Chapter 11: Unexpected Fright

  After saying goodbye to that weird kid, I casually tried out this weird thing and it's actually not bad. It can be used as a telescope, camera or camcorder, but I have no idea how much storage it has? Will it break easily? Where is the authorized repair center... (Storage card? Buy one get one free for a year! Will it break? As an alien product, it must be top-notch, how can it break? That authorized repair center? The nearest one is on Pluto, and they don't cover airfare.)

  After Uncle Yu came down, he took me directly to the IBM specialty store. Since Uncle Yu often purchases computers here, I tried out a total of 7 laptops, but unfortunately, there was still quite a gap compared to the company's computers that I'm used to. In the end, however, Uncle Yu introduced a computer that he had seen at an electronics product exhibition, and unexpectedly, this store had it in stock. It turned out that this computer is actually a portable server, with an exterior identical to a laptop, but its thickness was truly outrageous - as thick as two ordinary laptops, about 50-60MM. The screen looked pretty ugly (does IBM have any good-looking laptops?). However, its performance was indeed exceptional, using dual CPUs and a highly integrated server motherboard, exceeding that of desktops of the same type by far. Unfortunately, after seeing the price, I felt a bit embarrassed - over 28,000 yuan, exactly twice the amount of money I had on hand. Seeing my awkward expression after looking at the price, Uncle Yu spoke up:

  "Xiao Xu, it's okay, if the money is not enough, there are two ways to deal with it. One is to just owe it for now and pay back next month when you get your salary. The other way is that I can ask the company to advance the payment for you, and then deduct it from your salary next month, haha. Actually, both ways are the same. Now our Xiao Xu may not be considered a rich person, but he should be considered someone who knows how to make money, right? Old Wu, I'll guarantee it, by the end of next month when Xiao Xu gets his salary, he'll come and pay back the remaining amount, okay?"

  "Cough, brother, what's the hurry? Don't worry about it, little brother. When I have money, we'll talk again. Take your time, best not to pay back at all. That way, Brother Yu will owe me a favor, and my business will be settled too, haha!" The boss had a smile on his face.

  Returned to the company and found out that the chairman was looking for me, so I put away my computer and went straight to the chairman's office.

  "Little Xu, are you back? I've read that suggestion of yours, the thinking and creativity aren't bad. So I'll ask you, how many people do you think it will take to complete this software, and how long will it take? Can we defend against attacks from someone like a network army's upper-level officer?" As soon as I walked in, Old Sun couldn't wait to start firing questions at me.

  "Just me alone is enough, it will take about a month to debug, and it should be no problem for someone of Shang Shi's level." I thought to myself, can this thing even withstand KOKO's mischief? (KOKO: Do I cause that much trouble? I'm just attacking the government website.)

  "So can we start promoting now? But this way it will put a lot of pressure on you."

  "It doesn't matter, I think after it's completed, we can let the online community rate the software, that way it'll also be a bit of hype, and probably beneficial for sales."

  "Alright, young man has ambition, you go ahead and do it, just give Little Qin a heads up." Old Sun looked like he was smiling slyly.

  Back to the office, after telling Qin Ge about the situation, I returned to my seat and took out today's gains. The computer... one side is installing software, no need to uninstall and reinstall again. P43.4 CPU, two 120G high-speed hard drives, 1G of memory...... there's really no need to save anything else.

  One side is installing software, and the other side takes out a small recorder that was mentioned earlier to record the road outside the window, to see how long it can last. If it's less than 10 minutes, I'll be at a loss. Although the clarity of this thing is very high just now, if the time is not long, it can only be used as a fixed image recorder, which is not as good as a digital camera that can be bought for the price of two.

  Then there is a card-like thing made of some unknown metal, with a row of colorful stripes on top, somewhat like a barcode, but much more complex, and with special light refraction in the sunlight. In the middle is a row of 18 digits, all of which are zeros - 18 zeros??. Below that is a combination of letters and numbers, somewhat like a password. What does this look like? A soldier's ID card or something? I looked it up online, but there was no information about it. On the back of the thing, however, I saw four characters: "Real Technology". Could it be real? It looks pretty good, so I'll just throw it in my computer bag and see if it will "resurrect" within six months - otherwise, I'll get rid of it.

  Slowly, I've been working on the framework of the defensive software (it's okay to call it a firewall, just hoping this one is stronger), before I knew it, it was already time for dinner. The company apartment is actually in the same building, just not on the same floor as my office. The computer software has also been installed, and there are only a few people left in the office now. Outside, it's dark everywhere, but the streetlights are shining brightly. I've packed up my things, and I'm going to go eat dinner, then go teach those kids some stuff, and give them some discipline, or else they'll all think they're Robin Hood online.

  Just as I was about to leave, I suddenly remembered that there was something on the windowsill. I don't know if it's still working, and I also forgot to ask if it's rechargeable or battery-powered. I picked it up and took a closer look... Oh my god, this is impossible! The thing in my hand can not only take pictures, zoom in (as a telescope), but also has night vision, and the clarity is many times stronger than what I saw in college. When I tried to enlarge the image, I had previously enlarged it 20X when I first got it, but this time I enlarged it to 100X and actually saw the words on the book of the person walking below! Oh my god, I'm on the 19th floor! This can't be a special military device, right? Thinking about this, I quickly put it in my pocket. Damn, this thing is scary. It's going to get me killed. When I get back, I'll hide it away. (I didn't expect that I would hide it for over half a year, and only remembered it after seeing it in real-life technology. But how did this thing have alien stuff? Wasn't the game not even started yet? The whole thing adds up to... he's... guess what? If you can't guess, then you're no good!)

  Sneaking into the room, he hid those two things well. After coming out, he felt something was off again. Could that token really be a soldier's token? He...he wouldn't be a murderer who robs people, would he...... Shaking his head, damn it, I'm not like I've never killed anyone before. Besides, it wasn't me who did the killing, it has nothing to do with me. There are people in the computer city downstairs who can prove that it was given by that little guy.

  After being tense for nearly a month, as time passed, I gradually relaxed myself, and many big things happened in this one month.

  May 2, 2005 / The US Seventh Hacker Union proposed a merger with the Network Legion. NO: 14

  May 7th, 2005/European Sea Soul hacker team proposed to join the Network Legion. NO: 5

  On May 8, 2005, a Chinese hacker organization claiming to have over 400 hackers with the rank of sergeant or above in the network army proposed to merge with the network army.

  May 8, 2005 / Russian cyber group "Hell" merged into NetDevil. NO: 11

  May 12, 2005 / Yuan Hai's soul team captain led a team to challenge the world's second-ranked Russian Dark Dragon organization, and merged with the Dark Dragon on the same day into the Network Army Corps.

  ……

  As of 2005.5.28, the entire world was like a dream come true, during which nearly 100 world-renowned hacker organizations joined the Network Legion, including 37 teams among the top 100 in the world.

  According to the US FBI's investigation, nearly 30% of people ranked among the top 10,000 hackers in the world have joined the hacker army. The percentage is 47% for those ranked within the top 1,000 and 64% for those ranked within the top 100. Seven out of the top 10 hackers are from the hacker army. As a result, US and other countries' special agencies once tried to intervene in the hacker army but were deterred by numerous hackers' various attempts at intimidation, with some even trying to take control of US satellites. Consequently, the US had to put its investigation on hold and actively seek allies.

  The media of various countries are reporting on this suddenly emerging team from all angles. Due to the expanding influence of the Cyber Troop, its website owner BOSS had no choice but to step forward and become the spokesperson for the Cyber Troop, just as we had planned.

  Governments of various countries, stimulated by the cyber troops, also began to gather a large number of network talents in preparation for possible cyber warfare. The reason is that an official Russian network administrator put forward: "As long as the cyber troops are given one day, half of the US network will be attacked."

  As special agents from various countries frantically searched for members of the cyber army, many companies also issued bounties. Many software and websites lured members of the cyber army to join their companies with extremely high salaries. Soon, various countries joined this crazy competition as well. A lieutenant's annual salary was around 20 million RMB, a major's was around 80 million RMB, and a colonel's was around 150 million RMB. The entire online world seemed to have gone mad.

  But on the contrary, only a few low-level members of the network army came forward to apply for jobs, and according to several members, the high-level members, especially those at the lieutenant colonel level, were able to achieve such success solely because of JF's long-term guidance. It is estimated that the core members' interest in hacking technology was only a pathological hobby, not a means to seek benefits. Some of these people had jobs that had nothing to do with computers, but they held high positions within the network army.

  When I saw this news, I couldn't help but laugh. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't be struggling financially and would have given up long ago. Most of the people I taught had their own stable jobs, except for a few friends I met online who were interested in technical exchanges. Many of them didn't even know what hacking was, let alone think about using it to make money.

  Over the past year, we've been like family, discussing network technology issues and rarely sharing our achievements with outsiders. Due to my long-term role as an instructor and their admiration for my hacking skills, I naturally became a leader-like figure in this community. Without my statement, they wouldn't have paid attention to external disturbances and would have just considered themselves outsiders.

  At the same time, a network game company called Real Tech emerged almost all over the world. The company showcased its game tools and technology to several large financial groups, allowing them to experience it firsthand. After that, all the major financial groups clearly expressed their full support and hoped to be the sole partner of the company. As a result, representatives of several financial groups almost went to war for this.

  Later, with the support of various financial groups, Real Tech's advertisements flooded the world like a storm, suffocating all other game companies in the world. And when I first heard this news, I couldn't help but jump up - the advertising budget for Asrte Financial Group in Beijing was $2 million!!!!!!!!!!! How much would that be nationwide? In Asia... in the whole world?!

  At the same time, my defensive software has also been completed in these few days. After testing it myself, I can guarantee that it will be the strongest standalone defense software and also the most extreme. Its working part consists of three parts: First, filtering; Second, interception; Third, forced network isolation (the ultimate means is to force disconnection from the internet). Currently, general firewalls mainly have the first two functions, and no software has started implementing the third one yet, so I'll take the lead. Hopefully, it won't be quickly imitated.