Free Web NovelChapter 104: Chapter 99: Hacker and Group
In a pitch-black room, the lights were off. The only illumination came from the glow of various electronic devices, lighting up a young man sitting in front of a computer.
The young man wore a hazmat suit and glasses with thick lenses. His messy hair was a bird’s nest, and his face was slick with oil.
He looked at the information on his computer screen and muttered to himself, "The information suppression is really something else..."
As a genius hacker who had breached the internal network of a foreign security agency in his teens, the young man’s mastery of various network technologies was simply sublime.
Thus, just two days after the Blood Plague rule was announced, he keenly noticed that certain information was beginning to be suppressed online.
By constantly changing his IP and accounts to run tests, he confirmed that he wasn’t mistaken. There was indeed an automated system performing one-way blocks on specific keywords.
After using his self-developed big data tool for analysis, the young man extracted several keywords. At their core, they all pointed to a single fact.
’Does a serum with antibodies for the virus exist...? No wonder they’re suppressing the information.’
The young man could understand. He had broken into many secret archives since he was a child and knew that if certain secrets were made public, they would cause massive chaos. Moreover, it could very well get him killed.
So every time, he would just take a look for himself. Once he knew, that was enough; he would never spread the information publicly.
It was the same this time. Although he had used various technical means to uncover the suppressed information, he had no intention of disseminating it. After all, no matter how skilled you were with network technology, if the trouble you caused outweighed the cost of finding you, the higher-ups could still catch you if they were determined enough.
Phew...
The young man leaned back in his chair, a satisfied smile on his face.
Every time he completed a "campaign," he would be overjoyed, as if he had just won a great battle.
To him, his various devices were his soldiers for the attack, and the "enemy" was the myriad of robust network defenses. Each successful breach left him thrilled.
Moreover, it was the process he enjoyed, not the result of the breach. He would only be excited for a short while after each success before quickly growing bored and starting the search for his next "enemy."
Because of this mindset, his attacks never involved personal gain. He would even proactively report the vulnerabilities he found to the other party. After they patched it, he would challenge them again. If he succeeded a second time, the thrill was even greater.
At this moment, he was basking in the pleasure of having just cracked the official information suppression, browsing the internet aimlessly.
Just then, a post on a forum caught his eye.
To be precise, it was the post’s title.
"I’ve created a website that can never be traced or breached, dedicated to communication between Ascenders"
The "never be traced or breached" part of the title struck the young man as rather funny.
As a top-tier hacker, his motto was, "There is no such thing as a perfectly secure system in this world."
Even the most advanced systems have vulnerabilities. And as long as a vulnerability exists, it can be breached.
The young man clicked on the post. The poster’s nickname was "Ascender’s Home Webmaster," and the post’s content was very brief:
"The purpose of creating this website is to provide Ascenders with a safe, secure platform where they can speak freely. The site has just launched and will be improved upon in the future. I hope for everyone’s support."
The young man couldn’t help but smirk. He was a top-tier hacker who had been immersed in cybersecurity since he was just a few years old. For over twenty years, he had spent an average of more than twelve hours a day researching it. Even he wouldn’t dare claim he could create a truly secure platform, let alone anyone else.
He casually replied to the post: "You should use that time to study up. If you knew even the first thing about cybersecurity, you wouldn’t be making such ridiculous claims."
He was about to close the tab after replying, but unexpectedly, the "Webmaster" seemed to be online and replied to him immediately: "What I said is true."
’Oh? Challenging me?’
The young man raised an eyebrow and grinned slyly.
’Alright, today I’ll teach you just how vicious the world of the internet can be!’
He immediately opened the website from the post. The moment he saw the crude and simplistic page, he was filled with regret.
’Why am I wasting my time on this...’
Such a simple page looked like it was made from a generic template. Attacking a site like this was complete overkill for him, like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
He immediately wanted to close it, but then he remembered what he’d just said and sighed.
’Might as well just get it over with.’
He couldn’t even be bothered to look closely at a website of this caliber. He just launched his own cracking tool, set it to attack automatically, and went to do something else.
A minute later, the young man switched back to the tool’s interface. He was stunned by the result. ’It failed?’
Staring at the red words "Injection Failed" displayed by the tool, the young man frowned slightly.
This tool was his own creation, powerful enough to crack 95% of the websites on the internet. And yet, it had failed against such a ridiculously simple-looking site.
’Is there something wrong with the tool?’
The young man immediately used his tool to randomly crack several other websites. There was no problem at all; they all displayed "Injection Successful" within ten-odd seconds.
This made him sit up straight, his eyes shining.
’Well now, this website’s actually got something to it.’
He hadn’t taken it seriously at first, but this was an unexpected discovery.
After cracking the official information suppression, he had been looking for his next target. He never expected this happy accident; the security on this shoddy little website was actually pretty good!
"Alright, let’s see just how secure you really are!" The young man cracked his knuckles and quickly entered a state of complete focus, diving into his attack on the website. For a time, the only sound in the room was the CLACK-CLACK-CLACK of his keyboard.
...
On the twelfth day since the Blood Plague Virus outbreak, there were three days left until the rule ended.
Every major city, once bustling, had fallen silent. The streets were mostly empty, save for the drones and vehicles of official departments.
As for the first large wave of people who chose to drive out of the cities, some made it out successfully. Others got stuck in traffic jams along the way, contracting the Blood Plague before they could escape.
Drone footage from above clearly showed swarms of buzzing flies surrounding the corpses of those who had died from hemorrhagic explosions inside their cars parked on the roadside.
Of the large crowds that fled the cities, some headed for remote areas alone, while others formed groups of three to five and established camps in the wilderness.
In one such camp, six or seven people were gathered around a middle-aged woman.
These people lacked professional protective gear, wearing only ordinary masks. Only the middle-aged woman wore none, as if she had no fear of being infected by the virus.
A man with a neat buzz cut spoke up. "So, you’re saying we need to go to a hospital?"
"Yes." The middle-aged woman nodded. "The fact that I survived after being infected most likely means I have antibodies to the virus in my system. This means my serum could potentially be used to save people... but to separate the serum from the blood, we need a centrifuge. You can only find those in hospitals."
The people gathered around her all nodded. They trusted her words, as she had been a doctor and possessed the relevant professional knowledge.
"Red spots have already appeared on Ming’s shoulder. They showed up an hour ago." The buzz-cut man glanced inside a tent, where a teenage boy was lying down.
"The rule says that after getting infected, you’ll die from a hemorrhagic explosion within 24 hours. That means Ming might have a little over twenty hours left, or he could be gone in the next second..."
"We can’t delay any longer! We have to go to the hospital!" frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
The group was in complete agreement. They had all met at a Gathering Point during the fourth rule, supported each other through a snowstorm disaster, and then banded together to survive the rule of the Living Dead.
These experiences forged a deep friendship between them, and they decided to stick together. So, after the Blood Plague rule was announced, the group discussed it and decided to leave the city together to take refuge in the wilderness.
The first few days went smoothly. No one got infected, which made them all feel they had made the right decision.
Later, when the female doctor became infected, everyone was heartbroken. But to their surprise, she quickly recovered on her own! This left them both overjoyed and incredulous.
At first, everyone thought it was a good omen, a sign that they would all make it through this rule safely. But unexpectedly, with just three days left until the rule’s end, the youngest member of their team, Ming, got infected.
"Do you guys think Ming could recover on his own like Yu did? And maybe then he’d also be able to tell if others are infected..."
"That would be great, of course! But..."
"We can’t rely on wishful thinking!" the buzz-cut man said gravely. "Back when Yu got sick, none of us knew it was possible to survive the infection. We all thought it was a death sentence, so we didn’t do anything. But this time is different."
The middle-aged woman they called "Yu," the former doctor, nodded. "That’s right. Ming is only sixteen. We can’t just sit back and do nothing for a kid that young."
"Then let’s do as Yu says and go to the hospital!"
"Let’s go!"
After the team made their decision, two people stayed behind to look after the boy, Ming, while everyone else got in the car and rushed back to the city.
Unlike the congestion they faced when leaving the city, the road back in was much clearer.
After entering the city, they soon noticed the large number of cars on the roadside containing corpses. The scenes inside were too gruesome to look at.
They figured the reason the bodies hadn’t been dealt with was likely because the official departments were simply too swamped with other tasks.
The vehicle sped toward the nearest hospital. When they arrived, they saw an emergency management vehicle parked at the entrance, along with an armed squad standing guard.
As soon as their car pulled up, an official from the agency immediately approached them.
As the official got closer, he saw they were only wearing masks and asked in surprise, "Where did you come from? Where are your hazmat suits?"
"We just entered the city. We don’t have any."
"You came from outside the city... What are you doing at the hospital?"
"We need to use a centrifuge."
"A centrifuge?" The official’s eyes sharpened. "That’s for separating serum and plasma!"
As soon as he said that, he waved to the people behind him. Instantly, several more uniformed personnel came forward and surrounded the vehicle.
Seeing this, the buzz-cut man immediately got out of the car and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Don’t get agitated," a team leader said. "We just want to understand the situation. Why do you need a centrifuge?"
"We’re trying to save someone. A child has been infected." At this point, Yu also got out of the car. "I used to be a doctor. I was infected with the virus before and discovered that I recovered on my own. So I think my serum might contain antibodies. That’s why we came to the hospital, hoping to draw my blood and use a centrifuge to separate the serum to inject into the child."
Hearing the words "recovered from the virus on my own," the team leader’s expression cleared with confirmation. "It’s an ’Adaptation Body.’ Please come with us."
"Wait!"
"We still have someone who needs saving! What are you doing?"
"Don’t worry. We will send a vehicle to pick up your friend, and he will be treated with a serum injection."
Yu was taken aback. "So you’ve already confirmed the serum is effective?"
"Yes. You are not the only Blood Plague Adaptation Body."
"Wait!" the buzz-cut man demanded. "Does this mean you already knew that some people’s serum could cure the infection? Then why didn’t you tell everyone!"
"It’s not our place to say. These are orders from above."
"You..."
"Alright, saving him is what’s important now," Yu said. "I’ll go into the hospital first to get the serum extracted. You guys go bring Ming here quickly."
As the group talked, no one noticed that on top of a derelict building across from the hospital, a person was watching them with a sinister gaze.
After seeing the agency personnel lead Yu into the hospital, the person took out a phone and said, "Brothers, our chance to live has come. It all depends on whether you’ve got the guts to do what it takes!"
