Searching for someone in northern Myanmar, and you call that earning tuition fees?

Network Center Building, Core Computer Room.

A dozen technicians were frantically typing away on their keyboards, the rapidly scrolling data on the screen and the piercing alarm sounds all mixed together.

"No! The opponent's computing power is too strong! Our firewall is being played like a fool!"

"The IP address keeps jumping around everywhere, it's impossible to lock it down!"

Just then, the bulletproof glass door of the computer room building was suddenly pushed open with a "bang" by an overwhelming aura.

Su Ming, Li Changfeng, and Jiangnan Yan entered the venue with their own background music.

Li Changfeng cleared his throat, rolled up his red armband, and said in a deep voice, "Quiet! All of you, quiet! Jiangnan University's strategic deception... oops, I mean, the Strategic Security Department has taken over this area! Everyone, attention! At ease! Count off!"

A middle-aged man with a receding hairline and gold-rimmed glasses emerged from the crowd, arms crossed, sizing up Li Changfeng with his nostrils: "Oh, who do we have here? Such an air of authority. I'd heard that a 'connected' consultant named Li had come to the security department. Seeing him today, I can see he's more than just a figure of speech...show-off."

He is Director Zhang of the Network Center, a technical expert, but his temper is even higher than his hairline.

Li Changfeng raised an eyebrow: "Director Zhang, watch your mouth! Believe me or not, I'll make your hairline recede another five centimeters!"

"What happened to me?" Zhang Ke spread his hands, pointing to the mess in the room. "The shadows are almost blowing up our server. What are you security guards doing here? Are you here to grab the network cables? Stop making things worse, okay? We're busy right now."

Just as Li Changfeng was about to lash out, Su Ming walked past him and said only three words: "You guys are no good."

The moment the words were spoken, the server room fell silent.

Zhang Ke laughed angrily: "Kid, how much have you been drinking? Your breath smells worse than athlete's foot! Do you know where we got this system? Do you know what level of hacker they are? You think you can? If you can find them, I'll eat this keyboard right here and now!"

Su Ming glanced at the mechanical keyboard beside him and said, "Then you'd better prepare cumin and chili powder."

Su Ming walked to the control panel and glanced at the rapidly scrolling code and constantly changing IP addresses on the screen.

"Don't bother chasing him. He's using a distributed network and multiple layers of proxies. You won't find him even if you chase him until dawn."

Zhang Ke crossed his arms and sneered, "Nonsense, who doesn't know that? Say something useful."

"So, I'm not going to play cyber warfare with him." Su Ming turned to look at Jiang Nanyan, "Give me a map of the power grid around Jiangnan University."

Jiangnan Yan took out a map from her bag, which was covered with densely packed routes.

Su Ming pointed to an area on the map: "I want the entire western district of Jiangnan City to lose power."

Zhang Ke could hardly believe his ears: "A power outage? Are you crazy? There are hundreds of network nodes throughout the city, how are you going to cut them off one by one?"

"right."

"..."

Zhang Ke was so choked by that one word that he almost fainted.

He turned to look at Li Changfeng: "Advisor Li, is this guy... a little... off his mind?"

Li Changfeng immediately lost his temper.

"Who are you calling mentally unstable?!"

He put his arm around Su Ming's shoulder and began his specialty: "bragging."

"Do you know who he is? He's the legendary 'God of the Internet'! Back in the day, he single-handedly took down seventeen international hacker groups on the dark web! The CIA's firewall was nothing but paper in his hands!"

Zhang Ke's lips twitched: "Advisor Li, you're really exaggerating..."

"I'm not bragging!" Li Changfeng patted his chest. "He cracked the Pentagon's database when he was twelve! He hacked into NASA's satellite system at fifteen! And at twenty..."

"I'm nineteen this year," Su Ming suddenly reminded him.

Li Changfeng: "..."

He coughed twice, forcing himself to continue: "Nineteen! He retired from crime and went into seclusion on campus to experience life! Understand? You country bumpkin! Now, God is about to intervene!"

Jiang Nanyan's lips twitched as she listened, but she still gritted her teeth and went to the side to make a phone call.

Amidst the stares of everyone who wondered if the kid had gone mad, Su Ming pulled up a chair, sat down, and casually took out his vocabulary book to start flipping through it.

Li Changfeng leaned closer, looking at the colorful circuit diagrams, feeling dizzy: "Su Ming, can this thing really work? Should I call USTC and ask them to send over two information warfare teams? It'll probably take three hours by high-speed rail though."

"In three hours, the daylily will be cold, and Lin Xiaoyue's five hundred yuan will become ghost money." Su Ming didn't even look up.

On the other end of the line, Jiang Nanyan hung up the phone, her face grim: "No, the municipal bureau doesn't have enough coordination authority. The power supply bureau needs an order from the provincial department, which will take at least an hour to get there and back."

"Damn it, a bunch of bureaucrats!" Li Changfeng cursed, pulling out his phone. "I'll handle this!"

He dialed a number and put it on speakerphone.

"Hello? This is the security department of Jiangnan University... Yes, yes, employee number 9527... What? You're saying this is a scam call? Scam you my ass! I'm a legitimate security guard!"

"Beep...beep...beep..."

The call was hung up.

The computer room was completely silent.

Zhang Ke almost burst out laughing.

Li Changfeng's face was ashen. He took a deep breath and dialed another number. This time, his tone was completely different.

"I am Li Changfeng, formerly classified by my unit, employee number 9527. I am now activating the wartime emergency energy dispatch plan. I have the right to request a grid-based power outage test of the western district of Jiangnan City in accordance with this plan. You can refuse, but I guarantee that in ten minutes, an armed helicopter will land on your roof and take you to a military court for questioning."

There was a three-second silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a voice trembling with fear: "Yes...yes! Commander! Please give your instructions!"

Li Changfeng glanced at Zhang Ke, who was already dumbfounded, and commanded with an air of official authority, "Listen to the orders of this Consultant Su."

Zhang Ke was stunned.

*Holy crap? Employee number 9527…isn’t that a reference from a Stephen Chow movie? This is actually a real code name?!*

"West District A, power outage for ten seconds." Su Ming's eyes were still fixed on the vocabulary book.

"Yes! Area A is blocked!"

On the cafeteria's large screen, "Shadow's" live stream remained arrogant, with a virtual avatar wearing a clown mask laughing maniacally: "Police officers, you're like headless flies, come and arrest me..."

The scene remained unchanged.

"Power restored. Area B, power outage."

"yes!"

The live stream continues.

"C area, break."

"yes!"

"...Come and catch me...catch...me...ah..." The clown on the screen suddenly paused, and the voice turned into electronic music before returning to normal.

Inside the server room, no one dared to breathe loudly.

Su Ming finally looked up from his vocabulary book, tapped his finger on the control panel, and an IP address that had just flashed by was instantly highlighted and locked in red.

He chuckled. "Gotcha, you little mouse."

Abandoned flour mill in the western suburbs of Jiangnan City

Alarms blared loudly inside the command center.

Jiang Nanyan grabbed the walkie-talkie, her voice trembling: "Target locked! SWAT team, move out! Block off Xingfu Road!"

A group of criminal police officers and technicians cheered and rushed out.

Su Ming calmly closed the vocabulary book, unzipped his backpack, carefully put the book inside, and then slung it over his shoulder.

Li Changfeng was excitedly rubbing his hands together when he turned around and froze: "What are you doing?"

Su Ming glanced at him: "Go to the scene. If I don't go, who will Lin Xiaoyue ask for her five hundred yuan? Besides, I need to keep an eye on them so they don't lose my bonus."

Li Changfeng: "..."

Su Ming pushed open the door, glanced back at Zhang Ke who was frozen in place, and pointed to the keyboard on the table.

"Remember to add cumin; the keycap material is a bit hard, so chew it a bit."