Billionaire Assassin

Chapter 10: Poison Mushroom and Secret Heart

Casey Owen takes Aurora Ward to a terrace filled with wind and plants. He smiled stupidly.

“I like it here the most. No noise, no fuss. By the way, Aurora Ward, do you think hackers like us are good or bad?" Casey Owen asked Aurora Ward as she stared aimlessly at nothing.

Casey Owen ran his fingers over the ten o'clock flower pots blowing in the wind.

“Like me, right? A gray hat hacker was convoked here.” Aurora Ward sighed and looked into the distance. Casey Owen recognized Aurora Ward's sad face and burst into laughter.

Aurora Ward looked at him in surprise. Casey Owen said. “You used to be a black hat hacker. It's still like that sometimes. I just like some part-time jobs for pocket money.”

"Really?" Aurora Ward's eyes widened. She felt pretty surprised by Casey Owen's statement.

Aurora Ward couldn't imagine the image of Casey Owen with the appearance of a mysterious but extremely dangerous black hat hacker.

“Life is hard, but we are easy, right?” Casey looked at Aurora Ward.

“Are you the Poison Mushroom?” Aurora Ward was horrified to realize that his words were the typical slogan of a significant monument in the world hacker village.

"It's been a long time since I heard this name Poison Mushroom." Casey Owen laughed, lit a cigarette, and smoked it rapidly.

“What happened that year?” Aurora Ward immediately looked at Casey Owen and asked curiously.

Casey Owen blew silver smoke into the air, saying quietly, “To make it easier to imagine, I'll tell you. I have created an online game with a pre-installed Trojan. It's hidden software that records keystrokes to get private information about players and uses it to steal money from their bank accounts."

Aurora Ward tilted her head to look at the puffs of smoke that lightly covered the leaves. She said solemnly: “But what have you done to earn such a huge amount? Up to a million US dollars.”

Casey Owen raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, man! Aren't you a Millionaire?" Aurora Ward laughed.

"Millionaire? What about you? What is your nickname?" Casey Owen laughed, too, then looked at Aurora Ward.

“My nickname is Secret Heart.” Aurora Ward took a deep breath and said.

Casey Owen dropped his cigarette on the floor. He gasped in surprise: “Secret Heart. No wonder! It was you who attacked Layden and Zaner, right?"

Aurora Ward was a little shy at Casey Owen's endless flattery. Aurora Ward said softly, trying to make her story a commonplace piece in the local dailies: “But what a pity, isn't it? Secret Heart is a gray hat, not a white hat.”

Casey Owen waved his hand. He picked up a cigarette, flicked it a few times, and smoked again: “Don't care what people say about you. But what led you to this path?”

Aurora Ward dreamily recounts her own story to Casey Owen. She rarely opens her heart, but Casey Owen gives her a warm feeling: “I've loved learning to the program since I was a kid. Because I am an orphan, I study computers, so I don't have to participate in other activities with my friends. In the end, it seems that the microchips have been ingrained in my blood. And the algorithms have become solid neural connections in my brain. At first, I also thought that if I wanted to fight hackers, the best thing would be to turn myself into a hacker. But ironically, I'm a hacker."

Casey Owen laughed bitterly: "Life won't be what we expect."

Casey Owen showed her phone to Aurora Ward. On the screen are articles about hackers with unfriendly and cheerful looks.

“It seems that in everyone's eyes, are we just such terrible humans? Everyone's eyes on us are full of prejudice, aren't they?" Aurora smiled sadly at Casey Owen. She watched the thin smoke lingering on the edge of his mustache, looking strange.

“This is real life. You have to bear it!" Casey Owen smiled idly, reaching out and grabbing a few small clumps of smoke that were hesitantly before his eyes. Aurora Ward found what Casey Owen said to be very accurate.

Casey Owen laughed at Aurora Ward's expression. He said jokingly: “At the moment, hackers have sprouted like mushrooms after the rain. What's left of land for Poison Mushrooms like you to live in?"

Aurora Ward looked at him mysteriously. She glanced at Casey Owen.

Casey Owen hugged his stomach and laughed. Aurora Ward seemed awkward at Casey Owen's unrelenting laughter, and she looked at him for a long time shyly. Only when Teddie Berry appeared to signal the two to return to the conference room did Casey Owen silence.

Teddie Berry spoke first. Rosie Hart continued Teddie Berry. She sternly turned her gaze to Casey Owen when he received a shake of his head at the question, 'did you instruct Aurora Ward?'.

Rosie Hart growled harshly.

“Aurora Ward, how do you think the real world of cybercrime differs from what we imagine?” Teddie Berry looked at Aurora Ward.

Aurora Ward responded to Teddie Berry's words in a very assertive voice: "I think it's a closed world but very open. And of course, first of all, anonymity is a must for tech criminals.”

Teddie Berry added. He swung his arms and danced with sincerity, different from his everyday expression in the guise of being the Convenience Store Manager Aurora Ward had known. He said: “Yes, but not enough. Each underworld has its characteristics.”

Rosie Hart followed Teddie Berry's response with a series of images that appeared on the screen. “In the North American market, the Hacker world here will display everything as a menu and have a price list. You can choose anything from forbidden items to lethal weapons, all in the Dark Web.”

Aurora Ward is no stranger to these things, but the deep web has always been one of the limits she has set to avoid getting involved in the troubles it brings.

Rosie Hart continued to tell Aurora Ward to grasp more basic features. She spoke very clearly with the picture evidence. Casey Owen interrupted. He held up a statistics table of the number of deep web visits per day for Aurora Ward to see. She felt stunned by the number. Teddie Berry also added. Rosie Hart detailed analysis for Aurora Ward to see each metric appearing on the screen.

Teddie Berry looked at Aurora Ward with a bit of shyness when she had to project a series of web pages with highly unpleasant content on the screen. Teddie Berry also continued to talk to Aurora Ward when she found her extremely focused. He was a little reassured, so he gently explained.

Aurora Ward smiled at Rosie Hart and the others: “Indeed, the film can only reflect a relatively small angle of these stories. But what you're saying, I've completely known for a long time. But what I want to ask is, what does its purpose do with me?”

“This time, after you said it was related to Thunder Electronics Corporation, Teddie Berry and I found other information. That corporation is also involved with major Crime Corporations in the US, Germany, France, Japan, West Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa. This is an international and not trivial story. Do you think about how many other people can get the information I know from you?" Rosie looked at Aurora slowly. Rosie's words made Aurora suddenly panic.

Aurora began to remember about the dark web, one of the courses she had to tinker with during her self-study. A series of events quickly returned to Aurora's brain.

Rosie Hart smiled as she looked at Aurora Ward's changing face: "That's why the CIA's International Cybersecurity Organization was created to deal with 'intense conflicts' or 'unforeseen fluctuations' online has the potential to affect real life negatively. First of all, make me disappear completely from the web and the deep web.”

“So you became a member of the International Cybersecurity Organization just because you stole money from Thunder Electronics Corporation?” Aurora Ward giggled at Rosie Hart.

“And because of your talent. You are the first and only person to access that Thunder Electronics Corporation intranet successfully.” Rosie Hart's face turned serious, causing the smile on Aurora Ward's lips to wither.

Teddie Berry looked at Aurora Ward with a solemn expression. He spoke with determination.

"I see you're overdoing it." Aurora Ward raised an eyebrow at Casey Owen.

Casey Owen frowned, expressing disapproval: "Not at all!"

“Why do we need so much equipment?” Aurora Ward looked at Casey Owen curiously.

Casey Owen looked into Aurora Ward's gaze, and he started rambling. Casey Owen glanced at Aurora Ward. His gaze was like, 'newbie, you don't understand what I'm saying,' and immediately, Aurora Ward smirked at Casey Owen.

She explained everything thoroughly for him to understand. Casey Owen was very impressed with Aurora Ward's answer. He nodded for a long time and then looked at her. Casey Owen happily tapped Aurora Ward on the shoulder. He felt delighted when he heard Aurora Ward talk.

Casey smiled. He lit a cigarette: "Then Secret Heart, tell me, the dangers you know. Saying it is grandiose is all the tricks of the people in our profession. Who knows what will happen between our brothers and sisters in the future?"

Aurora does not hesitate to draw an incredibly monumental perspective of everything around her.

“A Secret Heart signature style, huh? I didn't expect you to have so many tricks. But they're very classic and basic, aren't they?" Casey looked into Aurora Ward's eyes.