17: Chapter 17: The Data Hunt Officially Begins!

In the crude room, only a single incandescent bulb flickered. On the screen, the data stream instantly surged like a galloping river. An invisible 'doxxing' targeting Zhang Lei officially commenced within this simple prefabricated house.

Chen Fan hadn't originally planned to deal with Zhang Lei so soon. With the steel frame of the production workshop only half-finished, he was busy with equipment debugging, raw material procurement, and a mountain of other tasks. How could he find the time to bother with such scum? But today, the thought of Zhang Lei's incredibly arrogant face pricked his heart like a poisonous thorn.

Then there was the smugness from when Zhang Lei stole his credit, the ruthlessness when suppressing him, and even the frustration of being made the scapegoat for Zhang Lei's secret embezzlement of project funds... Zhang Lei had conspired with Li Zeyu to frame him and make him lose his job. As scene after scene flashed before his eyes, the coldness in Chen Fan's gaze grew deeper.

It was time to settle this debt properly.

"future smart brain, initiate maximum-clearance data infiltration," Chen Fan commanded in a low, firm voice.

In the corner of the screen, the cartoon icon of the future smart brain instantly glowed red, like a top-tier hunter poised to strike: "Understood! Accessing the global data network, preparing to infiltrate all systems related to the target!"

The flow of data suddenly accelerated, and the text on the screen refreshed frantically. Chen Fan's eyes were like torches, locked onto the jumping cursor: "Focus on screening three major sectors—company financial flows, private communication chains, and cloud storage areas. Don't let any anomalies slip through!"

"Command confirmed! Infiltrating Hengyuan's internal network..."

The smart brain's prompt sounded urgently, and a series of green pop-up windows appeared on the screen: "Level 1 firewall breached! Level 2 firewall breached! Level 3 firewall bypassed... Capturing access logs..."

In less than ten seconds, all the project accounts Zhang Lei had handled since joining Hengyuan filled the screen at a rate of a hundred entries per second. Red anomaly markers were as dense as blood spots, with several accounts specifically circled in bold, eye-catching font:

[Abnormal capital flow detected! Three project investment amounts show unreasonable markups of 17% to 35%, suspected of receiving kickbacks!]

[Tracking associated accounts... Target locked: 'Xinyuan Trading,' a shell company under Zhang Lei's cousin's name. No actual business operations; used solely for receiving bribe funds!]

[Preliminary estimate: Approximately 180,000 yuan of company property embezzled within two years, including employee welfare funds, project contingency funds, and other special-purpose funds!]

"As expected of his scummy nature," Chen Fan sneered, his fists clenching until his knuckles cracked. He remembered when the company distributed year-end benefits last year; everyone in their department only received a box of near-expired milk. It turned out that money had long since been moved into Zhang Lei's own pocket!

"Cutting into the private communication sector..." the future smart brain's voice rang out again. "Cracking encrypted social accounts... Successfully retrieved Zhang Lei's private WeChat chat history!"

The chat interface that popped up on the screen instantly exposed the secrets. Conversations between Zhang Lei and an executive from Xinghai Technology were clearly visible, spanning a period of three months:

"Manager Zhang, when can we get our hands on that set of financial data models from Hengyuan?"

"Don't worry, I'm already packing the materials. I'll jump ship next week as a technical consultant with capital; it'll be a win-win for us then."

"Pleasure doing business. Once it's done, I'll give you an extra 100,000 yuan as a relocation fee."

"No problem, I guarantee it's the unreleased, full version of the design draft!"

Following that, an encrypted attachment was successfully decrypted, and three design drafts labeled 'Top Secret' appeared. Chen Fan's pupils constricted—this was core technology the company had invested tens of millions to develop. Once Xinghai Technology got hold of it, Hengyuan would face an immediate and massive crisis!

"This bastard has no bottom line for the sake of money!" Chen Fan gnashed his teeth. Any punishment for a degenerate like Zhang Lei was well-deserved.

Just then, a red warning box suddenly popped up on the screen, and the smart brain's tone became urgent: "Detected that the target is accessing an encrypted partition on a home NAS device, suspected of viewing sensitive files! Synchronize interception?"

"Real-time mirroring, capture every single bit for me!" Chen Fan ordered without hesitation.

The next second, previews of several hidden folders popped up. Chen Fan couldn't help but frown deeply, a wave of nausea churning in his stomach.

The folders were full of unsightly private photos—intimate scenes of Zhang Lei with various strange women in hotels and KTVs. There were also several audio recordings where his arrogant voice could be clearly heard threatening female subordinates: "If you want to keep your job, cooperate obediently, otherwise I'll make sure you never have a future in this industry!" Even more excessive was an encrypted notebook filled with colleagues' home addresses, bank account numbers, and even medical privacy records, with a notes column reading "can be used for leverage."

The level of filth was such that even the future smart brain typed a string of "..." on the screen, along with a comment: "Boss, this guy is a complete collection of the five poisons. He has redefined my understanding of the lower limits of humanity!"

Chen Fan closed his eyes and took a deep breath to suppress the disgust in his heart. This evidence was enough not just to ruin Zhang Lei's reputation, but to put him behind bars for several years!

"Cross-verify all data and form a complete evidence loop," Chen Fan instructed in a deep voice. "Send it out in three data packets as planned: the economic crime evidence packet goes to the Hengyuan Board of Directors, the personal morality evidence packet goes to his wife's private email, and the commercial leak lead packet goes to investigative reporter Old K, with an anonymous copy to the Market Supervision Bureau."

"Understood! Packing the data packets..." The smart brain's voice carried a hint of excitement. "Boss, want to add a little extra? I also found records of his tax evasion; we can send them to the Tax Bureau together!"

"Then send a copy to the Tax Bureau too," Chen Fan said.

Although he had the cheat-like future smart brain, Chen Fan never thought of using it for illegal acts; he had his own principles and bottom line.

"Is the sending path secure? Will it expose my location?" Chen Fan was still a bit worried. After all, this involved data theft, and it would be troublesome if it were traced. He had no psychological burden regarding revenge against Zhang Lei, but he didn't want to incur legal risks.

"Rest assured!" The smart brain's tone was full of pride. "Using seven-layer encryption hops, the IP addresses are disguised as overseas server clusters, traveling from the US to Russia, then to small African nations before finally landing to send. Even a top hacker would need at least ten years to trace it back here! Moreover, the data packets come with a shredding program; they'll automatically destroy themselves three minutes after the recipient reads them. Not even a trace will be left in the recycle bin. Absolutely invisible and foolproof!"

Chen Fan looked at the "Data packets ready" prompt on the screen, a cold arc curling at the corner of his mouth: "Send."

There was no earth-shattering sound, no clash of blades. Three data packets, like digital nuclear bombs, quietly departed along the fiber-optic network, traveling through the city's night toward their respective destinations. Carrying all of Zhang Lei's unspeakable secrets, they were destined to stir up a destructive storm tomorrow morning.

After finishing all this, Chen Fan stood up and stretched his stiff body. The night outside the prefabricated house was still thick, but the gloom in his heart had mostly dissipated, leaving him feeling light all over.

He walked to the window, gazing at the distant neon lights of the city, the corners of his mouth turning up unconsciously. Zhang Lei, your good days are over...