I’m Really a Superstar

At night.

The Internet Surveillance Bureau.

Zhang Ye’s singing was ringing out from the livestream playing in the office. The staff of the Internet Surveillance Bureau who were working overtime and quite a few others were watching the livestream of Zhang Ye’s “The Final Concert.”

“This is awesome!”

“I like him so much!”

“Teacher Zhang has always been my idol.”

“It’s a pity that Fang Xiaoshui and the others can’t watch this.”

“Our comrades of the First Department are so unlucky.”

“They still haven’t found out who 2 is?”

“All 16 of them have been investigated, including Director Dong, but it doesn’t seem to be any of them.”

“Hai, I wonder how more many days we’ll have to work overtime like this. It’s a good thing we have Teacher Zhang’s concert to watch tonight and kill our boredom.”

Out of the blue, an alert sounded on the computer.

It was the sound of a new, incoming email.

“Eh, an email?”

“What email?”

“I don’t know. This account shouldn’t have been activated yet?”

“Is it an internal inbox?”

“It’s an internal backup inbox.”

“Who sent this out on accident?”

“Let me have a look at it first.”

But the moment they checked, all of them got a shock!

“Hurry, hurry, go get someone!”

“Get the leaders!”

“Something big has happened!”

“Yeah, it’s an email from Hacker 2!”

“This is bad, it’s a virus!”

“No, it doesn’t look like it!”

“Quick, get someone!”

The entire Internet Surveillance Bureau descended into chaos at once!

In the isolation room.

The atmosphere inside was very gloomy.

Meng Yi said, “The concert has already started!”

Fang Xiaoshui cried out, “I can’t get to watch my Teacher Zhang anymore!”

A female employee said, “I wonder how many songs he’s already sung.”

“Why are you guys still going on about Teacher Zhang at a time like this?” An employee said, “We can’t even save our skin, and we haven’t been home in three days already.”

At this moment, some action was taking place outside the room.

Director Dong was startled. “What’s happening?”

The others turned to the gate. From the light seeping in through the gap under the door, they could see that people were running back and forth. One, five, ten people, it felt like it was very chaotic out there.

After some ten minutes.

The door opened and a leader came into the room with a solemn face. “Old Dong, come over here.”

Director Dong immediately stood up. “What exactly is happening?”

The leader said something shocking. “2 sent us an email.”

Everyone was dumbfounded. “What?”

2?

He’s appeared?

The group of people hurriedly went outside and had a look around. Almost everyone from the Internet Surveillance Bureau had come back, and the entire office was crowded with scores of people.

The director of the Second Department shouted, “Old Dong, get over here!”

Director Dong went up to him. “Old Bai, what’s the situation?”

The Second Department’s director hurriedly said, “Those years ago, it was you guys who followed up on the case of the Panda Burning Incense virus, right? Come and have a look at this.”

On the computer screen was a file. It was a computer virus file the internal software had flagged.

Director Dong got scared. But upon clicking it open to have a look, he was stunned. “Step aside.” He nudged Director Bai of the Second Department aside and sat down in his spot. Then he went through the document line by line. Fang Xiaoshui, Meng Yi, and the others also gathered around. When they saw it, they were all stunned.

Soon after, Director Dong gasped and said, “This is the source code of the Panda Burning Incense virus!”

That leader said, “Can you confirm that?”

Director Dong nodded. “I’m a 100% sure.”

Fang Xiaoshui said in a dumbfounded manner, “How did we get our hands on it? Such source codes should only be available to the creator.”

The Third Department’s director gave a wry smile. “It was sent to us by 2 himself. There’s another document attached that was named CIH. We analyzed it and think that it might be the latest computer virus that wreaked havoc. Right now, we have the source codes of both of the most destructive computer viruses known to us in the world.”

Everyone fell silent.

Then they shivered in fear.

Fang Xiaoshui could not understand what was going on. She said, “What is 2 thinking?”

Meng Yi said, “Why did he send us the source codes?”

The Second Department’s director pointed at the computer. “Come and see this.”

The email from 2 had a lot of information in it. Other than the Panda Burning Incense and CIH viruses’ source codes, 2 also left a message for them. This was what it said: “I know that you’re all looking for me. But the direction of your investigations on the suspects has been wrong from the very start. I don’t have any intention of hiding, nor will I hide. I will be responsible for what I did, so don’t make things difficult for the comrades of the First Department. You all should realize that 2 cannot be amongst them if you gave the matter some thought. Does any of you know what the name, ‘2,’ represents? If you know, then come and get me. You will know where to find me.”

What was the meaning of this?

A lot of people did not understand.

Director Dong was very confused as well. “The direction of our investigations was wrong?”

The Third Department’s director asked, “What do you all make of this message?”

Fang Xiaoshui said, “It just means that none of us are 2, so can we go home yet?”

Meng Yi said excitedly, “Yes, that’s exactly what it means.”

The leader was speechless.

As was everyone else.

Director Dong mumbled to himself, “What does ‘2’ represent?”

The Second Department’s director said, “We don’t know either, that’s why we asked you all to come over.”

A staff of the Third Department said, “What does he mean by saying that we know where to find him?”

A female staff of the Second Department said, “Yeah, how could we possibly know where he is at?”

2?

2?

A lot of people became lost in thought. They put out their hands and made twos with their fingers.

What did it mean?

What could a single number represent?

At this time, a director trotted into the office. He had rushed back after being informed about the matter. “Eh? Did you all catch 2 already? That’s great! How did he get captured?”

Director Dong looked at him. “Who told you that we’ve captured him?”

That director was taken aback and pointed at them. “Then why did you all make a victory sign?”

Director Dong said in a speechless manner, “We were just wondering what ‘2’ represents…. Wait, what did you say?” He was stunned. “What did you just say?”

That director stretched out two fingers in confusion. “Isn’t this a victory sign, like ‘yeah’?”

When he said that, the entire office fell silent!

2?

Victory?

Yeah?

Ye?!

Fan Yingyun’s expression changed!

Fang Xiaoshui said dumbfoundedly, “This—”

The leader was also stunned. He said loudly, “Old Dong, when was Teacher Zhang attached to your department?”

Director Dong said in shock, “It was during the time of the Sino-Korean Hacker War!”

The leader said angrily, “Then why didn’t you mention it before?”

Director Dong said in a confused state of mind, “But no one asked us. What we were asked was who had served with the First Department during that period, and Teacher Zhang was not part of our department at all. Furthermore, I don’t think he’s that skilled with the computer, and his English is very bad too. We didn’t even think in that direction!”

Meng Yi slapped his forehead. “My God!”

The Second Department’s director said, “So that’s what he meant when he said we’d know where to find him!”

The Olympic Stadium!

The livestream that was being broadcast nationwide!

All of the country’s citizens knew where Zhang Ye was at this moment!

2 was Zhang Ye?

How could that be possible!

Could they have gotten it wrong?

Fang Xiaoshui started panicking. “Th-Then what do we do now?”

Meng Yi said, “Teacher Zhang is still in the middle of holding his concert!”

No one knew what to do!

Because this matter had blown up far greater than they expected!

It was so major that they didn’t know how to handle it!

They immediately informed the higher-ups. When the higher-ups saw it, they were also dumbfounded. And then, they hurriedly informed the higher-ups above them. This was escalated to further and further up the chain!

The Internet Surveillance Bureau was buzzing with activity!

One by one, cars started arriving!

One by one, the executives came down personally!

A lot of people could not believe this news. They all had to see the evidence for themselves!

One of the executives shouted at the group of Internet Surveillance Bureau’s leaders immediately upon arrival, “Are you kidding me?” He pointed at the nearby computer currently showing Zhang Ye’s concert. “This is a nationwide livestream, he’s a Peking University professor, a Media College professor, the Asian philanthropic ambassador, a famous host, a world-class mathematician, a literary scholar, a famous author, a famous calligraphy master, the husband of the SARFT’s Chief Wu, and you’re telling me that you want to apply for an arrest warrant for him? You’re telling me that Zhang Ye is that legendary hacker, 2? Do you all know how serious the consequences will be if we arrest the wrong person? Don’t talk about you all taking responsibility for it, no one will be able to take responsibility for it! Not even me!”

Everyone knew just how earth-shattering this news was!

If the evidence were found to be true, then this would be the biggest news story to ever break in the history of the entertainment circle!