Leon Chen always had a nagging suspicion that Grace Wang, the most beautiful woman at Huada University, had some extraordinary background. Otherwise, her hypothetical questions seemed too aligned with national interests. Regardless of who she truly was, Leon had already hinted at his intentions. What would happen next was up to her.
The next day, the XOKO incident once again plunged Huada University into an unprecedented atmosphere.
Compared to XO's miraculous hacking skills, the hot topic now was the core data of the F-22 that XO had released. What exactly did XO see in those five minutes of controlling Turing? This became the focus of everyone's discussions.
Leon did not join in these conversations. In the morning, he was busy investigating Victoria's identity using old-fashioned methods, proving once again that patience was key. Later, he rehearsed "Childhood" with Lily Lin and the others. Although there was still some awkwardness, Lily was able to immerse herself in the singing. As Cynthia put it, Lily Lin's gentle and shy rendition of "Childhood" could outshine any pure-hearted girl in the entertainment industry.
The only drawback was that Lily and Leon's movements were always restrained. Celia Qing couldn't help but wonder, "They kissed in front of everyone at the start of school, so why is it so hard for them to look at each other affectionately?"
Leon could only respond with a helpless smile.
During this time, an unexpected but unsurprising event occurred at Huada University.
The school suddenly organized a health checkup for all students and faculty. Although it was called a checkup, Leon clearly sensed it was a measure against the spies who had infiltrated the school.
After a series of examinations, the listening devices and trackers on Leon's body had disappeared without a trace.
It made sense. After all, Huada was a globally renowned institution and a key university in Red Country. Foreign spies infiltrating the school was a serious matter. The swift actions taken by the authorities made Leon immediately think of Grace Wang's strange behavior that night.
The most beautiful woman at Huada only grew more mysterious in his eyes.
As for how the country would deal with the hidden spies, that was beyond Leon's knowledge.
Saturday
As usual, Leon began investigating Victoria's identity. He was very interested in this hidden European top hacker at Huada. Unfortunately, despite going through dozens of pages of lists, Leon came up empty-handed once again.
Just as he was about to move on to the next list, his phone rang.
"Hey, Leon! Are you online? Big news!" Michael Fang's exaggerated voice came through the phone.
Leon guessed it had something to do with XO's latest astonishing move.
"Damn, man, even if the great XO brought down the entire global network, I wouldn't be surprised," Michael, a die-hard fan of XO, exclaimed.
"Then what is it that has you so worked up?" Leon asked, puzzled.
"The legendary Queen has made an appearance and posted a challenge online. Guess who she's challenging?" Daniel Zhang grabbed the phone from Michael.
Leon paused and then slowly smiled.
"XO!!"
Leon found a secluded spot and eagerly opened his holographic computer. Logging onto any website, he could see that the news of Queen's challenge to XO was already widespread.
No wonder everyone was so excited. Queen was the first hacker from Red Country to shock the world and the second person after Kevin to attain a legendary status in the hacking community.
Queen's hacking achievements boiled down to one event, but that event was enough to make all hackers feel inferior.
It was the "North American Nuclear Missile Crisis" ten years ago.
The legend in the hacking world was that Queen infiltrated the North American Aerospace Defense Command and thoroughly investigated the nuclear missile deployments aimed at allied and enemy countries.
It wasn't just the intrusion that made this incident unforgettable even after ten years; it was the fact that Queen, exploiting the Cold War environment and the highest state of alert in the US, successfully deceived the command system into launching several nuclear missiles towards Russia.
Fortunately, the final security measures for the missiles were not breached, and they ultimately sank into the Pacific Ocean without exploding, giving humanity a massive scare.
The emergency communication between the US President and the Russian Prime Minister narrowly averted the launch of Russian nuclear missiles, thus preventing World War III.
The ensuing political turmoil was unprecedented, requiring a series of negotiations to resolve the crisis.
The US vowed to find the hacker, but months later, after secret consultations at the UN Security Council involving the three world powers, the matter was dropped, with the incident attributed to an error in the North American command system.
However, a former US Defense Secretary later revealed that they had identified the hacker and that she was an important figure in Red Country. The international community speculated whether this was part of a US strategy to portray Red Country as a threat, but more hackers and evidence confirmed that Queen was indeed from Red Country, even mischievously leaving a black 'Q' symbol during the North American system breach.
Thus, the title "Hacker Queen" was born.
Even a novice hacker like Leon couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement upon hearing this name.
Ten years later, Queen reappeared with her black spade 'Q', issuing a challenge to XO!
One was a legend from ten years ago who nearly plunged the world into destruction; the other, a recently risen myth who toyed with the world.
The clash alone was enough to make the world go wild.
Sacred Alliance Terminal Server Chat Room
"Damn, it's really the Queen. She's so powerful," said Caesar.
"Bloody hell, if people found out that the three kings and one queen of Europe couldn't handle the Queen alone, it would be laughable," Napoleon chimed in.
Upon learning of the Queen's challenge, hackers worldwide took action. Although the challenge was directed at XO, everyone wanted to defeat this legendary hacker who almost caused a world war.
The three kings and one queen of Europe were no exception.
Combining their efforts, the four of them barely deciphered the hidden data in the spade 'Q' on the homepage. The infinite combination chain nearly exhausted them, and that was just the appetizer.
What followed was a series of hurdles: a chaotic encryption algorithm, super firewalls, anti-intrusion measures for server port data, and so on. By the time they broke through a few barriers, they hadn't even seen the Queen herself before being effortlessly kicked out.
The three kings and one queen were furious.
"Victoria, what's your take?" asked Constantine.
"Legend has it that the Queen is female. How does Victoria, the queen of hackers in Europe, compare?" Caesar's question carried a mocking tone.
Victoria was silent for a moment. "I'm a level below her."
Even Europe's top hacker queen admitted this, leaving the others to only smile bitterly.
"Do you think the hacker emperor XO will actually show up? Could he possibly break through the Queen's defenses?" Victoria asked.
"XO defies conventional logic. Honestly, his hacking methods have surpassed our understanding. Let's just say this: the Queen is a legend, but the Emperor is a myth..."
"Huh, that sounds quite discouraging."
"So, what now? Continue the intrusion?"
"Contact all members of the Sacred Alliance in Europe and ENWR. The Queen's challenge is a test for us. If we can't even pass the Queen's level, we shouldn't talk about infiltrating Red Country in the future."
"Understood."
"Got it."
Caesar and Napoleon immediately took action.
Constantine noticed Victoria hadn't left and asked, "Victoria, something on your mind?"
"About those American spies I mentioned last time, I've learned they've been detained by Red Country's military."
"What do you mean, last time? Did I talk to you about this?"
"Uh? Didn't you talk to me alone that night?"
"I haven't logged into the Hundred-Day Dynasty for over a week."
"What????"