Life Game In Other World
Chapter 593: Tombstone (Extra Large - for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 593: Chapter 593: Tombstone (Extra Large Chapter for Monthly Votes)

The breeze lifted the plastic leaves decorating the artificial trees, brushing across the faces of passersby.

The dim, yellow sunlight spread across the damp stone path.

Among the crisscrossing stone paths stood silent tombstones, these man-made, faux-stone markers stood like lonely trees, forming a desolate jungle.

And in the midst of this jungle stood an equally lonely figure.

He cradled a bouquet of fresh flowers, dressed in a crisp shirt, carrying a long bone axe and a wooden box, his face was gentle, seemingly refined, quietly standing before a tombstone.

The breeze lifted the stray hairs on his forehead, and the setting sun stretched his shadow along the path of stones.

"It seems there are very few people coming to sweep the graves today."

A woman in a short jacket approached him from a distance, speaking as she walked.

"After all, today’s the day of the mid-term elections, people are either voting or at work."

He Ao gazed at the photo on the tombstone before him.

The tombstone clearly showed the signs of time, somewhat worn, and even the photo, specially treated, seemed to bear some traces of time.

The man in the photo was smiling gently and kindly at something ahead.

"Has your body recovered?"

Heish approached He Ao slowly, asking softly.

"Recovered," He Ao turned to look at Heish, responding, "Your potion really is potent."

During his raid on the Second Laboratory, he fought the man in the military uniform, injuring his back and shoulder. After that, without any rest, he went to the wilderness to meet Christos, and on the way back, he still hunted several exotic beasts in spite of his injuries.

Back in the city, he had used his blood to draw the Array on the wooden box and confronted that ethereal hidden entity.

Even a C-level body could barely handle such toll.

To be exact, an ordinary C-level would have been finished long ago.

Even for He Ao, theoretically, such injuries would require at least half a month of rest and recuperation to heal, but with the help of Heish’s potion, he had completely recovered in less than a day.

Although there were still scars on his back, they hardly affected his combat strength anymore.

"Glad it worked."

Heish stopped beside He Ao, looking at the tombstone before him, then asked hesitantly and softly, "This is?"

"My father."

He Ao took a bunch of flowers from his arms and laid them before the tombstone.

Heish opened her mouth, then finally said softly, "My condolences."

"It’s okay," He Ao raised his head to look at the setting sun outside the huge glass curtain wall, "he’s been gone many, many years now. Often, I can’t even recall his face without looking at the photo."

Then he slowly turned his body to look at the tombstone next door, "How is Dasanc now?"

"He’s been speaking nonstop from yesterday morning until this morning, completely losing his voice. He just drank the medicine I prepared and is now resting in the safe house. He has two more speeches tonight."

Heish answered slowly.

"These last few speeches, he’s covered every major block in Vitland, packed every time. For him, this is the faint light scattered in the abyss, so he doesn’t want to waste a bit of it."

He Ao bent down to place a bunch of fresh flowers in front of the adjacent tombstone.

Heish’s gaze followed He Ao’s action and looked at that tombstone.

The photo on this tombstone showed a smiling woman with an air of scholarship about her. Unlike the surrounding somber atmosphere, the woman in the photo seemed to sparkle with light, full of vitality.

"When my mother was alive, she chose this photo. It was taken during a vacation with my father before he passed away,"

He Ao lifted his head to glance at the photo, "After my father died, she chose this one from many - she said she looked her best in this photo, so it had to be this one.

"When this photo was taken, my father was by her side, holding her hand."

He Ao straightened up, gazing at the person in the photo with a beaming smile, and he himself managed a gentle smile.

Then he turned around and continued along the stone path.

Heish followed by his side, took a silver mechanical wristband off her wrist, and handed it to him.

The wristband didn’t look light; it was entirely mechanical, with a small hole on the outside through which a thin metal wire could partially be seen flickering in and out.

"There’s a sensor switch on the inside of the wristband. When you throw your wrist forward, you can eject the metal wire inside. When you reel it back, you can pull the metal wire back in. The operation is not difficult, but if you want to use it flexibly, you might need some practice."

This was Heish’s weapon. She had come here to find He Ao because he mentioned that he wanted to borrow the wristband.

He Ao slowly took the wristband, "Thank you."

"Are you planning to use this to attach to your bone axe?"

Heish asked softly, glancing at the bone axe that He Ao carried on his back.

He Ao had briefly explained his purpose when he made the phone call to borrow it.

"I’m hoping to see if I can use this to retrieve a thrown axe, to gain some long-range attack abilities."

He Ao didn’t hide his intentions and answered with a smile.

"Then you might need to get more used to it. This kind of control is very demanding on the strength,"

Heish nodded gently, then she looked at the wooden box next to the bone axe and asked with some curiosity, "You’ve been carrying this wooden box these past few days, does it contain some Transcendent item?"

"Hmm," He Ao touched the wooden box on his back, "It contains ’Husks’."

"Husks?"

Heish seemed puzzled.

"A body artificially forged to serve as a vessel for Transcendent beings."

He Ao explained softly, then he glanced at the metal wire in the wristband and asked slowly, "This metal wire doesn’t look like it’s made from ordinary materials."

"This is a weapon passed down through generations of Scavengers, said to date back to the wilderness era.

"A Wizard wandering the wilderness visited the Scavengers’ ancestral camp and exchanged this metal wire for some medicine to treat illnesses with the Scavengers’ Priest at the time."

Heish knew that He Ao didn’t want to continue on this topic, so she did not ask further. As they walked, she explained, "Back then, the wilderness was still full of dangerous exotic beasts, this metal wire is likely not the product of human technology, but something created by some Transcendent power."

Wizards were self-proclaimed truth-seekers of the Era of the Great Cataclysm, searching for direction for human civilization in vast darkness.

Now, hardly anyone calls themselves Wizards anymore.

"Thank you."

He Ao stopped in front of a tombstone and said again in a soft voice.

This was an heirloom passed down among the Scavengers, the legacy left by the former Priest of the Scavengers, the ’grandfather’ who had adopted Heish.

From his interactions with Heish these past few days, it seemed that ’grandfather’ hadn’t left much behind.

"Don’t worry,"

Heish smiled, stopping by He Ao’s side. The injuries she had sustained from being chased by Ved still hadn’t fully healed, and her complexion was still a bit pale, "You’ve helped Dasanc, helped the Scavengers. If ’grandfather’ were here, he would have given it to you without hesitation."

The sunlight cast upon her frame, outlining her fragile yet firm contour.

"I remember you once mentioned to me a Wilderness Wanderer Leader in Dawn City who had pushed for the Wilderness Wanderer Immigration Act."

He Ao gazed towards the setting sun and said softly.

"Hmm,"

Heish followed He Ao’s gaze towards the sunset. Leaves swayed in the convective breeze, blocking the sunlight, and the dappled shadows fell across her cheeks, "I’ve always hoped to change the fate of my people like he did."

At that, she smiled softly,

"If I get the chance, I’d really like to go to Dawn City to see his people. I actually would have liked to meet him since it was him who opened a window for me at my most desperate moment, letting a beam of light into my dark world. Without him, I wouldn’t have made it to where I am today,"

She paused, then sighed with a touch of regret, "But I asked Christos yesterday, and he confirmed that he has indeed sacrificed himself,"

"If he saw you, he would be very comforted. As a Leader, you are doing very well."

He Ao withdrew his gaze.

Heish turned her head and looked at He Ao’s face in the setting sun, smiling slightly, "Thank you."

Then she raised her wrist to check the time on her bracelet, "Dasanc’s next speech is about to start, do you want to leave together? Ryan and I came in a car."

"No need,"

He Ao withdrew his gaze and shook his head, "I drove myself, and have some things to do tonight."

"Then I’ll be leaving first," Heish waved to He Ao and headed towards the elevator nearby, "Goodbye."

He Ao waved back in farewell.

It was only after the elevator doors that carried Heish had closed that He Ao shifted his gaze away.

He turned to face the tombstone before him, upon which was a woman with a somewhat reserved smile.

Her eyes were like water, serene and strong.

He Ao pulled out a bunch of flowers from his embrace and placed them in front of the woman’s tombstone.

This was Jess’s wife, Tiny, who had been the support of Jess’s world during the darkest times of his life, holding up the final dawn of his life.

The death of Tiny had also toppled Jess’s last pillar of support.

Now He Ao had another bunch of flowers remaining in his arms, and he slowly walked to the tombstone next to Tiny’s grave.

This was a blank tombstone.

He Ao paused for a moment, then laid the last bunch of flowers in front of that blank tombstone.

This was the tombstone ’Jess’ had prepared for himself.

The wind rustled through the plastic flowers and leaves.

He Ao straightened his back, slowly heading towards the direction of the setting sun.

He raised his bracelet, opened a voice mail received that morning, and chose to play it.

The mail was from Vianne,

Last night, He Ao had Eve collect data pertaining to possible vulnerabilities exposed by the Phoenix System, amassing a large array of data spanning over a decade, which, after being processed by Eve, had the most likely real vulnerabilities forwarded to Vianne for analysis and handling.

And this mail was sent to He Ao by Vianne after she finished handling those datasets this morning.

"Uncle Jess, I looked at the vulnerability data you forwarded to me last night, and most of the vulnerabilities were quickly patched. The Trison Group was quick to act, but guess what I found?

An interesting ’inheritance’ vulnerability... The earliest record of this vulnerability dates back to seventeen years ago when the Phoenix System was just established. Theoretically, it should have been fixed quickly, but it wasn’t immediately addressed at the time.

Then, fifteen years ago in another set of data, this vulnerability appeared again, followed by records from twelve years ago, ten years ago, eight years ago, and three years ago. This vulnerability had never been fixed.

To be accurate though, it isn’t so much a ’vulnerability’ as it is a ’flaw’.

It doesn’t allow the Phoenix System to be breached or affect the Phoenix System’s final data processing outcome. It only slightly affects one of the Phoenix System’s operating procedures.

Furthermore, its trigger conditions are very strict, so the replication rate is very low. Even with the large volume of data processed by the Trison Group, it appeared only six times over a dozen years, never impacting elections.

I suspect that this was due to the Trison Group’s developers using an imperfect base algorithm during the earliest development of the Phoenix System, which ultimately led to this ’flaw’.

At the time, the Trison Group likely didn’t have a better algorithm available to replace it, or the cost of replacing it was too high, so even after discovering this ’flaw’, they did nothing about it.

As the Phoenix System gradually improved, subsequent developers were unlikely to change the underlying algorithm code. A large number of normal operations rely on this set of algorithms, making the cost of altering it increasingly steep, thus turning it into an ’inherited’ ’flaw’.

However, it is quite clear that the Trison Group applied ’patches’ to this flaw. Over the years as they took on more services and orders, the number of times this ’flaw’ manifested itself became increasingly infrequent."

Using the conditions from previous instances when the ’flaw’ was triggered, I simulated the Phoenix System’s potentially problematic algorithm to deduce the highly likely real conditions required to trigger this ’flaw’.

However, the conditions are overly harsh. It requires access to the Phoenix System at certain fixed times, by different operators, using specific devices, to take effect. I’ve attached the checklist of conditions needed to trigger it as an attachment in the mail.

But Uncle Jess, if you want to exploit this flaw, I’m afraid it’s already too late.

I’ve calculated that it would require at least two thousand or more operations meeting the criteria to trigger the system flaw.

The difficulty is too high. You would need to control at least two thousand different devices without letting the Phoenix System detect that these devices have been controlled. There’s no time for me to develop the software now.

The voice mail ended there.

What followed was He Ao’s reply, a short one, just a simple sentence, "To meet these requirements, it’s not necessary to control other people’s devices."

Using Trojan programs to randomly invade other people’s devices is illegal.

Sitting in the descending elevator, He Ao lifted his bracelet to check the time, 17:13 in the afternoon.

Nine hours had passed since Eve began her operation.

——

"Yo, brother, you voting? Who you voting for, Ned?"

In front of a row of orderly voting machines, two men were standing there, the man on the left holding a bottle of alcohol, leaning against the voting machine, taking a gulp and casually asking the man in work clothes beside him.

There are generally two ways to vote in the Federation’s elections.

One is to install a specific voting client app onto your smart device and vote directly with it.

The other is to use the fixed voting machines on the streets.

"Vote for Ned? I’m planning to vote for Dasanc."

The man in work clothes quickly selected his candidate, took out his bracelet, and verified his identity.

"Dasanc? Who’s that?"

The man holding the bottle of alcohol swayed as he scanned the surrounding large screens, "Is there such a candidate? I haven’t seen his campaign ads."

"There is."

The man in work clothes glanced at the man with the alcohol, raised his own bracelet and played a segment of the campaign speech, "This is his speech video; he seems to be visiting this area soon. If you’re interested, you can go and listen."

"Is he better than Ned?"

The man with the bottle took another swig after looking at the campaign video.

"Way better than Ned."

The man in work clothes replied offhandedly, "He and Ned are worlds apart, you know Christos, right?"

"Chris-what?"

The man with the bottle blinked.

"Eh, sober up before we talk, I need to get to work."

The man in work clothes sighed, fumbled in his pocket, and stuffed three one-federal coin bills into the other’s hand, then he went back to choose his vote, "Just search for ’Dasanc’ on the net, and you’ll find his videos."

"Oh."

The man with the bottle staggered to his feet and looked at the voting machine in front of him.

At that moment, another man came over. He paid him no mind, glanced at the voting machine, quickly authenticated his identity, and as he was about to vote, his bracelet vibrated once.

He lifted his bracelet to see, found it was a promotional advertisement, quickly closed the bracelet, and clicked to vote.

In the end, the voting timestamp was fixed at 17:50:00.

"Dasanc, Dasanc, Dasanc."

The man with the bottle flipped through the pages on the voting machine and finally found the name.

His trembling hand selected it and verified his identity.

Then, holding the bottle, he staggered along the street, "Lost the house, lost the family, heh heh,"

He looked at Ned’s campaign poster by the street, raised his alcohol bottle and threw it, hitting Ned on the head, splashing crimson wine, accompanied by the sunset drawing to a close, as he staggered down the street,

"Lord Ned, your villa is so pretty."

······

On the nearby TV advertising screen, the presenter looked at the script in his hand,

"It is reported that during his tenure as Senator, Ned forcibly acquired three hundred and fifteen residential units, two hundred and eighty-seven of which were converted into his private villas or commercial apartments; the remaining twenty-eight are still under renovation.

"The money to purchase these residential units was all provided by the Welme Charity Foundation."