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Maze 4: Virtual Deception
墨書 Inktalez
"You have entered Origin Awakening World, loading personal settings..."
There are 72 hours left until the major update of Origin Awakening World. As the Technical Director of DCT Cybersecurity Company, I have been conducting security tests on the platform for a week straight. At three in the morning, the only light in the office comes from my monitor.
"Loading complete, welcome back, Hunter_X."
I removed my VR headset and rubbed my aching temples. Scattered across my desk were several cans of energy drinks and a half-eaten pack of instant noodles. Staying up late like this isn't good for my health, but I couldn't care less while trying to uncover system vulnerabilities.
"Ding dong"—the WeChat notification broke the silence of the night.
It was from my college classmate, Li Wei. His name has been quite active on social media lately, frequently posting about his earnings: "A plot in a certain district doubled in two days" and "Another million-dollar transaction." He was among the first to enter Origin Awakening World for virtual real estate, making a fortune last year by flipping plots.
My name is Gao Fei, I'm 28 years old, and I've been in the cybersecurity field for six years. From early firewalls to today's Metaverse platforms, hacker techniques have continuously evolved. But this recent case has caught my particular attention.
"Fei Ge, are you still awake? Something big has happened..."
Li Wei's message carried a hint of panic, which was unusual for him. In my impression, this fintech mogul always seemed confident and composed.
"I'm still awake, working overtime," I replied. "What's going on?"
"My account has a problem; all my assets have been transferred away!" Li Wei's voice trembled. "The prime plot I just bought two days ago is gone too. I borrowed... invested five hundred thousand on that!"
I instantly became alert. Interesting—his near slip of the word "borrowed" revealed quite a bit of information. Recently, virtual real estate has been booming, and many people have been leveraging their investments. But that's not the key point—Origin Awakening World uses blockchain technology, meaning every transaction is traceable and theoretically cannot be tampered with. To dare to brazenly steal assets in such a system indicates that the methods involved are anything but simple.
"Have there been any unusual login alerts for the Account recently?" I switched to a professional tone.
"This is the strangest thing!" Li Wei exclaimed, flustered. "I monitor the Account transactions every day; there's no time for anyone else to log in. But I just checked the operation records, and the money was transferred three days ago. I was clearly having dinner with a client that day and even posted my location on social media!"
"Let me borrow the Account to take a look."
As I examined the Account information sent by Li Wei, my expression grew increasingly serious. Pulling up the operation logs, all data indicated that the assets were transferred out three days ago, and the IP address, login device, and operating habits matched exactly with what Li Wei typically used. Even more bizarrely, during the transfer, the Account was still engaged in normal transactions involving other Virtual Assets.
This was not a simple case of Account theft. Someone had perfectly replicated Li Wei's Digital Identity without him realizing it. As a Security Engineer, I understood what this meant—our opponent was far more dangerous than we had imagined.
"Don't rush to call the police," I interrupted Li Wei's thoughts. While I sympathized with his situation, as a professional, I knew that ordinary police might not be equipped to handle such high-tech cases. Moreover, there was something suspicious lurking behind this incident.
I opened the company's Security Incident Database and began searching for recent cases. The sound of my fingers tapping on the keyboard echoed in the empty office. Soon, several similar cases caught my attention.
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