Blank was confused by Murong Yunxi"s question. Why had she mentioned the F list for no reason?
He turned to look at Murong Yunxi"s beautiful black eyes, but the obscure light in her deep eyes amazed him.
"F list! Of course I have heard of it! It"s a very famous list in the United States which is updated every four years. The people on the list are G.o.d-like prominent figures in computer science. Ordinary people are not qualified to be on the list. It"s an unofficial list that is organized spontaneously, yet it is still very authoritative. There are many computer gurus, hackers and expert programmers on that list. I don"t know much about computers, but this is common knowledge."
"Oh, who are the top ten figures on that list, Blank?"
"Well, I haven"t done any research on that, but they are certainly leading figures. The top 5 could be called grand masters in the industry."
Blank was even more convinced that Murong Yunxi was playing some kind of trick. Otherwise, why would she suddenly bring up those legendary figures? Did she know any of them?
"Oh, well, that"s unfortunate. Blank might not know about Xyza." Murong Yunxi dropped her eyes, looking disappointed.
Blank thought, "Sure enough, she wants to connect with one of the big names. But wait... Xyza?"
Blank paused and fixed his eyes on Murong Yunxi. "Xyza? The mysterious Xyza? It is said that the world"s most famous Internet companies are all trying to poach her. However, she is too mysterious to be found. She only shows up at games as a compet.i.tor.
"She first showed up in the game five years ago and made the top ten. However, after the game, she disappeared. Last year, many people wondered if she was going to partic.i.p.ate. Unexpectedly, she came again. This time, she made the top five directly and earned herself the nickname "Black Sheep X". If it weren"t for her mystique and the dispute she caused, I wouldn"t have known the other names on that list. It is only her name that I know in the first place."
"Does Miss Murong know who Xyza is?"
Murong Yunxi giggled and looked up at Blank, the light in her eyes becoming more intense. She said, "Oh, it"s an honor that Mr. Blank knows Xyza."
"What do you mean?"
"I am Xyza."
As Murong Yunxi blurted out these words, Blank, Murong Ye and Gong Yu were all shocked.
Blank opened his month as if he was about to swallow an egg. He was still numb with shock.
Murong Yunxi hit several keys on the keyboard and played a video. It was a software she had created for the compet.i.tion last year. The version prepared at the time had been a condensed one due to the time limit, so almost half of the video had been erased. Now, Murong Yunxi showed them the full video.
The demo video, which was really cool, demonstrated the characteristics of the software and its uniqueness. It was an insurmountable software.
By the time the video was over, Blank was still in shock.
Murong Yunxi asked him,"Mr. Blank?"
"I wonder if it seems fitting for me to handle this project now?"
Blank finally recovered from the shock and said, "Xyza... Miss Murong is the legendary Xyza. I should be so fortunate as to meet the real Xyza. What a…"
Blank"s excitement made Murong Yunxi, Murong Ye and Gong Yu laugh. A tall figure like Blank was now gesticulating wildly. The unrestrained excitement on his face was too much. It was hardly harmonious with his whole image, which made it really funny.
"Well, Mr. Blank, I only unveiled my ident.i.ty to facilitate our cooperation. I have been concealing my ident.i.ty to avoid unnecessary trouble and attention. I hope my secret can be kept among the three of us in this room."
Murong Yunxi was not trying to be mysterious. Blank"s present state forced her to believe that once he stepped out of the door, he would inform everyone about her ident.i.ty. She wouldn"t be able to walk outside the building before the door was blocked by crowds of people.
Mr. Blank coughed gently and said, "Certainly! I"ll respect Miss Murong"s wish. I won"t tell anyone else; I a.s.sure you."
"Like I said just now, is Mr. Blank comfortable with me taking charge of this project?"
"Yes, of course. No one is better than you. Miss Murong, you are going to handle this project. I have absolute trust in you."
After chatting for a while, Blank walked the three of them out of the conference room. While waiting for the elevator, Murong Yunxi said abruptly, "Brother, you go first. I want to go to the ladies" room. I"ll be meeting you at the gate."
Murong Ye and Gong Yu nodded. Murong Yunxi walked toward the end of the corridor.
Murong Yunxi was washing her hands, when a woman came out of the cublicle. The woman kept her head down so that one couldn"t see her face clearly. She walked out directly.
Murong Yunxi felt a bit strange as she looked at the woman in the mirror. However, she couldn"t tell what exactly it was that felt wrong. As the door closed, the click of the lock made Murong Yunxi jolt. Her heart missed a beat.
Murong Yunxi pressed her hand against her chest, trying to adjust her emotions with a deep breath.
Then, she grabbed her handbag and walked to the door. As she tried to open the door, she discovered that the door had been locked.
She twisted the k.n.o.b with all her might, but it was futile. The door was still closed.
She pounded the door violently, yet either the door was soundproof, or there was n.o.body in the corridor. She was completely trapped and ignored.
She took out her cellphone from her handbag, only to realize that the signal had been blocked. Calling for help was not an option.
Thus, she walked to the window and looked out. This was a 55-storey building, so she couldn"t possibly jump out. It also seemed unlikely that she could make herself heard.
Murong Yunxi looked around the ladies" room, trying to find a way out. There was nothing she could use except the smoke detector and spray on the ceiling. Her first idea was to trigger the smoke alarm, but she did not smoke and therefore couldn"t light a fire.
Murong Yunxi continued to search carefully for any tools that could be used. She found nothing. Instead, she noticed that something was wrong with the cubicle the woman had just vacated.
Murong Yunxi heard some noise coming from there. She held her breath and listened again. There was only an unclear, delicate sound. However, Murong Yunxi was getting more and more agitated.
She followed the noise and fixed her eyes on the water tank. Then, she gently opened the tank and saw a plastic bag inside.
She was startled by a row of numbers that kept flickering. As she was about to reach out for the plastic bag, images of gangster movies began to strike her.
She cautiously took the plastic bag out. It contained a square black box with numbers flickering on a rectangle. There were only 4 minutes and 40 seconds left on the timer.
"Bomb" was the first word that popped up in Murong Yunxi"s mind.
The dangerous thing in her hands made Murong Yunxi feel really scared. Her throat tightened and she swallowed hard. However, her throat still seemed extremely dry. Her heart beat ferociously as her brain worked very slowly.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. Her heart still beat rapidly. She walked to the window and glanced at the hustle and bustle on the street. If she threw out this thing, more people would get hurt. She could not witness thousands of innocent lives get taken by such a disaster.
She went back to the washstand and watched herself in the mirror, trying to find a way to rescue herself.
Those flickering numbers were urging her as if they were ghosts. Now, there were only 3 minutes and 50 seconds left. She still hadn"t figured out a solution. Her head was a mess. She couldn"t imagine what would happen when the number turned to zero.
Suddenly, she heard heavy pounding at the door, accompanied by Gong Yu and Murong Ye"s worried voices. "Xiao Xi, are you still there?"
Although they were also twisting the k.n.o.b, the k.n.o.b only teetered. The door remained closed.
Murong Yunxi ran to the door and shouted, "Brother, Gong Yu, I"m here. I"m locked in here and there is a bomb inside. Help me!"
Murong Ye and Gong Yu got nervous and started to hit the door. The door was finally kicked open.
Gong Yu rushed in and approached Murong Yunxi. "Xiao Xi, are you alright?"
Murong Yunxi anxiously looked down at the thing in her hands. There were only 3 minutes and 25 seconds left.
Murong Ye hurried over to Murong Yunxi, looking worried. "Xiao Xi…"
Murong Ye and Gong Yu both looked terrible. They gave Murong Yunxi an uneasy look.
"Brother, there are only 3 minutes and 15 seconds left. What should we do?"
Murong Ye tried to take the bomb from Murong Yunxi"s hands. Immediately, his face turned white and his heart stopped beating. He realized that the bomb was stuck in Murong Yunxi"s hands…