Summers have been getting hotter and hotter these past few years. No wonder Chen Xu's heartless parents have gone to Australia to see kangaroos again... Right now, it's autumn in the Southern Hemisphere there, and the weather is so cool!
The weather is abnormally hot right now; global warming has caused temperatures to rise across the globe. It's only early June, and temperatures are already soaring to 35 degrees Celsius – that's unbearable!
So Chen Xu is really grateful to the person who invented air conditioning; he is even greater than Edison!
Chen Xu and his friends were sprawled out in the living room, each wrapped in a blanket... They'd turned the air conditioner up to 17 degrees Celsius! The whole room was freezing, but these guys seemed perfectly comfortable wrapped in blankets. Even Qin Xiao'an and Dong Qingjie had come over to cool off. The dorm was too hot, and there were mosquitoes!
"I can't live like this anymore!" Guan Yi and Wang Mingmei had just returned at midday and immediately sprawled out on the sofa without any regard for appearances. They grabbed bottled water from the table and gulped it down. Guan Yi wiped his mouth, equally unceremoniously: "That Li Feifei was so annoying today! The whole crew was waiting for her, and then she kept dawdling about how hot it was and wouldn't start filming. Seriously? You're hot, but we're hot too! She's in the studio, enjoying the fan and eating watermelon. We're being roasted alive outside! Tomorrow... Humph! Erfei, lend me your car tomorrow. I'm dying of heat coming home on the bus every day!"
Young and chubby, he quickly and obsequiously agreed with a smile, it seemed the beef noodles from last time had really left an indelible impression on him... As for the name "Erfei" (Second Fatty), it was after Young and Chubby became familiar with them that everyone started calling him Fatty, but Guan Yi thought "Fatty" sounded too disgusting, so since it was two fat people, they just called him Erfei (Second Fatty). That's all. This guy is definitely a bit of a goofball...
Xiaomingmei was almost suffering from heatstroke, so she stood directly in front of the air conditioner and let it blow on her for a while. She was so tired that she couldn't even speak.
Chen Xu found it strange, but seeing that she clearly didn't want to talk, he didn't dare to ask any further questions.
I heard that Guan Yi and Mingmei have taken on a big project this time, with a well-known domestic director, screenwriter, and actors. Chen Xu originally wanted to go to the set to see if he could spot any actresses, but Guan Yi told him, "Just look at me. You don't know what Li Feifei looks like without makeup—just a haggard old woman! If she acts like a diva again, I'll post her makeup-free photo online!"
Wow, that's a pretty ruthless move, but it's also typical of this woman.
Amidst this sweltering heat, June 10th finally arrived, and the first hacker competition officially kicked off!
The first round of scoring for Chapter 233 of the main text.
This hacking competition was hosted by the Red Hacker Alliance, with major portal websites such as Sohu, NetEase, and Sina providing collaborative support and coverage. This is the first time in the world of hacking competitions that such coverage has been provided in written form after the competition, rather than through live streaming. Because many people don't know how to stream live, they think hacking is glamorous and that hacker battles are earth-shattering, but in reality, hacking attacks and defenses are quite boring and tedious. Hackers can't show their faces, and even if they did, they would just be typing on keyboards. The data displayed on the screen is generally incomprehensible to the average person, so it's better to leave it for technical processing and describe it in written form after the competition.
To correct the negative image of hackers in the public's mind... for example, many people believe that hackers are those who spread viruses and steal passwords online, which is a huge misconception. The Red Hacker Alliance has reiterated its founding slogan, which is prominently displayed in large letters on the hacker competition sections of major portal websites such as Sohu, NetEase, and Sina:
Learn to be a good person before learning any skills!
This was a media frenzy, and the power of media manipulation should never be underestimated. They can influence many people, especially the younger generation.
The webpage describes hackers, outlines their principles, and teaches users how to distinguish between a hacker and a hacker...
For many netizens, hacking is an incredibly mysterious profession, and this profession is now revealing its mysterious side. Therefore, websites related to hacking competitions are getting very high pageview rates, generating significant traffic for these sites.
Hopefully, after this hacker competition, when the "Chinese language" suitable for Chinese learners is launched by the cyber god SMMH, it will drive the development of China's computer industry.
After all, a country's strength cannot be achieved by relying on only a very small number of people.
This hacking competition is divided into several parts: first, hacking offense and defense; second, computer technology papers; and third, software demonstrations… because to become a hacker, one must first become a programmer. The purpose of this competition is also to correct common misconceptions about hackers, such as the belief that they only cause damage… In reality, the creation of many software programs is inseparable from hackers.
Therefore, this competition has received support from many software companies in China. Many people are watching this competition closely, hoping to recruit some talented or highly skilled hackers to work for their companies.
Because this was the first hacker competition, although the Red Hacker Alliance had done some pre-event promotion, its influence was limited to this specific circle. Therefore, the number of teams that registered was not large, a total of 105... Some people say that over 100 teams isn't many? Even the World Cup only has 32 teams!
But you have to understand. The World Cup selected these 32 teams after preliminary rounds. How many teams are there globally? And there are far more hacker groups than national football teams... Just think about how many people there are in China! 105 teams and over 500 people. That's really not a large number.
These 105 teams were actually generated through the first round of automatic computer screening.
After all, it's important to know that while the pre-event publicity for this hacking competition wasn't extensive, a significant number of people still knew about it. The Red Hacker Alliance forum alone had hundreds of thousands, even millions, of registered members. If they all participated, how long would the elimination rounds take?
Therefore, this method of screening teams by computer was adopted.
The method is simple. When registering for a team, click on the Red Hacker Alliance registration page. An encrypted webpage will then appear.
This encryption method is very simple. It's a type of garbled text generated using a modified Nottingham formula. Registering teams need to reconstruct the webpage into Simplified Chinese or another language they can read, and then fill in the registration form in the blanks… This includes the name of each team, the IDs of the five members of the team, and the IDs used by one substitute.
This is a basic screening process, not technically demanding. For seasoned hackers, cracking this webpage is as easy as eating. But this screening effectively excludes the vast majority of newbies… Unless they hire someone to help them, they can't expect to see the content or fill out the registration form without cracking the webpage.
However, among these 105 teams, some hired help, while others had one or two skilled hackers. These were considered entry-level hackers, while the rest were organizations of complete novices.
Chen Xu and his team simply handed this "simple" task to Gao Xiaojie. Gao Xiaojie, who had studied with Zhan Jing for so long, also knew the Nottingham Formula, so although he was a bit tired, he cracked the webpage with relative ease, which can be considered as helping Chen Xu's team successfully fire the first shot of victory.
Oh, I forgot to mention. Chen Xu's team is called "Foxtail Grass".
Thinking of a name is actually quite difficult. So when they asked Chen Xu, the team leader, to come up with a name, he thought for a long time but couldn't think of anything. In the end, everyone unanimously suggested that they find a plant encyclopedia and have the computer do a random selection, using whichever plant it selected as the name.
I never expected to pick a "foxtail grass"!
Seeing Zhong Ziyu's somewhat dejected expression... because he was the one who pressed the button... Chen Xu patted him sympathetically: "You should be content. Calling it 'Foxtail Grass' is pretty good. If you really named it something like 'Peony' or 'Rose,' how tacky that would be! If you named it 'Chrysanthemum,' then you should just offer up your own chrysanthemum!"
Among these 105 teams, Chen Xu's "Foxtail Grass" team received a C rating, which is one level higher than the lowest, D. Chen Xu and his teammates were still wondering when the ratings were given.
When asked, Zhan Jing smiled and explained that the encrypted webpage was actually just a test; whoever accessed the webpage the fastest would be ranked higher. We struggled for ages to get on, and it was good we weren't given a D grade. This kind of ranking is more advantageous for group work.
Everyone looked at Gao Xiaojie, who looked like she was about to cry: "Jingjing, why didn't you say so earlier? I went to draw circles in the corner."
This is so frustrating!
I didn't expect this was for group assignments!
The Red Hacker Alliance was quite shrewd this time, knowing that the grand finale must be saved for last to create hype. Take the World Cup, for example. They put Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands, and Argentina in one group during the group stage, and other world powerhouses in another, while weaker teams like China, Mongolia, Qatar, and the UAE were all crammed into the same group. Then the final was Brazil against China… what's the point of watching that final?
Of course, even if the Chinese team were grouped with Mongolia, Qatar, or the UAE, they still wouldn't advance. The Chinese men's football team is practically a celebrity now; which national football team can compare to us?!
So the Red Hacker Alliance made this arrangement to save time. How long would it take for more than a hundred teams to compete? They should just start the knockout stage!
Single round-robin; whichever team fails, they're out!
So once the strength rankings are determined, teams with strength A will compete against teams with strength C, randomly selected, while teams with strength B will play against teams with strength D.
So Chen Xu and his team encountered an A-level team in their very first match!
Even the fearless and prematurely fat Ying Nian was now a little apprehensive. Before the draw, he kept muttering, "Please don't run into my precious older sister! Please don't run into that pervert Guan Pingchao! Please don't run into Boss Lion! Please don't run into him..."
Chen Xu rolled his eyes repeatedly, thinking to himself that this guy had no ambition whatsoever. If he wanted to fight to the very end, wouldn't he still encounter strong opponents anyway? But then he thought that they weren't planning to fight to the very end anyway; winning one match at a time was better than nothing. So Chen Xu started muttering, "Please, please don't encounter..."
Perhaps their prayers moved the heavens, because the first round of the draw results came out... Team Foxtail Grass got a bye?!
That's amazing!
Of the 105 teams, one was bound to get a bye, but it turned out to be Chen Xu and his team!
We really deserve our name, Foxtail Grass, we've got some serious luck!
Seeing Chen Xu's face crinkle with laughter, Gao Xiaojie patted him on the shoulder: "Don't get so excited, what kind of luck is this? Jingjing hacked into the Red Hacker Alliance's screening system and deliberately put us in the bye position!"
"Huh? No way?!"
Zhan Jing smiled calmly: "Heh, although I don't care about the ranking, I don't want to be eliminated in the first round, so I might as well just get a bye. Anyway, people often do this kind of thing during international hacker competitions."
Chen Xu was taken aback. An international hacker competition? Wow, that's impressive!
Little did he know? At the international hacker competition held in Melbourne in 2006, hundreds of well-known hacker teams from all over the world were invited... At that time, Chen Xu had not yet gone to university, and he also participated in that hacker competition. It was at that time that he won first place and eventually ranked first in the world on the hacker website ranking list.
This hacking competition was the most intense in its history, attracting a very high level of hackers, while the organizers' security system was comparatively weak. Ultimately, one hacking team, eliminated in the second round, became enraged and hacked into the organizers' server, altering the published list of qualifiers…
This ultimately led to a hacker war, and the target of this hacker war was not the challenges set by the organizers, but the organizers' servers...
Snake emerged victorious in that chaotic battle involving hundreds of hacker groups, eliminating all other hacker groups (PA) and earning the title of world's number one.
And so, for the first match of the first hacker competition, Chen Xu and his team spent the entire night watching from the sidelines, completely bored...
Chapter 234 Cleaning Up the Battlefield
In the first round, a total of 52 teams were eliminated. By the second round, with the addition of Chen Xu's "Dog Tail Grass" team, there were a total of 53 hacker groups remaining.
Fifty-three, hmm, another odd number, haha, but the problem is Zhan Jing said she won't change it anymore, because yesterday her trickery was discovered by Blue Baby, who laughed and scolded them, then said, "Next, you're facing a B-level team, so you don't need to cheat anymore, right?" Then Blue Baby herself turned herself into that team that could appear without even competing...
The main problem is that this kind of competition is indeed a bit boring for top-level players like Blue Baby.
The skill gap between hackers is like the wealth gap in society today—it's so large it's unimaginable!
For ordinary people, earning a million in a lifetime might buy a house, pay off the mortgage, send their children to school, and feed themselves... that's it. But for some wealthy people, a million might not even mean as much as a hundred dollars to an average person.
That's the difference.
Mitnick hacked into the US air defense system back then... You think that was a joke? Why is he hailed as the world's greatest hacker for such a simple act? It's because Mitnick only needed to press a single button to detonate the Earth!
This is the world's number one hacker.
Blue Baby's skills are among the best in China, so even when facing hackers with some skill, she has no interest. She'd rather get a good night's sleep... She even regrets participating in the competition; being a judge would have been much better.
What really caught Blue Baby's attention were the last few matches, when all the rookies had been eliminated, and that's when things got interesting.
And so, Chen Xu and his team's plan to cheat in the second round failed. But they were happy to do so... because watching others compete in the first round was incredibly boring, and they were there to practice. If they didn't play a single match while practicing, then even making it to the finals with byes wouldn't be interesting.
In the second round, Chen Xu's opponent was named "Qiong Kaixin" (meaning "Poor but Happy"). Just hearing the name, you could tell he was seven parts funny and three parts annoyingly irritating.
Sure enough, the next evening, as soon as Chen Xu's "Dogtail Grass" and "Poor Happy" entered the server battlefield, before the referee even announced the start, the opposing team sent a message: "Hey guys. Have you run into anything unhappy lately? Tell us so we can have a laugh?"
That's really asking for a beating!
The "Poor but Happy" team clearly didn't take Chen Xu and his group seriously.
All five members of this team were from the computer science department of a university, making them a reasonably skilled team, which barely earned them a B-level ranking. Perhaps they had too easily crushed the D-level team yesterday, and they figured this was just a trash team that had only advanced to the second round by sheer luck. What was there to worry about?
Anyone who thinks like that is a newbie!
Although Zhan Jing and Yingnian Zaofei both changed their usernames to participate in the competition, anyone who has participated in the World Hacker Competition or has even heard of it could tell that the team that received a bye was definitely not a weak team! The reason they received a bye was not because of good luck, but because of their strength!
Do you think the organizer's server data can be changed so easily?
However, it was clear that the "Poor but Happy" team lacked sufficient experience. They didn't even consider this aspect, simply believing that the "foxtail grass" team's success was entirely due to luck.
"The rules of the game are as follows: there is no time limit. The goal of both sides is to obtain the administrator password of this server and then kick the other side out. After an ID is kicked out, it has two chances to log back in. If all five players are kicked out and the side that gains administrator control closes all the server ports, then the game ends after three minutes, and the side that gains administrator control wins."
"Do you understand everything?"
Chen Xu typed OK, and the opponent quickly followed suit.
"Wow, these guys finished so quickly, are they in such a hurry to die!" One of the members of Qiong Kaixin, nicknamed "Little K," pointed at the screen and laughed. The team leader, Cangtian Bai'e, glanced at him and said, "Don't be careless, they might be experts." After all, no one had ever watched their matches.
Little K was a little unconvinced. But knowing that his skills weren't as good as White Goose's, he obediently sat down to the side.
At this moment, the referee began the countdown. 3, 2, 1, the battle officially begins!
"K, you're in charge of scanning and analyzing their data stream. Old Cat, you help K create some obstacles for them. The rest of us need to prepare to obtain the administrator account... account number?!"
Before the white goose could finish speaking, a notification suddenly appeared:
The server administrator renamed it to...
A super administrator account has been added to the server...
The server deletes the GUEST account (guest account).
These five administrator names are the IDs of the five members of the opposing team's "Foxtail Grass" group!
In other words, they obtained the server administrator account almost instantly... How is that possible?!