Chapter 36: A Small Appetizer (2/2)

After dynamically tracking both the “Stone Age” game client and the “Xiaoqiang” hack, Zhao Qingfeng performed a static analysis using the RDK toolkit.

An hour later,

He had completed the reverse engineering of the encrypted data exchange between the hack and the client, a task that would normally take others days or even months.

With another half-hour,

He had fully disassembled and deciphered “Xiaoqiang Pet Elf,” with each line of cracked code displayed on his monitor.

“Garbage…”

This was Zhao Qingfeng’s first impression upon seeing the code.

It was a mess, leaving him speechless.

In some places, there were even no comments, clearly a ‘subpar product’ made by several programmers over time.

Zhao Qingfeng was obsessive about neat and clean code.

While contemplating, he began to modify the code. After removing the blocking verification code and spending another two hours, he finally created a simplified, optimized, and cracked new version of “Xiaoqiang Pet Elf,” which he named “Mingyue Hack Free Version.”

He initially thought of calling it “Qingfeng,” but it was a homophone of his name. He didn’t want Liu Zhiqiang to guess who it was, so he simply chose “Mingyue.”

After all, the moonlit nights of his hometown were so beautiful, and he had just imagined a lovely scene walking under the moonlight with Shen Lingyao, so he named it accordingly.

Snapping out of his brief reverie, he opened various forums and websites.

This included popular 2001 forums like Gamer’s Home, Tianya, 52PK, and more. He uploaded the cracked hack to these forums, along with a description stating that “Mingyue Hack” inherited all functions of “Xiaoqiang Pet Elf.” Besides improving response speed, its most important feature was that it was completely free.

And in the future,

“Mingyue Hack” would emerge in other gaming areas, hoping for continued support from netizens.

He specifically noted that this free release of “Mingyue Hack” might provoke dissatisfaction from other hack developers, so users should distinguish between the original and fake versions to avoid malware and viruses disguised under its name.

By the time he finished, it was past 4 AM.

Zhao Qingfeng yawned and stretched, wondering what Liu Zhiqiang’s company’s reaction would be upon discovering their hack had been cracked.

But this was just an appetizer; the main course was yet to come.

He tidied up briefly, erased his tracks, and hurried home to sleep.

An hour later, the event fermented.

Messages began to pop up one after another on various forums.

“Who developed this new hack? I just downloaded it, and it really has the same functions as ‘Xiaoqiang Hack,’ and it runs even smoother.”

“Mingyue free version, what a benevolent act!”

“My ‘Xiaoqiang Hack’ is about to expire, and now I don’t need to buy a monthly pass!”

“Brothers, the spirit of the internet is about sharing. We can share adult sites, technology, and of course, hacks. Spread the word!”

The speed of internet spread was terrifying.

Zhao Qingfeng knew this well and slept soundly.

Huu…

Huu…

Two hours later, just as dawn broke,

Zhao Qingfeng was still asleep when Shen Kuo and Aunt Ding brought him some incredibly good news.

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