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Prologue

“Tap tap tap.” The tapping sound of the keyboard resounded continuously.

It was a small rented house that was dark and dim. The cycle of day and night, as well as the flow of time were all obscured by the thick and heavy curtains that were blocking in front of the windows, preventing any light from shining in. The man that was sitting in front of his computer had long forgotten how long he had sat there.

The inside of his house was in a state of mess, takeaway boxes that were leftover, dirty clothes and soda cans were scattered all over the ground. His computer table was filled with cans and cans of coffee. As the air had remained stagnant for too long, it started to have a humid and moldy smell. Even the man himself was in a mess with ungroomed signs all over his body. His hair was dishevelled, his beard stubbly.

“Tap tap tap tap…”

“Tap tap…”

“Tap tap tap…”

Somewhere in an instant, the tapping sound of the keyboard suddenly stopped. The man’s bloodshot eyes stared at the screen, the corner of lips revealing a gratified smile.

His phone’s ringtone suddenly rang out, causing him to blank out

for a short while before reacting and finally finding his phone from a pile from of coffee cans. Looking at the number flashing on the screen, the man hesitated for a moment before answering the call.

“Ye Chui.” A clear and attractive female voice came from the other side of the phone, “Are you still trying to stop us? Stopping the own virus that you had created yourself?”

“No…” The man, who was also Ye Chui replied while smiling, and before the woman could let off a sigh of relief, he continued, “As a matter of fact, I was just done, I have already developed a program to counter the Heaven’s Hammer virus, I just need to upload it online and it would completely wipe out the Heaven’s Hammer virus that had almost paralyzed the entire network for the past month.”

Ye Chui’s words caused the woman to panic. “Ye Chui, I warn you not to do that! I can give you money, any amount you want…”

“This is the painful consequence I had planted and I should be the one to end it.” An unexplainable sense of guilt was suddenly heard in his voice, “Lin Xue, you and the power that you represent behind you

you had already profited from this network disaster that my virus had caused, I will not let this continue any further, which is why, it’s time to end this.”

“Ye Chui, I beg you, if… if the Heaven’s Hammer Virus is wiped out, they will definitely kill me…”

“You deserved all of that, I’ve once trusted you so much, but you…” Ye Chui’s voice paused for a moment, was it due to disappointment or anger? He did not know, he gave a sigh, “Lin Xue, take care.”

He hung up.

The phone immediately rang again but Ye Chui did not bother to take another look at it and just threw it aside.

Ye Chui, a name that very little people knew, but those who knew this name all knew that this was the name that represented the number one in the field of hackers.

He wasn’t very old, but from the day he started hacking, he had already accomplished what many of his seniors couldn’t.

He was dubbed as the “Magician” in the Dark Web, because the virus he developed were always ever changing and filled with magical quirks. As for the best work he had created in his hacker career, it was the Heaven’s Hammer virus.

The explosiveness and harmfulness

and harmfulness of this virus was way too powerful, that was why Ye Chui had never took it out.

However Lin Xue’s appearance changed all of this. He loved her, trusted her, and was willing to share his everything with her. During that half a year with her, Ye Chui was very happy, but in the end Lin Xue secretly took the virus and left instead.

Three days later, a network disaster broke out around the world, a bunch of international terrorist groups made use of the Heaven’s Hammer virus to rob all the big banks, corporations and even the governments around the world.

From that moment onwards, everyone was in danger. This was when Ye Chui knew Lin Xue’s motive for coming close to him in the first place, she was a “thief” hired by that criminal organisation.

He was a hacker, but he had always adhered to his principles of truth and right. The disaster caused by the Heaven’s Hammer virus finally made him decide to challenge his own apex.

And so, after a month of nearly no sleep and rest, he did it.

He understood that this program that countered the Heaven’s Hammer virus meant that he had gone another step further in his field of hacking, field of hacking, surpassing his previous apex.

“It’s all ending…”

Ye Chui’s hand shifted towards the Enter key on the keyboard, he just needed to press it and the counter program would be uploaded to the web. In addition, it would automatically recognise the Heaven’s Hammer virus and proceed with elimination, ending the network disaster that had lasted for a month.

His finger pressed down on it.

Looking at the progress bar slowly reaching one hundred percent on the screen, Ye Chui suddenly felt a wave of severe exhaustion taking over him. He swayed as he stood up from his chair, only to feel that his body was unable to keep its balance. Staggering a few steps forwards, he finally collapsed on the floor.

The ringtone of Lin Xue’s call was still resounding beside his ears but an endless darkness was slowly enveloping him in front of his eyes.

He was too exhausted, perhaps, this was the end?

That’s not bad, at least, he stood on the pinnacle at the end, on the field of hacking that he passionately loved.

His Heaven’s Hammer virus remained uncrackable by anyone for a month, only to still end under his hands in the end, that was enough.

He already had no regrets left.

……