A few people left Qiao Ying's villa. Shangguan Qingmu kept praising Qiao Ying: "This young girl is really..."
"She's only eighteen or nineteen years old, yet her shooting, physical abilities and speed are better than special forces. On top of that, she understands medicine and is skilled in both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. She's so incredible at everything. It really makes people feel inferior just comparing themselves. What was I doing when I was eighteen or nineteen? I was still a clueless new recruit back then."
Shangguan Qingmu: "I'm lucky though. A genius like her is hard to come by even in a hundred years. To think I actually got to meet two of them."
Following Qiao Ying’s instructions, Instructor Hou moved his shoulders slightly while saying: "I still don't feel confident about her medical fees though."
He thought for a moment. Out of his military responsibilities, he told Shangguan Qingmu about Sack challenging Qiao Ying earlier today and addressing her as "Boss". After all, the murderous aura around Sack was too heavy.
After listening, Shangguan Qingmu didn’t find it peculiar: "If she’s capable, there’s nothing surprising about it."
Maybe Sack was a bodyguard arranged by Qin Hanyue for Qiao Ying?
Older Ming said: "Let me make this clear first. Up until now, I've only seen people looking for Miss Qiao's help. I haven't seen Miss Qiao asking anyone for help."
Older Ming couldn’t help but add: "I don't know how many people want to befriend Miss Qiao and owe her favors. Pardon my bluntness, but Instructor Hou and General Shangguan happened to meet her at the right time."
Especially Shangguan Qingmu, he was benefitting too much from knowing her.
Shangguan Qingmu also felt: "The more I think about it, the more delighted I feel. I really like this young girl. I must tell my son about her when I get home!"
Upstairs in her room,
Qiao Ying came out after taking a shower and sat on the couch drying her hair.
As she raised her hand to close her laptop, she caught a notification flash at the corner of the screen from the hidden hacker forum - there was a newcomer.
Qiao Ying casually logged into the forum.
Turns out a new person had cracked the difficult puzzle left behind by Kiev, who was ranked 2nd - by deciphering the core code of Kiev’s program. This new person had squeezed Kiev down and successfully snatched the 2nd rank spot.
Qiao Ying opened a small window and casually browsed the forum. On the leaderboard, X had been firmly ranked 1st for years without anyone toppling his spot.
The previous 2nd ranker had an English username: Kiev.
He was also a rare top-notch hacker.
Although there was an almost cliff-like difference when compared to the invincible [X] in 1st place, in the eyes of other hackers, Kiev was still a formidable existence that was hard to overcome. Yet now, he had been squeezed down to 3rd place.
In between them, a newcomer had abruptly emerged out of nowhere.
This new person's codename was [Y].
Looking at this newcomer who had squeezed his way in, Qiao Ying narrowed her eyes slightly, and the corners of her lips curved up as she muttered: "This guy..."
In the lower left corner, there was a small chat screen similar to a group chat. At the moment, messages were scrolling by quickly and the group was very lively.
The number of members had also increased from the original 10 people to 11 people.
The hacker leaderboard had not seen any changes for a long time, especially the top 5. Yet this time, the top 3 ranks had directly changed, and everyone was very curious about this capable newcomer after such a long dull period.
U: 【Wow! A new face, is it a guy or girl?】
Tom: 【Which country is this bro from? Come out and introduce yourself! Tell everyone what feats you've accomplished!】
Among the top 10 on the leaderboard, there were people from countries all over the world.
Селёша: 【Newcomer, briefly introduce yourself】
U: 【I'm more curious how long it took the new friend to decipher Kiev's core code?】
Ha: 【Did he leave? Why's he still not showing himself? We're all waiting you know, isn't this too impolite?】
Everyone waited for half a day, yet the newcomer still did not come out to say anything.
For an unknown newcomer to not gradually move up the ranks but instead directly kick Rank 2 with one leap, everyone was naturally envious even if they recognized his capabilities. Anyway, this newcomer with formidable skills did not seem to receive a warm welcome from his competitors.
Coupled with his arrogance, the others soon became hostile with their words.
Kiev: 【Such lack of manners】
The original Rank 2 finally spoke.
Everyone immediately flocked over to watch the commotion.
Tom: 【Oh my, the great Kiev has been kicked off his pedestal by a newbie. What are your thoughts? This newcomer seems even more arrogant than you】
Kiev was infamous for being arrogant despite having the skills to back it up, but this did not make him well-liked.
Now that he had been pushed down in rank by a newbie, everyone naturally came to poke fun and kick him while he was down.
Kiev: 【I've had this puzzle posted for three years now. If still no one could solve it by now, I'd feel pathetic for you guys】 His tone was disdainful.
Ha: 【The newcomer just posted a new puzzle, to find the bugs in his program. Hey genius, why don't you go give it a try? And get your rank back?】
Kiev gave a cold snort before immediately switching screens to give it his best shot, but soon found it was full of traps everywhere and gradually realized it was very tricky.
While the others were still chatting.
Q: 【Welcome newcomer!】
Tom: 【? I remember Q is from China. My friend said Chinese people sure love brown-nosing. Is it really necessary to suck up to any random person? 】
Ha: 【Already stooping down to kiss smelly feet? That desperate huh? With so little self-respect, as if the other party would bother paying attention to you】
Tom: 【He's dropped out of the top 10 already anyway, of course he'd have to hug someone's thigh tightly now】
Ha: 【I just realized, the newcomer's name is Y, which conveniently is the letter right after X alphabetically. Is this a coincidence or deliberate?】
Tom: 【One look and you can tell it's on purpose! Which hacker doesn't worship X? What's so surprising about it】
Qin Yan raged at the screen: "It's none of your business that I welcomed him! Bunch of foreigners, inferior skills yet making sarcastic remarks."
"I'll just stay put now, pissed all of you off!"
If not for fear that the Third Master was watching the screen, Qin Yan would have lost all sense of propriety and engaged in a war of words with them.
Speaking of which, could this newcomer really be the Third Master?
Kiev: 【If the newcomer is so capable, why not try challenging X?】
U: 【No one capable of challenging X has been born yet】
Селёша: 【Newcomer, no need to butter up. Because X never looks at these messages, nor does he ever speak in the group. Of course, if you can really crack X's code, perhaps my idol would glance at you】
Ha: 【I just realized! The newcomer's name is Y, which happens to be the letter right after X alphabetically. Is this a coincidence or intentional?】
Tom: 【One look and you can tell it's deliberate! Which hacker doesn't worship X? What's so surprising about it】
Qin Yan: "The Third Master is being ganged up on, quite miserable."
Sitting in front of the screen drying her long hair, Qiao Ying looked at the scrolling messages. Her fair hand moved to the keyboard, fingertips lightly tapping.
X: 【Welcome newcomer @Y】
