Tian Tian calmly opened her dedicated laptop. It was equipped with antivirus software she had developed herself, featuring the most advanced virus detection algorithms in the world, capable of identifying 99% of all malware. It operated in a secure mode, with an overwhelmingly powerful firewall. In theory, no virus should have been able to breach it.
However—
To her surprise, the moment she powered on the laptop, a green skull appeared on the screen, oozing with green liquid that dripped down the display, spreading across it. The eerie image sent a chill down her spine.
Even my computer has been hacked?
This virus is clearly extraordinary.
Tian Tian finally got serious. She followed her standard antivirus procedures to begin the cleanup, but things were not looking good. Just as many students had reported, once the skull appeared, the system data became gibberish and entirely inoperable.
In other words, the system had been assimilated by the virus. Any external operation was effectively blocked.
After some time probing, Tian Tian's forehead was soaked with sweat. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't even locate the virus's program, let alone remove it.
Who could have done this?
Who dared unleash such a virus in our lecture hall?
And it spreads so aggressively—any networked device was at risk. It was easy to imagine that, if not contained in time, the entire city of Haishi could be infected.
Tian Tian used every trick she had, even contacting the university's security chief.
Meanwhile, Chen Mo tapped his earpiece lightly and said, "Red Queen, do you know how to remove this skull virus?"
Red Queen: "Master, one moment while I analyze it."
Chen Mo: "Alright."
A second later, the Red Queen's voice echoed in his ear.
"This virus is very unusual. It uses a completely new compilation method—its encoding is far beyond current technology. It's highly unlikely it was developed by someone from this era."
Chen Mo's heart skipped a beat. Ever since those three men in black appeared, he realized this peaceful world wasn't as simple as it seemed. There were hidden secrets humanity had yet to uncover.
And now, a virus that surpasses the times?
A sense of danger crept over him.
Chen Mo felt the pressure mounting.
"Can you trace the virus's origin?" he asked.
"Negative. I can only detect that the IP is foreign. It appears to be some kind of cyberweapon," the Red Queen replied obediently.
Chen Mo frowned. How did a foreign virus manage to breach Qingmu University? Troubles were piling up like a whirlpool, all spinning around him.
He knew he was still too weak to handle it all. He had to grow stronger—fast.
Still, this skull virus outbreak was a golden opportunity to establish a connection with his professor, Tian Tian.
As for whether the Red Queen's existence might be exposed?
He had considered that too. His conclusion: extremely unlikely. No one knew the real cause of the campus-wide outage was a super AI. Without knowing what they were even looking for, they'd never find it.
"Can you develop a dedicated removal tool?" Chen Mo asked.
"Of course. The skull virus is at least a decade ahead of its time, but I'm hundreds of years ahead. Crushing it is child's play." The Red Queen boasted, her tone full of pride, as if Chen Mo could see her virtual avatar standing tall and smug.
He sighed. She had a point.
He had underestimated her.
Chen Mo clicked his tongue. "Then help me design a removal tool. But it can't include anything that's obviously out of place for this era. Ideally, it should seem like a coincidence or an exploit of a flaw in the virus."
"No problem. That's easy. Although this virus is strong, I'll just create a virtual syringe that pierces its defenses, rearranges its code, and destroys it without a trace—then the system will return to normal."
"Perfect. Email me the tool."
"Already sent."
Ding-ding!
Chen Mo heard the notification on his phone and finally exhaled in relief.
He decided to watch for now, to see if Tian Tian could handle the virus herself. If not, he'd step in as the hero at just the right moment. That way, getting her to join Black Domain Technologies would be much easier.
"Damn! This virus is insane. I just checked social media—seems like the whole campus is infected."
"Yeah."
"Even Tian Tian is stumped. The entire university's cybersecurity team is working on it, and they haven't found a fix. There's no dedicated removal tool yet, and nothing's stopping it from spreading."
"Even the city's cybersecurity bureau is involved. It's not just our school—other parts of Haishi are seeing the same thing."
"This is bad! I can handle losing a laptop, but my data—several gigs of Aoi Sora's videos! My whole life's work is in there!"
Chen Mo listened to the chatter around him. Two or three hours had passed. The virus was spreading fast and had drawn serious attention.
It was time for him to act. If he waited too long, the virus could spiral out of control—and that wouldn't help him either.
...
"Old Mo, didn't you always say you're a top student? Prove it—make a removal tool!" Zhang Dawei said, checking his phone. Whatever he saw made his expression collapse, though he tried to laugh it off and teased Chen Mo.
Chen Mo turned to him. "Your laptop's infected too, right?"
Zhang Dawei looked stunned. "How'd you know? I had someone from the neighboring class peek through the dorm window—sure enough, the skull's on my laptop. Damn it, that's years of carefully collected... uh, study materials!"
"Just a guess," Chen Mo smirked. Study materials? More like videos of girls in stockings playing poker. That stuff would rot your brain if you weren't careful.
"…"
"If you really develop a tool, I'll call you Big Bro for life," Zhang Dawei continued joking. He figured if even Professor Tian Tian couldn't solve it, there was no way Chen Mo could. He was just goofing around.
"I did make one," Chen Mo smiled.
"No way. That's not even a good bluff." Zhang Dawei shook his head. The entire Haishi cyber team was helpless—how could a student possibly manage it?
"Dawei, you better get ready to call me Big Bro. Just because others can't do it doesn't mean I can't. Remember—your big bro is always your big bro."
Chen Mo smiled and plugged a data cable into his phone on one end, and his laptop on the other. He had already downloaded the virtual syringe tool onto his phone.