Chapter 37 – A Hacker in the Walls
Doctors worked frantically on Xiao Xi for almost an hour, eventually stabilizing her and moving her to the ICU.
Gu Yanzhou stood against the hallway wall outside her room, a man carved from granite, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were bone-white.
He didn't move, didn't speak, just monitored the movements of the medical staff.
His assistant, Lin Bo, appeared, breathless and drenched with rain, having coordinated the emergency security response.
"President Gu," he whispered urgently. "Your tech division mobilized.
They found something.
You need to see this immediately."
Gu Yanzhou didn't look away from Xiao Xi's door. "Not now, Lin Bo.
Just ensure the media stays out."
"It's about what happened to Ms. Xiao Xi, sir. We think the attack was deliberate and digital."
That got his attention.
His head snapped toward his assistant, his eyes burning with focused intent.
He followed his assistant to a secure, unused hospital conference room where a powerful laptop was already set up.
A complex system map filled the screen—red, flickering, and dangerously corrupted, displaying the ongoing struggle for access to Gu Corporation's core servers.
"This isn't normal hacking, President Gu," the chief tech whispered, nervously adjusting his glasses. "This signature is adaptive.
It learns.
It counters every defensive move we make. It's almost like it's been specifically studying Ms. Xiao Xi's… unique data patterns."
Gu Yanzhou's jaw tightened, the analysis aligning perfectly with Xiao Xi's terrified confession of the 'story.'
Then, a new message flashed onto the screen, overriding the complex code.
It was typed live, a clear, taunting message from the attacker:
Stop interfering, President Gu.
You can't protect her.
You are merely a variable I can isolate.
She was never meant to survive this story.
Gu's blood turned to ice, the explicit reference to the 'story' confirming his deepest fears.
The hacker didn't just know about the system; they knew the plot of the novel.
"Track it," he ordered, his voice quiet but dangerously steady.
"I don't care how many firewalls you have to crash.
Find the point of origin."
"We can't, sir," the tech whispered, fear in his eyes. "We traced the access point, but it's coming from inside your corporation's internal servers—a key administrative terminal with top-level, unrestricted access."
Gu Yanzhou's fists trembled so violently the chair he was leaning on shook. The betrayal was absolute.
Someone from his company, someone with his complete trust, was actively trying to murder the woman he loved.