Chapter 24

Such a medium-sized company generally wouldn’t hire a dedicated cybersecurity department, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to attract any experts. Therefore, security measures were inevitably outsourced, which gave hackers plenty of opportunities to exploit.

After a quick scan, he found a hidden administrator account in the server system, though it wasn’t a super administrator.

This hidden account managed a hidden partition, allocating a fixed 25% of resources to this partition and dynamically assigning 25% to 80% of its performance. This hidden partition contained two encrypted files, one of which was less securely encrypted. Upon entering, he found that it was all video files.

Zhang Qiu couldn’t help but glance at the camera attached to the monitor, thinking it was probably the camera that had taken these videos! Indeed, beautiful women always attract attention!

For safety reasons, the hacker didn’t leave a backdoor to point these files to a fixed IP. In fact, with the backend, there was no need to specify an IP for transmission. That would be redundant and expose oneself.

Zhang Qiu didn’t touch it for the moment but looked at the other encrypted file. This file was much larger and was still active, with many external IPs connected.

After a brief investigation, he found that most of the IPs were mobile network types. Analyzing the data, most were game-related. It seemed the hacker was using this part of the resources as a server for a mobile game, which explained why 25% of the resources were allocated.

Since there was only one hidden account, Zhang Qiu could confirm that these two encrypted files belonged to the same person. He couldn’t help but think that the guy was a talent, using someone else’s server and even secretly peeking at the beautiful CEO.

Zhang Qiu didn’t handle it immediately but simply wrote a small embedded logging software. This software was very compact and could be embedded in the original file, turning into a hidden code that could automatically record the IP and other information of the files accessed.

This technology was similar to the one used to solve the USB virus earlier, a unique skill granted by the system, which even world-class technicians would find hard to detect.

After doing all this, Zhang Qiu pressed Enter and looked up, saying, "It’s done!"

He then picked up the mouse and opened the USB drive, and the files immediately appeared in the list.

"Ms. Mu, please check if these are the files." Zhang Qiu only opened the USB drive and didn’t look at the files himself.

He moved slightly to let Ms. Mu come over. Ms. Mu, seeing the files restored, was eager and immediately came over.

At this moment, Zhang Qiu was moving, and he accidentally bumped into Ms. Mu, hitting her side. A unique scent of a woman mixed with perfume rushed into his nose, almost making him bleed. The soft and elastic touch from the collision made Little Zhang Qiu rise, almost causing Zhang Qiu to lose his balance and fall.

Ms. Mu, of course, didn’t have so many reactions. She casually said sorry and sat down, picked up the mouse, and started browsing the files.

"That’s right! These are the files! Thank you so much, Xiao Qiu!" Ms. Mu continued to use the affectionate nickname, but the first time she called him, it felt like calling a stranger. This time, it had a touch of excitement and gentleness, almost like the affectionate way Su Yun called Xiao Qiu.

It must be an illusion! This cold and beautiful CEO actually called me Xiao Qiu so affectionately. Zhang Qiu couldn’t help but touch his nose and smiled, "You’re welcome, it’s my duty!" At the same time, he thought, I should charge for this.

"By the way, Ms. Mu, I found the source virus in your computer. The virus on your USB drive was likely infected from this computer. Have you plugged the USB drive into any other computers after it was infected? If so, I can help you clean them as well."

"Yes! I plugged it into three computers to check if the USB drive was the problem. They were all company computers," Su Yun said.

After that, she added, "I want to ask, Xiao Qiu, how do you plan to charge?"

"Data recovery, 10,000 yuan per USB drive. In total, there were two USB drives. My sister’s has already been paid for, so you can reimburse her. As for the virus removal, I’ll do it for free," Zhang Qiu said. Since Su Yun had called him her brother earlier, it unconsciously brought them closer, and now Zhang Qiu directly referred to "my sister."

Actually, every only child, to some extent, fantasizes about having a sister (or brother) or a younger sister (or brother). Zhang Qiu particularly fantasized about having a beautiful, gentle, and loving sister or a cute, obedient, and affectionate younger sister.

And Su Yun, unintentionally, fit the image of his ideal sister, although he had some ulterior motives for this sister.

"No problem," Ms. Mu said straightforwardly, "I’ll get a check."

As she said it, the system notification in Zhang Qiu’s mind rang: "Task: Helping Others (Completed). Reward: Martial Arts Proficiency (Quasi-National Level). Extract?"

"Since this is already the tenth task, the system is at a critical point of upgrading. The current task can be manually submitted and ended. After submission, if you actively give up the second half of the task and the reward, the system will upgrade from level 0 to level 1, from a temporary system to a formal system. Do you want to submit and end the task?"

Zhang Qiu was stunned. The system could upgrade? He didn’t realize it was already the tenth task, how fast!

At this moment, Su Yun handed over the check, and Ms. Mu directly wrote a 10,000 yuan check and gave it to Zhang Qiu. Zhang Qiu didn’t take it because he was still in a daze.

Seeing the check, he finally reacted but still didn’t take it, saying, "Let’s talk about it after the virus is removed."

After saying this, he mentally submitted the task. A system upgrade panel popped up, showing the tasks and their completion status.

Out of ten tasks, one was incomplete. Completion rate: 90%, score: 90, full score: 100. Grade: Good! (95 and above: Excellent, 80 and above: Good, 60 and above: Pass, below 60: Fail.)

Although he didn’t know how the score was calculated, seeing the grading, Zhang Qiu had a bad feeling. His good score seemed to mean he would lose something.

Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but curse the system for being unfair. The failed task wasn’t because he didn’t want to complete it, but because it was only halfway done when it disappeared.

However, the task disappearing had a reason. The reward for the task had already overlapped with another task, and the skill level was lower, so it had no reason to exist.

But an incomplete task, even if it had no reason to exist, would still result in a deduction of points.

Now that the arrow was released, there was no turning back. Zhang Qiu decided to upgrade and stopped thinking about what he might lose, instead looking forward to what new features would be added after the upgrade.

After clicking to upgrade, the system prompted that it would pause for 24 hours to upgrade. During the system’s downtime, the already acquired skills would still be effective, but all other functions would be paused.

At this moment, Ms. Mu had already pointed out which computers to Zhang Qiu.

Zhang Qiu was fully focused on removing the virus, and Su Yun was telling Ms. Mu about Zhang Qiu. Ms. Mu now understood how Su Yun and Zhang Qiu met and couldn’t help but look at Zhang Qiu differently.

She didn’t expect this seemingly weak, shy young man to be so warm-hearted, righteous, and brave.

She also marveled at the coincidence. The expert she had asked a friend to introduce her to actually knew her assistant. This expert was indeed legendary, young but respected by the National Cybersecurity Bureau and had helped the police solve a major case.

Such a young hero! Ms. Mu couldn’t help but have the idea of recruiting him.

Her company didn’t have a dedicated cybersecurity team, not because they didn’t want one, but because they couldn’t find a suitable person. Outsourcing to a specialized cybersecurity company was safer.

However, this outsourcing had its drawbacks. Without regular checks, her computer could get infected without her knowing. This young man, with his high skills, being familiar with Su Yun, and having a good character, was the perfect candidate.

Zhang Qiu was fully focused on removing the virus and didn’t hear what the two women were saying. He only felt Ms. Mu’s gaze occasionally fall on him, making him feel like his pants were see-through. He couldn’t help but feel nervous, sensing that something was about to happen, and even beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

After the final Enter, Zhang Qiu wiped the sweat from his forehead, and this unintentional action made him seem even more professional.

"It’s done!" Zhang Qiu said. After that, he considered whether to tell Ms. Mu about the surveillance. However, it was a delicate matter, and if handled poorly, it could be a thankless task, so he hesitated.

Since he was hesitant, he decided to keep it to himself for now.

At this moment, Ms. Mu walked over and said, "Xiao Qiu, thank you for your hard work! Let’s have dinner together."

"Ah? Uh... Okay!" Zhang Qiu was taken aback, not expecting the cold and beautiful Ms. Mu to invite him, a smelly man, to dinner, which made him feel extremely honored.

Such a cold and beautiful CEO, as described in novels, should have an icy demeanor, not allowing anyone to approach, and even the best men wouldn’t get a chance to invite her to dinner. Her entourage would always be women, and only the protagonist would eventually get a chance... But today, Ms. Mu actually invited him, a nobody, to dinner. Was the plot changing?

Seeing Zhang Qiu’s dazed and foolish look, Su Yun laughed unkindly. Ms. Mu didn’t laugh, but the corners of her mouth curled up, forming a shallow, charming smile.

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