Chapter 13: Invisible Warfare
In our home, the living room featured a petite table supporting a PC boasting respectable specifications.
As night descended, the rest of the household likely slumbered. However, I found myself in the quietude, linking my internal hard disk to the computer via a SATA to USB cable as the hard disk lacked its protective casing at the moment.
*Clickity* *Clackaty*
The resonant keystrokes echoed through the air, dominating the moonless night. The blue light emanating from the screen cast its glow upon my visage, straining my eyes amid the obscurity. All the more peculiar since I should be giving my eyes a break right now.
This is what I've got after hacking into the PSIA:
Hikaru Kamiki, aged 21 at present, commenced his educational voyage within the esteemed halls of Lala Lai theater company at the tender age of 11. Upon reaching the age of 16, he chose to diverge from his path at Lala Lai, opting to pursue a conventional academic trajectory. He graduated from a normal science course.
Curiously, an absence of familial records comes to the fore. Could there have been a deliberate eradication of such data? My skepticism remains unabated.
He was recently spotted in Chiba Prefecture before catching a flight to... London!? Hey, this is no joke! How am I supposed to find him now!? I must meticulously track his movements...
I never thought I'd ever do this, but it can't be helped...
*Poof* I summoned two clones, and after taking a few laptops for themselves, they scattered immediately without delay.
They intend to spoof my location since I'll be hacking into one of the most secure satellites on Earth, specifically, one of NASA's 16 satellites.
Of course, this kind of PC won't be able to become the server capable of handling the hacking and stealthiness.
But I had an alternative. Energies poured from my hand into the computer.
*Ding*
[Thought Acceleration is active]
Thought Acceleration possesses far greater potency than one might assume. Amid the decelerated perception, time appeared to crawl, granting the sensation of living through countless ages before the abrupt return to normal motion. This skill has profoundly influenced my character, bestowing upon me heightened maturity, despite my preexisting level of maturity.
While it is theoretically possible for a satellite to be hacked and potentially used to interfere with or manipulate digital devices on Earth, such scenarios are highly complex and challenging to execute. Satellites are equipped with various security measures and protocols to prevent unauthorized access, and the systems controlling satellites are designed with robust cybersecurity measures.
But...
[Thought Acceleration has ranked up!]
With this remarkable breakthrough, my mind becomes invincible.
While Thought Acceleration (C) enhances cognitive capabilities, enabling swifter and more effective thinking and decision-making, Thought Acceleration (B) takes it a step further by granting the ability to impart this accelerated thinking to another individual.
In this particular scenario, I applied it to the CPU of the PC.
Gazing at the screen before me, I reviewed the sequence of events recorded by a camera from a neighborhood.
[Match found: 90%]
Sure enough, the image materialized—220B Baker Street, London. In the frame stood a figure with blond hair, adorned in a black fur coat. He casually wandered a short distance from the Sherlock Holmes Museum, mere blocks away.
"Heh..." The edges of my lips went up without my consent. "I found you."
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- Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Kasumigaseki district, Tokyo -
Last week, the police department convened a significant gathering, only to find themselves revisiting the name "Necro," the elusive hacker. This time, the situation escalated further as representatives from both NASA and the FBI joined forces to assess the ongoing developments, resulting in a substantial collaborative effort.
"Displayed here is the screen recording capturing the camera and system activity during the occurrence of the cyber attack. Our team successfully deciphered the intricate puzzles and managed to counteract the viruses that Necro had planted within the system. However, by the time we accomplished this, the damage had already taken its toll."
The representative displays a projection that reveals Necro's activities through the satellite's recordings, all the while explaining the unfolding events with a distinctive foreign accent in Japanese.
"Our analysis suggests that the culprit initially gained unauthorized entry into our satellite. Subsequently, they utilized the satellite to infiltrate terrestrial cameras, followed by deploying an intricate facial recognition program and commandeering numerous CCTV cameras on Earth. However, the program was designed maliciously and ended up consuming an excessive amount of energy, ultimately leading to the satellite's system overheating once the operation concluded."
To put it plainly: the suspect got into their satellite, used it to hack Earth's cameras, and Necro set up a program to spot faces and control lots of CCTV cameras. But the program drained too much power and made the satellite overheat when it finished.
Then the FBI agent stepped in, "Achieving something of this magnitude demands a substantial server, surpassing even the capacity of the ISS itself. The news spread across the globe, solidifying Necro's reputation as a renowned hacker within the underground community." Surprisingly, his accent fit perfectly.
But then, "Yet, following the satellite's reboot, we uncovered traces of the malevolent program's searches. It's highly likely that this individual here is the intended focus of our suspect."
With a press of the button on the laptop, the agent switched the projection to a low-quality image captured by a CCTV camera. The image displayed a blond man with blue eyes casually walking along the street.
The detective raised his hand and posed the question, "Is the FBI able to identify the individual?"
Without delay, a response was given, "Despite his unique features, our evaluation indicates that he holds Japanese citizenship. We'd like to defer to the PSIA for further clarification."
Stepping up to the microphone, a formally attired officer conveyed, "We extend our gratitude for your attention. We've compiled a comprehensive report on the individual who may be at risk of Necro's future activities. His name is Hikaru Kamiki, who became a member of the Lala Lai theatrical company at the age of 10 but left at 16 to pursue a regular science curriculum. Importantly, he lacks any familial records and is a citizen of Japan."
However, the report continued...
"Our attempts to track him down led to an unexpected revelation... He had been listed as a missing person since the previous year."
A person who had vanished, and intriguingly, it was none other than Necro who eventually located him, nonchalantly walking along the streets of London.
It appeared that Necro's recent cyber assaults on the PSIA were not without purpose; they were aimed at extracting identification information related to this individual. Subsequently, he proceeded to target the satellite..."
Initially, he infiltrated the PSIA, followed by gaining access to NASA's satellite systems, and subsequently commandeering every digital camera across the globe. It was almost as though the man possessed machine-like capabilities.
These endeavors typically require substantial server capacity, yet the reports consistently indicated that Necro operated as an individual rather than a hacker group. This puzzling distinction further baffled the researchers.
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Well, I should be able to go to London somehow.
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To be continued.
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