Chapter 16: Being Monitored
He Qin had a fruitful day, gathering so many crystals that his pockets were nearly overflowing. Only then, feeling satisfied, did he return to his dorm.
However, the moment he stepped into his room, the voice of 0487 immediately rang out—
**[System 0487: Host! I’ve detected that someone has installed surveillance in your room. There are two locations: one in the right pocket of the second shirt from the left in your wardrobe, and another in your terminal. Please proceed with caution.]**
He Qin's footsteps faltered for a moment, but he continued to act nonchalant as he asked 0487 in his mind, "What’s going on? Who’s monitoring me? What kind of surveillance is it? Am I being spied on right now?"
The thought of some unknown person secretly watching him from some unknown place made He Qin shudder, goosebumps rising all over his body.
**[System 0487 explained: It’s not like that. The chip in the wardrobe is mainly used to monitor your daily activities, like where you go every day. It also collects audio from those locations to monitor what you do there. The chip in your terminal directly monitors every single action you take, down to writing a period in a document.]**
He Qin: "..." The level of surveillance was suffocating.
**[He asked again: Who exactly is trying to monitor me? Isn’t this illegal?]**
**[System 0487 replied: Yes! But since the person in question is a hacker, their very existence is illegal! And the person monitoring you is none other than your roommate, Mr. Xiao Hei! Mr. Xiao Hei is an excellent hacker. The chips he developed are extremely advanced. If I weren’t a system that’s thousands of years ahead of this world, I might not have even detected the chips.]**
He Qin was shocked!
**"You–you’re saying my roommate is a hacker?! And why is he monitoring me? Could it be that he’s… interested in…?"**
**[System 0487 was appalled by the sudden flood of inappropriate thoughts in He Qin’s mind and rebuked him: Host, what are you thinking! Mr. Xiao Hei is a righteous hacker working for the Empire. He’s monitoring you purely to eliminate the possibility that you’re a foreign spy.]**
Upon hearing this, He Qin immediately became nervous. Eliminate the possibility that he’s a spy? How could a person as upright, law-abiding, and passionately patriotic as him, someone willing to sacrifice himself for the Empire, be considered a foreign spy?!
**[System 0487 timely reminded him: Host, you're no longer that passionate young man striving for greatness!]**
Is *that* the point?!
He Qin was so frustrated that his chest heaved with suppressed anger. Without thinking, he stood up and walked toward the wardrobe, pulling it open with a loud *whoosh*.
**[0487, sensing his thoughts, asked: Host, are you planning to destroy the detector?]**
**[He Qin replied: Of course! I’m not a spy! I’m going to return this thing to Parker, and tell him how righteous I am!]**
**[0487, hearing this, kindly reminded him: But if you do that, won’t it make you seem even more suspicious? Mr. Xiao Hei just installed the chip, and you immediately found it and even know it’s his doing. If you were him, what would you think?]**
He Qin froze. 0487 made a valid point. He wanted to prove his innocence, but if he acted rashly, it would only make him seem more suspicious.
0487 said that Parker’s surveillance chip was highly advanced. If it weren’t for 0487, no ordinary person would have ever discovered it. And considering He Qin was just a regular student with no significant background, unless he had some powerful backing, it would be impossible for him to detect the chip so quickly.
If he went to confront Parker now, that would definitely raise red flags.
**[So He Qin, dejected, asked 0487: Then what should I do now? Am I just supposed to let him monitor me and pin some crime on me? If I leave this chip on me, won’t I be unable to do anything?]**
Wait! He could just avoid wearing that particular shirt!
**[System 0487, seeing through his thoughts again, smartly countered: Host, you shouldn’t deliberately avoid the chip; you should go along with it. Since no one has arrested you yet, it means they’re still in the suspicion phase. You should let them ‘hear’ that you’re innocent.]**
**[System 0487 added: That mobile chip is in your school uniform pocket, and since that uniform is what you wear regularly, it means Mr. Xiao Hei wants to know what you’re doing during your free time. The chip in the terminal is also meant to monitor your usual operations.]**
Upon hearing this, He Qin immediately understood. What Parker—or rather, the Empire—wanted to know was whether his daily activities involved any acts of treason. He then asked 0487 for a few tips on how to handle being monitored and proceeded to carry on with his day as if nothing had happened.
0487 told him that even before Parker installed the chip, he had already hacked into He Qin’s computer through a phishing website and obtained his browsing history.
He Qin’s head hurt at the thought. Reflecting on his recent browsing history, it seemed that aside from watching videos of Admiral Xun, he had mainly been researching information on monsters. Luckily, he didn’t have any odd hobbies, or he really wouldn’t know how to face his roommate in the future.
**[He then angrily blamed 0487: Why didn’t you warn me when you knew about it?!]**
**[System 0487 retorted: You didn’t ask!]**
The two of them bickered in his mind. He Qin, feeling mentally exhausted, decided to be cautious for the time being, especially since his terminal was being monitored. He pulled out an old notebook he hadn’t used in a while and began recording the crystals and monsters he had collected that day.
He came up with a plan. During the time he was being monitored, it wouldn’t be possible to go out hunting monsters and gathering data. But researching the monsters in his records was still an option.
Parker had already seen his browsing history. If he suddenly stopped doing anything, it would seem suspicious. So, he might as well disguise himself as someone with a deep interest in monsters, spending all his free time researching them.
Thus, during his next visit to the back mountain, Parker finally picked up some audio from He Qin.
The first two days had been rest days, so even though Parker had placed the chip in He Qin's school uniform, He Qin had gone out hunting monsters as usual. The only sounds Parker could capture were those from He Qin’s room.
This guy was incredibly boring. When he wasn’t watching videos of Admiral Xun, he was looking up disgusting monsters online, writing and drawing who knows what. Parker, analyzing the sounds and the screen on He Qin’s terminal, concluded that the guy was probably just taking notes about monsters.
But today was a regular school day, and He Qin finally wore the uniform with the chip. Parker unexpectedly managed to eavesdrop on Harvey’s lecture. As always, Harvey’s voice was cold and devoid of emotion, except when he spoke to his brother, the smiling tiger, where there was a hint of warmth.
Finally, after a long day, class ended, and Parker eagerly waited for He Qin to head to the back mountain.
Parker, who had been bored all day, perked up, adjusting the volume and activating every analysis tool he had.
On the other side, following 0487’s suggestion, He Qin headed to the back mountain as usual.
He opened up the monster distribution map that 0487 had scanned and compared it to the monsters he had searched for on his terminal the previous day. He picked a spot where the monster density wasn’t too high.
He stopped about ten meters away from the monsters, pulled out tools from his backpack, and began setting up.
The sound of items being taken out, along with tools clinking, was transmitted in real-time to Parker’s computer. A few seconds later, Parker heard through his speakers—
*“Click.”*
Parker, who had hoped to finally catch some incriminating evidence: “...”
Great. This guy’s just a monster fanatic.
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