Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 274 - 246 Global Hacker Conference

Chapter 274: Chapter 246 Global Hacker Conference

The Werewolf called for a timeout, so there was a break in the middle.

During that time, Xu Yang had been focusing on the latest frontier knowledge in cybersecurity and checking technical documents on the Formless System’s site.

Cybersecurity personnel and hackers are like two sides of the same coin; cybersecurity personnel are deeply familiar with the vulnerabilities in systems used by companies, so once they turn into hackers, they can quickly master many core techniques.

Corporate positions provide saturated working hours, but some things can’t be resolved simply by investing time, and there are too many ancient vulnerabilities that are difficult to maintain; most of the time, they are just left there, ignored by everyone, and even those who want to fix them find it beyond their power.

Since his escape, Xu Yang had exploited many of his peers’ oversights, finding opportunities in the cracks and indeed achieving quite a bit. But the struggle between the spear and the shield was so intense that it continuously spurred each other to evolve.

If he didn’t grow, by next year at the latest, the newly established cyber security systems would lock him out.

The biggest problem lay in the fact that Xu Yang had already left his front-line position at Kyushu High Pavilion, and the massive data accumulation and archives of the giant corporations were long gone. If he wanted to keep himself at the forefront of technology, it required a hundred times more concentration, making the materials provided by the Formless System extraordinarily precious.

As the largest hacker alliance within the deep anonymous network, the Formless System was an organization worth paying attention to, but its members were scattered all over the world, and each was unmanageably idiosyncratic. Xu Yang saw many hackers in the Formless System behaving as if they were showing off trophies, uploading their new achievements to the deep anonymous network every day—creating backdoors in banks to steal funds, hacking into security bases to interfere with corporate wars, or revealing large-scale corporate manipulation of public information.

He discussed this topic with "Relay Machine."

"There are so many excellent hackers in the Formless System, have you ever considered acting together?" Xu Yang sent a message.

"Oh man," the Relay Machine was now online and responded quickly, "Everyone uses different tools and programs, has different identities and statuses, different ideologies, even different species. The Formless System has humans, robots, and Witches; it’s too difficult to unite. The most mainstream group, under the founder Todd’s leadership, wants to rebuild the freest network world, but that’s about it, nothing more."

Indeed, Xu Yang mused internally. In this era, hackers are perhaps the most romantic and unbounded profession.

Full of an exploratory spirit and ambitious, most of their actions are self-serving, but they also inadvertently shake the foundations of corporatism. All their actions are a contempt for the Corporate Alliance’s cyber security laws, continuously triggering information security breaches and financial risks, a powerful counterstrike by individuals against the system.

"What kind of person is Todd?" Xu Yang continued to inquire. "Is he the one who established the Formless System?"

"He’s a sturdy guy, look at the selfies he posts on social media," the Relay Machine replied, attaching a photo of Todd—a white man with curly brown beard, green eyes, and a big physique, standing in a yard, holding his brown long-haired dog, "This is a photo from 50 years ago. Every year on his birthday, we in the Formless System keep editing his photo, merging his face with popular outdated memes to make them funny. Back then he still had his own body, family, and pool, now he lives in disks and terminals."

Although a renowned hacker, Todd’s activities were limited to New Taixi State, with little influence elsewhere. Xu Yang had only learned about him during his early training and now had to revisit the information.

Todd Compton, a New Taixi State native, was the Corporate Alliance’s number one wanted criminal, a top hacker who posed a significant threat to corporatism. His past was shrouded in mystery, and he was involved in over 230 charges relating to multiple attacks against large companies, breaches of information, and endangering cyber security.

Due to increased efforts to capture him, Todd had long since vanished from the public eye. The publicly circulated wanted poster was almost identical to the one the Relay Machine sent. Lighthouse Core was responsible for his bounty, with an amount reaching 1.429 billion funds.

"Is he the most powerful hacker in the world?" Xu Yang asked.

"Of course, a cool guy. If you download files from our site, the unattributed ones were edited by him. He’s got a big heart."

Xu Yang nodded inwardly. If that was the case, then 90% of the documents he had been studying at the Formless System were written by Todd; he was almost another mentor to him, greatly helping to broaden his horizons and enhance his technical methods.

"Is there still a chance to contact him now?"

"Haha," relayed the Relay Machine, "No one can find him."

"How so?"

"He buried himself somewhere deeper than the deep web. But he’s coming back out. The world is in turmoil, and it’s shaken him awake. Next May, the Formless System is calling a global hackers’ conference, and all the elite hackers in the world who have a name and a standard will be there."

"Can I participate?" Xu Yang couldn’t help but feel curious.

The world’s top hackers gathered together, anything discussed at this conference would make the corporations tremble.

"I’ll try, there are still quite a few spots left," the Relay Machine responded, "If you really want to be among the top hackers in the world, you can’t miss the chance to interact with Todd."

"Then, thank you," Xu Yang replied.

"No problem, brother, keep in touch." The Relay Machine had other matters and went offline.

Global hackers’ conference...

What a great opportunity, Xu Yang mused internally. He was still like a blind man regarding the core databases of the mega-corporations, unable to lay hands on them without knowing their intelligence; he could only attack indirectly, which ultimately fell short.

He still needed to seek guidance from the top hacking experts who were naturally gifted in technology, who all started from scratch to understand how to attack mega-corporations, with their unique understanding of corporate information defense projects and mastery of special methods known only to themselves.

If he wanted to achieve similar feats, it was imperative to acquire knowledge from them.

After updating his own knowledge reserves, a new engagement erupted on the field.

This was the final match, and if A40 won, Shijin Mansion would fall into Xu Yang’s hands. This well-suited office building could serve as their base for taking root in Anjiu City, expanding their influence, and pushing their work to a higher level.

"Good day, sir. Sorry to disturb you." The match resumed, and Nakatani Mikiko also reconnected the line.

"Any news?" Xu Yang found the interface and charged his Digital Mind.

"A company wishes to have your player endorse their product," said Nakatani Mikiko. "In the Colosseum, players often make a 15-second promotional appearance before the official matches, and each endorsement could bring you a substantial return!"

"Turn it down," said Xu Yang, "We have our own partners."

"Then, the finals have begun. May your player be blessed with good fortune in battle!" Nakatani Mikiko said cheerfully.

A40 strode into the arena.

Across from it, the beast-like modified human likewise approached. He wore only a disposable gray pair of sports shorts, his body was covered in thick hair, and the wounds he sustained in the morning’s fight had healed, leaving only faint scars.

A full set of chemical pumps were implanted into his back, with six green tubular objects constantly injecting high-potency combat drugs into his bloodstream, maintaining his high heart rate at all times while monitoring his metabolic state to provide strong combat assurance.

"Roar!" He knew how much time there was before the match started, and not wanting to miss his chance, he picked the most opportune moment to transform, his body swelling rapidly as the biotechnological modifications initiated a complete metamorphosis into a non-human creature.

Having turned into a werewolf, he opened a huge weapons case passed to him by the logistics personnel and pulled out a massive sword to be swung with both hands!

To match the werewolf’s gigantic form, the sword also had an exaggerated length of 2.5 meters and seemed to have been urgently custom-made; it didn’t even have promotional stickers attached.

It was probably because A40 killed its opponent with a single attack that morning, so Ultimate Technology Company, who supported the werewolf, had also prepared a backup plan, giving him a weapon so he wouldn’t have to block A40’s blade with his body.

Quick reaction, pondered Xu Yang. The combat was confined to melee weapons and close-quarters battle, and the narrowness of the track had fostered an extreme, pathological sort of competition.

True Colosseum combat.

Opposite the bioengineered werewolf, A40 held its blade. Compared to the morning’s match, it seemed even more indifferent, not even executing its script for pre-fight excitement, simply tuning itself to its best, most perfect condition.

A40 looked up at the dome of the venue. The downpour had been continuous since 6 a.m. and showed no sign of stopping. The torrential rain slid down the curved surface of the Colosseum Arena.

"Only melee weapons may be used, no ranged methods, no other rules," the electronic referee announced as usual, then with a forceful wave of the hand signified, "Begin the battle!"

As the words dropped, A40’s vision processor turned directly ahead.

Its body vanished from its original spot—

Faster than before!

A40 had become accustomed to the Colosseum’s venue and logic; it began operating in an overloaded state, its speed significantly increased, its central processor quickly heating up. In exchange for this, it gained more precise judgment in battle and more lethal combat movements.

Rapid Slash!

The werewolf roared, its combat prowess not lacking, perhaps its brain was preloaded with combat files, allowing it to execute intricate swordsmanship. It swung the massive sword with both hands, the blade sweeping across like a crescent moon!

Rip!

A40 landed swiftly, rolled on the ground; and by the time it finished moving, it was already beyond the werewolf.

It raised its blood-stained Fury towards the sky as if to let the distant rain cleanse the blood from the blade.

Behind A40, the werewolf was still completing the motion of a horizontal sword swing, but one side of its ribcage had been completely slashed open, the deep wound exposing bone, and dark purple twisted blood pouring out unrestrained.

The nanobots hidden in its fur worked rapidly, stitching the wound at high speed, making it appear as though the werewolf had never been injured. The werewolf uttered a roar weaker than before, stumbled towards A40, first raising the giant sword over its head, then letting it drop to the ground, and finally dragging it behind.

It looked at A40, its eyes shifting from furious rage to creeping terror.

Then, the werewolf collapsed heavily forward, crashing onto the floor with a thunderous sound. His body quickly withered, reverting to that of a man with half-wolf features, lying on the ground emitting pain-filled groans.

A40 turned back and delivered a final blow to end his opponent’s suffering.

"The victor has been decided!" announced the Electronic Referee. "The ultimate winner of this match, from the New World Mechanism, the Samurai, A40!"

A40 gave a deep bow to the corpse of the werewolf and then quietly walked out of the arena.