Now, Tao strode headfirst into her newfound purpose, propelled by the excitement within her as she forged her own path into the world. Despite all that had transpired with her father, he still hadn't cut her off. That much was apparent when she used her family's money to pay her tuition into a prestigious university (one she had no business being at, but money solves many problems). She was sure there was no way her father was oblivious to the kind of money she was spending for her books, a vehicle, updated neuralware, the list goes on. Before her first month in the Zhao'long Technological Institute was over, Tao was gifted her own account from her father, which had money desposited into it every month. It was an act of kindness that made her cry as regret washed over her, but what was done was done. She had to move on with her life. One day she would return and show that she had made something of herself.
There was only one thing Tao was interested in: The NET. Predictably, her classes revolved around this primary goal. Cyber Technology, Programming, Code Infrastructure, and much more. She also continued her childhood education on the world's most dominant language, American English. Tao stayed until she had achieved a masters degree in Cyber Technology. But, during this time she simply wasn't content with attending classes. No, she needed live practice, demonstrations, expertise. How can you create a proper firewall without knowing how to break it first? How can you encode a systems defense algorithm without knowing how its vulnerable? Through legitimate means like proper study, right? Wrong.
Thus, Liumang_x (Rogue) was born—And quickly died, as Tao's first attempt at cracking a local business's defenses went awry. She was traced faster than she could have anticipated, and dumped from the NET. By the time she awoke, she was in the back of a cruiser. An angry phone call later, and she was back at the university on bail. With all the money her father threw out to make the problem disappear, Tao found herself once more seated into the path she had chosen. xX_Shouge'Zhe_Xx (Reaper), ~Mao_Renzhe_2020~ (Cat_Ninja), (\x_Shanguang_Huichen_x/) (Glitter_Dust), and various other aliases: All failures. Time and time again she was caught, and her father dealt with the backlash she was causing.
This cycle she was creating didn't last. Despite her skills growing at a rapid pace, she wasn't learning fast enough. By the time she had earned her masters in cyber technology, she was operating under yet another alias: -_`Master!Zhu`_- (Master-Master). It was to be the last problem her father ever dealt with. Confidence only soared within her as she tore her way through the NET, to the point where she was even able to made some decent money. The one thing she didn't worry about too much was covering her tracks, Daddy had been there to solve her problems after all. She was dissociated with the consequences of her actions. This time, she'd pissed off somebody important, someone with the resources to see their anger directed at Tao's father.
Hao lost everything because of his daughter. His shares in the company, his money, his assets, and his life. Not in the soberingly physical sense, but rather he was tore down so far that his status was beneath that of his Wife's family before he had married her. He left a broken, homeless man. To be so low that he had to move in with Ren's mother and father, he hated himself, and he hated that he had failed as a father. Tao was devastated. She fought her depression, and the desire to take her own worthless, meaningless life. Instead, she struggled to redeem herself and repay her father for what she had done to him. Starting with sending him almost all of her meager earnings.
She tried desperately to find a respectable job so that she could help her family more, but nobody would hire her and she couldn't blame them with the kind of record she had managed to acrue. It was amazing she wasn't locked away somewhere cold and dark already. This left her only one choice, one she had made so long ago. If she couldn't make money the right way, she'd do it the wrong way. This time, it had to be different. There was no more money to solve her problems, there was no more Daddy to lean on. In fact, she had convinced herself that it was now her family that was depending on her, and perhaps they were.
It was a couple years before Tao did anything of note on the NET. She stuck to smaller jobs as she shifted through tutorials, free courses, and data fortresses. All of which had been done in an attempt to teach herself the kinds of skills she'd need to make this plan she had work. Two years, that's how long she spent. Her equipment was a bit outdated but her mind was sharpened, her skills honed. She was ready.
She was not ready. Her first big job went up in flames, almost literal flames as she found herself faced with a firewall she couldn't crack. It actually took her months of learning, and a continuous stream of abandoned alises before she began to get really good. Fortunately, one of the first things she worked on was cleaning away her trails and protecting herself. Even then, she's quickly vacated more than a few living spaces, sometimes through a window. It wasn't until she'd be able to upgrade her equipment and get a few new, shinier things that her egotism really set in. Success after success after success. Suddenly, it dawned on her—She'd turned herself into the greatest shit to run the NET since the first lines of code had been fabricated. She was the most bitchin' boogeyman out there, a thing of corporate nightmare. A few more failures did nothing to offset this thought process.
She changed her name to Chiue Xu'Miao, moved to the states, and began working under the handle Kid Kandi. She saw great success and popularity for a little over a year and a half when Biotechnica contacted her, the real her. At first, she was absolutely flabbergasted. How could THEY find HER?! How did THEY get through ACE?! It was IMPOSSIBLE. And yet, she found herself seated before a panel of serious faces. Oh yes, it was clear they were not happy with her and what she'd done. She had sold off a few of their well-kept secrets and left quite a mess to be cleaned up in their code structures. So, these nameless, silhouetted beings gave her two choices; She goes away somewhere dark, and remains disconnected from the net for about the rest of her natural life; Or she plays nice, and goes onto their payroll. It was immediately apparent that Chiue wouldn't be running from this problem.
Still, Chiue was at home playing dangerous games. She had two conditions; Biotechnica takes care of her family so that they live comfortably; things like proper healthcare, a decent house, quality food on the table, the kinds of things needed to maintain a pleasant standard of living; and that they don't reveal that she is Kid Kandi. There were a few heated words, mostly of which how Chiue was in no position to be making demands, and her retorting with how she was the hottest shit on the NET or Biotechnica wouldn't be trying to get her on salary. The results of some serious deliberation are obvious, it was determined that Chiue's "Conditions" were, arguably, sensible and agreeable.