Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 163 - 141: Ancient Connections

Chapter 163: Chapter 141: Ancient Connections

Swinging on a swing set, riding on a carousel, watching movies, eating ice cream.

"Here, this is a gift for you." A40 took out a parcel, opened a small game cartridge called "The Little Bee Out of its Cage", and handed it to Huang Feng.

"What a tedious gift." Huang Feng was unimpressed; she enjoyed bullying A40, and A40 frequently showed a passive side, "Can’t you just do it with me?"

"But I don’t have the bird..."

"You can’t do it without the bird? Since when is a bird such an inconvenient thing." Huang Feng was increasingly dissatisfied.

A40 escaped from Huang Feng to practice the art of slicing bullets with Rolo. Ever since Rolo retired, he hadn’t fully relaxed his muscles for a long time, and A40 was becoming an adequate punching bag, suitable for him to regain his old form.

Huang Feng walked back to the depths of the warehouse to the game console, inserted "The Little Bee Out of its Cage" cartridge into the game terminal, and a prompt appeared, asking Huang Feng to connect to the terminal, stating that this was a virtual reality game that required the player to play while connected.

She shrugged; every time she played such games, her cerebral sync system would seriously malfunction, and she would have to quit within 3 minutes.

Lying back, she propped her feet up on the console, pulled out a data cable from deep within her hair at the back of her head with her left hand, and plugged it into the console. The expected mental scene shift did not occur; instead, the screen switched to a communication segment.

"Hello, this is an edited program. You only need to express your thoughts and make choices through the console’s joystick and buttons."

Huang Feng was taken aback. On the screen appeared a little bee, created in the rudimentary graphics of an 8bit pixel game. At that moment, it was being strictly supervised by a guardsman, with a beam of light appearing on the left side of the screen.

This was even more a stream-of-consciousness chaos than her current psychological state. Huang Feng controlled the little bee to fly to the right, straight at the guardsman, and was quickly counter-attacked and killed, withering away.

Re-entering the game, she made the little bee escape the guardsman and run into the beam of light, and was quickly detected. A bomb on the little bee exploded, disintegrating into nothing.

Damn it. Even playing a crappy game means death, huh. Huang Feng bitterly resented it, kicking the console.

Rolo, who was far away, heard the noise and looked back at Huang Feng playing the heart-wrenching little game, indifferent.

The little bee was flying in its cage; Huang Feng carelessly yanked at the joystick and buttons, and it also moved erratically.

After hovering in place for 30 seconds, a guardsman on the right side of the screen assigned it a task. Huang Feng subconsciously wanted to refuse, but considering this was a surprisingly shoddy adventure game, refusal might still result in a bullet, so to avoid torment, it chose to work for the guard.

As the little bee completed one task after another, its treatment improved, and the scene kept changing. The little bee accumulated merits through repeated adventures.

The game was nearly conquered, and the little bee faced the final battle.

The initial beam of light had now transformed into a transcendent, god-like being, battling against a legion represented by the guardsman.

The little bee was caught in the middle, facing a second choice. By this time, the little bee looked much more spirited than its initial sickly, weak appearance, with more gold coins and points accumulated.

I can turn to the good guys now. Which company is sending me an invitation? Huang Feng thought to herself.

It seems A40 is just someone sent by another company to get in touch with me. Disgusting, and this game is truly devoid of interest.

No matter where I go, I’m bound all the same. What’s the point?

She knew the drill, controlled the little bee to fly into the light, but unexpectedly, what she saw was not any hope, redemption, or lie, but a gruesome ending animation—

The little bee flew away from the planet, watching from the heights of space as every person on the ground was slaughtered, every witch smashed to pieces, every city, and every company dissolved into nothingness; the universe and the galaxy couldn’t escape the ruthless command over reality, the little bee had taken its revenge for its painful past.

The true "Command Reality", just as if it were a deity.

Huang Feng felt agitated all over.

She lunged forward, grasping the sides of the screen, savoring the supreme vision, at last a story that was written just the way she thought it should be. At the end of the conclusion, a line of text appeared on the screen:

"Based on your current actions, you’ll just decay in a corner unknown to all, pathetic and meaningless.

I want you to be patient and wait. I know what you want to do, and I support your ideas unconditionally, no matter how mad they might be.

I want you to grow, and then make the right choice when the time is right.

I am your new god."

This was exactly what Huang Feng needed. She panted heavily.

She needed a being wicked enough, even more wicked than herself, with sufficient intent to annihilate this world. If such a person really existed, Huang Feng would join them without hesitation. Now that person had sent a message.

The game ended, the contents of the cartridge erased and self-formatted, she pulled the cable out from the console.

Huang Feng pondered for a long while.

Late, Huang Feng and A40 finished up their business, she lit a cigarette and asked it, "Who exactly is your employer?"

A40 curled up next to Huang Feng, hugging her knees, trembling continuously, while Huang Feng’s tools lay scattered nearby.

"I don’t have an employer," A40 said, "I’m a typical self-employed individual."

"You’re tight-lipped, but it’s a pity you’re only tight upstairs."

While using the restroom at midnight, Rolo was still guarding Huang Feng.

"Let me go on a mission," Huang Feng said, "I can recreate an entire arms dealer shop."

"Patience," Rolo leaned against the restroom door, "wait for the department’s instructions."

"Oh." That was exactly what Huang Feng needed.

"You know about the error crisis, the magic power readings were off the charts, everyone suspected the existence of an exceptionally powerful Witch, and companies started activating their secret weapons prematurely—they won’t just lie back down... The next corporate war will be bloody and messy, and we’ll need Command Reality’s help."

"As long as you treat me fairly."

"We’ve always been fair... you’re getting serious." Rolo noticed the change in Huang Feng.

"It’s not an illusion; it is so indeed." Huang Feng got up and flushed.

Elsewhere, in the industrial park, as Huang Feng connected with the terminal machine, Xu Yang collected her brainwave activity; it was indeed a mess. Huang Feng’s thoughts were unconventional; she could normally interact and make decisions, but that was just her playing a normal person out of habitual living, in reality, she might very well have a major episode at an important moment, releasing only the most critical illness.

The mini-game was an open-source project that Xu Yang scraped from the depths of the anonymous network, with the script edited by Farosa.

"Once the seed is planted, the future will yield its harvest." Farosa said, "I will achieve Ascension, and Huang Feng will seek to cooperate with Blackfire to obtain a new status. Then when we meet again in the future, she will know how to choose."

Currently, Huang Feng was a complete liability, a burden and difficult to control. Nestor Corporation was not as wealthy as Black Fire Innovation, willing to allocate mammoth funds to maintain Huang Feng.

The only option was to encourage Huang Feng to work with Blackfire, to help her hone her power, while also cultivating her rebellious spirit, to ensure her stance.

"But you also wouldn’t indulge her notion of destroying the world," Xu Yang said, "you just want to use her."

"Of course, I will let her discover at the moment before her death that all of this was just a lie," Farosa left.

There was a large room in the industrial park that was originally used as a fire equipment warehouse, which Farosa requisitioned for her own laboratory and shrine, strictly forbidding anyone else from entering, and removed the cameras to prevent Xu Yang from being a spectator. There, Farosa had to carry out her Ascension plan which would be troublesome if observed.

So far, only three loyal Witch followers were available, four more were required to conduct the first ritual. Since Farosa had already devoured an Ancient God, her body already contained the potential of a deity. If Farosa’s predictions were correct, the result of the ritual would completely transform her into a lesser deity, with a portion of Farosa’s own Divine Power.

She shook the Golden Branch in her hand, and Farosa used Divine Power to exude seawater from her palm, moistening the branch, then placed the moistened Golden Branch on a small earthen platform. Soon, the Golden Branch sprouted thorns and poison spikes, emitting a mist of intertwining dark purple and emerald green—a sign that the Forest Master had made contact through the Golden Branch and was ready to communicate.

Originally, Farosa could have used the Throne of God’s power to communicate with the Ancient Mystics as if convening a court session, but that was too conspicuous, only utilized once when Farosa was particularly arrogant in the past. Now she no longer teased those ancient beings.

Aged, hoarse voices resonated within the mottled aura.

"It’s you..." The Forest Master recognized Farosa’s aura, "... the Witch who devoured a god, took my Golden Branch, what do you intend to do?"

"I want to make a deal with you," Farosa said.

"... I have nothing to give to you."

"You can, I need ancient ceremonial equipment and Dewdrops," she said.

"I cannot give them to you."

"The Golden Branch is here, subject to development, there must be your believers in the city, I can take from them."

"I will not betray my believers."

"Don’t worry, I also want you to enhance our Miracle of the oath’s power to the point where the members can communicate from the soul level."

"What will you use to entice me to agree to these rude, disrespectful, and shameful demands?"

"I’ll release Zenith, let it go to the far north to free you."

The light of the Golden Branch suddenly grew more intense.

The whole room lit up.

"How did you come up with..." The Forest Master couldn’t resist the offer.

"Now, I am one of the very few who can communicate with Zenith," Farosa said, "once I free it, with its intelligence, it will trust and obey me. Its size, thermal energy and solar prowess are all sufficient to support it to the Far North Lands, to break the bonds you endure, allowing you to revive."

"Heading north from the Archipelago Continent..."

"Yes, I will have Zenith rise from the sea and head north, forging a path with blazing fire and sunlight, stepping over the islands of Kyoto Infinity, flattening the cities of many companies on the ground. We shall protect it, ensure it does not halt, until it reaches the far north, to release you from the agonizing cold. I imagine, you, weary and exhausted, would desire to visit the Archipelago Continent, surrounded by the ocean, with many islands, and a warm climate suitable for you to rebuild your strength."

The Golden Branch began to tremble.

"... You have become smarter than a thousand years ago."

"After all, I am a Witch of the Cyber Era."

Farosa reached out and caressed the Golden Branch, lifting it high; its light lingered on.

"So, does this mean you agree?"