The Socially Anxious Super Hacker

An elite Blacklight team, commanded by Quynh Nhu, was quickly deployed. Lam Minh and To Quyen also went along in an unmarked armored vehicle. They wanted to see for themselves what the hacker who had brought a top-tier cybersecurity system to its knees looked like.

The old apartment complex in District 8 appeared before them. It was damp, messy, and a complete contrast to the image of a super hacker living in a high-tech penthouse like in the movies.

"Is he really in there?" a Blacklight member asked doubtfully.

"The coordinates can't be wrong," Quynh Nhu said, checking her positioning device again. "The target is on the top floor. Alpha team, surround the perimeter below. Bravo team, with me."

Lam Minh and To Quyen also followed Bravo Team. They moved lightly, without a sound, up the dilapidated staircase.

When they reached the door of the penthouse apartment, Quynh Nhu signaled for the team to halt. The wooden door looked flimsy, like it could be kicked down with a single blow.

"Breach!" she ordered.

BAM!

The door was kicked open. The special forces team stormed in, guns pointed in all directions.

"Blacklight! Hands up!"

But...

Inside the apartment, there was no cunning-faced hacker or any advanced computer system.

The small, messy room was filled with boxes of instant noodles and empty soft drink cans. The only light source came from dozens of computer monitors of all kinds, old and new, connected by a tangled web of wires like a spider's web.

And sitting in the middle of this mess, on a worn-out gaming chair, was a girl.

A very young-looking girl, probably around Lam Minh's age. She had long, slightly messy black hair that covered most of her face. She was wearing an oversized hoodie, short shorts, and a pair of cat-shaped slippers.

When the special forces team stormed in, the girl jumped like a frightened rabbit. She curled up in her chair, covering her head with her hands, trembling.

"Don't... don't shoot... I... I didn't do anything..." her voice was a tiny whisper, full of fear.

The entire Blacklight team was stunned. The super hacker who had outsmarted them... was this little girl?

Quynh Nhu was equally surprised. She lowered her gun and slowly approached. "Who are you? Are you the one who attacked our system?"

The girl lifted her head a little. Only then did Lam Minh and To Quyen get a clear look at her face.

It was an incredibly beautiful face, with delicate features and fair skin from lack of sun exposure. But her large, round eyes were filled with panic and fear at having to face strangers. She had absolutely no social skills.

"I... I just... just wanted to see... if your firewall... was strong..." the girl stammered. "I... I didn't mean any harm..."

Seeing the girl's pitiful state, To Quyen couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She stepped forward and spoke gently. "Hello, I'm To Quyen. We don't mean you any harm. Can you tell us your name?"

Perhaps because To Quyen seemed gentler, the girl's fear subsided a little. "My... my name is... Minh Thu..."

Minh Thu!

Lam Minh frowned slightly at the name. He felt like he had heard it somewhere before.

"Minh Thu, why did you do it?" To Quyen continued to ask. "What you did is against the law, you know?"

"I... I know..." Minh Thu hung her head. "But... but I saw your system... had so many vulnerabilities. If I didn't get in... someone else would have. I... I just wanted to leave a message... so you could fix it..."

This naive explanation made Quynh Nhu and her team not know whether to laugh or cry. It turned out the "arrogant super hacker" was just a kind-hearted girl who didn't know how to express herself.

At this point, Lam Minh spoke up. He didn't ask about the hacking. He pointed to a line of code running on her screen.

"The string encryption algorithm you're using, it's based on the principle of the Fibonacci Sequence, but modified with a reverse recursive function. Very clever. But if you try combining it with Euler's number, the encryption efficiency could increase by at least 15%."

His words stunned everyone. Especially Minh Thu.

She shot her head up, looking directly at Lam Minh for the first time, her large round eyes wide with astonishment. "How... how did you know?"

That algorithm was her own creation, never published anywhere. How could this person understand it at a glance, and even suggest an improvement?

Lam Minh just smiled. "I just 'guessed'."

This very sentence completely shattered Minh Thu's defensive shell. In her world, people who could understand her "language" were rarer than diamonds. She looked at Lam Minh as if she had just found one of her own kind.

"Are... are you also... a hacker?" she asked, her voice less shaky now.

"No, I'm a chef," Lam Minh replied nonchalantly.

After some "persuasion," Minh Thu finally agreed to go with the Blacklight team to their headquarters. Of course, she wasn't handcuffed or treated like a criminal. She was "invited" as a "special talent."

In the car, Minh Thu didn't talk to anyone, just clutched her laptop tightly. But from time to time, she would sneak a glance at Lam Minh, her eyes full of curiosity and a little... adoration.

General Khang, after hearing the report and speaking directly (though with some difficulty) with Minh Thu, made a bold decision.

"This girl is a genius! A cybersecurity genius that we are lacking! We cannot let a talent like this go to waste."

He looked at Minh Thu. "Minh Thu, we will not press charges for what you have done. On the contrary, I want to invite you to join Blacklight, to become the head of our Cybersecurity team. you will be provided with the best equipment and an independent working environment. What do you say?"

Minh Thu waved her hands in panic. "I... I can't do it... I'm scared... scared of strangers..."

General Khang sighed. This girl's social anxiety was indeed a difficult problem.

Just then, Lam Minh, who was standing nearby, spoke up.

"How about this, General. Let her work from home. Just provide her with a secure connection and the work requirements. I think her efficiency will be even higher than if she works in a crowded place."

He turned to Minh Thu. "As for communication, for now, let me be her 'translator.' If there's anything that needs to be discussed, the military can contact me. Is that okay, Minh Thu?"

Minh Thu's eyes lit up when she heard this, and she quickly nodded her head vigorously. To be able to work with the only person who "understood" her was the most wonderful thing for her.

General Khang looked at Lam Minh with a meaningful gaze. "Alright. It's decided. It seems our 'Seed No. 1' has another hidden talent: 'babysitting'."

And so, in the most unexpected way, Lam Minh gained another "tag-along." A beautiful super hacker who suffered from social anxiety.

His life, it seemed, would never know the meaning of the word "peaceful."

And so, Lam Minh officially took on another "side job": being the "translator" and "liaison" between the super hacker Minh Thu and the Blacklight military.

The job sounded simple, but in reality, it was incredibly troublesome.

Every day, he had to receive dozens of messages and calls from both sides.

From Blacklight, General Khang and the officers would send him work requests.

"Lam Minh, please pass a message to expert Minh Thu, we need her to re-check the entire defense system of Lac Hong Base."

"Can you ask her if it's possible to trace the origin of a strange signal in the East Sea."

From Minh Thu's side, the girl almost never called, only sending messages in her own encrypted language that only Lam Minh could "guess."

[A string of Hex characters] -> [A smiley face emoji] -> 'Firewall_level_3_patched. Task_completed.'

[A picture of a cat typing] -> 'Need_more_RAM. And_milk_tea.'

Lam Minh felt more like a call center operator than a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He had to constantly translate from "military language" to "IT language" and back again.

But the biggest trouble didn't come from work, but from the other three "satellites."

The appearance of Minh Thu, a beautiful, talented girl who seemed to be completely "dependent" on Lam Minh, made To Quyen and Quynh Nhu feel a significant threat.

Their "fair" competition was elevated to a new, more chaotic level.

One day, Lam Minh was in class, trying to doze off, when his phone vibrated. It was a message from Minh Thu.

[Low battery icon] -> [Food icon] -> 'Energy_low. Requesting_supply.'

Lam Minh sighed. It was "feeding" time again. He texted back: OK. What_do_you_want?

Minh Thu replied instantly: 'Bun_bo_Hue'. Extra_pork_knuckle. (Hue-style beef noodle soup. Extra pork knuckle.)

He had no choice but to skip class, run to buy a special bowl of beef noodle soup, and bring it to Minh Thu's apartment.

When he arrived, the door was unlocked. He walked in and saw Minh Thu still sitting in front of her computer screen, her eyes glued to the lines of code, her hands typing furiously.

"Your beef noodle soup is here, expert," he said, placing the bowl on the table.

"Th-thank you," Minh Thu mumbled, her eyes never leaving the screen. She picked up her chopsticks and started eating while typing, a masterful skill that even Lam Minh had to admire.

He sat down on the sofa, intending to rest for a bit before leaving. But just then...

Click!

The door opened again. To Quyen and Quynh Nhu walked in.

"We knew it!" Quynh Nhu said, her voice full of accusation. "You skipped class again to come here and 'resupply' this 'IT girl,' didn't you?"

"You two... why are you here?" Lam Minh was startled.

"We came to check if our 'prize' was being 'touched' by anyone else," Quynh Nhu crossed her arms.

To Quyen, however, looked at Minh Thu, who was shrinking in fear at the sight of strangers, then at the bowl of beef noodle soup on the table.

"Lam Minh," To Quyen said, her voice a little "reproachful." "You haven't even eaten the lunch I prepared for you."

Lam Minh could only scratch his head. "Ah... it's because Minh Thu said she was really hungry, so I..."

"Is she the only one who's hungry?" Quynh Nhu cut in. "We're hungry too! Hey, Minh Thu, would you mind if we 'shared' a little?"

Without waiting for Minh Thu's reply, she casually sat down at the table and reached for a piece of pork knuckle.

"No... you can't!" Minh Thu, though very scared, instinctively covered her bowl of noodles. That was the noodle soup her "idol" had gone to the trouble of bringing her.

And so, a battle over food broke out.

Quynh Nhu, with the strength of a warrior, tried to snatch the pork knuckle.

Minh Thu, with the typing speed of a hacker, used her chopsticks to defend and counter-attack with lightning speed.

To Quyen, with the intellect of a scientist, stood by and analyzed: "Your angle of attack is ineffective, Quynh Nhu. You should attack from the left, where Minh Thu's vision is limited."

Lam Minh sat on the side, watching three beautiful girls fighting over a bowl of beef noodle soup, and felt that this world was truly too crazy.

He didn't intervene. He just quietly took out his phone and recorded this "historic" scene.

"Something to look back on later," he thought.

The battle only ended when the bowl of beef noodle soup was knocked over, and no one got to eat anything. The three girls glared at each other resentfully.

In the end, Lam Minh had to "mediate" by promising to treat all three of them to a lavish hotpot meal.

At the hotpot restaurant, the four of them sat around a table, creating an incredibly strange scene.

Lam Minh sat in the middle, constantly having to put food into the bowls of all three girls.

Quynh Nhu kept putting the spiciest pieces into To Quyen's bowl. "Eat up, bookworm, so you can get smarter."

To Quyen, in turn, put pieces with lots of vegetables into Quynh Nhu's bowl. "Eat up, loli, so you can 'cool down' a bit."

Minh Thu said nothing, just silently picking the best pieces from the pot and putting them into Lam Minh's bowl.

Lam Minh looked at his own overflowing bowl, then at the three girls glaring daggers at each other, and could only sigh.

He realized that dealing with a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment creature was easier than dealing with three girls when they were all in the same place.

The life of a "translator," "mediator," and "prize" was truly not easy.