Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 560 Seizing the Body
The Allied victory in the three battles in Australia sparked a heated debate around the world... Some praised the Allies for their talent discovery and training methods; others criticized the United States for its lax training and incompetent commanders; still others fanned the flames, hyping up things like genetically modified soldiers, and so on.

But even among the general public, let alone the experts in the United States, some discerning observers could see that the Allies' willingness to send three newcomers to this battle indicated a certain level of confidence. Regardless of the outcome, their mere willingness to send three newcomers spoke volumes. After all, from both a strategic and prestige standpoint, the Allies had no reason to lose Western Australia.

"You're talking about functional departments. How many Mech Council chairmen have changed from one term to the next? Have they even reformed anything? It's just the same old wine in new bottles. Even Tex Conway had his reasons for saying, 'What kind of mechanical dragon am I leading? I'm leading Achilles!' What kind of people did you elect this time? You expect me to lead them?"

"What's the current level of mech combat in the United States? Only a handful of people can fight... If this continues, we'll lose Latin America. After Australia, we'll lose Latin America, then Alaska, and then there'll be nowhere left to lose!"

Watching the old, grimoire-like Dragon from the United States of America on TV, spewing spittle everywhere, Zheng Zha couldn't hold back any longer and spat out his drink with a "pfft".

"On the other hand, the United States can also prepare for the defensive battle in the second half of the year in advance..." the reporter said in a low voice, trying to smooth things over.

"Oh my god..." Old Mechanical Dragon rolled his eyes and put his hands together. "I told you long ago, your training foundation wasn't solid at all. With only a few talents like Achilles, can you guarantee that you can win the crucial matches in the second half of the year?"

Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses: "They'll probably start attacking their chairman again later..."

"Indeed, I didn't expect that old man who came to mediate the fight to be in such a miserable state," Zheng Zha muttered.

"It's just an internal power struggle within the United States. If you put someone in an administrative position to manage all the mechanical dragons, including Tex, would those mechanical dragons be happy? Besides, the Allied Powers operate on a dragon-managing-dragon model." Mu Xiang shrugged. "You're from the United States, aren't you itching to join in?"

All that could be heard on the TV was the old mechanical dragon roaring, "Tell me how you explain this? The United States of America has no shame in its mecha gladiatorial combat!"

The scene cuts to a presenter speaking what's considered standard English in this era. Looking at that wrinkled old face, Mu Xiang had absolutely no interest and immediately switched the channel.

Zheng Zha coughed and quickly sat up straight: "Yes, we shouldn't be looking anymore. Let's get down to business."

Mu Xiang flicked his wrist, and Zhang Jie appeared beside them, chuckling, "You speak so righteously, but it's not like you're the one doing it."

Zheng Zha argued, "You can't say that. I wanted to go too, but I couldn't get in."

"Why are you getting so worked up..." Zhang Jie waved his hand. "Don't worry, Liu Xi has already prepared all the necessary procedures. The instruction for the referee to return to the network has been temporarily modified. This is a window of opportunity for me to infiltrate. Wait for my news."

Mu Xiang and Zheng Zha exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously. Regardless of which ability they each emphasized, whether physical or energy-based, it was ultimately a power of the material world… but Zhang Jie was somewhat different.

Previously, after weighing the pros and cons, Zhang Jie still did not directly enter the deep network. Theoretically speaking, when the referee appeared, using the interaction between the network and the real world, as well as the high-frequency data upload and download, would be a good opportunity to infiltrate; however, at that time, he would be warned by the main god.

"Isn't this ridiculous? It's a complete waste of time," Zheng Zha said, frowning. "This isn't interfering with the competition."

Zhang Jie, who should have been cursing, shook his head and looked at Mu Xiang: "Judging from the logic of the main god, we can't entirely blame it..." Mu Xiang nodded: "In fact, the reason we received the warning is because the main god determined that there was a great risk of being discovered in advance if we acted during the competition period."

Now, that risk is gone... The referee is stuck in the environment where Liu Xi is imitating the deep network code, reporting the abnormalities of Zheng Zha and the others in detail.

This is a bizarre and fantastical world, but not everyone can see it. For those who upload their consciousness here, their preferred style has been superimposed onto this ever-changing and amorphous data space through the power of code instructions.

For those without legitimate instructions, they certainly cannot see the modified data space, but they are even less likely to enter it.

"It is proposed to reopen the investigation into Zheng Zha and others from the Allied Mechanical Dragon... Previous actions may have missed some points. According to Article 7, Section 3 of Chapter 562 of the Surveillance Regulations, Zheng Zha and others have seriously exceeded the warning line and it is necessary to include them on the high-risk list until all threats are eliminated."

The hundreds or thousands of regulations that would take an unknown amount of time to cite in the real world are rendered in the blink of an eye in this data space.

After these numerous judgments and proposals were made, the referee awaited the committee's instructions.

The old man sitting in the middle paused for a moment, then revealed a strange expression: "Damn, didn't you write this response?"

"Oh, that's true..."

The next moment, the entire data space began to collapse. The decorations that met the judges' aesthetic requirements were reduced to countless fragments. Within these fragments, a surging and chaotic flow of data rose and fell, and then pressed down on him.

Several high-ranking members of the referee committee, including the old man who had just uttered those inexplicable words, seemed to have lost their bones and melted into the torrent of data.

The warning logic within the referee's data body was roaring wildly, but he was powerless to do anything about it... He could move freely in the data space, but if the data space collapsed, all data bodies, including himself, would just be segments that could be cleaned up and reshaped at any time.

But why did this data space, which has dominated the Earth for half a century, collapse?

This was not a problem he could understand, and time simply wouldn't allow it... The collapsing data stream also scattered his body, and when everything was over, in a completely reset environment, the referee reappeared.

He looked at his body, reached out and wiped his face, instantly changing his appearance, as if confirming something. He quickly switched back to his original face, then closed his eyes. One after another, data swords appeared behind him, swirling in formation, responding to each other. Then, with a sword incantation, the swords vanished.

"Hehe, this kind of cultivation technique for the soul is really interesting. As long as there is a soul, it can be used... It's also thanks to these things living in the deep network that they have built a complete data world and can consciously upload data, so my mental power methods can also be effective."

The simulated loading space was cleared, and the referee's data body returned to the real deep network. Using a wisp of his soul to replace the data body's consciousness module—or rather, the possessed Zhang Jie—he thus journeyed into the deep network.

(End of this chapter)