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

Xie Wang stroked the cat's fur casually, and Fantuan purred contentedly.

He woke up the computer screen with one hand.

I just wanted to check the status of the script I had previously installed, but as soon as the screen lit up, the encrypted chat box suddenly started flashing.

[K]: [X, are you there? It's urgent.]

[K]: [Someone is attacking our perimeter firewall. The IP source is North America. This is an organized, targeted attack. Our main force is maintaining core data and we are short-staffed. We need your help to hold off the flanks!]

Xie Wang's eyes sharpened.

[X]: [Received, send me the coordinates.]

The next second, a port address was sent over.

Xie Wang cut into the terminal.

On the screen, countless red attack packets were crashing against the firewall.

"Heh, you want to come in?"

Xie Wang sneered.

He quickly built a highly realistic honeypot on the side of the server.

The gates are wide open; we invite you into the trap.

[Traffic redirection in progress...]

The virtual sandbox has been activated, and the decoy has been deployed.

The opponent was clearly also a top expert, and their attacks were fierce.

But faced with Xie Wang's unorthodox method of substitution, the data flow stalled—they were trying to determine the truth.

It was that one millisecond of hesitation.

"Got you?"

Xie Wang seized upon this fleeting loophole.

He severed the enemy's springboard connection, which was equivalent to cutting off the enemy's retreat bridge.

Immediately afterwards, he followed the other party's lead and sent back a carefully disguised logic bomb.

This is a highly compressed junk data packet. Once decompressed on the other end, its size will instantly expand by hundreds of millions of times, causing a devastating buffer overflow.

To put it simply, it's like forcibly stuffing an entire library of books into someone's brain until it explodes.

"Bang."

Although he couldn't hear any sound, Xie Wang knew from the attack waveform on the screen that instantly dropped to zero that the opposing server's memory had crashed.

[Defense successful.]

Reverse tracing complete: Attack source has been flagged.

Xie Wangsong released the mouse and breathed a sigh of relief.

The rice ball in my arms let out a dissatisfied "meow".

At this moment, the chat window lit up again.

[K]: [Great! That traffic backtracking combined with the logic bomb was well done. The opponent's core server will be down for at least two hours before it restarts.]

[K]: [X, your reaction speed and angle of attack were even faster than I expected.]

Xie Wang looked at the screen, but did not become complacent because of the praise.

His gaze was fixed on the code of the node that had just been attacked.

During the defense process just now, he discovered some clues.

Although the attacked server nodes were disguised as ordinary commercial data centers, their underlying firewall architecture was extremely robust, employing quantum-level encryption algorithms.

Moreover, K mobilizes resources to perform traffic scrubbing so quickly that it can even directly requisition backup channels for submarine optical cables.

This is something that no civilian hacker group could do, and even top commercial companies couldn't do.

Xie Wang squinted and typed a tentative line on the keyboard:

[X]: [K, the node I was defending just now, but if I'm not mistaken, that encryption protocol is military-grade. That... that should be the external network interface of some key national defense research institute, right?]

[X]: [Who exactly is Apocalypse?]

[K]: [Okay, Xie Wang, from today onwards, you are no longer a nominal member; you have a permanent position.]

Xie Wang was stunned.

Formal establishment?

He knew all too well what this meant.

[K]: [That's why I said before that Apocalypse can keep you safe.]

[X]: Thanks.

[K]: By the way, do you have enough money right now?

Xie Wang glanced at his overseas account, which held five million US dollars.

[X]: [It's alright, enough to spend.]

[K]: [That's a lie. It's definitely not enough to deal with the Tianlong Group.]

[K]: [Please accept this, it's a welcome gift from the organization.]

[File Transfer: TianQi_Quant_System_v4.0.exe (TianQi Quantitative Trading System)]

Xie Wang's eyes lit up instantly.

This is a high-frequency quantitative trading system based on a supercomputing model.

[K]: [This is an internally developed technology, not for external distribution. It can capture millisecond-level fluctuations in the global financial market. While it won't make you rich overnight, as long as you have capital, it can allow your assets to snowball at an astonishing speed.]

[K]: [Take this and use it. You'll only be qualified to sit at the card table once you've saved up enough bullets.]

Xie Wang stared at the installation progress bar, his heart racing.

[K]: Study hard, don't forget you're still a senior in high school. Take care of your hair, don't go bald.

The dialog box went gray.

Xie Wang closed the chat window.

The rice ball in his arms was fast asleep, emitting soft snores.

"Sleeping so soundly, so carefree."

Xie Wang chuckled softly and gently picked up the fluffy little thing and placed it in the cat's bed.

Watching the rice ball rub against the ground and continue to snore, Xie Wang felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

His cat lives in this house, and his people live next door.

very nice.

Loneliness receded like the tide.

Xie Wang picked up his phone and glanced at the time; it was almost midnight.

He clicked on the rabbit avatar eating a carrot, pressed the voice chat button, and his voice carried a mischievous glint in it, as if he was deliberately teasing her:

"Are you asleep, Teacher Su? Get some rest. If you have another nightmare... don't dream about me, okay? My appearance fee is very high."

[Just a wall away - Room 1601 - Bedroom]

Su Qinghe, wearing light blue pajamas, was leaning over her desk, her hand holding a pen hovering over an exquisite notebook, her expression focused.

"Buzz—"

My phone, which was next to me, vibrated.

Su Qinghe paused, picked up his phone, and opened the voice message.

"...Don't dream about me, my appearance fee is very expensive."

"..."

Hearing that irritating tone, Su Qinghe instantly lost his composure.

She slammed her phone back on the table, her cheeks puffed out slightly, and she unconsciously pouted, letting out a soft hum into the air.

"narcissism."

Who wants to dream about you?

She picked up her phone again, pressed the voice call button, and, not wanting him to get too cocky, deliberately lowered her voice and replied:

"Xie, confidence is a good thing, but blind confidence is a problem."

After sending it, she looked at the black profile picture, but couldn't help but smile.

Just then—

"Qinghe?"

The bedroom doorknob was suddenly turned.

Su Qinghe was startled and hurriedly slammed the open notebook on the table shut, stuffing it under a pile of review materials.

Lin Wanyi pushed open the door and came in, carrying a cup of hot milk.

"Still not asleep?"

Lin Wanyi glanced at her daughter's somewhat flustered movements, then at her slightly flushed cheeks, her eyes revealing a knowing look from someone who had been through it all:

"Who were you talking to just now? I think I heard some noises coming from your room."

No, no.

Su Qinghe took the milk, his eyes darting around, and tried to explain, but only made things worse:

"I'm practicing my spoken English."

"Oh—to practice spoken English."

Lin Wanyi drew out the last syllable meaningfully, her gaze falling on the corner of a notebook cover peeking out from under the pile of documents on the desk:

"Then what is this? Is it also English material?"

Su Qinghe followed her mother's gaze and her face instantly turned bright red.

That was a notebook she hadn't hidden well enough.

"That is..." Su Qinghe bit her lip, her voice barely audible, "...a diary."

"A diary?"

Lin Wanyi saw her daughter's state and knew exactly what was going on.

In the past, Su Qinghe's life revolved solely around studying; he had no interest in writing a diary.

"Fine, Mom won't look or ask."

Lin Wanyi smiled and reached out to tap Su Qinghe's forehead:

"It seems our little darling has her own little secrets too."

"Mom..." Su Qinghe called out in embarrassment and annoyance.

"Alright, alright, I won't tease you anymore." Lin Wanyi placed the milk on the table.

"Go to sleep quickly after you finish drinking, don't stay up too late and ruin your eyes, Mom is taking you to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow."

"understood."

Lin Wanyi turned and walked out the door, gently closing it behind her.

Only after the footsteps faded into the distance did Su Qinghe finally let out a long sigh of relief.

She took a sip of hot milk, and only after confirming that her mother wouldn't come in again did she pull out the notebook.

It was a dark blue velvet notebook.

She opened the notebook and picked up the fountain pen.

Under the halo of the table lamp, the girl's profile was soft and serene.

[October 11, Rain turning cloudy]

Today is probably the most peaceful day I've had in my eighteen years.

When I was sick, my room was always empty.

The porridge that Aunt Wang cooked smelled very good, but I always felt that it didn't have much flavor.

But today is different.

Mom stayed.

She turned down a contract worth 100 million and clumsily tried to cook for me in the kitchen.

Although it ended up being a culinary disaster, I ate the best chicken soup of my life.

It was Xie Wang who did it.

That fool, even though his mother kept him outside the door, he stayed there and didn't leave.

I dreamt of a lot of blood, and I dreamt that he fell in the rain to save me.

I was terrified when I woke up, really terrified.

But he said he was there.

He said, "Don't be afraid, Auntie is inside with you, and I'll guard the door outside."

I used to think that as long as I didn't depend on anyone, I wouldn't be disappointed or weak.

But Xie Wang, like an unreasonable robber, forcibly pried open my shell and then stayed here refusing to leave.

My mom just saw this notebook and laughed at me, saying I have a secret.

Yes, I have a secret.

My secret is:

I seem to be more inseparable from this boy who always calls me Teacher Su, who has a slightly mischievous smile, yet gives me all the gentleness in the world.

To My Moon:

Good night, thank you.