Chapter 43: 421 - 430

Chapter 421 - The Zheng Family

After that fateful makeover day, Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue started spending more time together, especially since Iris and Jin Liwei were always so busy working. Wei Lan would take Jiang Ying Yue out in her new outfits to help build her confidence around other people outside.

Sometimes when the weather was nice, they also brought Little Jun with them accompanied by his nanny and several of the younger staff. Of course, he also wore the most fashionable little outfits bought by his new Grandma Wei Lan.

Wei Lan would never get caught together with people in frumpy outfits, so everyone in the household staff also got mini-makeovers and updated their wardrobes. Even the cats. Now their collars changed every single day. Sometimes, Popcorn wore mini-hoodies and even tuxedoes. As for Ice Cream, she hated wearing any clothes, barely tolerating having her collars changed.

The big grey cat still didn't like Wei Lan, but at least she no longer hissed at her. In contrast, Popcorn loved everyone as long as they were nice to him and his family.

Wei Lan advised everyone on their fashion choices. It was one of the reasons why the younger members of the staff warmed up quickly to her. The penthouse's household staff weren't required to wear uniforms unlike the staff at the mansion. Iris scrapped this requirement after she woke up from her one-year coma. So her staff usually wore their regular clothes while working.

Only the driver liked wearing uniforms because he thought that it made him look professional, especially since he was also often photographed by the paparazzi and fans whenever he picked up Iris. But ever since Iris moved to the mansion, he didn't need to drive her around anymore. Jin Liwei had a full staff there ready to serve their mistress. There was a time when the driver felt unneeded. Fortunately, Clover arrived and started living at the penthouse. He now had a purpose again and drove Clover around.

Even the driver's uniform didn't escape Wei Lan's interference. Since he liked wearing uniforms so much, she had a professional designer make him a new set of uniforms. Now he looked more like an aircraft pilot rather than a car driver. He secretly loved it, though.

Under Wei Lan's influence, Iris' penthouse staff became the most fashionable staff in the area. Whenever Wei Lan, Jiang Ying Yue, Little Jun, his nanny and the younger staff walked out together, everyone would stop in their tracks and just stare at them.

"Who are this group of fashionable people?" they wondered.

And almost always, everyone would become even more amazed whenever the driver picked them up while wearing his customized pilot uniform.

The group was so stylish and eye-catching that one day, their photos were published on a popular street fashion blog. Although Little Jun's face was blurred out because he was a child, everyone else's faces were clearly shown.

Soon, a few people quickly recognized both Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue.

Wei Lan was a former model but her career never really took off. She only became (in)famous because of her high-profile divorce from Long Tengfei and also because she was the mother of Iris Long. Now people knew her as Madam Wei Lan, the extravagant socialite who changed lovers like she changed her clothes.

As for Jiang Ying Yue, many recognized her as Iris' former bodyguard turned friend, future sister-in-law, and the mother of her godson. She became well-known when Wu Qianxi and her "friend" influenced people to bully her and Long Hui online. Jiang Ying Yue's pictures were spread all over the internet, causing her to receive so much hate until Princess Porkchop helped turn the situation around.

After Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue were recognized from the photos on the street fashion blog and associated them to Iris, the post immediately became viral.

###

Zheng Ancestral Residence.

Like the Longs, the Zheng clan was an old aristocratic family. Their ancestral residence were also as ancient and as majestic. And like the Longs, they were proud of their noble roots, even though they didn't hold any official title anymore.

Inside the main house, the servants were serving tea to the master's only sister.

Her name was Zheng Suyin. She was Long Tengfei's first wife and Long Hui's mother. Because her husband divorced her to marry a model, she had to return to her maiden family in shame. Her clan considered her as a disgrace because she couldn't even stay married to her husband. But at least she did her duty and gave birth to a male heir. As a result of her "shameful" fate, she decided to live a reclusive life, barely going out of the ancestral residence.

She didn't want to care about anything or anyone anymore. She just wanted to live in peace and not think about what happened in the past. Despite this, her heart still bore a heavy grudge against Long Tengfei and his numerous women and children.

However, the one person who she despised the most was Wei Lan, that homewrecker!

Zheng Suyin endured it even when she knew about Long Tengfei's other mistresses. After all, theirs was an arranged marriage. And she knew that he never loved her.

But at least, Long Tengfei always returned to her after playing around with those...prostitutes. Mistresses...prostitutes...what was the difference? Both opened their legs in exchange for something else.

However, everything changed with the arrival of that lowly model...that slut...that Wei Lan!

That whore was able to seduce her husband so deeply that he divorced his wife. Being suddenly stripped of her title as Madam Long, Zheng Suyin could never forgive Wei Lan. That slut destroyed not only her life and her family, but also her reputation!

Despite her deep grudge, Zheng Suyin chose to withdraw from society instead. Even though she was disgraced, at least she was assured by the fact that her son was the firstborn and would eventually become the next head of the Long clan and Long Industries. This knowledge was already enough for her.

Lately, however, her brother, the Zhengs' current master, was telling her something rather troubling. It seemed that her son's position as the Longs' successor had become unstable. So her brother had sent some spies within the Longs to learn how the situation became like this.

When they heard what really happened, her brother shook his head.

"Your son has inherited your former husband's philandering ways," he said. "How stupid to father an illegitimate firstborn with such an unsuitable woman! A bodyguard? What was he thinking?"

Zheng Suyin pressed her lips together. "That bodyguard must've seduced my son, like how that slut model seduced my husband."

"Long Tengfei isn't your husband anymore. Well, it's no wonder that the Longs are suppressing your son. An illegitimate firstborn would never be accepted in their family, just like how we'll never accept it in this family."

After that, they dug more information about Jiang Ying Yue and her son, Long Jun. By doing so, they discovered the mother and son's close relationship with Long Xiulan, that slut Wei Lan's daughter.

As they gathered more and more information, the Zhengs also discovered how Long Xiulan was actually Long Hui's biggest threat in his position as successor of the Longs. This made Zheng Suyin furious.

"Not only did that slut Wei Lan steal my husband from me, her slut daughter is now trying to steal my son's heir position as well! Unforgivable! Curse them!"

Fueled by grudge and the desire to protect her son's rightful position as heir of the Longs, the Zhengs secretly allied with Long Meng's branch family after learning that the elder was Long Hui's biggest supporter in the clan. In addition to that, they were trying to invite Long Hui to meet them but hadn't been successful yet.

Long Meng informed them that Long Hui was injured but didn't know how. So the Zhengs could only wait until he was well enough to accept his mother's summons.

Back to the present, Zheng Suyin looked like a lady from the ancient past as she sipped tea. Her maids were well-trained in not making any noises. The place was incredibly silent.

The silence, however, was soon interrupted when Zheng Suyin's niece, her brother's teenage daughter, ran to her.

"Aunt Suyin! Look what I found!" the niece exclaimed while waving a tablet in her hand.

Zheng Suyin looked unruffled and calmly took the tablet. Then she froze when she saw what was displayed on it.

Her eyes immediately zeroed in on Wei Lan's arrogant figure. It took a few moments before she recognized the young woman beside the slut. It was the woman who seduced her son!

"I knew it! Whores! All of them are whores! Birds of a feather really do flock together!"

Zheng Suyin was so angry that she threw the tablet on the low table. It crashed against the tea pot, spilling hot tea all over it. Not only did the poor tablet crack, it also got soaked by the tea. It sparked a little and made a soft zapping sound before it completely died.

"Ah! My tablet! Aunt Suyin, why?!! Dad just bought it for me last week!"

Zheng Suyin closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to control her raging emotions. After a few moments, she calmed down.

Without changing her expression, she told the teen, "Don't worry. I'll buy you a new one."

The niece's eyes immediately lit up. "Really? Can I get the latest one? Please, Aunt!"

"Sure."

"Yay!" Ñøv€l-B1n was the first platform to present this chapter.

"But I need you to do something for me. If you see any more news online about those two women, tell me immediately," Zheng Suyin said.

"No problem, Aunt. Even if you don't ask me, I already plan on telling you. I overheard you and Dad talking about these two women plus Iris Long. Hmph! I don't understand why that bimbo became so popular. I hate her songs! They're so boooooring. I think her old songs are better but whatever. I still hate her because you hate her, Aunt!"

Zheng Suyin nodded.

"They're bullying your cousin, your Big Brother Hui, so they're our enemies."

Chapter 422 - Special Secret Weapon

At around the same time in other places, Long Tengfei's past women also saw the recent photos of Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue online.

Sun Jingfei was an owner of a small bookstore that also sold basic school and office supplies. It doubled as a gift shop as well. She was Long Jinjing's mother.

She was working at her bookstore when her best friend who was also her employee showed her the photos.

"Look! That biggest bitch in the whole wide world is back! Wei Lan had been gone from the country for so long that I almost forgot her existence! I wish she never returned! Ah, now that she's back, I guess she's going to make lots of trouble again! I'll never forget how she bullied you before! And how her daughter tormented our sweet Little Jinjing! That little demoness is exactly like her mother! Bitches!"

Sun Jingfei only sighed and shook her head gently. "Calm down. That was so long ago. Wei Lan was Long Tengfei's wife. Of course, she wouldn't like me, a mistress."

"Hmph! You were already in Long Tengfei's life before he even met her!"

"Even so. I was just a mistress. Let's put history behind us where it belongs, in the past. Besides, both Jinjing and Xiao Fei are now friends with Long Xiulan. They're even working together at the same company which Long Xiulan owns. Jinjing already told us that her sister has changed and is now very kind to her. I think this is good that they're finally treating each other like sisters as they should. All of them are friends now, including this young lady here." Sun Jingfei pointed at Jiang Ying Yue in the photos.

Her best friend still felt skeptical about Iris' good relationship with Long Jinjing.

Sun Jingfei didn't pay too much attention to her best friend's complaints. She just looked at all the photos of Wei Lan looking gorgeous as ever with Jiang Ying Yue and an entourage of similarly well-dressed people.

"Why should we continue treating each other as enemies? Both of us are that man's past now. We shouldn't let him influence our current lives so much anymore," she murmured.

###

A very different scene was playing at Zhu Ning's house. Many of her friends sent her the link to the popular street fashion blog. She went momentarily crazy when she saw the photos online. She and Wei Lan were the ones among Long Tengfei's women who fought each other the most. Their fights weren't catfights. They were violent brawls.

There were many instances that they beat each other up so badly that they had to be hospitalized. Of course, they also sued each other many times. They even experienced being slapped by restraining orders by each other.

The two hated each other to the core. It didn't help that both of them easily lost their tempers. They treated each other like mortal enemies.

Needless to say, the house was wrecked after Zhu Ning saw Wei Lan's recent photos showing that she had finally returned to the country. Fortunately, Long Jian was at work. The maids immediately cleaned up the place, so that he wouldn't discover that his mother had wrecked almost everything in their house...again.

Seeing Wei Lan looking as gorgeous, sexy and youthful as ever in the photos, Zhu Ning was boiling with envy and hatred. She immediately decided to make another appointment with her dermatologist—and maybe her plastic surgeon, as well.

"If I see ever see that bitch, I'll pull all of her hair out and scratch her fake face off!"

Then she finally noticed Jiang Ying Yue beside Wei Lan and sneered.

"What a cunning ho. Now that her man is losing power in the Long clan, she's ingratiating herself with that little slut Xiulan. Dream on! There's no way that little slut would be able to inherit the Long clan and Long Industries! I'll never let Wei Lan's daughter triumph! And neither will I let that swine Long Hui succeed! The one who'll get everything of the Longs is my son, Long Jian!"

###

The Long elders and various relatives also learned that Wei Lan was back. Those supporting Iris suddenly hesitated and started second-guessing their decision. They treated Wei Lan as a liability in Iris' chances of becoming the successor. Long Jufang quickly calmed them down, though.

As for Long Hui's supporters within the clan, they were extremely unhappy seeing Jiang Ying Yue and her son together with Wei Lan. Long Meng redoubled her efforts in persuading Long Hui to leave Jiang Ying Yue and marry someone else.

Wei Lan's reappearance made everyone involved in the Long clan's battle for succession restless.

Iris' supporters were hoping that Wei Lan wouldn't ruin her daughter's chances, while Long Hui and the other candidates' supporters were already thinking of various ways of using Wei Lan to kick Iris out of the battle of succession once and for all.

###

Gold Heights Condominium.

While people were stressing out about her chances of winning the battle of succession in the Long clan, Iris wasn't thinking about it at all. Since there weren't any updates from her financial manager about any available Long Industries shares that they could buy, she tossed the matter out of her mind for now.

She was more concerned about Orchidia Beauty and her new songs with Jin Chonglin. All of them were set to launch next season which was very soon.

In addition to these, she was also very excited about her plans of finally announcing her engagement with her darling to the public. Surprisingly, Wei Lan kept her promise and didn't tell a single soul about their engagement. It seemed that Wei Lan was really doing her best into becoming a respectable viscountess.

Iris had already confirmed that Wei Lan was indeed officially married to a Spanish viscount. The Viscountcy of Castillo de Estrellas really existed and its current title-holder was Wei Lan's new husband.

Satisfied by her findings, Iris didn't dig any further. She only did the most basic background check to confirm Wei Lan's marriage to the viscount.

She was too busy these days that she didn't really have the interest nor the time to dig deeper into the viscount's background. The orphanages caught her attention at first, but she temporarily dismissed them for now. Perhaps she was just being too suspicious and paranoid, thinking that they were similar to the Vetrovs' training program.

Besides, she was already starting to treat Wei Lan as family. Iris was pleased seeing the growing confidence in her friend, Jiang Ying Yue, under Wei Lan's "mentorship".

Iris had a new personal policy not to "spy" on family members without their permission. Jin Liwei was the only one who gave her permission so far, but she didn't want to abuse it.

Wei Lan gave her a book titled "How to Keep Your Man Hooked on You for as Long as You Live". One of the main points in the book was that men didn't like women who watched their every move because it would make them feel suffocated. They would think that their women didn't trust them enough, causing resentment to grow.

Iris didn't want Jin Liwei to resent her, so even though he gave her permission, she stopped spying on him when there really wasn't any need to do so.

Her life was going extremely well right now. She wanted to focus on living a happy and normal life with Jin Liwei and the rest of their family and friends. Music, showbiz and her businesses were her current career priorities.

Hacking would have to take a backseat for now. It was her special secret weapon that she would use if needed. She was discovering that she could survive perfectly fine without hacking regularly.

It was already late at night, yet Jin Liwei hadn't arrived home yet. He already called her saying that he would be running late tonight. She trusted him, so she didn't think much about it. After telling him some quick sweet-nothings, she prepared for bed.

However, as she was about to nod off to deep sleep, her phone started ringing. It was her ringtone for Jin Liwei. N♡vεlB¡n: Unleashing Imagination, One Read at a Time.

"Hello...darling?" she answered the call, her tone obviously sleepy.

"Sorry for disturbing you, love."

"Hmmm...it's okay..."

"Love...I need your help."

Although his voice sounded calm, Iris still heard the urgency in his tone. She immediately became alert.

"What's wrong, darling?"

"Jin Corporation is being hacked."

Chapter 423 - Probably Just Noobs

Jin Corporation.

It was almost midnight already, but sleep was the farthest thing from Jin Liwei's mind at the moment. His expression was grim, as he watched his expert employees desperately doing their best to prevent further data breach on the company's system.

They were at the company's main computer control room located half a floor above the massive server chamber. This area was off-limits to most of Jin Corporation's employees. Only the people with the right clearance were allowed inside. Even Jin Liwei himself had only been here a few times in the past because there hadn't been any major data breaches like this one since he had become the President-CEO.

The IT and security departments shared the main responsibilities in ensuring and maintaining the company's cybersecurity. The best among them were members of Jin Liwei's personal tech team.

At the moment, however, even these experts were helpless against the overpowering hacker currently combing the company's most sensitive data. And he was doing it so effortlessly! Since the hacker had already breached the company's system and they couldn't kick him out with their own abilities, all they could do was to fortify their remaining defences to at least protect the rest of the data.

Earlier that day, everything was still normal. It was just a regular workday like usual. However, at around late afternoon, they started getting reports of other companies getting hacked one after another. These companies were among the top in the country, alongside Jin Corporation.

Jin Liwei immediately called all members of the IT and security departments to monitor the company's system and to protect it in case they were attacked as well. A few hours passed and yet there was nothing.

The other companies that were hacked reported no devastating damage, but the fact that their sensitive data were accessed by an unknown entity was still disturbing. There were no damages now, but what about in the future? For multinational companies, data like these were gold.

Evening came and Jin Corporation hadn't been attacked like the others. Jin Liwei and his tech team remained vigilant, but when the night started to deepen and nothing still happened, they started to relax.

Jin Liwei assigned a small group to work overtime throughout the night just in case. He was about to dismiss the rest so that they could finally go home for the night when it finally happened.

Jin Corporation was being hacked!

At first, his team of experts were still handling the situation quite well. It was because Iris fiddled with the company's cybersecurity system before and inconspicuously strengthened it.

Of course, she asked Jin Liwei's permission first before doing so. On the same day when she started sending him boxed lunches to his office,she complained to him that night at home.

"Darling, your company's cybersecurity system sucks! I only intended on taking a quick look at it while checking up on you via the surveillance video feed, but I can't believe a company of Jin Corporation's calibre is still using that archaic system!" The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

"Archaic?" Jin Liwei couldn't help but frown. "Love, my company is using the latest technology."

She snorted at his claim. "The latest in the market doesn't always mean that it's the latest in the world. My Planet Monkey's system is a thousand times—no, a million times more advanced and safer than Jin Corporation's. Darling, how about you let me change Jin Corporation's trash system to the more sophisticated one that I personally developed? It'll be as secure as Planet Monkey's, but of course I'll customize it for Jin Corporation. I'll give you a discount since you're my darling and it's for your company."

Then her eyes widened as she remembered something. "Oh, right! I promised to give you a free service as my return gift when you gave me my LX bangle back then. Remember? You can use that promise to waive my expensive fee this time."

Jin Liwei almost accepted her offer but stopped himself. He didn't doubt her claims, but that was also why he couldn't accept her offer no matter how tempting.

"Jin Corporation is the current number one company in the country. As such, it's subject to close scrutiny not only by the public but also by the authorities. If we suddenly get a new security system that is practically impenetrable but is also unavailable in the market, I'm sure that people will start asking where we got it from," Jin Liwei told her.

He held her hands and looked at her. His expression was grave.

"Love, Jin Corporation's security is very important to me, but I will never endanger your safety for it. So thank you for the offer, but I won't accept it. I'm sure that the security system you developed is amazing. And that's what worries me. Once others see how amazing it is, I'm sure that they'll want it for themselves as well.

"We have the right to keep it from our rival companies, but if the authorities demand that we give the technology to them, we have no choice but to obey or suffer the consequences. Worse, they might even demand to acquire the person who created it. If that ever happens, even if they kill me, I'll never hand them over to you, love."

Iris froze after hearing his reason for rejecting her offer. Why didn't she think about all of these? How careless of her!

Fortunately, Jin Liwei had the presence of mind to think about these possible scenarios in advance.

She moved and sat on his lap instead. She nuzzled his neck and whispered to his ear, "I love you, Jin Liwei.

"I love you more. So much," he replied, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist. "I'll do everything to protect you."

She pressed her body closer to him. "I'll protect you, too."

The corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile. "En. We'll protect each other."

They continued embracing until Iris straightened and looked at him.

"But darling, I'm bothered thinking about Jin Corporation's current system. It's trash! I don't think I'll be able to sleep knowing what a trash it is," she told him.

"Since we started using our current system, many hackers have already tried attacking our company but none of them had succeeded yet," he replied.

"They're probably just noobs," she muttered under her breath.

He couldn't help but chuckle hearing her words. "En. They'll never be able to compare to you."

She smiled before returning to talk about her concern.

"How about this, darling? Let me strengthen your current system. I'll plug most of its vulnerabilities. Although it's not the most ideal solution because the system itself is flawed, at least it'll be a little more protected and less likely to collapse if a serious breach occurs. I promise to make the additions as seamless as possible. I guarantee that virtually no one will be able to notice them from the original framework."

"Hmmm. Alright. Do what you want," he finally agreed. "But make sure to be careful, love. Don't let anything be traced back to you. I want you safe at all times."

"Okay, darling."

And with that, she immediately strengthened Jin Corporation's system in the next few days. She worked on it during her free time.

All the system's vulnerabilities were plugged and an extra layer of defence was even added. The coding of these additional features were almost identical to the original that, indeed, nobody noticed anything after she was done updating the system.

Even Jin Liwei's team of experts who regularly monitored the system didn't notice anything different. What they did notice was that everything seemed to be running faster and more efficiently than usual. However, they credited that to their own continued hard work.

It was thanks to Iris' unknown hand in strengthening the system that these experts were able to protect Jin Corporation's system for longer against the hacker attacking them now.

Chapter 424 - Battle Of The Gods

When things started to get out of hand with more data being accessed by the hacker, Jin Liwei excused himself from the computer room and immediately called his baby girl. Although he didn't really want to get her involved, she was the best person he could think of who could help them right now.

So he called her and she agreed to help him.

Back to the present, Jin Liwei was back at the main computer control room. No matter how hard his team of experts tried to protect the remaining data, it seemed that the hacker had no trouble whatsoever in accessing them.

For a multinational company like Jin Corporation, this was a nightmare. The hacker might not be causing them harm right now, but just the fact that a data breach occurred was already enough to damage the clients' trust in the company. In addition to this, there was also the concern that the hacker might use the data he gathered for malicious purposes in the future.

It had already been fifteen minutes since Jin Liwei returned to the computer control room after calling his baby girl. However, there were still no signs of any activity from her.

"President...this hacker's skills are too superior for the likes of any of us here," a member of the IT department said. "It's like he's not even concerned about us and accesses all the data in his own sweet time. Since he's just checking everything out and not really causing irreparable damage, why don't we just let him do whatever he wants? It's not like we can do anything to stop him, anyway. We're just wasting our time."

His colleagues all froze after hearing his words. Many of them glared at his stupidity.

"Of course we have to do everything in our power to stop this hacker at all costs. It's our duty," one of them hurriedly said.

The others echoed this statement.

Jin Liwei's expression turned cold and extremely intimidating. The room's temperature was already low to keep all the computers and other equipment running in their optimal state, but it became even colder, especially around Jin Liwei's immediate surrounding.

"I see," he said in a tone that could freeze even hell itself. "Since you think that you're wasting your time here, why don't you leave?"

The employee finally realized that he fucked up. He panicked and tried to appease Jin Liwei. "P-president...ahaha...that's not what I meant. I was just...joking...ahaha."

His colleagues were already mentally lighting a candle for him.

Jin Liwei was merciless. "You're fired."

After he said that, some of the senior employees immediately escorted the horrified employee out of the room. They didn't want to anger their President any further. What if he started firing them next?

Everyone returned to their (hopeless) battle against the hacker after that. By this time, the data breach was almost nearing the alarming 50% mark. The other companies hacked earlier reportedly had 90-100% of their total data compromised before the hacker stopped.

As much as possible, Jin Liwei didn't want Jin Corporation to suffer the same fate as these other companies. Not only would it lower the trust people had in the companies, but it would also seriously damage the overall reputation of the country's business industry.

If the countries' top companies weren't safe, how much more the smaller businesses? This would discourage both local and foreign investments in the country which would, of course, affect the economy. The potential repercussions from this seemingly harmless hacking incident were just too concerning to dismiss.

Suddenly, someone in the room exclaimed.

"What the hell?! We have another breach! Fuck me! This son of a bitch is more aggressive than the first motherfucker! He's quickly stealing the system control from us! Why is this happening?! We can barely do anything against one of them, now we have to fight against two?! Shoot me now, please!"

"Calm down, bro," his colleague told him. "We can do this...we can do this...we can—shit! The bastard stole my access rights!"

Jin Liwei frowned and observed the second hacker's actions.

Before everyone descended into full-blown panic at the newly-arrived hacker who was aggressively taking the system control from them, a senior member of Jin Liwei's personal tech team noticed something weird.

"SHUT UP!!!" he yelled at everyone to catch their attention.

When everyone stopped, he pointed at several of the computer screens. "Look. The first hacker is now having trouble accessing the rest of the data. What the... Someone's rewriting the system codes!"

"Motherfucker! Those codes are worth millions! Don't you dare start rewriting them, asshole!"

Jin Liwei's frown deepened. There was uncertainty but also a glint of hope in his eyes. Although he didn't fully understand the things flashing on the computer screens, he still had enough experience to get a general understanding of the current situation. His hands tightened into fists, and he looked determined.

"No, wait! Look at that! This coding...holy shit! This second hacker is fortifying the system and securing the rest of the data! Oh oh oh! The first hacker can't access them anymore!"

"Not only that, the breached parts were also being rapidly repaired. This is amazing!"

"Who is this second hacker?! Is he helping us? He's helping us, right?"

All of them looked at Jin Liwei who now had a faint smile on his face.

"President, do you know this second hacker?" someone asked him.

"En." Jin Liwei confimed with a nod. "We'll be okay now. The second hacker is on our side."

Jin Liwei felt very excited inside. His baby girl had finally come!

The most senior member of his tech team looked slightly taken aback at seeing his boss' full confidence in this second hacker. However, as he continued to observe the swift fortification of the system and the repeated failures of the first hacker to access the rest of the data, he concluded that the second hacker might just be one of those legendary god-level hackers.

"Do everything to assist the second hacker. Immediately surrender your access rights to him if needed," he instructed everyone.

"Yes, sir," they obeyed.

Jin Liwei nodded in approval.

Later...

"Hahahahaha! Yes! Take that, motherfucker! Can't do anything now, huh? Did you really think that you can just prance inside our company's system like it's your own backyard?! Think again!"

"President, the data breach has stopped at exactly 48%! The first hacker can't access the rest of the data anymore, as they are now tightly sealed and protected by this new rewritten security codes!"

"I want to know who this second hacker is! President, tell us!"

Jin Liwei pretended that he didn't hear them. There was absolutely no way he would tell them that the second hacker was his baby girl.

The employees didn't force him to tell them either. How could they? He was their scary big boss. If they weren't careful, he might just fire them like what he did to their stupid colleague earlier. They started celebrating the second hacker's victory instead. The tense atmosphere relaxed.

However, their celebration was short-lived because the first hacker suddenly switched gears. Perhaps he felt challenged, even angered, by the second hacker's interference. He abandoned his earlier harmless modus operandi and turned malicious instead. He started destroying the rewritten security codes and even tried infecting the system with several destructive computer viruses.

However, the damaged security codes were continuously rewritten and fortified. The computer viruses were also destroyed before they could even infect anything.

Everyone inside the main computer control room felt goosebumps watching such an intense hacking battle right in front of their eyes. However, they were also scared out of their wits because the battleground was Jin Corporation's system itself. If this battle became any more intense, it might just completely obliterate the company's entire system.

"President! Th-this is too dangerous! We can't let this go on any further!"

Jin Liwei pressed his lips into a tight line. "Just wait. We'll definitely win. I'm sure of it," he said through gritted teeth.

"A-alright, President..."

"Well, even if we try interfering, what can we do? It's like ants trying to join the battle of the gods. We'll just get squashed to death," another commented.

"Hai. I guess we'll just have to wait until the battle is over and clean up all the mess afterwards."

Jin Liwei and his employees were on high alert as they continued to watch the battle between the two hackers. They were anxious and cheered for the second hacker to win.

"You can do it, love," Jin Liwei whispered.

"Did you say something, President?"

"No. I didn't."

Observing that battle, the experts in the room determined that the two hackers' skills were on par with each other. The first hacker was growing more and more destructive by the moment, but fortunately, the second hacker was able to counter him while protecting the system at the same time.

Of course, there were unavoidable damage to the system but the second hacker was able to keep it to a bare minimum.

Then suddenly, the battle stopped...or so it seemed.

Since the system was constantly repairing itself, everyone knew that the second hacker was still there. However, the first hacker seemed to disappear into thin air.

"I-is it...over?" one of the youngest members of the IT department asked uncertainly.

"It looks like it. I hope so."

When five minutes passed without any further activities from the first hacker, the employees finally started allowing themselves to release sighs of relief.

"Finally, it's over!"

But as soon as someone said this, the lights in the room suddenly started blinking. Not only that. A couple of computer monitors blacked out before displaying what looked like a logo of a bird. Some of the employees immediately recognized it and gasped.

Then a high-pitched robotic voice suddenly spoke in English. The creepy singsong tone made the employees shudder.

"Dear Drakon~ Where are you?~ Come out, come out, wherever you are~"The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

Chapter 425 - Eagle

The high-pitched robotic voice wasn't just heard by Jin Liwei and his employees at the main computer control room. It was heard throughout the entire Jin Corporation building via the PA system. It seemed that the first hacker didn't know exactly where his opponent was located.

Fortunately, it was already past midnight and most employees were gone. Despite this, there were still some people who heard it—the night cleaners and the few ones working overtime. When they heard the creepy high-pitched robotic voice, they were extremely frightened.

All that registered in their minds was the robotic voice. They didn't bother understanding what it was saying. Besides, not all of them could understand English. They just started freaking out.

"It's the demooooooooon! Please don't haunt me! I've been going to the temple every week to cleanse my dirty mind! I swear I haven't looked at President Jin since then! I don't even dare look at his shoes or his shadow! I don't want to go insane! Please noooooooo!"

But before these poor employees really went insane from being frightened too much, their computer screens, phones, and the TVs placed in every office area displayed a text message. It said:

"Jin Corporation is currently being hacked. The one who just spoke is the hacker who wants to harm your company. Please stay calm and leave everything to the experts."

After reading the message, the employees' fearful hearts soon calmed down.

"Oh, so it was a hacker and not a demon. Phew! I thought that I was gonna go insane for sure."

"Same here. Now that I think about it, the two robotic voices sound different. The evil demon has a low and deep voice but this one is high-pitched. What a bastard, pretending to be the evil demon! I almost had a heart attack!"

"So our company really got hacked after all. The higher-ups sent out a notice earlier in the afternoon about a possible attack because other companies apparently got hacked as well. I hope that the experts are able to stop that troublesome hacker as soon as possible."

The employees quickly recovered from their earlier panic. Although they were worried after learning that their company was being hacked, they trusted the instruction sent to them to "stay calm and leave everything to the experts". They assumed that it came from the higher-ups. They were confident that their company would be able to defend itself from the audacious hacker because Jin Corporation was the number one in the country. As proud Jin Corporation employees, they believed that their company wouldn't be toppled so easily.

With their strong trust and confidence in their company, they no longer concerned themselves about the hacking. It wasn't like they would be able to help, anyway. Just like what the instruction told them, they should just stay calm and leave everything to the experts.

However, this calm state wasn't shared by their President and colleagues who were inside the computer control room.

Jin Liwei and the members of the IT and security departments clearly heard what the high-pitched robotic voice said. Everyone in the main computer control room knew English so they understood what it said.

"W-what? Did I just hear the name...Drakon?" someone asked.

"Yeah...I heard it, too. Don't tell me that one of these hackers is...oh my God...Drakon?!!"

They looked at each other in amazed disbelief.

Jin Liwei paled and instantly regretted calling his baby girl for help. He almost called her again to tell her to stop hacking and to retreat instead. He feared that the other hacker would be able trace her and put her in danger. However, he might just endanger her even more if he tried contacting her in this dangerous time.

He felt so frustrated of himself. But before he could continue blaming himself even further, his phone vibrated. It was a text message from his baby girl. It said:

"I'm okay, darling. Don't worry. I'll be safe and Jin Corporation will also be safe. This is nothing. Trust in my skills and believe that I can handle this noob. I'll leave your employees for you to handle. They didn't witness any second hacker. There is no second hacker. This battle never happened. Jin Corporation's data breach has been stopped by one of your valiant employees. Choose one of them. I'll do the rest."

Her timely message demonstrated just how much better she had become in understanding his thought processes. She knew that he would be extremely concerned about her in this kind of situation.

Jin Liwei felt somehow reassured by her message but still couldn't help but worry about her. He was about to reply when the text message deleted by itself. He only felt surprised for a second before he understood that she must've done it on purpose for security reasons.

Suddenly, he received another text message.

"I forgot to tell you something important. I love you, darling. I can't wait for you to come home. Don't reply."

Then just like before the message deleted by itself.

Despite his worry, Jin Liwei's mouth curved into a faint smile.

'I love you, too,' he replied to her in his mind instead. The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

The faint smile disappeared. His cold and serious expression returned, as he watched his employees in shock upon learning that one of the hackers might be Drakon.

As people working in the field of cybersecurity, of course all of them knew about Drakon. In public, they used Drakon as a prime example of what not to become in their line of work. He was a wanted criminal being hunted by several governments from all around the world.

But even when they acted like they were condemning him for all the crimes he was accused of, the truth was that they idolized him deep inside for his superior skills. To these people, Drakon was just so cool!

"Is it really Drakon?!!"

The thought that one of their hacker idols was directly helping them made them so excited and thrilled.

One of them pointed at a computer monitor displaying the bird logo which appeared a few moments ago. "It's not only Drakon. Look at that logo! I can't be 100% sure but doesn't that look like the logo of the hacker Eagle?"

"Eagle?!! What?!!!"

Everyone was shocked

"Drakon and Eagle... Am I seriously witnessing a battle between the two of them with my own eyes? Am I dreaming? Don't pinch me because I don't want to wake up."

"Holy shit. This is so awesome!"

"But only if they're really Drakon and Eagle..."

Jin Liwei frowned. He didn't know who this Eagle was so he asked a member of his tech team to explain.

Apparently, Eagle was one of the world-class hackers who rose to prominence after the legendary hacker called Fantom suddenly disappeared. Most of the hackers during that period emulated Fantom's style in the hopes of taking his legendary throne in the hacking world.

Eagle was no different. He wanted to become the next Fantom and periodically defeated other hackers who had the same goal as him. He even started referring to himself as Fantom Eagle. However, no one in the hacking community called him as such. They simply called him Eagle like before.

To many hackers, Fantom was like a sacred being. He was on a completely different realm than them. Only a handful of other hackers in the world were on par with Fantom. However, those god-level hackers were already semi-retired, only popping out now and then. And whenever they appeared, they always took the world by storm. Fantom was definitely the youngest to join their ranks.

The legendary Fantom was highly respected and even worshiped by many hackers. That was why they would never accept Eagle referring to himself as Fantom Eagle. To them, it was the same thing as Eagle announcing to everyone:

"I am God."

Absolute sacrilege! Totally unacceptable!

Chapter 426 - I'll Return Soon

At the beginning, Eagle emulated Fantom's style. As time passed, however, it became apparent that his personal style was completely different.

Fantom's style was very indifferent to others' opinions and also hada distinct "my pace" quality to it. He never felt compelled to prove his skills to anyone or show them off just to make his name known far and wide. In fact, it was other hackers who named him Fantom because he was like a phantom, barely leaving any traces behind. And if he did leave a trace, it was usually out of boredom and an obvious attempt to entertain himself, not because he wanted recognition.

As a result, many claimed to be Fantom, but they could never keep the façade up. They started insisting that they were Fantom and the moment they did so, they automatically proved that they weren't because the real Fantom would never be so fame-hungry.

Fantom never concerned himself about others taking credit for his own accomplishments. It was as if he lived on a completely different dimension to the other hackers who competed against each other, while he just pranced around whenever he felt like it looking for something fun to do. He just let his own superior skills speak for themselves, instead of tooting his own horn like what the other hackers were doing.

Unlike Fantom's self-assuredness, Eagle loved showing off his skills. It was only at the beginning that he tried following Fantom's mysterious and indifferent style. But when it didn't give him the attention and recognition that he wanted, he started making big splashes here and there to make his name known. Despite this, he would still revert to imitating Fantom's mysterious style now and then.

If it was really Eagle who was hacking Jin Corporation right now and the one who hacked into the other top companies earlier that day, then he must've been imitating Fantom again. After all, he only breached the companies' systems to check out the data, not really causing any damage.

It resembled Fantom's style which was, for the most part, non-malicious. Hacking was mainly to satisfy curiousity, relieve boredom and to entertain.

Clearly, the hacker that day couldn't fully imitate Fantom's style. If it was Fantom who hacked into these top Chinese companies, they wouldn't be able to detect any hacking at all unless Fantom left his iconic "notes" behind which would probably say something along these lines:

"Your system is trash. So many vulnerabilities. But I had fun plugging all of them! I can't wait for you to improve your system so that I can have more fun hunting for vulnerabilities and plugging them all again. And oh, your CFO is embezzling your company funds. Just want to let you know. That's all. Till next time. Bye!"

This was one of Fantom's most well-known quirks. Depending on his mood, he would sometimes help others strengthen their cybersecurity. But if he discovered something he didn't like or angered him during one of his "fun" hacking excursions, the companies or organizations he hacked into better prepare themselves if they wanted to survive complete collapse.

In contrast, Eagle—if it was really him—didn't conceal the fact that he breached into these Chinese companies' systems. Although he didn't cause any irreparable damage to these companies (except for Jin Corporation right now), it seemed that he still wanted everyone to know that he hacked into their systems.

It was like he was showing off that he could do whatever he wanted with their systems, but they couldn't do anything to stop him. That was until he encountered a formidable opponent while hacking Jin Corporation. All of a sudden, the gates were slammed shut in front of him and he couldn't slip inside even further anymore no matter how hard he tried. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

Back in the main computer control room, Jin Liwei's employees were all in awe at the possibility that the two hackers currently battling it out right in front of their eyes might be Drakon and Eagle who were considered to be two of the greatest hackers of the new generation after Fantom.

Moments later, the intense hacking battle seemed to have stopped. Jin Corporation's system was quiet again. However, the employees could see that it was continuously being repaired and fortified, so they knew that the second hacker—who might be Drakon—was still there.

"Is Eagle gone?" one of them asked.

A senior member of Jin Liwei's personal tech team replied, "He should be. Look. His digital footprints in the system abruptly stopped. Why is that? I think that maybe the battle had migrated somewhere else away from our company's system, especially since Drakon—if he's really Drakon—put our system on lockdown. He made it inaccessible to Eagle—if he's really Eagle."

The others nodded and agreed with his deductions.

Then he turned to his boss, Jin Liwei.

"President, is the second hacker Drakon?" he asked.

"No." Jin Liwei didn't hesitate to reply.

"But the first hacker, who might possibly be Eagle, called him Drakon."

Jin Liwei gave his employees a frosty look. "You're not even sure if the first hacker is really Eagle or not, and you believe him more than me?"

"O-of course not, President. I-I see... So it's not Drakon..."

But even as this person said this, he couldn't stop himself from doubting his boss. He already had a suspicion before that his boss had a connection with Drakon, especially when Jin Liwei showed him and a couple of his colleagues some portions of those unbelievably detailed reports. Jin Liwei had never confirmed anything, but they all suspected that the reports came from Drakon or a hacker of a similar level.

An hour later, the access rights and the system controls were returned to them. Then all of a sudden, the computer screens displayed a message. It said:

"I know who all of you are. I know everything about you. You didn't see anything tonight. If you did and you tell anyone, I'll know about it for sure—and I'LL DESTROY YOU! Be good and erase this night from your memories. Good night!"

The message may have disappeared shortly after, but it was forever imprinted in the employees' minds and filled them with fear. They paled and shivered.

They had all witnessed the skills of the two hackers who battled it out tonight. Knowing that they would be powerless if one of the hackers decided to destroy them, they had no choice but to surrender to the threat.

Jin Liwei knew that the message was sent by his baby girl. He took this as cue to take control of the situation.

Because his employees were afraid of the threat, it was very easy for him to make them swear not to divulge anything that happened tonight. They even agreed to sign a special NDA just for this incident. They didn't even question him when he assigned a couple of their senior members who were the most skilled among them to pretend that they were the ones who fought against the first hacker.

At first, the two were reluctant to do it. They were afraid that Eagle—if it was really him—might attack them if he discovered that they were pretending to be the ones who stopped him from completely accessing Jin Corporation's data. Just the thought of being the target of a world-class hacker was enough to fill them with terror.

"Don't worry. I assure you that you'll be fully protected from any danger. You have my word. Of course, you and your families will also receive lifetime compensation for this inconvenience," Jin Liwei told them.

Although they were still worried, their eyes lit up when compensation was mentioned. If it was for their families, they would do it. So they accepted Jin Liwei's offer.

Then Jin Liwei's phone vibrated. It was another text message from his baby girl. It said:

"You've chosen two? Bring them to see me when you come home. I'm busy at the moment, so I might not be able to contact you again until I'm done. I love you, darling. Don't reply."

Like before, the text message deleted by itself.

Jin Liwei frowned. It seemed that his employees' deduction earlier was correct. The battle hadn't ended yet but only migrated somewhere else. His baby girl was still fighting.

He wished that he could help her, but all he could do at the moment was to make sure that her efforts in defending his company's system wasn't put to waste. He immediately instructed his employees to scan the company's entire system and make sure that it was up and running again for the next workday in a few hours.

While the members of the IT and security departments were taking care of the system, Jin Liwei called his fellow executives for an emergency meeting. His summon dragged them from their sweet slumbers but they had no choice but to rush to the company in the middle of the night.

They had to strategize the best way to appease their clients regarding the breached data. And they had to do it as soon as possible.

It was already past 3 AM. Jin Liwei hadn't had any sleep yet. However, he didn't feel the least bit sleepy. Tired, yes. But sleepy? No.

He was extremely worried for his baby girl who must still be battling against the other motherfucking hacker. She was someone who loved sleeping well, and it pissed him off that someone dared to force her to stay up all night with no sleep. Since it was partly his fault, it pissed him off even more.

If only he could fight the battle for her. Unfortunately, all he could do was to believe in her skills.

He left his employees in the main computer control room and headed up his office at the top floor. He intended on taking a quick nap before his fellow executives arrived for their meeting.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated yet again. It was a text message but not from his baby girl. Instead, it was from his Fifth Brother, Lu Zihao. It said:

"Third Brother, I know what happened tonight. Bring my little sister back to Dragon Palace as soon as possible. It's safer at the mansion than at the penthouse. I'm currently out of town, but I'll return soon to provide extra security. That hacker's background is possibly VERY DANGEROUS. We mustn't let him trace my sister. Don't reply."

Then the message deleted by itself.

Chapter 427 - Caught By Surprise

The next morning, as people rose for another workday, they were bombarded by an alarming news that Jin Corporation, the number one company in the country had been hacked. Many were shocked because they always had the impression that Jin Corporation was invincible. It had always reigned at the top ever since Sir Lu Jianhong and the grandfather of CEO Jin Liwei successfully made it so.

However, there were those who already expected that Jin Corporation would be targeted after hearing yesterday that some of the other top companies were hacked. As the number one company in the country, Jin Corporation was actually more susceptible to cyber attacks than any other companies because it stored the most data from its hundreds of millions of clients. This alone was already a great temptation to many evildoers.

At the moment, all of the affected companies were in full damage control mode. Each of them held their own press conferences. It was an extremely busy day for the media, as they sent their journalists and reporters to attend all of these conferences.

The companies admitted that about 90-100% of their data were breached by the hacking incident yesterday. As soon as these figures were announced, their clients unsurprisingly went into uproar.

After giving a formal apology, the companies promised that they would do everything in their power to increase their system security so that something like this wouldn't happen again in the future.

Now that these companies were finished with their own press conferences, everyone was waiting for Jin Corporation's turn. Among the country's top companies, Jin Corporation had the most to lose in this hacking incident. There were many who were eagerly anticipating its downfall, so that they could finally have the chance to occupy its long-held throne of being the number one company in the country.

Alas, they were bound to be disappointed.

Instead of sending out a spokesperson like what most of the affected companies did, Jin Corporation actually sent out its own President-CEO Jin Liwei to speak directly to the media in the press conference. This sent out a powerful message that the company head wouldn't cower from facing this predicament head on.

As usual, Jin Liwei looked tall, handsome and extremely gorgeous in his immaculate custom-made tailored business suit. His expression was cold and serious. He wasted no time in providing the details about his company's state after the hacking incident.

"I regret to announce that 48% of our clients' data had been breached during last night's cyber-attack—"

Gasps resounded all over the press conference hall. Even those watching the press conference's live broadcast and livestream were shocked upon hearing what he said.

Jin Liwei continued speaking in a grave tone. "48% is a huge number. I and everyone at Jin Corporation vehemently condemn last night's cyber-attack! We deeply apologize to our valued clients in not preventing and stopping this data breach in a timelier manner—"

"CEO Jin! Please repeat the percentage of Jin Corporation's data breach! We heard you say 48%, but is that figure really accurate? Isn't it supposed to be higher than that? The other companies reported 90-100%! Aren't you just downplaying the real number to appear better than the other companies also affected by the cyber-attack?" a reporter suddenly asked him.

Silence pervaded the press conference hall, as Jin Liwei's expression turned colder.

Jin Liwei was displeased that he was interrupted in the middle of speaking. It showed on his countenance, making him appear even more intimidating.

Although the reporter felt scared of Jin Liwei's aura, he didn't back down. It was his job as a reporter to ask these questions.

Fortunately, Jin Liwei didn't make it hard for the reporter and answered all of the questions.

"Yes, 48% is accurate. Not lower, not higher. And no, I'm not downplaying the real number. It is exactly 48%. Jin Corporation will release an official report soon, including the exact percentage of the data breach which I already mentioned to be 48%. We'll submit the report to the authorities for investigation and are willing to face any punishment if our figures are found to be inaccurate."

He looked at the reporter who asked him the questions. Of course, he didn't forget to throw shade at the reporter for interrupting him.

"In case you don't know, there is something called a Q&A session after this. Press conferences usually have that portion after the speaker finishes speaking without interruption. I would've gladly answered your questions then, but perhaps this is your first press conference so you aren't aware how things work."

The reporter turned red after Jin Liwei directly spoke to him. This wasn't his first press conference at all. He had been a reporter for many years now, so of course he knew how things worked. It was just that most companies and organizations always wanted to present a good image to the press and the public, so they rarely scolded reporters like this. He had momentarily forgotten that Jin Corporation had strict press conference rules, especially when the main speaker was their cold and intimidating President-CEO Jin Liwei.

Afterwards, Jin Liwei continued speaking uninterrupted. He revealed that two of his employees—whose identities wouldn't be publicly revealed for security reasons—were able to stop the hacker from accessing the remaining 62% of data. The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

"Jin Corporation is very fortunate to have such valiant, loyal, and highly-skilled experts working for us. We aim to train more highly-skilled people like them and most importantly, to improve our current system so that something like this won't happen again in the future. Nevertheless, I still believe that 48% is too much. We ask our valued clients to cooperate with us in resecuring all of your information stored with our company."

Jin Liwei finished his speech and opened the floor for the Q&A session. He answered all of the questions in a clear and concise manner. He maintained his composure the entire time.

However, the last set of questions before the press conference ended completely caught him by surprise.He didn't expect to be asked such questions at a time and place like this.

"CEO Jin, when do you plan to introduce your fiancée to the public? Are you even planning on showing her to everyone or are you going to keep her out of the public eye? And also, when is the wedding?"

Chapter 428 - Is She Out Yet?

Everyone's eyes lit up in interest after hearing the questions. They also wanted to know. They all looked at Jin Liwei with expectant expressions. The hacking incident was momentarily forgotten, as they waited for him to answer the questions...or if he would even answer them in the first place.

After recovering from his initial surprise, Jin Liwei's eyes became gentle and less cold. However, only people who were close to him and knew him well noticed the difference. His loyal assistant, Xu Tian, of course noticed the slight change in his expression. But to others, Jin Liwei still looked cold and intimidating as usual.

"Soon. Yes, I want to show her off to the whole world. The wedding will be when she's ready," Jin Liwei answered all of the questions in a terse manner.

The reporters still wanted to ask him more questions, but he already began to leave. He was escorted out of the press conference by his subordinates and Xu Tian, while ignoring the reporters continuing to throw questions at him.

When they reached a more private area of the company building, Jin Liwei finally relaxed a bit. He quickly rolled his shoulders and massaged his temples and eyelids. It had already been more than 30 hours since he last slept. After receiving his Fifth Brother's text message hours ago, his plan of taking a nap was forgotten.

He couldn't stop worrying about his baby girl because of it. At the same time, he also wondered how his Fifth Brother was able to know everything that happened. It also seemed that he had acquired some hacking abilities or perhaps had a hacker on his side. Jin Liwei intended to ask him once he returned.

It had been a long time since he last saw and spoke with his Fifth Brother in person. Jin Liwei felt like Lu Zihao was only becoming more and more mysterious the longer that they hadn't seen each other.

But regardless of his increasing mysteriousness, there was one thing that Jin Liwei was still sure of about his Fifth Brother. It was that Lu Zihao felt as protective as him towards his baby girl.

He had already accepted the fact that his baby girl and Fifth Brother had a special bond between them. It still made him jealous sometimes, but now he recognized that there wasn't anything sexual or romantic about their bond.

The two just treated each other like siblings. Really close siblings. In fact, it was obvious that Iris cared more about Lu Zihao than her own flesh and blood siblings.

Jin Liwei also found it a little odd that Lu Zihao appeared like he was increasingly treasuring his bond with Iris more than the brotherhood between them, the five best friends. It wasn't just Jin Liwei who was noticing this, but their three other brothers as well.

Their Eldest Brother, Lin Yehan, was particularly unhappy about it. But since Iris had now become an important part of all of their lives, he couldn't really place all the blame on her. Besides, she was instrumental in making his new tea company profitable. His earlier prejudice against her was now gone.

As for Jin Liwei, he didn't want to feel too concerned about the special bond between Iris and Lu Zihao, especially if it meant that his baby girl would have more protection. He was curious about what kind of "extra security" his Fifth Brother would provide when he returned.

Back to the present, Jin Liwei wanted to go home and bring his baby girl back to the mansion just like what his Fifth Brother told him. However, when he called the penthouse earlier that morning, Dom informed him that she hadn't left the computer room yet. Jin Liwei figured that she was still busy battling against the motherfucking hacker Eagle or whatever the son of a bitch was called.

So he had no choice but to refrain from disturbing her because he knew that any mistake on her part might give the opponent a chance to trace her. It was too dangerous! He just asked Dom to call him as soon as she came out of her computer room. While waiting for Dom's updates, Jin Liwei busied himself leading everyone in his company to deal with the aftermath of the cyber-attack.

And now that the press conference ended, his first concern was still about her. He turned to his assistant, Xu Tian.

"Any updates from the penthouse?" he asked.

"Dominic Chua texted that Miss Long hasn't come out yet and to please call him as soon as you're available," Xu Tian replied.

Jin Liwei frowned. She hadn't come out yet? She had been inside for close to fifteen hours now!

He forced himself to calm down and nodded at Xu Tian. Then he entered an empty meeting room along the way. Xu Tian and his subordinates guarded the door outside, while he made a phone call.

Dom picked up after just two rings.

"Hello, sir boss!"

"Is she out yet?" Jin Liwei immediately asked.

"Not yet," Dom replied.

Jin Liwei's frown deepened.

"Sir boss, I didn't tell anyone else that boss is inside the computer room because I know that she doesn't like to be disturbed whenever she's inside. But I'm now getting so worried because it has been so long. She hasn't eaten anything yet! She doesn't eat much, but she never starves herself! What's more, she missed her work appointments today. Big Sis Yiyi has been calling me nonstop asking where boss is. Junie boy is crying for his mama because he didn't see her during breakfast. Madam boss has also been looking for her. Ice Cream and Popcorn know where their mommy is and are waiting at the library office outside the computer room. I'm starting to freak out now, sir boss! What if...what if boss fainted inside and she's in coma again?!!! I'm so scared!!! Wuwuwu! Okay, that's it! I'm going to grab a metal pipe or something and break the door open!"

Dom's panic also affected Jin Liwei. It felt like his heart just dropped to the ground. His entire body felt cold, remembering the agonizing feeling of seeing his baby girl faint right in front of his eyes and fall into coma.

'Not again. Please be okay,' he chanted inside him.

Taking a few deep breaths, he fought against the rising panic inside him and forced himself to calm down.

"Dominic, calm down. Don't do anything extreme. I'm coming home right now," Jin Liwei told Dom. "Wait for me. If she doesn't come out or respond to our attempts of contacting her when I arrive, we'll break inside her computer room."

Chapter 429 - Break It Down

Even when Jin Liwei was still very busy at the company, he excused himself and left. Nobody complained because they knew that he hadn't slept yet and had been awake for more than30 hours since yesterday. His assistant, Xu Tian, stayed at Jin Corporation just in case something happened during his absence.

Jin Liwei's subordinates drove him back to the penthouse.

A second car followed, carrying the two members of his personal tech team who he assigned to pretend as the ones who stopped the hacker from yesterday.

Although exhausted and sleep-deprived, Jin Liwei was unable to take even just a short nap because he felt too worried about his baby girl. He hoped that she would come out of the computer room soon.

###

Gold Heights Condominium.

The elevator door opened. N♡vεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

"Papa! Papa!"

Little Jun immediately ran to Jin Liwei as soon as he emerged from the elevator. The little guy was so excited that he ran too fast and tripped on his own little feet. Fortunately, Jin Liwei caught him before he fell on his face.

"Careful, Little Jun," Jin Liwei gently scolded his godson. Then he lifted the child and carried him in his arms.

Little Jun wrapped his little arms around Jin Liwei's neck and hugged him tightly. Jin Liwei kissed his godson's forehead and walked into the living area.

His subordinates didn't bat an eye seeing this scene. They were already used to it. They knew the nature of their master and mistress' relationship with the child.

However, the two members of Jin Liwei's personal tech team who was following closely behind him didn't know. Their eyes almost popped out of their heads, as they witnessed such an unbelievable scene right in front of their eyes.

Did they just hear the child call the President..."papa"?!!

The President had a child already?!!

He and hisfiancée hadn't married yet, right? Then did this mean that they already had a child together before marrying?!!

WHAT?!!!

Their minds went blank and they just stood there staring like stupid idiots at Jin Liwei and Little Jun.

The nanny greeted Jin Liwei. It was only her and Little Jun in the living area before Jin Liwei's group had arrived. The TV was playing an afternoon kiddie show.

Jin Liwei nodded at her. "Take Little Jun. I'm going to the library office. Dominic is still in there, right?"

"Yes, sir. He's in there with the cats doing some paperwork, I think. The Young Miss Xiulan is...uh, I think she left for work early this morning when everybody else was still sleeping. I wonder why she didn't take Dom with him like she usually does..."

Then the nanny gave Jin Liwei a quick report about where everybody else was. "Clover is still at work. Madam Wei Lan went to the spa. She took a couple of the maids with her. Miss Ying Yue is currently doing her security rounds downstairs. Grandma Yi Mei and the others are working in the rooms."

"I see," Jin Liwei murmured as he handed the toddler to her. He was currently distracted and couldn't wait to head to the library.

Unfortunately, Little Jun didn't want to let go of his neck.

"No! Junjun want Papa! Junjun want Mama!" Then Little Jun started sobbing. "Mommi! Dada! Dada gone! Junjun want Dada!"

Jin Liwei froze. His chest tightened as his godson's tears soaked his neck and collar. It seemed that the child had been affected by his father's absence more than they first thought. So that was the reason why recently, Little Jun was becoming more clingy than usual. The poor kid was probably afraid that they would all be gone like his father.

'Long Hui, you stupid son of a bitch. This is all your fault,' Jin Liwei mentally cursed the man while patting his godson's back in an effort to calm him down.

The nanny was trying to take Little Jun from Jin Liwei but she couldn't because the child was now having a full-blown tantrum. His little arms were wrapped around his papa's neck in a vice-like grip.

Jin Liwei sighed and waved the nanny away. "It's alright. I'll take him," he told her. Then in a gentle but stern voice, he talked to his godson. "Little Jun, be good. Your mama will be upset if she sees you crying like this."

The intensity of Little Jun's cries decreased upon hearing about his mama. However, he continued whimpering softly. He lifted his little head and looked up at Jin Liwei with his pitiful, tear-filled face.

"Papa stay? Junjun want Mama. Junjun sad."

"Don't worry, Little Jun. Papa and Mama won't leave you," Jin Liwei whispered.

'We're not like that father of yours who's an idiot and a coward,' he inwardly added.

He kissed Little Jun's forehead. Then he took a small clean towel from the nanny and wiped the child's tears and snot. Afterwards, he turned to his subordinates and his two tech people behind him.

"All of you, come with me."

Jin Liwei started walking while still carrying Little Jun in his arms. His subordinates immediately followed.

His two tech people were a little late in reacting because they were still dazed. They followed the group while continuing to stare like stupid idiots at the President acting like a father. They just couldn't believe it!

Since Jin Liwei didn't tell her to follow, the nanny decided to stay in the living room.

Finally, the group arrived at the library.

A streak of orange shot towards Jin Liwei. A big grey furball followed in a more leisurely manner. They greeted Jin Liwei with loud meows while rubbing their bodies against his legs.

"Ash Kweem! Popkohn!" Little Jun exclaimed and wriggled out of Jin Liwei's arms. His tears were immediately forgotten upon seeing his cat cousins.

Jin Liwei put him down so that the cousins could play together.

The two members of his tech team immediately recognized the two cats.

"Oh, it's Young Miss Ice Cream and Young Master Popcorn."

Popcorn also recognized them. The friendly cat greeted them with a quick meow. On the other hand, Ice Cream just gave them an indifferent look before proceeding to ignore them.

'Hmph! Two new slave-wannabes have come to my territory. Such nuisance,' her expression seemed to say.

"Sir boss! You're finally here!" Dom appeared. "Wuwuwu! Boss hasn't come out yet!!!"

Jin Liwei's expression turned extremely serious. His lips pressed together into a thin line.

"Distract my godson and take him and the cats out of the library. Give them to the nanny and then come back here," Jin Liwei told him.

Dom immediately obeyed. Just like the Pied Piper, he lured the toddler and the cats out of the library with the promise of yummy rice pudding (one of Little Jun's favourites) and kitty treats.

When they left, Jin Liwei led his subordinates and his two tech people in front of the nondescript door of the computer room.

Jin Liwei pressed the built-in intercom button but there was no answer. He tried calling his baby girl's phone a few times but his calls all went to voice mail. After several attempts of contacting her to no avail, he finally made his decision.

"Break it down," he ordered his subordinates.

They nodded and immediately examined the door.

"Master, this kind of door can't be pried open manually. We have to blow it up with controlled explosives."

Jin Liwei already figured as much. "Will Xiulan be safe inside?" he asked.

"Don't worry, Master. The explosives we'll use will only blow up the door's circuitry and its lock mechanisms. They wouldn't damage anything else besides the door. The Mistress will not be harmed."

"Alright. Do it."

"Understood, Master."

His subordinates immediately went to work. One of them distributed safety gears for everyone to wear while the others started preparing explosives.

Dom also returned. When he learned about their plan, he started freaking out but quickly calmed down when he was assured that his boss would be safe inside. He started praying in a corner instead.

The two tech people had no idea what was going on. They felt very confused. From what they gathered from the conversations, it seemed that the President's fiancée was trapped behind the locked door. They wanted to ask for more information but couldn't find the courage and the right timing. The atmosphere was too tense. Their President's aura was also more frightening than usual.

When one of the subordinates was about to start sticking the explosives on the door, it suddenly opened.

A shadow streaked out and tackled the man on the floor. He grunted, as his whole body reeled in shock from the cannon-like force that hit him from behind. But the worst thing was that his neck was violently pulled back from behind in a brutal stranglehold.

"Mi-mistress...ugh... I-it's me! Please let...go...."

The poor subordinate wheezed and quickly tapped his hand on the floor in desperate surrender. His vision was starting to black out. If this continued, he would soon lose consciousness.

"Love? Love! Love...calm down. It's us. It's me. Let go of him, okay?"

Jin Liwei quickly wrapped his arms around the attacker's body while gently trying to loosen her arms from completely choking his subordinate.

Iris finally recognized them.

"Darling?"

"Yes, it's me. Let go of him, love. He's losing consciousness," Jin Liwei told her in a calm but urgent tone.

"Oh, sorry." Iris quickly let go of the poor man's neck.

Jin Liwei helped her up but also pulled her quite a distance away from his subordinate who was now gasping pitifully on the floor.

Iris looked at everyone wearing safety gear. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Then she looked at the equipment on the floor. They looked familiar. It took her a few seconds before she was able to recognize them.

Her face contorted in anger.

Chapter 430 - Hello Daddy

"Ketchup is right! She detected dangerous objects outside the door, that's why I attacked!"

Jin Liwei frowned in confusion. "Ketchup?"

"Jin Liwei, have you lost your mind? Why would you bring explosives into our home?!! We have children here!!!"

Of course, she was referring to Little Jun and the cats.

"Remove them from our home! Immediately!"

"Do what she says," Jin Liwei ordered his subordinates while starting to remove his safety gear.

They nodded and started carefully packing everything back into the bags. One of them assisted his colleague who was now thankfully recovering from the Mistress' brutal stranglehold earlier.

Iris was still fuming at discovering that the men brought actual explosives into their home. The last time she saw explosives, the estate she was living in was being bombarded into extinction. She had also died that fateful night.

Although she didn't have much reaction back then, it was a different story now. She now cared about everyone living in this household. Any threat to their safety would trigger her.

"Jin Liwei, what were you thinking?!! I can't believe—umph!"

The subordinates averted their eyes and silently resumed their tasks, while Dom snickered his usual "ehehe". They were already used to their bosses' public displays of affection.

While the others were already used to such PDAs, the two tech people weren't! They were once again shocked by the unbelievable sight before them.They never imagined that their cold and scary President was the type to...to k-kiss a woman so passionately in front of other people.

Kyaaah! So embarrassing!

They both turned red, wanting to avert their eyes but couldn't because the sight was just too riveting.

As for the shameless couple who had (as usual) already forgotten that there were other people in the room besides them, they continued kissing each other hungrily.

Iris had already long melted in her darling's embrace. Her earlier fury had quickly transformed into desire.

Jin Liwei slowly separated their glistening mouths. Then he kissed the top of her head and heaved a big sigh of relief at seeing her alright.

Iris wanted to kiss more but when she looked at his face closely, she was alarmed at what she saw. It was only then that she realized how exhausted he looked.

His eyes were bloodshot, droopy and a bit swollen. The dark circles under his eyes stood out even more with his noticeably paler skin. She could also sense that his entire body was worn out.

Her brows furrowed in worry. She framed his face with her hands.

"Darling, don't tell me you haven't slept yet?" she asked.

He didn't reply.

She already knew the answer.

"Was it really that bad in Jin Corporation? Did the hacking incident made you so busy that you have no time to even take a nap? Sleep is very important, darling. You can't abuse your body like that," she told him.

He took one of her hands from his face and then kissed her palm. "Yes, I was very busy. But I was more worried about you, love. I was told that you didn't come out of the computer room even once. You've been inside for more than fifteen hours! How can I not worry?"

"Oh." She bit her lip.

"Was the son of a bitch that tough?" he asked in a whisper so that the others couldn't hear them.

She tilted her head to the side and also whispered. "Who?" N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

"That hacker Eagle or whatever the hell he's called."

"Oh, that guy? Yes, he's tough and skilled. I'll give him that. But he still has a long way to go before he reaches my level. He's too much of a hothead, so he has a tendency to lose his cool. Then his skills start to slip as a result. Not really a good quality to have in a hacker, in my opinion. I've encountered more formidable hackers than him in the past."

Her eyes suddenly had a faraway look in them.

"Now those guys were amazing...and scary. But I like that they're very challenging. I lost more than I won against them, though. But it's alright. They just make me want to improve my skills even more so that one day, I'll be able to win more against them than lose. Sounds fun, right?"

Jin Liwei may not fully understand her but he would always support her no matter what.

"En," he said, nodding. "So you defeated that Eagle bastard?"

"Of course." She lifted her chin in a proud manner.

"I'm glad," he said, chuckling. Then he grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Sorry, love. It's my fault that you had to spend fifteen hours battling against that son of a bitch."

Iris bit her lip again. "Uh...actually, darling... I only spent a couple more hours dealing with him after my last text message to you. I almost traced him but then the coward turned tail and escaped. I have some leads, but I bet that the majority of them are fake identities. I already put him on my watch list, though. It's only a matter of time before I'll be able to uncover who he really is."

Jin Liwei was about to discourage her from pursuing the motherfucker's identity after remembering his Fifth Brother's warning, but then he frowned at something she said.

"Wait, love. Did you just say that you finished dealing with him in two hours after your last text to me? What were you doing afterwards then? You were inside the computer room for fifteen hours! You weren't answering our calls. We were so worried! I thought something bad had happened to you inside. That's why I ordered my subordinates to break down the door."

Iris felt guilty, but then she also frowned after realizing something. "You were going to break my door with explosives?! Jin Liwei, are you crazy?!"

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"Those are controlled explosives. They won't damage anything other than the door and they most definitely won't hurt anyone here at home. Long Xiulan, you haven't answered my question yet. What were you doing inside for fifteen fucking hours?! Don't you know how worried I was?!" he asked through gritted teeth.

It was obvious that he was angry but he was doing his best not to raise his voice at her.

Seeing his self-control only made Iris feel even more guilty. "I...I was working on one of my pet projects. I suddenly had a great moment of inspiration after the hacking battle. It allowed me to develop it so much just this morning. I finally progressed when I struggled with it for so long before. And afterwards, I was very tired so I...I slept..."

Jin Liwei inhaled sharply and gave her a look of disbelief.

"I'm sorry, darling!" Iris threw herself onto his chest and hugged him. "I have a tendency to forget everything elsewhenever I become too absorbed in what I'm doing. Sorry for forgetting to contact you! I should've known that you'll worry."

He didn't reply.

"Don't be mad anymore, darling. I promise I won't do it again," she whispered and showed him her puppy eyes.

He felt extremely exasperated with her, but how could he resist her when she was looking at him like that? All he could do was sigh, suddenly feeling even more exhausted than he already was.

"Alright. Just don't do it again." He gently poked her nose with his forefinger.

"I promise."

Iris was relieved that the situation was resolved without them fighting. It was during moments like this that she would discover that she was actually quite a selfish and thoughtless person. Being in a relationship was slowly revealing her own inadequacies as a person and the things that she never bothered caring before when she only had to think about herself.

Now, however, her actions didn't just affect her alone. They also had a direct effect on her lover, Jin Liwei, and she had to make sure to always remember that from now on.

"Darling, you look like you're going to collapse any moment. Come, let's go to the bedroom. You need to sleep first," she told him.

Suddenly, there was a loud gasp.

"Iris Long?! You're Iris Long, right?!" one of Jin Liwei's tech people finally recognized her.

"Holy shit, you're right! I was wondering why she looks so familiar! She's Iris Long!" the other one also exclaimed.

"Yes, I'm Iris Long," she answered them before returning her attention to Jin Liwei. "They're the ones you've chosen?"

"En. You should speak to them now. I'll accompany you."

"Another time. You need to sleep first."

"I'll sleep later. Let's just get it over with. I don't want them staying here any longer than necessary," he said. Then he gave his employees a cold glare, not liking how they were gawking at his baby girl.

Iris was reluctant at first but she gave in when he insisted. After giving quick instructions to Dom about her missed work appointments, she invited Jin Liwei and the two members of his tech team inside her computer room.

The two tech people were once again dazed upon learning that she was actually Iris Long. They followed her and their President without any understanding of what was going on.

By this time, Jin Liwei's subordinates had already left to get rid of the explosives they brought with them.

Despite his exhaustion, Jin Liwei felt excited.This was the first time that he would be entering her computer room. He only caught glimpses of what was inside before. He always felt curious about what it was actually like inside.

As soon as they entered and the door silently closed behind them, a child's voice suddenly spoke. The sound seemed to come from all directions.

"New people detected.

"Scanning now... Meow~

"First person scanned matched the profile of...

"Jin Liwei...President-CEO of Jin Corporation...

"Also Mommy's lover and future husband. Meow~"

Then the nearest computer monitor lit up and displayed a pure white cat with beautiful green eyes. It looked just like Ice Cream and Popcorn, so it must also be a British Shorthair.

"Meow~ Ketchup greets Daddy Jin Liwei! Hello, Daddy! My name is Ketchup, I'm your third kitty baby! Meow~"