Hidden Assassin 161

No one could have foreseen that on the seemingly ordinary afternoon of May 2nd, the largest cyber disaster since 1998, or perhaps even the next five years, would erupt from a playful hack.

Hundreds of people crammed into the computer club activity room of Sacred Heart Academy, whispering and exchanging gossip. In front of the computers, a group of over ten people led by Fu Yanjie stared at the scrolling data streams on their screens with wide eyes, their expressions as if they’d seen prehistoric dinosaurs stroll down the street and join hands with Donald Duck for a Samba dance.

Their confrontation with the “Carmen Forum” cyber queen, a woman notorious for her violent hacking, had lasted only five minutes under Fu Yanjie’s desperate defense before the situation began to crumble. The jump points he’d set up were being discovered one by one. The opponent, leveraging their superior computing power, was peeling back layers like an onion. According to everyone’s estimates, even with their full effort, they’d likely be defeated within five minutes. While Fu Yanjie fought back with sweat dripping from his forehead, an incredibly strange data stream entered the battlefield.

It was like a pinhole-sized black hole. Upon contact with the surrounding matter, the black hole rotated visibly, beginning to expand.

Two minutes later, Fu Yanjie determined that this force was aiming to help him. When he attempted to contact and assist the force, the only response he received was a single character: “滚” (Roll).

The force then performed an astounding magic show in the cyber world. For at least the next ten years, people would refer to this event as a miracle. The vortex, like an organism, continued to expand, swallowing data, analyzing, calculating. Simultaneously, it resisted the “Carmen Forum”‘s attack, took control of all the network resources accumulated by Fu Yanjie, and countless tentacles built jump points across the world, creating more and more “bots,” accumulating more resources. It was even handling countless tasks at the same time: defending, actively invading, controlling, attacking…

No single individual could accomplish such a feat. The sheer volume of calculations was enough to strain even a supercomputer. The present situation was as if that data segment had become a catalyst, imbuing the entire network with life and independent thought.

The network had come alive…

**********************************************

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this…”

“It’s a disaster, the entire civilian network is jammed…”

“It’s thinking in specific environments, has an aggressive nature, and is capable of continually expanding itself… it seems like a supervirus…”

“It’s not a virus, its tendrils stopped extending toward certain areas, like military networks, aerospace, and city administrative departments. This suggests it’s being manipulated by someone. Which hacking group in the world could achieve something like this?”

“We just received a report that this event stemmed from Sacred Heart Academy’s anniversary celebration in Jiang Hai City. They used hacking techniques to first invade the ‘Carmen Forum’ and were counterattacked. Based on initial estimates, this may have been the trigger for the current situation… Ha, they thought it was a research lab like ours that had the supercomputers, so a friend called and asked…”

In the massive research lab, voices were chaotic and loud. Due to the lack of proper preparation, when they monitored the occurrence of this event, the situation here was even more chaotic than at Kelly Fernim’s current institute. A young woman with glasses, Fang Guolin, turned her head amidst the researchers. “Jiang Hai City?”

“Yeah, Jiang Hai City’s Sacred Heart Academy,” explained the researcher, smiling. “Oh, Guolin, you probably don’t know, but it’s the best private high school in Jiang Hai City. Today is their anniversary, so a lot of graduates have come back. One of them is an old college classmate of mine, really good with computers. Nobody expected a simple hack-tech competition to blow up like this… Hmm, I need to call a few other places. A matter of this scale wouldn’t be possible without a supercomputer…”

“Jiang Hai City…” Gazing at the man as he hurried away, Fang Guolin turned her head. “It has to be you, Yu Jin Xiang…” (Flower-Picking Great Thief Yujinxia).

In less than half an hour, not only Fang Guolin’s computer research lab, but people around the world turned their attention to this cyber war. During this period, Kelly Fernim changed her attack methods several times, all easily countered by Jia Ming. Possessing computer skills twenty years ahead of his time, mastering almost all current system vulnerabilities, these things weren’t difficult for him. All he had to consider was how to end this matter efficiently.

“…If things continue at this rate, the opposing side can overload this supercomputer with spam emails in two hours. How in the world did he make the network come alive…” Despite the apparent current advantage, someone in the research lab began to lament. Kelly Fernim, her eyes shining with a brilliance, interrupted him.

“The network didn’t come alive! It’s just a super program, equivalent to boosting the computer’s intelligence by several thousand times. In a way, it’s completely the same as a program for playing chess or cards, but even if it can form such reaction patterns, the opposing side is still just a regular computer. Its processing power has a limit. Even if you simplify each response by thousands, there’s still a limit…”

“If it can achieve this level, how could it be a regular computer…”

“Is the other side really just one person?”

Before Kelly finished, everyone was raising doubts. Although she had proven her computer skills over these past days, in some aspects, this little girl still had a self-assured arrogance that was not flattering. Listening to their discussion, Kelly simply sneered, her gaze sweeping over everyone.

“If I say it’s true, then it’s true. What you’re seeing now may be the strongest attack launched by a single person in the world. You, who have the opportunity to personally experience this historical event, are you just going to sit here and make pointless remarks? We shouldn’t be thinking about how to fail, but how to beat him… Look, she’s stopped…”

***********************************************************

Just as Kelly Fernim had predicted, Jia Ming was using a complex reaction program to enhance himself. What he mastered was still the word “pattern.”

From the moment a person comes into contact with this world, they begin to constantly perceive patterns. One plus one equals two, this is the simplest pattern. Solving more problems in class leads to patterns in mathematical solutions, patterns in language, patterns in politics. When we gradually grasp these patterns, we begin to encounter the patterns of life: giving a girlfriend flowers on Valentine’s Day increases your favorability rating, gifts are needed to get things done, building relationships requires dinner invitations, the tone of conversation, the etiquette of social interaction, all these patterns, although not as fixed as mathematical solutions, and without absolute rules, still exist. Whether you can thrive in the challenges of life depends on whether you can understand these patterns.

The more people experience, the easier these patterns become conditioned reflexes in their minds. For example, when you first become a salesperson, you feel tongue-tied, struggling to find the right words. But as time passes, even without thinking, the right words will flow out of your mouth, confidently and smoothly. For computers, all patterns are much simpler than life, which is why Jia Ming could use a program to simplify all reactions. To others, it seemed as if the entire network had come alive.

Of course, human capabilities are limited, computers even more so. If they engaged in a pure battle of attrition, the current disadvantageous situation was the limit of what Jia Ming could achieve with this computer. Working at his desk, nearing four o’clock, Ya Han rubbed her eyes and groggily woke up from the sofa.

Rubbing her cheeks, flushed and numb from sleep, Ya Han shakily slid on her high heels and stood up like a ghost, slowly approaching the seat beside Jia Ming. Her heels tapped on the floor, making several crisp sounds that made the atmosphere in the office even more serene.

“Ugh… what are you doing?”

Sitting there like a little girl, Ya Han gently rubbed her eyes, unable to shake off the effects of low blood pressure. After a moment, dreams and reality began to separate, her spirits gradually recovering. “Huh?”

“You’re pretty punctual, exactly four o’clock…”

“Well, I’m awesome, hehe… you’re drawing?”

“You see what you see.”

“Oh, I know how to use this drawing pad too. Move over, move over, I’ll draw you something…”

Dragging a chair, she squeezed over with a bang, bang, bang, Ya Han was like a child seeing a new toy in a friend’s hands. She snatched the mouse from Jia Ming, then dragged it back and forth, scribbling away, completely unaware that she was shaping one of the world’s most famous graffiti…

***************************************************************

At 4:14 PM, including Kelly Fernim, everyone in the research lab stopped moving at the same time. Countless conversations abruptly ceased.

“When did she enter the system…”

“I don’t know…”

“All programs… uncontrollable…”

Ten minutes earlier, Kelly Fernim’s prediction came true. The opposing side’s defensive power could no longer be strengthened, so they began a new round of attacks. Although progress was slow, after the other side’s reckless expansion for so long, they were finally being suppressed. This side was feeling somewhat triumphant, but now, just ten minutes later, all programs suddenly lost control. The other side had directly invaded the system of this supercomputer at some point and elegantly taken over the main control.

On the dozens of screens surrounding them, the same simple image now appeared.

“Uh… what is that…”

“China’s national treasure… panda…”

“Why is it holding a lit stick…”

“In China… they call that incense, they use it when worshipping ancestors…”

“This picture is really ugly…”

“…”

Please note that this translation attempts to preserve the original tone and style of the web novel, including the use of cultural references and idioms. Explanations are provided in parentheses where necessary. The translation also endeavors to maintain a natural flow in English while remaining true to the original text.

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter