My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy!
Chapter 353 - 234: Returning Kindness with Resentment

Chapter 353: Chapter 234: Returning Kindness with Resentment

"Hmph!"

Watching Xiao Yu pout as she walked into school, Meng Lang couldn’t help but scratch his head.

Was my joke just now not funny?

What’s wrong with a bun face? A bun face is cute!

Auntie has a bun face too...

Muttering internally, Meng Lang stepped forward.

Walking in the gentle sunlight of the early morning, with a full sense of "cherish life, stay away from stomach cancer," Meng Lang began his new day’s exercise.

Although stomach cancer had been a part of his life a long time ago and thanks to his neighbors’ sisters improving his eating habits, that risk might no longer exist.

After dozens of cycles, he had never been troubled by stomach cancer again.

But maybe it was a latent survival instinct driving him, or perhaps the unwilling memories of his "brothers" haunting him...

If he didn’t exercise one day, he always worried that a fate like "Miserable Life" might return.

After all, having died from stomach cancer three times, the lesson was profound, comrades!

The body is the fundamental platform for all struggles!

Moreover, his brothers were charging forward, one after the other.

If he couldn’t even do a simple logistical job like checking in daily to maintain health, telling himself it’s okay to be lazy...

On a minor scale, that’s "deceiving oneself," but on a major scale, it’s "can share riches together but cannot face adversity together."

This is extremely detrimental to the company’s morale and teamwork!

To prevent his brothers from complaining, to maintain world peace, he could only commit to the motto "Life is in motion" fully!

"Huff~ Huff~"

kilometers, 3 kilometers, 5 kilometers...

Sometimes people are like this, suffering immensely in the first week of persistence.

But almost a month later, Meng Lang had gradually accustomed himself to the routine of getting up early every morning and jogging for half an hour.

Often, the beginning of a habit stems from helplessness.

Like doctors, programmers, online writers... these workers enjoying the "007 blessings" can persist, not because they have extraordinary willpower.

It’s just that we’ve become numb in lives, long forgetting our original selves...

Relentlessly pursuing wealth, status, and even a long life, easily changing our biological clocks...

"Huff~ Huff~"

Half an hour later, Meng Lang adjusted his breathing and slowly walked out of the park.

"Celebrating 26 days away from stomach cancer!"

Meng Lang mentally checked off for himself, then his phone rang.

Looking at it, the caller ID showed Wang Zhao Ping.

"Hm?"

He just cracked a big case last night, shouldn’t that guy be busy wrapping up evidence collection? Why is he calling me at this time?

Could it be he’s preparing to give me a bonus?

"Hello?" he answered the phone.

"Brother Meng, I hope I didn’t disturb your rest so early?" Wang Zhao Ping’s voice seemed a bit hoarse on the other end.

"No, what’s the matter?"

"Yes! There’s indeed something..."

From Wang Zhao Ping’s slightly exhausted voice, hesitating to speak, Meng Lang could tell that he was not calling to share something like a bonus.

"Could it be about last night’s case?"

"This... It is embarrassing to say, Brother Meng. Even after all you’ve done, we, the police, still have to trouble you..."

Wang Zhao Ping’s tone seemed very apologetic.

Meng Lang was puzzled.

"Captain Wang, you’ve caught the person, found the artifacts, and caught them red-handed; how can there be problems with the case still?"

"This... mostly, of course, the case has no problems, but the trouble is with the mastermind behind the scenes, the captain of the ’Carnival,’ Steve.

This man is too cautious!

All the dirty work was done by his second mate, including contacting those two smugglers, organizing the artifact auction.

At least outwardly, he has not left any criminal evidence.

Plus, the ship’s management clearly wants to protect their captain, refusing to cooperate with the testimony.

What’s more troubling is that the second mate seems to have been heavily bribed, voluntarily admitting to the crime, taking all the responsibility, and stubbornly refusing to confess the mastermind.

We’ve investigated this person’s background; he’s just a Brit from Xiangjiang who recently immigrated.

He has neither the connections nor the funds to orchestrate such a massive transnational artifact transaction, at most he’s just a lackey.

But due to lack of evidence, although we know he’s a scapegoat, we’re unfortunately unable to convict Steve.

If we only catch a scapegoat this time and let the real culprit go free, that would be quite a slap in the face for our police force!"

"This..."

Meng Lang could understand, but he was even more confused.

"No evidence? Okay, even if Steve did not personally participate in the smuggling and trading, couldn’t you just check his and the second mate’s phones? There must be communication records, financial transactions, or a trading list, right?

Did they really just use one-on-one verbal communication?"

If that’s really the case, then I would seriously start suspecting they belong to the Night Demon Clan!

"Sigh!" But Wang Zhao Ping sighed.

"The problem is right here; we did confiscate their phones, but... they were using the new Apple X..."

"What?" Meng Lang was momentarily taken aback.

Using Apple X? What’s wrong with using Apple X?

Can using Apple X to commit crimes absolve you of responsibility?

Seeing Meng Lang puzzled, Wang Zhao Ping explained with some helplessness.

"This Apple X, our city-level criminal investigation agency doesn’t have the technical ability to forcibly unlock it..."

After Wang Zhao Ping rattled off his explanation, Meng Lang finally understood.

It turned out that Apple X had recently been released and not only were their city-level criminal investigators unable to forcibly break in, even governments around the world found it challenging to forcibly crack the data within.

This brings up the "customer privacy protection policy" that Apple X has always strongly promoted.

In December 2015, three shooters in San Bernardino, Southern California, across the ocean caused 14 deaths and 21 injuries.

But during the investigation, Apple refused to unlock the shooters’ iPhone 5C for the FBI, claiming they didn’t keep a back door either.

Of course, Apple wouldn’t be foolish enough to confront the FBI directly.

What they said was, "We have the utmost respect for law enforcement agencies; our security mechanism is not designed to make their work harder."

Translated, that means, "It’s not personal; anyone infringing on our users’ privacy, sorry but we cut all of them off."

And the outcome of this case was that the Justice Department, across the ocean, ruled it was legal for Apple to refuse based on "protecting citizens’ privacy rights."

In the end, the FBI helplessly declared they spent 1.3 million dollars to have a third party unlock the phone, and only then did the matter conclude.

It should be noted that this unlock is different from the so-called hacks in Huaxiang North.

Huaxiang North involves hardware hacks, disassembling phone parts to sell as refurbished devices, and after flashing, files inside are wiped clean, leaving no data retrievable.

But the third-party company used software hacking, leaving the software and files intact.

I’m not discussing the tug-of-war and the real truth behind this case yet, but the final outcome was...

The Justice Department across the ocean praised its own Western legal system, the FBI successfully secured additional funds, and Apple indeed launched a world-class advertisement.

All three parties were pretty much winning big!

From then on, "What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone," became an important selling point for the iPhone.

Regardless of the truth of the matter, we must acknowledge that the technology of Apple phones is indeed top-notch.

Over the next few years, every time Apple updated their new devices and operating systems, they enhanced their security. Meanwhile, major agencies also looked for various vulnerabilities, and soon after, Apple would patch these vulnerabilities up...

This "cat and mouse" game has been escalating in a spiraling struggle!

And then, this newly launched Apple X, was just encountered by Wang Zhao Ping...

"If city-level criminal investigation can’t handle it, look for provincial level; if provincial can’t handle it, go to the national level!" Meng Lang didn’t understand.

"Ah! Even if the national level can hack it, it still takes time!" Wang Zhao Ping sighed helplessly.

One reason the iPhone can’t be cracked by conventional decryption devices is, the more errors, the longer the interval between two password entries becomes.

This is really frustrating.

"Are you guys in a hurry?"

When it comes to solving cases, let’s not talk about months; there are plenty that take decades, right?

"The problem is, this case is very sensitive, and all parties are applying pressure. If we can’t quickly find concrete evidence, we can’t keep holding onto Steve.

Once he is bailed out and returns to his country, it will be even harder to find evidence.

Well, that is indeed problematic.

"But even so, what do you need me for?" Meng Lang was somewhat baffled.

It’s not like you already know I’m unbeatable in cyber warfare?

"Well... haha! Brother Meng, stop pretending. If you knew beforehand that Steve was the mastermind, how could you possibly not have his criminal evidence?"

"Uh..."

Meng Lang was dumbfounded. So that’s what you think?

But knowing someone is the mastermind and having their criminal evidence... there’s no necessary connection between the two!

Knowing he is the mastermind, I just need to listen to your account; to get criminal evidence, you need to do your part!

Search your heart! Did you do your part in the last episode? Did you?!

Didn’t he just run back to his country?

In the end, you even forced me to go on a rampage!

Oh, my Buddha! Such a sin!

But, speaking of which, just one step away from nailing this Steve...

Forget Wang Zhao Ping, even I can’t settle easily!

Let it be, help others to the utmost, and deliver Buddha to the West.

Moreover, among those artifacts, there’s one thing I really care about...

"Wait, I’m coming over now!"

...

Half an hour later, Meng Lang appeared in the police station reception room.

"Bang!" "Here!"

Qin Xiaoru handed Meng Lang a cup of water.

Hmph! Caught you, it was this guy who called Captain Wang yesterday. And you ruined my debut!

She stared at Meng Lang with some dissatisfaction.

Meng Lang looked up at her puzzled.

You’re spilling it, hey!

Didn’t you call me Mr. Meng quite warmly the last time we met?

Where did I offend you?

Strictly speaking, I saved your life...

Isn’t it a bit ungrateful to harbor a grudge like this?