to transfer X7, awaiting orders."

Lu Zhao pondered these words repeatedly from beginning to end, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart.

He wanted to turn off the screen and call someone, but then stopped himself—these things were too sensitive, and he didn't want to reveal them easily.

The USB drive on the table was still flashing a blue indicator light. Lu Zhao reached out and pulled it out, put it in his pocket, and encrypted the file.

Meanwhile, deep within the experimental area, Su Wanqing sat at the control panel, fiddling with the energy core inside the glass-sealed box.

The jade bracelet lay quietly on the opposite table. She brought up the shortwave analyzer on the table, entered the acquisition program, and the instrument began low-frequency scanning.

Data shows that the oscillation pattern inside the energy core is very consistent with the energy level detected in the jade bracelet, and the synchronization rate is always maintained at close to 100%.

Holding the instrument, Su Wanqing slowly brought the jade bracelet close to the energy core. Suddenly, the frequency on the scanner increased, and subtle blue light pulses appeared on the surface of the core. The blue light flashed, echoing the light blue band on the edge of the jade bracelet.

At this moment, the surface temperature of the jade bracelet rises slightly, and the symbols move slowly.

Su Wanqing stared at the rotating runes, thought for a moment, and concentrated all her mental energy between the jade bracelet and the core, tentatively using her consciousness to guide the jade bracelet and the core to fit together further.

With a soft "sizzle," the previously static symbols on the jade bracelet began to rotate slowly, then gradually accelerated, spreading light and shadow. The instrument's sensors detected the synchronous oscillation, and a series of holographic projections popped up on the screen.

A blurry map was projected into the air. Su Wanqing leaned down for a closer look and could vaguely make out the outline of the fortress's internal structure. In the center, an oval area was marked with bright blue, and there were six faint blue dots at the corners.

She quickly sketched the layout on paper, trying to analyze the precise coordinates of the next energy core.

The jade bracelet's temperature gradually decreased, the symbols stopped, and the map disappeared.

She looked up, brought up the system's contact list, and clicked on Lin Che's name on the screen, thinking that once he recovered from his restraints and regained his strength, they would go together to find the next core.

The laboratory fell silent, the only sound the hum of the equipment. She didn't say anything more, carefully putting away the jade bracelet and energy core, and then stuffing the blueprints into her small handbag.

Su Wanqing carefully remembered every detail from just now.

Lin Che was still in the medical area, waiting for Ye's response, and could only try to figure out "what exactly the stars Xiaoling was talking about".

Xiaoling lay quietly by the head of the bed, occasionally looking up and whispering something to the air in a very low voice.

Lin Che didn't understand the meaning of those words, so he could only turn his attention back to his physical exhaustion and the blankness in his mind.

Su Wanqing walked out of the experimental area and silently stopped all the usable instruments.

She took out the jade bracelet, weighed it in her palm, and reconsidered her next plan.

After the brief appearance of the holographic map, only one sentence remained in her mind: "Six cores left."