"So the servers you rented can actually be used this way too?"
Renamon, having grasped the basics, immediately understood Chen Ze's approach—after all, she frequently borrowed those servers herself, jumping to overseas networks to view streaming content unavailable domestically.
This was a good moment to revisit the concept of the "internet."
Theoretically speaking, the internet was indeed a vast global network connecting the entire world; much of modern society's rapid progress could be attributed to the birth and advancement of internet technology.
Yet practically speaking, the internet could at most be considered the world's largest virtual network—but definitely not its only one.
Besides the main backbone known as the "Internet," numerous other wide-ranging and highly functional "Local Area Networks" existed separately.
National cybersecurity networks, internal corporate data channels, educational networks within schools, and even private networks built from a few connected servers…
In theory, as long as one machine served as a server, any two people worldwide could set up their own private LAN.
Aside from the United States—which had established the global Internet infrastructure—and Japan, which achieved universal adoption of the fully virtualized EDEN network, the China in which Chen Ze currently lived was one of the most developed countries in LAN technology.
Because apart from the global Internet and Japan's completely virtualized EDEN network, the world's third major independent LAN system was China's Great Wall Security Network.
The origins of the Great Wall System could be traced back to the early twenty-first century, when network technology first began rising to prominence and widespread adoption.
To automatically filter, monitor, and censor content online, China back then created a national-level system known as the "Great Firewall," enabling oversight and control over harmful information from abroad.
Evolving to the present day, this famed Great Wall System had long since grown beyond the simple concept of a "firewall," becoming a massive network ecosystem separate from the global Internet.
In a certain sense, such massive LANs represented competitions in hacking technology between nations—contests about whose cybersecurity was stronger and whose defensive technologies were better.
In fact, apart from China and Japan, many other countries had dabbled in developing technologies independent of the Internet.
But due to various constraints, very few had managed to develop these into mature, large-scale systems.
Yet regardless of their eventual outcomes, the fundamental technology remained unchanged—Local Area Networks.
Typically, countries wishing to shield their networks from foreign influence and cyberattacks had two main methods to achieve this independence.
One was called the "whitelist" approach.
It meant completely severing interactions between network IP addresses, allowing only domestic IPs or explicitly whitelisted addresses into their local network—thus tightly controlling outside information.
This method was usually favored by small nations with limited geographic reach and minimal reliance on internet technology. It greatly reduced external pressure and maintained internal stability.
However, this approach also had a glaring weakness—self-isolation. Without outside connections, they couldn't access the latest global technologies and news.
Unless absolutely forced, no nation would willingly isolate itself from global development—that would be tantamount to slow suicide.
Under these circumstances, the more complex "blacklist" approach emerged.
A LAN built using the blacklist system wouldn't entirely sever communication between itself and the global Internet.
Instead, it selectively blacklisted certain fixed network addresses or sensitive keywords, blocking specific unwanted interactions. Essentially, this was completely opposite to the whitelist model.
The most significant difference: this method didn't ban every IP address. As long as a new IP passed internal screening procedures, it could freely join the network.
Chen Ze's successful intrusion into Japan's EDEN network exploited exactly such a loophole in the "blacklist" method.
By using a personal terminal to access a newly created IP address—which hadn't been blacklisted by any nation yet—he could then jump into the desired foreign network.
In a certain sense, this sort of firewall-penetration, entering foreign networks, was already among the simplest, most fundamental forms of hacking.
If you could anonymously bypass a national firewall, you could theoretically also infiltrate school or corporate networks and steal confidential data.
Precisely because of this, similar software and techniques were legally restricted in many countries and jurisdictions, existing in a grey zone.
As mentioned earlier, wherever demand existed, so would markets.
To enable ordinary people—who lacked technical skills or couldn't set up their own servers—to freely enter and exit the public networks of other countries, selling or renting large-scale cloud servers that provided these exact services became a thriving business.
This was precisely why Chen Ze previously remarked that ordinary people were indeed the driving force behind market growth.
In theory, as long as you weren't overly arrogant—trying to infiltrate genuinely private networks—these powerful, professionally maintained servers without logs offered the easiest, most convenient method for basic hacking.
Of course, this kind of "hacking" targeted only public networks abroad and usually happened under the tacit approval of relevant authorities.
As far as Chen Ze knew, some cleverer hackers would even assemble electronic terminals they'd compromised into clusters, control them via custom-built software, and sell access specifically to hackers aiming at more sensitive private networks.
If only I had the money, Chen Ze thought, looking longingly at his newly completed EDEN debugging device. I'd definitely build a completely private intrusion tool myself.
Concealing identity was a basic instinct for every hacker. Even though Chen Ze currently used a fabricated digital avatar and carefully encrypted his access to cloud servers beforehand, his hacker instincts made him restless.
He craved even more secretive forms of intrusion—so secretive that ideally no one besides himself knew what he was up to.
Thinking this, Chen Ze suddenly glanced up at Renamon's image displayed on the computer desktop.
Well, alright. Nobody else knowing is probably impossible.
But aside from Renamon, ideally no one else should know what I'm doing.
After this whimsical thought flashed through his mind, Chen Ze quickly activated his handcrafted EDEN debugging device, attempting—for the second time—to access Japan's EDEN network.
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A/N: These few chapters may seem dry, but properly introducing these "concepts" is necessary groundwork. Otherwise, readers might find themselves totally confused when the protagonist later starts pulling off complicated maneuvers within the EDEN network.
T/N: aye aye boss man
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