585 ShaWn

Earlier that day, both Hou Liang and Wu Chen were both busy working at Planet Monkey as usual when they heard the news about the bomb explosion. They became alarmed and worried after realizing that it happened at around the same time as their Boss Iris' mall show.

Hou Liang immediately started hacking to gather more information about the bomb incident and to make sure that Iris was safe. However, all avenues of doing so were blocked by a lunatic hacker who was wreaking havoc, damaging the police and government online systems in the country.

Who was this hacker?

He became curious and wanted to probe the unknown hacker who was gutsy enough, no, crazy enough to dare invade and create chaos to the most important online systems in the country. However, he stopped himself when he sensed other hackers doing the same thing. He recognized some of them as authorized ones working for the nation's authorities. Hou Liang wasn't afraid of these white hat hackers. What made him stop were the hackers of unknown origins. He could sense that he wasn't a match for them.

So although he also wanted to probe, he decided to withdraw instead for safety's sake. He was now the CEO of the fast-rising gaming company, Planet Monkey. He needed to be responsible and not bring shame to the company and its hidden boss, Iris Long. He didn't want to risk the company's reputation for his personal curiosity.

Unable to hack for information, Hou Liang could only wait for news the traditional way like everyone else. To his surprise, however, the lunatic hacker dumped a huge, disorganized information on the internet about the bomb incident and the perpetrator Tian Kong. Hou Liang actually pieced together the mess more quickly than either the media and the police. He just didn't release it to the public.

Knowing that Iris was alive, he and Wu Chen felt relieved. However, they still felt concerned about her.

Back to the present, Wu Chen felt extremely restless while talking to Zhou Mei'er and Ming Li on the phone. He was about to go crazy that he couldn't lead his beloved Slippers Army in battle. If they lost, he would ask his bro, Hou Liang, to find out the real identities of all those motherfuckers involved in the hate campaign against Boss Iris. Then he would buy a powerful toy cannon and shoot heavy-duty slippers at their houses. If he couldn't troll them online because of the agreement he signed, he would troll them in real life! Hmph!

While Wu Chen was talking with his comrades who were valiantly fighting a fierce battle without him, asking them for updates in real time, Hou Liang was hacking in the deepest shadows of the online world. His brows were knitted and beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

"How much longer, bro?" Wu Chen asked.

"I think that there's a hacker protecting this hate campaign," Hou Liang muttered. 

"The hacker's fighting you?"

"No. He's evading me."

Wu Chen opened his mouth about to comment but closed it again, deciding not to disturb his bro. He could tell by the look on Hou Liang's face that he was having a tough time. Were they going to lose like this? His mighty slippers refused to accept it!

"Big Bro! We're gonna lose! I don't want this!" Ming Li cried.

'This would be piece of cake for Drakon,' Hou Liang thought, unsatisfied by his level of hacking. Although Iris told him that he just needed to focus on game-making, he still felt frustrated that he was having a hard time stopping the hate campaign against her. 'Dammit! Who are these people?!'

He didn't want to give up but couldn't help the growing sense of despair as he failed again and again.

Then suddenly a fierce wave of attacks from all directions completely annihilated the entire hate campaign. The hate comments popping up every second were all deleted, as if they didn't exist in the first place. It also seemed that new hate comments were being prevented from being posted.

Zhou Mei'er and Ming Li immediately reported what happened to Wu Chen.

"Bro! You did it! As expected of the Great MonkeyFace!" Wu Chen praised.

"It wasn't me," Hou Liang whispered in shock and confusion.

"Huh? What do you mean? If it wasn't you, then who did it? Oh! Maybe we have unknown comrades in the Black Stars who are also hackers."

Hou Liang frowned, thinking of the possibility.

Ding!

He received a message.

"A friend of Drakon is a friend of ours. KeymonSTER, we'll take over for now. —ShaWn."

The message deleted by itself.

Hou Liang's frown deepened. 'ShaWn? Who is he? Not only does he know that I'm KeymonSTER but he also knows that Drakon and I know each other. This ShaWn helped out now but is he really a friend?'

Although the hate campaign against Iris was stopped, resulting in a big celebration among the Black Stars, its subunit the Slippers Army and their allies, Hou Liang didn't feel comfortable that there was an unknown hacker helping them. This ShaWn popped out of nowhere that Hou Liang couldn't feel at ease. He could sense that ShaWn had better hacking skills than him.

'Maybe it's KittyBaby? No.' He shook his head. 'There are no meows. And besides, the kid should be spending time with her mother right now especially after the bomb incident.'

He remembered that Iris and Jin Liwei admitted to him that they had an adopted daughter who was being groomed to follow the steps of her mother, the great hacker Drakon.

'Who are you, ShaWn? Are you a friend or foe?'

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Dragon Palace Home #10.

The helicopter landed on the massive "backyard" of the property. Jin Liwei carried his baby girl and climbed out of the helicopter, followed by Dom, Lu Zihao and a couple of their subordinates. Their other subordinates travelled by car and would drop off Tang Yiyi to her home.

It was cold and drizzling that night. The waiting subordinates opened several umbrellas and led the group to the nearest backdoor of the mansion. There were two designated helipads in the property, one at the front and one at the back, but they were too far away for Jin Liwei's liking. He wanted to bring his baby girl inside their warm home as soon as possible, so he instructed for the helicopter to land just a few metres away from the mansion.