Chapter Twenty-Six: Pull Off Something Big

"Host, this technology is the latest breakthrough from the Little Cherry Blossoms, and it is receiving an immense amount of attention and scrutiny. The System must warn you that attempting to steal this technology right now carries significant risks."

"To complete this without risk, you would need to purchase a system service for identity masking. Preliminary calculations suggest a cost of one hundred National Treasure Points. Since the reward for completing the mission is also one hundred points, this is not a cost-effective move for you."

Lin Yang frowned. The identity masking service was a standard system function. When he stole the photolithography machine from the Windmill Nation, the system hadn't charged him because it was his first mission; he hadn't expected the fees to be this steep.

"One hundred National Treasure Points just for a disguise? Isn't that a bit of a rip-off?" Lin Yang couldn't help but grumble, attempting to haggle.

"Respected Host, the cost of identity masking fluctuates based on the level of difficulty. Because this technology is currently under intense global scrutiny, the price is relatively high," the System explained.

"Fine, just do it," Lin Yang said, deciding not to argue further.

"Host, are you certain? If you proceed with this theft, your net gain after accounting for the costs will be zero. Please confirm!"

"Confirmed!" Lin Yang didn't hesitate.

Don't be ridiculous. Even if the profit were zero, or if he had to pay out of his own pocket, he would do it without a second thought! This was a perfect opportunity to deeply disgust the Little Cherry Blossoms. It didn't matter that there was no personal gain; any patriotic Shangxia citizen would know exactly what to do. Besides, looking at it from another perspective, if the costs and benefits perfectly cancel each other out, it essentially means he is being provided with a free opportunity to strike back at the Little Cherry Blossoms. He had seen the comments from netizens under the trending topic; hacking into the spokesperson's computer at the critical moment would absolutely humiliate them to their core.

Yes, that was it. Lin Yang had no intention of stealing the original manuscripts or backup files. With a technological breakthrough of this magnitude, there would be countless original resources and backups; it would be impossible for him to secure them all. Furthermore, even if he did manage to wipe them out, as long as the experts at the Little Cherry Blossom Academy of Sciences were still alive, they could simply record it all over again.

That was why he planned to follow the netizens' advice and wipe out the data on the spokesperson's side. At these technology summits, it is customary for the spokesperson to provide a portion of technical data to the outside world immediately. It is a global rule. To promote worldwide technological progress, anyone who initiates such a summit must unconditionally provide a portion of the data on their new breakthroughs to the participants, helping other nations achieve their own technological advancements. It is precisely because of this regulation that these summits attract so many nations—even hostile ones send delegates to attend.

Almost no country objects to this. Since there is no strict requirement to provide the most critical data—only a portion of general data is needed—it doesn't have much of an impact. Moreover, it allows the host nation to show off, so the rule has become widely accepted. After all, if there were no benefits, who would travel thousands of miles to another country just to watch them show off? The leaders of all nations understood this logic, and over time, it became an unspoken agreement.

For Lin Yang, since he couldn't delete all the data, he would simply make them face total embarrassment during the press conference. Being hacked right on the spot during a global technology summit was equivalent to a slap in the face; it would make the Little Cherry Blossoms the laughingstock of the world!

As for destroying the shrine? Lin Yang planned to do that after the summit. If he destroyed the shrine first, the Little Cherry Blossoms would undoubtedly heighten their security, and if the system decided to charge extra fees for that, it wouldn't be worth it. In any case, the summit was only two days away; he could wait.

"They just announced the breakthrough and are holding the summit in two days? They're really in a hurry!" Lin Yang checked the time and location and couldn't help but curse. Usually, such summits took months to prepare. The fact that the Little Cherry Blossoms were holding it in just two days showed how desperate they were to flaunt their power to Shangxia and immediately become the dominant force in the Eastern Continent! Otherwise, they wouldn't be in such a rush.

"Typical of a tiny, insignificant nation—full of pettiness. They can't even wait a few months. It seems they really want to see Shangxia make a fool of itself." Lin Yang finally understood why they were acting so hastily. The two nations were historical enemies, and the Little Cherry Blossoms clearly wanted to see the sour looks on the faces of the people from Shangxia. There is a saying: "Share your unhappiness so everyone can be happy." The Little Cherry Blossoms were in that exact mindset—sharing their own "happiness" to make others miserable.

"Enjoy your triumph for two more days!" Lin Yang stopped paying attention to the news.

He didn't plan to waste the next two days. Since it was his first time in the Little Cherry Blossoms' territory, he wondered if he could take the opportunity to complete the "Bring Cultural Relics Home" mission. The Little Cherry Blossoms had committed many atrocities on Shangxia soil back in the day. There should be no shortage of stolen relics!

And indeed, that was the case! When he asked the system to scan for cultural relics, he was quickly informed that there were twenty-six locations throughout the city of Dongdu that held them! Aside from two official museums, the rest were mostly famous, prestigious clans and wealthy families of the Little Cherry Blossoms. The relics in their collections were all things their ancestors had seized from Shangxia.

"Damn it, these wretched things!" Upon hearing there were so many, Lin Yang couldn't suppress his rage. The Little Eagles had also committed many atrocities on Shangxia soil, but there were only a few such locations in their imperial capital. The Little Cherry Blossoms, on the other hand, had twenty-six! They were absolutely detestable!

"System, mark all twenty-six locations where the relics are kept. I need to make a plan." Lin Yang's eyes glinted. He had originally intended to simply take them if there were only a few. But since there were so many, and they all involved powerful local clans, he would hold off for now.

He would wait until the day of the technology summit to take them! On that day, the people of the Little Cherry Blossoms would undoubtedly have most of their attention focused on the summit. The wealthy clans would be no exception, and their security would inevitably be much more relaxed. Taking advantage of that, he would not only be able to successfully retrieve the relics, but he also planned to hack the spokesperson's computer network at the same time.

Since he was going to do it, he might as well go all out. Retrieve the relics, hack the computers, destroy the shrine—all in one day! He would make this day the most shameful one the Little Cherry Blossoms had seen in years!