Chapter 401: Chapter 401
Only teams and individuals ranked in the top ten are eligible to advance to the next round of offline attack-and-defense competition.
The competition officially begins at 9 a.m. on the 12th.
For participating contestants, the entire process is recorded, and a professional judging panel supervises them to ensure fairness in the competition.
The large conference hall on the second floor of Chongzhen Building at Qingzhou University is now filled with cybersecurity experts from across the country. Seated in the foremost position is a remarkably young-looking man. Dressed casually, he resembles a vibrant college student, yet all the other experts seem to regard him as their focal point.
This man is Cheng Fan, the Chief Network Security Technical Officer of Feilian Group. He was once hailed as a child prodigy in computing, having hacked into Feilian Group’s system at the age of fourteen, leaving a team of experts helpless. However, instead of holding him accountable, Feilian Group signed him on, heavily nurturing his talent. Over the years, Feilian Group’s rapid progress in the field of network security has been largely credited to Cheng Fan.
The renowned Chief Technical Officer, despite his fame, is only in his early twenties—barely older than the participating college students.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the hall is serious. Each person works on a computer, which displays the team rankings based on individual scores.
An hour has passed, enough time to determine who’s truly skilled.
"PT is in first place, solving 32 problems, with a score of 96."
"Impressive—every problem secured First Blood. Their approach is steady. Looks like a dark horse to me."
The difficulty of the problems is divided into ten levels. During the first hour, the problem bank contains level-one questions, with each worth two points. If a team secures First Blood on a problem, they earn a bonus point for that question.
Securing First Blood on every single question indicates a high level of team synergy. CTF is inherently a team competition, and efficient collaboration greatly amplifies results—a distinct advantage in the upcoming attack-and-defense rounds.
Second hour, third hour...
In the blink of an eye, the morning is over.
PT remains firmly in first place, far ahead of second place. No one else has secured First Blood on any question.
There’s no doubt the dark horse has entered the experts’ collective consciousness.
Cheng Fan moved his fingers slightly and clicked on PT’s recording.
On the surveillance screen appears a thin teenager dressed in a black baseball cap and a mask.
His head is slightly lowered, revealing just a glimpse of his collarbone area. Against his jet-black attire, his skin appears exceptionally pale. The sharply defined collarbones exude an unexpectedly striking allure.
Cheng Fan clicked on the contestant’s profile. When he reached the part displaying the number of participants, his eyebrows involuntarily rose.
The experts, belatedly realizing something, couldn’t believe it. "This is an individual contestant? Incredible... According to the profile, he’s only fifteen years old. Could he be a prodigy?"
"The second-place 01 Team is composed of Professor Li’s most prized students, right? I heard they’ve won numerous awards. Everyone in their team has a specific area of expertise, yet together they still couldn’t outperform a fifteen-year-old. This is unbelievable."
Professor Li’s face darkened ever so slightly. "Xu Xin specializes in PROG, Qian Chao excels in WEB, and Zhang Qiang focuses exclusively on BIN. Their cooperation is seamless—this is the essence of teamwork. A single person’s knowledge and energy are ultimately limited. It’s impossible to master all aspects simultaneously. I suspect this individual is cheating."
The group of experts froze. Was this really a case of sour grapes?
In the lead position, Cheng Fan chuckled lightly. "This online competition uses our company’s latest developed online competition system. What’s the matter, Professor Li? Are you doubting our team’s capabilities?"
At just twenty-something, Cheng Fan is already Feilian Group’s Chief Technical Officer—his abilities are undeniably exceptional. In Hua Country, aside from geniuses recruited into state-level confidential sectors, there’s likely no second person of his caliber.
Professor Li’s face turned even darker.
Someone, chuckling heartily, tried to mediate: "Professor Li, I think you’ve gotten too old, and your mind’s starting to fail you. Isn’t there a prodigy sitting right in front of you? Remember the national CTF competition years ago? Mr. Cheng single-handedly competed and took the championship. You’ve got to believe there really are geniuses in this world."
Professor Li’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He realized that his earlier words sounded inappropriate and grudgingly responded, "I wasn’t well-informed."
The group of experts exchanged glances. What was going on with the old man and his biting tone?
Luckily, Mr. Cheng had a magnanimous nature and didn’t hold grudges. If it were someone pettier, kicking him off the judging panel wouldn’t have been out of the question.
Contestants are given a thirty-minute break every three hours. The rightful source is novelꜰire.net
For the judging panel, this also serves as a rare moment of reprieve.
Cheng Fan has his own private break room, where his assistant has already arranged the meal.