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

For the next two days, everyone had a blast at the resort. Shen Hao and Xu You were inseparable, like conjoined twins, while Lu Wen and Lin Lu got sunburned and their skin peeled off in the pool.

It wasn't until the minibus re-entered the congested ring road of Jiangcheng and looked out at the towering buildings and the hazy sky that everyone felt a sense of reality, as if they had "woke up from a dream."

"Everyone go back to your own home, everyone find your own mother!"

Lu Wen waved goodbye at the intersection: "Summer vacation has just begun, let's keep in touch via WeChat!"

The crowd dispersed.

Su Qinghe said her parents had gone home and were going to have a get-together at the villa.

Xie Wang saw Su Qinghe off to Uncle Zhong, who had come to pick her up, and watched the car drive away before turning around and heading to the Cloud Top Piano Room alone, carrying his bag.

……

Pushing open the door, the room was filled with a chilly atmosphere, as if no one had lived there for several days.

Xie Wang casually tossed his luggage onto the sofa, didn't go to rest, but immediately drew the curtains and sat down in front of the top-of-the-line computer.

Although he was in the mountains these past few days, the script he set up was running in the background.

Wake up the screen.

The three monitors lit up simultaneously, emitting a faint blue light.

Xie Wang habitually checked his log.

There was no pop-up window that could be instantly bypassed like in the movies; Tianlong Group's firewall remained intact.

However, in his private encrypted email account, there was an unread email lying quietly.

The sender is anonymous, and the ID consists of only one letter: [K].

It was sent early yesterday morning.

Xie Wang frowned. His email address was triple-encrypted and had only left traces on a very small number of foreign hacker forums; it was generally impossible for ordinary people to find it.

He opened the email.

The content is very short and entirely in English:

From: K

Subject: Interesting Trace

"I noticed your port scanning technique on the 'TD' node. It's aggressive, but the logic is beautiful.

You are looking for a backdoor, aren't you?

I have a project that requires a pair of hands like yours. High risk, high reward.

If interested, ping this IP: 192.168.XX ."

(I've seen your port scanning technique on the 'Tianlong' node. It's very aggressive, but the logic is elegant. You're looking for backdoors, right? I have a project that needs hands like yours. High risk, high reward. If you're interested, contact this IP.)

Xie Wang's eyes instantly turned cold, his fingers hovering over the keyboard.

Is someone tracking him from the opposite direction?

And not only did they not report him, but instead... they wanted to recruit him? Or cooperate with him?

Who is this "K"?

Friend or foe?

Xie Wang pondered for a moment.

His current strength is too weak. To fight against the behemoth that is Gu Tianlong, it's not enough for him to fight alone and simply decrypt his mother's documents. He needs money, a lot of money, and a much larger intelligence network.

If this "K" really has the ability to see through his disguise... then it means the other party is extremely skilled.

Xie Wang's lips curled into a playful smile.

Xie Wang sat up straight and his fingers flew across the keyboard.

He first wrote a tracking script in an attempt to trace the sender's IP address.

A few seconds later, a line of text appeared on the terminal:

(Tracking failed: The route passed through 12 proxy servers)

"That's interesting."

Xie Wang's smile deepened; he was a master.

Without further hesitation, he dragged the attachment into the isolated sandbox environment and began brute-force attack.

Ten minutes later.

The attachment has been unpacked. There's no virus inside, just an encrypted chat room address and a new message:

"Don't make me wait."

Xie Wang stared at that line of text for a few seconds.

Then, he opened a virtual identity he had never used before and typed his reply in the email's reply box.

His reply was brief, consisting of only one word:

Wait.

(Waiting)

[6:30 PM · Su Family Villa]

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city.

The Su family villa, located in an affluent area, is currently displaying a rare and heartwarming scene.

The huge crystal chandelier cast a warm yellow glow, illuminating the entire restaurant.

The table was laden with exquisite dishes: steamed grouper, matsutake chicken soup, and several of Su Qinghe's favorite home-style dishes.

"Come on, Qinghe, drink more soup."

Su's mother, Lin Wanyi, dressed in an elegant silk loungewear, personally ladled a bowl of soup and placed it in front of her daughter, a gentle smile on her face.

"You've gotten a bit tanned these past few days, but you seem to be in better spirits than before."

Holding the warm porcelain bowl, Su Qinghe sank into the soft dining chair, feeling all her fatigue dissipate from the warmth.

"Thank you, Mom."

She lowered her head and took a sip of the soup, the delicious flavor spreading on her tongue.

Su Chengyun, Su's father, sat in the main seat, put down the financial newspaper he always carried, took off his glasses, and looked at his daughter with a smile:

"How was your trip with your classmates? I heard you even went to see fireflies?"

"Um."

Su Qinghe nodded, his mind flashing back to that night filled with fireflies and the boy on the terrace who said, "The moon belongs to you."

The corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly, and her voice became a little lighter:

"It's great. The air is fresh in the mountains, and everyone... takes good care of me."

"That's good, that's good." Su Chengyun sighed. "Your mother and I used to be so busy with our business that we left you alone at home. Now that you're more outgoing and willing to make friends, we're happy too."

She was immersed in the long-lost warmth of family.

Just then, Lin Wanyi elegantly cut a small piece of steak and asked casually, seemingly unintentionally:

"By the way, Qinghe."

"The boy who went with you this time, Xie Wang..."

Lin Wanyi paused, her gaze sweeping across the dining table and landing on her daughter's face:

Bring him home to meet us when you have time.