This address leads to a personal homepage similar to a blog from abroad, with a predominantly black and eerie color scheme.
This kind of scary color scheme is a popular trend among many young people these days, but the motivations differ between domestic and international audiences. In China, some young, rebellious teenagers use this color scheme and scary music to create homepages that express their individuality and rebellious nature. While there may be such kids abroad, some people use this scary color scheme not to look cool.
It's because they believe in darkness!
Although Christianity has become the religion of more than half of the world's population, there are many people in the West who deliberately oppose Christianity and worship Satan.
This is no longer the medieval era of divine supremacy. There are many rebellious people, and it is not uncommon for people to believe in Satan. What is even more terrifying are those who engage in performance art, with their bodies riddled with tattoos to impersonate devils.
After entering the webpage, Chen Xu found that there was no content on the page; it was just a black, bloody, and terrifying scene. There were no logs, only some songs.
Chen Xu downloaded the songs and had Xiao Min check them. They found they were just ordinary songs, without any ability to influence a person's subconscious. Chen Xu wasn't entirely satisfied, so he hacked into the web server. He discovered it was riddled with vulnerabilities and easily infiltrated it, finding the IP address records connecting to the personal homepage.
Just as Chen Xu was about to continue his intrusion using this address, the experts arrived and kicked him out without saying a word.
Sigh, young people have no human rights!
Fortunately, Director Wang spoke up. This student, Chen Xu, was the one who arrested the throat-slitting man and the first to discover Meng Chong and the music that could influence the brain. That's why these arrogant experts allowed him to come in and observe... The throat-slitting man was nothing to these experts, but the first person to discover this kind of music that could influence the subconscious was very valuable.
Under questioning from the experts, Chen Xu recounted the events of that day, then thought for a moment and said, "I think the effect of this music is hypnosis, especially when people are immersed in it. In other words, the more attentively you listen, the easier it is to become engrossed in it. And this music is indeed very attractive; you unconsciously become immersed in the melody, and once you're immersed, your brain becomes somewhat uncontrollable. Like my friend, Tang Bixuan, she hid behind the door because she was scared. So even though the music was playing, because she was too frightened, she didn't react even if she heard it. This 'hearing but not hearing' actually saved her from a disaster."
Hearing Chen Xu say this, the experts' gaze softened. The leader, a middle-aged man in military uniform with two bars and three stars, said kindly, "Young man, you're absolutely right. Our experts have also studied this point. Thank you so much this time."
"Thank me?" Chen Xu scratched his head and chuckled. "I should." However, he wasn't being modest at all, because Chen Xu was thinking that they really should thank him, thank him for his other identity. Hehe.
The colonel-ranking civilian expert, Su Rong, said, "Of course, thank you. Based on the information we have, we have basically confirmed that this incident was carried out by an organization called Satan. Just recently, this organization issued a statement claiming responsibility for the Luxor incident and threatening the United States to release several of its arrested leaders. If the matter is not resolved within 24 hours, they will carry out another terrorist attack, in any city in the United States."
"No way?!"
The expert nodded and said, "The reason this incident was staged in Luxor was twofold: first, to make an example of someone, to find a place to conduct an experiment; second, because a group of Rockefeller executives were traveling in Luxor at the time. You know Rockefeller, right? They manipulate oil prices and are considered one of the largest arms dealers in the United States. They were there to discuss an arms deal."
At this point, someone nudged the expert, who chuckled, "It's nothing, many people know that. It's not a secret." Then, with a serious expression, he said, "The Rockefeller family has always been devout Christians. The meaning of Satan is quite obvious. However, these are not issues. Internationally, Satan has long been defined as a cult and a terrorist organization. However, their influence is mostly concentrated in the Americas, Europe, and Africa, with very little in Asia, so it basically has nothing to do with our country."
"This time, Xiao Bai Meng probably obtained this music unintentionally. Heh, don't look at me like that. Xiao Bai Meng is a member of the Red Hacker Alliance, which has always had exchanges with the military, so it's not surprising that I know him. I also know that Xiao Bai Meng's nickname is 'Network Reconnaissance Machine,' and he often discovers things that others can't. So based on this, we estimate that Xiao Bai Meng accidentally discovered this song and then fell for it. It's not that Satan's people wanted to target our country."
Chen Xu scratched his head. Actually, he thought so too. Although he didn't know anything about Satan, according to the information he had, what connection did the people of Nigeria have with China?
So Chen Xu asked, "What was the United States' response?"
The colonel chuckled. "How could the Americans agree to something so blatantly embarrassing in public? Look at how actively they're organizing the UN forces; they might be after this kind of music. Because S..." He paused, then continued, "Because according to our experts' research, working with subconscious information will be a crucial tactic in future warfare. This method is highly effective and covert, but unfortunately, although various countries are researching it, they haven't made much progress. This time, we didn't expect Satan to get there first. The Americans' big move is simply to obtain their research data and personnel."
"The US has already developed a countermeasure: using loudspeakers to counter the music. Their special forces are now equipped with noise-canceling headsets and issue orders entirely through a unified channel. They can also handle any unexpected situations immediately. As for what kind of damage it might cause, we're not sure."
Chen Xu found his words amusing and couldn't help but laugh, "That's right, you can only be a thief one day, how can you guard against thieves for a thousand days?"
The colonel smiled and said, "That's exactly right. That's why we have to catch these people now. Whether it's our country or other countries, they certainly want these technologies because subconscious messages can not only harm people, but also help them. However, the most urgent task is to prevent Satan from continuing to exist, otherwise, one day it will be our turn to be in big trouble."
Chen Xu nodded in agreement. At this moment, the expert next to him excitedly said, "We've found the computer address of the person Xiaobai Meng hacked into. We're currently hacking in, and the other party hasn't noticed. We've also found the data!"
"What information? What information?"
"Look!" the expert exclaimed excitedly, "This is clearly a personal computer, a Windows V personal user. Although there's nothing of importance or illegal content on this computer, there is a song file on the desktop. I guess Xiaobai Meng copied this file back out of curiosity, which led to what happened later."
"Is Xiaobai Meng bored out of his mind? Why is he copying music files?"
Hearing Chen Xu address him like that, the colonel couldn't help but laugh, saying, "You think Xiao Bai Meng's nickname 'cyber spy' came from nowhere? It's because he steals a lot of things when he steals, taking back all sorts of random documents. That's why he often manages to find a lot of useful information."
Upon hearing this, Chen Xu felt sorry for Xiao Bai Meng. It seemed that being too curious wasn't a good thing. So Chen Xu asked, "What's on this person's computer? Does it contain the identities of members of Satan?"
“I don’t know,” the expert said. “The address is in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, and we happen to have an embassy there…”
The colonel nodded, immediately noted down the address, and went to make the call. Although he didn't specify what it was about, Chen Xu knew he must have someone investigate.
An hour later, a fax arrived, and the colonel frowned upon reading it. Chen Xu hurriedly asked what had happened. The colonel didn't hand the fax to him but instead passed it to the experts behind him, saying, "Our people were too late. They only discovered the man was already dead when they arrived at the address."
"Dead?!"
Chapter 112 Valentine's Day Dinner
The situation reached a stalemate once again. When the staff of the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria arrived, they found a black man who had been dead for some time. The cause of death was suicide. Like Xiao Baimeng, he had multiple injuries and his body was already decomposed beyond recognition.
The weather in Nigeria is terribly hot. This person died in his apartment and was already rotting, but no one lived nearby so no one knew. It is estimated that he had been dead for more than 24 hours, and his computer had been left on the whole time.
The trail ends here again.
Chen Xu returned home dejectedly. After all, as a student, he couldn't be of any help and was simply told to go back to sleep. When he arrived at his lodgings, he pushed open the door and found the room completely dark. Chen Xu immediately felt a little dizzy, thinking, "Damn, is there another power outage?"
The kitchen was filled with the glow of candlelight. Guan Yi and Gao Xiaojie were sitting at the dining table, chatting and laughing. Chen Xu casually pressed the light switch, and "click," the light came on.
Chen Xu was stunned again, thinking, "There's definitely electricity!" But before he could speak, Guan Yi and Gao Xiaojie shouted in unison, "Hey! Turn off the lights! You have no sense of romance!"
Then a girl chuckled. Chen Xu recognized the voice—it was Tang Bixuan! What was she doing here?!
At this moment, Guan Yi rushed over, turned off the lights, and pulled Chen Xu towards the kitchen, complaining as they went, "You're only coming back now. You've already ruined the atmosphere. Do you even know what day it is today?"
Chen Xu was completely confused: "What day?"
"Valentine's Day!" Gao Xiaojie exclaimed from the kitchen, "Oh dear, what a blockhead! You don't even know it's a day like this!"
Chen Xu then realized that it was Valentine's Day after all. He had completely forgotten about Valentine's Day after what happened today. However, Chen Xu was used to bickering and joking with the two of them, so he chuckled and said, "Please, what's so great about foreign holidays? If you're going to celebrate, celebrate Qixi Festival."
"Okay!" Guan Yi immediately caught Chen Xu's grammatical error: "You said it, you'd spend Qixi Festival with us! I'm going shopping!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Xu felt an urge to slap himself!
No way, sis? Shopping?!
Chen Xu knew how terrifying it was to shop with this woman! She could pick out a dress from the beginning of a street, walk all the way to the end to find something better, and then walk back to the first shop only to see those two girls laughing so gleefully. Chen Xu couldn't be bothered with them at all. Seeing Tang Bixuan, he smiled and said, "Little girl, why are you back with these two women too?"
"Don't even mention it!" Guan Yi slapped Chen Xu and scolded, "All four of us have been fired. That bastard Li Jiannan came up with a whole bunch of excuses, saying that the murder had a bad impact on the store. We even dragged Bixuan down with us."
"What?" Chen Xu said in surprise, "You've been fired? What about your salary?"
Guan Yi smiled smugly: "That bastard said we didn't sign a contract and wouldn't pay us. But do he think that's possible? With our classmate Gao Xiaojie there, he honestly settled all the wages in the end. I worked there for half a day and got fifteen yuan, which is not bad."
Chen Xu saw Gao Xiaojie smiling smugly and asked him curiously, "How did you get him to give you money?"
Gao Xiaojie laughed heartily, her first words being, "Hmph, Guan Yi, Bixuan, and I sat there all afternoon, drinking tea, eating cake, and discussing whether there was anything wrong with the milk at Huadiexuan. In the end, all the customers were scared away. That bastard had no choice but to pay us our wages."
Chen Xu sweated a little and said, "You guys are tough." Gao Xiaojie wrinkled her cute little nose and said, "Please, our wages aren't much. It's not even as much as the money for a few cakes this afternoon. But Bixuan worked hard for a month, she can't work for nothing, right? She definitely has to get her wages back."
Guan Yi chuckled and said, "That's right. Although this has implicated Bixuan, our cake shop is about to open. Since we all have to go to school, we need someone to manage it for us long-term. So, we've specially hired Bixuan to work there. What do you think? Do you agree?"
Chen Xu immediately agreed, because he also wanted to help this seemingly frail girl. Partly because of his boss, and partly because the girl was indeed quite pitiful. Moreover, Guan Yi was right. If the four students were running a shop, they couldn't be there 24 hours a day. Although he hadn't known Tang Bixuan for long, he could tell she was a very trustworthy person, and with her there, Chen Xu felt at ease.
At this moment, Gao Xiaojie excitedly shouted, "Great! Great! Everyone's here now. Let's eat! Let's eat!"
Then the three girls busily took the food out of the microwave. Guan Yi even magically produced a bottle of red wine and four wine glasses. Gao Xiaojie took the wine bottle and looked at the label; the words were all unfamiliar. So she asked curiously, "Where did you buy it? What brand is it?"
Guan Yi chuckled, skillfully opened the cork with a bottle opener, then gently poured a little into a wine glass, held it up to the candlelight, and said, "I brought it from home. Hmm, it's not expensive, only about a hundred yuan. I brought it because it looked fun. I don't even know what brand it is."
Chen Xu scoffed and said, "You're treating a bottle of red wine that costs over a hundred yuan like it's nothing special? Bring it over here, I'll pour it!"
So Chen Xu took the bottle and poured half a glass into each of the four glasses... It was like pouring beer! Guan Yi rolled his eyes at him: "You're really like a cow chewing on a peony, you have no taste at all."
The inscription on the bottle is "Petru," which is the Latin word for Peter, named after Saint Peter, one of Jesus' disciples. It is one of the world's top red wines, and its production is extremely limited.
Moreover, this bottle of wine is from 1982. If you really want to calculate it, the price of this bottle of wine is at least 35,000 yuan now!
Chen Xu took a sip and said, "Hmm, it tastes alright, quite smooth, much better than Great Wall dry red wine."
Guan Yi almost burst out laughing and said, "How about adding some Sprite?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Xu immediately said, "Hmm, add some more for me. This wine smells quite good, but it's not sweet."
Guan Yi rolled his eyes. He watched as Chen Xu added a bottle of Sprite, tasted it, and thought it tasted good, praising, "It's much sweeter than before." Gao Xiaojie and Bi Xuan also wanted to add some, but Guan Yi stopped them, saying that although the wine wasn't expensive, it shouldn't be wasted like this. He added that Sprite could be drunk anytime, and it was better to stick to red wine for now.
What a joke! Don't you know that top-quality red wines are sugar-free? European winemaking techniques have been refined over centuries to finally find a way to remove sugar from wine. By adding Sprite, aren't you just adding sugar back in?
Red wine steak and caviar brought by Guan Yi—that's tonight's meal. It looks quite sophisticated, but tasting it...
Chen Xu took a bite of the steak in front of him, and his eyes widened immediately. Guan Yi, sitting opposite him, smiled and said, "Isn't it delicious? I personally grilled that steak for you! You see, I even eat Gao Xiaojie's cooking. Isn't that giving you face? It's my first time!"
The words were far too ambiguous. It didn't bother Tang Bixuan who didn't understand, but Gao Xiaojie almost spat out his drink from laughing. Chen Xu, at this point, had no time to ponder the ambiguity in the words. The first time? Hmm. That word was somewhat ambiguous, but in certain specific situations, the meaning of "first time" could be far more terrifying!
Especially cooking!
Chen Xu forced a smile and was about to say something when Guan Yi said, "You don't think my cooking is bad, do you? That would be too hurtful. You have to finish it, okay?"
Chen Xu looked at Guan Yi's face, trying hard to tell whether she was deliberately messing with him or it was really her first time cooking. But seeing the expectant look on the woman's face, like a kindergarten child waiting to be praised by the teacher for doing something they thought was amazing, Chen Xu forced a smile and said, "Mmm, delicious."
After saying that, Chen Xu started chugging the red wine. Good heavens, is salt free?! And this beef—is this for cavemen?! It's bloody inside! And not only is it bloody inside, but the outside is charred, like carbonized charcoal!
This reminded Chen Xu of his first time going hiking and barbecuing with friends when he was in second grade. He just wanted to have fun and didn't prepare anything. He only brought a piece of meat and a little salt… and it was a large, uncut piece of pork weighing two pounds. As for anything else, he didn't bring a barbecue grill, oil, or any other miscellaneous seasonings.
The result of the barbecue was predictable. The meat turned out exactly like it is now—charred on the outside and still bloody inside. Everyone had diarrhea for two days afterward… But there was one advantage: the meat we brought was pork belly with both lean and fat. The fat rendered into lard after being grilled, which dripped onto the lean meat. We discovered that meat with the lard wouldn't burn, so we knew to bring lard next time we went for a barbecue…
Thinking about his own past and present, Chen Xu felt he couldn't undermine Guan Yi's confidence like that. He never expected this woman to be so skilled in performance, dance, and martial arts—she was practically an unparalleled enchantress—yet she turned out like this when it came to cooking.
Ah, as expected, fate is fair!
Watching Chen Xu eat with great relish... in reality, he was swallowing his tears and poison while forcing a smile. Guan Yi's eyes curved into crescent moons, looking incredibly charming and alluring in the candlelight.
The red candles flickered, and three beautiful young women sat at the table. They didn't say much, but the atmosphere was warm and cozy.
This was Chen Xu's first Valentine's Day, and he was surprised to find himself with three girls. Although he knew he couldn't touch one of them, he had a flirtatious relationship with two other stunningly beautiful girls. Thinking about this, Chen Xu felt that the steak wasn't so bad after all, and this feeling was really great.
Halfway through the meal, Guan Yi suddenly slammed his hand on the table and said, "How are the four of us going to sleep tonight? Can three people even fit in the bed?"
This topic was a bit realistic. Gao Xiaojie and Chen Xu exchanged a glance and couldn't help but think of the romantic scene from that night. So they immediately looked away, blushed, lowered their heads, and remained silent.
Tang Bixuan quickly said, "Oh, um. I can go back to my own place by myself. Don't worry about me!"
“That won’t do,” Gao Xiaojie said. “Bixuan, the place you’re staying in is too remote and chaotic. It’s not safe for a girl like you to live there alone. Why don’t you stay with us?”
Guan Yi was also trying to persuade him, and Chen Xu secretly asked Gao Xiaojie, "Did you go to her place?"
Gao Xiaojie nodded and said, "You stayed at the police station this afternoon, right? Guan Yi and I took Bixuan back to Huadiexuan since we had nothing else to do. Then we got fired by that jerk! Later, Guan Yi and I helped Bixuan send some things back... because she lives too far away. There's a quilt here for her to sleep in at night."
"Where does Bixuan live?"
"It's very remote, almost in the suburbs. The security there is terrible, but the rent is cheap. A small single room is only seventy yuan a month, but the room is very dilapidated, damp, and moldy. And both sides of the road are lined with small hair salons and the like, with red lights on, which is the legendary red-light district."
Chen Xu broke out in a cold sweat. The mention of the red-light district reminded him of a very sordid thing his roommate, Qin Xiao'an, had done. Because when they first entered university, they were all quite innocent. They didn't know many things. Although they had occasionally heard the name "red-light district" before, they didn't know exactly what it entailed.
The street behind Hexie University is full of red lights; at night, the whole street is flashing red lights. It's lined with small hair salons, hotels, and the like. The hair salons all have signs advertising hair washing, massage, and wellness services.
One night, Qin Xiao'an wanted to get a haircut and accidentally wandered into this place. A scantily clad woman rubbed his hair and then put her hand between Xiao'an's legs. Startled, Xiao'an quickly threw down ten yuan for a shampoo and ran away with his head full of shampoo bubbles.
Hearing that Tang Bixuan was staying there, Chen Xu felt uneasy, but also a little impressed. Because, as the saying goes, men with money become bad, and women who become bad get money… Of course, the former is another matter; Chen Xu felt he was quite wealthy himself now. Yet, he remained so pure, as pure as a white flower… cough cough, I'm a little embarrassed by this self-praise.
It's true that women can become rich by turning bad, and with Tang Bixuan's looks and resources, she could easily name her price, and countless wealthy men would flock to her. Yet, she remained remarkably independent, content despite her meager existence. Such a girl is truly rare!
So Chen Xu said, "Bixuan, why don't you come and stay here? I can sleep in the living room tonight and find a bigger place tomorrow. It's really not safe for a young girl like you to stay there. Who knows when a drunkard might barge into your room?"