Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 558 - 478: Double Deep Dive

Chapter 558: Chapter 478: Double Deep Dive

After boarding the shuttle craft, Rinne wanted to show off her skills to this Mr. Xu from the company, so she followed the instructions and entered the anonymous network’s hacker board, ready to take on the challenge of the question bank.

When her garbled account appeared, dozens of idle hackers instantly detected her and designated her as their new target, taking pleasure in provoking and overwhelming newcomers.

"A strange ID, huh."

"Let’s put some pressure on it."

"Another one’s headed for their doom."

"The deep anonymous network is no happy land."

"Dare to break into here, we’ll make you famous in three seconds."

"We know who you are, where you live, and what job you do."

"Watch how I f*ck you up!"

Countless profanities, provocations, and insults flooded toward Rinne’s data threads.

The hackers, by nature, were data thieves and information pilferers, increasing the pressure on her.

Most of her consciousness remained in her original body; she could still see her surroundings. Opening her eyes, she saw Xu Yang sitting calmly across from her.

Does this guy want to see me embarrass myself?

Rinne wanted to compete with these hackers. Her slender toes flickered, black stockings clinging to her skin, outlining the contours of her thighs, diamond-shaped cutouts on the sides of her shorts revealing the soft and tender white skin without reserve.

"There are a lot of freaks on the anonymous network," Rinne said.

"A no real-name world of the net, huh..." Xu Yang responded, "It’s got all sorts of people on it."

"They want to know who I am, to crack the encrypted routes," Rinne said, feeling on guard as she tried to defend, "I don’t want them to trace me."

"Let them try their best; if they find a single flaw, consider it my loss."

Rinne waited for several dozen seconds, forever waiting for the digital attack, as if the hackers’ means of attack remained only in words.

That’s a bit strange...

Is it because their skills aren’t refined? Rinne judged.

No... It’s because of this shuttle craft!

Now, she suddenly realized the secrecy of this black vessel; the ship’s data shielding modules were so effective, they protected her from being traced, yet didn’t impede her from entering the deep web, a most convenient vehicle indeed, far superior to any hiding place Rinne had used in the past.

"You’ve noticed, haven’t you?" Xu Yang perceived the shift in Rinne’s expression from tense to relaxed.

"Yeah, it’s pretty safe..." Rinne let her guard down and instead began to actively attract the hackers, asking them to track her signal data.

"Damn it!"

"We’ve been underestimated!"

"A newbie dares to be this arrogant..."

"Teach it a lesson!" The defiant anonymous hackers madly cracked systems, dug for the source of the signal, tracked network signals, passed through database management systems, and searched for the target within various proxy servers.

All to no avail.

Most hackers sensed something amiss right at the start, even the most arrogant ones now had to reassess this new account.

"Tch..."

"Hiding in a data fortress."

"This person..."

Noticing the failure alerts one after another, Rinne couldn’t help but wear a triumphant smile, having tricked them.

"You do have quite the machine," Rinne said, "this vessel from Black Fire Innovation."

"It’s my spoils of war."

Rinne’s interest piqued—spoils of war? He defeated Black Fire Innovation and yet emerged unscathed, seizing such a fully-featured special agent ship.

"Huh," she closed her eyes and leaned back, relaxing, "anyway, the deep anonymous network is indeed dangerous."

"If you enter without any protection, of course, it’s going to be more dangerous than the public net," Xu Yang agreed, nodding, "One must be careful whether connecting with simulated signals or deep diving with consciousness, it’s full of perverts, maniacs, and technical experts."

"But you’re not afraid at all," Rinne said.

This man was well-trained, seemingly well-versed in the art of cyber warfare, which only made Rinne more curious to know everything about him.

"Dealing with it day after day, I’ve seen all kinds of weirdness," Xu Yang, who would also routinely invade the anonymous network during his time at Kyushu High Pavilion, checking for risks about Xia and destroying underground transactions.

"This shuttle craft is quite exquisite," Rinne scrutinized Xu Yang, "but it’s not the machinery that’s powerful, it’s you, with the capability to protect me."

"And you have tasks to complete," Xu Yang reminded her.

Rinne used the key provided by Xu Yang to unlock the question bank.

The Formless System’s people were responsible for maintenance; the hackers’ trial questions were stacked here, now totaling over ten thousand simulated scenarios. Visitors had to improvise freely in 100 randomly called hacking situations until they achieved victory.

"How much do I need to accomplish?" Rinne began the challenge.

"A 50% success rate will suffice," Xu Yang said.

"Underestimating me?" Rinne bent down to put on her shoes, sat up straight, and began to access the hacking question bank.

[Year 133 May - Tristan Bank heist at the White Elephant Continent’s Koruiz Region]

A typical hacking scenario.

The bank’s financial system was outdated and vulnerable. Using malicious software supplied by the question bank, Rinne attacked access points, withdrawing large sums of funds and transferring them to designated cash cards.

Initially, the process went smoothly, but as she delved deeper, Rinne had to maintain intense key spellings and validation work, attempting to counter the Tristan Company’s cybersecurity personnel.

Everything was simulated by algorithms. While real-world cybersecurity workers might slack off, the program killers in the question bank wouldn’t ease up in the slightest, pushing a hacker’s skills to the limit!

Such intense work consumed a massive amount of Rinne’s computing power. She quickly heated up in her seat, eventually triggering the self-protection mechanism. She had to exit the question bank before extracting a billion funds, failing the challenge.

"The implant is overheating." Rinne was drenched in sweat, gasping for air, her body hot and aching as if filled with electric heating rods.

Shimmering sweat dripped down her skin, leaving luminescent trails; her clothes were completely soaked, revealing every curve.

"Looks like we still need to cool down physically?" Xu Yang pondered.

"Working in a place like this," Rinne said between breaths, while asking contemptuously, "don’t you also need equipment support?"

"As long as the operating speed is fast enough, there’s no problem," Xu Yang showed Rinne how he worked.

Rinne carefully followed his access routes.

[Year 120 August - "Cheap Buy" online shopping company intrusion incident]

After gaining port clearance, Rinne could closely observe how Xu Yang handled the data. She saw that in the simulated scenario, approximately 200,000 virtual access programs were generated, overwhelming "Cheap Buy" with a massive data attack that halted the regional online shopping services for nine months, five months longer than the actual historical event.

All of it was accomplished in an instant!

Truly impressive. Rinne admired silently. With such processing speed, the risk of overheating indeed can be avoided.

"Digital Mind." Rinne stood up from her wet seat, which bore the mark of her sitting there.

"A mirror has two sides. Users of the Digital Mind, on one hand, are high-level engineers providing cybersecurity services; on the other, they are hackers with immeasurable power," Xu Yang gestured, flipping his hand back and forth to show the difference between palm and back, "... how it is used entirely depends on the person."

"I will have one too," Rinne thought of the promise Lu Jing had made and quietly sat down again.

"Then, you will become a great attacker," Xu Yang said, "mastering everything on the network, and you’ll be able to dive deeper much more easily. For the Helis Sea, ordinary access only has a 15% efficiency; with a Digital Mind, you can reach 100% efficiency."

Rinne grasped her sweat-soaked footie socks with both hands, taking off her soaked socks as a misty white steam rose from her bare feet.

Xu Yang handed Rinne a towel from the cabinet.

"Thank you." Rinne stood in the middle of the aisle drying herself, "...So, when we reach our destination, are you going to carry me into the bathtub?"

"It’s a bit more high-tech than that," Xu Yang felt that Rinne was youthful and vibrant. She possessed an indefatigable power, a reservoir of untapped potential, energy, and courage.

She was also trustworthy. According to Xu Yang’s confidential background check, a year ago, Rinne’s team had a life-or-death conflict with a large corporate group on the West Coast; the details were strictly archived, suggesting it was a topic the corporation didn’t want to reminisce, fearing others might follow suit.

As Xu Yang was reflecting, Rinne looked up.

"With such technology," she said, "...why do you still work at Nestor Corporation? You could live comfortably without worry; if you wanted, you could earn a lot of funds, and even if not the richest person in the world, you could still make it onto the wealth rankings. You could be financially free without the company."

"Ambition lies elsewhere," Xu Yang said.

Rinne pursed her lips, scrutinizing him.

Oddly, she felt the man was particularly "lonely."

Why was that? With so much, yet still alone.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the renovated Anjiu City.

Rinne had no time to admire the large-scale Nestor industrial zones, hailed as "New Infrastructure," as the Anonymous had already entered the Shijin Mansion.

The mansion was empty, as the Witches had all moved to the Xisheng Shrine, leaving the New World Mechanism’s self-holding land with only a few Synthetic Maids working here.

"Such a heavily fortified building." As Rinne wandered the white corridors, conducting scans with her ocular implants, she found anti-magic power coatings and laser turrets hidden within the walls, with cables and pipes well-protected, and all kinds of facilities at the ready. "Is this building ours now?"

"To be precise, it’s mine. But if you perform well, you can consider this place your own hideout," Xu Yang said.

Not bad at all. Rinne looked around. Everywhere there were high-spec terminals and servers, free-to-use 3D printers, Virtual Reality Pods, holodecks, automatic cooking machines, home theaters, swimming pools, and gyms, with Synthetic Maids moving back and forth, maintaining the daily operations of the building.

If it’s just one or two people living here, it would be too luxurious.

Xu Yang led her into the tech room, where inside the vast tech pods, she would have the chance to observe and learn about the model of the Helis Sea.

"The entrance to the Helis Sea is here," Xu Yang said. "I’ll try to synchronize with you and guide you in the dive."

"You’re dressed so thickly, not afraid of overheating yourself to death," Rinne said as she folded her Personal Blade, jacket, t-shirt, shorts, and socks neatly on the ground and climbed onto the tech pod.

"I’ve built all of this with my own hands." Xu Yang adjusted the circuits in the tech pod. "They’ve treated me well, and I will make thousands more dives in my lifetime."

Rinne sneered and lay at the bottom of the tech pod, watching the lid close by itself, with data cords connecting to various ports on her head.

This was a tech pod, made according to recommended parameters from a prototype, which allowed easier physical access to the Helis Sea than other devices.

After preparations, Xu Yang and Rinne lay in their respective tech pods, ready to dive in sync.