A Mission in a Crisis and Gathering Undercurrents

The chaos lasted nearly an hour.

Bad news kept coming from the technical department: the attack was extraordinarily sophisticated and fierce, breaching layer after layer of the firewall. The encryption protecting the core data area was being brute-forced, and even with the technical team doing everything they could, they could barely slow the attackers down. The situation was hanging by a thread.

Yan Qingyue's expression grew darker and darker.

She knew that once the core technology data was stolen, not only would the company's advantage vanish completely, but it could also trigger an even more serious chain reaction.

She even began to consider the worst-case option: should they physically disconnect from the network and completely destroy the server hard drives?

But that would mean the permanent loss of all the company's data, with incalculable losses.

At this moment of extreme peril, Lin Chen stood in a corner of the administrative department, a fierce battle raging in his own heart.

What should I do? Am I really going to stand here and watch the company's core data get stolen?

I was the one who brought out that technology. If it brings catastrophe down on President Yan and the company... I...

The System Shop! Right! The System Shop!

He suddenly remembered the System Shop he had just unlocked!

Didn't it have a Hacking Basics Skill Scroll?!

He immediately opened the shop interface with his mind and quickly found the Hacking Basics Skill Scroll.

[Hacking Basics Skill Scroll: upon use, instantly grants mastery of basic cybersecurity knowledge, vulnerability scanning, intrusion defense, and counter-tracking techniques.

Exchange price: 800 points.]

800 points!

That was nearly everything he had!

Should I exchange it? Lin Chen's heart pounded.

If I exchange it, what if it doesn't work? The points will go down the drain!

And how would I explain suddenly knowing how to hack?

If I don't exchange it, am I supposed to watch the company go under?

President Yan has been... strict with me, but she's treated me pretty well.

Besides, when it comes down to it, I caused this trouble...

He looked at Yan Qingyue's anxious yet resolute profile in the president's office not far away, at her fingers trembling slightly under the pressure, and an inexplicable impulse surged through him.

Damn it! I'm going all in! I can earn more points if I lose them! If the company goes under, I'm finished too!

As for an explanation... I'll say I taught myself a little before. Even a dead horse is worth treating as though it might live!

He gritted his teeth and chose to exchange it with his mind!

[Ding! 800 points spent. Hacking Basics Skill Scroll successfully exchanged.

Use it immediately?]

"Use it!"

In an instant, a vast torrent of information flooded his mind!

Network protocols, system vulnerabilities, firewall principles, methods of attack and defense, tracking and counter-tracking techniques... countless things he had never understood before became clear to him as though pure enlightenment had been poured into his head!

Though it was only at the "basics" level, it might offer some different ideas for dealing with the current emergency!

He felt like a computer that had suddenly been fitted with professional software, gaining an entirely new understanding of the cyber battle unfolding before him.

He hesitated no longer and strode toward the president's office, only to be stopped by security at the door.

"President Yan! It's urgent!"

Lin Chen shouted.

Yan Qingyue was already distraught. Hearing the voice and seeing that it was Lin Chen, she knitted her brows tightly:

"What is it? Didn't I tell you to maintain order?"

"President Yan! I... I taught myself some cybersecurity when I was in college!

"I'm no expert, but maybe I can help! Let me go to the technical department and see what's happening!"

Lin Chen did his best to make his voice sound urgent and sincere, rather than brimming with confidence.

Yan Qingyue froze for a moment, looking at the urgency in Lin Chen's eyes that did not seem feigned, and... a glimmer of something like "professional" expertise that she had never seen before?

Something stirred in her heart.

They were at a dead end now; they couldn't let even the slightest possibility slip by.

Besides, too many incredible things had already happened to Lin Chen...

"Let him in!" she ordered decisively.

Lin Chen rushed into the office, and Yan Qingyue said directly to Director Li:

"Take him to the technical department! Let him help! We have to try every possible method!"

Though Director Li was full of doubts, he didn't dare delay after President Yan had spoken. He immediately rushed to the technical department with Lin Chen.

The technical department was a shambles. Alarms sounded one after another, and every technician was drenched in sweat, fingers flying over keyboards, but they could hardly hide their despair.

Lin Chen quickly scanned the data streams and attack patterns on the central monitoring screen. The knowledge he had just acquired immediately allowed him to identify the key points!

"The attack is coming through three proxy servers, and it's focused on SQL injection and zero-day exploits!

"Their target is clear: the encrypted area for the 'Alpha' project on server three!"

The words spilled out of Lin Chen's mouth at breakneck speed.

Director Li and the technicians were stunned!

This utterly ordinary-looking assistant had seen through the heart of the attack at a glance?!

"Y-you... how do you know?" Director Li asked in disbelief.

"There's no time to explain!"

Lin Chen squeezed his way to an unoccupied computer and placed both hands on the keyboard. A familiar feeling welled up inside him.

"Listen to me! Abandon the direct defense immediately!

"Concentrate all your computing power on setting up a disguised data trap around the encrypted area, and redirect the attack traffic there!

"At the same time, trace the second proxy IP back to its source. That's their weak point!"

His instructions were clear and decisive, carrying an unquestionable air of authority.

The technicians looked at one another, then turned to Director Li.

Director Li looked at the focused, sharp gaze in Lin Chen's eyes and gritted his teeth:

"Do as he says!"

The technical team immediately changed tactics.

Sure enough, once the attack traffic had been redirected to the disguised trap server, the pressure on the core encrypted area dropped sharply.

At the same time, the tracing team brought good news:

"We've located the second proxy IP! It's an abandoned server overseas! We're trying to plant a tracing program!"

"Excellent!" Director Li was overjoyed.

Lin Chen didn't stop. His hands flew across the keyboard as he wrote a complex script.

"Now's our chance! Reinforce the core encryption and activate the backup key!

"And give me access. I'm going to add a little something to that tracing program and give them a taste of their own medicine!"

Using the knowledge he had just learned, he wrote a countermeasure program containing a logic bomb. If the attackers tried to analyze the stolen data, it would trigger and cripple their system in return.

The minutes and seconds ticked by. Under Lin Chen's direction and with his own hands on the keyboard, the technical team miraculously held off the fierce attack and successfully struck back!

Half an hour later, the attack traffic on the monitoring screen gradually weakened, then vanished completely.

The alert in the core data area was lifted!

"The attack... stopped?"

a technician murmured in disbelief.

"It didn't just stop!"

the tracing team reported excitedly. "The countermeasure program we planted worked! The feedback shows that their main attack server seems to have... crashed!"

The technical department erupted in cheers at having survived the ordeal!

Director Li excitedly grabbed Lin Chen's hand:

"Assistant Lin! You... you're incredible! If it weren't for you today, the company would have been finished!"

Lin Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He felt drained all over, and his back was soaked with cold sweat.

He forced a smile. "I got lucky. I just happened to know a little of the basics."

Just then, Yan Qingyue arrived after hearing the news.

When she heard Director Li's excited account of how Lin Chen had taken charge in the crisis and turned the tide.

She looked at Lin Chen with shock, complicated feelings, and... a trace of indescribable curiosity.

He... even knows such advanced hacking techniques? Self-taught? How is that possible?

Just how many secrets does he have?

But in any case, the crisis had been resolved for the time being.

She walked up to Lin Chen, her gaze deep:

"Lin Chen, today... thank you."

It was the first time she had thanked him so solemnly.

Lin Chen scratched his head, a little embarrassed:

"You're too kind, President Yan. It was what I should have done."

Yet both Yan Qingyue and Lin Chen understood that the crisis had only eased temporarily; it had not been eliminated.

Their opponents had failed this time, but they might use even fiercer methods next time.

And the value of the company's technology had been exposed. The real storm might only just be beginning.

Sure enough, the next day, once the company's systems had stabilized, the office phone and cell phone in Yan Qingyue's office began ringing nonstop.

Major investment firms, industry giants, and even some private investors with powerful backing contacted her through various channels, expressing keen interest in the "Alpha" project and a strong desire to invest.

Each offer was more generous than the last, each promise of resources more astonishing than the one before it.

Immense opportunities came with deeper dangers, gathering quietly like surging undercurrents around this company that had just undergone a life-or-death trial, and its enigmatic assistant.

Yan Qingyue looked at the mountain of letters of intent to invest piled on her desk, her gaze grave.

She knew that the real test was only truly beginning now.

And Lin Chen, the man who had brought her one "surprise" after another, would undoubtedly become the most crucial variable in this storm.