Aclyslys reluctantly got out of bed, his back still hurt as the injury from yesterday was still fresh. It was a bright and refreshing morning. As he went through his usual morning routine to get ready for school.
News spread throughout the city about a new computer virus that had caused a major financial company to momentarily shut down, within just an hour of being infected. This caused a ripple effect, with other companies becoming increasingly concerned about their Cyber security.
It was a busy morning at Songint, with companies calling for assistance to strengthen their Cyber security protection.
Chairman Song personally met with the Cyber Security department and recognized the gravity of the moment. Since the infected company was one of their partners, and Mr. Robert M.—the owner was a close friend of his, Mr. Song gave strict orders to eliminate the virus at all costs.
Achylys was strolling to the university, people were still discussing about the computer virus that had been causing problems. No one had been able to stop the virus yet, and it was spreading quickly. The CEO of Jing financial institute, Mr. Robert M, had offered $500,000 to anyone who could stop the virus.
Which caused his company to temporarily shut down. This led to a cyber race from hackers all over the word to eradicate the virus.
Achylys slipped into his seat just as Mr. Dominic began.
"I'm sure you've all heard the news," the teacher said, turning on the projector. "The Crown Virus—nasty piece of code, huh? Now, before any of you think about joining the $500,000 bounty hunt, let's talk about how we got here."
The projector flickered to life, showing the evolution of programming languages.
Achylys leaned back in his chair. The pain in his back still throbbed, but his thoughts were sharper than ever. Somewhere in that mess of data and damage, a challenge was waiting.
"By the end of the week," Mr. Dominic continued, "I want a antivirus prototype coded in three different languages. Treat it like a warm-up. Who knows one of you might write the next breakthrough."
The class groaned. Achylys didn't. He was already imagining the lines of code in his head.
As the bell rang, students began packing up. Frances calmly zipped her bag, her expression unreadable. She got out from the room, but the moment she checked her phone, her eyes narrowed slightly — six calls missed from her father.
Without a word, she stepped to the side of the corridor and dialed back.
"You've been ignoring my calls," Chairman Song answered immediately. His voice was brisk.
"I was in class," Frances replied coolly, not missing a beat. "What's the urgency?"
"It's the virus. It's spreading faster than our team predicted Jing Financial system is in shambles. Robert's here. I need you at the company—immediately."
Frances exhaled softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I take it the briefing's already started?"
"Just about to. Can you make it in fifteen?"
"Ten," she replied. "I'll handle it."
Without waiting for a goodbye, she ended the call.
Upon returning to the company Frances immediately supervised the team who is task to terminate the virus.
Mr.M, who is a close business partner of chairman Song, personally visited Songint to discuss with the chairman, and demanded a quick resolution to the issue. As his company's shareholders were dropping by the minute.
Meanwhile, Achylys was in the middle of his shift at the shop when he noticed that everyone was unusually quiet and focused on their computers. This piqued his curiosity, so he quietly approach his friend Luzu, a regular costumer. Luzu then explained about the crown virus.
"Haven't you not heard about the crown virus? It has became a major problem for large companies as it specifically target them, this virus is designed to actively duplicate private documents of the affected company's data and then delete all the original data after it transfer all the copied document to a secret database.
Mr. M had promised a reward of $500,000 for anyone who could eliminate the virus, causing everyone in the shop and in the hackers forum to scramble for the prize money.
Sisi who overheard the conversation then butt in:
"Yeah, as if you all can solve that, not even specialist from SOONGint was able to remove the virus as of the moment it only means that virus is really hard to deal with. As Sisi and Luzu debates Achylys remained silent for a while as he continued to watch Luzu's computer.
Meanwhile, at Songint, the company's Cyber Security Division was in full crisis mode. Screens flickered with lines of code, firewalls were reinforced, and the air was thick with tension. Frances stood behind the team, arms crossed, silently observing their progress.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed.
It was her secretary.
"Miss Song, Mr. M has just increased the bounty to $1,500,000. Triple the amount from earlier."
Frances's eyes narrowed slightly. "So, the real game begins."
As she smiled watching observation deck just above them.
She hung up and strode past the startled engineers, taking her place at the main workstation. Fingers poised, calm and precise.
She knew that with that amount of reward the top hackers from all around the world, including notorious groups would now be interested in the virus.
Not only she is interested in the competition but also this can be beneficial for them. They can salvage the situation to monitor the big hacking groups that will be loured out by this massive bait.
"This is our chance to watch who bites," Frances murmured to herself. "Let's see which ghosts show their faces."
Then she got to work.
Click. Clack. Code flowed like poetry beneath her fingertips. One by one, infected segments of the system were neutralized. Her strategy was clean, surgical — efficient yet elegant. Within just half-hour, the virus was 95% dismantled.
The room fell quiet.
Engineers, analysts, even the interns stood behind her in awe, whispering guesses at her next command. No one dared interrupt.
Finally, with a final flourish of code, she hit Enter.
The system stabilized.
The virus — neutralized.
Cheers erupted from behind her.
"You did it!"
"Unbelievable!"
"Miss Song is a genius!"
Applause echoed across the room. Up in the observation deck above, Chairman Song and Mr. M stood behind the glass wall overlooking the lab. Mr. M clapped with genuine relief.
"She's incredible," he said. "You raised her well."
Chairman Song didn't reply, just smiled with pride as he watched his daughter in action.
But Frances… didn't move.
Her eyes were locked on the screen. Unblinking. Her hands hovering over the keyboard.
Then she spoke—low, cutting through the noise like a blade.
"Enough."
The room didn't catch it at first. A few kept clapping.
Frances stood up.
"I said, stop. Now."
Silence fell.
Everyone turned to her, confused by her sudden shift.
She didn't look at them. Her eyes were glued to the screen. Her fingers flew back to the keyboard, faster this time—urgent, focused. Lines of code scrolled, her gaze scanning deeper and deeper into the system's back-end.
And then—
She stopped.
Her voice dropped into a whisper. "No... This isn't it."
She turned to the team, her expression sharp as glass.
"We've been fooled."
The room was quiet now—everyone watching her. Suddenly, the screen flickered.
She clicked. Nothing.
Tapped. Still nothing.
Then, the monitor went black.
Frances's eyes widened.
"...No."
The scene suddenly shifts to a dimly lit room, A lone figure sat at a desk, face hidden beneath a black hoodie, an eerie clown mask glowing faintly in the monitor's light. His fingers danced across the keyboard, lines of encrypted code reflected in his lenses.
Back at Songint—
Alarms blared.
Every workstation crashed, screens going dark one by one like falling dominoes. Engineers and programmers rushed to reboot, assess, contain. A controlled space turned chaotic in seconds.
Frances stood still amidst the panic, both hands on the desk. Her jaw was tense. She didn't speak.
Chairman Song and Mr. Robert M. rushed into the lab from the upper deck, alarmed by the sudden system failure.
"What happened?" Mr. M demanded. "I thought it was over!"
Frances finally turned toward them, calm but grave.
"I thought I had it. But even before the shutdown… something felt wrong. The virus was too easy to kill."
Mr. Song furrowed his brow. "Too easy?"
"Not weak, but deliberate. Like it wanted to be caught. I saw anomalies in the code, but they were subtle. Almost invisible. I didn't want to assume… but now it's clear."
She took a breath.
"It was a trap. The virus had already been neutralized—by someone else. We are already late to begin with. Instead of removing it, he rewrote it… turned it into something worse.
The modified code blocks out anyone else who tries to fix it—making him the only one who can remove it completely. He understood the situation far too well. He knew that by the time we tried alternative solutions or rebooted recovery efforts, it would already be too late. Jing Financial's shares are dropping by the minute.
And before we can even stabilize our systems, the company could already be on its knees. He planned it perfectly! Now, he's positioned himself as the only key—and the only option."
The room went still.
Then—
Notifications flooded hacker forums around the world.
A name surfaced.
M.v.E….
He had hijacked the virus, and now he made his move.
A ransom demand flashed across global channels.
$3,000,000 — or the virus stays and spreads.
The message reached Songint within minutes.
Mr. Robert M. looked at the crashing numbers on his phone—shareholder stocks plummeting in real-time.
He cursed under his breath. Then with gritted teeth, nodded.
"…Pay it."