Chapter 171 Watch Me!
"That's… hard to believe," Xue Ning said. She had thought it was Jingwei getting someone to make a customized GPS because he could, but the thought that he did this by himself was incredible!
"Can you demonstrate something for us?" Wei Yan asked eagerly.
"That depends, what do you want to see?" Jingwei asked, as though he was an artist taking commissions.
"Can you hack into the Pentagon? The one in the United States, like all those hackers in the movies?" Wei Yan asked, eyes flashing with excitement. If Mr Sun could do it, he would truly be an incredible man!
"That's a crime," Ming Guang sternly interrupted, his eyebrow twitching at the thought of courting more trouble. "We are trying to protect Young Master Sun, not give him more reason to have him arrested by another country's government."
Xue Ning nodded in fervent agreement. "If you end up thrown in some dingy jail cell in America, I'll just take over this house and leave you to rot there. Don't expect me to bust you out. I don't know any English to even fly there."
Jingwei laughed adoringly. "I feel your love, I really do. In my defence, if I did end up in some dingy cell, you can inherit all my houses - but it won't be because I hacked into the Pentagon."
All three of them stared at him in judgemental silence. Jingwei sure spoke like someone who did a great number of things that could land him in jail, and he spoke it with such confidence.
"Guys, you should be asking me why won't I end up in some dingy cell!" Jingwei exclaimed, feeling slightly put-out. None of his companions would make it as an interviewer.
"Okay, I'll bite," Xue Ning said with a tinge of exasperated fondness, "why won't you be left to rot in some dingy cell? Is it because your family will bail you out?"
"Of course not. Not that I love to brag about my skills -" Jingwei began smugly while Xue Ning snorted at the blatant lies that spouted out of his mouth, "but I already did that as teen, and honestly, there's not much kick."
"Ha. Yeah right," Xue Ning said, rolling her eyes. This had to be one of Jingwei's ridiculous brags. She looked into Jingwei's eyes, expecting his eyes to glint with mischief.
But no, while his eyes were warm as he looked at her, they were also surprisingly serious. He had to be a very good actor, or he was actually a hacker like those she saw in blockbuster movies.
She really hoped he was joking. She'd rather he become an A-list actor than an A-list hacker any day!
"Oh my god, are you sure you're not lying?" Xue Ning exclaimed, still grappling with the sense of perpetual disbelief.
"Is this because Zhou Yu called you useless just now and now you feel the pressing need to prove that you're capable? Because if that's the case, you don't have to. I think you're fine even without strange hacking abilities."
"But I'm not lying!" Jingwei protested hotly, even as his heart warmed at her words. Xue Ning liked him even when she thought he was useless! "I swear, I'm telling the truth!"
Wei Yan's mouth also fell open at that admission. "Okay… then what can you do that is proof of your hacking skills but isn't criminal? Like hacking the Pentagon. Wait - are there any non-criminal hacking activities?" Wei Yan asked in confusion.
"How about I hack into someone else's gaming account?" Jingwei offered. "I used to do this all the time when I was in middle school. It was so easy to just guess their passwords and clean out their inventory when they weren't logged in. Also I used to be able to duplicate my items and made those poor suckers believe I could do the same for them. They'd just give me everything!" Jingwei even bragged a bit at the end, hoping to impress Xue Ning."
"You can do that?" Wei Yan exclaimed excitedly, leaning closer to Jingwei.
"Wow, what a scumbag," was Xue Ning's unimpressed reply. "So will you get caught?"
"I don't believe so," Jingwei said confidently. "My dearest Xue Ning, I'm actually quite good at this!"
"I'll believe it when I see it," Xue Ning said doubtfully, her eyebrows furrowing in suspicion. "Forgive me for not having any confidence in you, seeing that I didn't even know that you had this skill five minutes ago. Are you sure you aren't scamming me? I'll forgive you for it if you come clean now."
"Ye of little faith. Prepared to be awed by my abilities!" Jingwei declared, rolling up his sleeves as he started up his laptop. The three of them stood behind him, watching carefully so as to not miss a single moment.
"Did you guys play this too?" Jingwei asked as the familiar Maplestory logo appeared.
Xue Ning nodded with a scowl. "Yeah I did. Then I stopped, because some fucker with an obnoxiously long username cheated me of my cashed items and cleaned out my inventory. I still remember his stupid shining demon lord special effect. If I ever find out who that player is, he's dead!"
Xue Ning then paused and stared at Jingwei suspiciously.
Was he the fucker responsible?
"Yikes, well, that poor guy will get what he deserves," Jingwei said consolingly as the game music began to play, inspiring nostalgia in them both.
Jingwei easily logged into his old account, and proudly showed off his main character. It was ridiculously overpowered and it was equipped from head to toe with the latest equipment from a decade ago. There was even a special effect in the background.
A stupid demon lord shining background, to be exact.
It surrounded an equally obnoxious - and equally memorable name, and all of a sudden Xue Ning was transported 13 years ago where she first had the 'joy' of interacting with this fucker who insulted her lack of cash and then scammed her of her inventory.
But maybe this wasn't the same character. Maybe Xue Ning's memory was spotty.
So she asked. "Are you sure you're not just bragging about your paid items? Where is the hacking I'm supposed to see?"
Jingwei smirked. "Just wait and see!"