Chapter 5
1094words
These devices, which she had personally selected and meticulously configured, had now become the hunting ground for her trap. With less than twenty hours until Chloe's performance at the knight's bar, she needed to obtain concrete evidence tonight.
She opened the smart home management backend, her fingers dancing swiftly across the keyboard. First, she created a security scene named "Night Energy Saving Mode," set to automatically activate at 11 PM, elevating the permissions of non-essential devices to the highest level.
Next, she modified the voice recognition protocol so that any nighttime operations of the security system would trigger a special verification process.
For the most crucial step, she planted false records in the system log, suggesting the existence of a security vulnerability that required changing the core password.
After completing all this, it was only eight o'clock in the evening. There were still three hours until the trap would activate.
Ella was restless. She tried to read, but found the words blurring before her eyes; she tried watching TV, but couldn't focus at all. She checked the time every ten minutes, anxiety wrapping around her like vines.
"What if she doesn't come tonight?" this thought surfaced in her mind for the first time, "Maybe they've already noticed something? Or perhaps David has warned her not to make any rash moves recently?"
The doubt almost made her abandon the plan. But thinking about that ASMR video, about the familiar silhouette in the reflection of the glass, her eyes regained their determination.
During dinner, she deliberately complained to David about the unstable system, mentioning the security alarm. David's steak-cutting motion noticeably paused, before he immediately put on an overly concerned expression.
"Sounds serious." He put down his knife and fork, "Why don't we reset the entire system over the weekend? I can take time off to help you. These smart devices are always causing problems, might be better to switch to something simpler."
Ella watched him perform, noticing that he unconsciously rubbed his wedding ring—a nervous habit of his. "Reset? That's too much trouble. I'll just have the company's security team check remotely first."
David's mouth twitched slightly: "No need to trouble others, right? This kind of family matter......"
"There's no small matter in cybersecurity." Ella smiled as she interrupted him, "Especially since it seems like hackers have really been targeting our home lately."
At 10:50 PM, Ella returned to the bedroom early, leaving David alone in the living room. Lying on the bed, her phone screen displayed the real-time monitoring interface, her heartbeat distinctly clear in the silence.
At 11:00 PM, the system entered "Night Energy-Saving Mode" right on schedule. Time ticked by second by second, with the interface remaining quiet.
At 11:27 PM, there was still no activity. Ella began to doubt her judgment; perhaps the person really wouldn't take the bait.
Just as she was about to give up, a red alert suddenly popped up on the monitoring interface: Voice command attempt to operate the security system detected.
Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated. The monitor showed that the command came from the living room smart hub, with the voice pattern matching "Guest."
The command was: "Xiao Zhi, disable the motion detection function of the security cameras."
The system responded according to preset protocols: "To ensure security, this operation requires verification of administrative privileges. Please enter the six-digit security code."
After a brief silence, that female voice sounded again, with obvious impatience: "The security code is 482619."
Ella almost let out a cold laugh. This was exactly one of the password combinations David frequently used. The system had completely recorded the voice verification process and the password entered.
After the operation failed, the system log showed that the voice pattern attempted to query the logs and network status, then suddenly stopped. In the last record, the smart light in the living room abnormally turned on and off, as if venting frustration.
Ella immediately locked all permissions remotely and saved the complete operation logs. The chain of evidence was now ironclad.
At breakfast the next morning, David appeared restless. "Did the system malfunction again last night? I think I heard an alarm."
"It's nothing," Ella said dismissively. "Just an ignorant 'guest' trying to perform unauthorized operations, but the system blocked it."
"Guest? What guest?" His coffee cup paused in midair.
"Exactly what it sounds like," Ella looked directly at him. "What's interesting is that she somehow knows our family's security password. This voice signature has accessed our system 17 times in the past two months, staying for up to 6 hours at a time."
David's face instantly turned pale: "It might be a coincidence..."
"There are no coincidences in cybersecurity," Ella picked up her briefcase. "Only evidence. I suggest you change all passwords, after all... we don't know what else this 'guest' might know."
On her way to the office, she sent the records to Sophia. "This could go straight to court!" Sophia exclaimed over the phone.
"Keep collecting evidence," Ella said calmly. "I want to leave her without any chance to defend herself."
At noon, the system notified her that Chloe had posted an update: "Sometimes the safest places are actually the most dangerous #LifePhilosophy". The attached photo was a blurry picture of a smart device, with her living room in the background.
Ella saved the screenshot. Let them continue to show off; each display was just adding evidence for the future judgment.
While organizing the evidence that night, she noticed that voice pattern was attempting to access her work file sharing area. This discovery made her frown—Chloe's ambition extended beyond emotional betrayal.
She immediately strengthened all work security settings, then created a new bait folder. After naming it "Nebula Project Core Architecture," she took a deep breath and typed in the access password that would detonate everything.
Now, the trap had been fully upgraded. She only needed to wait for the greedy prey to walk into the net.
When checking the system logs before bed, everything appeared normal. But Ella knew this was just the calm before the storm. That voice would certainly appear again, because she had already tasted the sweetness of crossing boundaries.
Walking into the guest room, she took one last look at her phone. All protections were enabled, and the monitoring system was running normally.
Closing her eyes in the darkness, she could clearly feel it: this war had entered a new phase, and she was ready to face any challenge.
