Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 302 - 273 Advanced Technology

Chapter 302: Chapter 273 Advanced Technology

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"Where has Du Qianqian gone?" Xu Yang couldn’t help feeling astonished.

The witches looked at each other in bewilderment.

In these chaotic times, it would be troublesome if Du Qianqian were to die in some corner of the city, Xu Yang thought to himself. Farosa wouldn’t specifically look for Du Qianqian since she was nowhere near as important as Pan Ruiyi. At this point, Farosa would most likely find other witches to replace her.

He didn’t wish for Du Qianqian to die unattended in a cold, dark corner, so he decided to set out in search of her. However, Anjiu City was so vast that he had to exhaust all efforts to look for any trace of her.

"Ah," Shallow Dream suddenly remembered, "she went out to buy food earlier, she usually heads to the Federro Mc Gee Shopping Plaza."

Shallow Dream’s memory was also vague, after all, Du Qianqian often wore different faces, making her hard to track. Sometimes, it was hard to distinguish her, thinking that a stranger had infiltrated the building, and Du Qianqian enjoyed living a care-free life, changing her face daily.

"I’ll go fish her out in a bit," Xu Yang said, exhausted. He lay down on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest.

On the other hand, Kirino Reisei also urgently contacted the head of Kyoto Infinity’s network security department for consultation and accountability.

Receiving the message, the head was equally helpless.

Network security is a precarious department. Its core issue is that it doesn’t generate revenue. The company’s core businesses, such as animation production, sales, human resources, production, thought control... are all glamorous and pay high salaries. They are a group of strong forces tirelessly bringing benefits to the company. The network security department has always been awkward within the company. On one hand, it’s difficult to obtain funds, and on the other hand, whenever such troubles occur, it’s as if the sky is falling.

What could he do?

The core areas were either blown up or crushed under the trampling of Yama. The network security staff in the city center had been killed in the first wave of air raids, and now he could only silently console the victims in his heart. The rest of the elite were invested in two aspects: one was the core database of Kyoto Infinity, which encompassed all the data codes of the entire enterprise since its inception, and it cannot afford to fail. The other was at the warfront between Bibo City, Satsu City, where the best network security employees held their ground against the hacking disturbance from Black Fire Innovation headquarters, attempting to assist the naval and air force in advancing and reclaiming lost territory.

If he pulled people back from these two critical areas, it might trigger a collapse at the headquarters or the front line, which would be an even bigger problem.

Therefore, he couldn’t repair it in time and instead brought up the topic of Cyber Specters, suspecting it to be secretly causing trouble.

"Cyber Specter," the head replied with certainty, "the network monster active within Aizu City... It must be the mastermind behind these schemes."

Cyber Specter? Kirino Reisei felt vigilant. News about Cyber Specters had always been elusive and hard to substantiate.

She had to come up with a solution, so she cut the communication and turned her attention to New World Mechanism.

New World Mechanism, recommended by the reliable president of Kakuya Media, Kitada Ryuuji, was an information service unit, a network security team. Its representative had always been very mysterious, with vast technical knowledge, and should be able to match wits with a Cyber Specter.

Most importantly, this New World Mechanism had dispatched the formidable A40, who had made quite the spectacle at the Colosseum combat festival.

Poison Sword, Rapid Slash, completely lacking in samurai honor, The Lost Swordsmanship... Various tactics were highly topical, and New World Mechanism, who dispatched A40, had been rising in fame in the past few days. Many people had asked Kirino Reisei about New World Mechanism, so she believed the company had a good hand to play and could compete to some extent with the mysterious and powerful Cyber Specter.

She entered the secret channel and saw that unfamiliar avatar, feeling a trace of relief. During the prior meeting, the other party had been polite and technically competent, even resolving the issue with the Hundred-eyes Demon and uncovering the hidden hazard of the Tenjouin Family.

Please, New World Mechanism.

Xu Yang was still resting when he received a text message from Kirino Reisei.

"Are you in Anjiu City? Please be careful, war has broken out."

"I’m currently overseas," Xu Yang replied. "What do you need?"

"Sorry, but once again, I need the help of New World Mechanism. Last time you uncovered the truth behind the tampered Hundred-eyes Demon, this time I need your assistance to investigate why the Century Pure Land System went offline in Anjiu City."

She attached the technical documents from the time of the incident and the work logs of the network security personnel.

"A powerful hacker must be influencing all of this from behind. Lady Kirino Reisei, do you have any clues?"

"I was actually hoping to hear your opinion. Did you know? There are rumors of a Cyber Specter in Anjiu City."

"I’ve heard as well. It’s an unstable fellow."

"Almost the most unstable, the threat level within the company is constantly being raised."

"To influence the course of the war... this is no ordinary hacker. We must strike hard."

"Are you familiar with this sort of modus operandi?"

"I suspect it’s a renegade artificial intelligence roaming the cyber world. This Cyber Specter that I’ve come to understand a bit, it appears and disappears unpredictably, masters network attack and defense techniques, employs means seldom seen in the world, and must exist as a digital life at the data code level, otherwise, it couldn’t do all these things."

"I really don’t understand these technical maneuvers. According to you, is the Cyber Specter undefeatable? Can we only sit and watch it run rampant in Anjiu City? Or can we hire network security to hunt it down on the network, like hunting prey?"

"Of course, we can," Xu Yang responded gravely. "The Cyber Specter must reside on the network. Hence, it will certainly leave traces. If we find the data medium it parasitizes and delete it, we should be able to destroy the Cyber Specter once and for all!"

"Alas, if we had hunted down and killed the Cyber Specter earlier, the situation wouldn’t have spiraled out of control like this."

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"However, there’s still a chance to remedy the situation. If a suitable investment is made to the New World Mechanism, our company will also try every means to assist in the capture of the Cyber Specter,"

"I will attempt it. That being said, the New World Mechanism really has surprised us a great deal—the representative samurai, A40, who appeared in the championship, was virtually invincible,"

"It was the key to our turning defeat into victory. It’s said that you intend to promote the champion of the fighting festival to the position of First Warrior?"

"Yes, but I am not sure if the ritual will be effective on a Synthetic Human,"

"It needs a similar acknowledgement. In any case, at the very least grant it some rewards from a distance, so it realizes its own valor,"

"It deserves that. Thank you for your suggestion! I hope that after this crisis, our company can engage in deeper cooperation with the New World Mechanism. Farewell!"

Xu Yang inwardly cried out, Don’t stop the conversation now.

He wanted to discuss more with Kirino Reisei, most importantly to find out when the space motherships, Yokozuna and Orochi, would be able to safely return to defense! But before he could get to this crucial piece of information, the entire world quaked violently.

Boom!

The entire Shijin Mansion shook violently, with light objects flying everywhere. Xu Yang barely managed to stand and made his way to the window. He saw a huge cloud of smoke rising from the direction of the port, covering the sky and trembling the heavens. It was likely visible from tens of kilometers away—the fiery inferno seemed to scorch the sky.

"Ah! Ah—"

"That is..." 102 was stunned.

"The oil tanks have been bombed," Xu Yang guessed, "The crude oil storage facilities in the port have been destroyed."

This affected the lifeline of the Kyoto Infinity troops. Without fuel, modern armies can’t be mobilized. Only a few advanced ships powered by nuclear energy could be deployed, while all other vehicles and ships had to cease operations. Without the support of these auxiliary ships and logistics, space motherships could do nothing but idle in the port, awaiting the next batch of fuel before they could launch a combined strike.

Even the saying "earth-shattering" could hardly describe the current situation, with aftershocks continuing and shaking everywhere.

Farosa was communicating with Lila.

"So, my dear Lila," Farosa inquired, "are you saying the Rat Witch has become a deity? Or rather, has she developed a subtle Divine Power?"

"Indeed," Lila responded, "Both powers—the enhancement of vitality and the Electromagnetic Pulse—should be able to resonate with Divine Power, but she needs your guidance. She still does not know how to properly utilize it."

"She will grow under my guidance." Farosa intended to bring wisdom to the Rat Witch, or rather, to bring her into her fold.

Rat Deity, Rat Goddess? Regardless, it had transcended the realm of an ordinary rat.

At the moment of the port’s bombing, Farosa was knocked off the bed and slid across the floor. Picking up her phone with its shattered screen, she cursed inwardly and decided to take proactive action to completely sweep the remnant chaos away.

This ship and beast had been her prey, and now they must be punished.

Using Magic Power, Farosa restored the chaotic state of her secret chamber, then hurried out to survey the situation, only to find that Du Qianqian was missing.

"Where is she?" Farosa frowned, "My ritual cannot proceed without her."

"We won’t find her in a short time," Xu Yang said, "You all go back to Aizu City, I will look for her."

"I trust you." Without further words, Farosa needed to go to Aizu City’s Underground City to resolve the unresolved matters.

"It’s very dangerous outside..." 101 worried about Xu Yang’s safety.

"I’ll protect the boss!" 102 stepped forward bravely.

"Don’t worry," Xu Yang got up, "102, come with me, that’s all."

"You don’t look too good." Farosa wanted to restore Xu Yang.

"No need, I can manage on my own," Xu Yang resisted the fatigue and pressure.

Just now, his digital life form had undergone drastic changes. His mind had integrated vital thorough files and data archives.

Physiologically, his neural synapses had also established related memory mechanisms to aid in his next "departure and return", If all these were to be restored at once, there was a risk of losing this layer of experience.

Xu Yang aspired to exhaust all methods to explore the limits of this technology. To this day, he had adapted from his initial discomfort and wanted to know the depth of transformation that could be achieved between humans and digital life forms.

Consciousness transfer was the easy part, as there were many minds living in servers and hard drives. The difficulty was how to return, how to seamlessly switch between two forms.

If he could exist as a digital entity for a long period and in a stable manner without hindering his normal human life, then Xu Yang had undoubtedly acquired a tremendously powerful technological method, powerful enough to induce a metamorphosis and complete a life form transformation from a technological standpoint.

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