Somewhere in a dark basement filled with LED monitors and Red Bull cans, a figure stared at the screen.
The code was elegant. Untraceable. Untouchable.
"This has to be her."
He zoomed in.
Cross-referenced IP masks.
Analyzed the encryption fingerprint.
One word popped up:
XYN
And then… he smiled.
"The ghost is back."
Meanwhile… In Lu Zeyan's Villa
Xu Yinyin sat curled up on the couch with her laptop on her thighs.
Hair in a messy bun. Hoodie falling off one shoulder.
She looked cute, harmless, innocent.
She was writing a custom Trojan that could bury itself inside a triple-encrypted vault and send live pings without ever being detected.
Soft jazz played in the background.
She munched grapes while hacking a private international data bank.
"Just a little test," she murmured.
"No big deal."
Then Her Screen Flickered
Just once.
A quick glitch.
Then a message appeared in a dark corner of the terminal.
"HELLO AGAIN, XYN."
"You left the game. But we never forgot you."
"Ready to play?"
Her blood ran cold.
She closed the laptop immediately.
Her heart raced.
"How? How did they see that? I was buried behind ten proxies..."
She paced the room, trying to calm herself.
She couldn't tell Zeyan.
He couldn't know.
If he knew what kind of people she used to deal with—
If he found out she brought this kind of danger to his door—
She sat back down and whispered:
"Looks like I'm back in the game."
Across the City
The mysterious hacker posted a single message to the hidden forum where global blackhats lurked:
"XYN. Active. Eastern China. Traced a signature. She's sloppy now."
Dozens of replies exploded instantly:
• "No way she's alive."
• "I thought she disappeared after the cartel job."
• "Find her. She's worth millions."
• "Let's smoke her out."
The hunt had begun.
And Back at Home…
Zeyan returned from his call and found her fast asleep, cuddled under a blanket on the couch.
But her laptop? Locked. Hidden.
He watched her for a long time.
Something wasn't right.
She was sleeping too much.
Laughing too loud.
Kissing him like she was scared she might not get another chance.
He didn't press her.
But deep down?
He knew something was coming.
And whatever it was…
It had her name written in code.