Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 445 - 89th - : Xiang Shan’s Strategy

Chapter 445: 89th Chapter: Xiang Shan’s Strategy

Xiang Shan felt that the girl’s momentum suddenly weakened.

Xiang Shan scratched his head, "Your mistake... hmm, that’s really a complex issue."

Zhu Xinyu’s lips trembled, as if she wanted to say something, but then she swallowed her words several times.

Xiang Shan turned around, found a place to sit, rummaged through his bag, took out a small can of sports drink, and handed it to Zhu Xinyu.

The girl sighed, "I really don’t know the real identity of Ms. Ichigo."

Xiang Shan nodded, "A female, huh..."

"Eh? Based on the name, it’s almost certain to be female, right..." Zhu Xinyu twiddled her fingers, "No man would be named ’Strawberry’ right?"

"The characters ’一期’, ’一护’, ’一号’ can all be pronounced as Ichigo," Xiang Shan said, "It’s impolite to assume someone’s gender based solely on a name."

"Ah?" Zhu Xinyu felt like her worldview was being challenged.

Xiang Shan smiled. He could actually understand Zhu Xinyu’s thinking. Zhu Xinyu didn’t want to betray her past friends, so she didn’t want to divulge anything. However, at least after these days of interaction, she was willing to trust the judgement of the many scholars within the Rama Project that "Yawgmoth Voigt is innocent."

Zhu Xinyu didn’t want to see any miscarriages of justice occur.

She wanted to hint at Xiang Shan in a subtle way.

At this stage, the academic world is still dominated by a higher proportion of men. Due to society’s education from an early age, it’s more difficult for women to delve into and study in a narrow field. In most industries that require depth, the number of women is relatively sparse. Naturally, by that ratio, even fewer reach top levels.

Those who can enter the research industry are generally at the apex of their professional domain, standing at the edge of human knowledge and facing the unknown world.

If one were to focus on the "female" clue, it could narrow the scope to a few suspects.

The name "Ichigo" had already been reviewed by Xiang Shan and Hartman, so... a slight hint shouldn’t count as... betrayal... right...

Zhu Xinyu felt somewhat uneasy.

But Xiang Shan seemed not to have any intention of accepting Zhu Xinyu’s kindness. He crossed his arms over his chest and said, "The name itself doesn’t indicate the holder’s gender, let alone it being an ID. Maybe your friend isn’t even Japanese, just a male from the Federation who likes Japanese animation. That’s hardly a ’direction’ or ’clue.’ And besides, this matter is someone else’s responsibility. There are others slowly investigating—here, aren’t you thirsty?"

Xiang Shan shook the sports drink in his hand.

"I’ve been holding it out for quite some time now."

Zhu Xinyu then took the drink and opened it herself.

After intense activity, she was indeed quite thirsty.

After taking a couple of sips, she looked at Xiang Shan again.

In fact, she could tell from certain speech habits that her friend with the ID named Ichigo was indeed Japanese. But Xiang Shan seemed to have blocked any chance for her to speak up. Xiang Shan didn’t seem interested in catching anyone.

Xiang Shan bore no ill will towards Zhu Xinyu and her associates.

A group of young people wanting to change the world.

He didn’t dislike such people at all.

In Xiang Shan’s view, Zhu Xinyu’s mistake was that "the direction of the effort was wrong." But a wrong direction can be corrected. More frightening is "being unaware of current errors," "turning a blind eye upon seeing them," or "refusing to change despite being aware."

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t oppose such people. In a different context, he might even be willing to offer these people a small convenience.

Provided what they stole wasn’t something like the Rama Project that could trigger a worldwide social phenomenon.

Of course, that’s not the only reason Xiang Shan is standing by.

Xiang Shan’s inaction is to create the most advantageous situation for "his own side."

In the end, the reason Rama Project’s information couldn’t be leaked was that the fact of "aliens’ existence" might trigger global social unrest. But the information Zhu Xinyu stole is still not sufficient to prove "there are aliens here."

It was merely some "code that is very regular but can’t run on any known hardware" and "an extremely strange-looking protein that doesn’t seem like it came from Earth."

Apart from Zhu Xinyu, no one even knew these two things came from the same place.

The chances of outsiders associating it with "aliens" are quite low.

The former can be entirely attributed to "some kind of experimental new technology," and as for the latter... Wasn’t something similar found in a biologist’s paper researching Earth’s life forms? It’s entirely possible it’s from Earth! Just from an obscure region! It’s too common for organic macromolecules not encountered by humans to exist in corners of the planet unreachable by mankind!

After Zhu Xinyu was captured, the Hanuman Group underwent an adjustment. The "Zhu Rong incident" was resolved, and during this tumult, the Rama Project District had already overcome the hardest times. Xiang Shan’s "wise decisions" in resolving this incident indeed received surface-level "high praise," but the "professional integrity of a scientist" he demonstrated also made others hesitant to support him freely—some of his decisions appeared very "mad scientist."

Xiang Shan remains the leader of the Hanuman Group, but his authority is still confined within the group and he cannot command any Soldier outside of the district.

"Recovering secrets," "searching specific targets," that’s not Xiang Shan’s domain.

Therefore, this is not Xiang Shan’s responsibility, and any advice from Xiang Shan on this matter would not be credited.

On the contrary, if the matter truly reached the hands of Yawgmoth’s ex-wife, and if this lady did indeed believe it was plagiarism and "sought resolution," then he would have a chance to get involved.

—Ah, is that kind of thinking a bit too bureaucratic...

Xiang Shan occasionally felt awkward about himself.

Although after capturing Zhu Xinyu he had concluded "this group can’t piece together the truth," he felt somewhat "like a bureaucrat who ignores the big picture for the sake of gaining merits."

But at the same time, he truly believed that the ending he planned was the happy one for everyone.

That was a world where no one gets hurt... um, a world where no one except Zhu Xinyu gets hurt.

Thinking this, Xiang Shan felt a bit sorry for Zhu Xinyu. However, outwardly he said, "The things you must disclose were mostly explained on the plane. No one will force you for the remaining issues. I don’t think your ideal of changing the world is wrong, only your method of achieving it. On this matter, you needn’t be too hard on yourself."

"Changing the world..." Zhu Xinyu held the sports drink and repeated softly to herself.