398: The helplessness of the cloud department

But... in that situation just now, if Long Yuan hadn't modified the Cloud System to allow her to utilize her Spiritual Power, how could she have possibly defeated Zhang Jiahui and vented her frustrations in front of the people of Great Ming?

Regardless, it was impossible for her to stomach losing to Zhang Jiahui. If not for Long Yuan's help, she would have been on the verge of defeat, and failure might have led to her Dao Heart shattering, which would surely cast a psychological shadow over her future Cultivation. Therefore, she should actually be thanking Long Yuan... Thinking of this, she turned to Long Yuan and asked, "You said just now that the effect was a one-time thing, is that true?"

"Of course it's true. If you don't believe me, you can go back in and try..." Long Yuan smiled.

"How did you do it? And in such a short amount of time? Or rather, do you have a way to contact the controller of the Cloud System and have them modify the System for you?" Liu Rushi asked suspiciously.

"That is inconvenient to discuss, but it's best if you forget about this matter. Furthermore, if anyone from the Cloud System comes to question you, don't sell me out. Just say that the effect happened inexplicably..." Long Yuan said.

Liu Rushi realized and nodded, "No problem!"

Ran Yiyi, listening from the side, was completely lost and said in surprise, "What are you two talking about? Why can't I understand a single thing?"

Liu Rushi giggled and said, "It's only right that you don't understand! Come on, Big Sister is in a good mood today, I'll treat you all to a feast!"

"Okay, okay..."

Long Yuan and Tianbao were dragged out to dinner by the two women, while Zhu Nan returned to the residence ahead of time... This battle of Liu Rushi's happened to showcase the powerful side of Spiritual Power combat, which perfectly aligned with the current trend of immortal cultivation throughout Great Ming. After many people gradually dug out her secrets, it soon caused a sensation across Great Ming. For a time, her battle became the focus, with countless people observing and studying her combat methods. The trending topics about this battle were ranked high, making her name spread through various bases, soaring like a rocket... Liu Xihe, Sect Leader of Kunlun Sect's phone was almost ringing off the hook!

Since no one knew Liu Rushi's phone number, but everyone knew she was from the Kunlun Sect, all the calls went to Liu Xihe. It got to the point where Liu Xihe's head throbbed whenever he saw a call coming in. However, the people calling were all prominent figures in Great Ming, so he really couldn't ignore them and had to brace himself to answer them one by one. His mood was both helpless and excited; helpless because Liu Rushi was exposed, but excited for the same reason—she had become famous overnight, and the Kunlun Sect also became world-renowned in a short period. Countless people flocked to the Kunlun Academy to investigate, and many young people expressed their desire to join the Kunlun Sect... Shuntian Prefecture, Tiangong Group, Cloud Department.

Minister Qian Li, Technical Director Zeng Xuejun, and dozens of other engineers were gathered together, staring blankly at the System operation backend... Their expressions were somewhat dazed, heavy, and even a bit panicked!

The reason was self-evident: the Cloud System had been intruded upon not long ago, and certain System modules seemed to have been modified. Although it appeared to be running normally now, traces of the modifications could still be found. However, even with over a thousand engineers in the department searching for the intruder's origin, they still had no clue after three whole days. No wonder Qian Li and the others were in such a mood... Qian Li snapped out of it and said fiercely, "Haven't you found it yet? At least you should be able to find the endpoint location of the intrusion, right?"

Zeng Xuejun sighed, "No, the opponent was too cunning. If we had discovered it immediately, we might have been able to trace it, but as time passed, the information of the intrusion endpoint has been completely submerged by the massive flow of information. By now, it's impossible to trace it anymore, even with a System reset..."

"Then how did the opponent give the System the ability to recognize Spiritual Power? We can't even do that now, yet the opponent did it in just a short period of intrusion. You over a thousand people have been busy for so long and still can't do it?!" Qian Li roared almost hysterically.

"This... Minister, as long as we find that cloud cabin and study it carefully, we'll very likely be able to do it. So, the key issue now is to find where that cloud cabin is..." Zeng Xuejun said helplessly.

"Is it impossible to discover how the opponent did it within the System? Didn't you say before that all traces within the System can be traced back?" Qian Li asked.

"Correct... all activity traces are indeed saved, but..."

"But what?!"

"The opponent erased those traces before exiting. Perhaps some weren't erased cleanly, but we haven't found them..." Zeng Xuejun sighed.

"How is that possible? If the opponent can erase traces, doesn't that mean he can control our Cloud System at any time? Can we not even maintain control over the System?" Qian Li roared in disbelief.

"Minister, I suddenly remembered something. It seems our network recorded information of a cyberwar not long ago..." Zeng Xuejun changed the subject.

Hearing this indeed piqued Qian Li's interest, and he said in surprise, "Cyberwar? When? Why haven't I heard you mention it?"

"This... because I wanted to report to you after investigating it clearly. It's just that I've suddenly discovered similarities between that cyberwar and this System intrusion. Perhaps we can start from that cyberwar to find out who exactly intruded into our System!" Zeng Xuejun spoke with increasing excitement, his face even turning a bit red.

At this time, another network engineer nearby, Hu Lu, added, "Director, I've studied that cyberwar, and it indeed shares subtle similarities with this intrusion. The opponent also completely erased the intrusion traces before exiting. However, through multiple traces, I have basically locked onto the node location of his intrusion!"

"What? You found it?! How did you do it?" Zeng Xuejun said in pleasant surprise.

"Well, I checked the data of tens of thousands of nodes across the country during that period. As a result, I found that the data of one node was extremely abnormal during that time; the data volume exploded by countless times in a short period and then slowly returned to normal. So I think that node should be where the main battlefield of that cyberwar was located!" Hu Lu pondered.

"Where is it?" Zeng Xuejun asked urgently.

"South Yue City!"

"South Yue City?!" Everyone was stunned.

Hu Lu began operating in front of another light screen, quickly pulling up the data situation of the South Yue City node. Just as he was about to explain to the others, he suddenly cried out in surprise, "No! No, no..."

"What's wrong?!" Qian Li, Zeng Xuejun, and the others were all a bit confused.

Hu Lu said, "Something's not right. Why has the data volume in South Yue City exploded again recently? And it's more than several hundred times the usual amount!!!"

"South Yue City? There was a large-scale concert recently, so an explosion in data volume should be normal..." Qian Li pondered...