Chapter 945 Fantom, the Legend
Iris leaned back on her seat and sighed, already feeling weary after less than an hour of hacking battle. She was successful in corrupting and shutting down the other hacker's computer but the effort almost drained her completely. Dissatisfaction at what she considered an extremely poor performance filled her.
If this was before, she could go on for days battling other hackers and even successfully tracking down their real identities and locations at the same time. Now, however, she was unable to do any of that safely because of her difficult pregnancy.
She wished that she could've done something more substantial during this hacking battle and tracked down the opponent's identity and whereabouts. Unfortunately, she had to adjust her action plan based on her current pregnant body's condition. Her main priority was protecting her AI children from the opponent.
As a result of focusing on just this one thing, she decided to go the uncomplicated route and outright fry the other hacker's computer, deeming it unusable except for metal scraps.
Although disappointed in herself for not being able to acquire any of the opponent's personal information, at least she identified his hacker name. She knew who he was as a hacker.
He was someone whose techniques were eerily similar to her original hacking style.
Her original hacker identity in her previous life had now become a major legend in the hacking world. There were many hackers striving to be the next her.
This person was one of them.
At the possibility of facing a lot of other hackers who had adopted her original hacking style as their own as if they had indirectly taken her as their master and treated her style like a religion, she couldn't help but release a long sigh.
She felt proud, of course.
Who wouldn't be if others looked up to you, admired the skills that you worked so hard to improve every day, and wanted to emulate you as their role model?
Aside from the pride, however, she felt that it was a pity that other hackers weren't striving to be an original instead of becoming the next Fantom. Even she herself had already abandoned her previous hacker identity and embraced her new one, Drakon.
Compared to the mysteriousness of Fantom, Drakon was more of an aggressive straight shooter with a clear purpose.
Back when she was still Fantom, the underlying purpose of her working so hard to improve her hacking abilities was relieving boredom. Since living as a member of the infamous Vetrov family severely restricted her freedom in exploring the real world, she channelled her desire to be free in the cyberworld instead.
In contrast to now, she wasn't merely using her hacking skills to alleviate boredom and entertain herself but to obtain specific goals. That was the biggest difference between Fantom and Drakon—the past her and the new her as a hacker.
This was also why so many so-called experts in the hacking world didn't believe that Fantom and Drakon might be the same person no matter how similar their techniques were. They said that Drakon was too money-driven, something that never bothered the mysterious and lofty legend, Fantom.
Likewise, she never bothered caring about the opinions of these so-called expert hackers. Fantom would always have a special place in her heart. It was the hacker identity that she started with and allowed her to face off against many top hackers in the world.
But she was Drakon now.
Other hackers might treat Fantom as one of the supreme hackers in the world while Drakon was only given the status of a rising star but this proved how little they knew about Fantom.
To her, Drakon was the culmination of Fantom's skills and techniques with a more driven purpose. If Fantom's fans continued to stubbornly adopt her original hacking style without changing much of anything, then they were bound to be left behind by the times.
Fantom was now the past.
Drakon was the present and the future.
Looking at the codes on her computer screen, Iris wasn't the least bit threatened of this hacker who she and her AI children battled just now. It was like facing off against an inferior version of her past hacker self, Fantom.
Nevertheless, she didn't look down on him. After all, he was able to almost endanger her AI children. She would always act with extreme caution whenever Ketchup and Bacon were involved in something with other hackers.
If only she wasn't pregnant right now, she would've at least attempted to fish out some of this hacker's personal information. Unfortunately, her eyes were now beginning to feel heavy again.
The bedroom door opened and Jin Liwei entered while pushing a food cart. A delicious savoury aroma wafted in the room, making Iris salivate and temporarily forget about her sleepiness.
"Finished?" he asked.
She nodded. "What do you have for me?"
"Bone broth soup. Nothing too heavy since it's still the middle of the night."
Jin Liwei served her a bowl of the hot soup. Iris tasted it and groaned in contentment.
"Thanks, darling. This is delicious."
He watched her enjoying the soup. Earlier, a frantic Ketchup cried for them to get up from the bed and asked his wife for help. It was a miracle that Iris was awake when she was usually in deep sleep at this time of the night. But when she heard that their AI children were battling a tough hacker, she immediately went into action.
Since he was unable to do anything to personally help Ketchup and Bacon from their predicament, he decided to make his wife as comfortable as possible instead while she rescued their AI children. Afterwards, he went out and personally instructed the villa's chef to prepare some light but nourishing food for her. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l. c o m (remove spaces). If you're not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It's very discouraging to see thieves profiting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you! Also follow me on Instagram @arriacross]
He wasn't very familiar with the staff here in the private villa so he didn't like them entering the master suite whenever he and his wife were inside. This was why he was the one who personally delivered the soup after the chef finished preparing it. Good thing that the soup had already been simmering since yesterday. All the chef needed to do was season it and add some chopped vegetables and herbs.