Chapter 99: Tracing the Mouse’s Tail, K Smashes His Computer Again

Upon seeing the foreign IP address that had infiltrated the system, Su Ming immediately thought that this IP was most likely from the leader of the criminal organization behind the dark web.

Given his usual caution, it was highly probable that the leader had intruded into the “Heaven’s Eye” surveillance system to monitor the progress of the case and confirm if any other members of the organization had been discovered. After all, there was no better way to track the police’s movements than through the “Heaven’s Eye” system, aside from information leaked by insiders.

Moreover, judging from the several interception methods previously set up on the dark web, it was clear that the leader of this drug trafficking organization was among the top hackers in the world. Hacking into the “Heaven’s Eye” system was not a difficult task for someone like him.

It was also certain that the surveillance systems in other cities had likely been infiltrated as well, not just in Huaihai District of Magic City. In other words, every move the police made during this time was probably being observed by the head of the drug trafficking organization.

With this thought, Su Ming quickly looked up at Lin Tian and said seriously, “Director Lin, I just found a hidden foreign IP address in the backend of the ‘Heaven’s Eye’ system. It’s highly likely that we’re not the only ones using it; the leader of this drug trafficking organization is also using it to monitor us.”

Lin Tian was stunned by this revelation, his face filled with disbelief and shock. In his twenty years as a police officer, he had never heard of such audacious criminals. To think they dared to hack into the “Heaven’s Eye” system to monitor police activities was beyond imagination.

The level of arrogance and recklessness was truly mind-boggling.

As a criminal investigator, Lin Tian knew all too well how terrifying it was for criminals to have access to every move the police made. After a brief moment of astonishment, Lin Tian immediately looked at An Quan, who was also surprised, and shouted, “An Quan! Check immediately if the ‘Heaven’s Eye’ system has truly been hacked, and come up with countermeasures right away. Otherwise, we might as well be playing cards with these criminals face-to-face!”

An Quan immediately became serious, even forgetting to adjust his glasses as he prepared to log into the system. Before he could act, Su Ming’s firm voice rang out, “Brother Quan, hold on a moment. This foreign IP likely uses multiple proxy servers to hide its source. But compared to the dark web server, it’s easier to trace back. Let me try to extract the real IP address.”

“If I can get it, we’ll be able to pinpoint its exact location.”

Upon hearing this, An Quan’s eyes gleamed with excitement. He quickly moved behind Su Ming to watch the screen, eager to see how Su Ming would unearth the true IP address from the layered proxies.

At that moment, Su Ming was focused, not paying attention to the others around him, and his hands swiftly began typing on the keyboard. He planned to use the key access point of the “Heaven’s Eye” system to trace the IP address step by step.

As the command prompts appeared on the screen, An Quan’s excitement grew. Su Ming’s approach was brilliant. He had disguised a trojan virus capable of transmitting IP data as a seemingly inconspicuous data packet. This allowed him to bypass the layers of firewalls set up by the hacker, slowly peeling back the IP address like skinning garlic.

In just under three minutes, Su Ming had bypassed seven layers of proxies, and the IP address had been traced back to the Huizhou Province of Longguo.

Thirty seconds later, another layer was peeled back, and the address was pinpointed to Luyang City, Huizhou Province.

Another thirty seconds passed, and the location narrowed further, pinpointing the area to Cangshan District in Luyang City.

At this moment, An Quan’s excitement reached its peak, and he instinctively clenched his fist. If everything went as planned, after another thirty seconds, the IP address would be traced even further, narrowing the range to within a few dozen meters.

However, at that exact moment, the sound of a transmission failure echoed from the laptop.

The other party had unilaterally stopped receiving the file.

The IP address tracing ended at the district level.

Seeing the transmission failure notification, An Quan, who usually didn’t show much emotion, sighed with regret and shook his head. “What a pity… we were so close.”

In contrast to An Quan’s disappointment, Su Ming was unfazed. A faint smile appeared on his face as he casually remarked, “Brother Quan, it’s not really a pity.”

“In fact, when I bypassed the third layer of proxies, the other party must have already noticed something was wrong.”

“But…He was probably busy trying to trace the source of the trojan virus to stop my progress. He was reluctant to give up the convenience of the ‘Heaven’s Eye’ system, so he kept struggling with me at the network level for so long.”

“Eventually, when he realized he couldn’t stop me from breaking through, he probably panicked, fearing he wouldn’t even have time to shut down his computer, so he had to resort to his last resort.”

“Last resort?” Lin Tian asked, puzzled. Clearly, he was out of his depth when it came to this high-tech hacking.

An Quan, full of admiration, explained as he watched the series of command codes on the laptop screen, “Director Lin, for top-tier hackers like him, they usually set up their laptops as servers or hotspots. On one hand, it’s for convenience; on the other hand, if they’re discovered, it’s to give them the option to resort to their final measure…”

“Smash the computer.”

…

At this moment, on the top floor of the Xing Sheng Building in Cangshan District, Luyang City.

An expensive laptop lay shattered on the floor, its parts and fragments scattered around, some even falling into the swimming pool.

K, dressed in a shirt, was staring at the smashed laptop on the floor.

Usually calm, he couldn’t hide his anger this time, a grim smile forming on his face as he muttered to himself, “Heh, very well, Su Ming. This is the second time. This is the second time I’ve lost to you.”

“For so many years, you’re the only one who has made me smash my computer twice.”

“But I hope you don’t really push me to the extreme.”

“Otherwise…”

K didn’t finish his sentence but glanced over at the man in the corner of the top floor, the Priest, who was smoking a cigar and cleaning a heavy sniper rifle…