Chapter 31: Only I Duel Alone Chapter 31: Lord of the Sirens Poseidon

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

The University of Wisconsin–Madison campus was in utter chaos.

This century-old prestigious university had experienced many such panics—the Mexican-American War, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II—but none of them had anything to do with the campus.

Only the supercomputer losing control was truly directly relevant to their own interests.

Professors in the middle of key experiments, off-campus researchers with key data left in the computer, national security agencies borrowing the computer—they all came in droves.

The shores of Lake Michigan had never been so lively.

The Principal, driven to distraction by the noise, had to come to the Computer Center in the morning, bloodshot-eyed, and command those security experts: "Before tonight, Siren's normal operation must be restored."

Professor Hack, leading them, looked toward the rear with even redder eyes: "The government does not allow us to restart Siren; without restarting, we cannot regain control."

Clinham, appearing as a government expert, heard this and muttered in a low voice: "Restarting Siren might do what Poseidon wanted to do but failed to do; that would be equivalent to completely dismantling Siren's defenses. Although we could thereby regain control of it, who knows what hidden dangers might be left behind."

Clinham, having just disembarked from the airplane, was dusty and travel-worn, his anger at being cheated buried deep in his heart.

"Who do you say Poseidon is?" the Principal frowned.

Clinham was thrown off by his leaping train of thought and stammered: "He controls Siren, so he is called Poseidon."

Naturally, this referred to Chen Yi, who was burning scrolls.

To the security experts, hackers were more like comrades than opponents. Everything belonged to internal competition, and cool nicknames were also essential.

"It's a good name, but it shouldn't be given to him," the Principal said somewhat through gritted teeth, then weighed his words for a moment and said: "I order Siren to be restarted, unless you can determine what the hidden danger is."

"I do not allow it," the Federal Official who had hurried over said slowly and deliberately: "Siren's ownership belongs to the US Government, not to the University of Wisconsin……"

"As the Principal of the University of Wisconsin……"

"A public university cannot prove you have jurisdiction over government property," the Federal Official said decisively to Clinham: "Find the hidden danger, then restart."

The Principal grunted and said: "Siren bears countless Department of Defense projects, with 17 at the Madison Campus alone. If you refuse us the use of Siren, then all projects will be terminated. And I believe other campuses will make the same choice."

Once a public university's Principal takes office, their power is considerable, especially among people of prestigious universities who regard reputation as their greatest wealth. As long as they have reputation, they can move in high society as socialites or serve as Cabinet ministers; compared to officials in the realm of fame and profit, they bear extraordinary pressure.

He had to seriously consider the Principal's suggestion, and turned his head to Clinham, saying: "What specific risks are involved in restarting?"

Clinham composed himself and said: "The supercomputer during restart will reload modules it would not use during normal operation; these modules are ones Poseidon cannot access. This is a very cunning opponent. If the virus he left in the computer still exists, something more serious than losing the password might happen."

"For example?"

"Backdoor programs. Recording all the passwords we modified."

Although what Clinham said was a very serious problem, Professor Hack was very unwilling to have his work guessed at by others, and butted in: "It was you who presided over cleaning the virus; it was you who announced the virus had been cleaned cleanly; now you say it still exists?"

Clinham was instantly speechless.

The stalemate continued until the afternoon. Seeing the busy gentlemen achieve nothing, the government official finally conceded: "Examine Siren carefully once more, restart it, and restore control."

A supercomputer losing 24 hours of time came at an extremely high cost; continuing merely on suspicion was simply unacceptable.

Clinham agreed very unwillingly; the so-called examination was merely going through the motions. Now "Siren" was purely a beached whale—you could eat its meat, but ordering it to return to the ocean was absolutely impossible. Without even the Administrator Password, how much could he examine?

After 2 hours, Siren was completely disconnected from the network and disassembled for startup. More than twenty staff members began testing different parts.

At the same time, a team of three security experts began using two large servers to crack Siren's password. Since they had accessed most of its hardware and software security measures, the password cracking proceeded quite smoothly.

Soon, Clinham came to report: "In about 8 hours, we should be able to regain control of Siren."

The Principal disliked him and said sarcastically: "Not bad. How long did that hacker take?"

The implication was that the other party, without help, could obtain control of Siren in a short time.

Even the Federal Official wore a strange smile and had to be rebuffed again.

Clinham's face turned cold; he gave an ambiguous "yes," turned, and left.

Under the guidance of the three security experts, the supercomputer started up slowly, making all sorts of strange noises, like a constipated elephant.

Clinham broke into a nervous sweat. He couldn't help but say to the person beside him: "I have a strong premonition that something will happen……"

His wording had a double meaning; the female PhD student who had just entered immediately raised a vigilant gaze.

Clinham blinked, then as if remembering something, smiled bitterly at the void: "I'm really too stupid. If Poseidon succeeded, we naturally wouldn't know, because it's a backdoor program; if Poseidon failed, we also wouldn't know, because no backdoor program exists. Looks like I'm doomed."

The female PhD student had already placed her hand on the anti-wolf spray in her bag.

Professor Hack looked at Clinham sympathetically, waved his hand, and announced the host startup.

At the same time, a program as small as could be slipped out soundlessly from the corner, following the massive data stream of the restart, and hid itself in the core program.

It was a small thing Chen Yi completed using a Skill Copy Scroll together with an Intelligence Scroll; it had few functions, but was very useful.

It quietly waited for the moment to take effect.

Just as the impossible event truly occurred, just as the whole world worried about network services, just as North America focused on Wisconsin, its perpetrator, however, had to, under his little sister's urging, tour the campus environment of Jiangning University. Of course, the main purpose was to tour Jiangning University's Computer Society and back her up.

After the events of the previous two days, Xiao Yu and the others almost daily had "Expert" on their lips, practically wanting to bow before the Chen Family gate. Thus, with Chen Yi present, Chen Rongxi's Vice President position had a chance to bear the title of Executive.

This was Chen Yi's third time entering Jiangning University.

……