Chapter 426 - I’ll Return Soon

At the beginning, Eagle emulated Fantom’s style. As time passed, however, it became apparent that his personal style was completely different.

Fantom’s style was very indifferent to others’ opinions and also hada distinct "my pace" quality to it. He never felt compelled to prove his skills to anyone or show them off just to make his name known far and wide. In fact, it was other hackers who named him Fantom because he was like a phantom, barely leaving any traces behind. And if he did leave a trace, it was usually out of boredom and an obvious attempt to entertain himself, not because he wanted recognition.

As a result, many claimed to be Fantom, but they could never keep the façade up. They started insisting that they were Fantom and the moment they did so, they automatically proved that they weren’t because the real Fantom would never be so fame-hungry.

Fantom never concerned himself about others taking credit for his own accomplishments. It was as if he lived on a completely different dimension to the other hackers who competed against each other, while he just pranced around whenever he felt like it looking for something fun to do. He just let his own superior skills speak for themselves, instead of tooting his own horn like what the other hackers were doing.

Unlike Fantom’s self-assuredness, Eagle loved showing off his skills. It was only at the beginning that he tried following Fantom’s mysterious and indifferent style. But when it didn’t give him the attention and recognition that he wanted, he started making big splashes here and there to make his name known. Despite this, he would still revert to imitating Fantom’s mysterious style now and then.

If it was really Eagle who was hacking Jin Corporation right now and the one who hacked into the other top companies earlier that day, then he must’ve been imitating Fantom again. After all, he only breached the companies’ systems to check out the data, not really causing any damage.

It resembled Fantom’s style which was, for the most part, non-malicious. Hacking was mainly to satisfy curiousity, relieve boredom and to entertain.

Clearly, the hacker that day couldn’t fully imitate Fantom’s style. If it was Fantom who hacked into these top Chinese companies, they wouldn’t be able to detect any hacking at all unless Fantom left his iconic "notes" behind which would probably say something along these lines:

"Your system is trash. So many vulnerabilities. But I had fun plugging all of them! I can’t wait for you to improve your system so that I can have more fun hunting for vulnerabilities and plugging them all again. And oh, your CFO is embezzling your company funds. Just want to let you know. That’s all. Till next time. Bye!"

This was one of Fantom’s most well-known quirks. Depending on his mood, he would sometimes help others strengthen their cybersecurity. But if he discovered something he didn’t like or angered him during one of his "fun" hacking excursions, the companies or organizations he hacked into better prepare themselves if they wanted to survive complete collapse.

In contrast, Eagle—if it was really him—didn’t conceal the fact that he breached into these Chinese companies’ systems. Although he didn’t cause any irreparable damage to these companies (except for Jin Corporation right now), it seemed that he still wanted everyone to know that he hacked into their systems.

It was like he was showing off that he could do whatever he wanted with their systems, but they couldn’t do anything to stop him. That was until he encountered a formidable opponent while hacking Jin Corporation. All of a sudden, the gates were slammed shut in front of him and he couldn’t slip inside even further anymore no matter how hard he tried.

Back in the main computer control room, Jin Liwei’s employees were all in awe at the possibility that the two hackers currently battling it out right in front of their eyes might be Drakon and Eagle who were considered to be two of the greatest hackers of the new generation after Fantom.

Moments later, the intense hacking battle seemed to have stopped. Jin Corporation’s system was quiet again. However, the employees could see that it was continuously being repaired and fortified, so they knew that the second hacker—who might be Drakon—was still there.

"Is Eagle gone?" one of them asked.

A senior member of Jin Liwei’s personal tech team replied, "He should be. Look. His digital footprints in the system abruptly stopped. Why is that? I think that maybe the battle had migrated somewhere else away from our company’s system, especially since Drakon—if he’s really Drakon—put our system on lockdown. He made it inaccessible to Eagle—if he’s really Eagle."

The others nodded and agreed with his deductions.

Then he turned to his boss, Jin Liwei.

"President, is the second hacker Drakon?" he asked.

"No." Jin Liwei didn’t hesitate to reply.

"But the first hacker, who might possibly be Eagle, called him Drakon."

Jin Liwei gave his employees a frosty look. "You’re not even sure if the first hacker is really Eagle or not, and you believe him more than me?"

"O-of course not, President. I-I see... So it’s not Drakon..."

But even as this person said this, he couldn’t stop himself from doubting his boss. He already had a suspicion before that his boss had a connection with Drakon, especially when Jin Liwei showed him and a couple of his colleagues some portions of those unbelievably detailed reports. Jin Liwei had never confirmed anything, but they all suspected that the reports came from Drakon or a hacker of a similar level.

An hour later, the access rights and the system controls were returned to them. Then all of a sudden, the computer screens displayed a message. It said:

"I know who all of you are. I know everything about you. You didn’t see anything tonight. If you did and you tell anyone, I’ll know about it for sure—and I’LL DESTROY YOU! Be good and erase this night from your memories. Good night!"

The message may have disappeared shortly after, but it was forever imprinted in the employees’ minds and filled them with fear. They paled and shivered.

They had all witnessed the skills of the two hackers who battled it out tonight. Knowing that they would be powerless if one of the hackers decided to destroy them, they had no choice but to surrender to the threat.

Jin Liwei knew that the message was sent by his baby girl. He took this as cue to take control of the situation.

Because his employees were afraid of the threat, it was very easy for him to make them swear not to divulge anything that happened tonight. They even agreed to sign a special NDA just for this incident. They didn’t even question him when he assigned a couple of their senior members who were the most skilled among them to pretend that they were the ones who fought against the first hacker.

At first, the two were reluctant to do it. They were afraid that Eagle—if it was really him—might attack them if he discovered that they were pretending to be the ones who stopped him from completely accessing Jin Corporation’s data. Just the thought of being the target of a world-class hacker was enough to fill them with terror.

"Don’t worry. I assure you that you’ll be fully protected from any danger. You have my word. Of course, you and your families will also receive lifetime compensation for this inconvenience," Jin Liwei told them.

Although they were still worried, their eyes lit up when compensation was mentioned. If it was for their families, they would do it. So they accepted Jin Liwei’s offer.

Then Jin Liwei’s phone vibrated. It was another text message from his baby girl. It said:

"You’ve chosen two? Bring them to see me when you come home. I’m busy at the moment, so I might not be able to contact you again until I’m done. I love you, darling. Don’t reply."

Like before, the text message deleted by itself.

Jin Liwei frowned. It seemed that his employees’ deduction earlier was correct. The battle hadn’t ended yet but only migrated somewhere else. His baby girl was still fighting.

He wished that he could help her, but all he could do at the moment was to make sure that her efforts in defending his company’s system wasn’t put to waste. He immediately instructed his employees to scan the company’s entire system and make sure that it was up and running again for the next workday in a few hours.

While the members of the IT and security departments were taking care of the system, Jin Liwei called his fellow executives for an emergency meeting. His summon dragged them from their sweet slumbers but they had no choice but to rush to the company in the middle of the night.

They had to strategize the best way to appease their clients regarding the breached data. And they had to do it as soon as possible.

It was already past 3 AM. Jin Liwei hadn’t had any sleep yet. However, he didn’t feel the least bit sleepy. Tired, yes. But sleepy? No.

He was extremely worried for his baby girl who must still be battling against the other motherfucking hacker. She was someone who loved sleeping well, and it pissed him off that someone dared to force her to stay up all night with no sleep. Since it was partly his fault, it pissed him off even more.

If only he could fight the battle for her. Unfortunately, all he could do was to believe in her skills.

He left his employees in the main computer control room and headed up his office at the top floor. He intended on taking a quick nap before his fellow executives arrived for their meeting.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated yet again. It was a text message but not from his baby girl. Instead, it was from his Fifth Brother, Lu Zihao. It said:

"Third Brother, I know what happened tonight. Bring my little sister back to Dragon Palace as soon as possible. It’s safer at the mansion than at the penthouse. I’m currently out of town, but I’ll return soon to provide extra security. That hacker’s background is possibly VERY DANGEROUS. We mustn’t let him trace my sister. Don’t reply."

Then the message deleted by itself.