"At this pace, we'll identify the mole sometime after retirement." growled Mo Jiali.
She was frustrated at the slow progress.
Huo Shen had ordered his team to assist her in identifying the mole at the Institute. Since this project was not known to central command, they couldn't use the military base.
They had organized in Rhino's tiny apartment, tucked away in a rundown part of the city. The apartment didn't have much - just a couple of bedrooms, a surprisingly well equipped kitchen and a comfortable study.
The entire team was now cooped up in the study, with Lin Ke and Mo Jiali trying to "recreate" a fake project.
The plan was simple.
Each member of the Project Nexus team will get the newly resurrected Project Nexus with one tiny change that is solely specific to them. Depending on whichever code gets leaked, they could use it to track down the mole.
It was an age old spying technique, simple to execute, really.
Unfortunately, it wasn't so in reality. Mo Jiali was one breath away from murder.
"That's it?" she snapped. "You're rerouting the checksum through a mirrored loop? I could've done that half-asleep."
Lin Ke didn't bother to respond. He didn't even look up. Sweat beaded faintly at his temple -not from stress, but from how fast he was thinking.
For any ordinary hacker, what he'd already completed would've taken days. He'd chewed through layers of encryption, mapped the architecture, and rebuilt a functional scaffold in a matter of hours.
But that wasn't the problem.
The problem was that he wasn't Mo Jiali.
Project Nexus was Mo Jiali's brain child. Each line of code was primarily hers. It was elegant, ambitious, and something even AI couldn't fathom just yet.
"The mind of a National Level Researcher is indeed troublesome" he grumbled."The logic holds, this is sound!"
"It's wrong" Mo Jiali shot back "Nexus doesn't move like that - it's incompatible. We will be found out in minutes." Her hands never stopped. It continued coding with laser focus while monitoring what Lin Ke did.
Briefly, her mind flashed to the time at control tower - when a little highschool girl quietly resolved something her own formidable mind was grappling with.
How I wish Lu Mian could help out.
But, knowing Lu Mian wanted her coding skills to be kept quiet, Mo Jiali didn't bring it up.
Till date, Huo Shen's soldiers and even those at the control tower thought it was Mo Jiali who had opened up the comms.
Mo Jiali let the misunderstanding persist because it made no difference to her, and also helped shield Lu Mian.
She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, forcing herself to calm down.
Rhino noticed immediately.
"Break," he said firmly, rising to his feet. "Five minutes."
He handed Mo Jiali a cup of tea, voice lowered so only she could hear. "Lin Ke's the best we've got. We'll make it work."
She didn't answer, but she didn't argue either. That was when Lin Ke suddenly stiffened. Then squealed.
"Lumina's online!"
The room snapped to attention.
Mo Jiali didn't know yet. But the others knew the significance. This kid had single handedly helped them get out alive in the last mission.
"Check if he can come on" Falcon instructed.
Mo Jiali, was intrigued. Looking at the name, she felt a flash of intuition. "Give them the simplest code to try".
Lin Ke scoffed. "With his skills, we should atleast give him a challenge" and sent the recursion problem they had just been working on.
The team watched with bated breath as the minutes slowly slipped away. "Do you think he would agree?" asked Viper.
They all knew this was monstrously difficult. It made sense for the kid to take time to respond.
And then Lin Ke's system pinged - with the completed solution. The team blinked. They had not expected that.
"We're saved!" rejoiced Lin Ke. "Senior Mo, quickly check if it's ok".
Mo Jiali was already on it - scanning the codes with increasing appreciation. It was short, elegant, absolutely Nexus compatible.
Only one person she'd met would be capable of it. It's her! She realized, her lips curving as she gave a sharp nod. Lumina and Lu Mian were definitely the same people. "I am looking forward to working with this kid" she murmured appreciatively.
The response was immediate "I am short on money - how much does this pay?"
The team burst out laughing.
"A lot" Lin Ke promised without hesitation.
"Deal" came back the response almost immediately. "Send me the package. I will get back to you with timelines and milestones" and with that Lumina went dark.
"This kid is dangerous" muttered Falcon quietly, not knowing that the 'dangerous kid' was currently laughing and eating dessert with a happy Huo Moshe.
"Say" sat up Lin Ke, just realizing something. "Do you think this kid has designs on my sister?"
It added up - Mo Jiali and Lu Mian were the only two people they had rescued. Mo Jiali and Lumina didn't know each other. That only left Lu Mian.
"I don't mind. He seems to be good enough for her" mused Viper.
And immediately regretted it.
The words had barely left his mouth before a chill crawled up his spine.
Huo Shen had just stepped in.
Dust still clinging to his boots, fatigue etched into his features, it was evident that Huo Shen had just come from a hard mission.
Yet the room seemed to constrict around him. Exhausted or not, he radiated danger.
"…Who," he asked slowly, each syllable weighed and sharpened,
"Has designs on my ward again?"