69: Chapter 70 The Teen Hacker and Manager Lin's Obsession

Early the next morning, as the Tiansheng Group building was just waking up, Yin Tianchou, carrying that seemingly ordinary backpack, sauntered over to the floor where Yin Tianxue's office was located.

"Good morning, Uncle Wang!"

"Auntie Li, long time no see! You're still looking as young as ever!"

"Brother Zhang, I heard you got promoted to supervisor? Congrats, congrats!"

He was sweet-talked and knew how to handle people. Plus, being the young master of the Yin Family, even though he hadn't been around for over two years, everyone still had a good impression of him and let him wander around as he pleased.

Yin Tianchou had a clear goal and sauntered into the area where Yin Tianxue's office was located. Yin Tianxue hadn't arrived yet, and her assistant, Lisa, was organizing documents.

"Sister Lisa!" Yin Tianchou approached her familiarly, grinning from ear to ear. "My sister isn't here yet? I need to see her about something. Can I wait in her office? I promise I won't touch anything!"

Lisa recognized the young master and knew that he and President Yin had a good relationship as siblings. Seeing his well-behaved appearance, she didn't think much of it and smiled. "President Yin hasn't arrived yet, Young Master Tianchou. You can go in and sit down first; I'll pour you some juice."

"Thanks, Sister Lisa! You're the best!" Yin Tianchou thanked her sweetly and slipped into Yin Tianxue's office.

Once the door closed, the smile on his face vanished instantly, and his gaze became calm and focused.

He quickly scanned the office layout, his eyes landing on Yin Tianxue's top-of-the-line office computer. However, he didn't touch that computer. Instead, he took an ultra-thin laptop and several small devices that looked like ordinary USB drives or power banks out of his backpack.

He walked over to the potted plant in the corner of the office, pretending to admire it, while actually planting a miniature signal receiver disguised as a mini air purifier.

He then walked over to the bookshelf and stuck a wireless interface sniffer, which looked like an ornament, onto the back of the shelf. Finally, he returned to the sofa area, sat down, opened his laptop, and his fingers began to fly across the keyboard.

On his computer screen, a complex command-line interface scrolled rapidly, and data packets were intercepted, analyzed, and decrypted one by one.

Besides his regular studies abroad, Yin Tianchou's biggest hobby was studying network security and hacking (within the white-hat scope, of course). His skill level had long surpassed that of an ordinary enthusiast and was even approaching that of a professional.

Using a script he had prepared in advance, specifically written for vulnerabilities in Tiansheng Group's internal network protocols, he quietly infiltrated the log system of the group's internal email server.

He knew that the video email his sister received must have been encrypted or anonymous, making it very difficult to trace the source directly.

But his approach was different—he traced the email reception records in reverse, pinpointing the exact time Yin Tianxue's private email received that specific message. Then, he searched the logs for all outgoing emails containing encrypted or large attachments from within the group's internal network at that same time.

It was a clumsy method, but combined with his superb filtering and analysis skills, it was highly efficient.

In less than twenty minutes, his screen locked onto an anomalous record: yesterday afternoon, during a non-peak business hour, an encrypted data packet was sent from an internal network computer in the Group's Marketing Department to an external anonymous email proxy server. The timestamp perfectly matched the time Yin Tianxue received the email, and the data packet size was also similar to that of the video file.

"Found it." A flash of sharp light appeared in Yin Tianchou's eyes, and a cold smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.

He quickly retrieved the IP and MAC addresses of that computer, matching them to a specific workstation and user—the Deputy Manager of the Marketing Department, Lin Rui.

Lin Rui? Yin Tianchou had some recollection of that name. It seemed he was the son of one of his father's old subordinates. He had decent ability and had been working at Tiansheng all along. He seemed to have a thing for his sister; he had met him a few times at family gatherings in the past, and the way he looked at his sister always felt off. But because his sister had already been with Yu Bo, this person hadn't really registered in his mind.

Could it be him? Yin Tianchou narrowed his eyes. What was the motive? Love turned to hate? Or was he being used by someone else?

He didn't jump to conclusions immediately and continued his operations. Using higher privileges (he had secretly left a backdoor for himself long ago), he retrieved the surveillance footage of the Marketing Department area from yesterday afternoon.

Fast-forwarding and locking in the time, he indeed saw Lin Rui. The footage showed that during that time, Lin Rui had indeed been operating that computer alone for a long while, looking nervous and glancing around from time to time. Although the surveillance angle didn't show the specific screen content, his behavior was suspicious enough.

What made Yin Tianchou even more certain was that around the time the data packet was sent, Lin Rui had received a phone call. The call wasn't long, but he had visibly tensed up when answering, and his expression had become grave. After hanging up, he seemed to let out a sigh of relief, but then checked the computer again with some unease before hurrying away.

"Interesting." Yin Tianchou rubbed his chin. With just this, he could only prove that Lin Rui had used that computer to send a suspicious email; it wasn't 100% certain that it was the one sent to his sister, nor could it prove that he had filmed the video or orchestrated the whole thing. However, he was a prime suspect, and it was very likely he had accomplices or a mastermind behind him.

Yin Tianchou quickly cleared away the traces of his intrusion and packed up his equipment. Just then, footsteps and the sound of high heels approached from outside the door—Yin Tianxue had arrived.

Yin Tianchou immediately switched back to his "sunny little brother" mode, closed his laptop, and greeted her with a grin. "Sister! You're finally here. I've been waiting until I'm hungry. Treat me to breakfast, will you?"

Yin Tianxue looked at her brother's energetic appearance, and her mood lightened slightly, though the exhaustion in her eyes remained evident. "You ran over this early just to mooch a meal? What do you want to eat?"

"The Hong Kong-style tea restaurant downstairs is fine!" Yin Tianchou linked his arm with his sister's and asked, seemingly nonchalantly, "Sister, is there a manager named Lin Rui in your company's Marketing Department? I think I've met him before."

Yin Tianxue paused slightly and looked at her brother with some confusion. "Lin Rui? Why are you suddenly asking about him?"

"Oh, nothing. I thought I saw him downstairs just now. He's changed quite a bit; I almost didn't recognize him." Yin Tianchou made up an excuse, carefully observing his sister's expression.

Yin Tianxue frowned, seemingly recalling something unpleasant, and her tone cooled slightly. "It is him. His work performance is passable." She clearly didn't want to talk about it further.

Yin Tianchou understood. It seemed his sister had a mediocre impression of this person and might even be troubled by his intentions. This only increased Lin Rui's suspicion.

The siblings sat down in the restaurant. As Yin Tianchou dug into his meal, he probed in a casual, chatty tone, "Sister, does that Manager Lin have a thing for you? I heard he's never been married?"

Yin Tianxue glared at him. "Don't go prying into things you shouldn't, kid. Eat your food."

"Oh." Yin Tianchou pouted as if aggrieved, but he was even more certain in his heart. It seemed that Lin Rui's obsession with his sister might not be a secret in the company at all.

After breakfast, Yin Tianchou made an excuse about meeting a friend and parted ways with Yin Tianxue. As soon as he was out of his sister's sight, the smile on his face vanished instantly, and his gaze became sharp and cold.

He found a quiet corner in a coffee shop, sat down, and opened his laptop again. This time, he didn't limit himself to the company's internal network. He began using more covert channels to investigate Lin Rui's personal information, financial status, and communication records (using some non-public databases and "resources" provided by his friends in the hacking community), especially his unusual movements in recent times.

Preliminary investigation results showed that Lin Rui's personal account had recently received several moderate, unexplained fund inflows, and his spending habits had improved slightly compared to before. In his call logs, there was a strange number that had appeared frequently of late. After a preliminary trace, the number's origin was local, but the registration information was vague, and it frequently changed base station locations—it was clearly a "burner card."

Yin Tianchou packed Lin Rui's photo, the preliminary investigation results, the suspicious phone number, and screenshots of the Marketing Department's surveillance footage (having scrubbed his own traces of intrusion) into an encrypted file. He didn't tell his sister immediately, nor did he alert his father. He planned to first figure out the bottom line on this Lin Rui himself, and whether there was anyone behind him.

This internal staff member who had suddenly appeared—seemingly out of love turned to hate—and who might be framing his sister and future brother-in-law, made Yin Tianchou smell the scent of a more complex conspiracy. This matter was likely more than just a simple emotional dispute or business competition.

He took a sip of his iced Americano, his eyes calm. It seemed that this trip back home wouldn't be boring. Perhaps he could even do his sister and that "future brother-in-law" who was still under investigation a little favor. Of course, that was on the condition that Yu Bo could pass his "test."