A massive explosion occurred at a power plant in New Delhi, India, caused by a sudden surge in voltage, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries.
The power of hackers can sometimes be that great.
Moreover, this was only because Chen Xu showed leniency.
The official homepages of the Japanese, South Korean, and Indian governments were hacked and altered, all leaving behind the message: "If you're going to be a dog, you should be prepared to be one."
Hmph, these guys are nothing but American lackeys.
To be honest, this matter has indeed become quite a big deal. Chen Xu didn't think much of it when he was in a moment of excitement, but afterwards he couldn't help feeling a little scared... After all, this involved provoking several countries at the same time!
But a message from X put Chen Xu at ease.
X said, "Are you done venting your anger? Then let's just let this matter go. Thank you for showing leniency. But we all hope that this kind of thing will never happen again."
Chapter 254 That Night
Chen Xu knew that the X organization's words contained two meanings. The first was that they would try their best to prevent such coordinated hacker attacks on China from happening again; and the second was that SMMH should not be so impulsive in the future. They would take responsibility for what happened today, but please don't do this again.
To be honest, X was also very angry about this.
This anger is mutual: on one side are hackers from various countries, instigated by unknown forces, and on the other is the SMMH. They know that no one could tolerate such a situation. And what they fear even more is what if the SMMH actually retaliates and triggers a war…?
For a hacker of his caliber, any place in the world with internet access is his backyard. The US military's technological level is indeed very high, but that's precisely what makes it troublesome. If the SMMH were to infiltrate the network and issue an order… of course, an order to bomb the White House would certainly not be carried out, but what if he ordered a few bombers stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan to bomb a certain place… then who could explain the consequences?
Hackers are incredibly powerful, but the US military is unlikely to give up something as convenient as the internet. So, if this were to actually happen, it would be a lose-lose situation for both sides.
So let's just let this matter rest... yeah, let it rest. We can't let such discordant things happen.
So the matter was suppressed, and media coverage from various countries focused on the unprovoked attack on Chinese networks by foreign hackers, which was then defeated by Chinese hackers. The major power outages in Shanghai, Washington, and Tokyo were not publicized at all, and of course, no casualty figures were reported.
But for the hacker community and intelligence agencies around the world, these reports are pure nonsense.
This hacking incident caused a full hour of blackout in Washington, D.C., resulting in losses of at least tens of millions of dollars. Washington's power company was overwhelmed with calls, and its reputation plummeted. But that's considered the worst of it. In Japan, South Korea, and India alone, the damage to power plant equipment caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, and the incident resulted in a total of 537 deaths and thousands of injuries in those three countries!
In a place like India, with its small size and huge population, throwing a brick could easily kill five or six people. Chen Xu's attack directly caused two high-voltage cables to snap, instantly killing over three hundred people!
However, due to pressure from the United States, these countries had no choice but to swallow their anger and suffer in silence. But naturally, their governments weren't so friendly towards the hackers involved in yesterday's attack on China… Damn it, if it weren't for your stupidity, such huge losses wouldn't have occurred!
However, this incident was not entirely without its gains.
At least hackers and intelligence agencies around the world have finally confirmed one thing... wherever there is internet access, there is no way to stop the SMMH.
God of the Internet!
Undeniably, he is a true god of the internet!
There were actually many very high-level hackers, even top-level ones, involved in this attack!
Hacker groups like SNAKE, ranked number one in the world, aren't necessarily truly number one... as mentioned before. SNAKE earned this ranking by winning a previous world hacker conference, but the problem is... such world hacker conferences don't carry much authority!
Many high-level hacker groups don't care about the hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money; they're too lazy to participate in competitions of this caliber to ensure their own security.
Some advanced hackers even despise hacker competitions, considering them an insult to hackers. They believe that hackers either don't make a move or, when they do, they must succeed!
Therefore, some of the people who participated in yesterday's attack were absolutely world-class in skill. Of course, some of them were driven by curiosity, while others were simply unconvinced and wanted to test their skills against SMMH.
But the result is obvious.
Yesterday, everyone who fought SMMH… though they didn't know it was SMMH at the time, they could definitely guess later… was completely defeated in a single move. Whether top-tier or newbie, to SMMH… they were all newbies!
In his report on the incident, American security expert and one of the world's top hackers, Wells, wrote: "SMMH single-handedly humiliated the entire world of hackers. Because in his presence, we are all elementary school students."
If SMMH was previously praised in the hacker community for the software he released and his defensive capabilities, many were still unconvinced. But this time, no one dared to utter a single word of nonsense.
Meanwhile, Chinese hackers captured images of SMMH's counterattack against the hackers, the restoration of domestic portal websites and the subsequent declaration, as well as its attacks on Microsoft and the White House websites to issue a declaration. These images were then posted and disseminated on various forums.
The blackouts also affected Washington, Tokyo, New Delhi, and the entire country of South Korea!
On major BBS forums such as Tianya and Mop, the story of SMMH, the Chinese internet god, single-handedly taking on hackers from all over the world last night was posted again and again. The addresses of these posts began to circulate in various QQ groups, and countless Chinese netizens were shocked!
The power outage in Shanghai last night couldn't be kept secret. Of course, the official media wouldn't have claimed it was caused by an attack from overseas hackers, but instead used a very "official" explanation: the generators malfunctioned, but were quickly put back into operation after repairs... This is standard practice in China; many things are kept from the public's knowledge.
But if this were the usual practice, posts about last night's hacker war and SMMH should have been deleted and censored by all major forums. So why is the entire internet discussing this now? Furthermore, Tianya, Mop, and even NetEase, Sina, Sohu, and Yahoo have all launched special columns on SMMH and hackers, and administrators have secretly pinned and highlighted these posts to attract more viewers.
That's what policy is all about.
After all, when such hacking has caused such dire consequences, it is absolutely unacceptable to publicize or exaggerate it through official channels.
The problem is that this was a rare and decisive victory in a technological battle, and not publicizing it would be unfair to ourselves and to SMMH. Moreover, this whole affair was provoked by foreign forces. Since Chinese hackers have won such a perfect victory, it's only right to publicize it. This will also help boost the national pride and sense of honor among the Chinese people.
Of course, such a claim could not be made through mainstream media, so a different approach was taken; otherwise, it would have caused diplomatic disagreements.
However, this matter was generally known to those in the know, and with SMMH's formidable strength and the X organization's attempts to smooth things over, no one pursued it any further.
So what do netizens think?
Supporters and cheerleaders were naturally the most numerous. However, there were also some so-called elites whose theory was to deny everything. They considered all media reports to be false, and everything that others thought to be wrong!
This is a special group that frequents forums like Tianya and Mop... elites who think they've read two more books and are very insistent on these "two whatevers".
In the eyes of the elites, SMMH is a joke. Because they themselves can't reach that level, they assume others can't either. What kind of internet god is this? Is it even possible for a Chinese internet god to emerge? A major tenet of this group is… that the moon is always brighter in foreign countries.
However, many more netizens stepped forward.
Leaving aside the conflict between online and mainstream media in this incident, around 9:30 PM last night, the virus named "Nightfall" broke out, and at the same time, foreign hackers launched attacks on China. Shanghai experienced a power outage at 10 PM!
Is there any connection between the two?
Okay, even if we don't keep in touch.
Then, around 10:10 AM, SMMH intervened and restored NetEase. At 10:17 AM, Yahoo! China, the last major portal website, returned to normal. At 10:20 AM, Microsoft's homepage was hijacked; at 10:23 AM, the White House homepage was hijacked; and at 10:25 AM, a major power outage occurred in Washington, D.C.!
Tokyo experienced a power outage at 10:30 AM Beijing time!
At 10:32 AM, a massive power outage occurred throughout South Korea!
An explosion occurred at the New Delhi power plant at 10:35 AM, causing a high-voltage power line to snap and resulting in massive casualties!
Are these events all coincidences?
It's no longer unusual for Chinese people to go abroad. In Washington, Tokyo, South Korea, New Delhi... where are there no Chinese people?
Their testimony connected the whole incident, and coupled with the media's ambiguous attitude, doesn't that prove anything?
Moreover, what is even more shocking is that book, "The Chinese Language".
This is what SMMH posted on major portal websites; it's what SMMH has put out there. Who dares to underestimate them now? Even the most arrogant computer experts. In front of SMMH, they're at most elementary school students… and the higher their technical skills, the more they know. They know more about what happened last night than the average person; what more can be said?
Therefore, although "Chinese Language" has begun to circulate in a small hacker community, for most computer researchers, it is the first time they have seen this all-Chinese computer assembly language.
A fully Chinese computer language?
If someone else had brought this up, it would have only made them a laughing stock, because it's not that there aren't Chinese computer languages now. How many people are using the O language? Even Baidu Baike (Baidu Encyclopedia) says helplessly when introducing the O language: "The idea is good, but the technology is obviously insufficient, and it's inconvenient to use."
But what about this Chinese language version?
SMMH products are no ordinary items.
Almost all of China's computer experts stayed up all night yesterday, and after experiencing the aftermath of the hacking incident and discussing the greatness of SMMH, they began to study this Chinese language.
And the result was... the entire IT industry in China went crazy!
Chapter 255 Madness?
December 5, 1983.
Wang Yongmin and his research team pioneered the first generation of computer Chinese input method... known as the Wangma Wubi input method. This input method caused a sensation throughout the Chinese computer industry! It was praised by four internal Xinhua News Agency publications as... a great invention no less significant than movable type printing!
Why do I say that?
Because Wang Yongmin solved a huge problem that was looming over the entire Chinese computer industry at the time... how to input Chinese characters into a computer.
Inputting Chinese characters has always been a huge challenge. At the time, China's computer industry was just beginning, and English keyboards were the primary input method. Furthermore, the operating systems of the time didn't support Chinese input. Today, we can easily choose from Wubi, Zhengma, and Pinyin input methods—whether it's the old-fashioned Intelligent ABC or the popular Sogou, Google, QQ, Tsinghua Ziguang, and others. But do we know how many scientists dedicated their lives to enabling the input of Chinese characters into computers?
At that time, China's computer industry went astray by advocating for the use of special large Chinese character keyboards instead of the standard keyboards we have today. Imagine what it would be like if everyone were holding a keyboard larger than a 28-inch monitor.
In today's technologically advanced world, Wang Yongmin and his Wangma Wubi input method are no longer at the forefront of trends. However, his contributions are indelible. Undeniably, the Wangma input method is a milestone in the history of Chinese computers.
And now, another milestone has emerged.
The People's Daily front page headline... "Chinese Language," a new milestone for China's computer industry.
The article states that after an all-night testing session, this "Chinese Language" textbook can only be described with one word...perfect.
It's hard to imagine that such a perfect Chinese character computer language would be released in this way. To this day, we still don't know the identity of this "god of the internet," SMMH. He is a true representative of hackers, possessing extraordinary skills yet always adhering to the principles of hacking. He was able to freely share his research findings, improving the entire nation's computer capabilities.
The Xinhua News Agency's internal report also suggested that Chinese language and literature should be popularized in universities as soon as possible and included as an examination subject. This is because the language is more suitable for Chinese learners and can make the otherwise dry computer knowledge more easily accepted and absorbed by Chinese people.
Everything should be done in one's mother tongue.
The People's Education Press has begun full-scale printing of the first edition of "Elementary Chinese Language Textbook." They aim to produce the finished product and distribute it to major bookstores nationwide within a month… As for the profits, frankly, some people really want to pocket them, because not having to pay authors royalties is such a great thing! It's foreseeable that this set of books will sell far more than just a few hundred thousand copies. With each book priced at 23 yuan, how much profit can they make? That's why you see the Four Great Classical Novels being reprinted again and again in official editions. Why? The authors are long gone, and the sixty-year copyright protection period has likely expired. No need to pay the authors!
However, some people's money can be taken for granted, while others' money cannot.
Finally, in accordance with general copyright regulations, SMMH was paid a 20% royalty.
How should I give it to you?
To be honest, Chen Xu never intended to profit from "Chinese Language and Literature," but he never expected to make an extra fortune. It's a certainty that "Chinese Language and Literature" will enter major bookstores, and even universities in the future. You see, universities now emphasize four certificates: graduation certificate, degree certificate, Level 4 certificate, and Computer Level 2 certificate (some require Level 4). This means that even those not majoring in computer science will need to learn computer skills, as it's the future trend.
How many of these students can be sold?
Other publishing houses can only lament. They don't have the prestige of the People's Publishing House. They can't take on this work. Of course, it's not that they won't get a share at all… Keep in mind that there are five or six million college students every year, or even more. How much would that be if each of them wrote a book?
And it needs to be printed every year.
To be honest, that's a really considerable amount of money. Chen Xu can earn four yuan per book, so a million books would earn him four million yuan, which would amount to at least twenty or thirty million yuan a year... and that's just for one year.
Although Chen Xu doesn't really care about "this little bit of money" anymore, it's always good to have some extra income.
While 20 to 30 million may not seem like a large sum for the country, it is still a considerable amount of revenue. Especially in the first year, it's definitely not something that 20 to 30 million can solve; the figure needs to be at least four times higher.
If so much money were transferred to Chen Xu's Swiss bank account, it would be equivalent to a huge outflow of national assets... because it would be contributing to the Swiss bank! Therefore, a special group was formed to discuss this issue and see if there were any ways to keep SMMH's money in China. Money makes money, and the chain reaction that could occur if so much money were kept in China would naturally be better than throwing it abroad.
Finally, Hao Aiguo contacted Chen Xu, who thought about it and decided it didn't matter. Of course, he couldn't open an account in China, so he gave all the money to Yi Shuihan's S company.
That's equivalent to an injection of 20 to 30 million yuan every year!
But this matter is not over yet.