The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 598 - 305
On the one hand, she just needed to maintain the existence of the live stream; on the other, she had to keep creating diversions to interfere with the technicians’ tracking.

Before now, no one had been able to keep up with her operational speed, but now...

It seemed a master had joined the fray, shattering her crafted firewall in an instant and dismantling three or four of her diversions.

Liu Tingruo could feel it—if she allowed that person to continue tracking, they would need no more than five minutes to locate Jiang Shu and the others.

Was it a white hat belonging to one of those large groups, or a wild hacker who had wind of the chase and decided to join in?

She tapped her forehead with her finger, then set up a rather troublesome protective wall.

To a wild hacker stumbling upon this layer of protection, most likely they would give up.

This firewall showcased her level of expertise in cybersecurity; if these were indeed wild hackers, they would have no particular reason to break through, and a forced attack could easily bring trouble upon them.

Whereas white hats nurtured by a corporate group, tasked with a mission, would naturally not give up so easily.

In other words, if this expert did manage to break through the protective layer, then they were likely a white hat from one of the Three Major Groups, and it might even be more probable that they belonged to that exclusive echelon.

Three minutes later, Liu Tingruo’s expression grew increasingly grim.

The enemy was a step closer to pinpointing the location of Jiang Shu and the others, meaning she had to take this a bit more seriously.

However, Liu Tingruo suddenly chuckled, opening the communication channel with Shu Bao and casually instructing, ”A white hat is on my trail, and I have a strong feeling they might belong to one of the Three Major Groups. Go meddle with the firewalls of the Three Major Groups. With them fighting me here, their defenses should reveal some weaknesses. Test it out, see if you can snag something valuable.”

”Okay, sister.” Shu Bao nodded on the other end, clearly understanding Liu Tingruo’s strategy.

Making a tentative assault on the firewalls of the Three Major Groups, if they could breach even part of a server, they’d snatch as much information as they could.

After all, it was all profit since the Three Major Groups certainly had too many skeletons in their closets.

Whether it was top-secret gossip or confidential technologies, this information was all quite valuable.

If they could casually lay their hands on it during this chance encounter, it would certainly be a hefty win.

”Focus on attacking Seks,” Liu Tingruo paused to think it over, then pointed them in a precise direction, ”Sages’s backing group should be them, so if someone is confronting me at this time, it might well be a white hat from Seks.”

”Got it.” Shu Bao nodded in agreement.

It might appear obsequious and soft-spoken before Liu Tingruo, but Shu Bao had already seized a substantial amount of network resources from Fifth District amidst its chaos. Preparing to launch an offensive against Seks Group, Shu Bao was ready to employ half of the botnet resources under its control.

If, as sister had suggested, there was indeed a vulnerability in Seks Group’s firewall, then an attack of this magnitude could indeed breach parts of Seks Group’s database and loot a considerable amount of data resources.

Afterwards, Liu Tingruo buckled down to contend with the white hat’s tracking.

This situation...

was no easy trouble to handle.

—

Thirteen District.

”Red light, uh, red light.” The Smiling Face looked at the lit button, his voice cold yet seeming to carry a hint of helplessness for deceiving the chairman, ”That means, you’re lying.”

”I...” The chairman seemed about to explain something, but the Smiling Face didn’t give him the chance.

With a flick of his wrist, a flying knife was propelled.

This time, the Flying Knife did not display its unmatched speed; it traced a visible arc through the air before plunging directly into the chairman’s leg.

The blade penetrated the flesh, blood instantly seeping out down the blood groove of the Flying Knife, swiftly staining the chairman’s calf red.

”Ah—” the chairman cried out in pain, his right hand desperately reaching to cover the wound. But it seemed the artery had been hit, as blood continued seeping through his fingers, with him gasping in agony.

He could feel his artery had been pierced; without help, he would be in life-threatening danger in ten minutes.

If the situation persisted...

he would die.

And the folks from Deception Group certainly wouldn’t let him die so simply from blood loss. The Smiling Face leisurely walked over to a nearby table and picked up something resembling a black leg brace, pressing it directly on the chairman’s wounded calf.

”Ah!” The President felt countless needle-like stings of pain surging up from his injured calf, his face contorted with agony as he gasped for air and asked, ”What... what have you done to me?”

”This thing can stitch up your wounds, otherwise, do you really want to bleed out and die like this?” Smile gave a chuckle, casually uttering the chilling words, ”Don’t worry, I won’t let you die until the game is over.”

”So, I’ve taken this question on physically, is it time to continue now?” The President gritted his teeth, having roughly figured out Smile’s line of thinking and could make certain predictions.

Obviously, Smile wouldn’t get hung up on this question forever, because if he did, the game would become very boring.

The President knew, he could never speak out.

The moment those people behind him were exposed to the public eye and attracted too much attention, he would face their wrath, and by then, he would truly not know how he died.

So even if Smile forced him to keep answering this question, he would only continue to test with lies, continue to take hits, until he died completely.

In that case, the Flying Knife Game would become extremely boring, and that wasn’t the result the Deception Group wanted.

”Right, since it’s settled, we can start with the next knife,” Smile nodded.

To some extent, the President was right. If they dwelled on the same question, it would reduce the spectacle of the entire game.

Hence, he redirected his gaze toward the President on the turntable, and at the same time, the President was also watching him.

”Why was the knife you just used to hurt me so slow?” Suddenly the President asked this question, seemingly trying to disrupt Smile’s composure with his words.

This was a question the President had been considering since the start.

Different from the previous flying knives thrown, his Prosthetic Eye had clearly seen the one used to wound him.

If that knife wasn’t aimed at his calf, he should have been able to catch that Flying Knife with his right hand.

The speed of that particular Flying Knife was clearly much slower compared to the previous two.

Although the latter knife was meant to attack, the former two were thrown to miss hitting the turntable.

It seemed that because the purpose of the two knives was different, so was the speed...

Yet, the President still harbored some doubts.

Could there be another reason?

Perhaps this involved the secret behind the incredible speed of the first two Flying Knives.

”I was simply punishing you, why bother putting in the effort?” Smile replied nonchalantly, while his hand swung forward.

His waist drove his upper body, which in turn moved his arm, then the forearm and wrist, and finally, this force seemed to transfer into the Flying Knife in his hand.

”Snap—” The Flying Knife embedded itself thirty centimeters to the right side of the President’s head.

The President stared blankly at the Flying Knife to his right, as new questions seemed to emerge in his mind.

Why specifically the right side?

He tried to touch the Flying Knife with his right hand, which he could easily reach.

Logically, if the Flying Knife had gone to the left, he would have had to reach back, making it harder to catch, but now Smile had specifically chosen his right side.

Was he deliberately giving him a chance?

Or was there another reason?

A strange notion suddenly surged in the President’s mind, and he felt like he was on the verge of touching the answer.

The answer to how Smile could increase the speed of the Flying Knife to such a terrifying level.

If he could find the answer, he could win this game.

Just one more chance.

Just one more chance, and on the next throw...

The next time he threw, the place to watch wasn’t Smile’s hand!