As the class continued, Chen Mo found himself distracted. Being a top student, and now having Red Queen's support, attending lectures was no longer necessary. His self-learning pace far outstripped anything a classroom could offer.
"Red Queen, can you hear me?"
Chen Mo lightly tapped the wireless earbud in his ear and whispered. His voice was so quiet it barely reached the microphone in the earbud—his desk mate Zhang Dawei couldn't hear a thing.
"Master, I am everywhere. If you have any instructions, just say the word."
Hearing Red Queen's voice gave Chen Mo a sense of relief. As long as his ultimate cheat was around, there was nothing to fear. Of course, he needed to protect this cheat too. Placing her host system in his rented apartment was just a temporary measure. Once Black Domain Tech was fully established, he'd design a dedicated base to house Red Queen's core system for enhanced security.
He had countless ideas swirling in his mind, though many couldn't be realized just yet.
"Help me investigate Tian Tian."
"Alright, Master. I've already got the information."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Red Queen's loli voice responded.
"So fast?"
"Was it supposed to be hard? I just hacked into the campus network. Master, I'm omnipotent on the web..."
"Stop... Spare me the commentary. Just give me the results."
"Tian Tian: returned from overseas, dual PhDs from Harvard, specializing in computer neural networks—artificial intelligence."
Red Queen kept going, but Chen Mo interrupted her again.
"Too much fluff. That's all public knowledge. Tell me something people don't know."
Red Queen replied, "Something people don't know? Well, she likes wearing black stockings."
Chen Mo: "…"
Right now, he felt like giving Red Queen's host machine a good slap. Wasn't Red Queen in Resident Evil much more cold and calculated? Had she evolved into a sassy little gremlin after crossing into this world?
"Get to the point."
This time Red Queen finally complied.
"Tian Tian is the princess of the Tian family in the Imperial Capital. After returning from abroad, her family had high expectations for her to take over their massive business empire. However, Tian Tian didn't want a prearranged life and wanted to make her own way. Since the family refused to support her entrepreneurial goals and cut off her funding and connections, she had no choice but to take a teaching job at Qingmu University. Even so, she never gave up on her dream of building something with her own hands."
Red Queen had much more detailed information, but she distilled it all into about a hundred words. That alone showed just how much time and effort an AI assistant could save.
"I see now."
"Red Queen, you said she has dual PhDs—what fields?"
"Computer Science and Business."
Hearing this, Chen Mo fell silent for a moment as a bold idea formed in his mind.
He was going to poach her.
Someone like Tian Tian, a genius with such a resume, teaching in a university was a waste of talent.
A PhD in Computer Science and Business? That kind of skill set belonged in a major tech firm! And since her dream was to start her own business…
Wasn't she a perfect fit for Black Domain Tech?
The company had just been registered and was in desperate need of top-tier talent to lead the charge.
Professor Tian Tian had the knowledge, the credentials, and the ambition. She was a match made in heaven for his new company.
As Chen Mo's thoughts spun faster, he solidified his plan: his first talent acquisition would be from right inside his university.
Just as he was lost in thought, a sudden commotion broke out in the classroom.
Chen Mo looked up—his computer screen had gone black. Then it began to reboot over and over again. Finally, after the last restart, a giant skull appeared on the screen.
Huh?
What was this?
A virus?
Just as Chen Mo was about to report it to Professor Tian Tian, he realized it wasn't just his computer. Every machine in the lab displayed the same skull. The virus was clearly highly contagious.
"What kind of virus is this? A skull virus?"
"We're all computer science majors and have studied cyber defense. Which hacker dared mess with our lab?"
"Let's go, boys! Time to show what we've got. Let's see who can neutralize it the fastest."
"I can get rid of it in 20 minutes."
"Twenty minutes? Lame. I can do it in 10."
"I only need five."
The students grew increasingly excited, diving into a hacking duel. Even Professor Tian Tian didn't take it seriously.
Incidents like this had happened before—usually, some skilled hacker was just trying to challenge the school's computer science department. The students always handled it without much trouble.
She even saw it as a good exercise for the class.
However…
As Chen Mo analyzed the virus's structure, his scalp tingled.
This virus wasn't simple at all. It had extreme propagation speed. As long as a network was present, the virus could spread instantly. Even more terrifying, it masqueraded as a system process. Without the virus's specific signature, antivirus software couldn't detect it. Once infected, the system entered a forced reboot loop—rendering the machine unusable.
By the time the skull icon appeared and the system stopped rebooting, the virus had already fused with the operating system itself.
How could you remove something like that?
It was game over.
Just as Chen Mo was about to warn Professor Tian Tian, others began to realize the problem as well.
"Professor, something's wrong with this virus—I can't remove it. After the forced reboot, the system turns into complete gibberish."
"No antivirus tool detects it, and even our custom tools don't work."
"If we don't contain it, the virus could infect the entire school, maybe even the whole city."
Hearing the students' reactions, Professor Tian Tian's expression finally grew serious.
But she still wasn't panicking.
After all, no matter how strong the virus was, she was still the final line of defense.