A Sharp Edge Emerges From The Mist Chapter 13
byA New Case
The lingering warmth of the kiss remained on her lips, like the burning sensation of strong liquor down the throat in winter, quietly spreading through her veins. Shen Qingwu’s fingertips still held the warmth of Lin Jianfeng’s cheek and the texture of her skin; her breath was filled with the other woman’s crisp, clean scent, mixed with a faint, bitter aroma of coffee.
The sunlight shifted, falling onto the carpet at their feet, cutting a boundary between light and shadow.
In the moment they pulled apart, the air seemed to thicken. Neither spoke, simply gazing at each other in silence. The icy lake in the depths of Shen Qingwu’s eyes had completely thawed, surging with waves that had yet to settle—a mixture of bashfulness, uncertainty, and the relief that comes after burning one’s bridges. Lin Jianfeng’s gaze remained open and honest, though her usual sharpness had been replaced by a deeper softness, like obsidian washed by water.
Then, the police phone in Lin Jianfeng’s jacket pocket rang sharply and inappropriately. It wasn’t her private phone, but the black candy-bar device set specifically for emergency alerts, on standby twenty-four hours a day.
The ringtone was like a cold needle, unexpectedly piercing the warm, fluttering space they had just built.
Lin Jianfeng’s eyes instantly cleared as all personal emotions were suppressed. She gave Shen Qingwu an apologetic yet reassuring look before quickly pulling out the phone to answer.
“Captain Lin! Emergency!” Xiao Chen’s hurried voice came from the other end, backed by a noisy environment. “The Gemini Data Center in the East District was just hit by a massive ransomware attack! The entire data center’s servers are locked! The attackers are demanding a thousand Bitcoins within twenty-four hours, or they’ll permanently delete all data and leak ‘sensitive client information’!”
Gemini Data Center was one of the largest third-party data hosting centers in Shuangcheng, handling data backups and cloud services for numerous financial institutions, tech companies, and even some non-core government departments. If the data were destroyed or leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Lin Jianfeng’s brow furrowed instantly. “What’s the situation on-site? Have the Technical Section and Cyber Security arrived?”
“They’re on their way! The data center’s own security team has intervened, but the virus is spreading extremely fast. The encryption method is unprecedented; they’re completely helpless! The bureau leadership has instructed Criminal Investigation to step in immediately, join forces with the Cyber Security Detachment to investigate if criminal activity is involved, and assist in stabilizing the scene to prevent panic and secondary damage!”
“Understood. I’ll be there soon.” Lin Jianfeng hung up and quickly organized her thoughts. She looked at Shen Qingwu, her speech fast but clear: “Something happened. Gemini Data Center was hacked. Ransomware, demanding a massive amount of Bitcoin. I have to get there immediately.”
All the tenderness and vulnerability on Shen Qingwu’s face vanished in an instant, replaced by a cold focus. She stood up and walked toward the study without hesitation. “Gemini… they handle cloud backups for nearly a third of the partner companies in the New City Project, including non-core financial data and some engineering blueprints. It also includes some secondary project materials for Qingyuan Capital.”
She opened the safe in the study, took out an ultra-thin laptop, and her fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard, pulling up an encrypted monitoring interface. The screen split into several sections, showing the real-time status of several key internal servers at her company.
“Currently, Qingyuan’s internal network is normal; no abnormal intrusions or signs of virus transmission have been detected,” she reported quickly, her tone purely professional. “But the choice of Gemini as a target is highly specific. Either they’re randomly choosing a large target to create panic, or… they’re going after data related to the New City Project. The ransom might just be a smokescreen; the real goal is to steal or destroy specific data.”
Lin Jianfeng had already reached the door but stopped and turned back at her words. “Can you determine the possible source or characteristics of the virus from a technical level?”
Shen Qingwu stared at the screen, her gaze as sharp as a blade. “I need to see a sample. But judging by the ransom amount and the target, this isn’t an ordinary hacker group. A thousand Bitcoins is nearly forty million US dollars at current market prices. The appetite is too large; it would easily draw a crackdown from global law enforcement. It doesn’t fit the profit-seeking model of typical ransomware. It’s more like… they’re trying to create extreme pressure, or they simply have no fear of the consequences.”
No fear of the consequences. Those words made Lin Jianfeng’s heart sink.
“How is your company’s data backup situation?”
“Core data has multiple local encrypted backups and physically isolated cold storage. What’s stored at Gemini are mainly non-core files and stage-specific materials for collaborative work. The loss is manageable, but there is a risk of leaking trade secrets.” Shen Qingwu closed the laptop and looked at Lin Jianfeng. “I’m coming with you.”
Lin Jianfeng was stunned. “You? That’s not according to procedure…”
“Procedurally, I am the head of a victimized enterprise potentially affected by this attack, and I have the right to understand the situation and cooperate with the investigation,” Shen Qingwu interrupted, her tone brook no argument. “Technically, I minored in network security in university and have some… non-public experience in anti-tracking and data recovery. Furthermore, I am most familiar with the scope and sensitivity of the New City Project materials hosted at Gemini. I can help you quickly assess the attackers’ true objective.”
She walked up to Lin Jianfeng. They were very close, able to feel the subtle lingering aura of the kiss from moments ago. But now, their eyes held only calmness and professionalism.
“Officer Lin,” Shen Qingwu looked up at her slightly. “This is likely not an isolated incident. Is Anhe trying to distract us? Are they testing our reaction capabilities? Or is someone within their ranks trying to cover up or achieve another goal by creating a larger chaos? I need to know the situation on the ground firsthand.”
The reasoning was sound, the logic tight, and it went straight to the core. Lin Jianfeng could not refuse.
“…Fine.” She nodded. “But you must stay by my side the entire time as a Special Technical Consultant. Do not act on your own, and do not touch any unauthorized equipment or data. This is a criminal crime scene.”
“Understood.”
The two quickly headed out. Lin Jianfeng’s car was parked downstairs.
On the way to the Gemini Data Center in the East District, Lin Jianfeng drove while maintaining contact with the command center via a Bluetooth headset to get the latest updates. Shen Qingwu sat in the passenger seat, reopening her laptop and connecting to a satellite network channel through multiple jumps and encryptions, beginning to gather early information flows regarding the attack from the periphery.
“There’s some scattered discussion on the dark web, but the information is messy. A newly registered ID posted a screenshot of Gemini’s internal servers being locked ten minutes after the attack began, captioned ‘Appetizer’.” Shen Qingwu stared at the screen. “The ID is gibberish, and the posting IP went through multiple layers of proxies, making it hard to track. But the posting habits and phrasing… there are traces of Eastern European hacker groups, yet mixed with variations of local slang.”
“A disguise?” Lin Jianfeng frowned.
“More like a hire. They hired an experienced peripheral hacker team to execute the specific attack, but the command and purpose lie elsewhere.” Shen Qingwu’s fingers tapped the keyboard. “The ransom message is in English, but the grammar has a subtle, non-native awkwardness. As for the ransom payment… they provided three different Bitcoin addresses belonging to three different ‘old wallets’ created over two years ago. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment act; it was meticulously planned.”
The car wove through the heavy traffic, sirens flashing silently.
“Is it possible that the attack has already begun, but the real destruction or theft will happen simultaneously while we’re busy dealing with the ransom?” Lin Jianfeng proposed the worst-case scenario.
“It’s highly likely,” Shen Qingwu said grimly. “A feint to the east while attacking the west, or building a walkway in the open while sneaking through the dark. I need to get into their internal network—even just the DMZ—to make a more accurate judgment.”
“We’ll see when we get there.” Lin Jianfeng didn’t agree immediately. The situation on-site was complex, with Cyber Security and the Technical Section in charge; she couldn’t just let Shen Qingwu intervene in the core investigation at will.
The Gemini Data Center building soon came into view. The area below was filled with police cars and Cyber Security technical vehicles, and many media members who had heard the news were being held back by the police line. The atmosphere was tense and grim.
Lin Jianfeng parked, took out her ID, and led Shen Qingwu through the cordon. Xiao Chen, who had been waiting, hurried over. He froze for a moment upon seeing Shen Qingwu but quickly recovered. “Captain Lin! Engineer Zhang from the Cyber Security Detachment is already in the control room. The situation is bad. The virus variants are evolving extremely fast. They tried several conventional decryption methods, but not only were they useless, they triggered several small-scale secondary infections. Now they can only physically isolate the infected server clusters, but the volume of data is too large; the isolation process itself might cause data corruption…”
“Representative of a victimized enterprise, CEO Shen of Qingyuan Capital, acting as a temporary technical consultant to assist in assessing data risks,” Lin Jianfeng introduced briefly. “Take us to the control room.”
Inside the control room, the massive circular screen wall, which should have shown smoothly flowing data, was currently a mess. Numerous windows flashed with red warnings and icons of encrypted files. Over a dozen Cyber Security and technical personnel were frantic, the sound of typing and hurried conversations blending together.
The head of the Cyber Security Detachment, Engineer Zhang, was a thinning-haired man in his forties. His face was currently ashen. He merely nodded when he saw Lin Jianfeng enter, his gaze lingering on Shen Qingwu for a moment with scrutiny.
“Captain Lin, you’re just in time. Preliminary judgment suggests the virus was deployed through a vulnerability patch disguised as a routine system update, without the knowledge of the internal maintenance staff. The attackers infiltrated their external supplier network at least a month in advance to obtain trusted credentials.” Engineer Zhang spoke rapidly. “The biggest problem now is that the virus has some kind of AI learning mechanism. It can actively identify and bypass the isolation traps we set, and even try to reverse-probe our analysis tools. We don’t dare act rashly for fear of causing irreversible damage.”
Shen Qingwu didn’t speak immediately. She just stood by Lin Jianfeng’s side, her eyes quickly scanning the information on the large screen before looking at the code and logs scrolling on several nearby analysis terminals.
“Can I see the code snippets of the original intrusion payload? Also, the hash value and distribution path of that fake patch.” she suddenly spoke, her voice calm.
Engineer Zhang looked at Lin Jianfeng.
Lin Jianfeng nodded. “CEO Shen has expertise in network security and data recovery. She can provide reference opinions.”
Engineer Zhang signaled a technician to pull up the relevant materials. Shen Qingwu walked to a vacant terminal, sat down, and placed her hands on the keyboard but didn’t operate it immediately. She just quickly browsed the hexadecimal code and system logs on the screen, her eyes focused, her fingers occasionally sliding across the trackpad.
A few seconds later, her finger stopped on a specific line of the log.
“Here.” She pointed at the screen. “Thirty seconds before the intrusion payload was activated, there was a command from the internal management system that temporarily adjusted the firewall policy of the target server cluster, opening a high-numbered port that is usually closed. The authorized account for this command shows as ‘System Administrator,’ but the geographic location information of the operating terminal… was forged.”
She pulled up the raw records of the geographic location data and quickly performed a reverse analysis. “The forged source IP points overseas, but based on the TTL values and routing hops, the actual physical location of origin is highly likely within Shuangcheng, with an error of no more than five kilometers.”
Engineer Zhang and the technicians immediately gathered around.
“Can you track the specific terminal?” Lin Jianfeng asked.
“The command was initiated through a deactivated administrator account, and the terminal MAC address is also fake.” Shen Qingwu shook her head. “But the opponent made a mistake. When forging the geographic location, the proxy server he used had a tiny, non-standard clock skew. I’ve seen this specific skew characteristic in the logs of three other undisclosed ‘attempted’ network intrusions targeting local financial institutions over the past six months.”
She looked up at Lin Jianfeng and Engineer Zhang, her eyes terrifyingly calm. “This isn’t random ransomware, nor is it the work of ordinary hackers. This is a professional team that has been lurking in Shuangcheng for a long time and is extremely familiar with the local financial and IT systems; at least some members are right here in this city. Their attack on Gemini this time was well-prepared and targeted. I suggest an immediate priority screening of former employees of Gemini and its associated suppliers who left within the last six months or who have abnormal access records. At the same time, notify all companies related to the New City Project that host core data here to immediately initiate the highest level of local data security checks and temporarily cut all automatic synchronization connections with Gemini.”
Her analysis was swift, professional, and went straight to the point, instantly giving the chaotic control room a clear direction for action.
The way Engineer Zhang looked at her changed, shifting from scrutiny to a heavy respect. “Everyone, move out immediately according to Consultant Shen’s suggestions! Technical Group One, screen former employees and abnormal records! Group Two, contact the key victimized enterprises! Group Three, continue trying to build a virus sandbox to find a decryption breakthrough!”
The orders were given, and the control room became busy once more, but this time the bustle had a purpose and a plan.
Lin Jianfeng walked to Shen Qingwu’s side and lowered her voice. “Those three attempted intrusions you mentioned…”
“The targets were all companies that were potential competitors to the New City Project or had publicly questioned the project.” Shen Qingwu’s voice was so low only the two of them could hear. “At the time, they were treated as ordinary hacker attempts and weren’t investigated deeply. Now it seems the same group of people was clearing obstacles or gathering intelligence. This time, it might be an escalation, or… some kind of test.”
Testing what? Testing the city’s ability to respond to a large-scale network crisis? Testing the reaction speed of the police and key enterprises? Or testing the reactions of various parties when Shen Qingwu and the Qingyuan Capital behind her were dragged in?
Lin Jianfeng’s heart continued to sink. Shen Qingwu’s analysis faintly linked this seemingly independent cyberattack to Anhe and the dark secrets of the New City Project they were investigating.
The monster beneath the surface was beginning to reveal more of its hideous tentacles.
And their battle had spread from investigations and confrontations in the physical world to the invisible realms of data and cyberspace.
The lights in the control room remained deathly pale, and the red warnings on the screens continued to flash.
But Shen Qingwu’s profile as she sat before the terminal was straight and focused, like a calm, sharp lamp suddenly lit in the darkness.
Lin Jianfeng stood behind her, her hand resting lightly on the back of her chair.
This time, the enemy they faced was more hidden and more dangerous.
But at least, they were no longer alone.