Chapter 114: Master Seven and Yun Thirteen

The young man who acted bravely and righteously had finished his good deed without leaving his name and had already slipped away unnoticed. He couldn’t stay any longer—after all, he had just performed a heroic act in the hospital during the day, and now Officer Han, who knew him, had come to see him again. If he performed two acts of bravery in one day, people might suspect it was a publicity stunt. And if he were to receive some “Model Citizen” award on top of that, how could he possibly face anyone with a straight face?

Not far away, under the modest canopy of a small roadside eatery, two men sat facing each other, nibbling on skewers. They watched in the direction Wen Xiaocheng had gone, shaking their heads with wry smiles. One said, “Seventh Master, this kid’s something else! A real character.”

The one called “Seventh Master” was clearly not Lv Qi, who was currently hospitalized. He was probably about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with a face as clear and refined as polished jade—akin to a “buttery” young idol. His complexion could make any girl envious, yet his eyebrows carried a hint of masculine vigor. His demeanor was elegant yet casually free-spirited; sitting so nonchalantly eating street food, the innate confidence he exuded could easily shame those dining on steaks in upscale restaurants.

“Seventh Master” nodded. “This kid’s interesting. That cheeky attitude reminds me a bit of the old boss back in the day! Thirteen, do you think the one who bit the hook last time was him?”

“Thirteen” was younger than Seventh Master by a few years, about twenty or perhaps even younger. His sharpness and competence were written plainly on his face. The half-exposed arm showed tense muscles, as if the vitality within him was ready to burst forth at any moment.

“It’s still uncertain now, but seeing how sly this kid is today, it’s hard to say for sure! When Fat Han told me about his guess, I didn’t dare believe it at first, but… who knows? There are plenty smarter than us. Just because we find it unbelievable doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”

Seventh Master nodded upon hearing this. “When Fat Han first discovered it, he specifically reported it to the boss. It was scary! In the minutes leading up to the breach of that low-level vulnerability, the terminal was still searching for the most basic technical concepts: webpage programming languages, HTML, databases, and some obscure languages! Do you realize what that means? It’s possible this guy didn’t even know what HTML was just over ten minutes earlier, yet within less than twenty minutes of learning, he managed to break through the vulnerability we set—albeit the most elementary layer! Just ten minutes!”

Thirteen frowned. “Wasn’t it said later that it was a false alarm?”

“At the time, reverse tracing led back to a retired man in his sixties. If someone were truly that brilliant, they wouldn’t suddenly appear at sixty years old. So the analysis was that the old man was just curious about programming and happened to finish his operation when his computer was compromised by a botnet. The hackers behind it exploited that botnet to contribute to the breach of our initial vulnerability, hence it was a false alarm. But Fat Han is meticulous. A few days ago, when the internet was abuzz about a math prodigy in Xiangyang City who finished the contest in fifteen minutes with a perfect score—and from Dongfeng Town in Hongxing County—he connected the dots between the two events!”

“Finishing in fifteen minutes with a perfect score? A genius like that learning the basics of programming and breaking our defenses in just minutes isn’t impossible…”

Seventh Master, as if mentoring his junior, looked at Yun Thirteen and smiled. “Thirteen, there’s another detail here, quite interesting, which makes me even more convinced that the person we’re looking for is him! Guess what it is?”

Yun Thirteen thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up. “I know! The hacking of our forum’s admin rights was to post something related to the math contest. Now that I think about it, the criticisms of the contest blindly chasing scale started from those posts! And Wen Xiaocheng just happened to be a math champion! My god!”

Yun Thirteen exclaimed, “Don’t tell me this kid is behind all this! If that’s true, he’s incredibly formidable!”

Seventh Master tapped the table with his finger and nodded. “Let’s make a hypothesis: this kid knows his own strength and is confident of winning the championship. How would he maximize his benefits?”

“By gaining attention!”

“Exactly! Even champions differ. A gold medal in the hundred-meter sprint and one in archery carry different weights because of the varying attention they receive. If he wants to maximize his benefits, the first step is to increase attention to this math contest—then the rest follows. We all know how the controversies sparked heated discussions, and several training institutions in Xiangyang offered exorbitant scholarships! If all this was driven by him, it makes sense from the perspective of the beneficiary.”

“Wow… and he’s only fifteen?”

Seventh Master laughed. “Don’t underestimate fifteen. Remember, the old boss started his company at seventeen and got a hundred-billion investment at eighteen, turning an ordinary town into China’s Silicon Valley. That’s well-known. For those who don’t know, he pulled off countless feats! Ambition isn’t measured by age. Never belittle kids!”

“True, true. He became a father at eighteen and married two wives. A true role model for us all!”

Seeing Yun Thirteen’s odd expression, Seventh Master chuckled. “That’s his skill!”

Thirteen knew Seventh Master and the boss were classmates and didn’t dare joke too much. He stuck out his tongue and changed the subject. “So, what’s next? Do we send him an invitation directly?”

Seventh Master pondered and shook his head. “Those are only our guesses. All we can confirm now is that he’s a math champion. If our theory is right, he’s far too talented to be boxed into a mere technician role. He might not even be interested. I think we should observe first, verify our suspicions, and learn more about Wen Xiaocheng. If possible, help him when he’s in trouble and build rapport. Whether or not we work together later, at least we avoid blindly making a powerful enemy.”

Yun Thirteen nodded, admiring Seventh Master’s savvy and thorough thinking. Recklessly offering a technical position might insult a once-in-a-million genius if it really was him.

“Same as usual: you handle online data collection and guide me. I’ll take care of offline matters!”

Seventh Master said, “Good. Let’s first test my hypothesis and see if he’s really stirring things up behind the math contest.”

“How do we verify that?”

“By filtering out noise and watching the public opinion trends during the contest, you’ll find one crucial mystery remains unsolved.”

“What mystery?” Yun Thirteen asked.

“Did the math contest really leak questions? If not, then where did Fan Xing’s exam paper come from?”

——————

So, can you guess who this Seventh Master is?