583: Chapter 583: Uncle Jess, I seem to hear so strange remarks (Super long chapter asking for monthly tickets) 583: Chapter 583: Uncle Jess, I seem to hear so strange remarks (Super long chapter asking for monthly tickets) “The data exchange on the internet is essentially the transmission of individual data packets, with all kinds of information encapsulated within these packets before they are transmitted to various computer terminals for processing.”
“Our current attack thods can be understood as sending control-program-containing data packets to the enemy’s computer.
Once these packets successfully enter the opponent’s computer, we can figure out a way to gain control of it.”
“Firewalls, on the other hand, are protective asures that separate internal networks from external networks.
They can effectively filter out which data packets co from authorized users and which do not, thereby blocking those ‘malicious’ users’ packets from entering the computer.”
“Antivirus software functions to identify malicious data and programs that have entered the computer after the fact and to remove them from the computer.”
“Of course, this is just a simplified process.
The actual situation is much more complex.
Um…
Uncle Jess, am I still explaining it too deep?”
Vianne paused, as if contemplating,
“Ah, I’ve got it.
Uncle Jess, you can think of it like this: we are now engaged in a siege battle, just like in the stories of novels.
“My friend, who is marked as E at the data’s base layer, and I are the attackers, while the hacker on the other side is the defender.
The firewall is like the city wall, and the antivirus software is like the defense forces within the city.”
“This city isn’t just one standalone city.
They have many satellite cities, which are the smaller computer terminals on the periphery.”
“There is a normal exchange of personnel and supplies between the big city and the satellite cities, which represents the data in normal transmission.”
“The city cluster ford by these satellite cities and the big city is a subordinate internal network, protected by a bigger firewall on the outside.”
“When we just broke through the network of that external laboratory, Uncle Jess, you first bypassed the external firewall and entered the cluster of these satellite cities, allowing E to occupy a satellite city with weak defenses first.”
“Then she used the communication between this satellite city and other satellite cities to rapidly take over the other satellite cities.”
“After occupying these satellite cities, we can mobilize their computing power, which is the city’s resources, and bypass the peripheral firewall through the network to bring in more of our data packets, which are our soldiers.”
“At the sa ti, we can also disguise our soldiers as normal troops of these satellite cities, attempting to infiltrate the big city, the core server.
The role of the big city’s walls, which are the firewalls, is to filter out who is a normal soldier and who is our disguised ‘spy’.”
“The overall computing power of the network for that peripheral laboratory we attacked earlier isn’t high.
If our ‘spies’ infiltrate the core server, even if that hacker has strong individual computing power, he won’t stand a chance against the data flood created by E’s powerful computing power.”
“The city’s ‘antivirus’ forces will be easily defeated by us, and then the city will be occupied.”
“That hacker probably knows this too, so he’s using most of his computing power to maintain the firewall, enhancing its filtering capability.”
“At the sa ti, he’s also deploying a portion of ‘troops’ to uproot the satellite cities we’ve taken control of.”
“In theory, as long as he removes all the terminals we control within the internal network, we won’t be able to send ‘troops’ in from the outside anymore…”
The girl’s voice paused for a mont, “Uncle Jess, do you understand with this analogy?”
“I get it, but it seems not completely.”
He Ao raised his bone axe and once again cleaved an oncoming attacker, who had been injected with the Gene Potion, in two, swiftly advancing forward.
Vianne understood all of this knowledge, and so did He Ao, having inherited Vian’s mories.
But Jess wasn’t supposed to know,
“So, you’re basically playing so kind of strategic ga, where knocking down the opponent’s main city ans victory for us, and them clearing all our occupied territory ans victory for them?”
“Yes, you could understand it that way.”
Vianne continued to furiously type on her keyboard from her end.
Due to the restrictions of her work, this girl seed to rarely communicate with others, and once she started talking, she couldn’t stop.”
“So what about the ‘traps’ you ntioned setting up earlier?”
He Ao went on to ask.
“That’s simple,”
Vianne answered quickly,
“The hacker on the other side, isn’t he allocating computing power to remove our footholds?
But his total computing power is limited.
The more he divides, the less he’ll have to defend the core server.”
“To exploit this, I first set up three terminals as the first layer of ‘traps’.
These three traps progress from one to the next, aiming to disguise a ‘key network terminal’ with high throughput.”
“In reality, most Federation smart devices support both internal and external network connections,
“Many computer terminals in the laboratory above support this feature, capable of connecting to both the internal network and the external network provided by communication service providers, in case the internal network encounters problems and the external network is needed to temporarily maintain work.”
“Moreover, under such circumstances, smart devices typically use a corporate account, allowing direct collective access to the external internet through this corporate account.”
“However, all devices in this laboratory had their external network connection capabilities disabled.
When we entered the internal network and took control of the terminals, we also enabled the external internet access feature to bring in more remote computing power.”
“Generally speaking, attackers don’t have enough computing power, um…
not as exaggerated as E, so in order to concentrate their computational resources, they usually deliver computational power from external networks through only one or two terminals, which are called ‘key network terminals.’
“Once a ‘key network terminal’ is destroyed, it takes ti to rebuild, which enables us to quickly turn the tide of battle.
“In fact, due to E’s imnse computing power, all of our network terminals are ‘key network terminals,’ but the opposing hacker doesn’t know that, so he keeps trying to find our ‘key network terminals.’
“Using this trait, I set up a series of traps to disguise a fake ‘key network terminal.’
“The sole purpose of those three consecutive traps is to divert the hacker’s attention to other network terminals to ‘protect’ our disguised ‘fake key network terminal.’
“That hacker is very smart, he identified my three traps, then located the position of my disguised ‘key network terminal,’ hence he mobilized a large amount of computing power, preparing to directly destroy that ‘key network terminal.’
“At this point, Vianne laughed, her tone becoming lighter, “And then he fell right into my trap.
With the reduced computational power protecting the core server, E effortlessly broke through his defenses and took control of the core server.
“I also found the data channel that connects the surface laboratory and the underground laboratory, but it’s a pity he ran too fast.
The mont the server was compromised, he closed the port, otherwise, we could have directly charged in and killed our way through without having to deal with the firewall here.”
The young girl sighed, “The guy is still reinforcing the firewall.”
He Ao flipped his axe, fresh red blood trailing down the blade.
In front of him, there were still two researchers.
“Devil, you are a devil…”
At this mont, these two researchers were trembling and retreating, unlike the previous researchers who had rushed over.
He Ao switched his headset to a private line with Eve, “Eve, how much longer to break through the firewall?”
“Approximately fifteen minutes and thirty seconds.”
Eve’s voice was unnaturally calm.
“Fifteen minutes is too long,”
He Ao paused, then spoke, implying that the other party must be frenziedly transferring data, “Is there any way to bypass the firewall?”
“Searching for information,”
Eve’s voice paused, “Based on the data from the peripheral laboratory’s core server, there’s a 90% chance that the hidden laboratory internally has only one core router connected to the external network, with other devices lacking network capabilities.”
In other words, the approach He Ao just took of randomly selecting a computer to implant Eve’s compiled control program, in order to bypass the firewall, would not work.
Without the support of Eve’s external computing power, taking control of just one or a few terminals would most likely be easily cleared by the hacker.
However, with this situation, breaking through the firewall would most likely allow direct control over the core server of the hidden laboratory, eliminating the step of internal network strife.
“What about the data port connecting the interior and exterior laboratories that Vianne ntioned?
Is there any way to restart that port?”
He Ao asked again.
If the data channel for the interior and exterior laboratories could be reopened, Eve could invest computational power through the external laboratory’s network and input it directly into the hidden laboratory’s intranet, thereby bypassing the firewall of the hidden laboratory.
“Accessing construction blueprints…
Simulating possible cable layouts…
Simulation successful…
Possible locations of intelligent switches for the internal and external networks marked…”
Accompanying Eve’s voice, He Ao’s wristband vibrated.
A 3D holographic image appeared on the projection of his wristband, showing his current position, which was inside the elevator shaft gate.
Not far from this gate, almost at a horizontal level, there was a closed ergency passage connecting the surface and the underground, and in Eve’s markings, there was a 73% chance that the intelligent switch for the internal and external laboratories was behind a secret door in the middle of this ergency passage.
He Ao touched the projection with his finger, glancing at the surrounding structure.
The gate of this ergency passage was likely made of alloy similar to the one under his feet, not easy to breach in a short ti.
If He Ao took the normal route, he would have to return to the surface and find the closed gate of the ergency passage from the other side.
After breaking through this gate, he would then be able to enter the ergency passage.
Of course, he could use his Divine Sense to speed up the breakthrough process.
But…
He Ao raised his head and looked at the dark walls of the elevator shaft.
Why should he stick to the beaten path?
He walked to the edge of the wall, raised his bone axe, and chopped down fiercely.
With a shower of debris, he hacked a dent into the wall of the elevator shaft.
According to the design plans, the walls around this elevator shaft were specially reinforced, especially near the gate, with a thickness of more than two ters.
He Ao moved quickly, stones scattering in every direction as he accurately discerned the direction despite the hazy darkness.
Behind the cent of the wall was a layer of sturdy alloy, which was thin enough that He Ao could chop through it in two or three hits.
The sharp bone axe sliced into the hard wall as if a steel blade were plunged into soft soil.
After a few chops, He Ao turned the axe vertically, shifting from chopping to shoveling, using the axe as if it were a spade.
By then, two invisible figures had already approached silently from behind him.
Two sharp blades slowly neared his back.
As his body delved deeper into the wall, the blades aid for his heart from behind.
But the blade on the left stopped mid-air, halfway to its goal.
Two fingers clamped around the blade, steadfast despite any force the assailant behind him applied; the blade wouldn’t budge.
He Ao released the bone axe embedded in the wall and slowly deflected the blade with the hand that had pinned it, simultaneously turning his body around.
The person on the right, upon seeing this, didn’t hesitate and drove the blade straight towards He Ao’s neck.
He Ao turned his head and looked at the researcher on the left, whose blade he had caught, whose face was filled with urgency as they still thrust forcefully at him, and he sighed softly.
The last two remaining researchers had once worked under Jess and were quite familiar with Jess’ character; they knew Jess was the kind-hearted “good person” who wouldn’t engage in “slaughter.”
That’s why they had taken on the task of killing “Jess,” believing they “understood” Jess, knowing he wouldn’t kill them, which made it a no-risk deal.
Even if they couldn’t kill Jess, they could still leave alive.
It was precisely because of this that, after they saw He Ao kill the other attackers, they felt fear.
But seeing that He Ao didn’t advance to kill them either, they harbored other thoughts again, believing “Jess” was still the sa old kind, easy-to-bully Jess; they could exploit “Jess'” rcy to approach “Jess” once more.
The gene potions these two used were derived from the “Assassin” Talent Sequences, suited for Stealth in the darkness.
So they had sneaked up behind He Ao.
The researcher on the left, noticing He Ao only sighed without imdiately reacting, felt a surge of joy and hastily signaled to his comrade with his eyes.
At the sa ti, he drew a small steel knife from his waist and lunged at He Ao’s neck from a different angle.
The next second, a broad hand clasped his throat, giving it a gentle twist.
Crack—
Accompanied by a crisp sound, both his neck and the blade caught by He Ao snapped simultaneously.
The broken blade, splattered with blood, buried itself into the neck of the perpetrator beside him, turning the pristine lab coat crimson.
Two bodies hit the ground with dull thuds.
He Ao turned around, disconnected the private line to Eve, and switched his earpiece back to the public channel.
Of course, on the public channel, he could also speak with Vianne while still hearing Eve and Vianne, but Vianne couldn’t hear Eve.
At the sa ti, he continued ‘excavating’ the wall with his axe.
Those researchers were far more adept at harnessing the power of the gene potions than the rcenaries, likely being among the first to use the potions.
Even though their base physical prowess didn’t match that of the rcenaries, they managed to perfectly harness the potions’ combative potential.
That was also the controller of this hidden laboratory’s intention in sending these researchers to attack He Ao.
The Mysterious Person, in fact, was also experinting on these researchers, demonstrating through their usage that the gene potion’s combat effectiveness could be enhanced with proficiency and even non-combatants could use it effortlessly.
This proved the strategic value of gene potions.
The sound of scattering debris and blades stabbing into concrete echoed through the silent night.
In just a few dozen seconds, He Ao had dug through the over two-ter wall, revealing a narrow downward staircase before his eyes.
Compared to the elevator doors, this ergency corridor was less securely sealed.
And the scent of blood was stronger.
He Ao raised his wristband, glanced at the 3D diagram, and quickly located the hidden secret door along the corridor.
This secret door was sealed within the cent wall and would have been difficult to find without blueprints.
He Ao lifted his bone axe again and split open the secret door.
During this mont, a shadowy figure lunged fiercely at his back.
He Ao turned his head and swung his axe toward the figure behind him.
A golden ray of light from a shield flashed in the darkness before being shattered by the axe blade, as the figure retreated.
He Ao didn’t look at the figure, but quickly stepped into the dark passage.
Behind the secret door was a pitch-black narrow space, resembling a storeroom, with dense lines connecting various machines that flickered with light scattered throughout the area.
The intelligent switch, it seems he had found the right place.
With the ability to see in the dark like a terrorist, He Ao rapidly identified a data cable among these wires, then took off his bracelet and connected it to the cable.
“Infiltrating the switch now, approximately thirty seconds until the port reopens,” ca the voice of Eve in He Ao’s ear.
This was deep underground, the network was sowhat unstable, and Eve could only allocate so much computing power.
Vianne’s voice almost imdiately followed, “Uncle Jess, how did you find this switch?
You’re so amazing.”
“It’s nothing, the rest is up to you guys.”
He Ao lifted his head and gazed outside the secret passage, in the direction of the figure he had just sent flying.
Erging from below the ergency passage, behind the figure that was struck away, stood a fiery figure with arms wide open, flas burning fiercely in his hands.
Behind him, a towering muscular figure lifted his head, glancing at He Ao, and in front, the person He Ao had just knocked away also rose.
Three people; the one conjuring fla orbs must be the Fla Master with fire control ability He Ao had seen before, the tall figure should be a ‘warrior,’ and the one sent flying must be the C-level able to form a golden armor.
He Ao calmly observed these three individuals.
These three gave He Ao the impression that they were easily on par with a regular C-level and lacked the chaotic aura emanated by others who had taken Gene Potions.
Theoretically, there’s only one reason for this—these three might originally belong to respective prior Talent Sequences of the three Gene Potions, having perfectly fused with the power of their potions, and their proficiency in Talent Sequences was also very high.
He Ao gripped the handle of his axe and slowly walked out from behind the secret passage, staring down at the three figures in the shadows, “I have always been curious, which Talent Sequences exactly correspond to your Gene Potions.”
“Talent Sequence 98: Warrior,”
The towering man slowly spoke.
“Talent Sequence 101: Fla Master.”
The woman, with flas in hand, wore a blazing red dress, compressing the roaring fire at her fingertips.
“Talent Sequence 122: Honor Knight.”
The first shadow He Ao had knocked away was that of a well-proportioned man, raising his hand as the golden shield ford once again.
“Talent Sequence 111: Terrorist,”
He Ao stood atop the stairs, looking down at the three, “I believe you are aware of my combat strength.
It seems the Mysterious Person has offered you quite the terms.”
“To kill you, Boss will grant us these three Talent Sequences.”
The Honor Knight drew a longsword from his waist, “There’s no such thing as an invincible C-level in this world.”
“I like charming n, and if we had t in a bar or a dance hall, we might have spent a splendid night together,”
The Fla Master’s flas compressed into an intense fireball as the searing heat caused her dress to flutter, “It’s a pity here, I can only hope your corpse doesn’t cool too quickly.”
······
“Uncle Jess, did sothing happen over there?
I think I heard so strange declarations,” asked Vianne curiously through the earpiece.
······
He Ao reached out and turned off the microphone.
The fireball launched from the Fla Master’s hands, passing by He Ao’s calm cheek with its scorching flas, the heatwave tossing his hair.
“Control of the intelligent switch successful, reopening the port, estimated completion in ten seconds.”
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