Chapter 81

On Su Peng's phone screen, the black-clad man who was talking to Shi Qianjun in his office was none other than...

...the man Su Peng had witnessed driving a truck to kill the leader of the Tiger Battalion, and who had beheaded a gray-clad man from a certain organization!

"It's him! I definitely didn't recognize him wrong! He's in Shi Qianjun's office?"

Su Peng frowned as he looked at the surveillance footage on his phone screen. Although he had previously considered whether the black-clad man was from the company, he hadn't been entirely sure, as he always felt that the company's people wouldn't be so ruthless. However, looking at the information on the phone screen now, Su Peng felt a chill down his back. He couldn't deny that although the black-clad man's methods were cruel, they were very effective in intimidating others. Su Peng hadn't realized that the man had left such a deep impression on him.

In the footage, Shi Qianjun was instructing the black-clad man with a short haircut, who kept nodding. Suddenly, the black-clad man with the short haircut looked up and stared directly at the surveillance camera in Shi Qianjun's office.

"Did he notice me?" Su Peng was slightly startled, but quickly recovered. He was watching the man through the surveillance camera, so it was impossible for the man to see him through the camera. If the man had a feeling, it could only mean that he had the instincts of a wild beast.

However, Su Peng didn't take any more risks. He confirmed that his phone could indeed hack into Shi Qianjun's computer. After staring at the screen for a while, he saw that the black-clad man with the short haircut had turned his gaze away, and Su Peng let out a long breath. It seemed that only surveillance cameras were installed in Shi Qianjun's office, not microphones, so Su Peng couldn't hear what they were saying. Since he had confirmed the success of the hack, Su Peng didn't take any more risks and exited the network of Shi Qianjun's room.

Then, Su Peng turned around, pressed the flush button on the toilet he was sitting on, put his phone in his coat pocket, and walked out of the bathroom, heading back to his room.

...

In Shi Qianjun's room, a few seconds earlier.

"What are you looking at? Is there a problem there?" Shi Qianjun, sitting behind his desk, asked the black-clad man who kept looking up at a certain spot on the wall.

"Nothing... I just have a feeling of being watched. Maybe I'm just being too sensitive," the black-clad man said, looking at the hidden camera on the wall.

"Oh, there's a surveillance camera there. I didn't plan to install one in the room, but I was afraid someone might enter without my notice, so I installed one. There's no listening device, though. You might have felt the surveillance camera just now," Shi Qianjun said, not paying much attention.

"Maybe that's it..." The black-clad man nodded and stopped looking at the spot. His feeling of being watched had also disappeared.

"Alright, then. I'll leave the surveillance of Su Peng to you tomorrow," Shi Qianjun said to the black-clad man.

"Alright, no matter who he is, I'll make him reveal his true colors," the black-clad man nodded and said firmly...

...

Back in his room, Su Peng began to think. His phone should be able to monitor Sun Shijia, but to obtain the entire company's surveillance permissions, his phone's power seemed insufficient.

"To get the surveillance video permissions of Shi Qianjun's office at any time, there are two ways. The first is to continue improving the phone and increase its power. The second is to plant a backdoor on Shi Qianjun's computer, so that when his computer starts, it redirects to someone else's computer, or through multiple redirects, and then back to my phone, to monitor the signal... The first method is currently impossible, as the current modifications are already at the limit of the materials I have. Increasing the power too much would make it easy to be detected. The second method... can be considered, but I need to find two people who often use computers and return home to download a trojan software from their computers."

With a clear plan in mind, Su Peng calmed down. For the rest of the night, he kept his phone on. From the surveillance footage, it looked like he was playing with his phone, but he was actually observing who around him liked to keep their computers on and use wireless networks.

The night passed quickly.

The next morning, Su Peng, Sun Shijia, and Ji Ming all went to Shi Qianjun's office to hand in their game rings. After coming out, Sun Shijia said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to rest at the company for a day, while Ji Ming wanted to go out for a walk. Su Peng said goodbye to Sun Shijia, patting his shoulder meaningfully and saying, "Take care of yourself."

"Thanks, Brother Su," Sun Shijia said with a seemingly touched smile. Su Peng smiled back, knowing that he was just acting. He no longer had the unconscious contempt he had before, but rather felt a bit of admiration for his young age and acting skills.

After saying goodbye to Sun Shijia, Su Peng called a taxi downstairs and headed to his rented apartment. He had a few unread messages on his computer.

He didn't notice that behind his taxi, a seemingly ordinary black car with mud covering its license plate was following. In the driver's seat of the black car, a black-clad man with a short haircut was sitting...

After returning to his apartment, Su Peng entered his room, turned on his computer, and took out a USB drive from his body.

Su Peng always carried a USB drive, which contained some commonly used software and information, and also served as a key. Most of the confidential software on his apartment's computer used a split-and-reassemble technique, where a file was split into two parts, like two puzzle pieces. Only when the USB drive and the information on the computer's hard drive were combined could the file be used. This was one of Su Peng's security measures to prevent the loss of the computer or the USB drive.

After turning on the computer, Su Peng inserted the USB drive, then took a data cable and installed a trojan software and a network environment security test software on his phone, which could bypass firewalls from internal connections. He also downloaded two backup software before unplugging his phone.

Then, Su Peng logged into a rarely used information relay station he had accessed a week ago. There was a network email waiting for him.

Su Peng opened it and saw that the email read: "Your request has been received. After discussion, we have decided to pay the price you mentioned. However, I am personally disappointed that you are also a greedy person... Don't think that just because we can hire you, you can act without restraint. Remember, this is your last request. If you make any more unreasonable demands, we will terminate our cooperation."

After reading the email, Su Peng smiled and muttered to himself, "The price you are willing to pay is really not small..."

The information relay station was another way of communication provided by the gray-clad man who contacted Su Peng. A week ago, Su Peng had sent a test email, saying he had made some progress and could bring out a host computer when the time was right, and he raised his price to 100 million RMB or 20 million USD. To his surprise, the other party agreed after a mere 'discussion' without any threats.

"There are three possibilities. One is that this game host is really important to the gray-clad people. The second is that they don't really care about the money, so the amount doesn't matter. The third is a combination of both."

Su Peng thought, smiled slightly, closed the email, cleared some traces, unplugged the USB drive, turned off the computer, and then went out, heading straight to the hospital...

...

By around 6 or 7 PM, Su Peng returned to the company.

Since they would only be able to collect the game rings the next day, Su Peng didn't go to the lounge to drink beer or watch people play pool. Unconsciously, more than an hour passed.

In Shi Qianjun's office, the surveillance screen showed Su Peng in the lounge.

The black-clad man with a short haircut, wearing sunglasses and holding a black bag, was facing Shi Qianjun.

"You said he went back to his rented apartment for less than an hour, then went to the hospital for a check-up, and after that, he went to see a traditional Chinese doctor?" Shi Qianjun asked, looking at the surveillance screen.

"That's right. I checked the tests he did, which were routine physical exams, X-rays, and blood tests. I also got the results, and there was nothing unusual. I couldn't go into the traditional Chinese doctor's office to check, but from a distance, it seemed to be a routine consultation and pulse diagnosis."

"Did you check his apartment?"

"I did. There was nothing special, except for a computer. After he returned to the company, I went back to his apartment and searched it. There was nothing unusual, but his computer seemed problematic. When I opened it, many files had abbreviated names that I couldn't understand, and many files couldn't be opened. I felt there was something wrong, so I took apart the computer. For some reason, the screen and CPU exploded when I did. I pretended to be a thief and threw away the rest of the computer, but the hard drive is in this bag."

The black-clad man placed the black bag on Shi Qianjun's desk.

"Understood. You've done a good job. I'll find an expert to recover the data on the hard drive. No matter who he is, if he leaves any traces, we can track him down."

"Understood. If he really has a problem, I'll take care of him." The black-clad man made a throat-cutting gesture!

Shi Qianjun nodded and said, "Recovering the data will take about two to three weeks. We'll see then. You can go rest now."

...

Su Peng didn't know that Shi Qianjun had already obtained his computer's hard drive. After sitting in the lounge for a while, he left and went directly to the toilet near Shi Qianjun's office.

In the toilet stall, Su Peng sat on the toilet seat and operated his phone.

Soon, Su Peng successfully hacked into Shi Qianjun's office computer and tested the company's internal network security environment.

"The network security is quite good... almost impossible to hack from the outside, but the internal network has a few vulnerabilities. As I suspected, the company's network defense is strong on the outside but weak on the inside."

Su Peng thought, and at the same time, he activated his trojan software, using the vulnerabilities in Shi Qianjun's computer to redirect to a few computers in the nearby dormitory area.

Two of the trojans were in rooms at the edge of the dormitory area, just within wireless range. The other two were a company member who often stayed up late on the internet and Sun Shijia's computer.

This was intentional on Su Peng's part. If there were any variables, he could not only use the company to probe Sun Shijia's background but also manipulate things to make the company trace back to Sun Shijia.

Theoretically, as long as the computers in the outermost rooms of the dormitory area and Shi Qianjun's office were on, Su Peng could monitor the entire company's surveillance system. The two people at the end of the dormitory area usually stayed up late on the internet until 1 or 2 AM.

And Su Peng, as long as he was in bed in his room looking at his phone, could see everything Shi Qianjun could see.

"For now, it's like this... I wonder what surprises this week will bring." Su Peng thought as he lay in bed, looking at the surveillance screen on his phone...

...

The next morning, Su Peng, Sun Shijia, and Ji Ming went to Shi Qianjun's office to collect their game rings. Lei Ming was also there.

"You all look well-rested. Lei Ming, take them to their respective groups and hand them over to their group leaders," Shi Qianjun said to Lei Ming.

Lei Ming nodded and led Su Peng and the others to the work area.

Lei Ming first took Sun Shijia and Ji Ming to their respective work areas, and finally, he led Su Peng to a room.

Knocking on the door, Lei Ming led Su Peng into the room and said, "Leader Ning, I've brought you a new member!"

"Leader, there's a new member!" the girl who opened the door shouted loudly. Su Peng followed her gaze and saw his childhood friend, Ning Cai, in the room, surrounded by a group of people who were now looking at him...