Translator: Timothy_ Editor: GlobeGlotter
Ye Mo couldn’t help to doubt An Zhiqi’s words. They weren’t close at all, while Dongfang Wang was her classmate, why would she tell him his secrets?
Seeing Ye Mo’s expression, An Zhiqi bit her lips and said, “I’m sure you’re no ordinary person, but I know Dongfang Wang isn’t either. Although I’ve only seen you twice, I trust you more. Didn’t you want to come help us that time because there had been an avalanche? So, I trust you’re a good person.”
Ye Mo wouldn’t believe her just based on her words, but he continued, “What do you want to tell me?”
An Zhiqi chose her words carefully before saying, “I know you might not believe me, but Dongfang Wang’s is one of best computers masters in the world, maybe the best or the second best.”
Ye Mo was a bit interested now. They lived in a technological civilization, and Ye Xing was at its peak. If it hadn’t been for Ye Xing, Luo Yue wouldn’t have even lasted that long.
An Zhiqi continued, “Dongfang Wang was at most a computer lover in our colleague’s eyes, simply just an amateur. He has this habit of carrying a computer no matter where he goes. Meanwhile, I’m the genius of computers in Beijing University. There’s no one that doesn’t know me.
I’m not famous for being pretty, but for being the best at computers.”
An Zhiqi breathed at easy and then slowed down her pace, “I also thought I was the best in Beijing University, and even the teachers often asked me questions. So I didn’t expect someone to be better than me. My capabilities are like a child’s game compared to his.”
Ye Mo suddenly felt uneasy. He stopped walking and asked, “Is this person Dongfang Wang?”
An Zhiqi laughed at herself, “Yes, I believe so. But I suspect Dongfang Wang because of what happened last year.
Last year, the Swiss Bank suddenly lost 500 million pounds. The whole world was discussing this, but that was when Luo Yue was fighting their first war with the Union Army. Hence, it didn’t get as much attention.”
Ye Mo frowned. She seemed to be insinuating that this had something to do with Dongfang Wang. However, no matter how good he was, he wouldn’t have been able to do that. If the bank’s money was that easily transferred away, it would’ve closed.
An Zhiqi continued, “I started suspecting Dongfang Wang after the managing teacher of the computer department died.”
“The teacher died?” Ye Mo asked strangely.
An Zhiqi nodded, “Yes, a week after the Swiss Bank’s incident happened, the teacher for some reason committed suicide in his house. I didn’t suspect Dongfang Wang at first, but one picture completely changed my mind. That man was my computing teacher and because I progressed quite quickly, he often asked for my advise. I respected him a lot. He had a good job and a loving wife, why would someone like him commit suicide?
So, I went to his blog and looked around. I saw a photo that clearly explained a lot. The photo was taken when he went to the student dorms – at the time Dongfang Wang was also staying at that dorm. He had been on his computer. The content on the computer screen also appeared in it. My teacher really liked the photo at the time, so he posted it on his blog.”
“What did you see?” Ye Mo asked.
An Zhiqi said slowly, “I saw an article written in English on Dongfang Wang’s screen. Some parts seemed to be about the Swiss Bank’s incident, so I used special means to enlarge and clear the image. It was indeed the Swiss Bank announcing that they had lost 500 million pounds. I thought Dongfang Wang had been reading news online after it happened, but after seeing the date, I knew that wasn’t the case.”
“And you just suspect him due to this?” Ye Mo looked strangely at An Zhiqi.
An Zhiqi shook her head, “No, because I thought of another thing. Before all of this happened, the teacher took us out to eat once, and Dongfang Wang was there. At the time, I remembered a student asking, ‘Could there be a computer master that could use a zombie computer as a springboard and commit a crime, but have no one able to find out where the zombie computer?’
At the time, I said, ‘Even if they found the zombie computer, it wouldn’t matter. Moreover, who would care about a zombie computer?’ The teacher replied, ‘No matter how good you are, if you use a computer as a zombie computer, people can find it. Of course, a computer master probably has defense mechanisms on his computer. Also, even if there was a computer master 100 times better than him, if the master used his computer as a zombie computer, then there would be traces.’
After the teacher said this, I saw clear contempt in Dongfang Wang’s eyes. Although it was very quick, I still caught a glimpse of it. However, because his computer skills were average, I didn’t put much thought into it. But now that I think of it, he might have used the teacher’s computer as a zombie computer, but the teacher didn’t know anything about it.”
Ye Mo knew what An Zhiqi meant, so he asked, “That teacher meant that he could tell if someone used his computer as a zombie computer, right?”
An Zhiqi nodded approving his skills at Ye Mo and said, “Yes, that’s what he meant at the time. When I realized this, I closed my teacher’s blog and started to investigate Dongfang Wang. I did things very carefully. I bought a mouth mask, makeup and a new computer. I even made sure my net card was anonymous. But when I used the computer to enter my teacher’s blog again, the picture had been deleted. As soon as I went inside, the screen froze and it got blocked. Whoever did this quickly entered my computer and was going to hack open the webcam. Luckily, I hadn’t installed the driver for the cam, so he wasn’t able to open it.
I’m sure that it took him less than five minutes to hack my computer after entering my teacher’s blog. It was so fast, not even I could do that I. After he hacked me, I immediately exited the website and switched to another anonymous net card.”
“What next?” Ye Mo asked.
An Zhiqi was actually sweating. She said, “I went at once to use the school’s computer room server because the teacher was responsible for it. Just in case, I covered the camera with something. However, right after I entered the server, I didn’t get to see anything before I was hacked again. Three minutes had barely passed, the computer camera driver was installed and he had opened the camera. It was too fast, I’ve never seen someone this strong.”
An Zhiqi was sweating more and more and was breathing heavily, “I was rather confident in my computer skills before. Yet still, before I had even reached his computer, he had already gone through everything in mine. I immediately knew that I was a far cry from this person. I’ve been a hacker before, but I feel like this person isn’t a hacker, he’s a net controller.
Out of fear, I threw my new computer away. But four days after, another suicide case happened. A student had committed suicide in the dorms. The official statement was that he had been too addicted to games, but the computer on the newspaper report was familiar. It was the one I threw out!”
“Is Dongfang Wang that good? Are you sure it’s him? Don’t you think you’re lacking in evidence?” Ye Mo asked again.