The attic door didn't just close; it rattled on its hinges, a pathetic sound for a pathetic room. Lin Xia the real Lin Xia ignored the stinging in her cheek. Pain was just a data point, and she had a high threshold for noise.
She turned her attention back to the "antique" laptop. It was a 2019 model, sluggish and bloated with bloatware. To anyone else, it was junk. To her, it was an unlocked armory.
“Let’s see what we’re working with,” she murmured.
Her fingers didn't type; they danced. A rhythmic, aggressive staccato echoed in the small space. She didn't use a browser; she went straight into the command prompt.
> access_node: root
> bypass_firewall: local_isp_04
> status: ghost_active
In three minutes, she had piggybacked off the neighbor’s high-speed fiber line. In five, she had bypassed the Lin family’s internal server. She navigated the folders like a phantom.
Lin_Group_Financials... Lin_Mu_Social_Cloud... Madame_Lin_Private_Gallery...
"Ah, Mother Dear," Lin Xia whispered, a cold glint in her eyes. "You spend a lot of the family's 'software development' budget on illegal offshore gambling, don't you?"
She didn't steal the money. Not yet. Instead, she set a Sleeper Worm. Every time Madame Lin placed a bet, 1% would be diverted into a hidden, encrypted cryptocurrency wallet Evelyn Vance had set up years ago as a 'rainy day' fund.
A notification pinged. Balance: 5.4 BTC.
"Six figures," she noted. "Enough for a start."
[Two Hours Later - The Golden Plaza]
The Lin family expected her to show up in rags, looking like a ghost. They didn't realize that a Ghost Queen knows exactly how to manipulate the physical world's "source code": Money.
Lin Xia stepped out of a black sedan in front of the city's most exclusive boutique. She was still pale, still thin, but she held herself with the terrifying grace of a high-voltage wire.
The sales clerk looked at her oversized, moth-eaten hoodie and sneered. "Miss, the 'Clearance' section is three blocks down. This is Vogue Celeste."
Lin Xia didn't even blink. She walked to the counter and tapped her phone against the terminal.
Transaction Approved: $25,000.
The clerk’s jaw hit the floor. The terminal light turned a mocking, successful green.
"I don't need a tour," Lin Xia said, her voice like cracking ice. "I need the 'Midnight Emerald' silk gown, a professional makeup artist, and the fastest hair stylist you have. I have a banquet to crash in sixty minutes."
[The Lin Family Banquet Hall]
The atmosphere was suffocatingly opulent. Lin Zhen, the patriarch, was busy shaking hands with the board members.
"Our new AI security protocol, 'The Aegis,' will revolutionize the market," Lin Zhen boasted. "It’s unbreakable."
Next to him, Lin Mu smiled, her eyes searching the crowd. "Father, I'm worried. Sister hasn't arrived. I hope she didn't... have another episode. It would be so embarrassing if the guests saw her in that state."
"Forget her," Lin Zhen hissed. "She is a stain on this evening."
Suddenly, the massive double doors of the ballroom didn't just open they were flung wide by two startled attendants.
The music stuttered. A hush fell over the three hundred guests as if someone had pressed 'Mute' on the world.
A woman walked in.
She wore a gown of deep, shimmering emerald that looked like liquid moonlight. Her hair was swept back into a sharp, lethal ponytail, revealing a face that was no longer weak, but sculpted and fierce. Every step she took in her stilettos sounded like a countdown.
"Sorry I'm late, Father," Lin Xia said, her voice projecting to every corner of the hall without effort.
Lin Mu’s wine glass slipped from her hand, shattering on the marble. "Xia? No... that’s impossible..."
Lin Xia ignored her sister entirely. She walked straight to the center stage, where the "unbreakable" Aegis code was being projected on a massive 4K screen.
She looked at the lines of code, then looked at the lead programmer standing there. She let out a small, melodic laugh that chilled the room.
"You call this a security protocol?" Lin Xia asked, tilting her head. "I've seen more complex logic in a microwave oven."
The room gasped. Lin Zhen’s face turned a violent shade of purple. "Lin Xia! Get down from there before I—"
"Thirty seconds," Lin Xia interrupted, looking at her watch.
"Thirty seconds for what?" Lin Mu shrieked.
"Thirty seconds," Lin Xia replied, meeting the eyes of a man watching from the VIP balcony—Lu Jingshen, the Living Yama himself "until your 'unbreakable' empire becomes a public domain."
She pulled a slim, customized tablet from her clutch and swiped.
The screen behind her turned blood-red.
[SYSTEM BREACHED: WELCOME HOME, GHOST QUEEN]
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