Chapter 371: Chapter 371

In 1992, a man from the Federation imitated Japanese-style English on purpose and provoked a Japanese-descent geek with the taunt, "My Kung-Fu is the best!"

Of course, this was sent to the latter’s mailbox via voice message.

The one who ridiculed was then the world’s number one hacker.

The ridiculed geek was a long-haired man of Japanese descent. Three years before he was born, his father discovered the green fluorescent protein and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for it.

Shimomura Tsutomu, the son of chemist Shimomura Osamu, was furious. He resolved to catch "the world’s number one hacker," Kevin Mitnick.

Shimomura Tsutomu was a computer expert with the Federation’s National Security Agency. He traced the hacker through the Federation’s operators by official channels, and eventually found the real access point, narrowing the target down to a small area.

This was the most famous hacker showdown in history.

Some said that Shimomura was not actually as skilled as Mitnick. Without the support of Federation departments, without the action of FBI agents, if he had to trace Mitnick on his own, he might not have been able to get close.

But this is how unpredictable the world can be.

Of course, 2030 is completely different from 1992.

At least the thing called "Hotspot" was indeed not invented until 1993.

Modern hackers all know how to exploit wireless networks to access the signals from a shopping mall, fast food restaurant, or cafe tens or hundreds of meters away. But in 1992, even a hacker as skilled as Kevin Mitnick had to be connected to a wired network.

Even in 2030, some extremist guys are able to hop and disguise themselves using the Bluetooth of nearby personal devices.

Even if you track down the "real access," it might just be any point within a hundred meters.

But for the consortium behind the "Rama Project," such a distance is sufficient.

As Xiang Shan gave the order, numerous technicians began to "inspect" the city’s various base stations and servers in batches. Meanwhile, Xiang Shan continued his conversation with Zhu Rong.

If "Zhu Rong" kept chatting while the network infrastructure was taken offline in batches, Hartman and the other technicians could use the slight signal delays to determine which network this guy was really using.

As for the rule that "No direct communication with Zhu Rong without clearance"? Haha, urgent times call for urgent measures. Now, the military staff officer of the United Nations calls the shots. As long as Director Xiang dares to guarantee that there won’t be mishaps afterward, Lei Chaoyang and his team are willing to relax the restrictions.

"Oh... boss, I think I found him," Hartman laughed, "Chiang Mai Holiday Inn. He’s using Wi-Fi... huh, right now he could be in any room between the 10th and 20th floor."

"That makes it easy," Lei Chaoyang nodded, "The local police will get us the occupancy data for that building."

Another United Nations military staff officer had already sent this intelligence through the equipment.

Soon after, two traffic accidents occurred nearby. Maybe it was because of the rainy weather, and it quickly turned into a series of pileups. The road was completely blocked. The police quickly arrived to cordon off the area. There were also ambulances, but strangely enough, the media didn’t capture any images of the injured being taken away.

Traffic was temporarily paralyzed.

At the same time, dozens of matte black drones began slowly climbing up the exterior walls of the hotel, spreading slowly in the blind spots of most of the residents’ view.

These drones were going to analyze the wireless signals inside the rooms.

At the same time, a special forces helicopter silently landed on the rooftop of the Chiang Mai Holiday Inn, deploying a team. The noise from this kind of helicopter was already low, and the heavy rain further muffled it.

Because "Zhu Rong" might have hacked into the hotel’s surveillance system as well, the team didn’t raise any alarms.

Then, several people booked rooms on the hotel’s webpage.

A few minutes later, several plainclothes personnel would arrive at the front desk to check in.

These individuals would head up in batches.

The main force would naturally gather near the elevator, and then enter the floor where "Zhu Rong" was located.

Their current identities were as members of the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces, but their previous identities were genuine elite agents. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ N0velFire.ɴet

At that moment, Zhu Xinyu was almost starving crazy.

She heard about the outside traffic accident, and then her takeout was trapped on the road due to the accident, unable to be delivered.

Zhu Xinyu even had to consider the hotel’s terribly overpriced meals.

— That was the famous establishment I’ve been looking forward to for so long...

Zhu Xinyu felt quite aggrieved.

She called the front desk, and turned her dissatisfaction toward that "Ramanujan".

Maybe it was because of the heavy rain, there had been two network delays. But in Thailand, that was not uncommon. It had happened a few days earlier too. Zhu Xinyu didn’t take it to heart.

Meanwhile, just outside her room, several peacekeeping force members had already drawn their firearms.

And Lei Chaoyang, along with Xiang Shan and Hartman, were entering the hotel.

Colonel Lei looked at Director Xiang, "Director Xiang. Everything is ready. But I must point out, although all signs indicate that ’Zhu Rong’ is an individual hacker, acting alone, and although she has connections with some extremist groups, she has not engaged as a member of a group. Still, we cannot guarantee that she is just ’one person’."

"It should be ’she’," Hartman interrupted, "Hotel check-in records show ’Zhu Rong’ is a female... ’Zhu Xinyu’... a citizen of the Republic?"

"Ah?" Xiang Shan was stunned.

But Colonel Lei remained composed, "No matter which country ’Zhu Rong’ belongs to, they must not jeopardize world peace. What I mean is, we cannot guarantee that this ’zhuxinyu’ is indeed Zhu Rong himself, or that under the ID of Zhu Rong there is only ’zhuxinyu.’ There is still a certain risk that we may alert our target..."

"Ah? Then shouldn’t we take action?"

"We are merely issuing a risk warning. In fact, we still maintain that ’we can act.’" Colonel Lei spread his hands, "After all, you are the highest authority here."

"Then that settles it." Xiang Shan nodded and said, "I’m not in charge of the specific command. You don’t need to ask for my opinion."

Lei Chaoyang spoke softly, "But since you’re here, we have a duty to report to you."

"Alright, let’s get moving!"

While they spoke, the three of them got on the elevator.

..............................

Zhu Xinyu ultimately decided to order room service by phone. She picked up the bedside landline and said in English, "Hello, I need room service..."

At that instant, the door was violently kicked open. Before Zhu Xinyu could react, a shadow rolled on the ground and snatched the laptop from her arms.

"Who..." Before Zhu Xinyu could finish her sentence, several others rushed in as well. A palm lightly struck her on the side of the neck. The force caused the nerves near the blood vessels to mistake it for a surge in blood pressure. Her brain, due to the instinct of self-protection, fell into a brief faint.

By the time Zhu Xinyu came to her senses, she was already pinned down on the bed. Six hands firmly secured her limbs, eliminating any possibility of resistance. Almost simultaneously, a redhead woman grasped her jaw.

With a "click," Zhu Xinyu’s jaw dislocated.

"Ah..." Zhu Xinyu let out a muffled scream.

The woman’s hands delved into Zhu Xinyu’s mouth, searching around her teeth for a moment.

Zhu Xinyu’s heart sank.

These guys were clearly professionals, well-trained. She had no idea what kind of trouble she had stumbled into, and now, only one thought remained in her mind.

—Could the Federation be this quick...

Zhu Xinyu heard noises; it seemed more people were approaching the doorway.

She surprisingly heard her mother tongue.

"She’s just a kid..."

Zhu Xinyu tried to turn her head. But at that moment, she felt a sharp pain in her neck.

Xiang Shan looked over the girl. The girl in a coma was still in her pajamas, her slender legs dangling off the bed. The effects of the compound anesthetic injection, potent enough to knock out a strong man, made her relax instantly. Perhaps due to being persistently agitated, the girl’s face still bore a "blade-like" sharpness.

She looked just like a young beast that had fainted from hunger.

"Even if this child looks particularly old for her age, she’s definitely not twenty, probably still in high school," Xiang Shan said.

"Hmm, boss, have you heard of Aaron Swartz? One of the pioneers of the Open Access Movement. That guy was already a well-known hacker at age eleven," Hartman said while quickly booting up the laptop seized by the agent. "Some bad seeds are born with this kind of... intuition."

"’Bad seeds’?" Xiang Shan even paused for half a second, "The Aaron Swartz you’re speaking of?"

"Ah, right. Boss, you’re an academic, you hold him in high regard just like those MIT people," Hartman said as he quickly scanned Zhu Xinyu’s devices. "To be honest, I can only say that I respect that geek’s contribution to computer technology."

Xiang Shan didn’t speak. He was indeed aware that Hartman was an FBI agent. And the one referred to as the "child of the internet," the Great Hacker, had died by suicide, amidst anger and depression, after being targeted by the Federal justice system for allegedly stealing and releasing academic documents.

Colonel Lei flipped through Zhu Xinyu’s documents. He saw her passport.

—Sure enough, a citizen of the Republic, not an overseas Chinese. This is really bad.

He was aware that other countries involved in the Rama Project would not truly believe it was the official actions of the Republic that stole the data. But this would definitely become some sort of bargaining chip.

The only consolation was that the Republic had been fully involved in this arrest operation. And Xiang Shan, a Republic official, was even on the front line to "command".

Considering this, Colonel Lei’s look towards Xiang Shan gained an added measure of respect.

Soon, the police arrived and dispersed the gathered crowd, notified by the commotion. They carried the hacker girl onto a stretcher. An ambulance was already waiting outside.

The ambulance did not go to the hospital but headed straight for the airport.

Later, a "private plane" took off from the Chiang Mai airport.