I was born and listened to my neighbor's older sister talk about her family of origin.

"It's nothing, don't bother me."

Internet cafe number three on the outskirts of Jiangcheng.

After giving a word of advice, Jiang Ye lowered his hat and went inside with a mysterious air.

But in reality, nobody inside noticed him at all.

The internet cafe was dimly lit, the air was stuffy, and the smell of smoke mixed with the sour smell of cheap instant noodles, like some kind of long-fermented garbage dump.

A barrage of curses assaulted my ears, and they were extremely loud.

Jiang Ye walked directly into the corner private room, drew the curtain, and sat on the somewhat rickety swivel chair, shutting out the noise from the outside world.

The blue light from the computer screen reflected on his still somewhat immature face.

Jiang Ye took a deep breath, inserted the USB drive into the computer, and then his hands moved across the keyboard in two blurry motions.

The clattering of keyboards filled the air, and even the cheap keyboards in the internet cafe creaked under the strain.

But all of that was drowned out by the shouts and curses from outside.

A cold glint flashed in Jiang Ye's eyes.

As long as it's through a data network, all of Wang Zongyan's actions are exposed to him.

He didn't hack into Wang Zongyan's office computer directly; that would be too stupid, as it would expose him.

He chose an extremely covert route—a special encrypted relay server used by the protective umbrella and criminal organizations for money laundering and intelligence exchange.

Even the city bureau's cybersecurity department failed to detect this, because it was disguised as a routine database of a certain charitable foundation.

On the screen, the complex encryption protocol melted away as quickly as ice and snow meeting the blazing sun.

Jiang Ye's eyes were as calm as a deep pool, reflecting the dazzling waterfall of data.

Every layer of defense is rendered useless in front of him; that's the power of a top-tier hacker.

Progress bar: 20%...50%...80%...

Just then, a commotion broke out in the internet cafe.

"Damn! This game's in the bag, we're going to carry!"

The blond guy in the next seat yelled loudly and slammed a half-empty bottle of mineral water on the table, making Jiang Ye's headphones tilt.

Jiang Ye frowned slightly, but remained completely undisturbed.

He simply freed one hand, adjusted the headphones slightly, and then his finger precisely struck the Enter key again.

On the screen, countless densely packed accounts, call recordings, and even encrypted emails between Wang Zongyan and those illegal organizations were all revealed at this moment.

In his past life, these things required Ji Yue to risk his life for, and the entire police force to bleed and sacrifice before even a small part of them could be revealed.

Now, Jiang Ye is sitting in a shady internet cafe dozens of kilometers away, drinking a few yuan's worth of iced tea, and accomplished this feat with just a few taps of his finger.

Looking at the folder on the screen, Jiang Ye didn't rush to export it.

Like a calm hunter, he began to "mark" the evidence.

He doesn't just want to expose Wang Zongyan.

What he wants is a chain reaction.

He broke down the evidence into three parts.

The first one was sent directly to the encrypted complaint mailbox of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The second copy was silently pushed to the office terminal of the provincial anti-corruption office via a proxy server.

When sending this evidence, he also searched to see if there were any higher-ups protecting these people.

Fortunately, no.

As for the third one...

A cold glint flashed in Jiang Ye's eyes as he encrypted and compressed the third piece of evidence, setting up a simple logic script.

If Wang Zongyan is not taken away for investigation within three days, these materials containing detailed location information and transaction records will be automatically sent to the email addresses of all mainstream media outlets in the city.

This is called a dead end.

Whether it's a formal investigation or a public outcry, Wang Zongyan has no way out.

After doing all this, Jiang Ye's expression flickered. He hesitated, wondering whether he should follow Wang Zongyan's lead and track down the higher-ups to complete the mission once and for all.

Without hesitation, Jiang Ye typed on the keyboard again.

Hacking skills have limited time, and he wouldn't refuse to do more within that limited time.

Wang Zongyan's story is just the tip of the iceberg.

Following the encrypted channel through which Wang Zongyan maintained a one-way communication with his superiors, Jiang Ye continued to trace the source of the communication.

Data flowed from his fingertips, transforming into lines of cascading code.

He was like a seasoned hunter, tracing the slightest traces left by his prey in the jungle.

Every data node and every information exchange is a footprint.

He quickly penetrated three layers of firewalls disguised as ordinary business communications, and the data network ahead became clear.

It was an incredibly large server cluster where all financial transactions, personnel transfers, and even some shady "dirty" records were aggregated and encrypted.

found it.

Jiang Ye's lips had just curved into a smile when his pupils suddenly contracted.

Not right.

The defense system of this server cluster is excessively quiet.

Like a seemingly empty steel fortress, with no patrolling sentries around it, the gates were wide open, as if luring people in.

The Empty City Stratagem?

The thought flashed through Jiang Ye's mind, but his fingers did not stop.

Instead of barging in rashly, he sent out an extremely fine data probe, like a dandelion seed, which silently attached itself to the outer wall of the server and began to analyze its underlying architecture.

The moment the probe touched the core defense protocol.

Om-!

The entire server cluster was like a prehistoric beast that had been startled awake, instantly rousing itself from its slumber!

The originally gentle flow of data suddenly became violent, and began to rebound and attack Jiang Ye instantly.

coming!

Jiang Ye was not alarmed at all; instead, a glint of excitement flashed in his eyes.

His hands moved at lightning speed on the keyboard, each command transforming into an unbreakable shield, precisely blocking the opponent's attacks.

At the same time, the opponent launched a counterattack.

That was not a chaotic attack, but a highly organized and aggressive tactic.

The opponent was clearly a top expert as well. Without any probing, he immediately launched a deadly attack, attempting to trace Jiang Ye's physical IP address by using the traces left by Jiang Ye's probe.

So fast!

In an instant, Jiang Ye judged that the hardware environment and network bandwidth of the other party were at least ten times that of his own!

This is an unfair contest.

The other party was piloting a starship, while he was sitting on a dilapidated fishing boat that could fall apart at any moment.

"Click..."

The CPU fan of the old computer in the internet cafe let out a wail of strain, and the data stream on the screen even froze for a moment.

It was that tiny delay of a fraction of a second that allowed the enemy's tracking code to break through his three layers of proxy disguises instantly, like a shark smelling blood!

"Oh shit!"

Jiang Ye cursed under his breath, a fine bead of sweat appearing on his forehead.

We can't fight anymore!

If they continue arguing, the other party could pinpoint the exact location of this illegal internet cafe in just thirty seconds.

He must retreat immediately!

But Jiang Ye was unwilling to leave like this.

He had already seen the outline of that golden mountain; how could he return empty-handed?

In a flash, Jiang Ye made a decision.