Reality Programming Association

Chapter 126: Chapter 52: The Kind Bun-Head’s Change

A few seconds later, Shao Yiyi’s voice came through:

”She really is wearing them. Brother Cos, how did you know?”

Hearing this, Yu Xian’s heart clenched and his scalp went numb.

”Take her headphones off! Quick! Go wake her up!”

”Wait, don’t tell me Xiaoxiao is...” Shao Yiyi finally realized.

”Hurry!! Now!!” Yu Xian was practically roaring.

Shao Yiyi could hear the barely contained panic in Yu Xian’s voice. She didn’t ask any more questions. A series of slaps, shoves, and shouts could be heard from the other end of the line.

”Xiaoxiao? Xiaoxiao! Wake up!”

”Hey! Get up! Fire! Earthquake!”

Still, only Shao Yiyi’s voice could be heard.

Yu Xian’s heart was pounding wildly. It was impossible not to wake someone from a normal sleep. In a situation like this, there was only one possibility.

”Shake her! Shake her hard! Hurry!” Yu Xian shouted.

”Oh, okay!”

The phone was thrown aside, followed by the sound of sheets and blankets rubbing violently against a bed.

”Xiaoxiao! Don’t scare me! Wake up!”

A moment later, a drowsy whimper finally came from the other end of the line:

”Ngh... Hmm?”

”Xiaoxiao?”

”What’s wrong...?” Through the phone, Wen Xiao’s voice sounded soft and weak.

”Yiyi? Why are you...”

”She’s awake! She’s awake! Brother Cos, she’s awake! Although she seems a little out of it...” Shao Yiyi shouted in pleasant surprise.

”Ah... Who?”

There was another sudden rustle from the other end, as if Wen Xiao had shot up into a sitting position.

”Hello... Yu Xian?”

Yu Xian took a deep breath, suppressing his lingering fear as he asked:

”Wen Xiao, were you listening to those newly synthesized audio files?”

The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds before Wen Xiao’s quiet voice came through:

”Mm, yes.”

”Are you crazy?!”

Hearing her words, Yu Xian’s accumulated fear instantly transformed into anger.

”Wen Xiao, how many times have I told you before? This stuff will mess with a person’s memories and personality! You’ll turn yourself into a lunatic with cognitive dissonance, do you know that?!”

He had become hysterical from excessive worry.

”Are you going to throw your life away for a project?! If something really happens, how am I supposed to save you?! How am I supposed to explain this to everyone?!”

Yu Xian roared out everything on his mind in one breath, his chest heaving violently.

The other end of the line fell dead silent. Yu Xian also realized he had lost his composure.

He waited for Wen Xiao’s angry rebuttal, or at least an excuse.

However, there was none.

After a long moment, Wen Xiao’s soft voice came through. She sounded like a small child who had done something wrong, full of cautious apology and grievance:

”I’m sorry, Ma—”

”It’s just... I was thinking, I’m the developer. If I don’t try it myself, what if it hurts someone else...”

Her voice trailed off into a sob.

”I know I was wrong. I won’t do it again, really. From now on... from now on, I’ll discuss it with you. Please don’t be angry, okay?”

Yu Xian was stunned. All the words he had been about to say were suddenly stuck in his throat.

Wen Xiao’s attitude left him at a complete loss.

Just then, Shao Yiyi snatched the phone on the other end.

”Yu Xian! You’re a total jerk!” Shao Yiyi said protectively.

”Why are you being so fierce?! You scared Xiaoxiao to tears! Wasn’t she just trying to speed up our progress? And you’re over there yelling at her!”

’She’s crying?’ Yu Xian’s heart tightened.

”I’m... I’m not crying,” Wen Xiao’s faint voice sounded from the side.

”And you say you’re not crying!” Shao Yiyi said menacingly.

”Brother Cos! You have to apologize! Right now!”

Yu Xian sighed. His anger had long since dissipated, leaving only a heart full of guilt.

That kind girl with the bun hairstyle hadn’t even considered her own safety. Although he had just been worried, his attitude had indeed been too harsh.

”I’m sorry...”

”Sorry to who?” Shao Yiyi demanded loudly.

”If you don’t cheer Xiaoxiao up, I’ll get even with you next time!”

”I’m sorry... Xiaoxiao,” Yu Xian said sincerely. It was the first time he had called Wen Xiao by her nickname.

”It’s okay, it’s okay, it doesn’t matter, Ma—” Wen Xiao took the phone back, her voice still a little nasal.

”Subjectively, I know you were just worried about me. I was the one in the wrong this time.”

Shao Yiyi could be heard in the background, lecturing Wen Xiao about not listening to the audio files on her own, and that even if debugging was necessary, others could help share the load.

Yu Xian chimed in with a few words of agreement, but he still felt that something was off.

He didn’t know why, but while it was a good thing that Wen Xiao wasn’t angry, he couldn’t shake the strange feeling in his heart.

But he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly was strange. ’Could it be related to those audio files?’

But a single listening session shouldn’t have caused such a big reaction. After all, Zhang Yang and the others had listened more than once.

Yu Xian shook his head, pushing down the inexplicable feeling for now and steering the conversation back on track.

”I called you because the supernode has run into some obstacles. The candidate machines Old Shi found are all public computers, so we can’t operate them long enough for the installation. Do you have any good ideas?”

”These public computers, they’re probably all running older versions of Windows, right? In that case...”

Wen Xiao sniffled, thought for a moment, and said:

”I can make an automation script for you and package it as a BadUSB driver.”

”BadUSB?” Yu Xian was once again out of his depth.

”Yeah. You know how in the movies, you see hackers take a ’USB drive’, plug it in, and it starts working automatically, and then they just pull it out and leave? That’s what this is.”

Wen Xiao explained:

”The logic behind it is to disguise the USB drive as a keyboard driver. After you plug it into a computer, it will simulate keyboard input, typing in code over a few minutes to complete a series of operations like unpacking, installing, hiding the process, and writing to the registry for startup on boot.”