Asked you to write a book, not to confess your criminal record!

“Captain Yu, this is Fang Cheng, the Jintang Cyber Security Technical Director,” Fang Cheng said over the phone.

“It’s Director Fang, what’s the matter?”

Yu Shan was still working overtime.

“Tonight, we will carry out a comprehensive optimization and upgrade of the Jintang firewall. If the upgrade is successful, it should significantly alleviate the pressure we’re currently experiencing from overseas hacker attacks,” said Fang Cheng with candor.

“A comprehensive optimization and upgrade?” Yu Shan was somewhat surprised.

“Yes!”

“Fantastic!” Yu Shan laughed heartily, “Director Fang, you are Anling’s cyber hero!”

“Captain Yu flatters me; this is just part of my job,” replied Fang Cheng with a smile. “The optimization and upgrade will take a lot of time, but we aim to complete it by tomorrow.”

“Good, I’ll be waiting for your good news!”

He hung up the phone.

Fang Cheng immediately threw himself into the work of optimizing and upgrading the firewall.

…

A round moon hung high in the sky, its silver-white gentle moonlight casting a sheer layer of gauze over the brightly lit Anling Police Station.

The evening breeze blew past, rustling the hair of Xia Qingqing, a female officer on the Cyber Security Detachment team.

Xia Qingqing, dressed in navy blue police uniform, didn’t mind her disheveled hair as she knocked on the door of the Cyber Security Detachment team leader’s office.

“Captain, you wanted to see me.”

Having worked all day, Xia Qingqing appeared tired.

“Qingqing, today we detected a foreign hacker’s intrusion into the Han River Province network, and Anling is included. Preliminary estimates indicate that this intrusion has affected tens of thousands of computers and smartphones, which is a large scale, but the specifics of the program and potential harm are still unknown. Here’s the information; you’ll be in charge of following up on this,” Captain Yu explained as he handed over a stack of documents.

“Okay.”

Xia Qingqing took a deep breath, took the documents, and returned to her desk to review them.

The documents contained pertinent information.

Tracing foreign hacker infiltrations such as viruses and Trojans is part of the Cyber Security Detachment’s duties, with the goal of preventing such malware from damaging the local network.

The program mentioned by Captain Yu, although not yet determined to be a virus or a Trojan, had already severely disrupted network order by affecting tens of thousands of devices.

Xia Qingqing immediately began investigating.

Since she was not the direct target of the intrusion, she couldn’t trace the program’s source directly.

Hence, Xia Qingqing’s first step was to identify where the program ultimately ended up.

This wasn’t difficult for her, given her competent technical skills.

It didn’t take long.

Xia Qingqing had traced several users.

“Weird, the program from the foreign intrusion is clearly installed on these networks, so why can’t I find any data information on it?” Xia Qingqing frowned slightly in confusion.

The more she continued her investigation, the more baffled she became.

Xia Qingqing leaned back in her chair, her lips pursed thoughtfully as she contemplated how to track down the program.

After a long while.

She let out a light sigh, took out her phone, and opened up a chat with Lin Chuan.

“Writer Lin, do you have a moment?”

Lin Chuan replied, “Officer Xia, what’s up?”

“I’d like to ask you some questions about network technology,” Xia Qingqing said, pursing her lips.

Ever since she read Lin Chuan’s “Hacker Kingdom”, Xia Qingqing believed that Lin Chuan had strong networking skills.

Thus, when she couldn’t track down the ‘intrusion program’s’ data information, she decided to consult Lin Chuan for his input.

Maybe Lin Chuan had a solution.

“Ask… I’m honored. We can discuss whatever issue together,” Lin Chuan replied.

Xia Qingqing didn’t beat around the bush, her fingers rapidly tapping the screen of her phone, “Writer Lin, suppose there’s a program that has been implanted into users’ smartphones and computers, but it doesn’t reveal any data information. How do we continue to locate its data information?”

Due to confidentiality regulations.

Xia Qingqing was purely asking a technical question, which did not pertain to any case.

Lin Chuan thought for a moment and asked, “Do you have a smartphone or computer that has been breached?”

“No.”

“Your Cyber Police can investigate their backend network information, can’t you?” Lin Chuan asked.

“Yes, that’s possible.”

“Then you only need to retrieve its backend network information and check the network data item by item according to the time frame. Once you find an anomaly, follow that thread. It’s highly likely you will obtain quite a bit more information.”

In the rented room, Lin Chuan only mused for a short while before coming up with a suitable solution.

This method sounded quite simple, and indeed it wasn’t difficult at all.

Lin Chuan incidentally explained the method of ‘identifying anomalies in network data’ to Xia Qingqing—after all, the police and the public should work hand in hand.

Xia Qingqing, as an excellent member of the Cyber Police.

She possessed even more powerful techniques, which naturally enabled her to maintain the cybersecurity environment of Anling.

She was a beneficiary herself.

That’s what Lin Chuan believed, although the outcome might deviate slightly.

“I understand now, thank you, Writer Lin,” Xia Qingqing suddenly realized, the fatigue on her face diminishing considerably, replaced by a smile.

“It was nothing.” Lin Chuan smiled.

“Your ‘nothing’ has spared me two hours of overtime. I’ll take you out for a meal next time to thank you,” Xia Qingqing said with a beaming smile.

Lin Chuan smiled and replied, “Sure, I’ll look forward to Officer Xia treating me to a feast.”

After closing the chat window, Xia Qingqing rubbed her cheeks with both hands.

Following that.

She reported to Captain Yu Shan, requesting permission to access user backend network information, and received approval.

Subsequently, she began to inspect the backend network information of those users she had just checked, just as Lin Chuan had suggested.

With the guidance of an expert, her efficiency greatly increased.

An hour later.

Xia Qingqing sat dazedly in her chair, her eyebrows tightly furrowed.

At that moment, she was utterly baffled!

Because the anomalous data she had tracked down originated from the Sailing Novel Website.

And all these anomalies had one thing in common—they automatically redirected users to the Sailing Novel Website, opening the page to read a particular novel.

“Hacker Kingdom.”

Knock, knock, knock.

“Captain, because the program implanters are overseas hackers with superior skills, it’s difficult to track their IP, so I have only tracked down part of the data from the implanted side,” Xia Qingqing reported in the captain’s office.

Captain Yu Shan’s expression shifted in surprise, “Your tracking efficiency has increased so much?”

Xia Qingqing was slightly startled, and when she thought about “Hacker Kingdom” and how her increased efficiency was thanks to Lin Chuan’s advice, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Then, she continued her report, “For now, it looks like the program that was implanted is not a virus, nor a Trojan, but rogue software.”

“Rogue software… A foreign hacker implants rogue software into the devices of tens of thousands of users, what’s their purpose?” Captain Yu furrowed his brows, puzzled.

“Uh, I suppose it’s to promote a novel,” said Xia Qingqing, her lips twitching slightly.

“Hmm?”

In the office, Yu Shan’s eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief:

“Invading the networks of tens of thousands of users, seriously disrupting cyber order, just to promote a novel?”

“Is that hacker just idly causing trouble for fun?”