This is not my original work; I am merely providing a translation.
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"Hey, classmate, can you help me fix my computer?"
It was evening self-study at Haicheng University of Medicine, Nursing Department's Third Class. Yang Rong whispered to Chu Tian, who was busy playing on his phone.
'Chu Tian', an eighteen-year-old university freshman, had chosen the Nursing Department after hearing that male nurses were in high demand and had better job prospects after graduation. The reality, however, was a bit different than he'd imagined. While the country did indeed have a shortage of male nurses, Chu Tian hadn't expected the Nursing Department to be so heavily skewed in gender. Out of the thirty-one students in his class, only two were male: Chu Tian and a guy named Li Kang.
Chu Tian had recently gained a reputation as the class's "computer guru" after helping a classmate reinstall her operating system. Since then, whenever someone had computer issues, they'd come to him for help.
Seeing Yang Rong's pleading smile, Chu Tian sighed and asked, "What's wrong with your computer this time?"
"I'm not sure," Yang Rong said, placing her laptop in front of him. "These weird pop-ups keep appearing. Even when I close them, they just come back. Look."
Chu Tian glanced at the screen and immediately facepalmed.
"A virus."
He couldn't help but marvel at Yang Rong's ability to mess things up. She must have closed 361 Antivirus again.
[Note: 361 Antivirus is a parody of 360 Safeguard/Total Security, a popular free Chinese antivirus program.]
Chu Tian had used Yang Rong's computer before and knew her habit of closing every program she didn't like in the lower right corner of the screen. Sure enough, the 361 Antivirus icon was missing. He opened the program and said, "It's not a big deal. Your computer's infected with a virus. We just need to remove it."
"A virus?" Yang Rong's eyes widened in panic. "Will removing it break my computer?"
Chu Tian gave her a look that said, Are you serious? With a reassuring smile, he replied, "Don't worry. It won't break your computer."
He clicked on the "Quick Scan" button, and within a minute, the antivirus detected a Trojan. Chu Tian removed it and handed the laptop back to Yang Rong. "All done. Just don't download random stuff in the future. A lot of those files contain viruses."
Seeing that the pop-ups were gone, Yang Rong beamed. "That was so fast! Hehe, it's great having an expert hacker as my classmate."
"Expert hacker?"
Chu Tian's mouth twitched at the term. 'What the heck?' At best, he was a novice when it came to computers. How had he suddenly become an 'expert hacker' in Yang Rong's eyes?
But before he could explain, something strange happened. A sudden flood of computer knowledge poured into his mind, as if a door to a new world had opened. In an instant, he felt his understanding of computer technology skyrocket from novice level to that of an omnipotent guru.
"What just happened?"
Chu Tian was completely stunned. He stared blankly at his phone, then turned to Yang Rong, who was still smiling at him with her spotlessly white teeth.
Their eyes met, and Chu Tian frowned, speaking cautiously, "Classmate… did you do something?"
"Huh?" Yang Rong looked confused. "I didn't do anything. What's wrong?"
Chu Tian studied her for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Never mind. It's nothing."
Just then, the dismissal bell rang. Chu Tian quickly pocketed his phone and hurried out of the classroom.
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"9:20 PM."
Back at his rented apartment near Haicheng University of Medicine, Chu Tian rushed into his bedroom and turned on his desktop computer.
Unlike most college students, Chu Tian had been on his own since his parents died in an accident during his second year of junior high. To support himself, he worked as a ghostwriter for web novel authors, earning $1.50 per thousand words. While the pay wasn't high, it was enough to cover his daily expenses. He could write about ten thousand words each night after evening self-study, earning around $15.
However, the school dormitories were noisy and had an 11 PM lights-out policy, so Chu Tian had rented a cheap, old apartment nearby to work in peace.
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"Half an hour later…"
Chu Tian stared at his computer screen in disbelief. In just thirty minutes, he had hacked into several major online corporations, the four major Chinese banks, and even some state secret departments.
[Note: The four major Chinese banks are the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank (CCB), Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), and Bank of China (BOC). There's also the Bank of Communications (BoCom), all of which are state-owned.]
In fact, Chu Tian was certain that if he wanted to, he could hack into any system connected to the internet.
But how was this possible? How had he suddenly become such a powerful computer hacker?
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Changes madeÂ
1. currency from RMB to Dollars
2. Desk mate to Classmate