180 Mie (2/2)
The executives of NSA were glued to their computers, cheering on incoherently.
”Haha... God bless Hua Nation. God truly blesses Hua Nation!”
A middle-aged man in a suit jumped up excitedly, crying out, ”Look at those bastards! Don't they look like the zombies who were blocked by the Wall-nut in Plants vs. Zombies?”
A wave of laughter filled the room upon hearing his comment. It was indeed an apt analogy.
Nevertheless, the room quieted down again quickly. The foreign hackers had not given up yet. Gnawing at the firewall that blocked them, unlike the Wall-nut in the game, they were still persisting like a horde of zombies with a single-minded purpose of finding fresh blood and meat.
”This doesn't seem like to be BaiLing's firewall.”
”Yes, the key feature of BaiLing's firewall is its ability to be rebuilt speedily. But the current firewall takes a much longer time for reconstruction. But it's unique for its sturdiness, and that has made it difficult for the attackers to penetrate the wall.”
”Hmm, this can only mean one thing; someone else has joined in the battle.”
The computer experts in the hall instantly spotted the new firewalls' uniqueness and exchanged their thoughts and opinions. They finally concluded that it could not be BaiLing but someone else who was defending Hua Nation against the hostile foreign hackers this time round.
What? There was another person?
The news was passed on to the executives of the NSA, and it immediately caused quite a stir. Did it mean that there was another computer genius besides BaiLing that was hiding in Hua Nation?
Most of the people present were shocked, several were excited, and some also felt personally responsible. They blamed themselves for failing to do justice to such talented people. No effort had been made to find gifted people and to nurture then so far. They came to deeply regret this, while at the same time wondered how many more geniuses were neglected in Hua Nation.
After convening a special meeting, the senior officials of the NSA reached a unanimous decision to consent to a mission to locate, support, and nurture these brilliant minds hidden among the population of Hua Nation. They would form the core of a future virtual space force that will defend the country for the next decades. a.
Five minutes later, rousing cheers and applause broke out from the hall.
”Retreated. The b*stards have retreated!”
”We won! Those bastards finally realized they couldn't move forward even an inch more when they went against the third firewall.”
”Good job. How awesome!”
...
...
In the study room of Huaye University's library, Bai Ling's wide-eyed expression said it all. She continued to stare at the computer screen in disbelief. All the codes from attackers vanished in a flash. She imagined an impregnable firewall composed of new lines of codes was standing in between like the Great Wall. As she checked the networks, Bai Ling couldn't find any bugs or loopholes, at least not from the first look.
”Who is this person?”
Bai Ling was in awe and admiration for whoever had achieved this. It was overwhelming. She saw clearly how this person intercepted the fierce attackers with only three firewalls. The walls served collectively as a defense in depth. As the first wall breached, the second would be formed before the opposing force could breakthrough. As the second wall faltered, the third wall was raised to prevent further breaches.
How was it possible for a human's brain to figure out the millions upon millions of permutations needed to set up those firewalls, and code instructions to instantly locate and fix the breaches in the firewalls in such a short time?
Besides her deep admiration for this expert, Bai Ling's own ego as a hacker had also taken a blow. Overcome with curiosity and impatient to wait even a moment longer, she sent the person a message.
”Who are you?”
...
...
Xiao Luo received the question and countered with the same question, ”Who are you?”
”BaiLing.”
BaiLing?
Xiao Luo chuckled. He thought for a moment, then typed on the keyboard and replied, ”Mie!”
The only reason he called himself Mie was that it was his generational name. This was based on the Xiao family's genealogical tree, and Xiao Luo's generation happened to have Mie as their name.