Chapter 173: More Questions, No Answers
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"G....O...O...D.....B....Y....E...."
With that final message his whole screen went black and he was left looking at his normal screen again. The ending was abrupt and it annoyed him that he did not get to ask more questions from the mystery person. He was stuck between wanting to smash his computers and also reinforce his systems against future attacks.
"F*ck me."
The cuss words kept flowing out of his mouth and felt like the best descriptors of his irritation. It felt like he had said the same sentence four times already but kept using it regardless. When the attack first happened he was too caught up in defending against the cyber attacks. The mystery hacker was definitely someone more experienced than him.
To be able to break into his system that quickly and launch this many attacks, it was obvious that they were on a professional to dangerous level. He didn't even manage to catch all the different attacks launched and would never have found out till they brought it up themselves. It made him extremely uncomfortable that there was someone listening in to everything he was saying. Without his knowledge, every single sound made was being transmitted back to the other party. That was too vulnerable and 'n.a.k.e.d' for him to be okay with.
He didn't even know what he had said during that time, he felt secure that no 'secrets' came out. However, if they recorded his voice and what little words he did say they could be used against him in the future. A lot of cyber crimes or crimes in general, had developed to using actual voice clips in their schemes. They would take cuts of the words and make random sentences they never actually said. Or they would use them to unlock any voice-activated passwords they had.
Personally, there were none that he could think of right now that were voice-activated in his life. Still didn't calm him though, words could be used in multiple ways crime being only one. Not to mention, at its core listening in on him was embarrassing. He was aware of his position and that he was above a lot of people but not everyone in coding. Yet, to be insulted on skills and then be heard while he had anger outbursts was humiliating.
Every response he sent back to the other gave off a feeling of nonchalance. It was his way of maintaining his 'image' and to show the other he was not angered by the words. Him slamming his pencil holder onto the floor was just opposite of that, no? He rolled his eyes at himself and gave himself a slap on the forehead.
"Literally nothing has been going my way recently."
Considering his humiliation and him taking back to back losses, at least there should be some meaning to this suffering. The meaning would have come in the form of Valentina's information and not a crumb of knowledge was gained. Near the end, the mystery hacker had openly admitted that he was attacking for her and because of her.
Based on the wording, he's assuming that it wasn't her but someone working alongside her. She could have hired a freelance worker to keep track of her searches or it was a team member. Both of those options insinuated a larger background that he wanted to find out. His whole point was to check if she was good enough and safe enough to be near his friend. What was he to do now?
The suspicions he had against her grew larger and made him worry for the future. If she could have someone at that caliber on her team willingly, what else can she do? Its a hard thing to gauge from a couple of interactions but he was sure that she was a mid to high level power. Not in this city of course but definitely held power somewhere else. A lot of those hackers could not be bought for a price or the price was very large. She has to have powerful connections that are beneficial to the hacker or a heavy bank account to appease them. However, hiring a hacker to constantly track things related to you would be a long-term job and might be beneath a hacker.
There was no thrill and he felt like bleeding at the estimated amount it would take in monthly payments. So he automatically just cut that option out of his mind, leaving only power as the answer. Which then the question became, with that much power what was your business in this city? What was your business with Xi Long? Would that business intersect with what they are doing?
His questions just came pilling up and no answers were in the vicinity. Xi Long knew as much as him so there was another moot resource lying next to him. He considered for a very brief moment, editing his computer system and then trying again. That idea was cut down immediately as the warning resounded in his head again.
"I will set this city in flames huh....."
He whispered the words out loud to himself as he went over the final words. The warning was quick and straight to the point. Maybe a little cinematic or dramatic in his eyes, didn't mean that it was completely accurate either. The hacker could have literally meant that the city would be in flames, many people put themselves over other lives. There were many many psychos who would set up a gas leak and watch the place fall into chaos. He had no understanding of their personality or identity to take the risk.
If a random person or a known person had made this threat, he would just arrange for them to be removed or disregarded them. They were quite settled within this city and country, so petty threats could not stop them. He was only extra cautious because he was able to see their cyber skills and the rest of them was unknown. Too many uncertainties for someone who likes things to be in his control. The ask they made of him wasn't too hard either, stop looking into Valentina and everything would be fine. While that pained him mentally, physically would be no problem for now.
The game automatically became a long term observation process. No matter what, he would not trust her completely till her cards were on the table. He was Xi Long's best friend and only had to keep their best interest in mind. Even if she didn't tell them much, there had to be more given than her elusive persona.
It was kind of stupid that Xi Long was so readily accepting of her and her fake names. He doubted if he knew her real name or not, his bets were heavily on the latter option. This man had a pet name for her, he had heard it accidentally one time and that's probably the only referral he heard. In front of him, Xi Long maintained the "Valentina" name and went with the flow. The personal nickname was a little gross to imagine his friend saying but it definitely solved the name problem within the relationship.
Who knew if that was the reason the nickname was created? To cover for the lack of not knowing her real name he just opted to call her something else. There was also something to be said for her allowing him to call her that. The title was a little 'cringe' in his opinion and she didn't look like someone who would accept such a title. However, if she was bent on not using another name it seemed like something she had to settle for. It was a package deal to dating his best friend, an overbearing and possessive man plus a pet name.
He tried to probe last night but Xi Long had put up his iron defences. Anything to do with Valentina now was completely not up for debate. Don't get him wrong, he was happy to see him happy and so passionate for a woman. It just caused problems on his side, he had no emotional connection to the lady and was able to think more level headed.
Xi Long was fully aware of how s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e the next couple months were going to be for them. They had a list of things they were waiting years on and were finally coming into fruition. Bringing a girl in with an unknown background, was just to risky for him.
What was the payoff? Momentary happiness over the risk of ruining their entire operations??
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"G....O...O...D.....B....Y....E...."
With that final message his whole screen went black and he was left looking at his normal screen again. The ending was abrupt and it annoyed him that he did not get to ask more questions from the mystery person. He was stuck between wanting to smash his computers and also reinforce his systems against future attacks.
"F*ck me."
The cuss words kept flowing out of his mouth and felt like the best descriptors of his irritation. It felt like he had said the same sentence four times already but kept using it regardless. When the attack first happened he was too caught up in defending against the cyber attacks. The mystery hacker was definitely someone more experienced than him.
To be able to break into his system that quickly and launch this many attacks, it was obvious that they were on a professional to dangerous level. He didn't even manage to catch all the different attacks launched and would never have found out till they brought it up themselves. It made him extremely uncomfortable that there was someone listening in to everything he was saying. Without his knowledge, every single sound made was being transmitted back to the other party. That was too vulnerable and 'n.a.k.e.d' for him to be okay with.
He didn't even know what he had said during that time, he felt secure that no 'secrets' came out. However, if they recorded his voice and what little words he did say they could be used against him in the future. A lot of cyber crimes or crimes in general, had developed to using actual voice clips in their schemes. They would take cuts of the words and make random sentences they never actually said. Or they would use them to unlock any voice-activated passwords they had.
Personally, there were none that he could think of right now that were voice-activated in his life. Still didn't calm him though, words could be used in multiple ways crime being only one. Not to mention, at its core listening in on him was embarrassing. He was aware of his position and that he was above a lot of people but not everyone in coding. Yet, to be insulted on skills and then be heard while he had anger outbursts was humiliating.
Every response he sent back to the other gave off a feeling of nonchalance. It was his way of maintaining his 'image' and to show the other he was not angered by the words. Him slamming his pencil holder onto the floor was just opposite of that, no? He rolled his eyes at himself and gave himself a slap on the forehead.
"Literally nothing has been going my way recently."
Considering his humiliation and him taking back to back losses, at least there should be some meaning to this suffering. The meaning would have come in the form of Valentina's information and not a crumb of knowledge was gained. Near the end, the mystery hacker had openly admitted that he was attacking for her and because of her.
Based on the wording, he's assuming that it wasn't her but someone working alongside her. She could have hired a freelance worker to keep track of her searches or it was a team member. Both of those options insinuated a larger background that he wanted to find out. His whole point was to check if she was good enough and safe enough to be near his friend. What was he to do now?
The suspicions he had against her grew larger and made him worry for the future. If she could have someone at that caliber on her team willingly, what else can she do? Its a hard thing to gauge from a couple of interactions but he was sure that she was a mid to high level power. Not in this city of course but definitely held power somewhere else. A lot of those hackers could not be bought for a price or the price was very large. She has to have powerful connections that are beneficial to the hacker or a heavy bank account to appease them. However, hiring a hacker to constantly track things related to you would be a long-term job and might be beneath a hacker.
There was no thrill and he felt like bleeding at the estimated amount it would take in monthly payments. So he automatically just cut that option out of his mind, leaving only power as the answer. Which then the question became, with that much power what was your business in this city? What was your business with Xi Long? Would that business intersect with what they are doing?
His questions just came pilling up and no answers were in the vicinity. Xi Long knew as much as him so there was another moot resource lying next to him. He considered for a very brief moment, editing his computer system and then trying again. That idea was cut down immediately as the warning resounded in his head again.
"I will set this city in flames huh....."
He whispered the words out loud to himself as he went over the final words. The warning was quick and straight to the point. Maybe a little cinematic or dramatic in his eyes, didn't mean that it was completely accurate either. The hacker could have literally meant that the city would be in flames, many people put themselves over other lives. There were many many psychos who would set up a gas leak and watch the place fall into chaos. He had no understanding of their personality or identity to take the risk.
If a random person or a known person had made this threat, he would just arrange for them to be removed or disregarded them. They were quite settled within this city and country, so petty threats could not stop them. He was only extra cautious because he was able to see their cyber skills and the rest of them was unknown. Too many uncertainties for someone who likes things to be in his control. The ask they made of him wasn't too hard either, stop looking into Valentina and everything would be fine. While that pained him mentally, physically would be no problem for now.
The game automatically became a long term observation process. No matter what, he would not trust her completely till her cards were on the table. He was Xi Long's best friend and only had to keep their best interest in mind. Even if she didn't tell them much, there had to be more given than her elusive persona.
It was kind of stupid that Xi Long was so readily accepting of her and her fake names. He doubted if he knew her real name or not, his bets were heavily on the latter option. This man had a pet name for her, he had heard it accidentally one time and that's probably the only referral he heard. In front of him, Xi Long maintained the "Valentina" name and went with the flow. The personal nickname was a little gross to imagine his friend saying but it definitely solved the name problem within the relationship.
Who knew if that was the reason the nickname was created? To cover for the lack of not knowing her real name he just opted to call her something else. There was also something to be said for her allowing him to call her that. The title was a little 'cringe' in his opinion and she didn't look like someone who would accept such a title. However, if she was bent on not using another name it seemed like something she had to settle for. It was a package deal to dating his best friend, an overbearing and possessive man plus a pet name.
He tried to probe last night but Xi Long had put up his iron defences. Anything to do with Valentina now was completely not up for debate. Don't get him wrong, he was happy to see him happy and so passionate for a woman. It just caused problems on his side, he had no emotional connection to the lady and was able to think more level headed.
Xi Long was fully aware of how s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e the next couple months were going to be for them. They had a list of things they were waiting years on and were finally coming into fruition. Bringing a girl in with an unknown background, was just to risky for him.
What was the payoff? Momentary happiness over the risk of ruining their entire operations??
"G....O...O...D.....B....Y....E...." With that final message his whole screen went black and he was left looking at his normal screen again. The ending was abrupt and it annoyed him that he did not get to ask more questions from the mystery person. He was stuck between wanting to smash his computers and also reinforce his systems against future attacks. "F*ck me." The cuss words kept flowing out of his mouth and felt like the best descriptors of his irritation. It felt like he had said the same sentence four times already but kept using it regardless. When the attack first happened he was too caught up in defending against the cyber attacks. The mystery hacker was definitely someone more experienced than him. To be able to break into his system that quickly and launch this many attacks, it was obvious that they were on a professional to dangerous level. He didn't even manage to catch all the different attacks launched and would never have found out till they brought it up themselves. It made him extremely uncomfortable that there was someone listening in to everything he was saying. Without his knowledge, every single sound made was being transmitted back to the other party. That was too vulnerable and 'n.a.k.e.d' for him to be okay with. He didn't even know what he had said during that time, he felt secure that no 'secrets' came out. However, if they recorded his voice and what little words he did say they could be used against him in the future. A lot of cyber crimes or crimes in general, had developed to using actual voice clips in their schemes. They would take cuts of the words and make random sentences they never actually said. Or they would use them to unlock any voice-activated passwords they had. Personally, there were none that he could think of right now that were voice-activated in his life. Still didn't calm him though, words could be used in multiple ways crime being only one. Not to mention, at its core listening in on him was embarrassing. He was aware of his position and that he was above a lot of people but not everyone in coding. Yet, to be insulted on skills and then be heard while he had anger outbursts was humiliating. Every response he sent back to the other gave off a feeling of nonchalance. It was his way of maintaining his 'image' and to show the other he was not angered by the words. Him slamming his pencil holder onto the floor was just opposite of that, no? He rolled his eyes at himself and gave himself a slap on the forehead. "Literally nothing has been going my way recently." Considering his humiliation and him taking back to back losses, at least there should be some meaning to this suffering. The meaning would have come in the form of Valentina's information and not a crumb of knowledge was gained. Near the end, the mystery hacker had openly admitted that he was attacking for her and because of her. Based on the wording, he's assuming that it wasn't her but someone working alongside her. She could have hired a freelance worker to keep track of her searches or it was a team member. Both of those options insinuated a larger background that he wanted to find out. His whole point was to check if she was good enough and safe enough to be near his friend. What was he to do now? The suspicions he had against her grew larger and made him worry for the future. If she could have someone at that caliber on her team willingly, what else can she do? Its a hard thing to gauge from a couple of interactions but he was sure that she was a mid to high level power. Not in this city of course but definitely held power somewhere else. A lot of those hackers could not be bought for a price or the price was very large. She has to have powerful connections that are beneficial to the hacker or a heavy bank account to appease them. However, hiring a hacker to constantly track things related to you would be a long-term job and might be beneath a hacker. There was no thrill and he felt like bleeding at the estimated amount it would take in monthly payments. So he automatically just cut that option out of his mind, leaving only power as the answer. Which then the question became, with that much power what was your business in this city? What was your business with Xi Long? Would that business intersect with what they are doing? His questions just came pilling up and no answers were in the vicinity. Xi Long knew as much as him so there was another moot resource lying next to him. He considered for a very brief moment, editing his computer system and then trying again. That idea was cut down immediately as the warning resounded in his head again. "I will set this city in flames huh....." He whispered the words out loud to himself as he went over the final words. The warning was quick and straight to the point. Maybe a little cinematic or dramatic in his eyes, didn't mean that it was completely accurate either. The hacker could have literally meant that the city would be in flames, many people put themselves over other lives. There were many many psychos who would set up a gas leak and watch the place fall into chaos. He had no understanding of their personality or identity to take the risk. If a random person or a known person had made this threat, he would just arrange for them to be removed or disregarded them. They were quite settled within this city and country, so petty threats could not stop them. He was only extra cautious because he was able to see their cyber skills and the rest of them was unknown. Too many uncertainties for someone who likes things to be in his control. The ask they made of him wasn't too hard either, stop looking into Valentina and everything would be fine. While that pained him mentally, physically would be no problem for now. The game automatically became a long term observation process. No matter what, he would not trust her completely till her cards were on the table. He was Xi Long's best friend and only had to keep their best interest in mind. Even if she didn't tell them much, there had to be more given than her elusive persona. It was kind of stupid that Xi Long was so readily accepting of her and her fake names. He doubted if he knew her real name or not, his bets were heavily on the latter option. This man had a pet name for her, he had heard it accidentally one time and that's probably the only referral he heard. In front of him, Xi Long maintained the "Valentina" name and went with the flow. The personal nickname was a little gross to imagine his friend saying but it definitely solved the name problem within the relationship. Who knew if that was the reason the nickname was created? To cover for the lack of not knowing her real name he just opted to call her something else. There was also something to be said for her allowing him to call her that. The title was a little 'cringe' in his opinion and she didn't look like someone who would accept such a title. However, if she was bent on not using another name it seemed like something she had to settle for. It was a package deal to dating his best friend, an overbearing and possessive man plus a pet name. He tried to probe last night but Xi Long had put up his iron defences. Anything to do with Valentina now was completely not up for debate. Don't get him wrong, he was happy to see him happy and so passionate for a woman. It just caused problems on his side, he had no emotional connection to the lady and was able to think more level headed. Xi Long was fully aware of how s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e the next couple months were going to be for them. They had a list of things they were waiting years on and were finally coming into fruition. Bringing a girl in with an unknown background, was just to risky for him. What was the payoff? Momentary happiness over the risk of ruining their entire operations??
