The fact that such a perfect antivirus solution could be cracked in such a short time should have been met with cheers from the people following this battle online, but at this moment, no one spoke up.
Five minutes? Or ten minutes?
The opponent then devised such a perfect kill plan.
With his god-like firewall and unpredictable methods, he easily exposed the true face of the most mysterious Snake member.
SMMH, is he a human or a god?!
All the hackers felt a sense of awe and awe. It was clear that the other party had not yet shown his full strength. Just how terrifying was his true strength?
Many hackers have given up on finding SMMH because their real-world identities are highly confidential. If they don't want to die, it's best to avoid messing with this guy.
Meanwhile, agents from various countries stared at their computers in dismay, wondering why such advanced technology was being used in China.
However, judging from his appearance, this person is a hacker who adheres to traditional principles. Such a hacker should not be affiliated with the Chinese government, nor will he be.
Because the profession of hacking cannot be forced, especially among highly skilled individuals. Take Kevin Mitnick, for example. He refused to work for the US government, and the government ultimately had to release him, limiting his computer skills but not coercing him. Because a hacker of this caliber, if not willing to work for the government, could betray them out of resentment at a crucial moment—a price no one can afford to pay!
Hopefully, he can maintain this detachment. Of course, the members of these organizations will not give up the search for SMMH.
And as they thought, Chen Xu really didn't want to get involved with the government... because he knew his own situation. The existence of SMMH was entirely due to a computer from 1980s. Although the computer would be more useful if it were handed over to the country, people are selfish after all. Chen Xu felt that he could do something for the country within his capabilities, but he definitely couldn't accept handing over the computer.
After releasing the removal tool, Chen Xu noticed it was getting late and the Snake incident was basically over. Considering he had class the next day, he typed on his communicator: "Since things are mostly resolved, I'm going to sleep."
Blue Baby, who was studying the firewall source code, was startled and quickly replied, "Thank you so much for today. Since you don't want any reward, I can only say that the Red Hacker Alliance owes you a favor. If you need any help in the future, please don't hesitate to ask."
Chen Xu was about to exchange a few polite words when he suddenly noticed a key word... "reward". He scratched his head curiously, then remembered that Blue Baby's original words seemed to have been asking him if he was "selling", and then he gave it away without discussing the price.
"Never mind," Chen Xu typed on the keyboard, still not understanding the value of the firewall, "It's nothing anyway, talking about compensation would be too formal. By the way, besides what I gave you, the firewall on this server will be automatically uninstalled and deleted in a few hours, and the same goes for their servers."
This statement truly reveals Chen Xu's level of ignorance. He probably thought that even if he sold this firewall, it wouldn't fetch a high price, so he simply decided to do a favor. It's worth noting that Chen Xu's family is quite wealthy; his father owns a factory with decent profits. Moreover, Chen Xu is a content person who believes that money is enough for everyday needs and that having more is pointless.
In Chen Xu's mind, while this firewall was powerful enough, how much could a firewall cost? Only around a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand yuan. This amount was astronomical for a student, but Chen Xu's deeper concern was that spending such "small money" might expose his identity, which would be a net loss. Anyway, with this computer, he wouldn't have to worry about making money in the future. And right now, he was still a student, and he didn't spend money recklessly. His monthly allowance of one thousand yuan was enough to live comfortably, so he didn't have much ambition for money at the moment.
But Chen Xu himself didn't know that what he was so generously giving up wasn't a "small amount" like tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan, but thousands of times more! If he really knew that Blue Baby was already prepared to offer 20 million yuan, he would really be so frustrated that he would bang his head against the wall... Wanting it but not being able to have it, what a dilemma!
Therefore, sometimes ignorance is a kind of happiness.
But Blue Baby naturally didn't think that SMMH was unaware of the software's value, nor did she think that anyone would be so generous as to casually throw away tens of millions... even if that person was Gates.
She thought that SMMH definitely didn't want to expose his identity for money. From this point of view, he was a true hacker who didn't want to lose his freedom... Although the cost of the loss was a bit high, if he sold it to someone who was good, the state wouldn't be able to pressure him too much.
However, she felt she should do something, so she typed in the chat box: "Since you insist on not accepting payment, I won't say any more. We, the Red Hacker Alliance, will remember this kindness, and the country will remember it too. We admire your online skills immensely and hope to have the opportunity to learn from you in the future. But even top hackers must live in the real world. If you encounter any unsolvable problems in the future, you can dial nine nines from any phone within the country, and if you are abroad, you can contact our embassy. We will do our best to help you with anything."
Upon seeing this, Chen Xu really wanted to try dialing ten nines on his phone, but then thought better of it and simply thanked him vaguely.
What Chen Xu didn't know was that the 9-nine number was a special phone number directly dialed to the National Security Bureau, an absolutely special and independent administrative agency. Basically, there was nothing that happened domestically that the National Security Bureau couldn't handle. Although their official rank wasn't high, even ministerial-level officials were unwilling to offend them because this department was directly responsible to Zhongnanhai.
Chen Xu was unaware that he had inadvertently latched onto a powerful patron, nor did he realize the profound impact his firewall would have on the military after it was studied. This led to SMMH being immediately placed on the A-level priority protection list, with even the Minister of National Defense Information Department personally issuing orders that any news about SMMH be reported directly to him immediately, and that it was absolutely forbidden to track or monitor them under normal circumstances. The military's intention was to ensure that the SMMH understood that their attitude was benevolent and that they had no intention of forcing it to work for them…
Chen Xu was naturally unaware of all this; he was currently looking at the messages on his communicator with a wry smile.
"Boss, my admiration for you is like a surging river, endless and unstoppable! It's like the Yellow River overflowing its banks! Boss, I admire you to death! Please have mercy and take me as your apprentice!"
The sender is prematurely obese.
Chapter 30: The Beginning of Growth
Upon seeing this sentence, Chen Xu chuckled. It felt great to be called "boss," and what was even better was that this person was someone many newbies fawned over and called "boss."
So Chen Xu replied, "I really don't deserve this."
"Of course, of course!" Young Fat replied hastily. What he feared most was that the great SMMH would ignore him. In fact, there were many people in the Red Hacker Alliance's internal chat room who were crying out to SMMH to become his apprentices, but none of them dared to bother him. Only he had the thickest skin and asked on a whim, and he actually got an answer?!
Heavens above! He is one of the very few people in the world who can directly communicate with this god!
“5555,” Yingnianzaofei exaggeratedly typed a row of 55s, and then wrote: “Boss, I really admire you so much. My darling sister just said that from now on your word is the holy decree of our Red Hacker Alliance. I’ll follow you from now on. As long as you say the word, we will listen to you even if it means going through fire and water!”
"Hehe, don't make it so serious."
"Boss, you're too modest. You actually gave away such a firewall. You're truly a man of high moral character and a model for traditional hackers!" Young Fat continued, "You have no idea how much Sister Baby praised you in front of us. I heard that Sister Baby has a beautiful female apprentice who just started college this year. How about I talk to Sister Baby and introduce her to you?"
What on earth is this?! Chen Xu looked at the message with a wry smile, thinking that the guy on the other end of the computer must be a kid just as unreliable as himself.
Premature obesity at a young age?
Yeah, and he's probably a fat guy, a rather wicked fat otaku.
Chen Xu was naturally aware of Blue Baby's background, as she was one of China's top military hackers, and could access a lot of information. The reason Chen Xu so readily handed over the firewall to Blue Baby was twofold: firstly, he had immense respect for her, and secondly, he didn't think the firewall was anything particularly remarkable.
Although it is several years ahead of the world's civilian level, it still lags behind the most advanced technology and targets a relatively small scope, so it does not represent any high-level technology.
To use a somewhat inappropriate analogy, it's like a billionaire casually tipping someone a few thousand dollars... This might not be very respectful to the current computer industry, but in terms of technical sophistication, given the rapid pace of computer development and the information Chen Xu has, that's roughly the gist of it.
In 2012, American experts disclosed three major vulnerabilities in hardware systems, one of which was exploited by the Firefly virus.
The other two vulnerabilities were also fatal to the computers and servers at the time, and these two vulnerabilities were the most critical to this firewall.
Given the US military's consistent stance, such vulnerabilities would be exploited by them if not discovered by others. In other words, the firewall that was given to the military for free is only a few years ahead of the world's core technology. Computer technology is advancing rapidly, and these vulnerabilities will be discovered one by one in the coming years. Giving it to the military would at most be a small favor owed to them.
Seeing no response, Young Fat realized he might have gone too far and quickly continued typing: "Boss, I know I sometimes talk nonsense, please don't take offense. But with your abilities, it's a real shame you're not here to serve the country and improve our nation's computer capabilities. We lag behind others in many technologies! For one thing, your joining us would greatly enhance our military's computer defense capabilities!"
Chen Xu laughed. Join the military? Isn't that ridiculous? With his skills from Dianbai, what could he possibly do there? He'd be looked down upon even for serving tea and water!
However, these words also stirred a slight sense of unease in Chen Xu. While he was quite confident in Xiao Min's defensive capabilities and that no one would be able to find him online, the power of the state apparatus was undeniable, and being targeted like this was never a good thing. So, after a moment's thought, Chen Xu replied, "While contributing to the country is what I should do, I'm not one to be constrained. Please don't make that request. That firewall is my life's work, and I can't offer any further assistance. Therefore, I hope you will stop looking for me. For the next period of time, I will be traveling around the world, seeking inspiration; I'm not used to being cooped up in front of the computer all the time."
This sentence made Yingnian Zaofei feel like he was going to vomit blood. Although he knew that traditional hackers like SMMH were unlikely to rely on political forces, the last sentence still baffled him... Hackers aren't writers or painters, what kind of inspiration do they travel the world for?!
After Yingnianzaofei sent out that message, he saw SMMH reply: "Hey, you guys still don't understand. You'll never make progress if you're stuck in your ways. Go out and see more of the world. There are many things in computers that you can't figure out just by sitting there thinking."
Well, that sounds quite reasonable. Especially coming from this guy, it even made the young and fat man somewhat tempted. Little did he know that Chen Xu's purpose was actually to mislead him with those words, hoping they would reach the military's ears and cause them to abandon the search for him. While some deliberate attempts might not be effective, diverting attention was always a good idea.
After saying that, Chen Xu felt it wasn't serious enough, so he added: "Furthermore, I volunteered my research results to the country, hoping to help the country to some extent, in accordance with the traditional hacker mindset. However, I hope you won't treat me like a goose that lays eggs. With current technology, any online tracking of me should be impossible to hide from my eyes. In the spirit of a hacker, I won't do anything to harm you, but I can't guarantee I won't get angry! If I get angry, I don't know what I might do."
Before Yingnianzaofei typed "No, no," Chen Xu logged off and then had Xiaomin clean up all traces.
Lying in bed, Chen Xu began to recall the events of the night.
While the feeling of being admired is extremely satisfying, doing it once or twice is enough. Chen Xu never considered himself a superhero who wore his underwear on the outside and had his fill of saving the world; he was still just an ordinary college student.
It's best to avoid contact with the military; otherwise, if your identity is exposed, no one can save you.
However, Chen Xu did not come away empty-handed from this incident. At the very least, through this incident, he got to know the core members of the Red Hacker Alliance and established good relationships with them.
Some people ask, what kind of benefit is this?
However, Chen Xu faces a difficult problem.
This incident served as a wake-up call for Chen Xu, highlighting his over-reliance on the computer. He believed there was no problem Xiao Min couldn't solve, at least not in computer-related matters. However, this incident revealed that Xiao Min wasn't omnipotent, and in the crucial area of hacking, due to its damned root access, Xiao Min couldn't even offer him assistance.
To reiterate, even the best program is still just a program. While Xiaomin may be 80 years ahead of current Earth technology, that's all she is. Essentially, she's still a program. Defensively, Xiaomin is the strongest shield in the world, but offensively, Chen Xu has to rely entirely on himself.
This time, they managed to fool the other party, but looking back, if it weren't for Blue Baby and the others' desperate attack to help Chen Xu enter the server, then SMMH would have been nothing but a joke.
Thinking of this, Chen Xu broke out in a cold sweat. He felt he should do something now. The greatest tragedy is to possess a treasure trove but not know how to use it.
However, after asking Xiaomin, he learned that she couldn't offer much help in hacking, especially in terms of guidance. All Xiaomin could do was simulate the defenses of popular servers and PCs using programs, and then provide him with a lot of materials to learn and practice… This method would be invaluable to someone already quite skilled, like Guan Pingchao, but for a beginner like himself—a complete novice who didn't even know the most basic programming or how to attack a system—it was undoubtedly like reading a foreign language.
It's like a novice monk who's just entered the Shaolin Temple and hasn't even practiced Arhat Fist yet, but he tries to learn the Vajra Palm. It's no wonder he'll find it difficult to achieve much with little effort, and he might even suffer a qi deviation...
So now Chen Xu has decided to find himself a beginner-level mentor. This mentor's level can't be too low, but it doesn't need to be too high either; just enough to get him started.
The greatest programmer of the 21st century?
Xiaomin described herself in her profile, but Chen Xu knew very well that he was currently just a complete newbie in the truest sense.
How can a novice become a great programmer?
Nothing is more important than finding a good mentor.
Of course, if Chen Xu were to use his SMMH identity to find someone to teach him, probably no one would dare to do so. But if he changed his identity, perhaps he could find a good teacher among these top hackers?
Rubbing his slightly dizzy head, Chen Xu lay down on the comfortable hotel bed and fell asleep. Although he didn't really pursue the claim of being the world's number one, if it were true, hehe... he wouldn't trade it even for 20 million!
Chapter 31 Humanoid Chicken
Under Xiaomin's hypnosis, Chen Xu slept soundly, eliminating all his fatigue in just over two hours. Then, he leisurely brushed his teeth, washed his face, took a shower, and returned to school, just in time to see Wu Yuan, Qin Xiaoan, and others walking into the classroom, still half asleep, while eating breakfast.
"Huh?" Chen Xu exclaimed in surprise, "Boss, you're discharged from the hospital?!"
"Nonsense!" Wu Yuan retorted. "How could I still be in the hospital after such a thrilling battle last night? I was so scared last night that I was covered in sweat, and the fright even cured my illness."
Chen Xu also realized that given his boss's personality, he would definitely be paying attention to last night's big battle, but he deliberately pretended not to know what kind of big battle it was. Was it an alien invasion of Earth?
"You idiot!" Wu Yuan made a disdainful gesture at him, then said that last night, the SMMH god reappeared! He broke into the opponent's server at the last minute, created an administrator account, and then remained unmoved no matter how much Snake's people bombarded him...
Wu Yuan spoke animatedly and logically, continuing until SMMH announced Snake's roster. Chen Xu scratched his head curiously and said, "Really, boss? Does the dorm have electricity and internet at night? How could you stay up so late?"
Wu Yuan gave him the middle finger and said, "I went to the nearby inn with a few senior students to check it out. I only slept for a few hours; I was exhausted."
At this moment, Qin Xiaoan came over and interjected, "Third brother, why didn't you come back to sleep last night?"
Wu Yuan was taken aback: "You didn't go to watch this big battle too, did you?"
Chen Xu said, "If I had seen it, would you have come to tell me?" A friend came over last night, and I went to sleep at his place.
Wu Yuan gave an "oh" and didn't seem to care much, while Qin Xiao'an nudged Chen Xu in a rather lewd way: "It's a girl, right? You two slept together? By the way, when I went downstairs to buy late-night snacks at 11 o'clock yesterday, I saw Zhan Jing carrying her laptop bag and going out as well. Could she be looking for you?"
She went out too? Chen Xu's gaze fell on the front row of the classroom, the seat the girl usually sat in, but he didn't see her. He wondered to himself, "Did she also go to watch The Hacker War? Is she also a member of the Red Hacker Alliance?"
At this moment, Wu Yuan was still rambling on about the battle last night: "You guys have no idea how brave and powerful SMMH was yesterday! He actually found Snake's real address and confirmed their identities without anyone noticing. I don't know if he found it last night or if he had already found it before. My god, I wish I could become his apprentice! No, no, I'd be willing to serve him tea and water!"
At this moment, Qin Xiaoan said, "Boss, you sound like you're really good at this. By the way, don't you also know hacking? How good are you?"
Wu Yuan exclaimed, "Damn it! How dare I compare to those masters? Although my skill level is slightly higher than yours, I'm not even worth mentioning compared to them."
This was the first time the guys in the dorm had seen Wu Yuan so humble. Usually, he was so arrogant when it came to computers, so they all laughed and said, "Boss, why are you so humble today? Have you changed your ways?"
Wu Yuan shook his head: "No, yesterday's battle was too exciting. Looking at their skill level and then at my own, it's like heaven and earth. I'll shamelessly tell you, even at Hexie University, there aren't many people better than me, but compared to them, there's no comparison. Sigh, like I said before, if only I could be mentored by the great SMMH! Within three years, I wouldn't dare say I'd be world-class, but I'd definitely be among the top-tier hackers!"
Several people said, "Damn, we just praised you and you're already getting cocky again."
Wu Yuan shook his head and said no, then said, "For hackers, technical information is key. Having someone with rich experience and high skill levels to guide you and provide you with learning materials will lead to leaps in progress. Moreover, you can get immediate answers to any questions you have, which is very beneficial for improving your skills. Sigh, what frustrates me most right now is that I have no one to mentor me! Many problems can't be solved by relying on Baidu."
Chen Xu had a sudden thought and said, "Boss, aren't you very familiar with the people in the Red Hacker Alliance? Why don't you ask them to teach you? Also, what is your skill level in the Red Hacker Alliance?"
Wu Yuan said, "What nonsense! To be honest, I'm only at an average level in the Red Hacker Alliance. Someone like me is nothing special. With a good teacher and some talent, you can learn in a year what I did in five or six years of self-study."
Qin Xiaoan said, "Boss, you're pretty awesome. When are you going to pass on your skills to your brothers?"