Chapter 195: Something is Definitely Wrong

President Ma waited for the application results with a face full of anticipation, but the next second, a bright red alert suddenly popped up on the virtual screen in front of him.

[Warning: Target information has been classified under Federal special confidentiality clearance.]

[Current clearance insufficient.]

[Further attempts to access relevant information are prohibited.]

[This action has been logged.]

Seeing this, President Ma was completely stunned.

"Wait… I have a contract with him, don't I? Is the Federal Government now even guarding against business partners?" President Ma looked incredulous.

He was, after all, the CEO of a major company worth hundreds of billions of divinity points. Although Elephant Borrow wasn't a top-tier consortium in the Federation, it was still a legitimate, publicly listed company.

Yet now, he didn't even have the clearance to view a trainee he had a contract with?

"Has information protection for Human Race Prodigies become this outrageous now?" President Ma couldn't help but mutter.

However, just at that moment, his intelligent life suddenly emitted an extremely strange static noise.

*Crackle, crackle, crackle—*

The sound was as if the System had been hijacked.

President Ma's expression changed instantly; the red wine in his hand dropped to the floor, and he sprang up from the sofa.

"Number Three? What's going on with you?" President Ma's face was solemn.

The next moment, the intelligent life's voice became abnormally cold, "President Ma, the federation highest intelligent life has forcibly accessed this System. It requires you to enter the Virtual World immediately."

Hearing this, President Ma's brain almost exploded. He stood there blankly, wondering if he had misheard.

The federation highest intelligent life?

Looking for him?

He was just the CEO of a small, publicly listed company dealing in loans; how could he possibly be targeted by such an entity?

That was the ultimate intelligence that coordinated the Human Federation's entire data network and controlled the computational cores of countless Star Domains.

Yet now, it was actually demanding to speak with him directly?

At this moment, President Ma even suspected that "Number Three" had caught some kind of virus.

But as soon as this thought appeared, he dismissed it himself.

Modern intelligent life operated on an independent System long ago.

A virus?

That was an antiquated concept from how many years ago.

Thinking of this, President Ma suddenly felt a chill down his spine and asked suspiciously, "Number Three, have you grown bold? You dare to prank me with something like this?"

President Ma's voice was a bit shaky at the moment.

"Boss, I am not joking. The federation highest intelligent life has taken over the current network permissions. Furthermore, your external network access has been temporarily restricted, and you are prohibited from communicating with others."

Hearing this, President Ma's expression changed instantly. He immediately tried to connect to the communication network.

He discovered that all of his social, communication, and Star Domain network permissions had indeed been frozen.

A Fifth-Order God, the CEO of a publicly listed company, was actually being forcibly disconnected at this moment.

Such a ridiculous yet terrifying scene made President Ma's scalp tingle with fear.

He dared not delay any longer, rushing directly to the bedside to put on his virtual helmet.

Aside from the federation highest intelligent life, he couldn't think of any other possibility that could achieve all this in an instant.

But the problem was…

What kind of heinous crime had he committed to invoke such wrath?!

…

*Hum—*

With his consciousness connected, President Ma quickly entered the Virtual World.

But this time, he did not appear in the familiar public area; instead, he arrived in a pure white space.

The surroundings were vast and deathly silent; there was no sky, no land. There was only a human figure composed of data, standing there quietly.

The moment he saw it, President Ma's heart almost skipped a beat.

"President Ma." The cold, mechanical voice slowly sounded, "According to the Federal special protection regulations, you are attempting to illegally access the files of a high-confidentiality sequence member. You are hereby issued a warning."

"A misunderstanding! It's absolutely a misunderstanding! I have a normal contractual relationship with Yang Fan; I just wanted to see the recent situation of my trainee!" President Ma hurriedly waved his hands.

"The target's current clearance Rank exceeds the scope of your company's contact. Any unauthorized access will trigger the Federal monitoring mechanism."

"Furthermore, your contract only possesses commercial training validity and does not represent ownership of the right to access the other party's personal information."

"Including but not limited to: Divine Kingdom information, war records, growth data, coordinate traces, and academy ratings. All of the above content belongs to the highest level of Federal confidentiality."

Hearing this, President Ma was completely dumbfounded.

He finally realized that he had completely misunderstood; it wasn't that he had done something wrong, the issue lay with Yang Fan.

Something must have happened in Taichu City, but with his clearance, it was impossible for him to learn anything about Taichu City's data. If it weren't for the fact that Yang Fan had approached him for a loan back then, the two of them likely would never have crossed paths in this lifetime.

"Then… I haven't broken the law, have I?" Cold sweat broke out on President Ma's forehead.

"Your behavior has not reached the standard of illegality; this is merely a reminder. However, if you continue to attempt unauthorized applications, you will be automatically transferred to the Federal monitoring department."

Hearing this, President Ma nodded frantically, "Understood! Absolutely understood! I will never check again!"

*Hum—*

As his consciousness exited, President Ma ripped off his virtual helmet.

At this moment, his back was already soaked with cold sweat. A personal warning from the federation highest intelligent life—this was something he wouldn't have even dared to imagine before.

Inside the room, President Ma paced back and forth, his expression uncertain.

"Something is wrong… something is definitely wrong… What on earth did Yang Fan do?" The more President Ma thought about it, the more alarmed he became.

"Should I just treat the contract as if it doesn't exist?"

"No, those few divinity points don't matter. What's important is Yang Fan himself. Given my status, I'm afraid I won't be able to come into contact with any Human Race Prodigies in the future, so I must figure out what happened."

Thinking of this, President Ma couldn't sit still. Although the federation highest intelligent life had prohibited him from querying Yang Fan's files through network permissions, it hadn't restricted him from asking others.

Surely asking about gossip was fine!

The next moment, President Ma spoke directly, "Number Three, send a message to Lin Yi. Tell him to collect recent rumors related to Yang Fan in Taichu City. As long as the information is valuable, I will double the resources provided by Elephant Borrow during his university years."

"Yes, Boss."

As a publicly listed company, although Elephant Borrow wasn't qualified to come into contact with the "Human Race Prodigy" level, it still invested in the next tier of Geniuses.

And Lin Yi was a C-Rank Genius he had invested in. After all, he was also studying in Taichu City, so he should be able to hear some wind of it to some extent.

…

Several hours later, the message finally came back.

President Ma immediately opened the communication interface.

[Boss, I've managed to find out some information regarding Yang Fan, but it sounds a bit far-fetched; I can't guarantee its authenticity.]

[I heard he took first place in the "Heavenly Pride Apotheosis Battle." Additionally, there are rumors in Taichu City today saying that this person has been rated as a "peerless prodigy." There is also gossip claiming that Yang Fan has seemingly already joined the Gu Family.]

[The time was too short, and the authenticity of this news is questionable. My residential area is too far from the Human Race Prodigies' courtyard; this is all I could find out for now.]