Chapter 8: Asking for Help!
Chapter 8: Asking for Help!
Xiaoyu’s computer screen had turned dark black. The display showed a black, shiny iron door with a huge iron lock, giving off a heavy and mysterious feeling.
Above the door, there was a blood-red countdown, and below it was a prompt in Chinese. After clearly reading the content of the Chinese prompt, the four girls’ faces fell.
“It really seems like we got a virus,” Zhou Tongtong said dazedly. “It’s similar to the last Ransomware; the prompts are almost the same.”
“Restart it, try restarting it.”
Li Ruoxi hurriedly restarted the computer. Half a minute later, the computer turned on again, but it was still the same screen; they couldn’t get to the desktop at all.
“Could it be a virus from an action movie?” Wang Xiaolan asked.
The other three girls looked at Li Ruoxi.
“Impossible, I’ve watched them all; they can’t carry viruses,” Li Ruoxi said with a bitter smile. She was starting to feel a little unsure now.
“I have friends from the computer department in my Moments; I’ll post there to ask for help,” Zhou Tongtong realized.
“I’ll look up what virus this is,” Wang Xiaolan said without hesitating.
Xiaoyu and Li Ruoxi looked at each other, at a loss.
“I’ll try opening the movie on my computer.”
Li Ruoxi walked back to her seat, turned on her computer, inserted the USB drive, and started copying the movie.
“Found it, found it!” As soon as Li Ruoxi turned on her computer, Wang Xiaolan’s voice rang out.
The three girls rushed over to her.
“It’s a variant of Ransomware. The first case was found in Europe at 6:30 p.m. Capital time. So far, it has infected over 80,000 computers. Around 7 p.m., it broke out in North America. According to incomplete statistics, more than 50,000 computers in North America were infected, and the number is still rising. The virus spreads through email attachments, phishing websites, and quickly infects local networks…”
“I have news too,” Zhou Tongtong showed her phone’s Moments to the others. “Many people at our school got the computer virus. Look, the latest posts in Moments are all about this. Here it says that just logging into the campus network caused this.”
“Crap.”
Li Ruoxi hurried back to her spot and unplugged her computer’s network cable. She felt relieved; luckily, she hadn’t logged into the campus network yet, or she would have been infected too.
The three girls realized something and looked at Zhou Tongtong. Zhou Tongtong blinked and looked at her own computer. The screen was the same as Xiaoyu’s, showing a mysterious iron door.
“I think I got the virus too,” Zhou Tongtong said blankly. “Huh? I have a virus, I have a virus! What should I do?” Once it sunk in, Zhou Tongtong jumped up, ran back to her computer, and started pressing buttons randomly.
“What do I do? I haven’t finished my TV series.”
The three girls covered their foreheads, watching Zhou Tongtong jump around. This girl’s reflexes were slow, and she was still worried about her TV show.
“Just like the last Ransomware, this time it’s not locking documents but locking the computer. The computer system is locked. The Hacker’s goal is still money. Bitcoin transaction: send the money via Bitcoin within a week, or all files on the computer’s Hard Disk will be destroyed.”
Li Ruoxi looked at the prompt on the computer screen and let out a sigh of relief. Luckily, it wasn’t caused by her adult movies, or she would have felt incredibly guilty.
“My computer has my study materials for the Accountant exam. What should I do?” Xiaoyu asked anxiously.
“In my Moments, friends from the computer department all say that until there’s a way to remove the virus, the only solution is to reinstall the system.”
The next moment, Xiaoyu thought of Chen Mo’s confident figure and took out her phone to contact him. Just as she was about to dial, she saw three smirking faces leaning in, ears perked up.
Chen Mo was walking back to his Rented Apartment, his steps hurried, eager to get back. Suddenly, his phone rang in his pocket.
Xiaoyu?
Seeing Xiaoyu’s call, Chen Mo showed a knowing smile and answered immediately.
“Xiaoyu.”
“Chen Mo,” Xiaoyu called out, her face blushing because three eavesdropping girls were beside her.
“Did you miss me?” Chen Mo laughed.
Li Ruoxi and the other two immediately covered their mouths, their eyes curving into crescent moons. Xiaoyu didn’t dare answer directly, her face bright red.
“My computer got a virus.”
“Got a virus?” Chen Mo paused mid-step. “What happened?”
“It’s a variant of Ransomware…”
Xiaoyu explained everything about the virus to Chen Mo.
During this time, she had seen Chen Mo studying computer programming and Hacker techniques every day, so she had a feeling he might know what to do.
“I’ll come find you now. Give me your computer, and I’ll take a look.”
After hanging up, Chen Mo headed back toward the dorm area while using his phone to check news about the Ransomware variant.
As soon as he opened the browser’s top news, he didn’t need to search—the Ransomware news was already pinned at the top.
Chen Mo clicked on it without hesitation.
In the girls’ dorm, after Xiaoyu hung up, the three girls burst into laughter.
“Little kitten, did you miss me?”
“Mo Mo, my computer has a virus. Hurry over here.”
“I’ll come find you now, be good…”
“Muah.”
Wang Xiaolan and Zhou Tongtong mimicked their conversation in a very cutesy, exaggerated tone. The dorm filled with laughter, making Xiaoyu’s face turn red with embarrassment.
“Hey, that’s enough,” Li Ruoxi stopped laughing. “Are you really going to give him your computer later?”
“What else can we do?” Xiaoyu asked.
“Did you forget? There are adult movies on the desktop. What if he really unlocks it and opens one, hmm?” Li Ruoxi winked at Xiaoyu.
Xiaoyu thought about that scenario, blushed, and instantly grew nervous. If that happened, she wouldn’t be able to clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River.
“Maybe give him mine instead,” Zhou Tongtong suggested.
“Give him both. I trust he won’t look randomly,” Xiaoyu said after a moment’s hesitation. “Even if he accidentally opens one, I’ll explain it to him then.”
Before long, Chen Mo returned to the dorm area.
Xiaoyu and her three roommates were already waiting downstairs. They all wanted to see what kind of guy this was who had won over the best girl in their dorm.
“This is Wang Xiaolan, this is Zhou Tongtong, and you know Ruoxi.”
“Hello,” Chen Mo greeted the three politely.
“Hello.”
The three girls greeted Chen Mo back. Wang Xiaolan and Zhou Tongtong stared at him, a bit dazed.
Chen Mo wasn’t extremely handsome, but his confident and calm demeanor was captivating. Not many people had that kind of presence. For a moment, they felt a little envious of Xiaoyu.
Xiaoyu handed two computers to Chen Mo.
“This one is mine, and this one is Tongtong’s. My Accountant exam materials are inside. If you can recover them, great. If not, it’s okay; just help me reinstall the system.”
“Full recovery comes with a reward,” Li Ruoxi chuckled. “I’ll tell you the last piece of info from last time.”
“Don’t listen to her nonsense.”
Xiaoyu immediately stopped Li Ruoxi, worried she might betray her again.
“I saw the news about the Ransomware,” Chen Mo said. “I’ll do my best to try and fix them for you as soon as possible.”
After taking Xiaoyu’s computer, Chen Mo looked at the three girls. “Thanks for taking care of Xiaoyu in the dorm. If anything happens to her, contact me anytime.”
“We will. We’ll head back now; you two can keep talking in private,” Li Ruoxi said, pulling the other two back to the dorm, leaving Xiaoyu and Chen Mo alone.
“Is there a reward?”
Chen Mo looked at Xiaoyu with a teasing smile. He hadn’t wanted to ask earlier with Li Ruoxi and the others around, but now it was fine.
“We’ll talk after you fix it.”
Xiaoyu tossed out those words and hurriedly ran back to the dorm.
Chen Mo took the two computers back to his Rented Apartment. The computer screens still showed the black, shiny iron door and a huge iron lock, looking mysterious.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Mo lay back on his bed and entered the Science and Technology Library.