Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 111 - 111 94 Mistake Crisis

111: Chapter 94 Mistake Crisis 111: Chapter 94 Mistake Crisis After clarifying his development goals, Xu Yang prepared to set off, ready to go back and discuss plans with the others.

He had plenty of funds at his disposal and could coordinate a host of resources, as long as he found the right direction for investment.

Jumen Commerce Corporation was one potential investment, while the gang rebuilt by Asa Katsuragi was another.

Additionally, establishing his own company would make things more convenient.

Once he summoned Bax back to the shuttle machine, they immediately returned to Aizu City.

En route, Lila reported a great deal of activity from surveillance drones, forcing the shuttle to halt.

These drones were small and inconspicuous, resembling mere specks of dust, no longer than a finger, known as “Flies,” information gathering devices that Kyoto Infinity purchased in bulk for sealing off areas they deemed valuable.

As the excavation site where the Ancient Witch had been unearthed, this network of underground caverns on the route to Aizu City had evidently become a key area.

The dense swarm of drones formed a diamond-shaped array, monitoring all traffic.

Farosa was quite unhappy to learn that the company had such means to forbid entry and exit.

“So, everything will be seen?” she complained, “Where is the information security?”

“We are invisible,” Xu Yang closed his eyes, connecting to the drones’ collective terminal, only to discover that each one was embedded with a dynamic security ID code.

If just one was hacked, the others would detect the discrepancy during cross-checks and trigger an alarm.

Xu Yang had heard of this technology but was surprised to see it already put into practice.

To successfully hack in, he would need to simultaneously crack all of the more than 700 miniature drones.

“What, can’t get through?” Farosa saw that Xu Yang did not react, “Finally, it’s your turn to be stumped!”

“Wait.” Xu Yang closed his eyes, focusing intently on adjusting his Digital Mind, planning to simultaneously hack all of those sophisticated machines—a high-load operation he had never attempted before.

Locking in on all targets, he connected—

For a moment, Xu Yang’s mind wavered.

It felt as if his will had flowed out of his body, not staying inside his own flesh but completely sinking into that sea of data, information, and electronic signals.

This was different from his usual manipulation of the Digital Mind’s interface, where he maintained dual perspectives, one observing reality and the other the digital world.

Now he had completely severed his conventional senses, in other words, for an instant, he became a digital being.

He quickly withdrew his will that had penetrated the hundreds of drones, relieved that he hadn’t sunk too deep.

After coming back to his senses, his heart raced.

If he couldn’t break away from that feeling, he would permanently lose his body and become a consciousness existing within signals.

Digital Mind was a derived technology developed in the study of consciousness upload techniques, enabling the conversion between neural signals and photoelectronic signals.

This branch of technology, increasingly falling out of favor, is slowly becoming obsolete.

However, from his harrowing experience, Xu Yang realized another potential application: actively achieving the transformation between digital life and physical existence to some extent.

“Master?” Lila noticed the change in Xu Yang’s expression.

“It’s a bit… magical…” Xu Yang held out his hand, “Hold on tight to me.”

“Yes.” Lila, unaware of the reason, instinctively grabbed Xu Yang’s hand.

Xu Yang closed his eyes again, relinquishing control over his physical shell.

His consciousness flowed into the network, connecting to countless “Fly” drones.

Immersed among the 700 drones, his mind seemed to extend countless threads, gaining hundreds of hands.

Each drone became a small part of his will, and then he hacked them simultaneously.

He faked a signal interruption accident, causing “his 700 shadows” to transmit a series of empty signals to the Kyoto Infinity servers, indicating poor signal transmission.

Then, during this gap, he attempted to make the drones float orderly within the caverns.

An unprecedented harmonious movement… like conducting an entire professional orchestra.

He felt each drone become an extension of his mind.

The feeling grew deeper; the amount of information he could sense expanded immensely.

Everything these 700 miniature drones perceived also constituted his thoughts and ideas, but devoid of human emotions, leaving only the precise judgment of machines and numbers.

“Master…” Lila gave Xu Yang a tug.

His consciousness, like a sea surge flowing back into a river, from an infinitely expansive realm regressed to that brain weighing less than two kilograms.

All the dispersed, expanded thoughts returned to a single main current.

Initially, they were reluctant to do so, squirming and causing bursts of pain as they tried to revert to their prior dispersed state across hundreds of terminals.

“You’ll adapt.” Xu Yang pressed his head, taking advantage of the time the drones were transmitting empty signals, and had Lila navigate the Anonymous back to Aizu City.

“Pretty impressive, huh?” Farosa tilted her head.

She intended to reward Xu Yang with a kiss but stopped at the thought of Bax being present, abandoning all intentions of an affectionate gesture.

“Adapt to an unprecedented new sensation,” Xu Yang pondered.

The recent changes seemed to be the sum of two factors, one being the frequent and exceptional use of Digital Mind over the past few days, which further exercised his mental powers, and on the other hand, it was also the merit of the new processor, “Flying God 4,” which was more effective than the old processors.

By a twist of fate, it had even squeezed out the extreme potential of Digital Mind, allowing him not only to feel and control devices but also to infuse his will into them.

The Shuttle Machine flew through Aizu City, with everything back to normal.

Billboards on large buildings shone brightly, while underground malls, apartments, clinics, and schools were all being refurbished.

Various models of maintenance robots shuttled back and forth continually repairing the floors destroyed in the rodent disaster.

The sound of electric drills and power hammers was incessant.

Security company members lined up on the ground, armed to the teeth, each guarding the boundaries of their corporate territory against suspicious individuals attempting to cross.

Large transport Shuttle Machines continuously arrived in the air corridors, filled with construction materials required for repairs, a scene of bustling activity.

The survivors were in poor mental health, many of whom had seen familiar companions eaten during the disaster, leaving only themselves alive.

People ambled on the streets.

There were more pedestrians than usual, but they had no destination, nothing to do, simply enduring, waiting for time to erase the blankness in their hearts.

Gazing through the Shuttle Machine’s window at these scenes, Xu Yang’s focus unconsciously shifted from individual people to device after device around them.

The vending machines, game machines, smart terminals, neon signs, neighborhood missiles, and personal phones seemed to become parts of his own being.

He could infiltrate them if he wished, turning the previous “infiltration” into “control,” from “interference” to “dominance.”

An unexpected progression.

Xu Yang mused inwardly.

Now, he truly was a network phantom.

“Do you want to enter my mind?” Lila looked at Xu Yang, “Further experience Lila, inside and out.”

“Not the time,” Xu Yang walked behind Lila, feeling the temperature of metal.

“I’m afraid I won’t want to pull out once I’m in.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Farosa couldn’t help but get annoyed and went over to pinch Xu Yang lightly, “Be careful with your words.”

Bax watched all this unfold, realizing that the relationship between the three of them was overly complicated.

He had thought Farosa was the leader, Xu Yang a worker, and the robot just a robot, but now he saw endless mysteries among them.

“A city steeped in death,” Lila said as she lifted the Anonymous to avoid a vehicle transporting bodies below.

“Death can be reversed,” Xu Yang said, “…after witnessing Farosa’s Magic Power, death seems less frightening.”

“I want to kill some more, resurrect some just for fun,” Farosa said, “but that would be a bit frightening.”

“The company is trying its best to search for you,” Xu Yang said.

“Don’t mention it, the company seems to have gone mad,” Farosa looked down at her phone, “The news says the global stock market has plummeted drastically, relating to a breach of several major transactions.

Every page is broadcasting this news, stock market?

What is the stock market?

The dictionary’s explanation is a bit abstract.”

“It’s the market for trading shares of stock,” Xu Yang tried to explain, “The stock is a part of company ownership.

These days, buying stocks is mainly for investment; if a company does well, the stock you bought will appreciate in value.

If the news says the global stock markets are dropping, it means that most companies are facing some kind of trouble.”

“Unknown changes on the company’s production lines,” Farosa read the headline.

“Forget it, see for yourself.”

Xu Yang checked his phone for financial news.

The most crucial message was the event that had been named the “Misstep Crisis,” referring to an extremely abnormal increase in military production output and a surge in orders that had happened a few hours ago.

There was also inexplicable worldwide military mobilization.

But soon, these orders were canceled, and the military plans halted, causing great trouble to the normal order of transactions, exacerbating the conflict between giant corporations and the major capital groups, also involving the issue of credibility damage to the giant corporations, with no one daring to trust the economic indicators of the coming months.

Giant corporations always have the ability to adjust, but there are also numerous large companies in the world that are slightly smaller in scale.

Their existence is very awkward, even with economic strength, their size is insufficient to be considered giant corporations, making it difficult to compete with them.

They were already bearing crises in their operations, and now they have been hit by this abnormal event.

A series of ambitious military plans were proposed and then revoked, causing them significant distress.

Many analysts claim that a financial storm is brewing globally, and that major corporations are likely to break out into a new round of global corporate wars to resolve the various contradictions triggered by the “Misstep Crisis.”

In response to the Misstep Crisis, giant corporations claimed it was a general artificial intelligence disorder, also mentioning the chaotic guidance of the Corporate Alliance.

“It’s like all the companies suddenly went mad for a moment, probably related to Farosa’s actions earlier,” Xu Yang said, “but things should return to normal within a month.”

“I don’t believe they will ‘normalize’ just like that,” Farosa was enthusiastic.

“I believe they will come to blows.”

“There will always be wise people who choose restraint.

Once war breaks out, it’s hard to end,” Xu Yang said.

“Yet war can solve a hundred issues that negotiation, crying, and pleading can’t,” Farosa revealed a cold smirk.

Just as Xu Yang was about to continue, a pop-up for breaking news appeared on his phone.

——”Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing presents evidence, asserting Black Fire Innovation’s primary responsibility in the Shenkong Tower destruction incident.”