Redemption from the Abyss: The School Beauty Insists on Pulling Me Out of the Mire

[One hour ago, in Beijing, at the Tianlong Group Cybersecurity Response Center]

01:15 AM.

Gu Nan was wearing a well-tailored dark gray shirt.

He stood behind the control panel with one hand in his pocket.

"Mr. Gu, the trapping system has been triggered."

The security director's fingers flew across the keyboard as he spoke at an alarming pace:

"The attacker was very skilled and was trying to bypass our Layer 7 WAF firewall, but he didn't know that port was a backdoor we deliberately left."

Gu Nan swirled the iced Americano in his hand, his eyes completely unmoved.

"Don't alert him, start reverse engineering."

"Yes, we are profiling the device using TCP stack fingerprinting...penetrating its multiple jump servers."

On the screen, countless fake IP nodes were stripped away one by one.

[Jump spring 1: Russia, St. Petersburg...already penetrated.]

[Stepping stone 2: Singapore, data center... already penetrated.]

[Jump Step 3: Jiangcheng...]

"Got it." The security director's eyes sharpened. "We've captured the broadcast signal of the real physical MAC address and are currently locating it using triangulation base stations."

The cursor on the map shrank rapidly.

Gu Nan put down his coffee cup, leaned forward slightly, and stared at the red circles on the screen that were about to overlap.

"The precision is insufficient; I need the exact location."

"We are trying to inject a silent probe. Once his data packet is sent back, we will be able to pinpoint the specific inbound fiber ID."

The security director's finger hovered over the Enter key, his eyes burning with fervor. "Three seconds left."

3.

2.

1.

Just one second before the probe was about to be implanted into the other party's terminal.

The waveform on the screen returned to zero without warning.

It instantly turned into a straight line.

Connection Reset by Peer.

[Physical Layer Link Down]

"...What?!"

The security director was stunned. He frantically entered commands to try and reconnect, but all he got back was a string of timeout codes.

"It's disconnected? Completely disconnected? That's impossible! The data stream was perfectly stable just now!"

"Did they find out?"

"It's not like... this disconnection method is too abrupt, without any buffer, it's like..."

The security director swallowed hard, looking at Gu Nan in disbelief:

"It's like the hardware over there suffered physical damage, or... someone forcibly unplugged it?"

Gu Nan's expression froze.

He stared at the blurry red circle that eventually settled in Jiangcheng, a sinister glint in his eyes.

"Physical internet disconnection..."

Gu Nan sneered and picked up his coffee again:

"Severing the connection by physical means one second before probe implantation makes it a formidable opponent."

……

【06:00 AM · Genting Music Room 1602】

Room 1602, the eye of the storm, is now a scene of tranquility.

Xie Wang rolled out of bed, casually put on a T-shirt, and walked out of the bedroom.

The mischievous rice ball was curled up on the soft cushion Su Qinghe had laid out for it, sleeping soundly on its back.

Xie Wang walked to the computer desk, squatted down, and picked up the power cord that had broken in two.

The break is uneven, with obvious cat tooth marks.

"woke up?"

I heard soft footsteps behind me.

Su Qinghe also got up, still in her pajamas, rubbing her sleepy eyes, and looked at the broken thread in Xie Wang's hand:

"It seems it's not only a night owl, but also a destructive force."

She approached Xie Wang, her gaze falling on his arm.

Forget about the computer, take care of yourself first.

She gently touched the red and swollen area around the wound with her fingertips, her tone serious:

"Stray cats carry a lot of bacteria, and this wound is quite deep. Rabies and tetanus are not to be taken lightly; you must get vaccinated."

Xie Wang glanced at it: "It's nothing, just a superficial wound..."

"No." Su Qinghe's attitude was firm. "It's not too late to go to the CDC now. After getting the shot, you can go to school and make it in time."

"Okay, I'll do as Teacher Su says."

Xie Wang stopped dawdling and quickly washed up and changed his shoes.

……

[09:30 AM · Jiangcheng City Center for Disease Control and Prevention]

The two of them lined up and received their first rabies vaccination.

The sun was shining brightly as I walked out of the hospital.

Xie Wang pressed the cotton swab on his arm while sending WeChat messages to Lu Wen with his other hand, arranging for picking up the cat in the afternoon.

Su Qinghe looked at him and suddenly asked:

"My computer suddenly lost power last night. Did you lose all your programs?"

Xie Wang smiled nonchalantly, put his phone back in his pocket, and put his arm around her shoulder.

"If it's gone, it's gone. Just start over. The core logic is still in my head anyway."

He had no idea how much trouble the thread that the cat had chewed through had saved him.

"Let's go, Ms. Su, back to school for class."

……

[14:00 PM · Genting Music Room 1602]

The house was empty; Xie Wang and Su Qinghe were both at school.

"drop--"

The door lock clicked softly, and Lu Wen pushed the door open and entered.

He was dressed impeccably today, in a dark gray bespoke suit, and his hair was neatly combed.

But his handsome face was filled with despair, and he had two big dark circles under his eyes.

"I'm exhausted..."

As soon as Lu Wen entered the room, he loosened his tie, slumped onto the sofa without any regard for his image, and let out a long sigh.

He took out his phone and glanced at the message his father had sent ten minutes earlier: "The meeting continues tonight; you can come and sit in too."

"Another meeting..."

Lu Wen tossed his phone aside in frustration, rubbing his temples and muttering to himself:

"Don't those old men ever get any sleep? They were working until 3 a.m. last night, and they're still going today. It's just some minor trouble from Beijing, is it really necessary to act like this is a major crisis?"

Although he complained, he also had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get."

Lu Wen shook his head, forcing himself not to think about those complicated business struggles.

He stood up and walked to the bay window.

The rice ball was watching the stranger warily.

"Hey, so this is the king of destruction?"

Looking at the kitten, Lu Wen felt a little better.

"Come on, little one, Uncle Lu will take you for a drive."

He skillfully stuffed the cat into the cat carrier and carried it downstairs.

……

[14:40 PM · On the way to the pet hospital]

With the engine roaring, Lu Wen drove his flashy Ferrari through the streets of Jiangcheng.

Although he was in a so-so mood, the acceleration of the luxury car helped him regain some confidence.

"Rice ball, do you think I should go burn some incense?"

Lu Wen kept muttering to the cat in the passenger seat as he drove:

"Why am I having such bad luck lately? I haven't even managed to appease Lin Lu yet, and there's a ton of messy stuff going on at home and at work. I feel like I'm going through early menopause."

"Meow—!!"

Rice Ball clearly didn't want to hear about his family feuds. It let out a pitiful howl in its cat carrier, frantically scratching at the ventilation netting with its claws, strongly protesting against the enclosed space.

"Hey, hey, stop yelling! Are you bored?"

Lu Wen glanced at the pitiful kitten while the light was red.

Thinking about how I've also been cooped up in a meeting room lately and felt incredibly bored, a sense of shared misery welled up inside me.

"Fine, fine, I give up."

He reached out and unzipped the cat carrier halfway:

"Come out for some fresh air, but don't wander around. The interior of this car is all genuine leather. If you scratch it, you won't be able to afford to pay for it even if you sell yourself."

As soon as the rice ball was freed, it immediately crawled out.

Instead of running around, it shakily climbed up Lu Wen's arm and onto his thigh, finding a comfortable spot—the crotch area of ​​Lu Wen's expensive trousers—and squatted down.

"Oh? You've already stuck to me?"

Lu Wen was flattered and surprised. He held the steering wheel with one hand and gently stroked the cat's head with the other, his face beaming with joy.

"You have good taste; you know that following me will bring you benefits."

however.

Just as the green light turned on and Lu Wen was about to step on the gas and start moving.

He suddenly felt a warm, moist sensation on his thigh.

Immediately afterwards, a warm current gradually spread, quickly soaking through his bespoke wool trousers and spreading outwards from the base of his thighs.

Lu Wen's smile froze.

He lowered his head.

The rice ball was squatting on his lap, its hind legs slightly bent, its tail raised, looking at him with a comfortable and innocent expression.

His crotch area was visibly soaked with a dark water stain.

A faint, yet undeniable, pungent odor filled the air.

Lu Wen: "………………"

My brain went blank for three seconds.

Holy crap!!!

A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the carriage, startling even the taxi driver next to him.

"You...you...you peed?!"

Lu Wen was in a panic. He frantically tried to pick up the cat, but was afraid of making a mess. He froze like a stone, too afraid to even turn the steering wheel.

"My limited-edition dress pants! My genuine leather chair!! Xie Wang! Is your cat here specifically to bring misfortune upon me?!"

Meow~

After urinating, the rice ball even shook its body, then stomped its nipples twice on Lu Wen's ruined pants before lying down with a contented look on its face.