The spirit net interface slowly faded away. The warm light at the desk fell across Chen Fan's face, flickering between light and shadow.
He held a black fountain pen between his fingers. With slight movements of his knuckles, the pen spun rapidly between his fingertips, tracing smooth silver arcs.
It was a habit of his when he thought. The harder a decision was to make, the faster the pen spun.
There were actually very few options before him.
The first was to organize the evidence and report it directly to the Finance Bureau and the Inspectorate, letting the authorities shut down this illicit platform.
But Chen Fan crossed that option out as soon as it occurred to him. The forces behind the platform were unknown, and people in the Immortal Palace's upper ranks were involved. If word of his report leaked and the other side struck first, he might not withstand it even with Jingfu University and Handong University backing him.
Besides, underground platforms like this fired a shot and moved elsewhere. Even if Treasure-Gathering Spirit Loans was shut down, they could turn around and open "Wealth-Gathering Spirit Loans." It would only treat the symptoms, not the root.
More importantly, reporting them would expose how he had bypassed the firewall without authorization and used a high-privilege account to infiltrate someone else's platform. Jiang Qingyuan would be implicated too.
He did not mind getting into a little trouble himself, but dragging Jiang Qingyuan into the mire was absolutely out of the question.
The second option was to pretend he had seen nothing and delete the collection texts as spam.
Without getting any money, the other side probably would not really make a huge fuss over three thousand Spirit Coins.
But Chen Fan was not happy about it. Someone had tried to extort him for no reason, and simply backing down was not his style.
The fountain pen paused between his fingers, and Chen Fan's eyes slowly brightened.
Since the official route won't work, and I can't stomach swallowing this insult, why not... rob the crooks?
Once that thought emerged, it grew like weeds.
That's right. This platform is illegal to begin with. Loan-sharking, stealing identity information, violent debt collection-any one of those is a serious crime.
Their money is ill-gotten. Even if it disappears, they won't dare make a sound, much less report it to the authorities. Reporting it would mean walking straight into the net. They'll have to suffer in silence, swallowing their knocked-out teeth.
Chen Fan's pen spun even faster. His mind raced as he began working through the feasibility of the entire plan.
First, his greatest advantage was that the enemy stood in the light while he remained in the dark. They had no idea someone like him existed, much less that someone could use a high-privilege account to slip silently into their peripheral systems.
Second, the platform's financial system itself had enormous vulnerabilities.
Because they operated illegally, they did not dare use the Immortal Palace's legitimate settlement channels. All funds passed through private accounts and underground banks, while reconciliation relied entirely on manual work and rudimentary spirit-powered programs. It was an utter mess.
In his brief look earlier, he had spotted dozens of dead accounts and bad debts alone. Many outstanding debts could not be collected, and no one examined them closely.
That was the perfect point of entry.
Chen Fan stood, paced a couple of steps around the room, then returned to his desk. He casually pulled over a blank sheet of talisman paper and began writing and sketching on it, sorting out the entire chain of logic.
Step one: exploit the system's vulnerabilities to fabricate a batch of nonexistent borrowers, forge complete loan records and repayment histories, and plant that data in the platform's user information database.
Step two: submit requests for "refunds of excess repayments" through those fictitious identities.
Many loan-sharking platforms had their tricks. They claimed early repayment could reduce interest while secretly hiding penalty fees. But conversely, with the right handling, money could be siphoned from the platform's fund pool under the pretext of "repayment failed, return to the original account."
Step three, and the most crucial: route the siphoned Spirit Stones through seven or eight layers of underground accounts, splitting them at every level, before finally transferring them into several shell accounts in the Solomon Domain. Then launder them through black-market channels, completely severing the money trail.
By the time the platform noticed discrepancies in its accounts, no one would know where the money had gone.
Their own hands were dirty. They would never dare investigate to the bitter end. At most, they would conduct an internal inquiry, pin the blame on the technical staff, and let the matter peter out.
The framework was clear, but the risks were equally obvious.
Chen Fan's pen stopped against the talisman paper, and his brow furrowed slightly. The greatest risk was the encryption barrier around the core database.
He had tried it once earlier. The encryption was extremely sophisticated; there was definitely a spirit net expert behind it.
If he forced his way through, he could easily trigger an alarm. Not only would he stir the grass and startle the snake, but the other side might also trace him back.
"I can't force it," Chen Fan murmured to himself, the pen beginning to spin between his fingers again. "I need a safer method... one that lets me siphon the money out without cracking the core database."
He closed his eyes, recalling the platform's system structure he had scanned earlier: the front-end repayment channel, the user information database, the fund-clearing module, and the core database. The four modules were independent yet interconnected.
The core database is off-limits, but there seemed to be a vulnerability in the verification mechanism between the user information database and the clearing module?
From his earlier glance, the platform had set very low access restrictions on its user information database to make things convenient for outsourced debt collectors. Many outsiders could access it.
Meanwhile, the clearing module's verification logic was extremely crude. It only checked whether user information matched the loan amount, rather than checking every transaction against the core database for authenticity.
Chen Fan's eyes snapped open, and he jabbed his pen firmly against the talisman paper.
That's it.
He did not need to crack the core database. He only needed to plant a batch of false "excess repayment completed" records in the user information database, then exploit the clearing module's verification vulnerability to request "overpayment refunds."
Simply put, he would pretend to repay the platform, pay too much, and request the excess back.
The clearing module would only check whether the repayment records matched the user information. It would not investigate whether that money had actually arrived.
As long as the records looked convincing enough, he could fool the system into automatically sending the "overpaid" Spirit Coins back from the fund pool.
That way, he would not need to touch the core database at all. He would operate entirely on the periphery, making the chance of triggering an alarm minuscule.
"Brilliant." A mischievous smile curled Chen Fan's lips.
This method was safe enough. Even if they discovered it afterward, they would only assume it was a system bug or an insider stealing what they were meant to guard. They would never imagine an outsider had tampered with things from outside.
As for how much to siphon off?
Chen Fan rubbed his chin and did some calculations.
Too little would be pointless; too much would raise suspicion. Several million Spirit Coins would cause too much of a stir. No matter how stupid the platform is, they couldn't lose several million and remain unmoved. They'd definitely investigate thoroughly, making exposure more likely. But a few hundred thousand would be a little underwhelming.
He looked at the one million Spirit Coins sitting neatly in the panel in his consciousness, and an idea suddenly came to him.
Why not siphon off one million first?
That would match the number of High-Grade Spirit Stones in his panel exactly. (In the early stages, Spirit Coins were more useful. They could buy many supplies, such as potions, making them more convenient than High-Grade Spirit Stones. Later on, Spirit Stones would be more convenient. This was also why the Spirit Stones had to be laundered rather than used directly for cultivation: their conversion efficiency was far worse than that of potions.)
He could then disperse the one million Spirit Coins through the black market and find a way to mix in the Spirit Stones from his own panel. Without anyone being the wiser, he would not only make a tidy sum but also launder the source of the Spirit Stones he already held.
Two birds with one stone.
The more Chen Fan thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. His pen flew across the talisman paper as he clearly listed every step and every point of risk in the process. He ran through it three times, confirming there were no obvious holes.
Of course, to be cautious, he did not intend to act immediately. A hasty mouth could not eat hot tofu. He would observe for a few days first, learn the platform's fund-clearing patterns, and choose the best moment to strike.
Ideally, he would act the day before the platform's centralized account reconciliation, taking advantage of the chaotic system data. Even if something went wrong, it would be treated as a reconciliation discrepancy and covered up.
He casually crumpled the talisman paper covered in his plan. A wisp of spirit fire flashed at his fingertips, and the paper instantly turned to drifting ash, leaving not a scrap behind.
Once everything was done, Chen Fan leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. He had only wanted to bypass the firewall and take a look around. He had never expected to stumble upon such a black-hearted platform, let alone find a way to launder his Spirit Stones in the process.
"I suppose a crooked shot still hit the mark." Chen Fan smiled and shook his head.
The fountain pen made one final turn before coming to a steady stop between his fingers.
Chen Fan looked at the pitch-black screen, a sharp glint flashing through his eyes.
This windfall would be his.