Chapter 172 Ethan Counter-Hacks Daniel's Computer
In the CEO's office, Jasmine walked in and immediately noticed a cup of hot milk on the desk.
"Liam, is this for me?" Jasmine asked, surprised.
"Yeah." Liam nodded, confirming it was indeed for her.
Jasmine thanked him with a smile.
"Ah, don't mention it. I lost a bet and now I have to be your errand boy for three months," Liam said dismissively, intentionally omitting that the order was actually from Ethan.
He did the work, so he'd take the credit too.
"You really shouldn't worry about it," Jasmine quickly replied in a hushed voice. "Mr. Ethan will forget about it in a few days."
"I'm not deaf," Ethan chimed in, seated at his desk, tapping the surface to remind her of his presence.
Jasmine giggled and took a sip of the milk – sweet, probably with just a touch of sugar, not too much, just perfect.
"Mr. Ethan asked me to buy that slightly sweetened milk, said you might like it," Liam finally admitted under Ethan's glowering gaze.
Jasmine felt pleasantly flattered and whispered a "thank you" to Ethan.
"I'm heading to a meeting. Upload the Desert Project content to my computer – encrypt the files," Ethan reminded her.
Jasmine hesitated for a moment, noticing that Ethan seemed to trust her a lot. However, this type of task was typically reserved for a secretary.
Ethan hadn’t made a move on Vittoria yet, but he had slowly begun to sideline her.
Jasmine knew that once she was capable of temporarily taking over the work from Vittoria’s hands, it would be Ethan’s moment to strike at her.
By now, Vittoria must have sensed something was amiss. Vittoria was also a person Jasmine had to watch cautiously.
“Mr. Ethan?” Jasmine sat at Ethan’s computer desk and glanced at the booted-up computer.
Ethan had just reached the door when he looked back. “Yes?”
“The computer…” Jasmine sounded a bit uncertain, her words trailing off.
When she was incarcerated, computer systems weren't upgrading so rapidly. However, during her time in prison, she had to learn computer maintenance, and Jasmine, naturally intelligent, grasped computer programming and such applications easily.
She wasn't a professional herself, but one of the prison inmates who bullied her was—a hacker who ended up behind bars for illegally breaking into a financial system, causing the company a substantial loss. Initially, this inmate joined in on bullying Jasmine, but after Jasmine had spoken up for her, their relationship improved, and she taught Jasmine a lot.
“You don’t know how to use it?” Ethan asked, thinking Jasmine couldn’t manage his computer and came back to instruct her.
“No, it’s not that.” Jasmine shook her head. Just moments ago, she had pressed the key combination CTRL + ALT + DEL to bring up the Task Manager, skillfully checking for any suspicious processes.
Ethan stood next to Jasmine, surprised, and smiled.
“Mr. Ethan, this…” Jasmine pointed to a process with an odd name. “Have you opened any suspicious programs recently?” She was implying that someone might have hacked Ethan’s computer.
Ethan’s expression darkened for a moment, and he turned to Liam, instructing, "Call Mitchell over." Mitchell was a hacking expert, and Ethan wanted his expertise in the matter.
Jasmine opened the system logs and indeed discovered signs of logins not made by Ethan himself, as well as other unauthorized access.
“Mr. Ethan, we need to check for any lost important files urgently,” Jasmine said, panicked. “Maybe we should call the police.”
“No rush, let’s play along with them,” Ethan said, checking the time. "Liam, inform everyone that the meeting is postponed until the afternoon. Say that I need the morning to finalize the timeline for the desert project."
Liam nodded in acknowledgment.
Clearly, Ethan already had an idea of who it might be.
“Input the project plan,” Ethan instructed Jasmine to enter the final draft of the plan into the computer.
Jasmine felt fearful. “Mr. Ethan, this is too risky.”
"It's okay, we have a backup plan," Ethan said, tousling Jasmine's hair gently.
Witnessing her sharp vigilance was heartbreaking for Ethan. A pampered heiress would never possess such keen alertness. Ethan knew Jasmine had always been guarded, never fully opening up to anyone.
Jasmine bit the corner of her lip, feeling heat rise to her cheeks as she focused intently on inputting data into the system.
In twenty minutes, Mitchell stormed into the office disguised as a delivery guy, making his way straight to the workspace.
"Hey, when did we get this pretty little assistant?" Mitchell dropped the food delivery aside and nudged Ethan playfully.
"Cut it out, don't scare her," Ethan frowned, warning Mitchell.
Jasmine watched Mitchell nervously, instinctively keeping her distance from this somewhat odd-looking guy.
Realization hit Mitchell; this must be Ethan's hidden treasure. "Hey, sister-in-law, I'm Mitchell."
Jasmine stuttered in response, "Ah, uh?"
She was taken aback by Mitchell addressing her as sister-in-law. Her thing with Ethan was supposed to be a secret.
"I told you not to frighten her," Ethan said with a frown of displeasure.
Mitchell nodded. "Figured out who the other party is?"
"The most important thing lately is the desert project. No one else but Daniel," Ethan said in a low tone.
"All right, let's whip up a topic he'll bite on, create a new file," Mitchell suggested, his eyebrow raised as he plugged his USB into the computer. "If we're going to reel in the big fish, we need to hack his computer without him noticing."
"I have no idea what he's interested in," Ethan scowled, visibly irritated.
"Just...just use my name in the file..." Jasmine said, stuttering and casting a guilty glance at Ethan. "Xu, Jasmine."
Mitchell paused, confused. "Huh?" Mitchell turned around to see that Ethan's expression had darkened considerably.
"I'll...I'll type it." Jasmine moved away from Mitchell and typed the name "Jasmine" into the document title before uploading a photo ID.
Mitchell looked back at Ethan.
Seeing that Ethan remained silent, Mitchell whispered, "You think this will work, sister-in-law?"
Jasmine nodded emphatically. "It will, it will work."
She knew Daniel well enough; the sight of a file about her on Ethan's computer would surely tempt him to take a look. And inevitably, it did. No sooner had the file been edited, it was downloaded on the other end.
There was a virus in that file, one that could infiltrate the opponent's computer.
"Ha, impressive!" Mitchell slapped his desk with satisfaction. "Done."
Excited, Mitchell turned to Ethan, expecting a few compliments but was met with Ethan's dark expression. It was so dark it looked like he could chew someone out.
"What's with the laughing? Just make sure to keep a close eye on him," Ethan snapped with a scowl.
Mitchell, confused, glanced between Ethan and Liam.
"Mr. Ethan has been a bit moody lately. Just get use to it, all's good," Liam murmured under his breath.
Jasmine kept her head down, not daring to make a noise.
"Come with me," Ethan beckoned Jasmine, the dark expression still evident on his face.
Liam grew wary; with Ethan looking like he was ready to tear someone apart, calling Jasmine out, Liam wondered if Ethan was planning to reprimand her.
"Look, Mr. Ethan, this isn't Jasmine's fault. She would never do such a thing. Maybe we should investigate further?" Liam suggested, thinking Ethan suspected that Jasmine had leaked information and implanted a virus in his computer, giving a hacker an opportunity.
"Step aside," Ethan responded dismissively, too agitated to deal with Liam.
"Ethan! Hurry up, Daniel opened an encrypted file." Just as Ethan was about to take Jasmine for a "lesson" in the back, he heard Mitchell's shout.
"What's so interesting about Daniel's encrypted files?" Ethan said with a stone face, glancing at the computer screen.
But upon looking, Ethan's expression grew even darker, now it wasn't just about losing his temper.
It was murderous.
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