Part 2 Hello, Mr. Major General I'm Gu Nianzi

242. Good job!

Zhao Quan smiled. He took a bite out of his chicken wing, and pointed in the direction of the living room. "I'm not lying. See that lady over there? That's Xin Xinggao, the most accomplished student in my department. She's the leader of our best observation and surveillance team, and she doesn't even have her doctorate degree yet!"
"Oh, really?" Gu Nianzhi's heart was racing now. She had not expected Xin Xinggao to be at the party as wellcoming to the party had been well worth it!
Xin Xinggao was dressed casually, and appeared to be a gentle, well-mannered lady with delicate features and wavy hair that reached her shoulders. She was chatting with the president of the student association, a beer in her hand.
Gu Nianzhi set her plate down, and wiped her hands neatly with a napkin. She reached for a bottle of beer and handed it to Zhao Quan. "Here, have some beer. It goes so well with the chicken wings."
Zhao Quan downed half the bottle in one go. "Everything I say is true! You can look it up on the university intranet if you don't believe me. It's public information."
"Oh. But, I really don't see what's so impressive about that." Gu Nianzhi shrugged. "Maybe she got lucky."
"Luck has nothing to do with it! Her team is working on some really incredible stuff. They're trying to crack the channel encryption for satellite signals, did you know that?"
Gu Nianzhi put on her best vacant stare. She shook her head. "I have no idea what that means, it's all Greek to me. Why are we talking about this anyway? It's stupid and boring, let's talk about something else." She giggled and began telling Zhao Quan a few jokes. She eventually noticed a female student, about the same height as Zhao Quan, glaring at her, and decided it was time to leave. She rose and said, "I'm going to see what everyone else is up to. Want to come along, Brother Zhao?"
Zhao Quan was in charge of the kitchen, and could not leave. Gu Nianzhi knew this, of course; she had asked the party organizers in advance.
Sure enough, Zhao Quan reluctantly said, "I have to stay in the kitchen. You go have fun."
Gu Nianzhi skipped gaily out of the kitchen and into the main room. She spent some more time cheerfully mingling with the other students before leaving the party.
Once she was outside, she looked around, but did not see He Zhichu's Mercedes-Benz. She guessed that he had already left.
But when Gu Nianzhi walked out of the gates and onto the street, He Zhichu's Mercedes-Benz rolled into view and pulled up beside her.
He Zhichu lowered the window and looked out at her. "Get in."
Gu Nianzhi pursed her lips. She clutched at her backpack, feeling somewhat embarrassed, and got into the passenger seat.
"So which Adonis do you want to visit next?" There was an undercurrent of amusement in He Zhichu's voice. He looked over at Gu Nianzhi, his expression openly mocking.
Gu Nianzhi buried her face into the backpack on her lap. She mumbled, "They don't grow on trees, you know. It's so hard to find even one "Adonis", these days."
He Zhichu chuckled. He did not say anything after that.
He drove her back to the apartment, his expression neutral for the rest of the journey.
As soon as Gu Nianzhi got out of the car, He Zhichu said, "Since you seem to have a lot of free time, you can help me out with a new case. I'll send you the documents. Draft a report, and hand it in." He did not even look at her. He floored the gas pedal, and the Mercedes-Benz sped away, leaving Gu Nianzhi in a cloud of dust.
Gu Nianzhi covered her mouth with a hand as she coughed and sputtered. Once she had recovered, she returned to her apartment.
As soon as she was back in her apartment, Yin Shixiong pulled her to his room. "Quick, I have a video call going with Mr. Huo."
Gu Nianzhi perked up upon hearing this. She quickly seated herself on Yin Shixiong's desk chair.
"Uncle Huo!"
"Yes, it's me." Huo Shaoheng seemed to be in good spirits. "Nianzhi, you did it. Good job."
"Thanks, Uncle Huo! What else can I do to help?" Gu Nianzhi swelled with pride. She was eager to prove she could do even better.
A small smile flashed across Huo Shaoheng's lips. "Work with Little Ze and try to intercept the signals tonight, see what they're up to."
"Got it." Gu Nianzhi had already thought of doing that herself and had made the necessary preparations.
The signals had appeared at midnight the previous night. It was probably safe to assume that they would have to wait until midnight to catch the signals again.
Gu Nianzhi was too preoccupied with her new mission to bother with the case He Zhichu had assigned to her. She went to bed early and slept for a few hours; at midnight, she got up, contacted Zhao Liangze, and granted him remote access to her laptop. The two of them began tracking the probing signals.
They spent the entire night running detailed calculations and tests. By daybreak, Zhao Liangze and Gu Nianzhi were confident that they knew what the signals were up to.
What they had found was both expected and unexpected.
Zhao Quan had told the truth: the signals sent from the School of Engineering were probing for Nandou Global Satellite Navigation System's channel encryption key.
Huo Shaoheng and his men had failed in their most recent operations; this meant that the team at the Harvard School of Engineering had most likely cracked part of the pseudo-random password for the Nandou System, and were now able to track and locate anyone who was connected to the system.