Titan Core

The internet served as a bridge connecting people around the world. Its existence brought both benefits and drawbacks.

Through the internet, a company or an individual could become an overnight sensation, but they could also plummet into the abyss overnight.

It could make you a saint overnight, or turn you into a demon just as quickly.

What shaped all of this was the online climate. From online media to self-published content to individual social media feeds, these were the real forces that determined whether you climbed to the top or fell off a cliff.

The main purpose of this supercomputer at Titan Environmental was to get its hands on those hidden forces.

Whenever someone posted negative news online that was harmful to the Titan Group, Tang Shizhe, Sman Group, or Victor Investment, this supercomputer, which Tang Shizhe had named Titan Core, could use its immense processing power to hack into the poster's device first and block the information before it spread.

Only after the Splitters of the "Review Board" had examined the suspicious information would it be allowed to go public.

As for how a single supercomputer could have enough processing power to scan the entire internet, they had to "thank" Bald Is Stronger, who had once released virus-removal tools online.

While performing scans, these tools would secretly infiltrate computers and leave backdoors behind without anyone noticing.

From then on, whenever one of those devices connected to the internet, it became part of Titan Core's computing network.

When a device was idle, the backdoor hidden in its system would automatically draw on one-thousandth of its processing power. The resulting data traffic was also extremely low, barely more than what QQ or WeChat used while running in the background.

One-thousandth might not seem like much, but there were now as many as eight hundred million devices worldwide that had downloaded the virus-removal software at least twice!

Those devices came from all over the world. Although more than half were mobile devices, they were online almost twenty-four hours a day, so together they provided almost as much computing power as ordinary computers.

There were eight hundred million devices. Even if they pieced together the fragments of idle time across all those devices and converted them into twenty-four-hour periods, one-tenth of them would still be online at any given time—that was eighty million devices.

Eighty million devices, each contributing one-thousandth of its processing power, added up to the equivalent of eighty thousand computers!

The Titan Group didn't just have its own supercomputer. It had a massive computing network, with the supercomputer at its core and "eighty thousand computers" serving as its branches.

Those devices were constantly scanning all kinds of messages sent across the internet!

"Boss, we've deleted five thousand negative posts about the Titan Group. They were spread across a variety of apps and platforms."

"We've used our vast computing power to hack into the servers of those apps and platforms and erase the posts at the root. The next time the people who posted them log in, they'll find their passwords and linked phone numbers have both been changed!" Tang Yi followed Tang Shizhe around the control room as he inspected the facility.

Since there wasn't much information about the Titan Group online yet, the control center didn't need to operate at full capacity. Usually, only five Splitters were needed on duty.

"Good. We need to protect our group's reputation online. Take some time to write positive articles and post them on different platforms. Also, I'm giving you a budget of ten million a month. Use it to buy off the big influencers and internet celebrities. Have them sing our praises as loudly as they can!" Tang Shizhe snorted. He wasn't afraid of being praised to death. That only happened when you couldn't live up to the hype.

The Titan Group's rate of growth could absolutely keep up with what the internet said about it.

"Alert. A large number of suspicious articles have been posted across various platforms. Judging from their activity times and patterns, these IDs may all belong to the same organization!" Before long, the supercomputer's alarm sounded in the control room.

Of course, this wasn't the result of some breakthrough in artificial intelligence. It was just a prerecorded announcement.

"Block the information immediately. Change the passwords on all those accounts, along with their linked email addresses and phone numbers!"

"Also, calculate the real addresses behind those accounts at once. Authorization for a Level Three intrusion!" Tang Yi immediately stepped behind the five Splitters on duty and shouted out his orders.

Meanwhile, Tang Shizhe casually dragged over a chair, sat down, and settled in to watch the show.

"Calculating the real IDs behind the accounts. They've used a large number of proxies, but those are no challenge for our computing network spread across the world!"

"We've pinpointed their IDs. They're inside two office buildings, one in Xiaping District and the other in Huangjiang District, Shangdu City." Tang Ersan turned to report to Tang Shizhe.

"Have you found out who they really are?" Tang Shizhe frowned slightly. This looked like a smear campaign targeting the Titan Group, but he didn't think he'd offended anyone. Did Yin Qi count?

"We're hacking into the phones they're carrying!"

"Conveniently, three of the phones have our virus-removal software installed. We've already gotten into their systems and are searching for data."

"Found them. They're two teams of paid trolls specializing in online smear campaigns. Based on the information in their databases, their employers this time are several air purifier companies!" Tang Ersan lowered his head and worked for a while, then turned back to report.

"Heh, interesting. They can't compete with me on the product front, so now they're playing dirty?" Tang Shizhe's crossed leg swayed gently in the air, a cruel smile spreading across his lips.

"They don't deserve to die, but let's give them a little push and send them off to enjoy prison." Tang Shizhe let out a cold laugh.

Through the Mental Network, the Splitters received their new orders.

At the same time, inside office buildings in two districts of Shangdu City, the paid trolls suddenly found that they'd lost control of their computers.

"What the hell? What's wrong with our computers?" The boss of the troll operation, who had been hired by several air purifier companies, frowned. Why did the computers have to go haywire just as he was spreading negative information about the Titan Group?

"What are they doing!" one of the trolls suddenly cried out. Dozens of windows had opened on their computers, flashing streams of binary data.

"Quick! Pull the plug!" The boss of the troll operation suddenly panicked. As a former hacker, he knew exactly what those screens were: interfaces for intrusion programs and plug-ins.

But he was already too late. A few seconds later, as the fans whirred wildly, sparks burst from the computer towers, and the monitors went completely dark.

"What happened!" The troll boss frowned as he smelled something burning in the air, overcome by a growing sense of dread.