Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

The dome of the Harbin Institute of Technology gymnasium was almost blown off by the sound.

Thousands of glow sticks gathered in the dimly lit venue, forming a restless sea. On the huge projection screen, a classic Dust2 map was magnified countless times. Backstage, Liu Jing switched between the perspective of a spectator and the role of a player, showing and commentating on the intense battle to the audience.

Suddenly, a crisp "Fire in the hole" came from the surround sound system, followed by the booming sound of a grenade exploding, which resonated in the chests of the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final round! We've reached match point!" Liu Jing stood on the commentary stage, his voice hoarse, gripping the microphone tightly as if he wanted to crush the metal. "The 'Five-Star God of War' team from Red Star Internet Cafe only has one sniper left, while the Blue Speed ​​Wolves team has two! This is a two-on-one situation! The C4 bomb has been planted, and the beeping sound is the countdown!"

Offstage, Shi Hongchao was so nervous that he was squeezing the mineral water bottle in his hand so hard it was making a cracking sound. Qian Jiangnan, the owner of Hongxing Internet Cafe next to him, even took off his glasses and frantically wiped away non-existent fog with the corner of his clothes.

On the projection screen, a character with the ID "Five-Star Sniper God" instantly scoped in behind a crate on the A-site platform and almost blind-fired, taking down one of Blue Speed's assault soldiers.

The entire audience erupted in uproar, with screams piercing their eardrums.

Liu Jing's insightful commentary was typed out by Zhang Qingheng and simultaneously broadcast live as scrolling text on the school's intranet finals page.

Meanwhile, in a dark rented room in Daowai District, Harbin.

The curtains were so thick that not a single ray of light could get in; only the pale white light from the computer screen illuminated Chen Yuan's distorted face.

The room reeked of moldy takeout boxes, but he didn't care, his fingers frantically tapping the Enter key.

On the screen, the attack software he had bought at a high price was running wildly, and the red progress bar showed that the number of data packets sent had reached its peak.

"Bang! Bang!" Chen Yuan's eyes were bloodshot, and his teeth were grinding together.

While keeping an eye on the attack software, he refreshed the school's intranet live stream page on another computer.

He was looking at the text live stream post on the e-sports competition finals page. Logically, under his torrent of DDoS attacks, this webpage should have already become a "404 Not Found" or an infinitely spinning white screen.

But no.

The page is so smooth it's almost silky, and the comment section refreshes so fast it's dizzying; there's absolutely no sign of lag.

"This is impossible..." Chen Yuan grabbed the mouse on the table and slammed it down. "Did these bastards unplug the internet? No, if they unplugged the internet, why is the text live stream still running?"

Unbeknownst to him, the devastating attack he thought he had orchestrated was obediently flowing along the network cable into a "honeypot" deception program specially prepared for him on a server in the Qihang Technology office area of ​​the Hailong Building in Beijing, thousands of kilometers away.

Backstage at the Harbin Institute of Technology Gymnasium.

In the makeshift network control room, the air conditioning was set to the lowest temperature.

Zhang Jian had a lollipop in his mouth, which he had just swiped from a pretty female school volunteer from the same grade.

He crossed his legs and watched the load on the virtual server called "Trash Can" on the screen rise rapidly, and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"This guy's pretty persistent, he's really pushing it harder." Zhang Jian's fingers danced lightly across the keyboard, more like he was playing Minesweeper than waging a cyber defense war.

In the bottom right corner of the screen, a black tracking script is running silently.

This was "homework" left to him by Zhang Xiaolong, specifically for reverse tracing the physical address of the attack source.

The progress bar has reached 100%.

A soft "ding" sounded.

Zhang Jian spat out the lollipop stick from his mouth, looked at a red dot on Google Maps that was accurate to within 30 meters, and picked up the Nokia phone on the table.

"Hey, Second Brother," Zhang Jian said casually, "We've found the rat. The search area has been narrowed down to the left-hand side of the first floor of a red brick building on South 16th Street in Daowai District. The IP address is locked, and I've packed up all the evidence for you. You can take the police directly to arrest him."

On the other end of the phone, Yang Bo's voice was steady: "Received. My colleagues from the criminal investigation team and I are nearby."

Inside the rented room, it was laughable that Chen Yuan was still struggling with the damned smooth webpage of Renren.com.

"It must be not enough... Add more! Buy some more chickens and add them all!" he roared, frantically rummaging through the drawer for another disc.

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, the wooden door of the rented room, which originally opened outwards, was kicked in, frame and all, sending dust flying everywhere.

Startled, Chen Yuan dropped the CD in his hand and jumped up from his chair. He instinctively reached for the power cord on the power strip.

"Don't move!"

Two detectives in uniforms and carrying batons moved much faster than him. Before his hands could even touch the power strip, he was already pinned to the ash-covered keyboard with his arms twisted behind his back. His cheeks stung from the keycaps, while the attack software on the screen continued its tireless data-placing activity.

Yang Bo walked in from behind the police, dressed in a sharp suit, which seemed out of place in the dirty and messy house.

He pushed up his glasses, his gaze sweeping across the attack interface on the screen before settling on the disheveled Chen Yuan.

"Chen Yuan, you were expelled in your senior year for selling your graduation project, and now you've been charged with damaging a computer information system. You're practically asking for trouble." Yang Bo gently patted Chen Yuan's still twitching face. "After going through this whole process, you'll most likely be working as a sewing machine operator for the next few years. Good riddance, at least you won't be causing trouble for others outside."

"You...you tricked me!" Chen Yuan struggled desperately, veins bulging on his neck. "This is a trap! Bai Yuhang set this up for me!"

"Don't talk nonsense. There's clear and conclusive evidence in this house," Yang Bo said coldly. "Officer, please take him away."

Just as Chen Yuan was being dragged out by the police like a dead dog, the computer on the table displaying the special live broadcast page of the school's intranet suddenly made a "ding-dong" sound.

It's the site-wide pop-up notification sound for Qihang Campus Network.

Chen Yuan subconsciously glanced back.

In the center of the screen, a golden pop-up slowly unfolded, displaying three lines of large text that stung his eyes in the dim room—

"Warmest celebration for the 'Blue Speed ​​Cup' Harbin E-sports Tournament CS finals! Online viewership has surpassed one million! Qihang Technology, thank you for your support!"

At that moment, the light in Chen Yuan's eyes went out completely.

The grand feast he painstakingly tried to destroy became the backdrop for someone else's ascension to the throne.

Inside the stadium, cheers erupted once again.

"We won! Team Five Star Wars successfully defused the bomb!" Liu Jing's voice echoed throughout the arena through the speakers. "Congratulations to Team Five Star Wars for winning the inaugural 'Blue Speed ​​Cup' Harbin E-sports Tournament CS competition!"

Confetti burst forth as Bai Yuhang stood in the shadows backstage, watching the young contestants on stage embracing and weeping. His phone vibrated.

The text message Yang Bo sent contained only two words: "Done."

Bai Yuhang put away his phone, straightened his collar, and strode towards the dazzling stage in front of him.