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nTranslator: Legge Editor: Legge

nLater that morning.

nAt the studio.

n“Director Zhang!”

n“You’re finally back!”

n“Aiyo, where have you been for the past two days?”

n“You gave us such a fright.”

n“Are you OK?”

n“Are you hurt anywhere?”

nWhen Zhang Ye came over, everyone went up and surrounded him

nZhang Ye forced a smile. “I’m fine. How’s everything over here?”

nHa Qiqi said, “Everything’s fine. Oh yes, did you see the news yet? Hacker 2’s real identity seems to have been revealed. Everyone’s discussing this matter now.”

nZhang Ye nodded and said, “I saw it already.”

n“I wonder who it is,” Little Wang said curiously.

nTong Fu said, “God 2 was really cool at that time.”

nLittle Zhou said longingly, “Yeah, he single-handedly swept aside the entire Korean Internet and ended the Sino-Korean Hacker War with an overwhelming victory. There have been so many hacker wars between so many different countries, but there has never been one as awesome as that particular one. I’m really curious to know who this Hacker 2 is. He’s my idol!”

nThey were also discussing this matter. This piece of news was being talked about in all of Asia at the moment.

nOnly Zhang Ye seemed like he was not too interested in discussing it. He went back upstairs to his office alone.

nThe incident had returned to haunt him.

nThe media outlets were fighting to report this news.

n“Hacker 2’s identity locked on!”

n“Suspect already taken into custody!”

n“Korean authorities announce results of investigation!”

n“Korean authorities appeal for suspect to be handed over!”

n“Sino-Korean Hacker War saga from years ago comes to a conclusion!”

n“Creator of Panda Burning Incense revealed?”

n“Evidence points to an employee of the Internet Surveillance Bureau?”

nThe evidence was laid out one by one.

nThe list of possible suspects kept shrinking.

nWhen the Chinese side kept delaying the announcement of the investigation’s results, at around noon, the Koreans could no longer sit still. They announced the identity of the suspect!

nFan Yingyun!

nPrevious hacker pseudonym: FAN.

nCurrent office: Chinese Internet Surveillance Bureau’s First Department.

nAnd so on. Korea listed the details of Fan Yingyun on their own. They were the first to suspect that Fan Yingyun was the hacker and was almost positive that it was her. In the field of hacking, the name of FAN could be said to be famous. She was also a legendary hacker from many years back who had an inglorious record. To say that she and Hacker 2 were the same person, this was a statement that many people were willing to believe.

n…

nIn the hacker world.

n“It’s FAN?”

n“Is it her?”

n“She and 2 are one and the same?”

n“This—”

n“Surely that can’t be true?”

n“It doesn’t feel like their technical flairs are the same, right?”

n“Has it already been confirmed?”

n…

nChina.

n“Fan Yingyun?”

n“Hacker 2 is a female comrade?”

n“Ah, I know her. FAN is a legendary hacker!”

n“Damn, so FAN and 2 are both her?”

n“Isn’t she the leader of Zhang Ye’s fan club?”

n“Is that true?”

n“It’s true. She appeared at Zhang Ye’s wedding too!”

n“Right, she’s from Zhang Ye’s fan club. I think she’s known as Big Saber Bro over there!”

n“Damn, the person in charge of Zhang Ye’s fan club is a world-legend hacker?”

n“How cool! There’s such a beautiful hacker?”

n…

nKorea.

n“What?”

n“It’s a woman?”

n“Wow, she’s quite pretty.”

n“She was the one who created the Panda Burning Incense virus?”

n“How wicked of her.”

n“Why does it have something to do with Zhang Ye again?”

n“Zhang Ye’s name keeps haunting us at every turn!”

n“As it turns out, this fellow and his fan club’s leader are the two biggest public enemies of Korea!”

n…

nInternet Surveillance Bureau.

n“Why did they announce it?”

n“The investigations have not even been fully completed yet!”

n“The Koreans are afraid that we’ll try to protect her, so they decided to spill the beans first!”

n“Those gooks!”

n“I really don’t think it’s Sister Fan!”

n“Yeah, Sister Fan was with us at that time. Everyone saw it as well. How could Sister Fan have any time to go and write the code for a Trojan?”

n“But who could it be if it wasn’t her? Is it you, Little Fang?”

n“Me? As if I’m that skilled.”

n“Then that confirms it. Of those in our department at that time, only Fan Yingyun has the skills to do something like that.”

n…

nAt the studio.

nA lot of people were calling.

nZhang Ye looked at the caller ID on his phone whenever it rang but did not answer the calls. He knew what everyone was calling to ask.

nFrom downstairs, Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the others all ran up.

nHa Qiqi shouted, “Director Zhang, something big has happened!”

nZhang Zuo said in a panic, “Big Saber Bro is Hacker 2!”

nLittle Wang said, “Heavens! This is unbelievable!”

nWu Yi said in shock, “So God 2 has always been so close to our side all this while!”

n“I saw her at the wedding too!” Little Zhou said, “She’s my idol!”

nHa Qiqi looked at Little Zhou. “She’s already been taken into custody, and all of Asia’s attention is on her. What are you still so happy about? This could end up with her going to jail.”

nLittle Zhou yelled, “Ah!”

nZhang Zuo asked, “Director Zhang, is there anything that we can do?”

nHa Qiqi sighed. “This might really be something that we can’t help with. It’s too big an issue.”

nAll this while, Zhang Ye sat there and did not say a word.

nWith the matter developing to this point, a lot of things couldn’t be helped. The effective duration of the Difficulty Adjustment Die’s 5× increased difficulty had ended, but the mess that it left behind was too big. Of course, he knew that Hacker 2 was not Fan Yingyun and the entire matter had nothing to do with her. However, the Difficulty Adjustment Die had successfully let that one-in-a-million possibility come true, allowing the Korean authorities to follow the trail to the Internet Surveillance Bureau’s First Department. Back then, there were only a dozen or so possible suspects in the office of the Internet Surveillance Bureau’s First Department, and everyone knew that only one of them could be Hacker 2.

nDirector Dong.

nFan Yingyun.

nFang Xiaoshui.

nMeng Yi. And so on.

nAnd Zhang Ye as well.

nThere were only those few, and with Fan Yingyun among them, the first person to be suspected was her. Meanwhile, Zhang Ye was not even considered one of the suspects. A lot of people had already forgotten that Zhang Ye was even at the Internet Surveillance Bureau at that time.

nZhang Ye was definitely not going to let Sister Fan be the scapegoat. He kept thinking of different ways to deal with this situation and how he could help Fan Yingyun get out of this predicament. However, all he managed to come up with were two methods.

nOne: With Sister Fan in custody, if Zhang Ye were to show up again as Hacker 2, that would lead to two outcomes. They would either not be convinced and continue the investigations on Sister Fan, or they would be convinced and rule out Sister Fan while continuing to investigate the other people of the Internet Surveillance Bureau. By ruling them out one by one, Zhang Ye would still end up in the crosshairs of the investigations. With just over a dozen suspects, the range was too small. It wouldn’t take long for everyone to be investigated. It was just that they did not expect that person to be Zhang Ye.

nTwo: Zhang Ye could turn himself in and take responsibility for the matter. This was the most clear-cut way of solving the issue.

nThese two methods required Zhang Ye to reveal himself. There wasn’t a third option.

nZhang Ye wished there was a better way in which he could avoid getting caught and still leave everyone happy, but there really weren’t any.

nThis was the most major incident that Zhang Ye had encountered since his debut, as well as the most important decision that he had to make in his entire life. This was a decision that was going to change many things.

nHis career?

nHis popularity?

nHis family?

nHe would have to abandon them all.

nCould he do it?

nCould he bear to leave them?

nZhang Ye fell silent.

n