Electronic Nezha

Chapter 60 A Whistle

Watching Aunt Xu and Hao Hao's retreating figures, Li Ping sighed, "If Hao Hao hadn't been sick, even if he worked for someone else and earned three or four thousand a month, the lives of this mother and son would be completely different."

Old Wang said, "If Hao Hao isn't sick, he's a real heartthrob. There are plenty of rich women willing to take care of him. He might be wearing a Rolls-Royce and driving a Rolls-Royce right now, living the high life."

Li Ping said, "You'd rather go to jail than not? Why don't you find a rich woman? Don't you have anything else on your mind!"

Old Wang said, "If my legs weren't crippled, I'd be the one keeping someone else, and I'd find someone 23 years younger than me."

I asked curiously, "Why are there both whole numbers and fractions?"

Old Wang laughed and said, "Because men will always like 18-year-old girls."

……

After closing up shop in the afternoon, I went straight to the stationery stores near the entrance of No. 3 Middle School to ask if they had any whistles. Some said they hadn't sold them since they opened, while an old store said that students used to buy them occasionally, but nobody uses them anymore.

How can we form a formation without a whistle? Don't kids practice formations anymore?
I think Yuan Yuan noticed my absent-mindedness when I got home. After learning what happened, she immediately said, "That's easy, Master. Let me make one for you."

We had all sorts of tools and scraps at home, and our precious cyber nanny made me a tin whistle by hand. When it was finished, I held it in my hand and saw that it was bigger than any whistle I had ever seen before, like a miniature pistol. It wasn't heavy though, so I took a deep breath and was about to blow as hard as I could into the mouthpiece.

Yuan Yuan quickly stopped me: "Master, you can try speaking quietly, otherwise it will disturb the neighbors."

I quickly switched my whistle from "I'm a sober person proving my innocence when I'm stopped for drunk driving" mode to "My breath is sweet as orchids" mode. The whistle sounded crisp, and I was quite satisfied. However, this thing was too bulky to fit in my pocket at all. In the end, Yuan Yuan made me a sheath out of a K-board and even added a belt clip. It works the same if I clip it to my waistband when I don't have a belt. I clipped the shaped sheath to my lower back, put the whistle in the sheath, and then jerked my shirt up as if I were drawing a gun. It would look even cooler if I were wearing a trench coat.

In conclusion, it can only be said that this is a whistle that is suitable for my country's national conditions. If you did this in the United States, you would likely have your magazine emptied by the police.

When Liu Zhenhua came in, I made a sudden gesture as if I were drawing my gun: "Don't move!"

Liu Zhenhua obediently raised his hand and said, "Dad, the 'trigger' should be under your control."

I looked at the whistle in my hand; the muzzle was pointing at Liu Zhenhua. Wasn't this a classic case of handing someone a handle against me?

Liu Zhenhua asked, "Have you spoken with Hao Hao?"

I asked in surprise, "You figured that out?"

"Otherwise, who are you planning to summon with such a huge whistle?"

I sheathed my gun and sat down at the dinner table with Liu Zhenhua. While eating, I told him about my concerns and thoughts: Hao Hao now has the consciousness of a "person", and his wishes are very important, but Aunt Xu is also someone we can't avoid. Legally speaking, she is Hao Hao's guardian.

Liu Zhenhua said, "I've thought about it over and over, but I can't think of any other way."

"So, you have the 'only' way?"

Liu Zhenhua said, "We will only tell the truth."

This is exactly what I thought. It would be inhumane to lie to Aunt Xu about this matter, not even a single word.

I said, "What if Aunt Xu doesn't want to?"

Liu Zhenhua said, "No! She's his mother. If one day I become a vegetable and lie in bed, and someone suddenly says they have a way to make me a normal person again, but they won't recognize you anymore, what would you choose?"

I glared at him fiercely. This is the way kids this age talk—no respect for life and death, no taboos.

I then said, "How far should we go to tell this truth? What should I say if Aunt Xu asks about the ultimate fate of humanity?" Liu Zhenhua laughed and said, "If you say 'there's a way to make your son a normal person,' then this topic ends. Even if Aunt Xu were Madame Curie, she wouldn't have time to care about the fate of humanity."

"How should I put it—Aunt Xu, I recently learned a method from short videos that can turn a fool into a normal person. How about we give it a try?"

Liu Zhenhua said, "That's something you'll have to worry about. You're full of clever ideas, you'll always find a way."

After finishing my meal, I fell into deep thought, while Liu Zhenhua rubbed his hands together and headed to the computer. This time, he first opened the page of the person who stole his videos. The diligent video uploader hadn't updated today, but Liu Zhenhua's videos were still prominently displayed in his portfolio.

Liu Zhenhua laughed heartily, looking up at the sky: "You've got guts, why don't you delete it!" The final ultimatum he gave that person was at 9:30 this morning, and now almost 12 hours have passed.

"What are you planning to do?" I asked.

"Let me ask him what he really means." Liu Zhenhua then drew a line box with the mouse, and the call connected.

"Big brother! Uncle! Grandpa! I was wrong, I'll delete all the videos right away!" The other party didn't even ask who was calling him, first giving Liu Zhenhua two generations of respect, and then speaking in a tone of repentance.

Liu Zhenhua was also a little surprised and said, "Are you making threats?"

"How could I dare, Grandpa! These are all the truth!"

"Then why didn't you delete it for so long? I had to contact you again?"

The other party complained, "You cut off my internet, water, and electricity, and I can't make phone calls. When I went to the police station to report it, the police said my ID number was fake, and that if I made this kind of joke again, they would arrest me for obstructing official business. Grandpa, I know how powerful you are now. You must be one of those 'red hackers' back then. Please don't hold it against me. Give me a chance, and I'll delete all my videos right now!"

The term "red hacker" is used in contrast to "hacker." In the past, hacking was frequent, and foreign hackers frequently launched cyberattacks against my country. "Red hackers" were those who spontaneously stood up to defend cybersecurity, similar to knights-errant among hackers. This term has not been heard for many years.

Liu Zhenhua was taken aback by what the other person said, and then asked, "Is five minutes enough for you?"

"One minute is enough! Uh... to be on the safe side, let's make it three minutes. I'll definitely delete everything."

"Delete the plagiarized works, but you can keep your own."

"That's not..."

"I'm waiting for your move." Liu Zhenhua hung up the phone, tapped a few keys on the keyboard, and when he saw me looking at him, he said with a grin, "I forgot about this."

I said, "So you did all of those things he mentioned?"

“When I came back at noon, I saw that he hadn’t deleted the video yet, so I did as he said and cut off his water, electricity, and internet, and temporarily canceled his ID card. Then… you came back, so I quickly went to bed to ‘go to sleep’.”

This means that this unfortunate guy started experiencing a period of no water, no electricity, no internet, and no phone service from noon onwards, and then became an unregistered resident, unable to even change his status. Indeed, this situation is terrifying to even think about; it's like you're a perfectly healthy person walking around, but everyone treats you like you're invisible. It also illustrates from another perspective how reliant people are on technology, yet how vulnerable they are.

About a minute later, Liu Zhenhua refreshed the person's page again, and all the videos had been completely deleted. Then he started browsing the website the person belonged to. The videos marked in red were still there, and on the website's main page, there was a new "Solemn Declaration" announcement in the most conspicuous place.

The announcement stated that the website had recently been attacked by malicious hackers, and that the website had reported the incident to the police. Users were assured that there was no need to worry.

Liu Zhenhua counted on his fingers and said, "Alright, a new war has begun. It's time to deal with the source!"

I asked curiously, "Didn't you deal with it at noon?"

Liu Zhenhua said, "I was just about to deal with it when you came back..."

(End of this chapter)