Within the Red Hacker Alliance, founder Lion and several male hackers were quite laid-back, taking a casual approach to everyday problems, thinking that this didn't matter and that didn't matter either. They figured everyone was just there to have fun, and learning technology while having fun was the best outcome.
In comparison, the girls were more serious in their attitude.
Therefore, when the Red Hacker Alliance organizes activities, it's usually Blue Baby who takes the lead, which shows that Big Sister Baby holds a very high position within the Red Hacker Alliance. A simple way to address her is like... her mother-in-law.
Hmm. The Red Hacker Alliance members had seven parts respect and three parts fear for Big Sister Baby. Now that she had scolded them, they didn't dare to breathe loudly in the chat room. But privately, they were saying to the team they would be paired with in the next match, "Hey, how about we do another Three Kingdoms battle?"
The reply from the other side was: "Great! Going against the grain! My dear sister is still saying that we can't settle things privately during the competition, but playing two matches in a row is no fun. The Three Kingdoms battle is so much more interesting!"
"You two should both die!" Blue Baby was furious. These guys were so undisciplined! Normally, they could play however they wanted during a competition, but this was a major news portal reporting on it, and these animals were still acting like this?! They dared to defy the rules?!
This is infuriating!
Within the Red Hacker Alliance, there's no clear leader. Or rather, none of these guys are the type to take on leadership roles… Being a leader is exhausting! You have to worry about this and that. It's too much trouble! Therefore, the atmosphere within the Red Hacker Alliance has always been excellent, maintaining the hackers' freedom. This atmosphere is inseparable from the efforts of LION and Blue Baby. It's through their efforts that the Red Hacker Alliance, while backed by the military, has never truly been controlled by them.
This is also why everyone in the Red Hacker Alliance respects Blue Baby. Now, seeing Big Sister Baby get angry, they all become as docile as quails. Basically, apart from Chen Xu, Zhong Ziyu, and Wu Yuan, the other nine teams in the final round are all high-level elites and core members of the Red Hacker Alliance, so they see each other all the time, and everyone has to give Big Sister Blue Baby some face.
Therefore, the battle for the top nine cannot be settled casually anymore. Each team must play two matches, and the team with the best of both games will advance to the final three-way battle.
However, this raises a problem. For example, if there are three teams, A, B, and C, and A beats B, B beats C, but C beats A... how should this situation, similar to rock-paper-scissors, be handled?
Neither scoring nor winning/losing can handle this situation; otherwise, Uncle Ge You wouldn't have invented that "disagreement terminal" specifically for playing rock-paper-scissors.
Blue Baby originally intended to say that this situation was unlikely to occur, and even if it did, the organizing committee could resolve it through their judging criteria… The main reason is that this hacking competition wasn't a very formal one, where the number of teams participating in the finals was predetermined, for example, by selecting teams using powers of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32…). These numbers could have been played out one match at a time without this situation arising. However, the later groupings for this hacking competition were entirely based on the number of teams, resulting in an optimal group selection. Therefore, this rather awkward situation has arisen.
Blue Baby is certain that if these guys were allowed to play freely, they could guarantee that all eight groups would end up with rock-paper-scissors... even if it's intentional, because these guys are just a bunch of bored idiots, and it's also a tradition in hacker competitions... In international hacker competitions, there's never been a case where hackers didn't cause trouble for the organizers; it's a tradition.
So after thinking about it, Blue Baby realized that they couldn't fight like that, otherwise these guys would definitely not do anything good.
Finally, Blue Baby discussed with LION that their group had withdrawn from this year's hacker competition, leaving eight teams, who would then play a two-on-one elimination tournament to reach the quarterfinals.
But when they said that, the idle kids in the Red Hacker Alliance got upset. They kept saying that Blue Baby and Lion looked down on them, these newbies, and didn't want to fight them. Then they started crying and wailing in the chat room, spamming the chat with countless QQ emoticons. The whole room was filled with people crying, saying that the pros were suppressing newbies... Lion was so angry that he just kept smiling bitterly, and Blue Baby wanted to kill someone.
In the end, Blue Baby had no choice but to designate themselves and LION's team as the final championship seed. This meant that they would not participate in the quarterfinals, and the champion determined in the quarterfinals would play a friendly match against their group.
Hearing this, Blue Baby felt a little embarrassed. Because wasn't this practically giving her a spot in the finals? The quarterfinals were actually the semifinals.
But this time, those guys didn't have any objections.
Because the Blue Baby group of five had no substitutes, namely Blue Baby, LION, Wind Chasing Moon Shadow, Sea Rhyme... and there was one more person who came to make a special guest appearance, Blue Baby's little sister, the Argentine hacker queen Sigma!
Blue Baby and Lion need no introduction; one is a professional sniper, and the other is the founder of the Red Hacker Alliance. Wind Chasing Moon Shadow and Sea Rhyme are among the most senior and skilled members of the Red Hacker Alliance. Wind Chasing Moon Shadow specializes in viruses, while Sea Rhyme seems to know almost everything; on the Red Hacker Alliance forum, Sea Rhyme has a nickname: "Always Answers Any Question!"
As for Argentine hacker queen Sigmar, needless to say, she is also a world-class figure!
This group is the perfect touchstone to test the champion!
So, with this, the noisy animals immediately quieted down and let Blue Baby draw lots.
Chen Xu's team, nicknamed "Foxtail Grass," drew a team name called "Black Sky Demon God." While the team name was rather catchy, the names of the team members were quite funny, ranging from Big Black, Second Black, Third Black... to Fifth Black...
What an easy-to-remember name!
I wonder which group of bored idiots came up with this new pseudonym.
But Chen Xu's mood calmed down at this moment, because he knew it didn't matter who he was drawn against. Since it was already the final nine, there were no more teams that could be considered mediocre; every match from now on would be a tough battle!
Chapter 242 How to Improve (Part 1)
Those who made it to the top nine can now be considered among the top hackers in China. In terms of pure skill, Chen Xu's "Dog Tail Grass" team is undoubtedly the weakest.
Although Zhan Jing and Ying Nian Zao Fei are very strong, Ying Nian Zao Fei himself said that among the remaining eight teams, excluding Blue Baby and the others, there are probably no ones weaker than Ying Nian Zao Fei.
“If I’m not mistaken, the captain of this Black Demon God team should be Black Whirlwind of the Heavenly Killing Star. Heh, not Li Kui, but his ID is Black Whirlwind.” Zhan Jing speculated, “If it’s him, then I think I know who the remaining four people are. There’s at least one Heavenly Gang and three Earthly Fiends.”
Remember when we mentioned that some people in the Red Hacker Alliance had come up with a list of "108 Red Hackers"?
The arrangement of the 108 heroes was quite sophisticated. Although everyone laughed and said that the arrangement was not to be taken seriously, they all knew in their hearts that there was some truth to it.
The strength of the thirty-six Heavenly Generals and Earthly Fiends is virtually undisputed, representing the highest level of the Red Hacker Alliance. This includes Lion of Heavenly Star, Blue Baby of Heavenly General Star, and then Xuancao Jiangli of Heavenly Wisdom Star… who is none other than Zhan Jing.
The nicknames were mainly derived from the names of the Heavenly Stars and Earthly Fiends, and also from the 108 heroes of the Water Margin. For example, the Heavenly Killer Star, Black Whirlwind, had the forum ID "Black Whirlwind," and his strength was exceptional, so he was given this nickname. As for the ranking of the Heavenly Stars and Earthly Fiends, it is generally accepted that the Heavenly Stars are stronger than the Earthly Fiends.
Unlike Li Kui, Black Whirlwind wasn't reckless, but he was a similar opponent to Chen Xu in style. His attacks were also incredibly powerful, earning him the title "Heavenly Killer Star." He even mentioned on the forum that if he had children, he would name them Big Black, Second Black, and so on. So, the current "Black Heaven Demon God" is most likely them.
We're all veterans of this forum, so we know each other pretty well. The Tiangang member who's closest to Black Whirlwind has the ID "Shadow." Shadow's hand speed is almost the highest in the Red Hacker Alliance; his nickname is "Crazy Claw"... His average hand speed is 72 commands per minute, and his peak speed can even exceed 80!
However, his effective operations are very low; with such a fast hand speed, he can only perform 13 effective operations per minute.
Alternatively, calling an effective maneuver a fatal blow would be more accurate.
Ying ranks sixteenth among the 108 heroes, and his nickname is Tianjiexing!
That shows how fast he operates!
Upon hearing that it was these two people, the young and overweight man's expression changed slightly. To be honest, his position among the 108 heroes wasn't particularly high; he wasn't even among the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits, and as for the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, he was merely a minor Earthly Star. While this ranking might not necessarily reflect true strength, at least one thing was certain: the strength of the Heavenly Spirits was undeniably superior to that of the Earthly Fiends.
It's safe to say that neither Black Whirlwind nor Shadow, both members of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Generals, are weaker than Zhan Jing of Tianhui Star. If the two of them attack together, along with the three Earthly Fiends, the next battle will almost certainly end in defeat.
Zhan Jing sighed: "To be honest, it will be difficult for us to win the next battle, but it will only be difficult, not completely hopeless. It's a pity that Chen Xu, your attack methods are still too limited. If you could have more time to hone your skills, we might have a much better chance of winning tomorrow's match."
Zhong Ziyu listened with some frustration and said, "Why does it only need to him to practice? Don't we need to practice too? Even extras have rights, you know."
Zhan Jing shook her head: "You and Wu Yuan haven't made much progress yet because you haven't found a method that suits you, and your computer fundamentals aren't solid. Chen Xu's programming skills are already quite high, and you should know that hacker attack and defense techniques are directly proportional to programming level. So he has a lot of room for improvement and great potential for advancement. Besides, in the match just now, he found a method that suited him. He just needs to strengthen some targeted practice, and we still have a good chance of defeating our opponents tomorrow with the combined strength of the few of us. But now..." Zhan Jing gave Chen Xu an apologetic smile and said, "I'm sorry, you've always said you wanted to learn hacking techniques from me, but I started teaching you too late. If I had developed a targeted training method for your style a month ago, we might have been able to win this match."
The implication is that she doesn't have high hopes for tomorrow's match result.
Yingnianzaofei glanced at Zhan Jing but didn't say anything.
Actually, tomorrow's game might not be unwinnable.
Because Yingnianzaofei knew that Tianhuixing Xuancao Jiangli was among the top in the Red Hacker Alliance!
Although Tianhuixing doesn't rank high among the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits, as mentioned before, such rankings are unreliable except for the significant difference in strength between the Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Fiends. This is because the person who created the 108 Heroes ranking on a whim didn't intend it as a ranking of strength, but rather as a combination of many people's styles and nicknames.
Therefore, the skill gap among the Thirty-Six Heavenly Generals is still quite large... that's because the gap widens as hackers climb higher.
It was strange that Yingnianzaofei felt that with Tianhui's strength, the probability of defeating Tianshaxing Heixuanfeng and Tianjiexingying at the same time was not small. With the help of the others, it was impossible for them to cause trouble. But why did Zhanjing suddenly say that they could not win the game tomorrow?
For Zhan Jing, this hacker competition was completely meaningless.
She's already very strong, so participating in this kind of competition won't help her improve much. As for the title of first place, she's a low-key person and doesn't want to bother competing for it.
She participated in this hacking competition entirely because of Chen Xu.
Because Chen Xu invited her.
Therefore, Zhan Jing's evaluation criteria did not include herself. In the previous matches, Zhan Jing had been holding back her strength without exerting any effort, at most only helping Chen Xu protect his back.
Everything else, the victory, was achieved through Chen Xu's own hard work.
Watching Chen Xu improve at an astonishing pace, his skill level rising ever higher, was gratifying for Zhan Jing. However, tomorrow's opponents were beyond Chen Xu's current capabilities. Therefore, forcing the team into the next round was pointless. For Zhan Jing, this hacking competition was simply about seeing Chen Xu continuously improve. Nothing more.
Chen Xu scratched his head and said, "Is there really no hope at all? Oh dear, what a pity. Hmm, what level do I need to train to be able to challenge the 108 heroes of the Red Hacker Alliance?"
Chen Xu was actually quite open-minded about not being able to defeat tomorrow's opponent. Although he didn't want to lose, he also knew that his current strength was limited. It's impossible to become an expert overnight, and besides, they had basically reached this point. Next, they would be facing the top group of hackers in the Chinese hacker community, and Chen Xu really didn't have that kind of confidence right now.
Zhan Jing said, "Actually, with your current skill level, you still have a good chance of winning against a typical Earthly Fiend-level hacker. The probability is even higher in a group fight like this. Because your attacks are very powerful, this style of attack allows you to defeat opponents whose overall strength is a notch above yours. However, your defense is also very weak. If the opponent discovers your weaknesses, they can take you down in a single move. But these aren't problems... because hackers rarely operate alone these days. We'll guard your back. You just need to keep attacking."
Hearing this, Chen Xu felt a sudden tremor in his heart. Zhan Jing continued, "But your current attack style is too monotonous. You could say your style has a lot of room for improvement. The problem is, the official competition starts tomorrow. There's clearly no time left for you to improve. So don't think too much about it. Just do your best in tomorrow's match, but don't be discouraged. Because you have a lot of room for development. Just because you can't handle an opponent now doesn't mean you can't handle one in the future. Your style is sharp and fierce, but too much strength is easily broken. I'm afraid that if you encounter an opponent you can't handle, your momentum will weaken, which will be detrimental to your improvement."
Chen Xu chuckled and said, "No, I'm not that emotionally fragile. I'm satisfied with how far I've come at my current level."
Zhan Jing nodded. Chen Xu continued, "But I'm still a little unconvinced. After all, even though I know my opponent is stronger than me, I don't want to lose. How can I improve? Is one night impossible?"
Zhan Jing chuckled. She extended a slender, fair finger: "One month. If you train for another month following my guidance, you'll have a chance in tomorrow's battle. But right now, you'd better not set your goals too high."
A month is enough for Chen Xu to defeat a Heavenly Gang level expert? This girl is exaggerating!
Zhan Jing smiled calmly and spoke slowly, "What you need to focus on now is your effective operation, that is, the success rate of your fatal blow. And your hand speed can also be greatly improved. The key is that you haven't specifically trained in this area. Your computer fundamentals are already very good; what follows requires you to learn and refine them gradually on your own. You've also learned many common hacking techniques, which I can't help you with. However, I can help you improve your effective operation and your hand speed. With your current foundation, if you improve your hand speed and effective operation, you might really be able to compete with Tian Gang."
Chapter 243 How to Improve (Part 2)
Hacking is an advanced career path for programmers... well, you could describe it that way using online gaming terminology.
The main factors that determine a hacker's skill level are their computer knowledge, experience in attack and defense, and their typing speed.
Chen Xu's computer knowledge is already quite solid. Even if he wanted to continue learning, it would only be a gradual accumulation, not a leap to the top. However, his typing speed has a lot of room for improvement, and this improvement can be made in a short period of time.
Zhan Jing took out a keyboard. The design of this keyboard was different from that of ordinary keyboards, especially the setting of some special symbols. Chen Xu understood it at a glance and asked, "Is this a keyboard for hackers?"
"Well, I guess so. But many people have different operating habits and may not use the same type of keyboard. However, it's inevitable that some people will tamper with the keyboard."
Chen Xu understood what she meant by "tampering with things".
For example, consider the NET command line: `/uer:`. This command is used to establish an IPC null connection. As you can see, this line of command contains several special characters.
On a standard keyboard, these special character keys are usually grouped with the number keys and switched using the shift key.
When inputting, it is common to accidentally press the wrong key while switching, which can cause the command to fail.
Therefore, figuring out how to manipulate these keys became a key focus for hackers. After all, holding down shift with one finger while using the other to find these special characters is tedious, even for someone extremely skilled with the keyboard.
Zhanjing's keyboard completely isolates these special characters.
Although it was just a few small changes, it made things much more convenient.
Zhan Jing said, "Hackers have been researching finger placement exercises and keyboard improvements. Even if such research can improve the input speed by one second, it's still good. So now many hackers are researching hacker input methods, which are able to use commands as shortcut keys for input. But the results are often somewhat unsatisfactory. Another point is very contradictory. You have to understand that advanced hackers are already very familiar with their own input methods. At this point, it is a very difficult thing to get them to change their operating habits."
Chen Xu understood. A hacker input method—it certainly sounded amazing. But Chen Xu now had a considerable understanding of hacking and knew that creating such an input method was actually quite difficult.
It's mainly about getting used to the way you use it.
In fact, many user-friendly software programs nowadays have this function, and many DOS commands are already integrated.
The problem is that in actual combat, it's impossible to input commands one by one with a mouse; it's much faster to type them on the keyboard.
Hackers aren't fools; each command is that long. They can't possibly type them all out perfectly, word for word. If they did, how could they possibly output sixty commands per minute?
This is a matter of finger placement, and also of shortcut input methods... This kind of shortcut input method is the most widely circulated input mode in the hacker community. Chen Xu is still using it now. It was something that a few world-class hackers tinkered with when they were bored back then, but it hasn't been upgraded for many years.
This input method is known as the first generation of hacker input methods, pioneering the convenient output of commands. However, its success was so great that nothing that followed could surpass it.
This input method wasn't a pure input method like Sogou or Intelligent ABC today. It was just a small software program that used command lines for output. You only needed to type the first few letters, and the rest would appear, similar to current English input methods.
Hackers' typing techniques are also crucial. Good typing practice allows hackers to output commands more efficiently. To put it bluntly, in a battle between experts, every second counts. Victory or defeat is often decided by a hair's breadth, so improving by even a second is beneficial!
Chen Xu asked Zhan Jing what this hacker's finger technique was all about, as he had never encountered it before. But Zhan Jing said she wouldn't explain it now, that everyone should focus on figuring out how to deal with the Black Demon God tomorrow, and that she would tell him the technique now. She explained that he couldn't possibly learn it in one night. Tomorrow, he would be hesitant and unprepared because of his unfamiliarity with it… It was like someone accustomed to using a knife learning a new sword technique, only to encounter an opponent before mastering it. Instead of using the sword technique effectively, he would waste time thinking about how to use it properly, thus hindering his knife skills.
Chen Xu thought that what she said made sense, so he nodded and agreed. After chatting for a few more minutes, it was basically time for dinner.