JARVIS's Help

"Mark, are you all right?"

Watching Mark focus intently on writing code, Rosalie asked worriedly from beside him.

"Mom, I'm fine. Don't worry. The JARVIS that hacked into our computer just now is an intelligent program created by Tony Stark."

"It was probably just curious and tracked down my identity through the internet. It wasn't targeting me."

Mark told Rosalie who JARVIS was.

Rosalie froze for a moment, her expression complicated.

She had never expected that after so many years, she and her son would cross paths with Tony Stark in this way.

Rosalie had once harbored some resentment toward Tony Stark for refusing to acknowledge Mark as his son.

But after all these years, that resentment had faded. Instead, she felt somewhat grateful to him for giving her a son like Mark—brilliant beyond compare and angelic in every way.

Mark did not notice the change in Rosalie's expression. After adding multiple layers of security patches to the computer, he made a decision.

"It looks like I need to create an intelligent program like JARVIS too!"

In cyber warfare, intelligent programs held an enormous advantage over humans!

Tony Stark had created JARVIS while still in high school. After nearly ten years of continual refinement, it had probably reached the level of weak artificial intelligence by now.

Based on Mark's estimates, JARVIS's core code might already exceed 100 terabytes, backed by a supercomputer cluster large enough to fill an entire building.

It was only natural that it had utterly crushed Mark in network technology earlier.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

Just then, the computer in front of Mark let out another piercing alarm.

"What's going on? Has JARVIS come back?"

Mark was startled, unsure who was tracking his real IP address again.

He quickly wrote a piece of code and sent it to every relay IP he had set up.

Once the data came back, Mark quickly figured out what was happening.

Three top hackers had taken control of three of his relay IPs and begun working together to crack the outer disguises protecting his real IP.

Once every layer of disguise was broken, Mark's real IP would be exposed, and someone could come straight to his door!

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Mark's fingers flew so fast over the keyboard that they left afterimages.

He gathered a massive amount of decoy and misleading data, then sent it to them.

But although the three hackers were less capable than Mark, working together allowed them to quickly eliminate the interference and continue stripping away the compromised computers that served as camouflage jump points layer by layer.

"There are only a handful of hackers at this level in the entire world, yet three of them are joining forces against me? And they seem to belong to the same organization!"

Cold sweat beaded on Mark's forehead. "Who's investigating me? The FBI, the NSA, or... S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Washington, S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Nick Fury, who had just taken over as director, stood before a huge screen with one hand on his hip, his single eye fixed on the three hackers busily working in front of him.

"Edgar, how is it? Have you tracked down that mysterious hacker?"

Nick Fury asked in a deep voice.

"Yes, Director! The other party doesn't have many compromised-computer jump points left. Once we crack all these disguises, we'll be able to trace their real IP."

Edgar Thurman replied while rapidly typing out code.

Nick Fury nodded in satisfaction.

He had keenly sensed that as the internet became increasingly widespread, hackers would become more and more important in the future.

So after learning of the mysterious hacker Mark through the news, Nick Fury immediately arranged for someone to track down and investigate his identity.

Especially after learning from Edgar that the other party's hacking skills surpassed even his, Nick Fury became even more interested in the mysterious hacker.

Edgar had been personally trained by Howard Stark in network technology and now headed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure communications department.

The mysterious hacker had abilities beyond Edgar's. Nick Fury was determined to obtain such talent!

"Once we confirm this person's identity, send Coulson over and recruit him to headquarters."

Nick Fury thought, If he refuses, then Coulson can have a proper talk with him about the law.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

Just then, a piercing alarm suddenly rang through the room.

"Not good! Director, a hacker is invading the communications department's network..."

Edgar cried out.

At once, he and the two hackers beside him abandoned their pursuit of Mark and hurriedly deployed defensive programs.

Unfortunately, what they thought was an impregnable defense was now as fragile as tissue paper.

Only five seconds later, the huge screen before Nick Fury went dark, and every computer crashed.

A minute later, the computers rebooted.

"Check quickly! Was any classified information leaked?"

Nick Fury asked urgently.

"Director, the intruder did not attempt to steal any classified files, but... every lead we had while tracking that mysterious hacker has been cut off!"

Edgar reported after carefully checking.

"What!"

Nick Fury was startled. He had not expected the intruder to have come to help the mysterious hacker. "Do we have any other means of continuing the previous trace?"

Edgar tried operating the computer, but in the end, he could only answer helplessly, "No!"

"Then you should have narrowed down the mysterious hacker's approximate location, right?"

"At present, we can only confirm that he should be somewhere within Los Angeles."

"Focus on monitoring the network throughout Los Angeles from now on. The next time this mysterious hacker acts, find out who he is!"

Left with no choice, Nick Fury could only temporarily abandon his recruitment plan.

At Mark's home.

"Huh? Their tracking has actually stopped!"

Mark quickly discovered that the three hackers' pursuit had stopped.

Moreover, a huge amount of camouflage information had suddenly appeared around his real IP.

"Was it JARVIS who stepped in to help me just now?"

Mark quickly realized that only JARVIS could have done all that in an instant.

While grateful, he became even more eager to create an intelligent program of his own.

He never wanted to see anything like today happen again—first JARVIS finding its way to his door, then someone nearly tracing his real identity!

He immediately opened his programming software. His fingers flew over the keyboard, and lines of code appeared across the computer screen.

Three mornings later.

"Rosalie, time to get up! If you keep sleeping, the sun will be shining on your butt!"

A crisp, pleasant little girl's voice rang out in Rosalie's bedroom.

"Mmm..."

Rosalie drowsily opened her eyes and looked at the monitor hanging on the opposite wall. On it was a six-year-old blonde, blue-eyed girl in a red princess dress.

The little girl looked pure and adorable, her face as exquisite as an angel's, without the slightest flaw.