Stealing the core data from Eagla would take four minutes.
Estelle, supporting herself, looked at the progress bar; her vision was blurred so badly that she could not see anything clearly.
She kept lifting her hand to wipe them away, but the tears came as if out of control, with new ones welling up just after she had wiped them off, streaming continuously down her cheeks.
How could she be so fragile, she thought, all she had learned were things from the past. Since they were facts that could not be changed, regret was useless; there was nothing to cry about.
But her body's reaction contradicted her rationality, perhaps because she had finally escaped the eyes of others. Now alone in the confidential room, her usual calmness had shattered, probably because she wasn't as strong-hearted as she had thought.
The Eagla storage device had been cracked by her own hands, leaving fewer traces of Cyrus in this world. If he could see all of this, he would surely praise her with a smile as he used to, but they would never meet again.
"How great am I?" Estelle let her hand drop and smiled lightly. "My memory is really good. After all these years, I can still remember those codes you wrote."
Data replication complete.
Estelle quickly retrieved the micro-computer. The red numbers on her wristwatch blinked, showing a countdown of 1 minute and 5 seconds remaining.
There was plenty of time.
She sighed in relief, stood up to leave, but suddenly heard a faint sound from the machine, causing her to turn around instinctively.
3——2——1——
The confidential room suddenly regained power, and sharp light filled the area instantly.
Estelle couldn't avoid it in time and was blinded by intense ultraviolet light. She froze, and almost simultaneously, the infrared tracking system's alarm blared, echoing in the confined space.
"Unauthorized intruder detected—"
The sophisticated mechanism activated, and the Eagla storage device was emergency submerged underground. Mechanical metal doors were locked layer by layer, and wall-mounted laser targeting systems aimed precisely at Estelle's forehead.
"Estelle, female, 34 years old, resident of Electronic City." The attack system extracted her facial information and matched it against a database, its simulated voice cold and slow. "Intrusion fact has been transmitted. Waiting for security department instructions, wait time is 5 minutes. If no bail instruction is received, Stella Technology will unilaterally authorize execution. During this period, the intruder must not move."
Sixteen infrared biometric trackers focused on her from multiple angles. Estelle stood stiffly in place, unable to move.
Her heart felt like ashes, her limbs turned cold, and her mind went blank. Stella Technology had been sealed by the police, and at this moment, the security department was unmanned; no one would respond with a bail order for her. This was an era of rapid technological development, where national law granted absolute protection rights to cutting-edge secrets. Those suspected of stealing secrets, once the facts were established, could be executed. Leading tech companies could even apply to the government for the authority to deal with intruders on-site – Stella Technology was one of the authorized entities on the whitelist.
The dark gray walls reflected pale digits of time. Estelle lowered her head numbly; the micro-computer was transmitting the data from the Eagla storage device to Soren.
She couldn't interrupt the transmission before it was complete, which meant that she wouldn't be able to send any other messages to Soren until four minutes later, by which time it would be too late.
What should she do?
She was out of ideas, seemingly cornered.
The extreme tension brought her to the brink of mental collapse. Estelle's breathing became chaotic; she tried to force herself to stay calm but was powerless to do so. A miniaturized gun aimed at the front of her head, and any movement or significant action would immediately trigger an attack. In the end, she closed her eyes in despair, letting time pass. Five minutes later, she would face death.
4 minutes.
3 minutes.
Why had the power been restored early? Was it due to an error in her countdown, or was someone manipulating it behind the scenes?
Estelle stood quietly. Under the extreme despair, she strangely calmed down. Her intuition told her that there must be a reason behind the precise one-minute advance, but she couldn't figure it out. It didn't matter anyway; soon, she wouldn't have time to think about it anymore.
2 minutes.
Suddenly, there was a loud sound like an explosion, and the only window in the confidential room was smashed from the outside wall.
A fierce night wind swept in from high above. Estelle suddenly lifted her head, and Crescent, with blood seeping from his elbow, jumped through the window, rushed to her, and pulled her tightly into his arms.
"Bionic robots are not within the range of infrared biometric detection," he said, his voice trembling and panting. "In two minutes, I'll take you away."
His right arm had been torn apart by high-strength glass, his bionic muscles shredded, wires tangled messily around exposed bones. When he held her tightly, he shook violently; Estelle was all too familiar with his pain response, and she couldn't help but feel a sudden sting in her nose. "What happened to your hand..."
Crescent didn't have time to answer that.
"We're on the 17th floor, it's too high." He endured the pain and spoke quickly. "There's a lake outside the window. I didn't have time to confirm its depth, but if we use our bodies and trees to deflect and cushion the fall multiple times, we can reduce the speed of landing in the water. If we're lucky, you might survive."
Estelle seemed to have lost the ability to understand language. She stared blankly for a moment and asked, "If I can survive, what about you?"
Crescent asked.
He had promised her that he wouldn't lie anymore, so he said, "I won't be able to."
"Don't..." Tears filled her eyes, and Estelle desperately clung to Crescent's hand, her voice trembling. "Don't do this, I don't want this..."
"Estelle, calm down and listen to me." The countdown on the wall showed 00: 59. Crescent used the last minute to say these words to her. "I deeply regret arguing with you last night; those were my angry words, not what I truly meant. I'm happy that you took me home. Before I met you, I had never seen the real sky, nor had I ever experienced true love. Thank you for bringing all of this to me. Robots can never resist program commands, so protecting you is something I must do. You are the best engineer in this world, and your life has greater meaning. Don't blame yourself, and don't linger in regret. Please forget me and move forward. For my last wish. Estelle, I love you."
Estelle broke down into uncontrollable sobs. Crescent raised his eyes and looked at the decreasing numbers on the wall.
The next moment was a battle between artificial intelligence. As the numbers reached zero, the attack system initiated firing. But Crescent had made a preemptive judgment 0.01 seconds earlier, successfully dodging the bullet and rushing towards the window with Estelle in his arms.
The execution failed; the intruder was moving south.
The attack system quickly adjusted its firing direction. One shot, then another. Crescent gritted his teeth and trembled. Finally, before the third bullet hit his body, he arrived at the window and leaped down.
Shattered glass fell along with them, as if it were a glittering rain.
The intruder escaped, and the attack system initiated self-destruction. The moment they jumped from the window, the 17th floor of Stella Technology exploded, illuminating the night sky of the city with a towering flame. The air shook violently, and Estelle, held tightly by Crescent, plummeted downward like a broken string.
The sharp sensation of weightlessness nearly caused her to faint. Estelle closed her eyes in a daze, imagining she was standing in a vast wilderness.
Crescent came and went, like a brief sandstorm, but in the end, she was left alone.
