Genius Hacker Got Tracked

"Look, it's this person." Geoffrey held his phone up to William, pointing to a post by Augus on the forum for him to see. William first glanced at the id, then got engrossed by the six pictures in the post. He took the phone, and his first thought when he opened the picture was: The handwriting was marvelous. Then he started looking at solved problems. William started to manage his family's business while studying in Montavia and established his own personal company at the same time. It successfully went public within a year. After studying abroad, he resolutely returned to his home country, enrolled in Biddeford University, and officially took over his family business at the age of twenty. Geoffrey was his teacher but more like his friend. Seeing William looking at the problem, Geoffrey said, "I initially wanted to ask you about this problem, but you deal with endless tasks every day. As for me, I didn't want to bother you. It's really not easy for me to see you." William wasn't that interested in the problem. After giving it a quick look, he said, “Isn't there a real-name system for posting on the forum?” "No, if there was, I would have had the administration look into it and wouldn't have specifically come to you. The Biddeford University forum only requires real names for our own faculty and students. These 'visitors' don't need to provide their real names, but their posts and comments need to be approved by the administrators before they can be released." William asked, "Have you contacted him?" "Paul and I both contacted him, offering generous terms, yet the only response we got from him was that it was not convenient, and then he ignored me completely. Paul even planned to hire a hacker to look for his IP address. I thought that wouldn't be very nice, so I came to ask for your help." "So how do you expect me to find him?" William put down his phone. "Considering your wide networks, you surely can find some ways, right? Can't you just ask a technical person at your disposal?" "How is that different from Paul hiring a hacker?" "Eh..." Geoffrey adjusted his glasses, realizing that indeed there was no difference. Facing William's slightly amused gaze, Geoffrey stubbornly said, “Still, the situation is different." William didn't say anything, instructing someone to summon his assistant, Leonard. Leonard wasn't just William's assistant, he was also Q, the tenth-ranked hacker globally, a fact only a few knew about. Many of the security systems for Felton Group were handcrafted by Leonard. Utilizing such a technically adept hacker to track a mere IP address seemed like overkill. "How long will it take?" Geoffrey impatiently asked, "The day he posted, I suffered from a nasty headache, took some medication, and rested at home for the entire day. I was unable to reach out to him immediately, fearing he might interpret it as insincere and decline my invitation." Most geniuses were great characters. Paul was one of them. "It will be quick, no more than three minutes." Leonard opened his laptop and started operating. Geoffrey leaned over to watch. He could not comprehend any of the rapidly changing data before him, and he couldn't help but admire the progress of society and technology. After some operations, Leonard was about to locate the opponent's IP address when suddenly, a large red exclamation mark flashed on the screen, indicating danger. "What's this?" Even Geoffrey who had no knowledge about such matters could tell something was wrong. Sitting nearby and browsing through his phone, William looked up when he heard the commotion and asked, "What happened?" "The person's device has a firewall," Leonard replied, and after some effort, successfully bypassed the firewall and located the person's device address. "It's in Mapleville." Mapleville again. William raised his eyes slightly. Many things had happened in Mapleville lately. William said, "Continue to narrow the range." "Understood." Leonard responded confidently. However, a few minutes later, his brows slightly furrowed before picking up an air of interest, exclaiming, "Interesting." Geoffrey watched the inexplicably exhilarated Leonard and turned to look at William. He wanted to say something but then decided against it. Augus was busy searching information on his mobile phone. Unexpectedly, an exclamation mark and a line of text suddenly appeared on the screen. Device under unknown network attack, system protection in progress, please repair as soon as possible Then, the screen turned blood red and a black skull popped up, startling him. Augus thought he had accidentally clicked somewhere. His attempt to close the software and return to the home page, even to turn off the phone, rendered useless. If it was his old mobile phone, Augus wouldn't have cared too much and would have waited until the next day to show it to Valentina. But this extremely expensive phone had just been bought a while ago. He was so careful when picking it up or putting it down, fearing any scratches or knocks. Therefore, uncaring whether Valentina was asleep or not, Augus quickly took the phone to find Valentina. Valentina had just finished a shower. She was feeling bored when Augus arrived with his mobile phone. "Val, do you think my phone has been infected with a virus?" After learning computer technology from Valentina for two days, Augus had learned quite a few technical terms. "Did you randomly click on some websites and stumbled upon inappropriate content?" Valentina glanced at him with an arched eyebrow. Augus felt a heat rush to his ears. "I didn't. I was just looking up study materials when my phone suddenly became like this." Whether it was a virus or an attack, Valentina, the world's top hacker, certainly could tell the difference. She was just teasing him. Seeing Valentina's heart rate not accelerating in the slightest, and even a smile creeping onto her face, Augus murmured with embarrassment, "You sure are quite straightforward..." "What is it?" Valentina seemed unfazed, took Augus's phone, and opened her computer. Augus, not wanting to chat about these topics with her, quickly changed the subject. "Val, what's wrong with my phone?" "It's been attacked." "By who?" Augus eyed his weird phone screen and then looked towards Valentina who was operating at near-blinding speeds, his expression becoming quite nervous. This was the first time he had ever encountered such an incident. "We'll know once we look into it." Valentina continued to work on her computer. When Augus first bought this phone and computer, Valentina habitually set up firewalls and anti-tracking devices for both devices out of boredom and as a precautionary measure, without thinking that they would actually be used someday. Surprisingly, not only were they being used, but also so soon. "Is it an indiscriminate attack, or...?" Augus didn't even have any friends, let alone enemies. Not to mention hackers, he had hardly ever encountered ordinary tech professionals in real life. Except for Valentina. How could someone launch an attack on him? So, the best possibility was that it was an indiscriminate attack. "No, it wasn't," Valentina disagreed. William's house, the Felton Family. "Is it not done yet?" William put down his phone. It had already been over ten minutes. Lifting his head, he saw Leonard's eyebrows furrowed deeply with an immensely serious expression. Sweat had unknowingly traced the contours of his forehead and temples. Even the surrounding air seemed to become heated. Geoffrey glanced at Leonard and then at the computer screen, not daring to ask a single question, fearing he would disturb Leonard. Leonard's hands moved faster and faster. For a moment, all that could be heard was the clattering of the keyboard. He could feel his mouth getting dry. "The other party has detected me. They not only reinforced their firewall but also broke through mine, and..." he quickly explained while simultaneously operating. "My devices have been back traced." Leonard abruptly stopped his movements, and he looked up towards William.