Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 288 I am Luo Ji, and I shall suppress all enemies (3k)

The subsonic aerial train had turned around and was rapidly coiling around them like an enraged steel python, its enormous shadow completely obscuring the sky above them.

But the next moment, an extremely intense beam of magnetic storm light flashed past, piercing through the head of the unmanned steel python and annihilating it completely.

"Holy crap, the military has made a move?" Luo Jijiu had already woken up in fright and exclaimed repeatedly.

"No, it was the Oriental Pearl Tower that made the move..." Shi Qiang looked towards the source of the geomagnetic storm beam.

"Is this the underground city of the capital? Isn't the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai?" Luo Ji was dumbfounded.

"This underground city contains all the famous historical sites from the Common Era. Not to mention the Oriental Pearl Tower, there's even a 1:1 replica of the Canton Tower, only it's in another district... But I really don't know what's wrong with this lighting. When did the Oriental Pearl Tower become a defensive tower?"

The digital world.

The iced Americano gave Qian Mengjian a thumbs up.

"By controlling voltage changes to ionize the metal tower tip and directionally projecting charged particles to form a magnetic storm ray, you saved this Wallfacer's life. How did you come up with this idea?"

With the computing power of the digital world, achieving this kind of directional magnetization release is not difficult; the only cost is the consumption of a section of the metal tower tip. What is rare is the idea itself.

“I’m very familiar with magnetized building attacks… It’s too complicated to explain. If the Eiffel Tower were here, it would be even better; that thing would be more useful,” Qian Mengjian said.

The two digital leaders' first move solved a major problem for Shi Qiang and Luo Ji. The train, which was blown up by the magnetic storm ray, crashed heavily to the ground. The entire train, like a necklace with its head cut off, fell section by section, raising clouds of dust.

With the train no longer an obstacle, Da Shi carried Luo Ji and ran at supersonic speed, quickly breaking through the ambushes of various buildings and the collisions with vehicles. Suddenly, the view opened up before him—the metal dome of the underground elevator was just a hundred meters ahead, and the emblem of the United Government was still hanging on the silver-gray exterior wall.

A group of soldiers are stationed here, and any out-of-control vehicles that dare to approach are directly blown up by close-in weapon systems.

Civilian missiles are ultimately no match for military weapons.

"Colonel Shi Qiang! Mr. Luo Ji, the Wallfacer! Thank God, you've finally arrived. It's good that you're alright."

A soldier happily greeted the two: "The elevator is ready. Take it to the surface. There are no viruses on the surface. Take this phone and contact the United Government when you get out."

Shi Qiang took the phone in a daze.
Escorted by numerous soldiers, Shi Qiang and Luo Ji quickly arrived at the underground elevator. The elevator was controlled by an independent network, so their ascent was smooth. Shi Qiang looked down at the entire underground city through the elevator's observation window and soon breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the chaotic crimson zone is being gradually compressed and extinguished by orderly lights and counter-fire. Humanity has learned a painful lesson from the Great Depression and the MOSS rebellion; the methods for dealing with runaway machinery are ingrained in their very being. More and more automated systems are being forcibly shut down through mechanical backdoors.

It is estimated that this virus will be completely eradicated within a few hours.

Soon, the elevator reached the surface. The doors opened, and the unique scent of grass and trees, characteristic of the capital, rushed in. The outside was heavily guarded but orderly, a stark contrast to the chaos underground, which relieved Shi Qiang.

"Colonel Shi Qiang, Dr. Luo Ji, welcome back to the surface! The capital garrison has taken over. Thank you for successfully rescuing the Wallfacers. Dr. Hines and his wife are also under proper protection. Your mission is complete." A senior officer stepped forward and saluted.

Just as Shi Qiang was about to speak, he suddenly felt a heat in his pocket. He then took out his phone. Because he was not used to using a quantum computer, Shi Qiang did not feel anything was wrong when he held the phone, but at this moment the screen of the phone turned red.

Shi Qiang reacted instantly and crushed the entire phone.

But it was too late. The electromagnetic waves containing the information of [Curse 4.0] quickly spread to various network nodes. MOSS had done its best to physically isolate the spread of the virus, but it did not expect that the mobile phone that Shi Qiang took from that soldier could actually carry the virus out of the underground city.

"Damn it, this is bad!" Shi Qiang roared in regret.

"What?!" The officer was bewildered.

But he soon knew the answer; almost simultaneously, the military communicator on his wrist emitted a piercing, highest-level alarm! Immediately afterward, the advertisements on all nearby electronic screens vanished, replaced by a line of cold, blood-red text:

[Target information has been updated.]

[Curse 5.0 upgrade complete.]

[Officially renamed: KILLER Virus.]

[Target: Luo Ji / Coverage: Global (Unlimited)]

Luo Ji's identity information, gender, location restrictions... all constraints have disappeared! Only a naked, indiscriminate, ultimate kill order remains!

As if in response to this terrifying announcement, all civilian devices with intelligent modules throughout the capital city—no, throughout the entire Earth—were instantly illuminated by a scarlet light!

Countless vehicles, drones, service robots, and even cleaning arms on the exterior walls of distant high-rise buildings... all the infected equipment locked onto this small military camp as their cold "target," and began to slowly but relentlessly converge and crush it!

Meanwhile, in the underground city.

MOSS's logic chain finally locked onto the culprit, and more than a dozen mechanical guards swiftly subdued the "officer" who handed Shi Qiang the phone. Before his arrest, he instantly locked the elevator's control.

MOSS's holographic projection appeared before him, the girl's face expressionless: [Appearance gene editing 47 times, gender change 12 times. So many identity changes, just to evade my database detection? Who are you?]
“Ah… Miss MOSS, I am Luo Ji’s wallbreaker, Ptolemy’s good partner, Copernicus, the inventor of the curse virus.” The man took off his military cap and smiled sinisterly at MOSS.

"Luo Qing is in seclusion. Even you can't completely eliminate the global curse virus in a short time. Luo Ji is doomed. Really, although the Lord may no longer be a match for humanity, I have done something for the Lord. I will kill Luo Ji, and I will complete my mission... although no one cares anymore." Copernicus laughed wildly.

The guard robot, equipped with the sect leader's powers, knocked Copernicus to the ground with a single punch.

Without exchanging any pleasantries, MOSS confirmed the man's identity as a remnant of the ETO and ordered his guard robots to strip him of his uniform and arrest him completely.

Immediately, MOSS's consciousness sank into the digital torrent, urgently contacting two "leader"-level digital life forms to jointly suppress the upgraded [KILLER virus].

The most troublesome aspect of this ultimate electronic virus is that once infection is successful, the intelligent module will immediately and proactively cut off all network connections, forming an isolated "offline mechanical zombie."

Otherwise, MOSS would have completely eliminated the virus within seconds.

In MOSS's perception, at this moment, more than 10 billion intelligent modules around the world have broken away from its quantum network, transforming into silent and deadly combat units, spontaneously and recklessly rushing towards Luo Ji's location.

Moreover, MOSS had cleaned up the "Curse Virus" once, specifically version "Curse 2.0". However, he never expected that after he cleaned it up, the cautious Copernicus would secretly upload it several more times, and use the computer technology of The Three-Body Problem to disguise it as an ordinary program, so that MOSS, who had no precautions, could not detect it.

The Earth United Government's highest alert resounded across the globe. Ground forces from around the world were urgently mobilized. Thanks to the physical isolation of military facilities and extremely high firewalls, the vast majority survived.

Military force has an overwhelming advantage over civilian equipment, and in MOSS's simulation, a global crackdown is expected to be completed within a day.

But the question is... can Luo Ji's location hold out for that long?
But the biggest question is—can Luo Ji and the core area of ​​the capital where he is located survive these 24 hours?
"Can we return to the underground city immediately?!" Shi Qiang asked the officer urgently, as the underground city had become a relatively safe island at this moment.

The officer shook his head with a wry smile and pointed to the elevator entrance shrouded in red light: "Colonel, didn't you notice? The elevator access was locked after you came up."

"So what's the best way out?" Shi Qiang gritted his teeth.

"Send Dr. Luo Ji into space! The firewall of the low Earth orbit space station is at the highest level; these ground viruses cannot break through it! According to MOSS, even if it is upgraded to the highest level, this lousy virus can only bully civilian equipment on the ground!"

Where is the nearest space elevator?

"300 kilometers away, in Shijiazhuang! There is a suborbital space elevator there."

"Damn it..." Shi Qiang spat, then suddenly thought of someone, "Where's Luo Qing? Isn't he in seclusion in the Wallfacer's compound? Can we wake him up?"

"That's impossible. Mr. Luo Qing set the condition for leaving seclusion as a 'crisis of life and death for human civilization.' That's far from the extinction of humanity. Besides, his secluded place is protected by an array, so we can't get close at all!" The officer said helplessly.

"...Damn it!" Shi Qiang wiped his face hard, turned around and slapped Luo Ji hard on the shoulder. "Brother Luo, don't be afraid! It's only 300 kilometers. I'll risk my life to get you to the space elevator!"

Looking at the countless flying machines that resembled dark clouds looming over the city, as well as the interceptor missiles and laser weapons launched by the armies of various war zones, Luo Ji gently shook his head and stopped Shi Qiang.

"Need not."

He squatted down, picked up a handful of iron pieces, and then slowly stood up.

Shi Qiang looked completely bewildered by Luo Ji's behavior.

"What are you going to do? Cosplay Luo Qing?"

"They both have the surname Luo, so maybe it will work."

The smell of alcohol on Luo Ji vanished instantly, and then his aura of cultivation level rose steadily, causing the dust on the ground to move without wind.

Qi Refining Level 1, Qi Refining Level 2, Qi Refining Level 3... Qi Refining Level 9, Qi Refining Level 10!

boom!
The spiritual pressure of the Foundation Establishment cultivator suddenly erupted!

Luo Ji touched the broken pendant on his chest and grinned.

“They are coming for me. You are safe as long as you are far enough away. Now, I order: all troops to withdraw from this place immediately. I will face them alone.”

"Are you crazy?" the officer asked in shock.

"I'm not crazy." Luo Ji casually slashed the piece of iron towards the sky. A sword aura, condensed as if it were solid and emitting a faint blue light, tore through the sky, and the endless, thick clouds in the high sky were neatly split in two.

This sword strike cleaved the heavens.

Luo Ji's voice was clear and steady:
"It's part of the plan."

(End of this chapter)