Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"The King of Hackers—well, about our age—" Li Boliang realized at once that he had boasted a bit too far and would have trouble backing it up. If these people kept pestering him with questions about the King of Hackers, how was he supposed to answer? So he quickly said, "I can't just talk about the King of Hackers' affairs. Now, let me tell you about his heroic deeds."

"Great!" The people standing there were all computer fans to one degree or another, so they were especially interested in hacker lore. They all adopted the earnest posture of listeners pricking up their ears.

"You know, back in '98, a truly badass virus broke out all over the world, called CIH. An ordinary virus only wrecks system software—as long as you don't have important data, you just reinstall the system and the problem's solved. But CIH was different. It was the world's first virus capable of damaging computer hardware; it could rewrite the OS information to destroy the motherboard and shut it down entirely." Li Boliang spoke with shining eyes. "Sure, you could repair the damaged motherboard by taking the machine apart and using a programmer to rewrite the OS chip, but that's chip-level repair—not something for ordinary computer users. So the moment the virus broke out, computer users all over the world fell into a panic. Then, out of nowhere, a hero appeared. On a virus-specialist forum, he suddenly posted anonymously a dedicated removal tool that could completely eradicate the CIH virus—faster than any of the antivirus companies. And it was precisely because he published the virus's signature code that CIH became quickly understood and received widespread immunization and prevention."

Most of the people present had heard of that infamous virus that had once dominated the headlines, but they had no idea what it had to do with the King of Hackers. One person couldn't help asking, "President, are you saying that anonymous hero was the King of Hackers?"

"Yes. And it was only long afterward that people found out." Li Boliang nodded complacently, as if he were privy to some great inside story, and continued with great relish. "Several years passed after that, until the Internet became widespread and the King of Hackers' name resounded across the land. One day, a computer hobbyist, with nothing better to do, decompiled the dedicated virus removal tool that anonymous user had released, and found a marking in a comment at the end of the code."

"The King of Hackers goes by 'I Love Xiao Ming,' isn't that right? What does that have to do with it?" Many wore puzzled expressions. "Couldn't it just be some symbol someone scribbled?"

"No, no, no." Li Boliang waved his hand with an air of unfathomable profundity. "Of course it wasn't scribbled. 'I Love Xiao Ming' is just the King of Hackers' ID, but that symbol is his codename. Look at his habit when writing hacker tools later on, and you'll see it—every single program code, without exception, has that symbol in the annotation at the end."

As he spoke, Li Boliang picked up a pen and drew two of those symbols on the paper before him.

"Ah!" Everyone's mouths fell open in astonishment. "So that's how it is! The King of Hackers really is low-key—he never even mentioned such a big thing."

"Of course. The King of Hackers is an extremely low-key person. Besides, his reputation is already loud enough; he has no need to gild the lily." Li Boliang nodded and said.

"Then, hasn't anyone decompiled that removal tool before?" some asked curiously.

"Of course people decompiled it," Li Boliang said with certainty. "But at that time the King of Hackers wasn't famous yet. Even if someone decompiled it, they wouldn't think much of it. Just as you said, they'd assume it was a symbol scribbled by accident."

"That's true. Two plus signs—who would notice?" Everyone nodded in agreement.

"And besides, whenever our country's interests are harmed, this King of Hackers always steps forward and voices our collective anger in his own way," Li Boliang said. "Many foreign hostile websites were paralyzed overnight."

"President, since you're his disciple, you must be pretty amazing too!" everyone asked enviously.

"Me? I've only learned the bare surface of things. There's plenty of time ahead, plenty of time ahead." Li Boliang didn't dare keep bragging; if people found out he wasn't actually skilled, wouldn't he lose face?

Zhou Yanning's eyes were full of amusement, which delighted Li Boliang. He hurriedly said, "Well? The Computer Club is pretty impressive, isn't it? Want to join?"

"Yang Ce, what do you think?" Zhou Yanning thought for a moment, then turned and asked Yang Ce.

"I don't know either, but if this president says he's the King of Hackers' disciple, he should be pretty good," Yang Ce said. "I've been wanting to learn some hacker techniques anyway. How about we join?"

"Sure!" Zhou Yanning didn't really care either way, but since Yang Ce was joining, she would naturally follow along. She nodded and said, "We'll join."

Li Boliang was overjoyed. He hurriedly handed Yang Ce and Zhou Yanning two forms and told them how to fill them out, then breathed a sigh of relief and drank some water.

Yang Ce and Zhou Yanning filled out their forms and handed them to the Computer Club members for review. By then, another large group of people had successively begun filling out forms, preparing to join the Computer Club.

Thanks to Zhou Yanning's beauty effect, plus Li Boliang's earlier spiel, many people had become interested in the Computer Club. Of course, Li Boliang also knew he had bragged a bit too much, but it didn't matter—if it could recruit more people to the club, what was wrong with a little bragging? His hacker knowledge was decent enough anyway; when the time came, he'd just demonstrate some basics for them.

After signing up and leaving their contact information, Yang Ce and Zhou Yanning rose and headed toward the teaching building. It was almost time for registration, so the two of them couldn't linger at the sign-up station.

"Yang Ce, you like hacker techniques?" Zhou Yanning asked, somewhat delighted.

"Of course. If I weren't interested in this stuff, would I have applied to the Computer Science Department?" Yang Ce said. "Right, how could I have forgotten about you? I've got a computer genius right beside me, and I'm going to join some damn club for what?"

It was true that Yang Ce was interested in computers, but the most important point was that as a professional killer, one had to be proficient in everything. Technology was developing rapidly, and hacker techniques had become a means of warfare, so Yang Ce had to have some understanding of them as well.

Fang Tian was lacking in this area and couldn't teach Yang Ce anything, so Yang Ce could only rely on himself to explore.

Hearing Yang Ce's praise, Zhou Yanning's face immediately flushed, though her heart felt sweet. She hesitated a moment, then said, "Joining a few clubs isn't bad either—at least it enriches your extracurricular life."

"You're right. I'll just treat it as going to court you," Yang Ce nodded and said.

"..." Zhou Yanning's face grew even redder; she didn't know how to answer that. In her impression, Yang Ce had always been a very proper person, but she never expected that once she got close to him, she'd discover he was this lecherous.

"By the way, Jiajia, do you know that so-called King of Hackers?" Yang Ce was the King of Killers, so naturally he was quite interested in the King of Hackers. If there was a chance, getting to know him wouldn't be bad.

"I know her. Why?" Zhou Yanning hesitated a moment before asking.

"Nothing, just wanted to meet," Yang Ce said. "Are you close to him?"

"Pretty close, I guess," Zhou Yanning nodded.

"Is that Li Boliang really his disciple?" Yang Ce asked, very gossipy.

"Who knows? But probably not. The King of Hackers doesn't take disciples." Zhou Yanning shook her head and said.