Film and Television: My Cheat Code is AI

After dealing with Cong Lan's husband's matter, Zhang Yang received a text message on his phone.

(8 PM, Lao Liu's Beef Noodles, all alone.)

After glancing at the text message, Zhang Yang deleted it without making a sound. Back in his team, Yang Zhen and the others were in charge of the interrogation. After tidying up, Zhang Yang said, "Old He, I'm going home now. I've already spoken to the team leader."

Old He said, "Okay, drive carefully."

"Okay, sure."

After going downstairs, Zhang Yang didn't drive. Instead, he took a taxi to Lao Liu's Beef Noodle Restaurant. He arrived half an hour earlier than the scheduled time. Zhang Yang walked around the area for a while and then went in when there were about three minutes left until eight o'clock.

Unexpectedly, Qin Liguo, Director Ma of the Municipal Bureau, Director Liu of the Branch Bureau, and Zheng Yimin, the leader of the Sixth Major Crimes Unit, all arrived in the corner.

Qin Liguo said with a smile, "You didn't expect that, did you? Come, sit down first."

Zhang Yang nodded and sat down to the side. At this moment, Director Ma said, "We know you like to eat kidneys, so we ordered five grilled kidneys for you. You can have some first."

Zhang Yang said, "No, is there something wrong? You're all leaders, this is making me quite scared."

Old Zheng stood up with a grin and said, "It's alright, just sit still and eat first."

"You handled this bombing case very well; Yang Zhen has been praising you nonstop."

Half an hour later, Zhang Yang had finished eating and drinking. At this time, Director Ma stood up and said, "Now that you're full, let's get in the car. We can talk about anything in the car."

Soon an Iveco van pulled up to the side of the road, and after everyone got in, the driver got out to smoke.

At this moment, Qin Liguo spoke up: "I called you here today because I have a task for you to do."

Zhang Yang immediately replied, "I'm fine with it."

Qin Liguo said, "Let me finish speaking first."

"Luo Liang, a serious criminal from three years ago, has returned to this city. He joined a counterfeit currency ring in Hainan and eventually became a core member of the group. According to reliable intelligence we have received, Luo Liang stole the counterfeit currency master set that the group had just developed and brought it back to this city."

Old Zheng said, "We've received word that Yang Zhen and his team will be heading out to make the arrests tomorrow."

Director Liu of the branch office also said, "The branch's economic crime investigation department has also set its sights on Luo Liang. We are in contact with our colleagues from Hainan and are working on an arrest plan."

Director Ma of the Municipal Public Security Bureau said, "There's still a group of people looking for him."

"Three months ago, a group of people came to this city. They came from the north and were also part of a counterfeit currency ring. They were a group composed of high-tech talents."

"They developed foreign currencies such as the US dollar, euro, and ruble domestically, and now they've set their sights on our renminbi."

"We want you to infiltrate their ranks, obtain information on their leaders and core members, and try to capture them all in one fell swoop."

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and said, "Then I need to catch up on my lessons, and I also need to know their information."

Director Liu of the branch office explained, "Their trip to this city is for the master disk and Luo Liang. The master disk contains information on a floppy disk, including detailed information about the RMB printing plates, which is very important. Therefore, this group needs someone proficient in hacking and computer technology, and you are that person."

Zhang Yang said, "But I don't know how."

Director Ma smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about that. We will train you. You must learn most of the programming knowledge within a week. Even if you can't learn it, you still have to boast about it to the point that the boss believes you."

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and said, "Yes, I guarantee I will complete the mission."

Qin Liguo said, "Only Lao Zheng is participating in this Major Crimes Unit 6. He is your shepherd. Only a few of us here know about your undercover work. The special task force is under the Criminal Investigation Department, and I am in charge."

"Yes, thank you, Captain Qin."

"Zhang Yang, be careful. Report to this address starting tomorrow. That's our base. There's someone there with amazing programming skills; we borrowed him from somewhere else. You only have one week there."

Zhang Yang returned home.

[Analyzing...]

[The programming technology environment in the early 2000s: Mainstream development languages ​​were C/C++, Java (J2SE 1.3-1.4), Visual Basic 6.0, and Delphi. Scripting languages ​​were primarily Perl, Python 2.x, and PHP. At the operating system level, servers primarily used Windows NT 4.0/2000 Server and Linux (Red Hat 7.x-9.x, Slackware), while personal terminals were mostly Windows 98/2000/XP. Assembly languages ​​still held an important position in reverse engineering and vulnerability exploitation; Win32 assembly, along with SoftICE and OllyDbg (versions around 2004), formed the standard debugging environment.]

Early 2000s Hacker Techniques: Port Scanning – Nmap, Superscan; Vulnerability Scanning – X-Scan, Liuguang; Remote Overflow – exploits based on known CVEs (high-risk vulnerabilities between 1999-2003 included IIS Unicode directory traversal, MS-SQL parsing stack overflow exploited by the SQL Slammer worm, RPC DCOM buffer overflow, etc.); Password Cracking – L0phtcrack (LM/NTLM hashing on Windows platform), John the Ripper (Unix password files); Sniffing and ARP Spoofing – Dsniff suite, Ettercap; Trojans and Backdoors – Ice River, Grey Pigeon (active around 2003), BO2000; Web Attacks – concepts like SQL injection and XSS had emerged, but awareness of defense was generally weak. Domestic forums such as Green Army, Security Focus, and Evil Octal were the main channels for technical exchange, with technical dissemination primarily through tutorial texts and offline toolkits.

[Current task constraints: In 2003, broadband was not yet widespread in China; most internet access methods were still dial-up or ISDN, with bandwidth limits ranging from 64Kbps to 128Kbps. Network attacks are limited by transmission speed and stability; therefore, offline tools combined with local physical access are preferred. A toolchain can be built: a lightweight remote control program based on Win32 compilation, utilizing Autorun.inf in conjunction with social engineering for lateral movement within the intranet. When the target host is Windows 2000 Server, priority should be given to detecting empty administrator passwords and default shares. If the target system is Linux, focus on weak SSH passwords and default service configuration vulnerabilities. For data return, it is recommended to use SMTP email relay or HTTP POST submission to an anonymous space.]

I need to spend a week learning and completing this material as much as possible.

[Analyzing learning workload and time constraints...]

[Total Task Assessment: The technology stack listed in the previous round covers at least three programming languages ​​(C/C++ requires mastery of pointers and memory management, and Win32 API basics; assembly requires understanding of x86 instruction sets, stack structures, and calling conventions; at least one scripting language for rapid development of auxiliary tools), two debugging and reverse engineering tools (basic operations of SoftICE or OllyDbg), and at least four network attack and defense tools (scanning, sniffing, vulnerability exploitation, and backdoor configuration). There are also prerequisites such as differences in operating systems and basic network protocols. According to the normal undergraduate teaching schedule for computer science, covering all of the above would take twelve to eighteen months. Compressing it to one week, the learning workload is approximately fifty to seventy times the normal pace.]

[Time Constraint Analysis: A week has a total of 168 hours. Assuming a minimum of four hours of sleep per day to maintain basic cognitive function, the available study time is approximately 140 hours. Within these 140 hours, one must digest the equivalent of two semesters of professional course content, absorbing and mastering the amount of information equivalent to forty minutes of lecture content under normal circumstances.]

[Feasibility Assessment: Full Mastery – Zero. The human brain requires a synaptic consolidation cycle during sleep to form long-term potentiation in the hippocampus. Knowledge forcibly instilled within a week can mostly only be temporarily stored in short-term working memory, with an extremely low proportion forming effective long-term memory. Partial Mastery – Feasible, but requires strict focus. It is recommended to concentrate all learning time on a deliverable: Do not learn C++, Java, or Linux attack and defense; only learn Win32 compilation, a debugger, and the writing and anti-virus evasion of a backdoor. Because the current task scenario is local intranet penetration in a Windows 2000 environment, the required core capabilities are only three: writing a Trojan horse that is not detected by antivirus software, using a debugger to locate the vulnerability entry point of the target process, and completing the initial implantation through social engineering or default configuration flaws. These three skills can be brought to a minimum usable level within 140 hours.]

[Suggested Learning Strategy: Spend the first 20 hours setting up the experimental environment, installing the target version of Windows 2000 and debugging tools on the same operating system to ensure real-time verification of each step. The next 80 hours will use existing Trojan source code as teaching material, reverse engineering it line by line without systematic syntax learning; look up anything you don't understand as you go. The final 40 hours will be spent repeatedly writing, debugging, and implementing antivirus evasion techniques, using muscle memory instead of theoretical memorization. Abandon theoretical completeness in favor of usability. The deliverable after one week is not "learning," but a tool that can run in a specific environment.]

Zhang Yang looked at the deep blue in his mind. Although it was impossible to complete, he could rely on the deep blue. He slapped his forehead. He couldn't bring anything else in, but the deep blue in his mind was the one he could bring in. He was confused.

For the next week, Zhang Yang spent his time at the secret base learning from a mysterious person from a certain department. This mysterious person was only in his early twenties, and he wouldn't say anything, wouldn't let anyone ask his name, and wouldn't allow anyone to ask about anything other than the content of the lessons.

I didn't see the actual operation in the past week; I only learned how to fool people and make them believe in me.

Finally, he handed Zhang Yang a floppy disk and said, "This contains a small tool I made myself. Unless someone with better skills than me sets the password, it can be cracked within three minutes."

Zhang Yang said, "Thank you."

"It's alright, it's time for me to go too. See you again sometime."