After returning to their base, Ma Youcai asked Xu Fang many questions and finally understood what they had done.
First of all, Xu Fang made special "blue markings" at various intersections near the Trinity Church. Anyone passing through these intersections would be marked.
When leaving the church, Xu Fang observed the stratosphere height below the Trinity Church to see if the author was present - the result was negative.
Afterwards, Xu Fang marked multiple intersections on the way to Newbury Street and Berkeley Music College, and then went with Lianyue and Ma Youcai to wait on Newbury Street. Xu Fang's target for capture was anyone who carried the marking.
Soon after, a woman who looked exactly like Kana appeared.
Xu Fang first burned her listening device, and then created a strong pressure in the narrow ear canal by uneven energy distribution, causing inner ear confusion and damaging the function of the vestibular organ, making the woman unconscious.
At this point, everything went smoothly according to plan, and the next step was to take the person away and interrogate them to obtain all information about the association.
However, the association erased the existence of the woman, and the clue was thus interrupted.
The first wave of confrontation with the association ended here...
"It's not over yet, the real show has just begun!" Lianyue said, "Xu Fang, I have the results of the investigation of those five people you asked me to look into... Number 4 died, no, I should say disappeared, while the others are unharmed."
Lianyue gave those five "guinea pigs" numbers.
Number 1 and Horror Novel Web were responsible for brainstorming, Numbers 2 and 3 wrote the letters, Number 4 organized the letters into electronic files, and Number 5 sent the letters.
Only Number 4 was struck by the God of Destruction.
Xu Fang blinked, "Oh? Only one person?... I see, I know how the God of Destruction attacks now."
Lianyue smiled slightly, "I know too."
Ma Youcai looked around in confusion. How did his two teammates suddenly become so knowledgeable? Why was he left out of the loop?
Unable to resist his curiosity, he asked, "How does the attack work exactly? Can you explain?"
Lianyue played with her long hair and said, "The God destroyed Number 4 because she personally wrote the electronic letter. Even if the true author of the letter was someone else, the God of Destruction recognized Number 4. Why? Why didn't it just kill the others as well?"
"Why... why?" Ma Youcai squinted his eyes slightly.
"The God's 'hand' is not long enough. Think about it, Youcai, why can it only kill us through video calls and not through recordings? Because recordings have an increased distance due to the tunneling effect, and the God of Destruction cannot reach it."
Lianyue didn't explain further, but Ma Youcai became even more confused.
"Do you want me to explain in more detail? Do you know how live streaming works? The light, sound, and other information emitted from us are converted into electric signals by the mobile device. These electric signals are then converted back into light and sound at the other end. The God kills people through the electric signals we emit. On the other hand, with recordings, based on the tunneling effect, the electric signals pass through the insulating layer between the floating gate and silicon layer and are written into the flash memory, converting into data in the SSD. At this point, the God can only destroy the SSD through the electric signals, and we escape from its attack range."
"Okay, I understand... So you mean the God must have direct contact with the target in order to attack, is that right?"
"Very clever!" Lianyue praised.
Ma Youcai didn't sense any praise in her words.
"Lianyue, let's move on to the next step," Xu Fang said, "Don't give the association time to prepare."
"Understood."
"What are you two up to?" Ma Youcai realized that these two seemed to have come up with even more brilliant ideas.
Perhaps, this was the difference between an ordinary person and a genius. A brilliant plan that an ordinary person could think of was only the first step for a genius. No matter how the situation changed, the latter had a way to respond and counterattack quickly.
"We are going to conduct the second round of testing on the God of Destruction," Xu Fang said. "It possesses the power to destroy everything, but it has certain conditions to meet, such as needing certain 'media' from the target - real-time audio and video, personal belongings, and so on... But does it have a time limit? Launching a missile requires layers of preparation, let alone a weapon with such immense power."
"In order to launch a surprise attack on them, we need to catch the God of Destruction off guard," said Lianyue.
"But how do we attack them? The Association is monitoring us, they know our every move," said Ma Youcai.
"This kind of risky and thankless task should naturally be delegated to others... Oh, the review result is out, the nuclear bomb attack tactic is not feasible," said Lianyue as she took out her phone, muttering words that confused and frightened Ma Youcai.
"You submitted a setting proposal?"
"Yeah, I wrote that the Association headquarters would be destroyed by a nuclear bomb explosion tonight... well, that's what I meant, but obviously the website didn't approve."
Ma Youcai had a sudden inspiration and suggested, "Hey boss, why not use the setting column to write off the Association..."
"It's useless," Xu Fang interrupted before Ma Youcai could finish, "Even if we write them off, it would be impossible to even make the Association sneeze. It would seriously interfere with fair competition among authors."
Ma Youcai realized he was right. If an author wrote in the setting column, "Everyone except me dies", how would the other authors survive? If the setting column could be used by everyone, why should you be able to use it to kill me?
"Although the setting column cannot make other authors sneeze, I can indirectly make them sneeze by setting the weather to be cold... It's equivalent substitution. I may not be able to kill the Association, but I can try to make a nuclear bomb explode near the Association and indirectly eliminate them."
"But why didn't that work?" Ma Youcai worriedly asked.
"The website probably thinks that no matter what, this event is impossible to happen, at least not today. So let's lower our expectations and have the Association stronghold surrounded by the US military. Lianyue, please make some modifications to the setting column. I want to see if the Association has the ability to fight against a superpower," Xu Fang instructed.
"Alright."
"Will this work?" Ma Youcai asked anxiously, "I feel like this is less reliable than a nuclear bomb..."
"It's completely feasible. Moreover, we've already established contact with the US military. theoretically, we can achieve it even without the assistance of the setting column," Xu Fang explained.
"What? When did this happen? Why wasn't I aware?" Ma Youcai exclaimed.
Heize Lianyue smiled and said, "Do you remember that guy named Lanade whom I investigated yesterday? He has a relative who is a colonel, and the military district is in Twine. It's no problem to temporarily deploy a few hundred people, of course, on the premise that the relative is willing to help him. Based on Lanade's past behavior, it is clear that the colonel has supported him and helped him solve many problems, which is why Lanade can thrive, rule the underground market in Boston, and dabble in gambling, drug trafficking, and even arms smuggling. However, because he has a military background, he is never afraid of being targeted by others."
"Damn, Lianyue, you're amazing. You managed to find all this out?" Ma Youcai was impressed.
"Rather than saying I'm amazing, it's better to say that Lanade is even more amazing. He intentionally showed me this information because he wanted me, someone like me, to weigh whether I'm qualified to mess with him. But anyway, he is now under Xu Fang's control and is on our side."
Ma Youcai couldn't find words to describe his feelings at that moment. One moment, he was the untouchable boss, and the next moment, he was a member of their team... It must feel amazing to experience such thrill in a novel.
"Boss, how did you do it? What did you do to him?" Ma Youcai asked Xu Fang with curiosity.
Xu Fang casually replied, "I just made Lanade aware that I have the ability to kill him and his family at any time. We even passed by his house while having dinner today. He's a bit superstitious, so he probably sees me as some kind of god."
"We made the Association's portraits appear on the police's wanted list through Lanade, and then we located the Association's location through monitoring the IP addresses of the visitors, especially those who accessed it repeatedly in a short period of time from the same location in Twine. The military is ready, and now we wait for them to take the bait," Xu Fang explained.
The Association has already moved their base, but they are likely to gather together. Even if we manage to catch one or two, it would be good. The captured authors will be strictly prohibited from using electronic devices.
"I have a question. Since we can mobilize the military, why do we need to rely on the setting column?" Ma Youcai asked.
Lianyue looked at Ma Youcai in astonishment and said, "Ma Youcai, you finally asked a valuable question. It's truly heartwarming."
"Don't look down on me, sis!"
"Eliminating deviations and prepaying the price," Xu Fang calmly explained, "If we don't contact the military in advance, although it's possible to realize the plan through the setting column, the result may differ from what we expected - the military surrounding the Association might just be a coincidence, not actually going to arrest anyone. As for prepaying the price, you should be clear about it."
Lianyue's eyes lit up: "I wrote 'found 100 yuan' in the settings column. After it was approved, I threw my own 100 yuan on the ground and picked it up again, so I don't have to pay any cost, because I have already paid the cost with 100 yuan! And if I don't throw the money, although I can still pick up 100 yuan in the end, the cost will be deducted from somewhere invisible, is that the meaning?"
Xu Fang nodded in agreement.
The association is going to be unlucky—this is what Ma Youcai thinks now.
He started to sympathize with those people in the association. In just a few waves of conflict, the association's bottom line has been nearly exposed, but they still have no way with Xu Fang. The war between authors is never a fierce battle of troops, but a process of using all available resources to fight against each other. The more exposed, the more disadvantaged.
...
At dusk, the fish was hooked, and the association exposed their address.
With the issuance of instructions one after another, a group of soldiers armed themselves in a place invisible to the crowd.
The three of them sat in front of the computer waiting for the result together. Whether the army succeeded or failed, there would always be a result.
But...
Half an hour passed, and there was no news.
Ma Youcai couldn't bear it anymore. He impatiently rubbed his hands, his forehead sweating coldly.
Another half an hour passed, still no result.
No, it's already very obvious, no result is the result.
Lianyue seemed to know something. Her face gradually turned pale. She contacted Lannard again to find out the result... However, Lannard didn't even recognize them!
The contact that was finally established with the military was cut off again, and the portraits of the association on the internet disappeared. Lianyue tried to search for information about the major, but found that the major was also gone.
Even the army couldn't do anything to the association?
This is a naked demonstration, the association is telling them that no matter how many conspiracies they have, they are useless in the face of powerful force.
"Is this... the power of the god of destruction?" Lianyue smiled bitterly, taking a deep sigh. "Ah... I suddenly feel like I'm losing my fighting spirit."
"Don't give up, Lianyue... we should still have a chance." Ma Youcai wanted to comfort her, but he didn't have confidence himself.
"We do indeed still have a chance." Xu Fang suddenly said, "I know the weakness of the god of destruction."
This time, even Miss Lianyue, who is usually very smart, was confused. "Xu Fang, are you joking?"
"Of course I'm not joking, I'm very serious." Xu Fang looked at Lianyue and Ma Youcai and said something irrelevant, "Do you two... have any interest in becoming idols?"
