Chapter Summaries

Jiang Yan Hai and Li Ruo Bai spent a relaxed morning together before he returned to the supercomputing center and discovered that a covert virus was targeting enterprise servers. As he continued monitoring the threat, Academician Bai arranged for Polaris to take over his firewall.

• Jiang Yan Hai and Li Ruo Bai lingered in bed, then tested a strength pose together before she left for class and he headed to work.
• Jiang Yan Hai found that about seven hundred thousand computers had been traced and investigated why the number was lower than expected.
• Jiang Yan Hai determined that the virus primarily targeted enterprise-level servers and that infected personal computers had likely acquired it through contact with them.
• Jiang Yan Hai concluded that the virus was likely seeking research material from high-tech companies and continued monitoring the servers with Jiang Tao.
• Academician Bai told Jiang Yan Hai that Polaris would take over his firewall, and Jiang Yan Hai agreed.

Jiang Yan Hai agreed to sell his firewall to Polaris for twenty million yuan and accepted a technical consultant role. That evening, he and Li Ruo Bai strolled through old streets, where she asked him to protect her for the rest of his life and he promised he would.

• Jiang Yan Hai accepted Polaris's twenty-million-yuan buyout offer for his firewall and agreed to serve as a technical consultant.
• Jiang Yan Hai promised to write an instant messaging system so Polaris could contact him, and they signed the agreement.
• Jiang Yan Hai drove to meet Li Ruo Bai, and they went shopping and walked through old streets together.
• Li Ruo Bai told Jiang Yan Hai she was proud of his work helping keep people safe and asked him to protect her for life.
• Jiang Yan Hai nodded and promised to protect Li Ruo Bai.

Jiang Yan Hai confronted a group of students who had bullied a girl and made their ringleader call Brother Feng. When Brother Feng arrived and threatened Li Ruo Bai, Jiang Yan Hai pretended to negotiate while secretly preparing to act, leaving the confrontation poised to turn violent.

• Jiang Yan Hai sent the other students away but kept their ringleader, who called Brother Feng for help.
• Brother Feng arrived with five men, demanded money, and then threatened to see Li Ruo Bai naked.
• Jiang Yan Hai pretended to bargain and pointed out the ringleader, who offered one million to get access to the women.
• Brother Feng assured the ringleader that he could recover the money and keep the women from escaping.

Jiang Yan Hai beat Brother Feng and his gang after they tried to bribe him, then used his credentials to have them detained on national security grounds. National Security arrived and asked him to explain what had happened.

• After receiving the payment, Jiang Yan Hai attacked Brother Feng and the men, leaving them with broken limbs.
• Jiang Yan Hai drew a pistol, shot Brother Feng in the leg, and told Li Ruo Bai to call the police and report a national security matter.
• When police arrived, Jiang Yan Hai identified himself as a classified national personnel member and accused the young man of attempting to steal state secrets.
• The police verified Jiang Yan Hai's credentials, detained the group, and contacted National Security.
• National Security officers arrived, took custody of the suspects, and asked Jiang Yan Hai to describe the incident.

Jiang Yan Hai helped Tian Yu Meng escape her tormentors and urged her to resist future abuse, while she resolved to keep going for her mother. After Tian Yu Meng left, Li Ruo Bai reassured Jiang Yan Hai and asked him to carry her to a nearby hotel.

• Jiang Yan Hai gave the National Security officer a recording of the altered bidding and received a police uniform for Li Ruo Bai to wrap around Tian Yu Meng.
• The middle-aged policeman ordered officers to retrieve and destroy surveillance footage after Jiang Yan Hai and Li Ruo Bai left with Tian Yu Meng.
• Jiang Yan Hai told Tian Yu Meng to fight back against future bullies, and she revealed she had considered suicide but stayed alive for her mother.
• Tian Yu Meng thanked Jiang Yan Hai and Li Ruo Bai, gave them her name, and walked away with her head held high.
• Li Ruo Bai said she wanted to sponsor Tian Yu Meng through college, but Jiang Yan Hai insisted Tian Yu Meng did not need sponsorship.
• Li Ruo Bai told Jiang Yan Hai she trusted him, asked him to hold her, and pointed out a nearby hotel as he carried her there.

Jiang Yan Hai spent the morning restraining his feelings for Li Ruo Bai before meeting the National Security official who confirmed the evidence against the people involved in his case. He went with the official to a school, where the parents of an arrested student insisted their son was innocent.

• A National Security official reported the evidence to his chief, who told him to treat the suspects as guilty whether or not they confessed.
• Jiang Yan Hai woke early, calmed himself with push-ups, and brought breakfast to Li Ruo Bai before driving her home.
• Jiang Yan Hai called the official, thanked him for confirming the evidence, and asked him to accompany him to a school.
• Jiang Yan Hai and the official went to the principal's office, where the principal and the arrested student's parents were waiting.
• The student's parents challenged the officer's arrest and demanded to see their son.

Jiang Yan Hai decided to leave the contained virus active under his Anti-tracking Program’s control while he monitored it. Just as he finished coordinating with Academician Bai, Er Dan warned that an enemy was tracing Number 1 Program, the tool Jiang Yan Hai used to download foreign academic papers.

• Jiang Yan Hai told Jiang Tao that domestic virus infections had stopped increasing, while his Anti-tracking Program had tracked infections overseas, including in the United States.
• Jiang Yan Hai explained to Academician Bai that the viruses were hijacked and could not steal intelligence, and Academician Bai approved his plan to keep monitoring them.
• Er Dan warned Jiang Yan Hai that a highly capable enemy was counter-tracking Number 1 Program and could trace its target within an hour and twenty-two minutes.
• Jiang Yan Hai rushed to the supercomputing center’s main hall, connected to the supercomputer, and told Academician Bai that Number 1 Program downloaded public foreign academic papers by keyword.

Jiang Yan Hai sent Academician Bai files containing classified engine designs, then used a U.S. public library server to repel a counter-trace and investigate the attackers. The files revealed an aircraft engine capable of sustained flight at Mach 3, while a group of U.S. hackers tried to identify the person who had obtained them.

• Jiang Yan Hai sent the copied files to Academician Bai for experts to verify.
• Jiang Yan Hai routed his data through a U.S. public library server and used its firewall to scan for vulnerabilities.
• Jiang Yan Hai patched server vulnerabilities and kicked out the hackers who had gained preliminary access.
• Jiang Yan Hai recognized that the files contained classified engine designs for an engine capable of reaching Mach 3.
• X-Man urged Thor to help track down the person who had stolen the materials, but Thor and the others could not identify them.

Jiang Yan Hai defended the library server while turning compromised computers into a botnet and spreading a concealed Trojan through communications providers. As attackers kept probing the server, X-Man and Thor failed to break in, and Thor decided to seek help from Cass.

• Jiang Yan Hai redirected the library surveillance feeds to the big screen, then began scanning enterprise servers and building a botnet.
• Jiang Yan Hai infiltrated an American communications provider's server, gained super administrator privileges, hid his account, and modified the Trojan to spread covertly.
• Jiang Tao watched the Trojan expand across a virtual map as Jiang Yan Hai's system received more than a dozen attack warnings.
• Jiang Yan Hai shut down the servers' external interfaces to stop an attacker who had connected a hard drive directly to the library server.
• X-Man asked Thor for help breaking into the library server, but Thor said their group could not take it down and urged X-Man to seek more server resources.
• Thor agreed to contact Cass, while Jiang Yan Hai's Trojan continued infecting communications-provider servers and remaining dormant inside them.

Thor sought Cass’s help after X-Man’s team became locked in a standoff with a hacker who had stolen classified fighter jet engine data. Cass refused to get involved, but Thor and the others launched a large-scale attack on the public library server, where Jiang Yan Hai remained ready for them.

• Thor contacted Cass and explained that X-Man’s team was trying to recover stolen fighter jet engine data from a hacker entrenched on a library server.
• Cass warned Thor that the opposing hacker was prepared and refused to help, then went offline.
• Thor forwarded Cass’s warning to X-Man, while Jiang Yan Hai monitored the server from his Texas farm using powerful supercomputers.
• X-Man accepted that others could withdraw, but Thor chose to stay and help him fight.
• Thor coordinated brute-force attacks and vulnerability probes, and X-Man’s team flooded the public library server with hundreds of thousands of requests.
• Jiang Yan Hai watched the incoming attack and remarked that the hackers’ actions contradicted their reluctance.

Jiang Yan Hai defended the public library server from a flood of hackers and traced an expert who breached his first firewall. The trail led to Cass at a farm in Texas, where Cass frantically tried to erase his tracks and escape.

• Jiang Yan Hai used four supercomputers and cloned requests to handle the attacks while manually defending his firewall.
• Jiang Yan Hai released his Anti-tracking Program, which latched onto the attackers’ data streams and began tracing them.
• Jiang Yan Hai considered the links between the Super Viruses Stealth Bomb and Ghost Shadow and suspected they came from the same person or connected hackers.
• An intruder broke through Jiang Yan Hai’s first firewall, entered a virtual system, and triggered a fierce counterattack and trace.
• Cass received an alarm at his Texas farm, activated firewalls on his Botnets, and hurried to clear his system logs, but he could not keep up.

Jiang Yan Hai took over the hacker battle and tracked Cass through a server-rental company’s network, while Cass recognized his opponent as a self-taught young genius. The chapter ended with Jiang Yan Hai breaking into Cass’s long-used Botnet and Cass scrambling to defend it.

• Cass recognized the attacker’s inventive style and realized he was facing a gifted self-taught hacker.
• Jiang Yan Hai handed the library server battle to Jiang Tao and focused on tracking the attacker.
• Jiang Yan Hai broke into a server-rental company through employees’ saved credentials and attacked its system from within.
• Jiang Yan Hai’s Anti-tracking Program followed Cass’s data stream to a large Botnet.
• Cass’s alarms sounded as Jiang Yan Hai breached two layers of protection on the Botnet, leaving Cass worried about the traces inside.

Cass fought to drive a skilled foreign hacker out of Tom Company's servers while their clash disrupted several client companies. As X-Man and Thor discovered Cass's familiar firewall at the scene, Thor contacted him, but Cass was too busy fighting to answer in chat.

• Cass feared the stranger could uncover his location and endanger his family, so he used nearly every trick he had to fight back.
• Jiang Yan Hai and Cass seized super administrator access, disrupting the websites and databases of several companies hosted by Tom Company.
• Cass warned Tom Company's security staff not to cut power or the network, and the owner ordered them to comply while calling the police.
• X-Man found Cass's familiar firewall on Tom Company's server and alerted Thor, who confirmed the defensive programs looked like Cass's.
• Thor messaged Cass to ask whether he had come in person, and Cass sent Thor a voice connection request without replying in chat.

Thor learned that Cass was locked in a counter-tracing struggle with their target and rallied X-Man’s team to help. As they connected to Tom Company’s servers, the owner and staff realized the server had been infiltrated and discovered that Cass was defending it.

• Cass told Thor that the target had detected his intrusion and was tracing his real address.
• Thor informed X-Man that Cass needed help, and X-Man redirected his strongest hackers toward Tom Company’s servers while leaving others attacking the original target.
• Tom and his security staff realized that two groups were fighting over control of their servers, suggesting the servers had already been compromised.
• A security staffer identified Cass as the person defending the servers, and the staff understood that another legendary hacker was fighting him.

Jiang Yan Hai overwhelmed Thor, X-Man, and the other hackers who joined Cass’s server, exposing and forcing them off their computers. As Jiang Yan Hai’s Anti-tracking Program closed in on Cass, an unknown stream of data invaded the server and began attacking Jiang Yan Hai’s defenses, leaving Cass stunned.

• Thor, X-Man, and the others joined Cass’s server and tried to counterattack Jiang Yan Hai.
• Jiang Yan Hai repelled their attacks, breached their computers, and taunted them as noobs.
• Jiang Yan Hai overloaded the hackers’ computer components, driving them off the server until only Cass remained.
• Jiang Yan Hai’s Anti-tracking Program broke through Cass’s last botnet, but a strange stream of data surged in and seized server resources.
• The unknown data breached Jiang Yan Hai’s first firewall and more than half of the encryption around his second firewall, while Cass realized someone was helping him.

Jiang Yan Hai fought off a skilled hacker who attacked Cass's Botnet and tried to break into his servers. After erasing his tracking traces and retreating to two defended servers, Jiang Yan Hai traced the attack to three Google data centers and prepared to retaliate.

• Jiang Yan Hai drove the attacker out of his second-layer firewall while realizing the hacker was exceptionally familiar with system vulnerabilities and backdoors.
• Jiang Yan Hai erased his Anti-tracking Programs and corrupted the relevant system logs to prevent the hackers from finding useful information.
• Jiang Yan Hai withdrew his defenses to the public library server and Tom Server Rental Company, where he resisted the attacker's renewed assault.
• Jiang Tao warned that the supercomputers were taking on seventy percent of the opponent's computing power and that their remote network bandwidth might become insufficient.
• Jiang Yan Hai traced the attack's data streams to three Google data centers and decided to find Botnets in the attacker's own network.

Jiang Yan Hai expanded his control across Connecticut while fighting a powerful hacker, as news of the battle spread through the global hacking community. He completed and deployed a program to optimize communications networks, preparing to mobilize the state’s large servers.

• Jiang Yan Hai’s virus spread from communications providers to large servers throughout Connecticut, where companies began shutting down servers amid the upheaval.
• News of the attack on Pratt & Whitney’s engine data and the hacker battle reached a long-dormant QQ group of Black Alliance members, who discussed Cass, the mysterious hacker, and the chaos in Connecticut.
• Black Hawk shared what he knew about the battle, and King warned the group to watch without getting caught up in it as hackers from around the world arrived to observe.
• Jiang Yan Hai used Er Dan and his programs to analyze and optimize a network program while defending against attacks.
• Jiang Yan Hai deployed the finished program to Connecticut’s three major communications providers to improve transmission speeds before mobilizing the state’s large servers.

Jiang Yan Hai pooled computing power from hacked company servers to overcome the data stream, while the companies’ bosses ordered their security staff to leave him alone. Hackers discussed his strength in their group, and as attackers moved against his servers, Jiang Yan Hai released an anti-tracking virus.

• Jiang Yan Hai optimized network communications and remotely pooled computing power from company servers he had hacked.
• Company security staff reported the rising server loads, but their bosses told them to pretend they had seen nothing and avoid provoking the hackers.
• Members of the Middle-aged Health Preservation Group discussed Jiang Yan Hai’s abilities, and Black Hawk said he appeared to be acting alone with powerful viruses or trojans.
• Nearby hackers attacked the servers Jiang Yan Hai had deployed to reduce his computing capacity.
• Jiang Yan Hai released his anti-tracking virus against the attackers.

Jiang Yan Hai escaped the hackers by sealing his firewalls, leaving behind encrypted servers and a message at the public library. Tom Server Rental Company chose to keep operating with damaged systems, but Tom rushed to confront the FBI when they arrived to seize the servers.

• Jiang Yan Hai erased key data, retreated, and sealed both firewalls so the hackers could not access the servers.
• The hackers took control of the servers but found only an unbreakable encryption shell and a multilingual message at the public library.
• A security officer told Tom that restoring the rental company’s server system could take a month, so Tom decided to keep it running despite the problems.
• Tom’s secretary told him the FBI had arrived to take the servers, and Tom charged downstairs to stop them.

After Jiang Yan Hai’s hacking operation, the FBI took hard drives from Tom’s company while another company secretly decided to keep using his encrypted optimization program. Jiang Yan Hai rested after the digital battle and told the staff at the supercomputing center to go home, while they continued verifying the information he had obtained.

• Tom agreed to let the FBI take the hard drives after the agent promised a replacement server, compensation, and a major contract.
• A company’s boss learned Jiang Yan Hai’s encrypted program improved network efficiency by over 35% and ordered employees to keep quiet and pretend the company had optimized its systems itself.
• Jiang Yan Hai’s programs and encryption shell became a topic of discussion among hackers, while the FBI took the drives at Tom Company but left the shell at a public library untouched.
• Jiang Yan Hai returned to the supercomputing center after nearly eight hours of hacking and wondered how Academician Bai and the others were progressing with verifying the information.
• Jiang Yan Hai told the staff, including Director Wang Jiang, to rest after they had stayed late at the center.