Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 520 - 54: Cyber Network

The Holy City, the origin of the first punk revolution, is also known as Glory City, Gear City, and the Holy Separation City. Legend has it that the ancient Holy Spirit first descended from the heavens, arriving here.

In the Cyber Era, the world’s first hacker organization "Terria" borrowed its name from this city.

However, Ms. Dida had no fondness for this city reeking of feces. She vigorously rubbed her calfskin boot against the steps, trying to clean off the mysterious filth from her sole.

"The consciousness world being too realistic isn’t a good thing. This smell, ugh~"

Dida finally understood why the NPCs here always had an overpowering and unpleasant perfume scent; it was because of this.

"Well then—"

Ms. Dida fished out a pocket watch from her pocket. When opened, the silver and gold patterned watch revealed not three hands but a tiny screen. From her palm, blue codes spread from her wrist to her fingertips. Then, the watch screen lit up brightly, and the blue light almost covered an entire street. Wherever the light touched, all pedestrians, peddlers, merchants, and nobles froze and, in the next moment, shattered into countless subconscious fragments.

’Subconscious fragments’ looked like clusters of white cotton balls. Rather than codes, they were sensory signals condensed into a collection of signals with bizarre formats.

Soon, the pocket watch’s tracking program confirmed the target, a special signal source.

The screen inside the watch vanished, replaced by a golden pointer, which vibrated, pointing in a direction.

"The tracking program still needs some tweaking. After all, in the subconscious realm, even the slightest change in sensory signals can trigger huge changes."

Dida extended her right hand, clad in a black silk glove, and began to tap her fingers in the air as if playing the piano. The affected subconscious fragments gradually started to return to human forms. With a snap of her fingers, the street was restored once again with ladies, peddlers, worshippers, slaves, and various noisy sounds.

AI has a unique advantage in program modification.

After one last glance at the pointer, Dida closed the pocket watch, unaware that when she closed it, the tracking pointer mysteriously disappeared for a moment.

Inside the Inner City of the Holy City, in a church-supplied Difference Machine specialty shop, a middle-aged man in a tailcoat with a cold demeanor was repairing a Difference Machine. This foundational product of the first punk revolution, in some sense, replaced computers, performing calculations, drawing, and data processing nearly as effectively as old computers.

All steampunk technology was built on this foundation.

And this middle-aged man was the Cyber Killer stationed in this consciousness world.

However, this Cyber Killer suddenly stuttered, his image flickering.

[Consciousness Transmission in Progress]

[Consciousness Modification Complete]

[New Cyber Killer (Temporary) No.11314151311 Edited]

In the next moment, the cold middle-aged man vanished, replaced by an extraordinarily good-looking shota. The shota’s gaze was briefly dazed, then awareness returned, revealing a smile that could charm a nation.

"Thank you, Chapai."

Across from him, on a holographic screen, Chapai, the exclusive hacker of the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division, yawned.

"According to the principles of the Mother City, the Cyber Killer’s authority cannot be given to outsiders, especially not to dangerous elements like you."

"But the principle of our Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division is not to follow principles."

"If everything were handled by the book, how could we deal with those big corporations?"

"Sounds like you’re in a good mood?" The Rich Lady Love Prototype sensed something.

"Haha, you’ll know soon enough. There’s been progress on the old man’s side; the big sister has already quietly set out," Chapai chuckled, winking.

"Alright, you go ahead. I’ll keep an eye here for you."

The communication was cut off.

Aramaki and Yagami Suuji, what are these two up to?

Instinctively, Gao Gong felt it probably had something to do with Sister Rose.

...

Almost simultaneously, Ms. Dida had also arrived at the Cyber Killer’s stronghold. She looked up at the sign—’Artisan Gopps’ Shop.’

"Hello, is your shop manager in?"

Following protocol, Ms. Dida rhythmically tapped on the table. This was the encrypted code telecommunication provided by the AI, and only through this code could she contact the Cyber Killer.

Finally, Dida heard some movement as the rear curtain was lifted, and a youth as radiant as light came out, offering her a slight smile:

"I am Gopps; you can also call me Mr. G."

Dida’s mouth slightly opened; this Cyber Killer’s looks... were a bit excessive!

...

"Have some tea."

Inside the Difference Machine shop, Gao Gong served the other party a cup of what was said to be oriental tea brought in through overseas trade.

However, Dida continued to stare at him unblinkingly, even forgetting to accept the tea.

This is not surprising. In the previous life, when Gao Gong designed the first version of the Rich Lady Love Prototype, the other party provided a lot of suggestions. In other words, this Shota face matches their preferences.

"So, what do you want from me?"

After serving tea to the other party, Gao Gong still sat on the small stool, studying the ’Medieval Computer’ in front of him.

He was quite interested in the Difference Machine, such ’computer-inspired products’. The intelligent life forms on each planet, due to different environments and racial talents, always illuminate different technology trees.

And in fact, even for the same intelligent species, the order of lighting up the technology tree is not entirely the same. For example, this Difference Machine in front of him, if not limited by materials and precision, it might eventually replace computers.

Conversely, even if the ’computer’ technology branch is illuminated, whether trinary or binary is also uncertain.

The already illuminated technology crystals naturally have their reasons for success. However, not being illuminated does not necessarily mean it will never happen. Perhaps it is limited by the era, or perhaps, it is simply a coincidence.

What Gao Gong wanted to know was how this Difference Machine, comparable to the ’first-generation computer’, broke through the limitations of materials and era.

As a science girl, Ms. Dida had strong resistance to beauty, so after the initial daze, she quickly recovered. Looking at the back of the other party, she hesitated:

"Mr. G, are you the regulator of this world? You—"

"Deep Net, Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division, ID number 11314151311."

In Cyber Space, everything can be fake, even Cyber Killers. Many viruses even disguise themselves as assassins, infiltrating data nodes one by one.

At this time, ’Mother City Certification’ became the most important anti-counterfeiting mark.

As an AI, Ms. Dida quickly connected to the Deep Net, with electronic data constantly sliding in her eyes. The Holy City disappeared, replaced by an endless green grid.

No virus dared to invade here.

Ms. Dida connected to the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division’s grid. The other grids immediately disappeared, only the ’Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division’ grid quickly expanded, transforming into a neon-glowing city.

Every time she saw this, Dida couldn’t help but marvel at the computational power required to replicate an electronic city in seconds.

As an Intermediate AI, she couldn’t enter the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division yet, but there was a data inquiry station on the periphery. Dida input the ID number into the inquiry station, and soon, the center of the station split open, revealing a woman’s face with a mask. Her hollow eyes locked onto Gao Gong through Dida’s pupils.

The next moment, Gao Gong, Dida, and this face emitted the same electronic glow—the Chapai’s anti-counterfeiting mark was very effective here.

’Humans only have the right to use their brains. The Boundless Maze is the destination of the world.’

The three faces spoke this sentence simultaneously.

’The founder of the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division doesn’t know what they were thinking, preaching,’ Gao Gong thought to himself.

Ms. Dida finally relaxed. As far as she knew, no Cyber Space virus could pierce the Deep Net.

"Mr. G, this world is about to collapse!"

"In Cyber Space, there are many Subconscious Realms on the verge of collapse. What’s more, this consciousness aggregate of ancient remnants, its destruction won’t impact the real world."

Dida took a deep breath, "But what if I say the collapse of this world is the result of deliberate manipulation?"

Gao Gong was inspecting the gear alignment of the Difference Machine, and said without turning his head, "So what if it is?"

Dida’s voice faltered, she held back for a moment and then couldn’t resist saying, "Isn’t it your mission as this world’s Guardian to protect it?"

"You might have misunderstood," the super Shota in front of her showed a strange smile.

"My mission is to ensure the destruction of this world doesn’t interfere with reality, nor affect the ’Cyber Test Field’ in reality. That’s my mission."

"The experiment is to eliminate accidents."

Dida caught the implication and quickly said, "You mean, if the intruder disrupts reality, you will take action?"

Gao Gong neither confirmed nor denied, and said, "Do you have any evidence?"

"I do! In the last world, during the destruction of the Pan-Asian Continent, a large number of AIs mysteriously disappeared. I investigated for a long time and found that this matter is closely related to a force called ’Earth Net’. Moreover, not even a fragment of the destroyed worlds can be found!"

Dida took out a Memory Chip from her small pouch, "This is all my related memories from Pan-Asia! You can personally verify its authenticity."

Gao Gong didn’t take the chip but said, "If it is as you say, then I shouldn’t interfere even more."

"Why!?"

"I just said, the purpose of having a Cyber Killer guard this world is to ensure that the birth and death of subconscious big data do not interfere with reality."

"Yes!"

"That was before," Gao Gong finally managed to disassemble the Difference Machine, feeling the divine statue engravings on the chassis, ’Energy Circuits’?

"What about now?"

"Perhaps you are unaware of one thing, a corporate war is about to break out, and this time, it will be held in ’Cyber Space’.

"So what?" Ms. Dida retorted.

Gao Gong chuckled, "This means that the test field in Cyber Space will have priority over reality."