Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

A few days later, Liu Mingsheng received a package.

The package was small, a grayish-brown cardboard box with "XX Electronic Technology Co., Ltd." listed as the sender. Inside was a small device, about the size of a palm—a silver-gray metal casing with a modem port on the side and a thin antenna on top.

The deliveryman was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man in a courier company uniform. As he handed the package, his smile remained unchanged, but he whispered instructions: "Mr. Liu, your task is simple. Find an opportunity to secretly connect this device to your company's server. Once connected, we can get a remote backdoor."

Liu Mingsheng took the package, his palms sweaty. He nodded, his voice a little dry, "Understood."

The deliveryman nodded, turned and left, quickly disappearing around the street corner.

……

A weekend at the end of October.

Central server room, 66th floor of the Golden Harvest Building, Central District.

The building was much quieter on weekends than usual, especially in the corridors of the server room, where there were hardly any people to be seen.

Liu Mingsheng, wearing the uniform prescribed by Jiahe, pushed a maintenance cart to the front door.

As is customary, he first registered his name, department, and the time he would be entering the server room at the security reception desk, then swiped his employee badge, passed through two access control gates, and entered the server room.

The temperature inside was even lower than outside in October. The air conditioning units were humming and running, and rows of black cabinets were neatly arranged with indicator lights flashing densely, like a silent starry sky.

Liu Mingsheng pushed the maintenance cart slowly along the aisle between the server racks, his ears filled with the sound of his out-of-control heartbeat, thump, thump, thump, making his temples throb.

He first went through the motions of checking things according to the normal procedure—indicator lights, temperature readings, hard drive status…checking everything one by one with practiced ease, without showing any abnormality.

Then, his gaze fell on the row of server racks at the end of the corridor—that was the terminal server area, and one of the few servers that still had interfaces for connecting to external telephone lines.

Liu Mingsheng took a deep breath, slowly pushed the cart to the row of server racks, squatted down, and pried open the bottom panel of the chassis, revealing the intricate wiring inside.

His fingers trembled slightly, but he still decisively took the small silver-gray device from the compartment of the maintenance cart, stuffed it into the gap at the bottom of the chassis, and then found the empty modem port on the terminal server and plugged the cable in.

"Click".

A soft, crisp sound rang out, yet it was remarkably clear in the quiet server room.

Liu Mingsheng shuddered in fright, his hands stopped moving, he held his breath, and listened intently for a long time. Only after confirming that there was no sound did he slowly exhale the breath he had been holding in his chest.

He quickly closed the chassis cover, tightened the screws, got up, and pushed the maintenance cart back along the same route. Passing the security reception desk, he forced a stiff smile at the security guard on duty: "Routine patrol, all done."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work, Brother Liu." The security guard didn't even look up.

Liu Mingsheng fled the building as if escaping. The night wind rushed towards him, and only then did he belatedly realize that his back was completely soaked.

At the same time, in the secret computer room of H Station in Central.

Thiago sat in front of a row of screens, his fingers flying across the keyboard. The scrolling data on the screens was dense, cascading down like a green waterfall.

Just then, the system notified that the backdoor had been opened and a remote high-privilege connection had been established.

Thiago's lips curled into a slight smile as he skillfully began writing scripts to bypass the firewall surrounding Jiahe, advancing inward layer by layer.

Jiahe's firewall was indeed very strong, but Thiago's computer talent was equally amazing. In just one hour, he broke through the defenses and entered Jiahe's internal network.

"It's a success." Thiago leaned back in his chair, let out a long breath, and a smile appeared on his lips.

However, his smile lasted for less than three seconds.

He carefully inspected his server—it was piled high with marketing plans, white-collar workers' daily office documents, HR schedules, and internal employee announcements…

It was all trivial stuff. There were no transaction records of funds, let alone the one I was looking for, not even a single blueprint of Longteng Technology's core technology.

Thiago stared at the screen, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

He went through so much trouble to get all this?

After a moment of silence, Thiago picked up the phone, asked Stephens for Liu Mingsheng's number, and dialed it directly.

On the other side, Liu Mingsheng was driving home alone.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly, his mind a jumbled mess. One moment he was filled with anxiety, fearing the stolen device would be discovered; the next, he couldn't help but fantasize about the three million dollars in cash Stephens had promised him and his passport that would last forever…

Just then, his phone on the center console suddenly vibrated, startling him so much that he almost swerved the steering wheel.

Liu Mingsheng quickly pulled over and answered the phone.

"Feed?"

"Mr. Liu," a deep voice came from the other end of the phone, "I'm Thiago, Stephens's boss."

"Mr. Thiago..." Liu Mingsheng's heart leaped into his throat. "What...what do you want?"

"I just got into the server through the backdoor you put there," Thiago said, a hint of displeasure in his voice, "but it's full of junk. None of the core secrets I need are there. I need an explanation."

Liu Mingsheng paused for a moment, thought for a second, and said, "It might be due to the physical lock."

"A physical lock?"

"To make it easier for senior executives and technical staff to connect to the company's intranet from home or elsewhere, our company allows modems to be mounted on the intranet server to connect to external telephone lines," Liu Mingsheng swallowed and explained. "However, the subsidiary's technical department recently upgraded the network architecture, and all high-security data has been encrypted with a second physical lock. It can only be accessed on a dedicated terminal computer equipped with a dongle within the company. If you connect from outside, you can only access the ordinary data."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. Thiago's voice was emotionless: "Then why didn't you say so before?"

"Then there's no other way," Thiago took a deep breath. "In that case, we'll have to infiltrate Jiahe's server room ourselves and start from the inside. Get ready."

"What?!" Liu Mingsheng's voice suddenly rose, filled with obvious resistance. "No! My mission is complete! As agreed, give me the money and arrange for me to leave the country!"

"Dream on!" Thiago's tone turned cold. "Our goal is to get what we want. If we don't get it, you won't get a single penny!"

At this point, Thiago paused, his voice softening, "Don't worry, I won't let you work for nothing. After it's done, I'll give you an extra million."

"..."

Liu Mingsheng's breathing quickened. He gripped the phone, remained silent for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth: "...Okay, I'll cooperate."

……

It was a weekend night in early November.

Central, Golden Harvest Building.

As night falls, this colossal building stands tall on the shore of Victoria Harbour, its dazzling lights gleaming in the darkness, like a sharp sword piercing the sky.

Not far from it, in a quiet alley, two vans with the words "Jiahe Food Delivery" printed on them were parked quietly by the roadside.

But no one knew that the carriages were actually filled with all sorts of high-tech equipment—listening devices, spy cameras, recording devices, and more.

Thiago sat in the back of one of the vehicles, a laptop spread out in front of him, the screen displaying an internal structural diagram of the Jiahe Building.

He was reluctant to risk his life himself, but when he previously cracked the outer firewall, he deeply understood the tight security of the Jiahe system. He knew very well that, apart from himself, no one else on the entire H site could break into Jiahe's core system in a short time.

Therefore, he had no choice but to lead the team himself.

Amidst the tense preparations, time quietly slipped towards one o'clock in the morning. The lights on most floors of the Jiahe Building had been turned off one after another, leaving only a few floors still lit.

Thiago closed his laptop, glanced at his watch, and said in a deep voice, "Begin the operation."

"yes!"

Two trucks slowly drove out of the alley and turned into the entrance of the underground parking lot of Jiahe Building.

It must be said that MI6's forgery techniques were truly superb. The security guard on duty had no suspicions whatsoever, only asking out of curiosity, "Are the groceries delivered so early today?"

"Hey, this batch of seafood arrived early today, so it was delivered first." The driver chuckled and yawned.

The security guard didn't ask any more questions, pressed the gate, and the two trucks slowly drove into the underground parking lot, finally stopping steadily in a blind spot that had been scouted out by the surveillance cameras.

Then, the back door opened, and Harrison jumped out first, followed by seven or eight figures dressed in dark overalls.

Harrison lowered his voice and quickly deployed his team: "Team A, take control of the monitoring room—we've already bribed a security guard there; he'll cooperate with you. Remember, be quick, don't alert anyone. Team B, come with me, escort the stationmaster to the sixty-sixth floor."

"receive."

Team A disappeared into the corridor first, while Harrison led Team B up the fire escape, through the safety door, and into the lobby on the first floor.

Then, everyone was stunned for a moment.

Despite having seen the photos beforehand, everyone was still awestruck by the futuristic and luxurious interior of the Golden Harvest Building when they saw it in person.

The lobby on the first floor has a full 30-meter-high ceiling and is a cool-toned space made entirely of marble and stainless steel. A huge crystal fountain sprays water in the center of the lobby, while two rows of cold glass sightseeing elevators stand on either side, gleaming coldly under the lights, like two rows of silent guards.

One of the team's Black players couldn't help but whistle and mutter, "My God, they're really rich."

"Shut your stinking mouth!" Harrison glared at him, then lowered his voice. "Get to work."

He pulled out his walkie-talkie: "Team A, how's the situation?"

After a brief static, the slightly distorted voice of Team A's captain came through: "No problem, the monitoring room has been successfully taken over. You can go up now."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Harrison waved to them, "Let's go."

一行人鱼贯进入电梯，电梯门缓缓合拢，数字显示屏上的楼层急速跳动——1、10、20、40、60……

"bite."

We've reached the 66th floor.

The elevator doors slowly slid open to both sides. Harrison, gripping his gun, was the first to step out.

Then, he froze.

Waiting for them outside the elevator was not the mole Liu Mingsheng, but a team of fully armed Jiahe security personnel. A dozen or so dark gun barrels were pointed at the heads of everyone inside the elevator.

In the very center of the defensive line stood a giant like an iron tower—an exaggerated height of 1.9 meters, with broad shoulders and a wide back, his whole body like an insurmountable steel wall.

He was wearing a black tactical vest, holding an assault rifle, and looked at the stunned crowd in the elevator, letting out a cold laugh.

"Don't move!"