178 National Cybersecurity (1/2)
It obviously isn't an easy matter to move optical cables, each of which are 800 nautical miles long, into a cave among the reefs. That was why Chen Fan had decided to move them in sections.
The distance to the reefs was about 500 nautical miles. The electrical eel first drug one end of an optical cable, working hard to move it, towards the reefs. Once the weight of the optical cable had reached a certain limit and could no longer be dragged, the electrical eel would then drag the other end, before then switching again to the middle part. In this way, the optical cable could be slowly dragged towards the reefs.
By the time the two broken heads of the optical cables had been dragged into the big cave among the reefs, it was already almost midnight. After washing up, Chen Fan laid in his bed, making up his mind to get some equipment to connect to the satellite internet device when he awoke the next day.
Naturally, satellite internet devices could not be bought within the country, because each network card has a unique twelve digit hexadecimal network address that was designated by the network card manufacturer, during the manufacturing process. These network addresses could be used to control the host's data communication on the internet, and the information obtained could then be used to pinpoint the target's location.
This is why Chen Fan was prepared to buy it from Japan, since Japan was only a few hundred nautical miles away from Zhong Yun. Such a relatively small distance would mean that a two-way trip by the electric eel would only take around half a day.
Also, obtaining japanese yen was not an issue, as he only needed to go to an illegal money changer. There were many people who provided this service in Zhong Yun, and it wasn't as if he was exchanging too big of a sum. What was truly troublesome, was that Chen Fan could not speak Japanese! He could not even get a translator's help for this matter.
”It seems that the only thing I can do is to continue pretending that I'm mute!” Shaking his head, Chen Fan drifted off to sleep.
At 4 a.m. the next morning, by a barren rocky beach in Amakusa City, Kyushu Prefecture, Japan.
The electric eel scanned its surroundings with its pair of water-tank-sized eyes, which could see clearer than any night vision device. After making sure that the surrounding area was safe, it immediately used its claws to lift the submersible onto a reef. Chen Fan, who was hiding within the submersible, sneakily opened the hatch to peek his head out.
The current top-of-the-line night vision devices that were used by the army have an effective observation distance of between 1500 to 2000 meters. The electric eel was far superior to this, having an observation distance of up to 3500 meters.
The sky was still dark, so Chen Fan decided to wait for the sky to brighten up a little before heading to the busy downtown district to purchase the satellite internet device.
Once the clock showed 6 a.m., Chen Fan carefully checked his appearance. Upon confirming that he looked fine, he set foot on an asphalt road, heading towards the downtown district.
The night before, Chen Fan had used Google maps to mark out the walking route. He had even worn a pair of sunglasses, a peaked cap, and a high-collared windbreaker, as the weather here was much colder than in Zhong Yun. Also, his wearing this Shanghai Bund mogul get-up in the monster-infested streets of Japan seemed out of the ordinary, as was his intention.
As predicted, Chen Fan had only walked the streets of this tight-knit city for half an hour, before a long-haired beauty in a black-and-white striped short skirt stopped him. She gave a vigorous bow, greeting him, ”Ohaiyo! Ohaiyo!” Her low-cut shirt gave Chen Fan an eyeful of her chest.
She definitely did that on purpose!
Chen Fan swallowed two mouthfuls of saliva.
Dressing like this, and on such a cold day! Wasn't she worried about freezing to death? And. bowing so low… Was she an escort?
However, Chen Fan clearly had misunderstood her intentions. Nobody would do that sort of thing so early in the day. That's only done at night!
After bowing in greeting, the pretty maid gestured an invitation to Chen Fan, beckoning him into what was clearly a breakfast shop.
”Irasshaimase! (Welcome)!”
Chen Fan looked at the pictures of the various foreign snacks on the fiery red glass that decorating the door to the shop. Realizing he was indeed quite hungry, he started salivating all of the sudden. He figured that trying an authentic Japanese breakfast would not be such a bad thing.
His expression was blocked by his wide-brimmed peaked cap, as Chen Fan took out a two thousand yen note. Then, with his leather-glove-covered left hand, he pointed to the glass wall several times at random.
”Hai!” The girl of around 18 immediately bowed excitedly, then ran inside, clutching the banknote.
Dadada… In less than two minutes, the clear sound of footsteps sounded in Chen Fan's ears.
The breakfast that he had ordered was packed in a pretty, red paper bag. Chen Fan took the bag and motioned for her to keep the change, since it was useless to him anyway.
”Arigato-gozaimasu.” As she thanked him, a happy grin blossomed on the girl's cheeks, which had been reddened by the cold. One could barely resist pinching those cheeks!
The bag contained two pieces of dorayaki with red bean paste filling, muyu suckling pig dumplings, three pieces of onion takoyaki and a cup of miso soup. Most of the items weren't bad, but the soup tasted a little weird, as it was all sour, salty, and a little too thick. So, Chen Fan threw it away after only two mouthfuls.
Three hours later, Chen Fan returned to the rocky beach, carrying three boxes in his right hand, each containing a satellite receiver that measured 30cm long, 20cm wide, and 10cm high. In his left hand, he carried two boxes, each of which contained a laptop.
Chen Fan had simply entered an insignificant looking electronic shop at random, before taking several satellite internet devices and laptops off the shelves, all with their price tags on, so that Chen Fan need not play charades in order to find out.
He had soon found that little Japan's electronic goods were much more advanced. The maritime satellite internet devices that were sold in Zhong Yun not only looked ugly, but could only be obtained from carriers or proxy companies.
On the other hand, the ones that were sold in little Japan were about the size of old handphones, having long antennas at the top. Hence, if the wire connecting them to a computer was removed, they could even function as a maritime satellite phone. Varying payment methods were also accepted in little Japan, making it extremely convenient to purchase supplies there.
Chen Fan had already solved the problem of topping up the card. Each device came with a free satellite phone SIM card with 1 USD inside. By communicating with hand gestures, Chen Fan had already managed to top-up 150000 yen into each card, which he figured would last him three years of continuous use.
He left for Japan just past midnight last night, and had not slept since. Exhausted, Chen Fan curled up behind a rock, hugging the paper boxes. He was prepared to wait out the day, then depart at night, for safety reasons.
Awaking the next day, Chen Fan knew that the only problem left now was figuring out how to connect the device to the optical cables. Hence, Chen Fan went to a shop in Zhong Yun that specialized in computer products to get advice. He then instructed a shipyard worker to create a small sealed casing. These kind of international optical cables all contained specialized electrical circuits in order to provide electricity for the repeaters to magnify the signals for retransmission to other countries or to distances too far off.
After running around for two days, he finally connected the signal converters and the power supply wires to the satellite internet devices, then covered them up with a waterproof outer casing. He covered the base of the optical cables with corrosion-proof suspended matter that he had obtained from the shipyard, so that the optical cables wouldn't sink.
International optical cables were unlike household optical cables, which only required two strands of fibers. They contained countless tightly-packed fibers in order to reach maximum efficiency.
However, connecting all the fibers was an exceedingly complicated process that must be done by a professional. Hence, even though it hurt his heart to do so, Chen Fan had no choice but to use the international optical cables, as if they were household optical cables.
Commanding the electric eel, Chen Fan sneakily took out the optical cables and tested them with the laptop that he had bought from Japan. The Internet speed was ordinary, slightly faster than a wireless network card. The thing was, he had no satellite. Otherwise, the speed would be faster than its bandwidth with a satellite TV dish receiver.
Up next, Chen Fan was faced with the task of framing someone else. An 800 nautical mile long optical cable setting out from the undersea cave can cover the entire four countries of South Korea, North Korea, Japan and the Philippines. In fact, when dragged to its longest, it would only be tens of nautical miles away from the border of Russia! No matter which country it was left in, the fun would be incomparable!
After studying the digital map, Chen Fan smiled sinisterly. He then decided to place the optical cables between Japan and Korea.
As for the layout of the optical cables, Chen Fan employed the modern method of digging out a gully and placing the optical cables in it, letting mud and sand pile naturally on top to cover them. The only difference was that, instead of using high pressure guns, the electric eel used a spear to plow out a gully.