A pitch-black room. The lights were off, and only the glow from various electronic devices lit up the young man sitting before a computer.
He wore protective gear, thick-lensed glasses, and his ssy hair looked like a bird’s nest, his face slick with oil.
He stared at the information on the screen and muttered to himself, “They really are suppressing information...”
A prodigy hacker who had broken into foreign security agency intranets in his teens, the young man’s mastery of network technology bordered on the uncanny.
So he was quick to notice, two days after the Blood Plague rule was announced, that certain information online had begun to be suppressed.
By repeatedly switching IPs and accounts for testing, he confird he wasn’t mistaken: there was indeed an automated system performing one-way blocks on specific keywords.
Using the big data tool he developed, he analyzed the results and extracted several keywords. They all pointed to the sa fact.
“Is there an antibody serum for the virus... no wonder they’re suppressing this.”
He could understand why. Over the years he had cracked many secret archives and knew that so revelations, once public, would cause enormous chaos and likely bring mortal danger onto whoever exposed them.
So every ti he only looked for himself; knowing was enough, and he wouldn’t publish the findings.
This ti was no different. Even though he had discovered suppressed information through technical ans, he wouldn’t spread it—after all, no matter how skilled you are online, if the damage you cause outweighs the cost of going after you, the higher-ups will be ruthless and can still catch you.
“Phew...”
He leaned back in his chair with a satisfied smile.
Every successful “campaign” thrilled him; it felt like winning a battle.
To him, his devices were his soldiers and the “enemy” was stubborn network defenses. Each breach sent a surge of excitent through him.
He enjoyed the process more than the result. After each breach he felt a brief rush, then quickly lost interest and started hunting for the next “enemy.”
Because of that mindset, his attacks weren’t motivated by gain; sotis he even reported vulnerabilities he found to the target. After they patched them, he’d challenge them again, and succeeding a second ti gave an even greater rush.
Right now, savoring the satisfaction of having just broken official information suppression, he idly browsed the web.
A forum post caught his eye.
Specifically, the title.
“I created a website that can never be tracked or hacked, for Ascendants to communicate”
The phrase “can never be tracked or hacked” made him chuckle.
As a top-tier hacker, his motto was “there’s no absolutely secure system.”
No matter how advanced, every system has flaws. Where there are flaws, there’s a chance of breach.
He clicked the post; the poster’s nickna was “Administrator of Ascendant Ho,” and the ssage was short:
“The purpose of creating this site is to give Ascendants a safe, reliable platform where they can speak freely. The site just launched and will be improved over ti. Please support it.”
The young man couldn’t help smirking. Even soone like him, who had studied network security since childhood and had spent an average of more than twelve hours online daily researching for over twenty years, wouldn’t dare claim to build an impregnable platform, let alone anyone else.
He replied casually: “If you have the ti, learn sothing. Even getting a basic grasp of network security would stop you from speaking so boldly.”
He ant to close it afterward, but the “Administrator” happened to be online and replied imdiately: “I’m serious.”
“Oh? You’re challenging ?”
The young man raised an eyebrow and grinned.
“Fine, today I’ll show you how ruthless the network world can be!”
He opened the site linked in the post. The crude, makeshift page inside instantly made him regret it.
“What am I wasting my ti on...”
The page was so basic it looked like a template slapped together casually. Attacking such a site would be using a sledgehamr to kill a fly.
He almost shut it down, but recalling his earlier taunt, he sighed.
“Whatever, I’ll ss with it.”
He didn’t bother inspecting such a low-level site closely. He launched his cracking tool to attack automatically and went to do sothing else.
A minute later he switched back to the tool interface and was stunned by the result: “Failed?”
Seeing the red words “Injection Failed” on the tool, he frowned.
This tool was his own creation and could crack about 95% of websites. Yet now, against this shoddy little site, it failed.
“Could the tool be bugged?”
He imdiately used the tool to randomly crack several other sites—no problem; within seconds they all showed “Injection Successful.”
That made him sit up straight, eyes bright.
“Not bad, this site actually has sothing worthwhile.”
He hadn’t expected it. After breaking the official suppression, he’d been looking for a new target and accidentally stumbled upon this: the little website’s defenses were surprisingly good.
“Alright, let’s see how secure you really are!” He rubbed his hands, focused fully, and dove into attacking the site. For a while, only the staccato of keyboard tapping filled the room.
...
On the twelfth day after the Blood Plague virus outbreak, three days remained before the rule ended.
Every normally noisy tropolis had fallen quiet. On the streets, mostly just official drones and vehicles moved.
Many who’d chosen to drive out of the city earlier had either made it out or been stuck in jams, where those who couldn’t escape beca infected.
Aerial drone footage clearly showed many roadside cars surrounded by buzzing flies circling carcasses of people who had exploded in a bloody death.
Large numbers who escaped the cities scattered—so alone to remote places, others forming small groups and setting up camps in the wild.
At one of those camps, six or seven people gathered around a middle-aged woman.
None of them had professional protective equipnt, only ordinary masks. The middle-aged woman wasn’t wearing one, as if she wasn’t afraid of infection.
A man with a crisp crew cut said, “So we need to go to a hospital?”
“Yes.” The middle-aged woman nodded, “I was infected and managed to survive, so I probably have antibodies in my body. That ans my serum might save people... but to separate serum from blood you need a centrifuge, and only hospitals have those.”
Those around her nodded in agreent. They trusted the woman’s words because she had been a doctor and had professional knowledge.
“Xiao Ming’s shoulder developed red spots about an hour ago.” The crew-cut man glanced into the tent where a teenage boy lay.
“The rule says infected people will burst blood and die within twenty-four hours. That ans Xiao Yu might still have over twenty hours, or he might die any second...”
“We can’t waste ti. We must get to a hospital!”
Everyone agreed. They had t at a gathering point during the fourth rule and supported each other through the Snow Disaster and later banded together to fight the living dead rule.
Those shared experiences forged deep bonds, and they decided to act together. After the Blood Plague rule was announced, they chose to leave the city and shelter in the wild.
The first days went smoothly, with no infections, so they felt they’d made the right choice.
But when the female doctor was infected, everyone was grief-stricken—then unexpectedly she recovered quickly! That made them both joyful and bewildered.
They thought it an auspicious sign that they would all make it through the rule. Yet, with three days still left, the youngest in their group, Xiao Ming, beca infected.
“Do you think Xiao Ming could recover like Sister Yu? Then maybe he’d also be able to tell who’s infected...”
“That would be ideal! But...”
“We can’t be lucky-minded!” the crew-cut man said gravely. “When Sister Yu got infected, none of us knew survivors were possible; we assud infection ant certain death, so we didn’t act. This ti it’s different.”
The woman called Sister Yu, forrly a doctor, nodded: “Exactly. Xiao Ming is only sixteen. Such a young kid—we can’t just sit here.”
“Then follow Sister Yu. Go to the hospital!”
“Let’s go!”
After deciding, they left two people to tend to Xiao Ming while the rest piled into vehicles and rushed back to the city.
Unlike the congested exodus, the return to the city was much smoother.
Upon reentering, they soon saw many cars loaded with corpses by the roadside—sights too horrible to bear.
They assud official agencies simply didn’t have the manpower to handle everything.
Their vehicles headed straight for the nearest hospital. When they arrived at the gate, they found Ergency Managent Bureau vehicles and an Ard Squad posted on guard.
As soon as their car stopped, bureau staff approached.
Seeing only masks on them, one staff mber exclaid, “Where did you co from? Where’s your protective gear?”
“We just entered the city and don’t have protective suits.”
“From outside the city... why are you at the hospital?”
“We need a centrifuge.”
“A centrifuge?” The staffer’s eyes sharpened, “That’s used to separate serum and plasma!”
He imdiately signaled to others, and several uniford people closed in, surrounding the vehicle.
The crew-cut man jumped out and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Don’t get worked up.” A team leader said, “We just want to understand the situation. Why do you need a centrifuge?”
“We want to save soone. A child is infected.” Sister Yu stepped out, “I used to be a doctor. After I was infected I found I recovered on my own. I think my serum may contain antibodies, so I ca to draw blood and use a centrifuge to separate serum for injection into that child.”
At the words “recovered on her own after infection,” the team leader confird, “She’s an ‘adaptor,’ co with us.”
“Wait!”
“We have more people to save! What are you doing?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll send a vehicle to pick them up and give them serum injections for treatnt.”
Sister Yu froze for a mont, “So you’ve already confird serum works?”
“Yes. You’re not the only Blood Plague adaptor.”
“Wait!” the crew-cut man demanded, “So you knew people’s serum could treat infections all along? Why didn’t you tell everyone!”
“We can’t say. It’s orders from higher-ups.”
“You...”
“Enough. Saving lives is the priority now.” Sister Yu said, “I’ll go into the hospital to extract serum. Hurry and bring Xiao Ming.”
They were so focused on talking that no one noticed, across from the hospital, in an abandoned building, a man watched them with a sinister grin.
When he saw the bureau staff taking Sister Yu into the hospital, he took out his phone and said, “Brothers, a chance to stay alive has arrived—let’s see if you’ve got the guts to do it!”
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