Chapter 12 — After My Brother Passed Away, I Received a Mysterious Text Message

Behind were chaotic voices.

"If they haven't found evidence, they won't be able to get rid of you easily."

"But they will use every means to force you to reveal yourself."

"Your family..."

"Most likely the next target."

My heart sank.

"Don't go home."

"Don't contact them either."

"Definitely not."

"The only way you have left is to turn the evidence in your hand into a weapon."

"They have to be handed over to someone who has the power to blow things up."

"To whom?"

I immediately asked. Right at that moment. There was a loud shout from the other side.

"Comrade Ly! Hand over the phone!"

Right after that. The call was disconnected. I stood dumbfounded. The hand holding the brick phone was cold as ice. Even comrade Ly couldn't protect himself. Next... They will most likely use my parents to force me to appear. I have to act before that happens. I have to turn the things in my hand into real weapons. Can't continue to sit and wait to die. I forced myself to calm down. Then walk into a coffee shop that's open twenty-four hours. I chose the most hidden location. Back against the wall. Face towards the door. From here I can observe anyone entering the shop. I took out my brother's laptop. The same black combat notebook that I just risked my life to get. Open the computer. Connect to public Wi-Fi. Then log in to the encrypted cloud storage. A series of files lie silently inside. System log. Like a giant maze of data. I took a deep breath. Open your brother's notebook. The first page is still a familiar name. Ma Tu Vien (Tieu Ma). I missed it. Continue flipping backwards. Date. IP address. Code snippets. And strange phrases. Songbird Project. The Shepherd. Data Stream Number 7. I open the data warehouse. Keyword search. I found a folder called: Project_Nightingale Project Nightingale. Inside are countless numbered subfolders. I randomly choose a folder. The moment unfolds. I was stunned. Inside is a series of personal information. Identification number. Phone number. Home address. Workplace. There's even a chat history. Private photo. Consumption habits. Behavioral psychology analysis. Those numbers... are the user ID. Tinh Vong Science and Technology is a company that develops a social networking application with hundreds of millions of users. And they... Have turned user privacy into a commodity for sale. I felt my heart sink. Continue searching for keywords. The Shepherd. I found an encrypted database. Attached is a document named: Shepherd_Instruction I open the document. Inside is his brother's note.

"Shepherd is an AI system."

"It uses data stolen from Project Nightingale to screen for valuable targets."

"Aka the flock of sheep."

"Screening criteria include:"

"Great property."

"Fragile social relations."

"Special interest."

"Or people with status but have weaknesses that are easy to control."

"After screening, the system will automatically generate a detailed weakness report for each target."

"These reports will be routed through Data Stream Number 7."

"A secret data tunnel."

"Then sell it to criminal organizations in the next step."

I felt chills down my spine. This is no longer a buying line sell data too. It's an automated slaughterhouse. A system that specializes in hunting people. As for So Minh... The owner of that slaughterhouse. In the notebook. My brother recorded the entire data transmission time of Data Stream Number 7. Along with the IP address of each recipient. Like a sea chart. And the database is encrypted in the archive. It's a ghost ship filled with crimes. Want to get on that ship. I need a password. I reread every line in the notebook. Go to the last page. I saw a very small line written in pencil. So blurry that it's almost obliterated.

"I'm not the first to discover this route."

"Before the storm comes..."

"He jumped off the ship."

"In memory of the free bird that flew away."

Free bird. I muttered that phrase over and over again. This is definitely a hint for the password. My brother is a programmer. His way of thinking is always logical. I remember something. I open the browser. Type search:

"Star Hammock Science and Technology technical director quits."

An old article appeared.

"Technical director Ma Siyuan left Tinh Vong Science and Technology for personal reasons."

"The Free Bird Laboratory project you founded is officially suspended."

Ma Siyuan. Free Bird. I immediately went back to the database file. Enter password: Press Enter. The file is opened. Inside is a giant data table. Target ID. Data type. Transaction amount. Recipient identifier. Scaryly obvious. Each line of data. They all represent a life being bought and sold. Every amount. All stained with the blood and tears of the victims. I scroll down to the most recent transactions. A transaction immediately caught my eye.