Hacking in

"That was awesome! You just strolled right in!"

Skye could barely contain her excitement and celebrated in a hushed voice.

Anthony and John said nothing, but they were no less stunned than Skye.

At least Skye had some idea of what Lier was doing.

To the two bodyguards, though, Lier had simply crouched outside a substation for a few hours, taken a lap around the base of a communications tower, and then, somehow, they had walked right in!

"Most network hacking is just about gathering enough information to carry out this step.

"Because most genuinely top-secret information, and most things that can actually affect the physical world... aren't on the internet.

"If all you can do is hack into some irrelevant personal computer, you're barely a hacker. Any organization that needs secrecy knows to physically cut off the possibility of intrusion through the internet.

"A truly competent hacker can exploit weaknesses in an organization's security to get inside and solve their problem."

Of course, that also earned you a few extra years at sentencing. If you were skilled enough, a life sentence wasn't out of the question.

Naturally, the computers controlling the substation's internal systems couldn't be connected to the internet. But once he got onto this local area network and found an interface, he could take control of everything.

He accessed a computer on the local area network, retrieved the substation's information, and cross-referenced the data through his Kiroshi Cyber-Eye.

By now, the power lines supplying more than half of Hell's Kitchen were practically mapped out in Lier's head.

After a moment's thought, Lier also installed a backdoor and a Trojan horse in the substation.

The backdoor would let Lier connect to the station remotely. Whenever staff used hard drives or similar devices to transfer data, the Trojan horse could spread the backdoor to other substations.

Hacking was like breaching a dam. Once you opened a hole, water would pour through without end and spread everywhere else.

"All done." Lier clapped his hands. "Let's go."

"Then what?"

"Then we head back and adjust the wiring near the apartment building. Same principle: the wiring at the receiving end has to match the firmware and drivers we're uploading, or there's not much point."

"You're going to mess with the power lines?" Skye recalled the rumors people had posted on BBS. "People say the power lines in Hell's Kitchen are like maggots writhing around in a cesspit!

"The municipal power company has sent plenty of electricians, but they all said it was hopeless! Better to tear it all down and start over!"

"Heh. They're just not good enough. Watch me."

The four of them strolled out of the substation again, leaving the guard staring helplessly once more.

A few minutes later, the senior engineer returned, and the guard immediately reported, "Sir, the electricians have already been here."

The engineer frowned. "What are you talking about? What electricians?"

The guard immediately sensed trouble. Luckily, he still had the text as evidence. He promptly pulled out his phone to show the message the engineer had sent him, only to discover that there was no such message!

Not only that, the station's cameras hadn't recorded anyone entering, either!

Sweat poured down the guard's forehead.

"Was I craving Burger King so badly that I imagined it?"

In his previous life, Lier had not only been a veteran nuclear engineer. In his pursuit of becoming a versatile professional, he had also become an experienced electrician.

"Now, you might ask: how do you tell whether a wire is live?

"If you're a beginner, I'd recommend a voltage tester. Make sure it works before using it, and check that its rated voltage is suitable for the equipment you're testing.

"You should also wear insulated gloves while taking measurements. Never test alone, and keep a sufficient distance from live components..."

Lier scanned the wires extending from the utility pole and quickly found the ones he needed to inspect.

Skye listened with keen interest. "Electrical work really is dangerous. What if you're experienced?"

"An experienced electrician can tell whether a wire is live just by touching it-oh, right, make sure you use the back of your hand. That way, if you get shocked, you won't instinctively grab the wire.

"(Do not try this yourself.)"

"Huh?"

Lier reached out, then snapped his hand back so quickly that Skye hadn't even finished processing what he meant by "an experienced electrician can tell just by touching it."

All right, all right. So that's how we're doing this?

Skye put a huge cross through the notes she had just taken, then wrote: touch the wire with the back of your hand.

"Everything's working normally. All right, that's it for today."

Just then, Lier had confirmed that the apartment building's surveillance cameras were operating normally, too.

Rigordo had installed three cameras in total, aimed at the stairs along the side of the building, the main entrance, and the stairwell.

These cameras had been refitted with facial recognition technology from 2077. They could identify and lock onto a stranger within two seconds, keeping any illegal activity in frame as much as possible.

Lier had effectively rerouted the building's power supply to a new line that had been serviced just two months earlier. In theory, he was now the only person who knew how to cut the building's power.

Of course, if the substation or a law enforcement agency decided to investigate, the Trojan horse planted in the substation's system would activate and alter the customer information, leaving no trace.

Lier clapped his hands to announce that work was over. The normally taciturn John had a question. "Li, what was the point of all this?"

Lier pointed at the camera overlooking the street outside the entrance. "The point is that the cameras won't shut off when we need them. Now the NYPD can't say we don't have evidence.

"We now have a high-end surveillance system. That's our first step toward becoming a high-end neighborhood."

"But..." John hesitated, then finally shook his head.

Hell's Kitchen didn't believe in tears-or the law.

Lier patted his arm, mostly because he wasn't tall enough to reach his shoulder, which was what he had wanted to pat.

He didn't see things the same way as the longtime residents of Hell's Kitchen.

The state was a product of the struggle between classes. You could say that ninety-nine percent of people in this country acknowledged and obeyed the law. Whatever they privately thought, in practice, at least on the surface, they had to.

Otherwise, pressure would come at them from every direction, leaving them trapped and turning them into criminals.

When it came to criminals, ordinary people at the bottom wanted justice served. Law enforcement in the middle tended to follow orders, while those in charge at the top would seize the opportunity to oust those vested interests.

People needed to learn to defend their lives with their fists, but also with the law. Otherwise, they would have nowhere to argue their case even when they were in the right, and would push law enforcement, which should have remained neutral, onto the other side.

Besides, Lier couldn't afford private bodyguards. He had to enlist the NYPD's help.

"Don't worry. This is only the beginning. I know you can't stay home on guard forever, but those punks go out of their way to wreck things.

"If we're going to do this, we need to knock them flat in one go, and make sure we're in the right. We can't let the NYPD sweep it under the rug."

"Let's hope it works."

"Whether it works depends on you, too. You have to fight for your own safety. Ever been in a fight?

"No offense, but most of your people seem to like joining gangs."

John smiled, showing that he didn't mind. "I have. I just want to set an example for my son.

"I'm an orphan. My mother ran off with another man when I was four. My damned father liked drinking and beating me. He drank himself to death when I was six.

"And my son, Chris, was an accident, too. His mother... also ran off with another man."

Lier's respect for him deepened.

John seemed fairly at peace with it. "It's like a... cycle, or something. I don't beat my family, but I did run around on the streets and get into fights.

"Only for a while, of course. I was quick, so I never got caught. It was during that time that I met Chris's mom, and we had Chris.

"When his mother left, I drank and lost my temper. Then I suddenly realized I was becoming someone just like my father.

"So I cut ties with my old friends and found a job on a construction site. But work stopped, the boss ran off, and he still owed me two months' wages."

Lier's respect deepened further. If that was the case, Kingpin's criminal organization must have tried to recruit him.

United Construction Company was a gang disguised as a construction company, with endless opportunities to pressure workers on its sites into doing dirty work.

But John hadn't accepted.

"Sometimes I wonder why it's so hard just to be a good person. But maybe this is my way of atoning for the first part of my life."

After a pause, John told Lier solemnly, "So if you're asking whether I'm willing to protect my son and the place we live, you already have your answer.

"I just don't want him to think his father is a criminal."

"Good. Because if things get worse, we'll need that ruthless streak from the first part of your life. I promise you'll be called a hero for your courage, not a violent thug."

The words had barely left his mouth when Lier frowned-

Crack!

A rock smashed into the glass window in the door, followed by the sound of a baseball bat pounding against it!

In just a few seconds, they had smashed a hole in the door. Someone outside reached straight through and opened it!

"Move fast! Grab the stuff and get out!"

The voice rang out clearly. Lier quickly sent a message to every resident in the building through his head, then shouted to John and Anthony:

"Grab your weapons!"