League of Legends: League of Unknowns

The door creaked open, and a pair of eyes peeked out. Lin Dong let out a breath of relief as soon as he had confirmed that the two ladies had left.

“What the heck, why is Missus here?”

Lin Dong was an old time black hat hacker, and he had disrupted the internet back in the days. Before he joined E-Sports, there were quite a few hackers who were on par with him too. Those hackers were not like the other rookie hackers who used small trojans and viruses for hacking, they were the ones who could inject viruses which crashed servers.

A few years ago, they were running rampant in the domestic net. Apart from organizations with exceptionally strong firewalls, they were able to access any other network.

Later when the country went through a network reformation, all the hackers had been rounded up by the cyber police, and that included Lin Dong. He had a record with the Network Public Security Bureau, and as long as he used his hacking skills for illegal means, he would be prosecuted.

The rumored leader of the group that had gone against the black hat hackers was a young girl nicknamed Missus, an unparalleled computer genius. She was a white hat hacker acting with the capacity of an official, responsible for overseeing the repeated offenders of hacking like them. He continued to peek through the door, and the two ladies suddenly stopped right in front of it, their eyes looking into the room sharply.

“Black Swan, come on out, even if you altered the IP to look like it came from the first floor computer, the signal source is from this room.” The lady wearing the office suit said coldly, looking around the room Lin Dong was hiding in. “Did you think you could trick us?”

Lin Dong cursed inwardly, thinking that he had managed to escape. Hearing the voice of the female inspector, his face paled immediately. Cutting the connection immediately, he forced a smile on his face as he walked out into the room.

“If it isn’t Missus and Miss Inspector, what a coincidence.”

‘Missus’ and ‘Miss Inspector’ were the nicknames of the two female computer geniuses given by the black and white hat hackers, and Lin Dong was among one of the few black hat hackers who had ever met them face to face before.

“A coincidence indeed.” Miss Inspector continued in a cold tone. “We were just walking by, watching this boring match, and who would have expected us to grab your poisonous insect hide.”

“I’m just a technician here.” Lin Dong smiled and said.

The match had already ended, and Lin Dong had hurriedly wiped all evidence of his tampering. Even they wouldn’t be able to drag any trail out.

“Still suspicious.” The lady inspector pulled out a USB drive from her pocket. “Do you want me to hand this over to the Bureau?”

Seeing the USB drive in her hand, Lin Dong’s expression changed, raging internally. Qiu Shenping, that asshole! He had told him to make sure to take the USB drive away and he dared to forget!

“Your fingerprints will definitely be on it. I don’t even need to check the computer used in the competition, your signature virus ‘Black Swan’ will definitely be on it.” The lady said, smiling lightly. “Would you still like to deny it?”

Beads of sweat were forming on Lin Dong’s forehead, his hands shaking slightly.

“Before this, being underaged let you escaped the cyber crimes you were previously involved in, but now that you’re above 18 years old, the penalty for this time would exceed one thousand yuan.” The lady continued. “With the successful cyber crime you’ve committed this time, you can enjoy the country’s hospitality which provides you with free accommodation and food for three years.”

Lin Dong’s face twitched. Three years of prison time was deadly to him, not only would he lose his most youthful years, this would also have a huge impact on his future prospects!

He didn’t want to go to prison!

Eyeing the two ladies in front of him, they would seem like unparalleled beauties to others, but to him, they were as horrifying as monsters. With just one word from them, he would be sent to prison immediately!

If that happened, how disappointed would his parents would be, and how would his friends look at him? And after he served his prison sentence, how would people look at him when he got out?

“Let’s go.” Missus said, turning around and walking toward the elevator.

Miss Inspector frowned, but then smiled again, turning to leave. Lin Dong’s legs were shaking from fear, but he refused to plead with the very person who had destroyed his path in hacking.

The two were getting farther and farther away, and they finally reached the elevator. Lin Dong knew that if he didn’t change their minds, once they entered the elevator, his three years in prison would be set in stone.

Lin Dong clenched his fist tightly, grinding his teeth until it felt like they would fall out. Even so, he didn’t budge as he watched them press the elevator button. When the door slid open, the ladies walked in, and as the lady inspector walked in, she threw the USB drive which was in a protective bag into the dustbin outside the elevator.

Slender fingers pushed the button for the first floor, and she adjusted the silver-rimmed glasses sitting on her face with the same hand. Her eyes were bright and focused, like a cat watching its prey, and her gaze was directed at Lin Dong, who was still standing frozen in the hallway.

Her eyes were always calm, her demeanor composed, and you could feel her noble aura. Lin Dong could only continue to stare at the two of them as the door slid shut slowly.

***

After what seemed like an eternity, Lin Dong finally let out a long breath and rushed toward the bin.

***

Outside the exhibition hall, Yu Luocheng and Xiao Bei had been waiting for Lin Dong. Although there were many drink stalls and coffee shops where they could have sat and waited comfortably, not to mention the many pretty girls that served as eye candy, these wastages were not something Yu Luocheng and Xiao Bei could afford to waste money on.

They had waited for more than half an hour and Lin Dong still had not turned up. Xiao Bei had been restless about the match before this, and Yu Luocheng had long since gotten used to the hero-worship.

“Yu Luocheng, I don’t understand why Lin Dong is only a technician. He’s great at computers.” Xiao Bei wondered.

“He…”

Yu Luocheng couldn’t help but remember Lin Dong’s situation after that question. Lin Dong was the same as him, coming from an average family. Lin Dong had shown a remarkable talent for computers from an early time, whether it was hacking or competitive gaming. His whole life had revolved around computers, and his future was either becoming a great hacker or a professional player in E-Sports.

He remembered once when Lin Dong was drunk, he had mentioned that he used to be a black hat hacker before he became a professional player. He had been involved in the national cyber crime which was a threat to the economy back then. His path as a black hat hacker had been destroyed and the people who had taught him the skills were sent to prison, and they were still serving time.

Although he had contributed to the largest cyber crime, he had been underaged at that point in time, and so, he had managed to dodge being imprisoned. However he was put on heavy surveillance, and unless he was willing to be an official, he wouldn’t be able to use his hacking skills at all.

Lin Dong was a proud person, and he carried a deep respect for the man who had taught him how to hack, thus refusing to be a white hat hacker. So after being persuaded by his family and the heavy surveillance from the police, he finally gave up on being a hacker, opting to become a professional player instead.

From a Black Swan, he had become a Sky Swan!