Light Barrier - Chapter 15: Balance

He waited for a long time.

But she didn’t reply.

Gu Shen withdrew his hands from the projection keyboard, feeling disappointed.

This should be the expected response, right?

Some matters were not important, and some were not… Regarding Chu Ling’s identity and motive, Gu Shen didn’t want to get to the bottom of it.

For now, he only needed to know that this girl was on his side and was sincerely helping him.

Gu Shen read the last two documents carefully.

A crooked protective line had been set up twenty meters away from the old building where he used to live. Outsiders were strictly forbidden from entering. Coupled with a few hidden surveillance  cameras, it formed a tight surveillance perimeter.

Chu Ling had marked all these points.

However, loopholes appeared.

Due to the fire, several  cameras in the old building had been damaged, leaving a few blind spots where the temporary guards were stationed. The first document detailed two suitable infiltration routes.

During shift changes, the on-duty guards would patrol the area once after the handover.

This was the best time to avoid the surveillance and enter the old building.

From this perspective, the infiltration wouldn’t be difficult.

But the problem was that, according to Chu Ling’s calculations, there would only be a one-minute gap during the shift change and patrol at around 23:00. By the time he obtained the ruler, the new batch of guards would already be in place. If he went back the way he came, he might be discovered.

So the escape route had to be redesigned.

“Escape plan: Depart from point A from the rooftop and use the height difference to go to point B, the adjacent old building, which is not sealed off.”

Gu Shen’s expression changed drastically as he stared at the three-dimensional escape map. The old building he had lived in was marked as point A, and there was a slightly shorter cylindrical building diagonally across, which was marked as point B by Chu Ling.

Jumping off a building to escape was simple and crude.

“No way…” Gu Shen looked at the gap between the two three-dimensional structures and the height difference and felt somewhat hopeless. He grabbed the orange cat fiercely and held it up in front of him. “Hey, you know I’ll die if I miss, right? Are there any other options?”

The innocent cat meowed and struggled with all its might.

However, it was helpless against the villain and couldn’t resist, so it could only give up.

Looks like Chu Ling has already disconnected… Gu Shen sighed. He knew very well that this seemingly unreasonable escape route was actually the most reasonable. If he returned the way he came, there was a high chance the guards would discover him. Is jumping the only option?

…

For tonight’s operation, Gu Shen planned to buy a set of equipment that could connect to Deep Sea.

Communicating in real-time with Chu Ling and obtaining the latest information would significantly increase the success rate of the operation.

But Gu Shen knew that his every move now was likely being monitored.

According to Nan Jin, because of the pardon order, many people in the Adjudication Bureau had their eyes on him. So those people with ulterior motives would detect any changes in his bank account.

Now was a good opportunity.

After the fire, he moved to a new apartment and happened to need to buy a lot of ‘life essentials’. Buying portable items for connecting to Deep Sea was a necessity. If he purchased them along with other items, no one should suspect his intentions.

19:01.

There were less than four hours until the operation.

Time was tight, so Gu Shen quickly got dressed and left the apartment with Nan Jin’s card.

Having lived in Oto City for seventeen years, Gu Shen had always resided in remote areas far from the city center. The moment he left his apartment, everything around him felt so unfamiliar. The clamor carried by the hot wind, the bustling crowd, the shining neon lights, the towering steel buildings lined up one after another, the majestic electronic torrent washing over the giant screen in the central square, where an advertisement for family gatherings was playing…

In this era, in this world, everything was vast.

Invisible and silent electric currents and the network spanning Five Continents connected everyone together. Each person was like a droplet in the ocean, tightly interdependent. Make a sound, and waves would splash.

But he was the exception.

All along, Gu Shen had felt that he was a lone grain of sand on the beach. Deep Sea connected the entire world, but not him.

He adjusted his coat, put on his hat, and squeezed into the crowd.

The apartment was in a bustling area in the city center, and the nearest supermarket was a five-minute walk away. Gu Shen pushed a shopping cart, picked up some daily necessities, and went to the electronics section.

A small and cute pink-wheeled robot slowly came to Gu Shen’s side. Its two pincers clamped the shopping cart for him and helped push it forward while inquiring enthusiastically, “Hello, sir! How may I help you?”

Large supermarkets had already popularized unmanned shopping, and intelligent machines could handle most of the salespeople’s tasks.

But Gu Shen knew that under the cute pink exterior of the robot, what was flowing was merely emotionless code, with the backend cloud database storing every conversation between the robot and customers.

Now, connecting to Deep Sea had become an indispensable necessity.

Almost every new electronic product could provide wireless network connectivity.

Before coming, Gu Shen had been thinking about whether to purchase holographic glasses or a holographic helmet. He didn’t know if Chu Ling’s technology could achieve synchronous cross-section imaging of the building and real-time movements of the guards.

He looked at the price of the holographic glasses… 12,999.

Then he glanced at the holographic helmet… 39,999.

This seemed to be only the Mini model. There were the Plus and Plus Max models as well.

This was… way too expensive!

His bank balance was only five thousand yuan.

The pink robot accompanied Gu Shen as he strolled. Sensing Gu Shen stopping, it began to introduce enthusiastically, “These are the latest holographic glasses introduced by the Blossom Flag Group. It uses the latest LiFi technology and has a battery life of up to 256 hours. It can perfectly meet your daily office and entertainment needs. It is currently available at a discounted price of only 12,999. If you are willing to apply for a membership card, you can also enjoy…”

“Okay, okay…” Gu Shen had a headache from listening to the chatty robot and interrupted it. “I’ll just buy a pair of wireless earphones, the basic model. Bring me there.”

Holographic glasses and helmets were indeed useful, but the latter was too bulky and inconvenient for mobility.

As for the former… It wasn’t that Gu Shen was miserly. With Nan Jin’s bank card and his own balance, buying a pair of glasses shouldn’t be a problem.

The most important thing was the electronic bill for this shopping trip. It was just buying everyday purchases after moving into a new residence. It didn’t make sense for him to buy a pair of holographic glasses right away.

“… Alright, please follow me.” The robot hesitated for a moment before leading Gu Shen left and then turning left again.

Gu Shen chose a very affordable pair of wireless earphones that cost less than two hundred yuan and could connect to Deep Sea. He had been eyeing this pair for a long time, and he could buy it now.

The pink robot helped Gu Shen push the cart all the way to the self-checkout machine. The base slowly rose, and with circular suction cups, it took out the goods one by one and placed them on the counter. “The total is 556.50 yuan.”

Hmm… not too expensive.

Although it stung a bit, he could accept it.

Gu Shen didn’t hesitate and immediately took out his bank card with paltry savings to pay.

Although the Adjudication Bureau had arranged a high-end apartment for him and even provided a bank card that was ‘sufficient for his daily expenses’, it wasn’t in Gu Shen’s personality to accept favors for no reason. He still had money, and this money was also ‘sufficient for his daily expenses’.

Of course, not using this card to pay was also in consideration of the future tracking of his ‘electronic shopping list’.

After settling the bill, Gu Shen took out another card.

“Could you check the balance on this card?” He had mixed feelings. The Adjudication Bureau had been so generous that it had arranged accommodations for him. He wondered how much the balance on this card was.

Recalling Nan Jin’s expression, if it was enough for daily expenses… Would it be five thousand? Or ten thousand?

If those people had investigated his daily life, they should know that his monthly expenses were between two to three thousand yuan.

Beep!

Gu Shen stared at the screen in a daze.

Tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousand…

In fact, the money Nan Jin had given him was not so exaggerated that it required counting the digits to determine the amount. But Gu Shen still counted carefully several times to make sure he didn’t make a mistake.

“…” Gu Shen stared at the screen, feeling a bit dizzy.

Five hundred thousand.

Nan Jin had deposited a total of five hundred thousand in this bank account.

In his entire life…

He had never seen so much money.