Siheyuan: At the beginning, I can integrate everything!

"Bang!"

Inside the secluded presidential suite of the hotel catering to foreign guests, an exquisite crystal goblet was smashed against the wall and shattered into pieces.

The scarlet wine trickled down the expensive wallpaper, resembling bright red blood.

Paul Smith paced back and forth in the room like a raging beast.

"Useless! A bunch of good-for-nothings who are more trouble than they're worth!"

He was cursing wildly in English.

I just received a tip that Lucy, that stupid woman, was pinned down in the back alley by the soldiers before she even got to the door of the east wing.

As for that traitor named Liu Haizhong, he was an utter idiot who was so frightened in the street that he confessed to his crime of treason!

"A suspended death sentence? These Chinese police officers are pretty quick."

Paul gritted his teeth; he knew his time was running out.

The Chinese military's security services have definitely followed the clues and are keeping an eye on this place.

If he can't get what he wants before they break down the door, he'll spend the rest of his life in a Chinese prison.

"Since underhanded tactics aren't working, let's try the hard way!"

Paul turned around abruptly and strode to the deepest part of the suite, to the secret communications room that was completely covered by thick soundproofing.

There was no ordinary furniture in the telecommunications room.

There were only a few large, early vacuum tube computers with countless flashing indicator lights.

And a military-grade code-breaking machine, which had just been smuggled into the country through special diplomatic channels and represented the most advanced technology in the West at the time.

Four blond, blue-eyed hacker agents sat in front of the screen, their fingers flying across the keyboard.

"Connect to headquarters! Activate the highest-level 'Skynet' attack protocol!"

Paul braced his hands on the console, his eyes burning with the mad gambler's gleam.

"Connect me to that secret telephone line lurking in their post office!"

"Target: The mainframe of the Red Star Military Region's top-secret scientific research institute!"

"I'm going to strip them bare in their database within an hour!"

"Yes, sir!"

The hacker agents responded in unison.

"Click-clack-click-clack..."

The sound of keyboards clicking echoed densely in the quiet telecommunications room, like a downpour hitting a tin roof.

As a deeply hidden physical telephone line was forcibly connected.

Green code cascaded and danced wildly across several black-and-white monitors like a waterfall.

In this era when abacuses and hand-cranked calculators were still in use.

The early network intrusion systems used by Western countries were practically alien technology that could deliver a devastating blow.

"Sir, we have successfully connected to the target's external network."

An agent reported excitedly.

"Initiating a brute-force attack to crack their firewall commands... Progress 10%... 20%..."

Paul watched the progress bar on the screen climb higher and higher, and finally a sinister and triumphant smirk appeared on his lips.

"Do these foolish Chinese people really think they can protect the nation's lifeline with just a few broken guns and a handful of soldiers?"

He picked up a glass of freshly poured whiskey and leisurely swirled the ice.

"Faced with truly modern high technology, your pathetic security measures are like a paper wall!"

"Without even a decent computer, how can they possibly stop America's 'Skynet'?"

Paul laughed smugly.

He seemed to have already seen it.

Regarding super batteries, bulletproof alloys, and even that engine blueprint that could change the landscape of aerospace.

The information was flowing steadily into the database of the Western spy headquarters behind him through this telephone line!

This is a tremendous achievement that could directly promote him to a high-ranking position in the intelligence agency!

however.

Paul never dreamed of this.

He thought his high-tech hacking attack was stealthy and ahead of its time.

at this point.

All of it was as clear as child's play.

It appeared on a holographic display screen as thin as a cicada's wing in the east wing, several kilometers away!

"Skynet? A hacker attack?"

Zhang Huaimin sat cross-legged on the warm kang (a heated brick bed).

He looked at the holographic screen, where Paul was shown frantically typing on a keyboard in a split-screen display.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"They dare to hack my system using such outdated vacuum tube equipment?"

"This is like trying to challenge a supercomputer with an abacus!"

Zhang Huaimin shook his head, grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds, and started cracking them open.

He had anticipated Paul's desperate move several days earlier.

and so.

He had already instructed the system Ling'er to implant a "super firewall disguise program" based on quantum encryption algorithm into the old mainframe of the top-secret research institute.

This thing looks riddled with holes, and it breaks easily if you poke it.

In reality, it is a bottomless "digital black hole".

You think you're downloading confidential data?

Actually, what you're downloading is just an endless stream of garbled junk text automatically generated by the system.

Even more deadly is...

This disguise program is also an extremely stealthy reverse tracking Trojan!

"Brother Chen."

Zhang Huaimin spat out the sunflower seed shells and waved to Chen Bing, who was wiping his gun at the door.

"Go call Grandpa Zhou and tell him to bring his men to the Wangfujing Hotel to prepare for the operation."

Chen Bing's eyes lit up, and he immediately stood at attention: "Yes, sir! I'll go right away!"

Zhang Huaimin turned his head and focused his gaze back on the holographic screen.

On the other side of the screen.

In the telecommunications room of a hotel catering to foreign guests.

"Sir! The firewall has been successfully breached!"

The hacker agent was so excited that his voice cracked.

"We've gained access to their core database! All the files are here!"

Paul lunged at the screen.

Looking at the long list of filenames above, the greed in his eyes almost burst forth in a tangible form.

"Quick! Download them all! Compress them into a single file and send them back to headquarters!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Paul urged him frantically.

The progress bar began to advance slowly but steadily again.

80%...90%...95%...

For Paul, every passing second was both an extreme pleasure and an ordeal.

He had even begun to conceive in his mind how to use the most eloquent language to write this historic victory report.

"99%!"

"Sir, the download is almost complete!"

The agent shouted, his finger already hovering over the last "Execute Send" Enter key.

Paul was overjoyed.

He abruptly raised his glass, ready to celebrate this historic moment.

"Cheers! To the glory of America!"

At the same time.

On the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove) in the east wing.

Zhang Huaimin stared at the progress bar stuck at 99% on the screen, and at Paul's extremely arrogant smile.

He gave a cold laugh.

Slowly extend that chubby little finger.

On the invisible system keyboard of the holographic screen, gently and decisively.

I pressed a red "counterattack" button.