The progress bar for starting the crack appeared on the computer screen. At the same time, Li Xiaoxiao began typing furiously on the keyboard again, her fingers a blur as they danced across the keys.
Numerous program windows, unfamiliar to Ye Ling, flashed rapidly across the screen.
Although Ye Ling had reached the pinnacle of the East Profound Continent, his comprehension of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, as well as his mastery of cultivation techniques and martial arts, defied natural laws!
However, when it came to computers, Ye Ling was a complete novice, only knowing how to use one to surf the internet.
Under these circumstances, Ye Ling was astonished by Li Xiaoxiao's prowess on the keyboard.
Even though Ye Ling didn't understand what Li Xiaoxiao was doing, he could tell from the flashing information on the screen that she was engaged in a fierce battle with Hongchen Pavilion's firewall.
"Your Majesty, the firewall built into the Hongchen Pavilion server is much stronger than I anticipated. The Trojan horse program I brought with me cannot completely breach it yet. If we proceed with the invasion now, we might risk exposure."
Under the high-intensity work, Li Xiaoxiao overlooked her social anxiety. She stared intently at the computer screen and said to Ye Ling without turning her head, "Your Majesty, could you please bring me the safe under my bed? It contains a Trojan horse program that might be able to break through this firewall!"
"The safe under the bed?"
Ye Ling raised an eyebrow slightly, tore through space with a casual gesture, and transferred a metal box from under Li Xiaoxiao's bed in her bedroom, miles away.
He then crushed the box and placed a black USB drive engraved with a snake's head next to Li Xiaoxiao.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Li Xiaoxiao quickly took the USB drive, plugged it into the computer, and resumed her operation.
She had entered a state of self-forgetfulness, completely unaware that she had just treated Ye Ling as a mere tool for transport.
If this were the East Profound Continent, countless sacred lands and great clans would have been stunned by Li Xiaoxiao's actions.
In all the world, who would dare command a supreme being?
However, it was fortunate for Li Xiaoxiao that she was in such a state. If she were to snap back to reality and realize what she had done, she would likely faint from shock!
Ye Ling didn't mind being treated as a tool by Li Xiaoxiao. For him, the faster Li Xiaoxiao cracked Ye Feng's computer, the greater his chances of finding Ye Feng would be!
Ye Ling asked curiously, "Is the Trojan horse program in that iron box also written by you?"
Li Xiaoxiao replied without turning her head, "No, this is a Trojan horse program my mother wrote ten years ago. However, in terms of both offensive capability and stealth, it is still a top-tier virus in the world even now!"
"Although I am trying my best to catch up to my mother's footsteps, I still haven't been able to write a virus that surpasses my mother's design."
As Li Xiaoxiao implanted her mother's Trojan horse program into Ye Feng's computer, the cracking progress bar on the screen suddenly accelerated!
A large amount of code was automatically generated, and all surrounding equipment was controlled by Li Xiaoxiao. She began searching for all signals previously input into this location, trying to locate Ye Feng!
Seeing Li Xiaoxiao achieve victory in this invisible war, Ye Ling couldn't help but sigh, "With just a few lines of code, one can command the winds and rain in the digital world and pose a threat to the entire world. This is quite similar to cultivation."
Unlike the East Profound Continent, Earth was now in the information age.
As long as one mastered the network, it was equivalent to mastering the world.
Even world powers like Hongchen Pavilion were utterly dependent on the internet in this information age!
Yet, despite Hongchen Pavilion investing enormous resources in information security, a program written by someone who died ten years ago could easily break through Hongchen Pavilion's firewall a decade later...
This kind of technological dominance spanning ten years... Ye Ling was very curious about what kind of person Li Xiaoxiao's mother was.
If she were alive, she would undoubtedly be able to shake the foundations of Hongchen Pavilion!
Given Hongchen Pavilion's usual modus operandi, they would definitely try to recruit such a person and make them serve Hongchen Pavilion.
If recruitment failed, they would destroy them!
It was likely that the car accident ten years ago was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
While Li Xiaoxiao was using her mother's Trojan horse program to breach Hongchen Pavilion's firewall and search for Ye Feng's location, Ye Ling began to carefully recall Li Xiaoxiao's memories.
"The USB drive containing the Trojan horse virus was hidden by Li Xiaoxiao's mother in a plush toy and given to Li Xiaoxiao as a birthday gift the day before her accident."
"At the time, Li Xiaoxiao didn't know that the Trojan horse program her mother wrote was hidden in her toy. However, she was exceptionally fond of that teddy bear and always considered it her most precious birthday gift. Even when her relatives sent her abroad, she only took that toy."
"Later, Li Xiaoxiao accidentally discovered this USB drive, which set her on the path of becoming a hacker..."
After reviewing Li Xiaoxiao's memories from that time, Ye Ling increasingly felt that Li Xiaoxiao's mother's death was a premeditated murder!
And Li Xiaoxiao's mother must have had a premonition.
Combined with the fact that Li Xiaoxiao's memories had been altered by cultivators of the eighth rank or higher...
Ye Ling found it difficult not to attribute both incidents to Hongchen Pavilion!
Perhaps the truth was that Hongchen Pavilion felt threatened by Li Xiaoxiao's mother. After failing to recruit her, they directly killed her and took all the technology she possessed!
"If things are as I suspect, why did Hongchen Pavilion specifically keep Li Xiaoxiao?"
"Furthermore, Hongchen Pavilion also altered Li Xiaoxiao's memories... What was their purpose in doing so?" Ye Ling murmured to himself, his brow furrowing tighter.
Given Hongchen Pavilion's conduct, they would not go to such lengths for an ordinary girl without reason.
The fact that Hongchen Pavilion kept Li Xiaoxiao meant that Li Xiaoxiao had attracted their attention in some way.
Keeping Li Xiaoxiao was beneficial to Hongchen Pavilion!
"Could it be... that the people at Hongchen Pavilion are trying to find the Trojan horse program written by her mother through Li Xiaoxiao?" Ye Ling speculated, then shook his head, dismissing his own guess.
If Hongchen Pavilion had intentionally kept Li Xiaoxiao, they would have undoubtedly monitored her growth process.
If Li Xiaoxiao could find her mother's Trojan horse program in her toy, Hongchen Pavilion couldn't possibly not know!
If they knew Li Xiaoxiao possessed a virus that could threaten their information security, yet they allowed it to persist... it meant that Hongchen Pavilion was not after Li Xiaoxiao's mother's technology at all, but had another purpose.
"If it's not the Trojan horse program, then what could their objective be?"
Just as Ye Ling was pondering why Hongchen Pavilion had kept Li Xiaoxiao, his phone rang.
It was Wang Liren calling.
Ye Ling walked aside and answered the phone, "Have you found anything?"
"Your Majesty, are you mistaken?" Wang Liren's voice on the other end of the line was somewhat solemn. "The people you asked me to investigate... they all died ten years ago!"
Ye Ling's pupils contracted slightly!