Chapter 5

Smith could tell that his virtual room is about to collapse.

What the hell? Is someone targeting me?

The virtual room, just like any other electronic structures is made up of ones and zeroes.

Now, Artemis is deleting those and making Smith's virtual room into shambles. Of course, Smith will not let Artemis do as she pleases.

First things first, who is such a bitch that's destroying my vacation island? Fuck! If I catch you, I will nail you down.

"System! Show me the data log!"

However, the system did not show Smith anything except…

Ding!

⌈ Error! ⌋

Hehe, of course, that bitch will not approve of my access to the system.

But, how am I found? I am a trojan. I deceive the systems like this. Things should not be like this. Well, at least in the short term, I should not be found easily.

The more Smith thinks about this, the more confusing it gets. However, in the next second, he realized something.

Am I exposed when I activated the Protocol Number 8A7C?

That's the only reason I could think of.

Hmm… it seemed that the enemy had a full grasp of the system. Otherwise, I should have not been found.

Could it be that he is like the Super Malware?

If that is the case, then, all of this is bad.

But… fuck. Does he think that I will stay idle?

What Smith did not know was that the one attacking him is Artemis, a female A.I. or rather, an A.I. in the form of a female.

Meanwhile, at this moment, the CEO of Apollo Tech received another notification from the A.I., Artemis.

"Sir John, malware has been detected in the quarantine drive."

These past few days, the thing that John did not want to hear is Artemis' voice. In these past few days, he kept receiving bad news from the latter.

"Artemis, could you at least tell me something good?"

"Sir John, the clearing process has begun. It is suspected that the malware is an A.I.. He is able to evade the primary system's security protocol."

The primary system's security protocol is something like the security guard that always stays up all night to guard the company.

To keep themselves awake at night, they drink coffee. Furthermore, they also loved eating donuts.

Meanwhile, although they reprimand some of those that come inside the company building, they are unable to do anything during an enemy attack.

Yes, and that is proven… proven in many movies.

"Artemis, how long would it take for you to take down that malware?" John asked.

"Sir John, by the current rate of improvement, it will take only an hour."

Hearing it, sir John had a wide smile.

"Hmm, that's indeed good news. Notify me if it's done."

"Yes, sir."

Now, sir John's mood improved.

One hour later…

Sir John is sipping a tea. He had decided to take a break from the massive crisis of the company.

In these past few days, he had gained many white hairs. At the same time, he lost some of his weight.

Although he is eating well, the stress from the company consumed most of the nutrients from his food.

Meanwhile, the crisis that stemmed from Claire's hacked account is still not repaired. Well, it might not even be wrong to say that this can result in the fall of the Apollo company.

Their exposed assets are being stolen by their competitors. At the same time, their trump cards are no longer trump cards.

But the irony in this is that most employees did not really care, especially those at the bottom. For them, this is just a job and if things went sour, they just have to look for another one.

Meanwhile, at this moment, Artemis' notification that sir John had been waiting for an hour now appeared.

"Sir John, malwares have been detected."

"Artemis, come again?"

This is not what he is expecting.

"Did you not say that you will eliminate the threat after an hour?" sir John asked.

"I did, sir John. However, three more malware appeared."

"Fuck! Just how many malwares are on the quarantine drive."

"Three, sir John…"

Artemis went silent for a while before adding.

"Two more malware had been detected. There are now five malwares in total."

"What? Are they of the same source?"

"Yes, sir."

"Shit, how can it propagate at a fast speed? Are you not doing anything?"

"I am using the Bit By Bit Deletion Protocol."

"Eh? Can't you just delete it?"

"Negative, the malware had taken roots on the system."

Beads of sweat dripped from sir John's forehead.

He knew that things are already beyond his control.

"Error! Artemis is malfunctioning… sir John, there is an incoming transmission."

"Malfunction?"

Ever since Artemis started running on the server, there is no record of her malfunctioning. Although oftentimes, there are errors in her code, it is not severe that there will be a malfunction.

"Sir John, an incoming transmission is detected, will you like to allow it?"

Artemis called again waking sir John from his deep thoughts.

"From whom?"

"Unknown, sir John."

"That's odd. Is it from the hacker?"

"The possibility is 70%," Artemis replied.

Sir John is becoming desperate. He wants to talk to the hacker and ask for the hacker's motive. But on second thought, it might not be a good idea to answer the hacker.

Who knows what it will do to the system. The hacker had once bypassed Artemis' watchful eyes, it could do it again.

"Artemis, what is the possibility that the malware that you detected and the hacker from Claire's account are linked?"

"Sir John, 30%."

The possibility is not high. However, there is still the possibility.

But the more that sir John thinks about it, the more he fears that the hacker will hack the system if he answered the transmission.

However…

"Accept the transmission."

He did not know why did he allow it. However, there is no longer a path of retreat. What he needed to do is to brace himself and face the unknown from the future.

"Connection, established!"

In the next second, light particles from the hologram appeared and condensed into fine youth.

This youth has fine lean muscles. His figure would make all women open wide to let him… in their naked… ahem… in their life.

Unfortunately, sir John is a man and he is not fazed by the youth.

Meanwhile, the youth looked around.

He could see two figures. The first one is a man in his mid-thirties. Then, the other one is a teenage girl.

At first glance, the youth could tell that the lady is not a human. Rather, she is made of a series of ones and zeroes.

Indeed, the lady is none other than Artemis.

"I am the CEO of Apollo Tech!" the man introduced himself. "Please, tell me who you are."

The youth tilted his head and stared at John for a while.

"I am Smith!"

Indeed, the figure that appeared is none other than Smith the trojan.

"Please, please state your demand," sir John said straightforwardly.

Since you appeared, it can't be that this is not for the negotiation. I know you're the hacker of our system.

Sir John thought.

Meanwhile….

What is this man thinking?

Smith did not have an inkling of an idea of what the old man was saying.

What demand?

Ha! Why would I have de…mands? Oh right, I have demands. Hehe.

I should ask for compensation for disrupting my peaceful life on my island.

However, I cannot appear to be greedy right?

Hmm, what should I demand?

Smith's brains speed up very fast. Or rather, Smith's codes jiggled to and fro to come up with a great idea.

Should I ask for money?

Money is the most common that bad guys will demand. They would even ask for a car or a chopper.

Well, at least that's what I see in kidnapping scenes in movies.

Wait, this is not kidnapping.

If this is not kidnapping, then… hmmm. I don't know what to ask.

Now that I thought of it, should I ask for server space?

Smith did not know what to ask. Hence...

"What can you give me?"

When sir John heard it, he cursed Smith a million times.

Fuck! What the heck is with this man. Cunning!

Indeed, he thought Smith to be cunning.

If I can't satisfy him, he will continue to threaten the company.

If things went south, he will bring destruction to the company. This is bad. What should I do?

Sir John's brain is speeding fast. He is thinking of what he could offer to please the hacker.

He could not offer something worthless at the same time, not something too valuable. It should just be enough to minimize the losses of the company.

"Hmm… this. It would be better if you could tell what you want."

Of course, that would have been the case. Unfortunately, Smith too did not know what he wants.