Forty-Nine Doomsday Chapter 100: Social Engineering

Inside an abandoned building across the street from the hospital, several dozen people were gathered.

Not a single one of them was wearing protective gear or a mask.

Because they were all infected with the Blood Plague.

Red patches were visible on everyone's necks and shoulders.

Everyone's eyes also held a mixture of anger, despair, and ferocity.

A man with a buzz cut stood before them, his expression twisted as he said, "Everyone knows! Some people have antibodies in their bodies, and getting their serum can save the lives of the infected. Yet those black-clad bastards from the Bureau aren't telling us! Why do we have to wait to die if we're infected, while they get to use the serum?"

"I'll ask one thing right now!" the man shouted, "Right across the street in that hospital, the black-clad bastards took in a woman, probably the one with the antibodies. There are only a few guards at the entrance now, and we have several dozen people. Do you dare follow me to go take it from them, damn it!"

"Fuck it! We're already dying, what's there to be afraid of?"

"That's right, those of us who are infected have less than 24 hours left. What else can't we risk at this point?"

"Never mind just a few gun-toting guards at the door, even if they parked planes and tanks at the entrance, I'd still go! Getting shot to death is better than bleeding out!"

The crowd of infected people was roused to a frenzy, with not a single voice of dissent.

Many of them had originally been staying at gathering points, but after being discovered as infected by others, they were kicked out.

Some tried to seek official assistance, but the officials tactfully informed them they couldn't provide aid, only help administer euthanasia to let them pass without pain.

Some agreed, but many more refused!

Even knowing they would bleed out and die within 24 hours, how many dared to end their own lives early? Even if it's euthanasia, it's still death!

Faced with the high wall of death, not many would willingly crash into it.

So, some of these infected individuals used local forums and other channels to connect and gather.

Others shunned them, but they wouldn't shun each other. They're all infected, who can shun whom?

After gathering, someone suggested doing something shocking and earth-shattering together before bleeding out, which garnered much agreement. But soon, someone learned about the existence of the antibody serum through a relative's channel.

This person's relative's son was an employee of the Emergency Management Bureau, a frontline operative, so he knew the intel. And this relative, out of a desire to show off, told this person.

Shocked and furious, this person then revealed the news to this group of infected individuals.

Upon learning this, everyone was furious, but they also saw a glimmer of hope for survival—if they could get a serum injection, they could live!

So the group scattered, staking out various hospitals throughout the city, hoping to stumble upon something. Unexpectedly, they actually had a breakthrough today; a woman suspected of having antibodies was taken into the hospital.

The lookout immediately called to notify the others, and soon several dozen infected individuals gathered at this location.

"Good, since everyone has guts, no need to say more! I—"

The buzz-cut leader's words were cut short as he suddenly vomited blood from his mouth, followed by blood starting to seep from his eyes and ears.

Everyone else was stunned. The buzz-cut man himself was also stunned for a moment, then let out a bitter laugh, "Just when hope appeared, yet..."

Splat!

Before he could finish speaking, he experienced a bleeding-out event and fell to the ground, dead.

Several people standing near the buzz-cut man were splattered with blood, but they just wiped it off casually.

Then another person stepped forward, "Everyone saw that. Time waits for no one. We need to act immediately."

Without a doubt, when a group's goal is highly unified, even if the leader dies, a new leader will immediately emerge.

Moreover, the buzz-cut man's death only further fueled the group's ferocity and impatience—they didn't want to delay another second, because no one knew if they would be the next to bleed out and die!

Hospital entrance.

Several members of an Armed Squad wearing protective gear were chatting with each other.

"Any plans after the rules end?"

"What plans could there be? Follow orders."

"Counting the time, we should be due for rotation soon, right?"

"Not necessarily... don't forget, after these rounds of rules, our team has also suffered casualties. They've been recruiting from the civilian population lately."

"I heard about that from the training guys. They said there are many new recruits practicing shooting every day now."

As they were talking, something was suddenly thrown over from a distance.

Clatter.

The object landed not far from the group. They turned to look; it seemed to be a metal lighter.

They looked in the direction it came from and saw a hooded figure standing not far from the hospital guard post, hands pressed together.

"Explode!"

Boom!!!

The lighter immediately exploded, metal fragments flying everywhere. One person was instantly cut, and the protective gear of the others was also punctured!

An attack?!

The Armed Squad members were shocked. They never expected someone would dare attack them while they were armed. They hurriedly raised their gun muzzles to return fire.

However, this guy with the ability to detonate metal objects was just a distraction. Simultaneously with the lighter explosion, several dozen people charged out from another side, shouting as they rushed forward!

Some used items, while those without items threw stones and glass bottles in their hands.

The few Armed Squad members didn't expect to be suddenly attacked by a group. Caught off guard, two were immediately knocked down by thrown objects. The remaining three hurriedly retreated while firing, with one urgently notifying teammates inside the hospital.

Tongues of fire spat out, and the dozen or so people charging at the front immediately fell dead. Those behind took the opportunity to close the distance. The hooded man who had thrown and detonated the lighter earlier took out a handful of small steel balls from his pocket and scattered them, pressing his hands together again.

"Explode!"

Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop!

All the steel balls exploded. The three remaining squad members were all injured and cried out in pain. The other infected individuals seized the chance to swarm them, knocking the three down and snatching their guns and weapons.

Successfully taking down the five combat personnel guarding the main gate, the infected individuals' morale soared. Everyone looked at the hooded man, showering him with praise.

"Brother, you're amazing! We relied entirely on your ability!"

"Being able to detonate metal objects, such a powerful ability, and you didn't join the official department back then? What were you thinking, man?"

The hooded man smiled weakly, "I can only detonate small metal objects right now, and my Mind Power Upper Limit isn't high. These two detonations have pretty much exhausted my Mind Power."

"Alright, we took down the ones at the entrance. There are definitely more inside! And they must have called for backup. We need to quickly take down those inside and get that woman's serum!"

...

"...Is this for real?"

After fighting continuously for seven or eight hours, the young hacker in the dim room was now going crazy.

He never expected that such a small, shabby website would take him so long, using every method and tool at his disposal, yet he still couldn't manage to crack it.

No matter how he tried to infiltrate or invade, the result was either injection failure or an inability to locate the IP address.

On his computer screen right now, the simple interface of the "Ascendant Home" website seemed to be mocking his incompetence.

"What a joke..." The young man glared with bloodshot eyes, "Such a small website made from a template actually has stronger defensive capabilities than those of big companies?"

From a technical standpoint, this made no sense whatsoever.

The young man recalled the post he saw earlier, where the Administrator said his website "would never be tracked or breached." He found it laughable at the time, but now it seemed there might actually be something to it.

At the very least, even a top-tier hacker like him, exhausting all means, couldn't hack into it, indicating this website's security capabilities were indeed extraordinary.

He believed the number of hackers worldwide with technical skills above his own absolutely didn't exceed double digits. If it could defend against him, it could defend against the vast majority of cyber intrusions worldwide.

"It shouldn't be... such a small website, could it be using some special technology?"

The young hacker was utterly puzzled. Finally, he decided to use his ultimate move.

He logged into the account he registered on the website and posted the first thread in the entire "Casual Chat" section.

《Wow, this website is really well made, Administrator, can I add you as a friend to chat?》

This ultimate move was: Social Engineering.

The hacker master he admired most, who was once ranked number one in the world, achieved his peak feat of infiltrating the Suroma Empire's homeland security agency not through cyber intrusion, but through physical intrusion!

That's right, that master spent several months planning to get acquainted with the security agency's deputy head of security and developed a romantic relationship. Using this relationship, he entered the agency internally as a security employee.

Then, leveraging his identity as a security employee, he advanced step by step, probing for vulnerabilities within the agency from the inside. During this process, he married the deputy head of security, who even bore him a child... After a full four years, he finally found an internal vulnerability, obtained the secret key, and thus completed a comprehensive infiltration and breach of the security agency.

After the case was made public, it shocked the entire cybersecurity world. While that hacker master was arrested and thrown into prison by the Suroma Empire, he also taught all hackers a lesson:

If you've exhausted all methods online and still can't infiltrate a security system, you might as well try infiltrating it offline through social engineering. Because all systems ultimately rest on people, and people have weaknesses. Crack the key person at the critical node, and you naturally crack the system.

Now, this young hacker intended to pay homage to his idol by cracking the website's Administrator to obtain the key to cracking the website.

Meanwhile, in his own shelter, Guan Tong received a website notification, seeing a post from someone with the registered nickname "Mask." He was even a little touched.

His website had been online for over ten hours, and finally, someone had posted the first thread!

Looking at the thread title, he clicked in and replied, "Thanks for the recognition. Let's just chat in the section."

Less than a few seconds after his reply, the other side replied again.

Mask: "Okay! Because I also have some research in website development, I'd like to discuss some technical-related questions with you, Administrator."

Technical-related...

Guan Tong thought to himself that he had no real technical skills; the website was basically set up with the help of AI tools.

But if he stated it so bluntly, it would undoubtedly affect the website's credibility.

If users see you, the Administrator, saying the website was made using AI and templates, their first reaction would definitely be that it's unreliable. Once they have that impression of unreliability, how could they still believe your website is absolutely secure?

He thought for a moment and replied, "The technology I use is very special."

On the other end, the young hacker's eyes lit up upon seeing this.

See, I knew he used special technology! I really want to know what it is...

Suppressing his intense curiosity, he replied, "I wonder what technology it is? Can you give a hint, Administrator?"

Administrator: "That's not convenient."

"...I knew it."

The young hacker knew it wouldn't be that easy to fish for information. He thought for a moment and had another idea.

Mask: "Alright. But Administrator, this website's UI interface seems a bit rough. I happen to be good at this area and would like to help you optimize it. Would that be possible?"

Seeing Mask's reply, Guan Tong narrowed his eyes slightly.

Offering favors for no reason... Who would have nothing better to do than want to optimize someone else's website interface? That's hard work.

Could this guy be trying to fish for my technology? The problem is, I don't have any technology... The inability to locate intrusions is just the inherent work characteristic of the shelter...

With this thought, Guan Tong mused: That's fine too. If you want to work for me for free, why wouldn't I accept?

Administrator: "How do you plan to optimize it?"

Mask: "Simple! I'll make a one-click optimization package and send it to you, Administrator. You just need to load it onto your website!"

Administrator: "Okay."

"Got a lead!" The young hacker looked at the Administrator's reply, feeling a surge of joy in his heart, "I'll stuff a few Trojans into the optimization package. If they aren't detected, I should be able to invade from the inside."