Chapter 37: Pointer (4)
37 – Pointer (4)
After a torrent of vulgar language, Qi Yun’s end of the line went dead.
Lin Xun estimated the combat strength of the sword cultivator—sword cultivators prided themselves on their fighting prowess, and Qi Yun had a protective talisman given by his master. Holding out for ten minutes or so shouldn’t be a problem.
Brother Chang Ji had already replied with a single “Okay” on WeChat, so he would surely arrive at the gymnasium within those ten minutes to assist Qi Yun.
The immediate priority now was for him to subdue Xiao Xiao, who was under the control of a demonic entity.
Xiao Xiao’s behavior differed from the other mechanical, vacant-eyed demon seeds—she was likely a higher-level demonic being.
In the blink of an eye, the car sped to the building’s entrance. Lin Xun got out, took the steps two at a time, pressed the elevator button, and rode it straight to the sixth floor.
Sixth floor, broadcasting room.
The door was unlocked, slightly ajar.
Lin Xun glanced down the hallway—it was empty, with no one in sight. The window at the far end was open, and papers on the bulletin board rustled in the wind, making a flapping sound.
He entered the broadcasting room.
This was essentially the central hub of the campus broadcasting system, responsible for playing music every evening or having broadcasters read essays or inspirational stories.
Logically, this should have been Xiao Xiao’s destination.
If she was spreading the virus through her singing, aiming to infect as many people as possible—then she would inevitably appear here.
But at this moment, the entire floor seemed deserted.
He scanned the room, then walked to the window and looked down—Xiao Xiao had vanished into this building.
The next instant, a sudden gust of wind rushed past his ear!
The attack came without warning. If caught off guard, he could have been hurled from the sixth floor and smashed like a watermelon.
However, Lin Xun was prepared.
He sidestepped to the right rear, his right hand tapping rapidly on the keyboard, sending the pre-written code over!
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a black skirt hem. Turning his gaze, he saw Xiao Xiao’s fingers curled into claws, lunging toward him.
The code didn’t take effect immediately, indicating that Xiao Xiao also had a firewall—further proof that she was a higher-level entity than the demon seeds. The program was running frantically, but it would still take some time to breach the firewall and gain control of the program within her.
Nevertheless, Xiao Xiao’s attack was easily neutralized by the firewall on his own body.
Failing to land a hit, a hint of crimson seemed to tinge Xiao Xiao’s vacant eyes.
But Lin Xun’s target wasn’t her.
Holding the keyboard, he cautiously retreated step by step toward the door, his gaze seemingly fixed on Xiao Xiao while actually sweeping over all the equipment in the broadcasting room.
After a brief standoff, Xiao Xiao lunged forward again, her fingers clawing at Lin Xun’s face. Her seemingly delicate, weak fingers now appeared to have turned into steel, gleaming with an eerie cold light under the sunlight!
At the same time, Lin Xun kicked over the metal storage rack by the door. It toppled, crashing onto Xiao Xiao and slowing her movements for a split second. Seizing that moment, Lin Xun leaped up, using the momentum to propel himself to the northwest corner of the room.
The northwest corner housed the broadcasting equipment. Lin Xun didn’t know exactly what these devices did, but he knew one thing—at this moment, they all needed to be destroyed.
Xiao Xiao’s fingers gleamed coldly, but his system-enhanced keyboard was no less formidable than the hardest substance in the world.
A tremendous crash echoed as his keyboard first smashed through several microphones lined up side by side, then he kicked over the speakers with his entire body, grabbing the tangled mess of cables with his right hand and yanking them apart!
This way, no one would be able to transmit messages outside through the broadcasting room.
Xiaoxiao’s eyes turned completely blood-red as she stared at him, tilting her head back and letting out a strange cry.
—The frequency of the sound was extremely high, a kind of wail that seemed to contain endless pain and despair, completely unlike anything a human vocal system could produce. The moment Lin Xun heard it, it felt as if something sharp had pierced through his skull, causing intense pain and making his vision darken.
What kind of attack was this? Why couldn’t the firewall block it?
Lin Xun swung his keyboard, blocking another round of Xiaoxiao’s attacks. Yet, as soon as the assault ended, that piercing sound rang out again. As the noise tore through his eardrums, the code within his body also came under a powerful attack, beginning to fall into chaos.
Feeling the sharp pain in his ears, Lin Xun’s thoughts raced in an instant.
Humans have senses, and the brain constantly receives information from the outside world, converting it into memories. Analogously, for machines, this becomes the process of acquiring data from the network and storing it in their memory.
He had heard the sound Xiaoxiao made, which was equivalent to a user actively downloading and storing a piece of virus-carrying music. That was why the firewall couldn’t perform its intended function!
—In that case, what should he do? He couldn’t seal off his own hearing—the system didn’t have that function.
Lin Xun gasped for breath a few times, leaning against the wall as he watched Xiaoxiao.
Xiaoxiao’s face was pale, only her lips were a deep crimson, making her look like a doll. As if sensing he had lost the ability to resist, her movements slowed, and she walked toward Lin Xun with a stiff, mechanical gait.
As she walked, she hummed softly—still the same song she had sung on stage. This time, Lin Xun finally managed to make out a few more lyrics.
“The stars in the sky are crying… the roses on the ground are withering…”
“Cold wind blows, cold wind blows…”
Her voice was hoarse, the lyrics unbearably sorrowful, and the sound seemed to twist into fine threads that clogged Lin Xun’s mouth and nose. He felt as if he were being dragged into a freezing sea by the song, unable to move or breathe, overwhelmed by dizziness.
Lin Xun struggled to catch his breath, looking at Xiaoxiao before suddenly smiling.
Xiaoxiao tilted her head.
“Xiaoxiao?” Lin Xun asked.
Xiaoxiao showed no reaction, clearly having lost her sanity.
She continued singing, her voice growing lower and more raspy, the trailing notes stretching longer and longer, completely departing from the range of human speech, like the crackling sound of an old phonograph.
“Cold wind blows, cold wind blows, as long as you’re with me…”
As the song played, Lin Xun’s consciousness was pulled into the deep sea, sinking gradually, his mind a chaotic mess.
A muddled mind—this was something Lin Xun could never accept.
But it didn’t matter.
No matter how much she sang, it didn’t matter. No matter what she sang, it didn’t matter.
Lin Suanfa did not allow his mind to be unclear.
Under the influence of the music, his right hand trembled uncontrollably, but he could still barely follow his brain’s commands. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box about half the size of his palm, then opened it.
A headphone case.
He turned the noise-canceling function to maximum!
—Then, silently put them on, one on each ear.
Noise-canceling headphones don’t simply block out noise through physical isolation. In fact, most products on the market use active noise-canceling technology. When external noise is detected, the corresponding structure of the headphones actively emits corrective signals to counteract the noise, preventing it from ever reaching the user’s ears.
—It was as if the tide had receded. He was separated from the entire world by a layer of vacuum, all the sounds of the mundane world fading away—including, of course, Xiaoxiao’s singing.
The dizziness subsided, and everything around him became quiet. The walls were clean, the windows bright. Lin Xun felt fully revived, as if given a second life.
—Thanks to modern technology, materialism will ultimately triumph over cultivation.
At the same time, Xiaoxiao’s firewall was successfully breached!
Lin Xun mercilessly wrote in an infinite loop, then calmly removed his headphones.
Xiaoxiao, the record player, suddenly froze. She widened her eyes, clutching her own throat with both hands, like a crowing chicken whose neck had been wrung, emitting only monotonous, disjointed, and meaningless syllables.
Lin Xun knocked her out physically, then carried her downstairs and tied her up in the car.
Three days ago, he had only known that Xiaoxiao’s abusive father was possessed by a demon seed. He hadn’t expected that, growing up in such an environment, Xiaoxiao would be filled with hatred and despair, making her the perfect vessel for demonic entities.
The system’s mechanical voice sounded: “Mission progress: fifty percent. Please continue your efforts.”
Good. He would continue his efforts to save Qi Yun.
Lin Xun started the car and drove toward the stadium.
Just then, a system voice sounded from the car.
“The Automated Driving System has malfunctioned… Error data collection completed. Data has been sent to the Galaxy. Staff will contact you within five minutes. Please wait.”
Lin Xun silently looked at the Automated Driving System motherboard he had forcibly smashed—sparks still sizzling from the broken connections—with only one thought in his mind: Dong Jun must not find out.