But tonight was different.
Wei opened the burner account. There it was: a six-digit code. But beneath it, another email, sent just ten minutes ago. The subject line read: "We know who you are, Lin Wei." The body contained a single photo—a grainy image of him leaving his apartment building that very morning.
With a swift motion, Wei yanked the ethernet cable from his laptop. The screen went dark, then flickered back to the login page—except now, it showed a countdown timer.
His heart rate climbed. He pulled a small USB drive from his jacket—the physical key he’d set up as a second factor. Sliding it into the port, he heard the faint click of a successful connection.
