Chapter 83: The Number One Expert on the Dark Web

In the following days, Xu Nuo decisively quit her odd jobs of washing glasses at the bar and handing out flyers at the casino, devoting herself entirely to the great cause of "sweeping across Edo's Go clubs."

With Xu Yunzhou, this "humanoid AlphaGo," holding the fort, it was simply like she had turned on a cheat for dimensional strikes.

She won every battle, and her wallet swelled at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Nighttime, however, was the unshakeable hacker special training time.

Under Xu Yunzhou's meticulous guidance, coupled with the brief god-level consciousness possession brought by occasionally spending money to buy [Hacker Experience Cards], Xu Nuo's network security technology was like riding a rocket, advancing by leaps and bounds.

Late one night, when Xu Nuo easily hacked through the firewall of a certain large enterprise in Nihon and left a cute emoticon "(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧" in the core server as a mark, Xu Yunzhou discovered with both gratification and helplessness that the little bit of skills he had at the bottom of his trunk were about to be hollowed out by this monstrous disciple.

What to do when the disciple is too smart? Waiting online, quite urgent.

He could only take out his phone and send a message to Lin Ruoxuan:

"Queen Xuan, I am studying... um, network security technology, and urgently need an experienced master with a higher level to guide me. Could you help recommend one?"

Lin Ruoxuan's reply was astonishingly fast, carrying a trace of undetectable nervousness:

"Hmm? You don't still want to go to work, do you? Is this a necessary process of the Mortal Tribulation? Can you not go to work?"

Xu Yunzhou naturally followed up with the next line:

"If I don't go to work, will you support me?"

Lin Ruoxuan:

"I'll support you!"

Xu Yunzhou chuckled, his fingers rapidly replying with that classic line:

"Take good care of yourself first, little fool."

Lin Ruoxuan immediately sent an aggrieved, teary-eyed crying emoji:

"I can't take good care of myself, I want you to take care of me. If you come to work at my place, I'll pay you a salary of one hundred million a month. I beg you, don't leave me, my Daddy System."

Xu Yunzhou:

"..."

This gap moe... I kind of can't resist it.

He rubbed his nose and replied:

"Uh, this... how about you call me that again when you get back? There's no feeling through the screen... Also, it's just that my hands are itching. After all, it's the old profession of this identity."

"Alright, then I'll help you find someone right now."

Lin Ruoxuan's efficiency was as terrifyingly high as always.

Merely five minutes later, the phone screen lit up. A person whose nickname was only the single arrogant letter "K" sent a friend request.

The verification message was suffocatingly brief:

"I am King."

Seeing this name, Xu Yunzhou's finger trembled slightly—King!

The living legend publicly acknowledged as ranking second in technical strength on the dark web!

That top-tier great god who legendarily single-handedly paralyzed the financial system of a certain country, making the FBI still issue global warrants for him to this day yet unable to even touch his shadow!

As for the top ranker above him, mysterious and unfathomable, with a codename of only a single Chinese character "Ki" (碁), was even more like a divine dragon whose head could be seen but not its tail.

The industry generally guessed that this person was highly likely from Nihon, deeply versed in the fusion of Eastern metaphysics and cutting-edge technology.

(TL: "Ki" / 碁 is the Japanese kanji for Go. In Chinese it's Qí(碁), but I don't want to confuse people with the Qi of Martial Arts novel so I went with Ki instead.)

"Ki... Go..."

Xu Yunzhou thoughtfully turned his head to look at the computer.

In the game, the cold light of the screen reflected Xu Nuo's side profile, which was overly young yet already revealing peerless beauty.

She was fully engrossed in filtering those generously rewarded "orders" settled in Bitcoin on the dark web platform, her eyes as calm as if dissecting prey.

A somewhat absurd yet incomparably reasonable thought surfaced,

"Holy shit, could it be... that future Ki, is this little monster?"

This guess boosted his spirits. From then on, he was even more attentive in teaching Xu Nuo, investing 120% enthusiasm.

From then on, the teaching turned into a "dual-teacher mode" between Xu Yunzhou and K.

Xu Yunzhou was responsible for relaying, guiding, and conducting preliminary filtering and explanation based on his understanding of Xu Nuo;

K was responsible for providing deeper theoretical support, actual combat cases, and risk avoidance techniques.

With one in the light and one in the dark, their cooperation was unexpectedly tacit.

It just caused suffering for Great God K.

Two hours later, K finally couldn't hold it in anymore, and threw over a voice message carrying a breakdown tremor:

"Mr. Xu! Please forgive my bluntness! The questions you're raising here average one per minute! Both depth and breadth are comparable to top-tier academic seminars! This is no longer a matter of learning speed, this is fucking information empowerment! It's consciousness uploading! Did you turn on a time accelerator over there?"

Xu Yunzhou rubbed his nose, unable to answer.

He couldn't exactly tell this great god that he was currently in a semi-transmigrated state, and the flow of time in his mental world was different from the outside world.

...

Let's talk again about the grand enterprise of wager Go between Xu Yunzhou and Xu Nuo.

The most abundant harvest was on Christmas Eve half a month later, in a Go club opened by Stick Country people in Ginza.

(TL: "Stick Country" is slang for South Korea.)

When that Great Xia girl—wearing a washed-out old jacket yet hugging a thick "Introduction to Algorithms" in her arms—used her fingers, which were so thin they seemed like they would snap if folded, to casually place stones while absentmindedly flipping book pages, completely routing the experts in their Go club known as "Amateur Heavenly Kings," that national self-esteem originating from their bones was completely ignited.

"Shibal! This is impossible! It must be luck!"

(TL: "Shibal" is a Korean swear word, I'm not explaining what it means tho...)

"Let me do it! It must be a coincidence!"

"Ya! This move... how could it be?!"

One after another, Stick Country Go players stepped forward unconvincingly to challenge, and one after another they were defeated, yelling in anger, their faces flushed red like kimchi jars.

Their proud calculations and routines appeared clumsy and ridiculous in front of Xu Yunzhou's era-surpassing Go theory.

But the unique stubbornness of Sticks made them refuse to admit defeat, stepping forward one after another to challenge, simply lining up to give Xu Nuo money.

That day, Xu Nuo harvested a full five hundred thousand Yen just in "prize money."

"Tsk tsk, thank the Stick Country players for their enthusiastic sponsorship. According to this progress, moving out of your pigsty can be realized tomorrow."

Xu Yunzhou's voice carried undisguised approval and teasing.

Hugging that "Introduction to Algorithms" which had almost become her iconic "self-defense weapon," Xu Nuo nodded seriously:

"Mhm. Also, Teacher, I just simulated and constructed a new asymmetric encryption algorithm module in my mind, utilizing some properties of elliptic curves. When we get back, can you help me verify the logical closed loop and potential vulnerabilities?"

Xu Yunzhou supported his forehead again:

"...Good thing that bunch of Sticks couldn't hear, otherwise hearing you mentally write code using math they can't understand while slaughtering their national self-esteem with Go, they'd definitely be so angry they'd perform a collective self-destruction on the spot."

On the way back, the neon lights were just coming on, and the streets of Ginza were brilliantly illuminated.

Passing by an exquisite fashion boutique, a mannequin in the window was wearing a cashmere coat with excellent texture, emitting a soft luster under the warm yellow light.

Xu Nuo's footsteps paused imperceptibly. Her gaze lingered on that coat for half a second, then immediately returned to its usual indifference, as if that warm temptation never existed.

"It's such a cold day, go in and buy a decent coat."

Xu Yunzhou proposed.

Xu Nuo shook her head, her voice flat without ripples:

"No. If I go back and that fat pig downstairs discovers it, more than half the money will have to be handed over."

She had long been accustomed to hiding any extra income that might attract attention; this was her instinct for surviving in the mud.

Xu Yunzhou fell silent for a moment; this was indeed an unsolvable difficult problem.

Over these days, he would occasionally ask about her background indirectly.

The young girl only used that overly calm tone to say it was because of Takemiya Susumu that her family was destroyed.

But specifically why a Nihon politician could crush a respectable merchant family in Great Xia into fragments across the sea, she couldn't explain clearly—she was too young back then and didn't understand many things.

Xu Yunzhou watched the young girl associating all day with cold code, swirling secondhand smoke, and those middle-aged Go players covered in mercenary vibes.

In those eyes, besides the obsession with revenge, almost none of the radiance belonging to a sixteen-year-old girl could be seen.

She was like a bowstring drawn to the limit, silently pulling herself taut, making people baselessly worry that in the next second they would hear the crisp sound of breaking.