Born Into Villain's Family: I Have a 200\% Rebate System-Chapter 203: Cyber Defense

"Uh! Thank god the photos are still there. As long as I keep them, I can continue to blackmail the girls!" Joker muttered with a creepy smile, his eyes shone with malice.

His smile froze as he saw the photos getting deleted one by one on their own, and he shouted in agony,

"No! No! They are my hard work! Please don’t take them away! How would I be able to live without them!"

As if answering him, a message popped up on his computer screen:

"Don’t worry. Moving forward, no one would be blackmailed by you. As for how you will live? I have made arrangements for you. A place where you can live and earn your own food by doing labor."

Joker’s heart thumped loudly, and the ominous feeling returned.

Before he could react, his doorbell rang.

Joker’s eyes widened, fear flashing in them.

’No! Now is not the time to panic! Maybe I am overthinking!’ Joker assured himself and tiptoed to his door.

Peeping through the peephole, he saw two cops in blue uniforms, and all the bravado he had built by giving himself self-motivational speeches vanished.

With trembling legs, he backed away.

Biting his nails, he muttered,

"No...I need to leave...I can’t stay here!"

With that thought, he moved toward the cupboard and started to take out his clothes. Another message popped up on his phone, followed by the banging of the door.

The simultaneous stimulating sounds made Joker believe he might have a heart attack any second.

He made a beeline for the computer to shut it down, when his attention was attracted by the new message.

"It’s futile to run. The cops could see your every moment. Especially now that you are looking at your computer screen."

Joker was pissed off and typed back in fury,

"Whoever you are, you motherf*cker! Just remember, I will find you one day and take my revenge."

There was a silence for a while on the other end, before he received a single word as a response,

"Idiot."

Triggered by the word, Joker wanted to retort, however, the door of his room couldn’t handle the pressure and was finally broken down by the two cops.

"Hands up!"

The voice was thunderous. Joker spun around, eyes wild with panic.

Two officers stood in the doorway, guns drawn, their expressions grim.

"Step away from the computer!" one barked.

Joker raised his trembling hands, still dazed.

Behind him, his screen flickered once more, displaying a final message in bold, golden letters:

"The Light always reaches the darkest corners."

"No... no no no!" Joker shook his head violently. "This is a mistake! I didn’t—this is just—it’s not what it looks like!"

The taller officer cuffed his wrists behind his back with swift efficiency.

"You’re under arrest for illegal hacking activity, online extortion, and digital harassment."

Joker scoffed, desperate.

"What about Light? He hacked me, too! That’s illegal, right? Arrest him too!"

The shorter officer gave him a cold stare. "Light didn’t break the law. You did."

"How?!" Joker shouted. "He got into my files! My accounts!"

The officer smirked faintly.

"He didn’t steal anything. He returned stolen funds to the victims. Accessing your system was part of the evidence recovery process.

What he did? That falls under cyber-defense. What you did was cybercrime."

Joker gritted his teeth. "You don’t even have proof!"

The taller cop pulled out a tablet and turned the screen toward him.

"Recognize these?"

The screen displayed a series of folders, messages, and photos—his folders. His messages.

"No... no, he deleted those!" Joker gasped. "I watched them disappear!"

"Light didn’t delete them," the officer said.

"They were transferred. Directly to the Cyber Crime Division. Every file, every chat, every victim’s name. All logged and timestamped."

Joker’s knees buckled.

Outside, flashing red and blue lights cast eerie shadows on the hallway walls.

.......

Across town, in a quiet room...

The girl, still curled up on her bed, startled as her phone buzzed again. Bracing herself for the worst, she hesitated... then opened it.

Her mouth dropped open.

BANK ALERT: +$4,000 CREDITED

Followed by another message:

"All your money has been returned. All your private photos have been permanently deleted from Joker’s devices and backups. Be safe. Don’t click unknown links. -Light"

Her lips quivered. Tears rolled down her cheeks again—but this time, they were different.

Hopeful.

She held the phone to her chest, sobbing, but smiling through the tears.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Whoever you are... thank you."

.......

Back in the Holy Hackers’ base...

The glowing screens around the round table now displayed the full collapse of Joker’s system.

"Damn," RogueSpectre whispered, staring in disbelief. "That actually happened. Joker’s down."

MintCode’s eyes were wide. "All those files... wiped. Money... returned. And he was arrested! Like—real life arrested."

Even Byte, who usually said nothing, muttered, "That was insane."

RogueSpectre ran a hand through her short red hair. "Light wasn’t some newbie. He was baiting Joker. Making himself look weak on purpose... so Joker would lower his guard."

MintCode nodded slowly. "While we were trying to brute-force his firewalls, Light slipped in... underneath. He hacked Joker’s phone, not just his server."

"Dude probably had a script watching for Joker’s keystrokes," RogueSpectre added. "Stole access codes in real time. That’s high-tier stuff."

Byte leaned back in his chair, staring at the data trail. "And then... poof. No fingerprints. He covered his tracks better than any of us."

Captain, who had been silent all this time, still said nothing.

MintCode turned to him. "Captain? You okay?"

He nodded, though his eyes were narrowed, thoughtful.

"Do you think Light would join us?" RogueSpectre asked. "I mean, with skills like that..."

MintCode perked up. "Yeah! We could really use someone like him. We’ve never seen anyone this good!"

Captain finally spoke, voice low.

"He didn’t do this for glory. Or reputation. If he wanted either, he would’ve made sure people knew who he was. Instead, he left one message. ’The Light always reaches the darkest corners.’"

The room fell silent.

RogueSpectre smirked. "Kinda dramatic... but yeah, I get it."

"Do you think he’ll show up again?" MintCode asked hopefully.

Captain’s lips curved into a faint smile.

"I think we’ll see Light again... but not because we go looking."

Byte simply nodded. "He’ll come when he’s needed."

.......

At home, Aurora sat back from her screen.

She watched the news flash across the city’s crime board: Joker arrested. Victims recovering. Investigation ongoing.

"Ah! Feeling much better now! It feels so good to vent!"

If Joker knew that all of his misery was because Aurora wanted a place to vent his anger, he would have vomited blood.

.........

The next day.

Aurora woke up feeling feverish and cursed herself.

"Can’t my body take just a bit of toll?"

Having no choice, she had to lie back on the bed and close her eyes.

For the next 3 days, Aurora took a day off.

What made Aurora feel a bit joyful was...Spencer.

On the first day, when he noticed Aurora’s disappearance, he messaged her.

Spencer: Where are you?

Spencer: Are you running late? Do you want me to pick up?

Spencer: Did you have breakfast? Want me to grab it for you?

Spencer: Aurora, you are making me worry. Are you sick? Do you have a fever? freeweɓnovel.cøm

Spencer: I am coming to your house for a visit.

Aurora, who was sleeping, didn’t know about Spencer’s message.

It was only when her fever went down that she opened her eyes groggily.

"Mom..."

However, what came in her view was a cold face with beautiful ocean blue eyes, which had the power to draw anyone in.

Currently, they were staring at her with concern and anger.

How beautiful...yet strange.

"You are awake?" Spencer asked softly.

"What are you doing here?" Aurora asked as she tried to sit up.

Spencer immediately reached out, gently pressing her shoulder to keep her from moving too much.

"Whoa, easy," he said, his voice low and steady. "You’ve had a fever since morning."

Aurora blinked at him, her mind still foggy. "Since morning?"

He nodded, brushing her sweaty hair away from her forehead.

"Yeah. You weren’t replying to any messages. I got worried, so I came over. You were burning up."

"You broke in?" she asked, half joking, half confused.

Spencer smirked,

"Yes. I was worried that my sugar mommy would be seduced by someone else."

Aurora let out a weak laugh. "You’re such a weirdo..."

"Maybe," he said, standing up to pour her a glass of water. "Now have some medicine."

Aurora scrunched her nose,

"Only if they are tablets, I won’t drink any syrups!"

Spencer chuckled and threatened her,

"There are only tablets, but if you delay and somehow get a cough, then I will personally feed you syrups two times a day."

Aurora rolled her eyes,

"You are my canary! How dare you talk to me like that!"

Spencer shrugged,

"I am your canary, but my foremost concern is to take care of my sugar mommy! Even if it means my position is in danger."