After Lin Xiaoli left, Su Yiling closed her textbooks and stretched her arms above her head. The maths equations were still dancing behind her eyelids, but there was something else stirring now, the familiar restlessness that had nothing to do with her studies.
She glanced at the clock on her desk. 9:47 PM.
Perfect.
The shower water was scalding hot, just how she liked it. Steam fogged up the small bathroom mirror as she let the heat wash away the day's accumulated fatigue. She wonders what Li Qing has planned for tomorrow's dinner. What will she come up with to make her pay more attention to her appearance, and how the boys at school must be noticing her now that she is in her final year.
Always so concerned about the worthless things, Su Yiling thought, running her fingers through her wet hair. Aunt Li didn't know that she had already lived through all of this once.
This time would be different.
After toweling off, she pulled on a loose t-shirt and shorts before padding barefoot to her desk. Her laptop sat closed, innocent enough looking. But she knew what lay beneath that sleek black surface, access to a world that most people couldn't even begin to comprehend.
The familiar hum filled her quiet room as programs loaded and security protocols activated. Su Yiling cracked her knuckles, a habit she'd picked up in her previous life during those long nights spent hunched over computer screens in dingy internet cafes.
The black market hacker forum materialized on her screen, all dark backgrounds and cryptic usernames glowing in neon green. CyberPhantom, ZeroDay_Hunter, Binary_Reaper, and the usual crowd were online tonight. Good. It had been too long since she'd properly flexed these particular muscles.
She signed in under her chosen pseudonym: S.
Simple. Untraceable. Perfect.
The forum buzzed with typical chatter-boasts about recent exploits, challenges being thrown around, and the occasional legitimate job posting. But tonight, Su Yiling wasn't here to lurk in the shadows or pick up small contracts.
Tonight, she was here to stake her place.
New Challenge Thread: Military-Grade Encryption Breach
Posted by: DeathByte_
Prize Pool: 50,000 USD
Target: Classified
Su Yiling's lips curved into a cold smile. DeathByte was one of the forum's more arrogant regulars, someone who'd been getting too comfortable at the top of the rankings lately. She'd been watching his work for weeks now, noting the patterns in his code, the small tells that gave away his methodology.
Time to knock him down a few pegs.
She switched her mouse to her left hand, an old habit from her previous life when she'd trained herself to be ambidextrous. Using her non-dominant hand would make this more... sporting.
The challenge details were complex, involving multiple layers of military-grade encryption wrapped around what appeared to be a telecommunications infrastructure. Difficult, but not impossible. Not for someone who'd spent years perfecting her craft in circumstances far more desperate than these comfortable late-night sessions.
Other hackers were already diving in, their status indicators switching to "busy" as they began their attempts. Su Yiling watched the live rankings update-CyberPhantom jumping to second place, Binary_Reaper holding steady at fourth.
Then she began to work.
Her fingers moved across the keyboard with practiced precision, even with her left hand controlling the mouse. Lines of code scrolled across her screen as she systematically dismantled the encryption layers, each breakthrough revealing new puzzles beneath.
This was what she'd missed most about her previous life-the pure intellectual challenge of it all. The way complex problems could consume her entirely, making hours disappear like minutes. It was meditative, in its own way.
Su Yiling paused, studying the code structure. In her peripheral vision, she could see other usernames dropping out of the challenge one by one as they hit this same wall. Even CyberPhantom had gone quiet, probably stuck at the same chokepoint.
But Su Yiling had seen similar protection schemes before. In her previous life, during those desperate months when she'd taken increasingly dangerous jobs just to survive. The memory was bitter, but the knowledge was useful.
She crafted an elegant bypass that allowed her to see a vulnerability most hackers wouldn't even consider. It required patience-letting the target system think it was successfully defending itself while she quietly rerouted around its defenses entirely.
One hour and thirty-seven minutes after starting, she broke through the final layer.
The forum exploded into activity as her username shot to the top of the rankings. Private messages flooded her inbox-some congratulatory, others clearly attempts to recruit her for bigger jobs, a few that were just strings of impressed expletives.
DeathByte_: Impossible. No one breaks my challenges that fast.
S: Maybe you need better challenges.
Binary_Reaper: Who the hell is "S"? Never seen that tag before.
CyberPhantom: Show-off. Probably got lucky.
Su Yiling leaned back in her chair, a satisfied smile playing at her lips. Let them think what they want. She'd proven her point that there were still levels to this game that most of them couldn't even imagine reaching.
Her phone buzzed with a text from Lin Xiaoli: Are you still awake? I keep thinking about that maths problem from earlier...
Su Yiling glanced at the clock. Nearly midnight already. She quickly typed back: Go to sleep, we'll review it tomorrow, then closed her laptop and crawled into bed.
The next morning arrived too soon, woken by her phone's alarm at 6:30 AM. Su Yiling groaned, reaching blindly for the device to silence it. Her head felt heavy from too little sleep, and the morning light coming through her curtains was painfully bright.
She should have gone to bed earlier. But the adrenaline from last night's triumph had kept her wired for another hour after logging off, mind still racing with the satisfaction of a job well done.
By the time she stumbled to the kitchen, it was already 7:15. Her parents had left for work, and her auntie Chen was nowhere to be seen, probably still busy somewhere
There was barely time for breakfast. Su Yiling grabbed a cup of milk from the table and gulped it down while standing, then rushed out with her school bag.
She was halfway out the door when she spotted the sleek black sedan parked at the curb.
Su Yiling paused, one hand on the gate latch. Her second brother Su Jihan was leaning against the driver's side door, checking something on his phone. He looked up as she approached, and his expression shifted from casual waiting to barely concealed concern.
"You look terrible," he said without preamble, but there was warmth in his voice that took any sting out of the words.
"Good morning to you, too, second brother." Su Yiling rolled her eyes, but she was secretly pleased to see him. Of all her family members, Jihan is the one who fussed with her the most.
He opened the passenger door with a slight flourish. "I brought breakfast. Figured you'd probably skip it again."
The car's interior smelled like fresh pastries and coffee. Su Yiling's stomach rumbled appreciatively as she settled into the leather seat and discovered a paper bag filled with warm breakfast items-steamed buns, a thermos of soy milk, even some of those little egg tarts she'd mentioned liking when she was fifteen.
"You didn't have to do this," she said, though she was already unwrapping one of the buns.
"Mm." Jihan started the engine, checking his mirrors before pulling into traffic. "Mom mentioned you've been staying up late studying. Thought you might need the extra protein."
Su Yiling nearly choked on her bite of steamed bun. If only he knew what she'd actually been doing until midnight. But she just nodded, playing along with the assumption that her late nights were purely academic.
"The college entrance examination is still months away," she pointed out between bites.
"Better to start building good habits now," Jihan replied. His tone was casual, but Su Yiling caught the sideways glance he shot her. "Besides, I know how you get when you're focused on something. You forget to take care of yourself."
There was something almost protective in his voice that made Su Yiling's chest tighten unexpectedly. In her previous life, she'd been so caught up in her own struggles that she'd never really appreciated how much her second brother actually cared about her.
This time, she wouldn't take it for granted.
The rest of the drive passed in comfortable silence, interrupted only by Jihan's occasional commentary on traffic or his gentle insistence that she finish the egg tarts. By the time they pulled up in front of Mingde High School, Su Yiling felt almost human again.
"Thanks for this," she said, gathering her school bag and the empty breakfast containers.
"Any time." Jihan was already checking his phone again. "Call me if you need a ride home, okay?"
Su Yiling nodded and climbed out of the car, waving as he drove away. The morning air was crisp against her face, and the school grounds were already bustling with students arriving for the day.
The first period was Advanced Mathematics-calculus problems that would have challenged her greatly in her previous life, but now felt almost routine. Su Yiling found herself finishing the assigned work with time to spare, then discreetly reviewing English vocabulary on her phone while the teacher explained concepts she'd already mastered.
It was strange, being back in this environment with the knowledge he has. Sometimes she felt like an old woman surrounded by teenagers. She has been watching and observing her classmates' concerns about pop quizzes and weekend plans like an elder watching kids mess around.
The period was nearly over when there was a soft knock at the classroom door.
Su Yiling looked up from her notebook to see a familiar figure through the glass-Su Meilan, her younger cousin, standing in the hallway with an expression that managed to be both apologetic and determined.
The teacher paused mid-explanation, clearly annoyed by the interruption. "What is it?"
"I'm sorry to disturb the class, Teacher Wang," Su Meilan called through the door, her voice carrying that particular blend of sweetness and urgency that she'd perfected over the years. "I need to speak with Su Yiling about a family matter. It's quite urgent."
Teacher Wang frowned, glancing at Su Yiling with mild irritation. The bell would ring in less than five minutes anyway, but Su Yiling could see that her teacher was debating whether to make a point about proper protocols or just let it slide.
Su Yiling was already gathering her materials, sensing that whatever Su Meilan wanted, it probably wasn't going to be a simple conversation. Her cousin had a talent for turning even casual encounters into complicated situations, usually ones that somehow ended up reflecting poorly on Su Yiling.
What could she possibly want now? Su Yiling wondered, shouldering her bag as Teacher Wang finally waved her toward the door with obvious reluctance.
The last thing she needed was another one of Su Meilan's subtle manipulations, especially when she was already running on too little sleep from her late night.