Chapter Four: Confrontation Before the Tombstone

Rain continued to fall.

Fine threads of rain, like countless needles made from ox hair, pierced the skin of the city, stirring a cold, clammy dampness. Xiao Ran stood alone before Lu Hongsheng’s tombstone, shielded by a long, jet-black umbrella. The collar of her trench coat was raised, obscuring half her face, revealing only a pair of eyes so calm they bordered on indifference. Rainwater traced the edge of her umbrella, forming a shimmering curtain that separated her from this chilly, sodden world.

Her thoughts were wholly absorbed in last night’s operator, codenamed “Fisherman.” A financial criminal—why would he use military-grade encryption, the very method that National Security encountered five years ago during an S-class operation, to protect a mere USB drive? It made no sense. Unless... the one providing technical support was the same person—or the same organization—that attacked Lu Hongsheng five years ago.

Behind “Fisherman” must stand a master of technology.

This realization struck her like lightning, tearing through the fog in her mind.

Just then, the faint sound of footsteps treading wet grass emerged from the cypress grove behind her. Xiao Ran did not turn, but her hand tightened unconsciously around the umbrella’s handle; her body was instantly poised for defense.

The steps halted about five meters behind her.

She could feel a gaze, as cold and sharp as a blade forged in ice, resting upon her back. The air seemed to freeze. Only the steady, monotonous sound of raindrops drumming on her umbrella broke the silence.

Eventually, it was Xiao Ran who shattered the quiet. She slowly turned to face the newcomer.

A young man in a gray hoodie stood there, drenched to the bone, hair matted and stuck to his forehead, looking somewhat disheveled. In his hand was a wilted bouquet of white chrysanthemums and a bottle of the cheapest spirits.

He appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary mourner, braving the rain to pay his respects.

But Xiao Ran’s trained eyes immediately caught several anomalies.

First, among his offerings at the tombstone, besides the chrysanthemums and liquor, there was a dark, half-melted lump of metal—certainly not a typical tribute.

Second, when he wiped the tombstone, his fingers moved not with gentle care, but with quick, rhythmic taps—movements only top-tier programmers, those who live and breathe code, would possess as muscle memory.

A thought flashed through Xiao Ran’s mind.

She decided to probe further.

She softened her demeanor, presenting herself as another mourner—a junior to the late Lu Hongsheng—and took a step forward.

“Hello, are you also here to pay respects to Elder Lu?” Her voice was deliberately gentle.

Lin Feng looked up and saw a composed, unfamiliar woman. His expression became instantly guarded, and he responded only with a curt grunt, unwilling to say more.

“Sigh,” Xiao Ran gazed at the tombstone, seeming to speak to herself, “Elder Lu was a hero all his life, but in the end, he was betrayed by those scoundrels from Sky Vault Network... I heard there was once a talented young man by his side, but he disappeared without a trace.”

As she spoke, she locked her gaze on Lin Feng’s face.

When she uttered the words “Sky Vault Network,” she saw, unmistakably, a surge of hatred—raw and uncontained—ignite in the young man’s otherwise hollow eyes.

It was him.

Xiao Ran’s heart skipped a beat.

Combining the top-secret intelligence about “Zhurong” hacking Sky Vault Network and signing off “sweeping the grave for Lu Hongsheng,” she was now ninety percent certain—

This seemingly ordinary young man was the terror of the cybersecurity world: Zhurong.

She had found him.

A wave of emotion surged within her, but her face remained composed. She knew that every word from now on would be a battle of minds.

She slowly shed her “junior” disguise, her eyes sharpening with professional intensity.

“My surname is Xiao. I come from a department... very concerned about Elder Lu’s cause of death.”

Her voice was soft, but the words dropped like stones into Lin Feng’s heart.

“Lin Feng, or...” She paused, enunciating each word, “should I call you... ‘Zhurong’?”

Lin Feng’s body stiffened.

He looked up, eyes blazing with fury, fixing Xiao Ran with a death stare. He hadn’t expected his identity to be unmasked, especially here, in this way.

“I don’t care who you are. Leave. Now.” His voice was as cold as the stone of the tomb.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” Xiao Ran shook her head, determined to seize the initiative. “We’ve apprehended someone using the same encryption methods as five years ago. We suspect ‘they’ are back.”

She mentioned only “they,” not “Ouroboros”—a matter of national security protocol, and another test for Lin Feng.

The word “they” was a key, unlocking Lin Feng’s floodgate of hatred.

He lunged forward, grabbing Xiao Ran’s collar, his eyes bloodshot as he growled, “When Sky Vault Network cut off technical support for their own gain, where were you?! Five years ago, Elder Lu defended that pile of scrap metal alone, fighting to the last second, forced to choose mutual destruction with the enemy—where were you then?!”

“Now you want to care?! Tell me, where were you all when it mattered?!”

His voice grew louder and more hoarse with each shout, like a desperate fledgling beast cornered and howling in anguish.

Confronted by this sudden outburst, Xiao Ran’s gaze remained unfazed. She simply looked at him, letting the cold rain strike her face.

“Let go.” She uttered the words icily.

Lin Feng, breathing heavily, finally released his grip.

Xiao Ran straightened her collar, gazing at the genius before her, whose mind was clouded by hatred, and decided to throw out her most powerful weapon to shake him out of his personal turmoil.

“I’ve looked into your background, Lin Feng.” Her tone was clinical, like a surgeon dissecting a specimen. “You think that, as ‘Zhurong,’ hiding in the shadows and hacking a few foreign sites, you’ve avenged him? Don’t kid yourself. That’s not revenge—it’s childish self-indulgence, meaningless exile.”

“You think this is your private vendetta? With your pitiful, clandestine tricks, you can’t even scratch them! You don’t even know why they killed Elder Lu!”

Her voice suddenly rose. “This time, their target is ‘Huaxin Technologies.’ The lifeblood of our nation’s chips!”

Every word struck Lin Feng’s deepest wounds.

She stepped forward, her presence overwhelming, pushing Lin Feng to retreat.

“You couldn’t protect Elder Lu—that was five years ago. I have nothing to say about that.”

“But now, do you really want to stand by and watch the land he gave everything to defend be destroyed again by those vermin?!”

Her words were like hammer blows, pounding Lin Feng’s heart.

“Huaxin Technologies”... “Protecting the land”...

These grand phrases perfectly overlapped with the heavy last words that haunted him.

He wanted to retort, but could only remain speechless.

For the first time, his resolve faltered.

Seeing him subdued, Xiao Ran knew it was time to close the net. She was about to propose cooperation.

But once again, she underestimated Lin Feng.

Cornered, his mind blazed with a wild, animal intuition.

He looked at the formidable, incisive, and relentless woman before him, and a thought flashed through his mind.

Why would such an outstanding agent appear in intelligence analysis rather than on the front lines?

Unless... something happened in the field.

Something that made her unable to hold a gun ever again.

It was a high-IQ, almost malicious logical deduction.

He looked up, all anger and struggle vanished from his face, replaced by an expression of cruel, icy calm.

“You’re right,” he said quietly, his voice as cold and lethal as a serpent’s tongue. “My methods do not withstand scrutiny.”

He looked at Xiao Ran, a strange curve at the corner of his mouth.

“But at least...”

“...I won’t lose my grip on my gun at the critical moment.”

Boom—!

The words struck Xiao Ran like invisible lightning.

Her pupils dilated to the extreme.

Her whole body froze, as if all her blood drained away in an instant.

How could he know?!

That was the deepest, darkest secret within her, a nightmare she had barely sealed away after five years.

“You...” Her hand holding the umbrella began to tremble uncontrollably, just as it had in the bookstore.

That cold, hard armor was shattered by Lin Feng’s casual remark.

Seeing Xiao Ran pale and shaking, Lin Feng felt a brief surge of vengeance—but more than that, a restless discomfort he could not name.

He realized he had gone too far.

He no longer looked at her. He twisted open the bottle, drank deeply, the fiery liquid burning down his throat into his gut.

Then, he poured the remaining half over the tombstone in silence.

“Elder Lu, I’m leaving. I’ll see you next year.”

With those words, he turned to go.

Xiao Ran, through her shock and fury, miraculously regained her composure.

Her body still trembled slightly, but her gaze hardened into steel.

She knew that this man was ten thousand times more dangerous than she had imagined.

“Stop.”

Her voice, hoarse from emotion, rang out with undeniable authority.

Lin Feng paused, but did not turn.

“It seems you know more than I thought,” Xiao Ran said, staring at his back. “Lin Feng, whether you like it or not, from this moment, you are involved in this case.”

She spoke no more of secrets or grand ideals.

She issued a command that could not be refused.

“Tomorrow morning at nine, come to National Security and find me.”

Her voice was cold and resolute.

“Otherwise, bear the consequences.”

With that, she lingered no longer, umbrella raised, back straight, step by step, she walked into the endless curtain of rain.

Lin Feng remained, standing silently.

He looked at the stubborn silhouette of the woman, then glanced down at the tombstone, at the melted military medal still radiating a faint warmth in the rain.

At last, he murmured to the tombstone, as if speaking to himself.

“Elder Lu, it seems... this time, there’s no escaping.”