I Am Already A Queen

Chapter 151: Chapter 151: Let Them Dig The Information About Her

Entering her personal decryption key, she unlocked the incoming dispatch.

There was only a single unread thread waiting for her, sent directly from Psycho.

[Psycho]:Boss! Are you busy right now???

Qiao Meixia stared at the text banner on her screen. Her eyebrow twitched slightly in annoyance. After going through all the caution of waiting for class to end, she had fully braced herself for a high-level crisis. Instead, Psycho was casually pinging her just to check her availability.

[Q]:What do you want? Make it quick.

The reply popped up almost instantaneously. It was glaringly obvious that Psycho had been glued to his screen, desperately awaiting her response.

[Psycho]:Boss! You finally replied to my message! What are you up to right now? Do you have some top-secret major project going on?

[Q]:Stop prying into my business. Why are you suddenly messaging me during school hours?

[Psycho]:My beloved Boss, please don’t be mad! I was just making polite conversation! Fine... I will get straight to the point. Our channel just received a set of high-tier quests.

[Q]:Can you just finish telling me everything in a single sentence?

[Psycho]:Boss, you are no fun at all! I was just trying to build a little dramatic suspense!

[Q]:Fine. I m logging off.

[Psycho]:No, my beloved boss. I am telling you. The quest is about finding information about someone.

[Q]:You guys can handle it yourselves. I’m not interested.

[Psycho]:Boss, hold on! Listen to me! It is not just one client.

[Psycho]:There are three completely separate clients who posted the exact same target

[Psycho]:All three of them are paying absurd bounties to find information on a teenage girl. Her name is Qiao Meixia.

Qiao Meixia looked at the text, her eyes narrowing into dangerous, icy slits. She did not type out a reply immediately. It was entirely outside her expectations for someone to publicly place a bounty contract on the Red Mansion’s private channel specifically requesting intelligence on her.

[Psycho]: But here’s the wild part, Boss. Their actual requirements for the Intel are completely different from one another.

[Psycho]:Client number one... They specifically want to know if you have any dark, dirty secrets buried in your past. Anything humiliating, scandalous, or severe enough to completely destroy your reputation if leaked.

[Psycho]: Client number two... They want a full breakdown of your previous life in the countryside. Where exactly did you live? What was your precise financial situation before returning to the city? Stuff like that.

[Psycho]: And client number three... They asked for a total, comprehensive dossier on literally everything about you.

[Psycho]:Honestly, that third one gives me the total creeps.

Qiao Meixia read through the bulleted points several times over.

Three distinct clients, three distinct motives.

She could not help but wonder why there was suddenly such a massive surge of interest surrounding her identity. The only significant shift in her life recently was her official return as the long-lost daughter of the Jiang family. Therefore, these mysterious clients were almost certainly individuals who had caught wind of her existence only after she stepped into the Jiang family estate.

[Psycho]: Boss...? Boss...? Are you still there? Did you faint?

[Q]:I am here.

[Psycho]:Oh, good! There’s actually one more thing I need to report.

[Q]:What?

[Psycho]: I flagged an unauthorized intrusion attempt earlier. Someone tried to breach and access some of the archived cold-storage records connected to the Red Mansion. They didn’t manage to break past the outer perimeter, but I definitely caught the breach signature.

Qiao Meixia’s gaze sharpened even further.

[Q]:I see. Tighten the security protocols around those cold-storage archives immediately.

[Psycho]:Wait... you mean... you think they are going to come back for a second attempt?

[Psycho]:Boss, you are a absolute sadist!

[Psycho]:You want to make them think those archived records contain super valuable secret Intel by artificially ramping up the firewall security around them!

[Psycho]: And when they finally exert all their resources to break through, they will realize the entire folder is filled with complete and utter junk data!

[Psycho]:Hahaha! You are truly ruthless, Boss!

Qiao Meixia had long anticipated that a day like this would eventually come.

That was precisely why she had ordered the core operatives of the Red Mansion long ago to migrate all real, sensitive intelligence to secondary, unlinked servers, while leaving decoy files stuffed with worthless junk data inside the primary legacy archives.

Anyone foolish enough to hack their way through those brutal security layers would celebrate thinking they had hit the jackpot. In reality, they would walk away with absolutely nothing of value.

[Q]:Investigate the origin of those three quest submissions.

[Psycho]: Got it, Boss. But why aren’t you running the trace yourself this time?

[Q]:I am busy.

[Psycho]: Fine, fine... If it gets too tedious, I will just drag MadDog in to help me handle the heavy decryption.

[Q]:I am logging off now.

Qiao Meixia executed the logout command, instantly wiping the active session memory and reverting her phone interface back to its normal, everyday layout. She tucked her phone securely back into her pocket and stepped out of the cubicle. As she made her way over to the sink to wash her hands, her mind remained fully engaged in dissecting the situation.

The Red Mansion was by no means an ordinary underground intelligence network.

Their data infrastructure was protected by military-grade encryption and complex, shifting algorithms.

Even high-level figures who were fully aware of the Red Mansion’s existence lacked the clearance to access its core databases.

More importantly, any records personally tied to her identity were wrapped in security layers far more advanced than the rest.

For someone to actively attempt a breach on those specific archives meant they were either an extraordinarily skilled hacker or had obtained internal leads from someone who possessed intimate knowledge of the Red Mansion’s structural setup.

And then there were those three separate bounty quests explicitly asking for her personal background.

That part, at least, was not entirely surprising.

She had operated in the shadows for years under various aliases.

There were countless powerful factions across the globe who would pay an absolute fortune to unmask her true identity.

However, the timing of these events was far too convenient to be pure coincidence.

First, an anonymous individual had sent precise information regarding her 100,000-yuan superbike bet directly to Jiang Lukang’s personal phone.

Now, someone was actively trying to hack into the Red Mansion’s private archives while others posted bounties on her name.

Could all of these occurrences be linked to the same puppeteer behind the scenes?

Qiao Meixia narrowed her eyes slightly, her reflection in the mirror appearing cool and detached. Well, no matter. She would put those thoughts on hold for the time being. She could easily run a thorough investigation into the matter once she had free time tonight. For now, she still had to play the role of an ordinary high school student and attend her remaining classes.

Qiao Meixia dried her hands and walked back toward the classroom. Returning to her seat, her eyes caught sight of the plastic tote bag resting beside her desk, reminding her of the fresh cakes she had purchased that morning.

Reaching down, she pulled the containers out and set them neatly on her desk. With only a few minutes remaining before the start of the next period, she really only had enough time to enjoy a single slice.

Without wasting another moment, Qiao Meixia unsealed one of the cake containers, picked up a small plastic fork, and took a bite. Her eyes narrowed slightly in quiet, pure satisfaction. The taste was genuinely heavenly.

For a brief, peaceful moment, she enjoyed the sweet treat so thoroughly that the headache of the encrypted message completely faded from her mind. However, she was only halfway through the slice when the loud, sharp ringing of the school bell echoed through the hallways, announcing the start of the next period.

Qiao Meixia looked down at the half-eaten cake remaining in her hand. She still had several bites left. Unwilling to let good food go to waste, she decided to finish it off before the incoming teacher stepped through the door. After all, wasting delicious food was something she thoroughly despised.

She quickly finished the remaining bites, pulled a soft tissue from her pocket, and meticulously wiped her fingertips clean. Closing the container, she carefully packed the remaining unopened cakes back into her tote bag and stowed it safely inside her school backpack.

Just as she zipped her bag shut, the heavy wooden door clicked open.

The subject teacher for the next period had arrived.

***This novel is a contracted work with w e b n o v e l. c o m. If you do not read this novel on w e b n o v e l. c o m, that means it has been stolen. Thank you, from your shameless author, ZerahNeko***