"Please spare me, I'm just a high school dropout, my family has no money, no parents, not even a home!"
"I'm only 17 and won't be 18 until the end of the year, I'm still a kid who doesn't know better, just passing by, please don't have any improper thoughts!"
"If you really can't let it go, please call the police and hand me over to the NYPD, let them deal with me, using vigilante justice is illegal!"
The girl, with her hands clasped in prayer, prostrated on the ground at lightning speed, muttering rapid-fire incantations while begging for mercy, which left Lille and the others entirely baffled.
After watching for a while, Lille had a guess in mind.
In 2011, after the internet bubble had burst, the industry had finally started to show some signs of recovery.
The rise of the network would naturally lead to an increase in the number of hackers, and this girl was probably a half-baked one.
But it was unclear what kind of hacker she was—hacking for money, or so-called justice and truth?
"What's your name?"
"Jenkins! Uh... Jenkins Walmart! I mean, Walton!"
The girl stuttered, glancing at the nearby convenience store as she spoke.
Perhaps she mentioned the major retail chain related to convenience stores to make it sound less far-fetched.
Lille was at a loss for words, "Oh? Is that so, nice to meet you, Ms. Walton, I'm Dennis Burger King!"
The girl looked up, batting her big eyes, "Hello, Mr. Burger King, I really was just passing by..."
"Are you kidding me? You were engaging in hacking activities, weren't you? Who do you work for?"
The girl hesitated for a moment, her face showing struggle. She glanced at the two expressionless burly men behind Lille, then suddenly accepted her fate, closed her eyes, and shouted:
"I work for truth and justice! You can't intimidate me! Truth will one day be exposed to the sunlight, we..."
Lille rubbed his forehead, pinched the girl's face, and she could only pout and make whimpering noises as they stared at each other:
"Stop shouting, or do you want to attract the attention of New York City officials? So, you're a hacker with a sense of mission, and I also need this network route, can you stop meddling and leave?"
The girl nodded vigorously with wide eyes.
"Good."
Lille let go of the girl and walked towards the distribution box on his own.
There was a data port along his wrist's vein, an interface for cybernetic connections.
The interface read the information, processed the electrical signals, and uploaded them to a modified neural processor in the brain, which used the brain as storage and processing for the data.
If prosthetics with different operating systems were implanted in the spinal column, the nerve center, other nerves could be used for computation.
The entire system was one of the basic technologies of the Cyberpunk 2077 world – the brain-computer interface.
Of course, Lille had a specially modified data conversion adapter since the interfaces of the two worlds were not physically compatible.
As Lille was processing data, he twisted his shoulders—
Because he noticed that the girl hadn't left, but was actually peeking at him from behind.
"..."
Lille once again shifted to the side, blocking his personal connection port, and the girl tiptoed to get a better view.
The two bodyguards also shifted their positions.
It turned into a game of cat and mouse.
Lille turned his head again with annoyance, "I told you to scram, what are you still doing here?"
"Eh... learning technology, you're a hacker too, right? Do you still remember what the spirit of the internet entails? Sharing..."
"Idiot," Lille cursed under his breath, but then the thought struck him that this girl seemed quite proactive.
Why not coax her into working for him, helping the school dropout find employment?
"Hmm... what's your real name? Serious this time, otherwise seriously scram."
The girl hesitated a moment, "My name is Skye, I guess you guys aren't the bad guys, right?"
Lille quickly compared the name Skye with the "Marvel Characters Database" in his head.
This girl truly was a hacker, known in the hacker world as Quake, a formidable one before her superpower awakening, obviously now in the early stages of her hacking career.
A typical life trajectory would involve hacking the wrong person and then being recruited by the Shield Bureau or something.
Lille retorted, "Which bad guys? How did you guess?"
"You know, those people stirring up trouble with the redevelopment, killing with toothpicks, aren't you curious about how they do it?"
"Not curious—after all, I'm bound to find out sooner or later." Lille pulled the sleeve of his coat to cover the vein port, only exposing the data cable.
"You can learn the technology, but it's not free. Why don't you work with me?
I'm hired to help the landlord upgrade the security system, of course, including defenses against potential toothpick killings."
"Huh? Is there money in it?"
"No, all the tech is taught for free and you're given a job, and you still want a salary? You want all the good stuff for yourself, huh?"
Lille replied with too much self-righteousness, which made Skye wonder if this was some sort of adult world rule?
But learning some technology wasn't a bad idea, she could think about the future later.
Skye finally made up his mind, "Alright! That's settled then! Both of you bodyguards..."
"Let her through," Lille waved his hand, and the two bodyguards made way for Skye.
Of course, they couldn't keep up their cool demeanor any longer, how could they follow Lille and on the very first day witness the kind of oddity they would never see during normal work.
Could it be that society was always this colorful?
As Skye approached, however, he couldn't see anything; after all, Lille wasn't using a phone or computer to hack.
To the naked eye, Lille just seemed to connect a wire, then stood there motionless.
The data processing part was finished; what remained was the rewiring, making the newly effective protocol physically operational.
"Done? And then what? Where's your computer? Your tools?"
"A real hacker, just being good with computers isn't enough."
Lille directly started to unplug several Ethernet cables, and in the complicated mess of wiring, found the interface he was looking for.
The speed, precision, and decisiveness of his actions filled Skye with admiration.
An old hacker! Definitely a pro!
"Wow, how did you do that?"
"I'm a pro, I can tell how the wires should be connected at a glance, alright--the base station is now under my control.
I'll be installing a backdoor at the substation, follow me."
The security trio gained a chatty girl, as Lille explained to her the operations he was currently undertaking while they walked.
"Whenever people think of hackers, they picture some guy squatting in a rental apartment, surrounded by computers, ground covered in trash, not moving for days with gloomy glasses on.
But that's not true; those who never leave the net might at best commit identity theft through online scams.
Truly secretive individuals are hard to fool, so finding the physical target is very important."
"Exactly, exactly! That's what they say on the BBS too! But the wiring in this place is like a level from hell; I heard an electrician even had an accident here before, no idea what happened..."
"What BBS?"
"Uh... A forum called 'Tide,' haven't you heard of it? Lots of hackers hang out there."
"Amateurs stick together. From now on, if you're with me, forget about those guys--"
Lille pointed to the front door of the nearby substation, and told the three, "See that? Later we're just going to walk in, and I'll say we're electricians, here for an inspection. Act the part."
"Just walk right over?" The three said in unison.
Lille nodded, "Just walk right in, don't talk, don't show too much emotion on your faces, stay behind me, act natural."
"But..."
John and Anthony looked at each other, suspicion and hesitation apparent in their eyes.
If they were caught...
Lille said earnestly, "Trust me, if the surveillance doesn't come back on, believe me, someone could rob your house blind and you'd still only dare to watch."
Skye didn't hesitate much—if they failed, they'd just be kicked out.
If they succeeded—my god, this was a hacking god!
The three calmed themselves and followed Lille toward the substation, everyone but Lille feeling a bit shaky.
And sure enough, the security stopped them.
Lille said, "We're new, sent from above to investigate some strange electricity readings, might be a case of power theft."
Before the guard could ask more questions, his phone rang.
It was a text message from a senior engineer in the station.
"A group of electricians will be arriving soon to check the readings, three men and a woman."
Still, the guard felt something was off—these three didn't look much like electricians, did they?
"Where are your work cards, your uniforms, and your tools?"
Just as Lille was about to explain, the guard received another text: "Their gear is all inside, the leader's name is Dennis Burger King.
By the way, their work area is in A2 zone."
"...Our stuff is inside, I'm Dennis, the senior engineer should have reported this to you already."
Lille's explanation matched perfectly with the guard's text messages, leaving him no reason to stop them anymore.
"Alright... go on in," the guard relented.
As he watched Lille and his group enter, the guard looked at the four of them warily—
If they took a wrong turn, that would be rather suspicious, wouldn't it?
However, Lille of course wouldn't take a wrong turn—the engineer's phone conveniently had a photo.
It was a map of the work areas inside the substation.
The guard shook his head and returned to his post.
"What a strange name, 'Burger King'..."