Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 785: Chapter 309: My Encounter with Myself

Other Shore of Freedom, in a room on the third underground level of the Deep Pit Hotel

”So that’s how it is, finally unraveled.”

With a word from Paradise Bird, the next moment, the wall began to change. First, a crack appeared in the middle, and then countless fissures spread from this small opening, interlocking to form a large door, with the number 302 engraved on the bronze door.

”Decrypting the punk code, restoring the underlying visual data, and translating the Avalanche Software again—only by achieving these three points simultaneously can this room be completely opened.”

It sounds simple, but these three advanced hackers spent nearly a whole month here, reverse-engineering this encrypted gathering place.

No. 320, Third Street, Donglun Special Zone

”Shall we go in together?”

”Of course, after all the trouble to find this place, we have to take a look.”

So Paradise Bird pushed the door open and entered.

Inside was a place similar to a café, where a salon seemed to have just been held, with unfinished coffee on the black wooden long table.

At the same time, in the corner, there was a vintage anti-disc machine but no disc.

Paradise Bird pondered for a moment and said, ”Put that disc from before in.”

Ahong complied, and soon, intense and jumping Baroque-style music started playing.

In the sound of this music, one after another, blurry figures seemed to press the fast-forward button, either sitting at the table with their legs crossed or two people standing in the corner, discussing silently.

”What’s this, data backtracking?” Ahong whispered.

”Encrypted punk is different from any type of encryption we’ve studied before; it seems to require certain fixed occasions and conditions to activate,” Xiuyue showed an elegant smile, ”like now.”

Soon, the passionate music ended, and the smell of coffee and cigarettes lingered in the room, with an old-fashioned folder appearing on the long table.

Paradise Bird picked it up and opened it, finding a letter and some pages that resembled garbled numbers.

This letter seemed to be written to someone named ’zero’—

Dear zero, I’m glad you chose to join us during the most difficult time in our endeavor. I know this must be a very tough decision for you.

But only by crossing the constraints of the old society can we achieve true self-realization.

Since you’ve decided to complete the final transformation, after the votes of the ’Anonymous Encrypted Punk Meeting,’ we will guide you to the new world at the end of the data.

I know you are very knowledgeable in ’cryptology,’ so this will be your final test.

By the way, be careful of the ’Information Liberation Front’; they are different from us. We are committed to privacy protection, while they attempt to sell ’privacy’ as a special commodity.

Yours, a sincere friend, an nonexistent observer.

”Transformation location, Information Liberation Front, cryptology.”

Ahong, extracting these three key points from the text, couldn’t help but stare at the strange garbled text.

”No way, decrypt again? I feel my brain is about to explode!”

Xiuyue stopped smiling and took the pages of garbled text, looking at them carefully, and soon let out a slight exclamation.

”Master Senior Sister, these encrypted data look familiar; weren’t there similar things in the master’s diary?”

”You really peeked at the master’s diary,” Paradise Bird gave the other a meaningful look, then took out an old diary, skipped over the initial ramblings and self-praise, and indeed found numbers corresponding to some strange symbols in the last few pages.

Ahong was startled, ”Could the old man be a member of the Punk Clan? Considering the timeframe, it’s not impossible!”

”There’s another possibility; he might be part of this organization,” Paradise Bird pointed at the ’Information Liberation Front.’ From this letter, it seems the Punk Clan and the Information Liberation Front are adversaries.

Through the old man’s diary, soon, a special coordinate emerged.

Seeing this coordinate, the three of them all turned pale.

For one reason: the location of this coordinate—Database 0!

”Such a coincidence?”

”There’s no identical leaf in the world,” Xiuyue chuckled, stretching her neck and yawning, ”But anyway, at least the task here is finally over, and we can report back to Minister Gao.”

”Flattery,” Paradise Bird said coldly.

”Haha, Master Senior Sister, didn’t you say Second Senior Brother is trying to resurrect the old man?” Ahong quickly interjected to prevent these two from arguing again.

”Yes, I’m enduring humiliation for a great cause, and Senior Sister, you still say that about me,” Xiuyue said with grievance, every word and deed resembling a woman.

”I need to inform Minister Gao about this good news first thing.”

”...” Ahong.

However, soon, Xiuyue’s expression gradually stiffened, the face usually gentle and elegant filled with disbelief.

”What’s wrong?” Paradise Bird couldn’t help but ask.

”Rumor has it, Minister Gao from the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division, killed the Minister of Human Affairs in a Six Ministries meeting.”

Ahong and Paradise Bird exchanged glances, both showing subtle expressions.

”Senior brother, isn’t the Inspector Department you joined part of the Humanity Experiment Department?”

”So, doesn’t your current behavior count as colluding with outsiders?” Paradise Bird’s lips curved slightly; he seemed to enjoy watching his junior suffer.

”I can’t take it anymore, I need to rush back to the department,” Xiuyue’s expression unusually showed a hint of panic, and without a word, she walked out.

However, at the door, she paused and said without turning back:

”My current identity might make it difficult to interact with you all for a while. So, the old man’s ashes, please get them out from the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division.”

Paradise Bird’s smile faded slightly, giving a deep look at the other person, and nodded.

Successful Electronic Ascension grants the GM account gifted by the Planet Host, but if the Ascension fails, the backlash force would completely disintegrate the Ascender’s body data, leaving behind a ’high-risk electronic virus.’

And the one responsible for handling such viruses is the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division.

...

Meanwhile, in a corporate database, Gao Yuanyuan slightly raised her head, her eyes filled with data streams continuously recording information.

According to her brother’s words, another ’Professional Knowledge Chain’ would be completed soon.

How would my brother reward me then?

Thinking about this, Gao Yuanyuan couldn’t help but smile quietly.

But soon, a crimson prohibition sign appeared on the large screen before her, quickly covering the entire monitor as alarm bells blared.

’How could this be?!’

Gao Yuanyuan panicked, although she was now an Advanced Information Life, one of the strongest beings on this planet, she could count those stronger than her on two hands. But in an unexpected situation, and without her brother by her side, she instinctively grew anxious.

With a thought, her figure disappeared within the firewall, neurons in her brain like stars in the night sky, neurotransmitters forming streams of light like meteors. Sometimes, when her mind was full of thoughts, Gao Yuanyuan felt like she was witnessing a meteor shower spreading across the night sky.

She once curiously asked her brother if every planet is a neuron, and every star a neural node, then does the entire universe form a Super Brain?

She remembered when her brother heard this, his expression suddenly became very serious, unusually not teasing her.

No matter what, whenever she entered someone else’s mind, she always felt a sort of indescribable peace, and her anxiety slowly faded away.

”Young lady, don’t be afraid. That was just a prank from another girl... You sure run fast!”

A voice, somewhat helpless, sounded.

Gao Yuanyuan ignored the voice, knowing that some corporate firewalls were equipped with a counter-tracing virus that would automatically enter download mode if responded to.

She ran even faster.

”Young lady, you... My crawler can barely reach your data. I am Eliza, you might have heard of my other identity, the Cyber Network search engine. Rest assured, no corporate firewall can simultaneously cover 30 million brains.”

In the briefest of moments, Gao Yuanyuan had already traversed 30 million brains.

Along with ’Eliza’s’ voice came a snicker.

She even recognized my brother?

That’s even more alarming! This virus can actually read my brain data!

Gao Yuanyuan panicked again, determined to have her brother check thoroughly; she dreaded being invaded by a virus.

However, a voice from deep within her brought her to an abrupt halt.

”Hey, coward, stop running! If you run again, I’ll beat you up!!”

”...It’s you!”

Gao Yuanyuan halted, her expression grew complex; she knew that no matter how powerful a virus was, it couldn’t discover the secrets buried deep within her heart.

Because it wasn’t just one person’s secret, but a secret shared by two people.

She was merely one half of the personality named ’Gao Yuanyuan,’ while the other half belonged to someone else.

”What, sharing fear, tension, anger, despair, world-weariness, and anxiety with me means you can enjoy your life carefree? Then what’s with your current fear? Hahaha, even if you cut yourself in half, you’re still that coward hiding under the bed without daring to make a sound, unlike me. Now, there’s nothing that scares me. I’m the real Gao Yuanyuan, no, I’m her upgraded version and my name is Gox!!”

Gao Yuanyuan abruptly stopped, biting her lower lip, hesitated for a long time, and finally made up her mind. Destruction aura suddenly burst from her, activating the Rewind System.

The next moment, the scene seemed to rewind countless times over, and in less than a second, Gao Yuanyuan returned to the original corporate database headquarters, at which point the firewall hadn’t been triggered. Meanwhile, bodies of Electronic Guardians had already piled up on the ground like a small mountain, atop of which was a girl covered in punk tattoos who blew at her green hair, her crimson eyes lowering.

”Yo, a Destruction Form, what a coincidence, so am I!”

An even more powerful Destruction aura overflowed, wherever it passed, all electronic firewalls shattered. Compared to the ’Rewind System,’ this Destruction aura was more intense.

Compared to the half-filled Rewind System, this was a Destruction Form in peak condition.

No.9 Destruction - Mutant Fusion!!