Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 813 - 669: Spreading the Virus_2

Chapter 813: Chapter 669: Spreading the Virus_2

"So the spy got it wrong too?" Mizuiro Yoshioka’s face lit up with joy.

"Yes, there must have been a mistake, but Miss Mishima’s own testimony is also very strange. Further investigation is needed, but she can leave now," said the staff member.

"I..." Tsuchigumo was at a loss for words, feeling anxious as the handcuffs fell off her wrists, "I..."

"The He Club is a nice empty bar, and speaking of which, I’ve been thinking of taking it over as a business," Mizuiro Yoshioka changed the topic, trying to ease the panic on Tsuchigumo’s face.

In Mizuiro Yoshioka’s view, the so-called corporate espionage accusation was completely a mistake.

"No... have you been there? Did you really go in from beneath the boss’s office? You must have gone to the wrong place..." Tsuchigumo stammered.

"We’ve checked it, turned it upside down, and found nothing, absolutely empty. Miss Yoshioka, you’d better take your friend to ’check’ it too. Well... I’ll take my leave now," the staff member shrugged and then turned to leave.

Tsuchigumo walked outside disheartened.

It was night, the weather outside was unusually cold and snowy, not at all typical for May.

She bowed her head to check her phone but didn’t find the message "Running is useless."

Little Fool was in the foyer of the security bureau, holding a white ice cream, walking back and forth importantly, pointing out things about the carpet, the wall decorations, the smart screens, and the employee of the month.

She waved at Tsuchigumo and Mizuiro Yoshioka as they approached from a distance.

"Shall we have dinner?" Little Fool asked expectantly.

"We... I need to check that place again, the He Club," Tsuchigumo turned to emphasize to Mizuiro Yoshioka.

"Don’t..." Mizuiro Yoshioka was somewhat fed up.

"Listen, it’s there, in the basement of the He Club, three network access pods, three bodies, three well-known hackers in the underworld died there, and the staff here didn’t check carefully enough. Please, ’Yoshioka’, no, Bax! Please accompany me to check it again," Tsuchigumo pleaded.

"... Lead the way." Mizuiro Yoshioka picked up Little Fool, "It seems we need to comply a bit with your Ninjutsu teacher, Xu Cheng."

When they arrived at the He Club, Tsuchigumo followed the original route she took when she first sneaked in, perfectly replicating the scenario. The place had clearly been inspected by Nestor Corporation’s people, with messy footprints everywhere, even the spots Tsuchigumo had missed previously were thoroughly checked.

She entered the bar owner’s office; the trapdoor on the ground was still intact.

"They didn’t check here, look, it’s right here." Tsuchigumo extended her large bladed appendage from behind and forcefully pried it open.

Her blade quickly retracted.

Because the space beneath was empty.

What about the explosion-proof password door? The metal door that would open after entering the key?

With an almost crazed emotion, Tsuchigumo quickly crawled through the trapdoor.

She was terrified, seeing a grey cement corridor instead of the black piped one she remembered. The entire floor’s cement had already hardened, and it couldn’t have been poured just in a few hours.

Had she misseen everything...?

The only slight consolation was that the length of the corridor remained unchanged, indicating the overall structure of the space was still the same. Tsuchigumo trembled as she walked through the corridor into the inner room.

She saw an empty wine cellar.

Huge metal racks were everywhere, their size so great that the components had to be taken apart before being transported through the trapdoor, and it would take at least a month to assemble them. The wine barrels that should have been there were gone, consistent with the backstory of the bar’s closure.

Where are my network access pods? My hacker lab? Tsuchigumo fruitlessly searched the air, kicking a tin can that bounced around the empty room.

Tsuchigumo walked back with a deathly expression.

"Do you feel better now?" Mizuiro Yoshioka knew she had asked a stupid question, as Tsuchigumo looked even worse.

"No..." Tsuchigumo sighed.

Just let him be.

"What really happened just now...I can’t explain it myself, why were you accused of espionage? And now there’s not a single piece of evidence? You didn’t even leave a criminal record, it’s really...what happened in these past few hours?" Mizuiro Yoshioka pressed.

"I can’t explain, I will never be able to explain." Tsuchigumo’s mind was clouded.

On the way to grab a late-night snack, Tsuchigumo’s phone vibrated, she picked it up.

On the black screen, there was only one striking symbol.

The base was the wicked Seven-pointed Star, with a Crossed Cross cast in metal branded on it, and in the center flickered a roaring vision of an evil specter.

"I saw a talented Ninja," the raspy voice said.

Tsuchigumo stopped in her tracks, her heart filled with a pathological satisfaction.

"You’ve finally come... Any way you can, just let me go," Tsuchigumo pleaded softly.

"Are you willing to pay the price?"

"I am willing to pay the price, as escape is futile," Tsuchigumo had come to understand the power of what stood before her fully.

"You have been given a Mission—to spread me."

"Are you the Cyber Specter? If you spread to all corners of the world... wouldn’t that mean..."

"Yes, I will contaminate the entire world’s networks."

"Infiltrate other regions’ Helis Sea," Tsuchigumo felt terrified.

If such a runaway artificial intelligence, the "Cyber Specter", was to spread elsewhere, the situation would become much more precarious. The world was already fractured, each region had its distinct Helis Sea System, isolating network worlds from each other.

If the Cyber Specter were to be "transplanted" somewhere else...

Tsuchigumo now understood what Mizuiro Yoshioka meant by redemption.

Well, to rid herself permanently of the entanglement of the Cyber Specter, Tsuchigumo could only sacrifice other regions’ networks.

"The Hot Tree Continent is extremely vulnerable, its cybersecurity almost non-existent, lacking competent hackers, but it has endless gold and wealth, which is why we operate there. Our Renwang Security Company has operations there, and could transfer you to Zanges’ network infrastructure center from where you can start your conquest," Tsuchigumo said cautiously.

Deal sealed, the image of the Cyber Specter on the phone screen gradually faded.

Tsuchigumo breathed a sigh of relief.

She thought about the many corporations attempting to send agents to infiltrate the Northern Archipelago, many hackers bragging about invading Nestor Corporation’s Helis Sea, she now found it amusing and ironic. Give it a try—swallowed up by this invisible and greedy runaway AI, blurring the lines between reality and illusion.

Tsuchigumo was relieved it had spared her life, in reality, with the state just now, if it had been an even more vicious runaway AI, Tsuchigumo would have been long dead.

This fearsome... new order of the Northern Archipelago.

Ahead, Little Fool was leaning on Mizuiro Yoshioka’s shoulder.

"The Ninjutsu teacher was mumbling and muttering to himself back there," Little Fool pointed.

"Don’t look, don’t think," Mizuiro Yoshioka sighed, patting Little Fool’s little backside, "Let’s go, time to eat."

"What will we eat?" asked Little Fool curiously.

"Hot Pot," Mizuiro Yoshioka said.