Chapter 6 Catching the Thief (Part 2)
Today, the four freshmen finally witnessed the scale of the Information Science Department... No wonder Counselor Chen repeatedly emphasized during the large lecture today: "Our Information Science Department is a unified whole, and our motto is: 'We are very strong!' So everyone must remember, unity is strength!"
At first, I thought the counselor's words were just empty talk, but now I truly understand their meaning.
After returning to school, Wang Dong made a phone call. Five minutes later, when he arrived at the dormitory building, he found that the gatehouse downstairs was surrounded by dozens of burly men.
Dormitory supervisor Lao Zhang was sweating profusely, not knowing what had happened. When he saw Wang Dong coming over, he grabbed Wang Dong like a savior and asked him what had happened.
Clearly, Wang Dong carried himself with the air of a leader among the students. This wasn't to say he was overly flamboyant; it was simply that many of these students had a good relationship with him. Furthermore, based on their interaction, Chen Xu also felt that Wang Dong was a loyal and righteous man, the kind who would go to great lengths for his brothers, not betray them for a woman.
After Wang Dong explained the whole story, Old Zhang immediately jumped up: "Damn it, he dares to steal?!"
This was the first time Chen Xu and the other newbies had seen this nearly retired old man so fierce. They heard Old Zhang complain, "Damn it, he's from my hometown! He tried to get close to me, even giving me a pack of cigarettes. I figured there were plenty of other vendors, one more wouldn't make a difference, so I let him go up. Who knew he'd dare steal? You don't believe me? Damn it, if something gets stolen, I'm the doorman who suffers the most!"
After he said that, everyone believed that he had nothing to do with the matter. Considering that Old Zhang had worked there for many years, he was indeed the one who had the hardest time when things went wrong.
It's actually quite normal for things to go missing in university dormitories, but for several dorm rooms to have valuables stolen on the very first day of school is just outrageous and brazen.
Wang Dong lit a cigarette for Lao Zhang and offered him a few words of advice, then said, "Do you know where that kid is now? If we get our things back now, the school will be overjoyed. Lao Zhang, you've done a great job, so we won't make things difficult for you because of this. Just be more careful next time."
Old Zhang's eyes lit up. He took a deep drag on his cigarette and then threw the butt on the ground: "Let's go! Damn it, he's staying in a run-down hotel near the west gate of the school right now. I found that hotel for him myself. I'm going to slap that bastard a couple of times!"
So a large group of people headed towards the small hotel outside the school. To get from there to the west gate of the school, they had to pass the football field and basketball court. Although it was noon, there were still many people playing football on the field, and two teams were even having a football match. Seeing Wang Dong leading a large group of people with unfriendly expressions, many people who seemed to know Wang Dong came up to ask what was wrong.
This is when you can see Wang Dong's popularity. A large portion of the people on the court recognized him. As soon as they heard that they were going to catch a thief, they immediately called out to their friends and started yelling that they wouldn't play the game anymore. What's even funnier is that the captains of the two teams playing the game shouted, "Damn it, let's go catch someone!" and joined the chorus of condemnation.
When they arrived at the school gate, there were nearly two hundred people in a long procession, quite a sight! It startled the school's security guard.
When they arrived at the entrance of the small hotel, Chen Xu and his three freshmen were left outside the crowd. They were separated by a hundred or two hundred people and couldn't see what was happening inside. But after a while, they heard a commotion inside, followed by a series of loud bangs, screams of pain, and the sound of police officers trying to break up the fight.
Oh dear, that's terrifying!
The four little lambs could already imagine the bloodshed that had taken place inside.
But the animals outside weren't satisfied. Those blocked outside shouted, "Hey guys inside, have you had your fun? Can you please make room? We want to go up and kick them a few times too!"
Others shouted, "Groin kick! Deadly scissor kick! Damn Wang Dong, you're the captain of the college team, you're the school's famous heavy hitter! Spread that son of a bitch's legs, and then kick him like Carlos taking a 36-meter free kick, sending his little brother flying in an S-shaped arc!"
Someone else was shouting, "Carlos was too cruel! He used Beckham's! The scimitar, kicking his little brother into a 270° curved Turkish scimitar!"
The four little sheep were sweating profusely. What the hell are these people?!
The final result was naturally quite simple. The bastard hadn't even had time to sell what he'd stolen; he'd left it all at the hotel. Except for Old Dong's wallet, the laptop, cell phone, MP3 player, and other items were all recovered. Old Dong was so angry he almost rushed up and kicked the guy a few more times… He had no idea how much money he'd lost!
There were also many more, because this area is a school district, so there are many schools, including four or five universities, as well as schools from kindergarten to high school. Some of the items were probably stolen from other schools. Wang Dong and his friends decided to take these items back first, then take pictures and post them on the BBS of those universities, which earned them a lot of attention.
On the way back, Wang Dong heard from the policeman that Chen Xu had actually claimed to have nuclear weapons blueprints on his computer to increase the attention given to the case, and everyone gave him a thumbs up and said, "Awesome!" Wang Dong chuckled and nudged Chen Xu, "Aren't you afraid of getting charged with disrupting official business?"
"What's there to be afraid of?" After getting to know the policeman, Chen Xu started bragging: "Whether or not there are nuclear weapons blueprints, we'll have to find my computer first. At worst, I'll get a scolding from the policeman, but then I'll get my computer back, right?"
A group of people collectively exclaimed "Damn!" and thought that next time they lost something, they would do the same to the police. Then Chen Xu added, "If they really investigate, I'll say that it was because that guy stole my computer and I accidentally bumped into it, and some data was accidentally lost!"
"You're ruthless!" A group of people thought this freshman had a lot of imagination, but they didn't know that Chen Xu was thinking about his computer from the future, the computer that had lost a lot of data...
Everything was found, and everyone was happy. In the afternoon, Wu Yuan, the eldest, wanted to go shopping, so he dragged everyone in the dorm along. However, in the end, only Qin Xiao'an, who had nothing better to do, went with him, because Dong Qingjie said he wanted to work part-time and had already found a tutoring job. Chen Xu, on the other hand, shamelessly said that she had her period and couldn't exercise, so she stayed in the dorm.
Seeing that the three roommates had all left, Chen Xu carefully closed and locked the door, drew the curtains, and continued to sneak around as if he were having an affair. He secretly took out the computer from the future, wanting to take a closer look at how to use this futuristic computer.
The dormitory conditions at Hopson University are quite good, and Building 14 is a newly built dormitory, so it has a private bathroom and air conditioning, as well as a good campus network connection.
Upon seeing the network cable, Chen Xu naturally thought of going online. More importantly, he wanted to experience what it would be like to surf the internet on this computer from the future.
Fortunately, Chen Xu's grandson is very intelligent. Because the network system in 2086 will be completely different from today's. People will no longer use outdated cable lines, but instead use global satellite-covered wireless networks… just as wired telephones are gradually being replaced by wireless phones and satellite phones, this is an inevitable trend in historical development.
Without a wired network, there's naturally no way to use a wired network interface, just like it's hard to find a 3.5-inch floppy drive on a modern computer. However, Chen Xu's clever grandson seemed to have thought of this problem in advance, not only installing USB 2.0 ports on the computer but also a wired network interface, thus preventing Chen Xu from falling into the awkward situation of having a computer from the future but being unable to connect to the internet.
Chen Xu's grandson was very well prepared. He even included an XP system file package in the computer's data. This way, the virtual assistant on the desktop could automatically integrate a browser that was compatible with both the current system and Microsoft systems... Otherwise, even if Chen Xu could connect to the internet, he wouldn't be able to browse the web.
Chen Xu can't be considered a computer novice, because he has an old computer at home. He bought it in 1995 when the Windows 95 system was first released. At that time, it cost tens of thousands of yuan, including the genuine operating system and the computer. So compared with some of his peers, Chen Xu is one of the early adopters of computers.
Of course, Chen Xu wasn't like some born geniuses who, upon touching a computer, felt as if they'd found their destined soulmate and then relentlessly honed their computer skills to become a top-tier hacker. His earliest encounter with computers was through playing the game "The Legend of Sword and Fairy," and his subsequent ten-year computer career was essentially a gaming career.
Another point is that Chen Xu's father is a very restless old man who often uses the family's old computer to browse adult forums and the like. As the saying goes, if you walk by the river often, you're bound to get your shoes wet. So the old computer at home is full of viruses!
The old computer was already running at a snail's pace, let alone carrying so many virus-laden stones. In the end, even playing Red Alert 95 was incredibly laggy. Chen Xu had no choice but to complain to his mother, but the result was... his mother gave Chen Xu's father a severe scolding because he had such a great movie and hadn't even invited her to watch it together...
And they specifically requested that it be Japanese!
Chen Xu was speechless. There was no other way; he either erupted in silence or perished in silence! Young people are indeed quick-witted. Adhering to the principle of "when in doubt about domestic matters, consult Baidu; when in doubt about foreign matters, consult Gougou," Chen Xu began his antivirus journey. As a result, he visited several sizable antivirus and anti-Trojan forums and accumulated a lot of experience... At least in the eyes of Dianbai, someone like him who could use tools made by others to clean up his computer was already considered an expert.
The forum Chen Xu now frequents is called "Antivirus Home," which provides cracked versions and updates of various antivirus software from both China and abroad. It is considered one of the larger antivirus forums in China.
However, Chen Xu's purpose this time wasn't to download antivirus software as usual, but to cause trouble!
Chapter 7 Webpage Viruses
The reason for the disruption was simple: Chen Xu's account, which he had been cultivating for several years, was recently banned.
School hadn't started yet, and Chen Xu, bored during the summer vacation, often spent his time online. This "Antivirus Software Home" was a forum he had frequented for a long time, and he had met quite a few people there, making him a seasoned newbie.
The "Antivirus Home" forum isn't always full of discussions about viruses and Trojans; there's also a dedicated section for casual chat. That day, Chen Xu was chatting in this section when he saw a really boring post titled "Look at my new photos, aren't they handsome?"
So Chen Xu clicked on it casually, only to find that it was a set of artistic photos, but the problem was that the person who took these artistic photos was a man!
Chen Xu had always felt that men didn't need to take these kinds of photos except for wedding photos. Those guys who would casually put on makeup to look incredibly handsome and then take pictures to commemorate it were narcissists, and had a certain submissive tendency. Plus, the guy in the photo was actually quite handsome, so Chen Xu, who was only average-looking, felt a little unbalanced. Thus, he launched a verbal attack, rushing over and giving the guy a thorough dressing-down.
For example, his hairstyle doesn't match his face shape, his face shape doesn't match his body shape, his body shape doesn't match his style... In short, the words he used, although they didn't contain a single swear word, would make even a pig with dignity hang itself!
After replying to the post, Chen Xu didn't pay much attention to it and continued browsing other sections. However, he didn't expect that after a while, he would find that he couldn't enter some sections that required permissions!
Chen Xu thought, "That's impossible! I've been on the forum for so long, my privileges are way higher than the average person's. Except for one section that requires an insanely high 255 points of access, there's no section I can't enter." But after checking, he discovered that his account had been banned!
What does it mean when an account that has been painstakingly built up over several years of posting get banned? Chen Xu was so angry that he quickly registered a new account and went to post a question.
It turned out that the guy who posted the photos to show off was actually the sockpuppet account of the chief moderator, minghui! Then they also banned the sockpuppet account that Chen Xu had just registered!
Offending the head moderator and still hoping to survive in the forum? Absolutely not! Minghui was also frustrated because it was his first time taking artistic photos like this. The results were pretty good, so he changed his username and posted them on the forum hoping for some compliments, and maybe even some girls would scream and throw themselves at him. But who knew he'd run into Chen Xu, that sharp-tongued guy? And under Chen Xu's influence, all the other sharp-tongued people in the forum mobilized, and the replies almost made him smash his monitor in anger!
Minghui and Chen Xu are sworn enemies!
Of course, Chen Xu was also unhappy about his account being banned... After all, it was an ID that he had nurtured for several years and posted tens of thousands of times!
There's no question of who's right or wrong in this kind of situation anymore, because that's how it is online—nobody knows who the other person is, and people speak without thinking. Now that Chen Xu has a supercomputer and is going back to cause trouble… well, he hasn't really figured out how to do it, but the feeling is like taking a stunningly beautiful girlfriend to see his ex-girlfriend who dumped him—someone who wasn't even that good-looking or had a great figure—there's a certain sense of showing off.
After entering the familiar website address, the moment the page opened, the virtual beauty on the desktop suddenly spoke in a beautiful voice: "An embedded virus has been detected in the Windows system. According to the sample analysis, it is the infamous Trojan 'Feng Huo' from the early 21st century. Do you want to scan and remove it?"
Chen Xu's first reaction was simply "Damn it." It was obvious that the virus was embedded in a webpage—a trojan horse virus, as the saying goes. Once clicked, the trojan and virus would automatically run in the background of the computer. This was one of the most shameless tricks used by virus distributors… Thinking about how many viruses his father had contracted from browsing adult websites, over 90% of them came from this kind of tactic.
The problem is, this is a "paradise for antivirus software"!
A website that specializes in providing antivirus software!
It's incredibly embarrassing that a website like this has been infected with a virus!
Upon thinking of this, Chen Xu's eyes immediately lit up!
Yeah, isn't that Minghui supposed to be all that important? The chief moderator of Antivirus Paradise, so what? He didn't even realize his own website had been infected with a Trojan! How shameful!
Chen Xu searched the forum but couldn't find any posts mentioning that the website had been infected with a virus. Even several posts from users just a minute ago hadn't mentioned the issue.
"No one discovered it?" Chen Xu's eyes lit up even more. If he were the first to discover the virus and kill it, wouldn't he be able to experience the thrill of being a master?
Thinking of this, Chen Xu quickly asked the virtual beauty, "Is there a way to detect and remove this virus? Or could you write a special removal tool for me, for the Windows system?"
“Because of the targeted virus samples, it’s easy.” After the woman answered, an EXE file appeared on the desktop. “This special removal tool can detect and kill the ‘Firestorm’ virus hidden deep inside the computer, and can continue to protect against further invasion of the ‘Firestorm’ virus, so that ‘Firestorm’ will not infect again.”
"Thanks, beautiful!" Even though he knew it was just a virtual character, Chen Xu unconsciously treated her as a real person. However, he had just learned that even in 2086, artificial intelligence systems, which only existed in novels, hadn't actually appeared yet. This virtual female assistant could help him answer difficult questions and engage in almost seamless conversations, all because she had a wealth of internal data. And for questions she didn't know, she would answer with mechanical language: "Sorry, there is no answer to this question in the database."
A targeted removal tool wasn't very effective, so Chen Xu registered a new account called "SMMH," which stands for SMminghui. He then posted a message, boastfully announcing that he had discovered the "Beacon Fire" virus, and then expressed his contempt for the administrators and moderators here... In order not to be seen as seeking revenge, Chen Xu did not mention his old ID.
After posting the special attack, Chen Xu happily refreshed the forum, waiting for these guys to come crying and begging to call him an expert. Maybe a few of his former idols would even kneel in front of him and beg him to take them as his apprentices!
So Chen Xu kept refreshing and refreshing...
As the number of people viewing the post increased, and after a few meaningless posts like "claiming the sofa," "claiming the bench," and "claiming the floor," the first reply with content finally appeared.
The person who replied was JUN, a veteran on the forum, an honorary moderator, and a self-proclaimed expert. Chen Xu remembered that for a while, the cracked version of Rising Antivirus software he used was released by JUN.
Seeing your idol is naturally exciting, but seeing your idol's words turns that excitement into impulsiveness.
JUN actually mocked Chen Xu, saying that the anti-virus software looked quite professional, but after turning on automatic protection, no matter what website you opened, a "Beacon Fire virus intrusion" prompt would pop up, and these websites even included China's largest portal websites such as Sohu, Tencent, and NetEase! Even some major foreign websites were infected with the virus.
JUN said in a mocking tone, "If the removal tool posted by the original poster is real, then we can believe that this 'Beacon Fire' virus truly lives up to its name, spreading like wildfire and igniting the entire world's internet. But such a virus is impossible. The original poster believes his abilities surpass those of all programmers in the world, so he discovered a virus that no programmer in the world has discovered."
After reading this sentence, Chen Xu was no longer so angry.
Because he was frightened by what was said!
Chen Xu opened Sohu with a slight tremor, and sure enough, the virtual beauty alerted him again: the "Beacon Fire" virus had invaded; he opened Tencent, and the result was the same; he opened NetEase...
Chen Xu opened all the well-known portal websites on HAO163 one by one and found that they all had warnings about the virus. His original firm confidence began to waver. He wondered if the computer from the future had made a mistake when it traveled through time.
So Chen Xu asked Xiao Min if she had made a mistake. What kind of virus could sweep across major websites around the world? What was the origin of this "Beacon Fire" virus? But Xiao Min said that the current intact database only had samples of the Beacon Fire virus, but no information about the virus itself. This made Chen Xu's heart sink.
That son of a bitch made a blunder!
555 This is so embarrassing! Chen Xu had at least a few years of experience with computers and some knowledge of antivirus software, so he thought it was probably a system problem. It was unlikely that this computer from the future would malfunction; perhaps this so-called "Beacon Fire" virus was just a piece of malicious code… Chen Xu remembered seeing similar posts online, where an expert posted a piece of code that ordinary people couldn't understand at all, and then said to copy the code into Notepad and save it as a text file.
If a virus warning appears after copying the code, then the antivirus software's protection level is the highest.
If you get a notification right after copying the code to your notebook and saving it, that's excellent.
A prompt appears after a few seconds of saving; that's medium.
It's inferior to having to manually initiate a virus scan to find a virus.
No matter how many scans I run, they can't detect any viruses... Congratulations, you're currently using Kingsoft Jiangmin or Rising Antivirus, right? Uninstall them immediately...
That's a bit of an oversimplification, because the code he released actually contained a virus signature. This code was developed by the European Computer Virus Association. While Kingsoft, Jiangmin, and Rising are indeed inferior to foreign antivirus software, it's probably because their virus databases haven't yet included this signature.
Chen Xu thought of this post because he realized that this mix-up might be a similar situation.
It's possible that there's a piece of code like this on web pages and in computer programs these days. It might not seem harmful at the moment, but with system upgrades, it might be discovered that the code is malicious, leading to it being identified as a virus. And then, to make matters worse, someone created a removal tool for it – now they've really embarrassed themselves.
Ah, times have changed!
Seeing that post mocking a corpse, Chen Xu was too ashamed to continue online. After repeatedly expressing his embarrassment, he logged off. Little did he know the uproar his "blunder" would cause worldwide...