Chapter 53: The Joker Virus

Tony Stark left the common dining area and went to the public computer zone in the library.

The Stark family's villa in Malibu Beach certainly had usable computers, with better performance and specs—but returning from university was a long trip, so it was easier to use the campus's public computers.

In this era, personal computers were still expensive luxuries; after carrying tuition loans, very few students could afford one at home.

But this emerging technology would inevitably hold a pivotal position in the foreseeable future.

From Caltech's perspective, they would undoubtedly pour all efforts into cultivating talent in this field. The first step was to expose more students to computers.

Whether for gaming or the convenience of computation, computers would inevitably attract countless university students to use them. Thus, the library's public computer zone was often full, sometimes requiring queues to wait.

The Stark family's heir obviously wouldn't stand in line and wait patiently for others to finish.

Tony walked straight to a convenient terminal, tapped the shoulder of the fat guy browsing a BBS, then tossed down a hundred bucks with a glance.

The fat guy, about to turn and curse, saw the green bills first, then the man giving the signal—he immediately flashed a sycophantic smile, logged off, and stood up. He even patted the seat to cool it down slightly.

At this time, Tony Stark had not yet developed the fastidiousness and eccentric personality of a corporate leader. Or rather, the quirks others saw in Tony were forced upon him by those around him with ill intent.

He was simply a wealthy, generous, playboy student.

Those who truly knew how to have fun understood that those fully immersed rarely had hang-ups or taboos. One could say, it was precisely about breaking societal constraints, getting dirty oneself, and ruining others—that's what made it fun.

So at this time, Tony Stark didn't even have bodyguards; he looked slightly disheveled, careless, with a touch of rakish charm. He didn't hesitate a moment—he plopped right down on the chair someone else had used.

The fat guy who took the money didn't leave immediately. He stepped back behind the campus celebrity, curious to see what a man whose family wealth could buy hundreds of computers would do.

Tony Stark logged into a specific IP address via the terminal interface—the fat guy's eyes lit up.

He recognized that IP address—he'd crashed his own computer with it. Before getting someone to reinstall the system, he'd been forced to use the library's public computers just to pass the time.

When he saw the infamous bulletin board page, the fat guy clapped and shouted: "Oh my god, everyone come look—someone's challenging the Joker again."

Instantly, onlookers gathered, murmuring excitedly.

Tony Stark didn't shoo them away. He took a moment to turn toward the fat guy and asked: "Does this BBS have a name?"

"No, sir. This BBS has no name. But in ten minutes, the entire screen will be taken over by the Joker virus—that's why we call it that. Haven't you checked the time? You only have ten minutes."

"More than enough." Tony rapidly typed commands into the prompt.

In this era, DOS-era personal computers had no concept of multitasking or multiple windows. Whatever program was running on screen was the only thing you could use.

The first random command he entered wasn't expected to do anything. Tony just wanted to see the system's error response to determine its underlying foundation.

After all, error messages varied by vendor—no universal standard existed. That actually made identification easier.

Tony instantly recognized it as a UNIX environment used by old mainframes. He immediately queried the version number and the BBS's underlying program to decide his intrusion method.

After gathering all necessary information, Tony judged that this BBS didn't need another program to breach it—it had no restrictions on command input, allowing him to do things beyond the stated instructions.

Meanwhile, the fat guy who gave up his seat called out to the crowd: "Place your bets! Place your bets! Let's see if the genius from MIT becomes the BBS's fourth poster—or if he meets the Joker."

Instantly, the public computer zone, normally silent except for keyboard clacks, erupted into noise. More terminals emptied as most people rushed to stand behind Tony Stark to watch.

The scene even drew the attention of the library staff. Upon hearing someone was attempting to log into the Joker BBS, they hurried over to stop it—regardless of whether the user was a genius or a rich kid.

But the library staff were naturally blocked at the outer edge by other onlookers, unable to interfere with the Stark heir's grand display.

…Or rather, his humiliation.

Tony's fingers flew across the keyboard. Even without training in solitude, his dexterity rivaled that of the finest pianist—though the sounds he produced were neither beautiful nor pleasant.

Soon, the BBS's comment page cleared, and the screen reverted to command input mode. He opened a file editor and began writing intrusion code to swiftly gain system permissions.

Because Tony was fully focused on the screen, he didn't notice the whispers behind him.

"Will he realize?" "He still hasn't realized." "No one can spot it on the first try." …

When the screen returned to the BBS comment page, besides the existing three lines of text, Tony Stark left a fourth: This little trick isn't worth boasting about.

He immediately clapped his hands, raised both arms to his sides, and stood up—as if expecting cheers.

But the heir's performance received no applause. Everyone held their breath, staring at the screen.

Suddenly—the screen changed! A pixel-art Joker grin filled the entire display, continuously refreshing from top to bottom, proving the system wasn't frozen—it was still running.

Only when the Joker's grin appeared did the crowd truly erupt in cheers.

"Woooh!" "It's decided!" "The Joker conquered Stark!"

Tony stared in disbelief at the screen and slammed his fist on the keyboard. As expected, the keyboard gave no response.

Amid the cheers, one voice stood out—out of place. The library staff member crouched, clutching his head, screaming: "Fuck you, Tony Stark, I'm gonna have to reinstall the system again."

"Do you have any idea how fucking annoying it is to reinstall a system with admin tools on a public computer? You're rich—go mess with your own damn machine. Why do you have to ruin mine?!"

The unseasoned heir, of course, turned beet red with shame.

New book signed—please follow, collect, and recommend, thank you~~

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(End of Chapter)