Chapter 10: The Stolen Secret

Although the Ten Great Clans maintained a façade of harmony, even intermarrying among themselves, their actual relationships were far from pleasant. Back when the head of the Chao family was still present, with almost monstrous skill and an uncanny intuition for shifting tides, he had propelled the once obscure Chao clan to become one of the capital’s ten most prominent families. Yet such glory never came without peril. Those whose interests had been cut off by the Chao patriarch began to bare their claws after his disappearance, lurking in the shadows and gnawing away at the Chao family’s flesh bit by bit.

Unfortunately, Gu Zhongming was a simpleton, preoccupied only with basking in the Chao clan’s prestige and the envy of outsiders, never considering that beneath the glittering exterior, the core had already been hollowed out and was on the verge of collapse. Lowering his gaze, Chao Xu studied the messages on his phone, rapidly analyzing the data in his mind. The current predicament was dire; conventional methods were useless, and waiting for doom seemed inevitable.

His eyes swept the room, fingers tapping lightly on his phone, finally settling on a computer not far away. Its sleek white body looked elegant and high-end, but its actual performance was unremarkable—worlds apart from any professional-grade setup. This was hardly surprising; the original Chao Si had limited intelligence, and the family had bought this machine mainly for her to play simple web games.

Ahem, getting off track.

Reining in her wandering thoughts, Chao Xu slid off the bed and walked slowly to the desk. Bouncing gleefully on the soft bed nearby, the furry little ball looked on in confusion. “Host, why are you on the computer in the middle of the night?”

Chao Xu replied as she turned on the machine, “Nothing much, just in the mood to play a little game with some people.”

A game with the nine other families bold enough to lay hands on the Chao clan—a most interesting little game.

The furball gave a sleepy grunt and didn’t think much of it. To its mind, its host was merely a pitiable amnesiac, hardly likely to stir up any great waves. With that, it sprawled luxuriously on the soft bed, exposing its fluffy belly and sighing in contentment.

Meanwhile, as Chao Xu’s pale, slender fingers danced across the keyboard, her face—illuminated by the soft glow of the monitor—remained composed and indifferent, yet unconsciously emanated a commanding aura of absolute control. This was no superficial bravado, but a strength engraved deep in her very bones—a primal instinct unshaken even by memory loss.

But for now, in her room, there was only the little furball and a single silent observer, Ci Mo. No one else noticed anything unusual.

Elsewhere, at the headquarters of the Southern Group, one of the nine great families, chaos reigned in the dead of night.

“Where is everyone? The fire’s at our heels and you’re all standing around like idiots!”

Most employees working overtime had already left, but the cybersecurity department was ablaze with activity. Every computer was running hot, nearly to the point of melting, yet the crisis showed no sign of abating. Staring at the data on his screen, the department head felt his head about to explode.

Just moments ago, some unknown hacker had swiftly breached the custom-built firewall, not only stealing the company’s secrets but also siphoning off a substantial amount of funds into an untraceable account. This was a disaster of historic proportions.

Sweat beaded on his brow as he glanced nervously around the room. These people had been headhunted at great expense, yet now every one of them seemed useless—their fingers cramping from frantic typing, but unable to slow the relentless assault for even a moment.

By all rights, hackers of this caliber shouldn’t have bothered with them. Why, of all nights, had the Southern Group become the target?

Nearly driven to tears, the department head finally called the head of the Southern Family, recounting the events in detail.

The family head, half-drunk with pleasure in his lover’s arms, was slow to understand, but upon hearing of leaked secrets and compromised assets, he sobered instantly. He leapt up, barely bothering with his wrinkled suit, and sped to the company.

Once there, he rushed straight to the cybersecurity office on the third floor, his composure forgotten, and unleashed his fury on the department head.

“Useless! You’re all useless! Am I paying you just to feed a bunch of lazy pigs? You can’t even handle a mere hacker—what good are you!”

The family head’s heart ached at the thought of so much money vanishing in mere minutes.

The department head, bitter-faced and wringing his hands, stammered, “Master, it’s not that we’re not trying, but this hacker’s skill level is beyond anything we can handle. Even if everyone here died at the keyboard, I doubt we could stop them…”

He was telling the truth. Even among hackers, there were levels, and the one attacking them could single-handedly crush a hundred of his sort.

The family head, trembling in desperation, suddenly remembered something and smacked his fist into his palm. “Wait! What about the hacker I hired for a fortune? If you can’t handle it, get him here now!”

The so-called hired hacker was “Cross,” a genius ranked tenth on the national leaderboard. Normally, such a top-tier hacker was beyond the reach of mere money, but the family head had once done Cross a great favor and managed to secure his aid.

Reminded, the department head hurriedly video-called Cross out of bed in the middle of the night.

“Tch, just a nameless nobody, and you wake me for this?” On the other end of the call, a cold, arrogant youth with tousled silver curls and features straight out of a comic book glared in annoyance, a glaring cross-shaped earring dangling from his left earlobe.

“Fine. I’ll consider this repaying your favor.” Stretching lazily, Cross fetched his laptop, exuding a languid yet domineering confidence. “Not to boast, but in this country, aside from the nine ranked above me, no one else is worth my attention.”

His tone was wildly arrogant, but it was justified, and his presence was deeply reassuring to the family head and department chief. With Cross on their side, surely the unknown intruder would pay dearly.

Eyes shining, they watched their phones, brimming with anticipation for Cross to teach the audacious hacker a harsh lesson. Recovering the stolen money and secrets would be even better.

Their hopes soared, but as seconds ticked by, the easy confidence slowly drained from Cross’s face. He sat up straighter, the casual slouch gone. In a few more moments, the last traces of certainty vanished, replaced by the wide-eyed shock of a man facing catastrophe.