Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 190 Never Gone (Part 1)

Night City, Internet Monitoring Office.

[Report on Abnormal AI Data Activity Flowing in the Night City Public Network Area]

[Regional Type: Company-Operated Subnet]

[Event Level: Red (Speculation)]

[Case Summary: Suspected data from the Great Firewall has appeared on available networks // Frequent Great Firewall activity // Illegal activities by some companies, the roaming AI may be a form of illegal competitive tactic // Still under investigation...]

"What's your opinion on this? [Bridil]..."

Mr. Wendy's accent was not much different from that of an old-fashioned English gentleman. With his curly beard, impeccably tailored suit, and the pipe he would unconsciously tap on the edge of the table when he was thinking, it was hard to associate him with the identity of a senior inspector of Night City's cyber surveillance.

Perhaps because they were trained by the same mentor as Richard Oldman, these hackers from the UK had an extremely meticulous attention to detail.

Bridil speaks his mind without any reservations.

"I swear to God, if it weren't for those damn companies, the online world would be safer than we imagine—and those gangs, damn them, who used cyber extortion to hack synthetic lungs and suffocate their victims in their beds!"

“Mr. Wendy…the company is clearly capable of protecting customer privacy! But the Voodoo Gang still managed to get these backdoors. I…can’t express my feelings, but I know that one day I will eradicate these cancerous tumors!”

Wendy never interrupts when others are expressing their opinions; on the contrary, he admires the young man in front of him who is fifty years younger than him.

He is the epitome of fresh blood—

He's energetic, oblivious to how dirty the outside world is, likes to wear his internet monitoring badge around his neck, and always sits with his back very straight... These are all reasons why Wendy likes this kid.

“But look, you haven’t even expressed your opinion on my case yet… Let’s stick to the facts.”

Wendy spoke slowly and deliberately, the "rations" in her pipe tasting like coffee beans. Europeans had brought these crops back to their homelands on sailing ships and turned them into a very detailed hobby.

Bridil turned his head away, somewhat unconvinced. "Last time, sir, you personally went into the network and found out enough information, didn't you? You practically put military technology and Arasaka's name right in the face of the Night City's head! I don't want to express any opinion!"

The flush on a young person's face caused by anger makes freckles more noticeable.

There was silence.

Wendy looked at him with a smile, "You've done a very good job with the multiple data simulations of Orion. It seems it's time to hand over the program to you."

Bridil paused for a moment.

What...do you mean?

His face immediately lit up like a flower in bloom. "Really?!"

Wendy rested one elbow on her hand, just smiling and smacking her cigarette.

"Wait, are you leaving Night City? Are you being transferred to headquarters...?"

Young people are young people; they can't hide anything, and their feelings are written all over their faces.

“Don’t rush me, kid.” Wendy pushed the file in front of Bridil. “You joined the Cyber ​​Surveillance in 2074, and I’ve seen your growth over the past year of training—but kid, some things don’t have to be confronted just because you think they’re a problem.”

“I said, we need evidence. The current evidence can only be suspected to be Arasaka and military technology—the principle of innocence is to presume guilt.”

Uncharacteristically, Bridil showed no resistance to the preaching today.

Wendy: "First of all, congratulations. You are now a qualified cyber surveillance agent, and I can be a little capricious... I have something to tell you. You are about to be appointed as the [Special Agent] of the Night City Cyber ​​Surveillance Division. Finally... I'm retiring in a week."

He recounted these events calmly.

But the younger generation, Bridil, didn't think so. Compared to promotion and wealth, the kind old man in front of him was the person Bridil cared about most.

Therefore, his expression was never very pleasant.

“In other industries, being old means being experienced. There are plenty of people over 70 working in our company, but the internet industry is not like that. It is destined to belong to you.”

Seeing that the other person wasn't in a good mood, Wendy joked, "But I have to tell you, I won't give you my Orion... If you want to develop your own AI killer app, you'll have to learn how to take it slow. Just consider it a little selfish of me."

"You are naturally intelligent. When you have a powerful enough weapon in your hands, you will stop at nothing. Sometimes, suffering losses is not necessarily a bad thing."

"Alright, now you can cry, child."

The old gentleman's joke was cold, but it cheered Bridil up considerably.

Without hesitation, he stepped forward and embraced the kind old man.

a long time.

“I will miss you, Mr. Wendy.”

Wendy gently patted the young man on the shoulder. “If you can afford a ticket on RailAir, come visit me more often. I live in the north (Manchester).”

Being both a teacher and a friend—that's probably the kind of relationship we're in.

Seemingly wanting to share his experience in network surveillance with the boy in front of him without reservation, old Wendy began to slowly teach Bridil some of the insights he had gained as a long-time user of Orion, word for word.

Time flew by, and before we knew it, it was afternoon tea time.

"As you can see, Orion is a very reliable partner."

"My superior, if it weren't for the Night City incident, he would have maximized the development and utilization of this program!"

Bridil suddenly said, "In your time, there seemed to be an AI hunter, a witch hunter... They all say this powerful guy used Orion, is that true?"

Wendy seemed lost in her memories and remained silent for a long time.

Just as Bridil was about to succumb to her curiosity, Wendy suddenly shook her head and said, "No...it can't be him. That guy's attitude towards any AI is highly consistent—"

"And I don't want it to be him either."

"We may make mistakes and be negligent at any time, but if you let hatred bind your life, then you will have nothing."

Bridil seemed to understand, but not quite.

"Ah... what a pity, you couldn't take me into the network last time."

"Perhaps it would be nice if we could carry out an action online as your retirement ceremony, sir!"

Wendy: "Looks like you young people are all the same, unafraid of danger."

Older cyber surveillance agents are terrified of going on missions because that enigmatic world has long since worn them down in their youth.

Some Christians even say that it is hell.

Just then, the elegant wooden door was pushed open. The interior of the Internet Surveillance Office was decorated in the style of an old manor from the Industrial Revolution, with an antique-style kerosene lamp directly opposite the door.

The woman lowered her head slightly. "Mr. Wendy, there's some abnormal network traffic. The higher-ups hope you can investigate."

Wendy glanced at the eager-looking guy.

These things are really best left unsaid; once you do, a new case arises. It's very strange.

Bridil: "Could you tell me which part of the network it is?"

The woman was also very kind to Wendy's protégé. "Dogtown Network reportedly experienced peak traffic, and now there are widespread bugs in the network area, making it impossible to log in. That's why we've troubled Mr. Wendy."

The master and apprentice exchanged a glance and quickly stepped into the cyber hacker's studio behind the bookshelf.

Wendy's work process is very strict. He first conducted a preliminary investigation into the cause of the abnormal traffic surge, and he used the network monitoring bureau's own large servers.

Most cyber police agents operate this way, rarely infiltrating the deep web themselves. They typically follow the methods used by the police, identifying individuals and then conducting investigations or eliminating them through tracking.

Therefore, internet police are probably the hacker groups that love to go out in the field the most.

While the two were busy working.

"This kind of error is really rare," Bridil muttered. "Is it a hardware problem? The network in Dogtown is a complete mess."

Unexpectedly, Wendy shook her head.

"When the room is full of people, it's not easy to get in."

Bridil's brow furrowed. "That's unlikely... To occupy all network areas, how much data would that require?"

Wendy may seem slow to act, but she is actually very quick. "Nothing is impossible. When Orion is fully deployed, it can push the domain traffic to its peak. Check the logs, and pay special attention to the differences in user traffic over a short period of time."

Having given his apprentices orders, he hurriedly prepared for a deep dive.

"Damn it! This is absolutely impossible!"

Wendy doesn't usually swear, but his apprentice's outburst drew his attention.

"Look! The difference in user engagement before and after is over 2000? Apart from errors in the fundamental logic of the domain, how could such a rapid offline rate be possible?"

"Should we have the higher-ups contact the agent in charge of that area?"

Wendy carefully examined the data retrieved from that vast space. Yes… more than 2000 hackers went offline in an instant, and at the same time—

Is there a power outage?
It should be noted that many network access modules have safety ports to prevent power outages, so it's impossible for them to be so consistent.

unless…

Wendy's expression grew increasingly grim.

Bridil saw the teacher's expression clearly. "Holy crap... really? Two thousand users overloaded at the same time... this..."

Wendy: "Have a contingency plan in place. Traffic is starting to drop, just enough for one person to get onto the network first—"

The thick network cable in his hand was suddenly pressed down.

"If I come, Orion will follow you the moment you connect, which may cause problems."

Wendy didn't refuse; young people always need to venture out into the online world on their own, and now is not the time to pass the buck.

Seeing her child lying in the hacker chair and quickly sinking into the network, Wendy put her hands together in front of her lips and carefully recalled the various details in the data.

Data bursts out of the system, users are instantly logged off... It feels so familiar.

Could it be... the same situation as that company's subnet in the Watson area?

That's not right either. Even the most ferocious AI roaming inside the wall couldn't possibly burn two thousand people down at once? Are you kidding me…

"Drip-drip-"

A sudden, urgent sound interrupted Wendy's thoughts.

He quickly turned around to look at the messages his apprentice had sent on the BBS. As he looked, he muttered to himself, "Damn it."

Without hesitation, Wendy turned around and sat down in the hacker chair next to Bridil…

Just as he was about to lie down, Orion also began to stir.

[Warning: Orion detects suspected mobile AI activity]

[Region: North America regional network, IP address...]

Wendy's expression shifted, realizing that Orion's position was now far from the dog town's net area, near the Black Wall...

Who should we take care of first?
It's a good choice for Wendy.

The moment he lay down in the hacker's chair, the lights in the server room dimmed instantly, leaving only the faint glow of the computer screens.

Above it was a line of text, devoid of punctuation, yet conveying a message of fear:
[Black Wall]

……

Bridil is currently under attack by a constant stream of malicious data!

Everywhere you look, there are terrifying data like red crawlers, as if they were splattered into cyberspace after a ball explodes.

Are all users in this area being erased by the black wall's data?!

This was impossible in Bridil's mind...it even overturned his worldview.

Is this the scene Mr. Wendy saw at Watson?
So Bridil quickly resumed his investigation; he had to find out where the data came from.

For the general public, the Great Firewall is a sign that we are still safe, but now it has wiped out more than two thousand hackers who couldn't log off in seconds.

Although some of them are gang members, and some are criminals... these are not tasks that the "dam of human civilization" should be responsible for.

With the program suite enabled, he paid no attention to the passage of time, but was busy calculating.

Once the malicious data that had fallen from the main body had been mostly cleaned up, the young network surveillance team traced the source of this data, and the hierarchical network immediately pointed the way.

"The depths of the North American network zone? Isn't that the border of the Black Wall...?"

After making his decision, Bridil quickly analyzed the migration vectors and proceeded step by step towards an increasingly unknown location. Just as his fear and anxiety intertwined—

Cyberspace suddenly trembled!
Bridil immediately began retreating into the data fortress according to the address set by Mr. Wendy.

Wow!

From the pitch-black, endless depths, thick, red and black data chains suddenly emerged!

"Depend on!"

Even though the data matrix was already beside him and he could have retreated immediately, he was still a step too slow.

He watched helplessly as the data tangled around the virtual avatar's ankles, then he exerted force!

Bridil panicked and used his programming suite to instantly destroy the tracking data chains, but it was like stirring up a hornet's nest; more and more data chains instantly wrapped around him—

"gentlemen!"

He quickly messaged Wendy.

At the same time, they used all their strength to begin their defense.

The information about the attack on ICE filled the field of vision in his prosthetic eye, and his brain-computer interface began to malfunction.

Hang in there—

I must say Mr. Wendy arrived very quickly.

A virtual figure wearing a top hat and leaning on a cane appeared behind Bridil within a minute of the message being sent. His steps were steady, and with a few gestures, he dispersed a lot of malicious black wall data.

Bridil, who had fallen from the data package, was supported by her husband's arm and immediately retreated to a safe BBS address.

"so close…"

Still shaken, Bridil murmured, "Sir, did you see that? Was it the same scene you saw before?"

Mr. Wendy's gaze seemed to transcend the endless data, trying to see the scene on the other side.

at this time.

Bridill noticed a faint thread behind Mr. Wendy—

"You're activating Orion?!"

Bridill hurriedly urged Mr. Wendy to leave and find the exact location of Orion.

Because he never believed that AI would have any so-called obedience on its own, and if left unsupervised, the burden on the supernatural system would be no joke.

However, Wendy shook her head and said gently, "You're too impatient, child."

"We're now trapped in a trap program. Let's take another look?"

Bridil was taken aback.

After examining him several times, his expression turned grim.

"The Black Wall, you thought it was there and never left, but in reality, the better the mobile AI, the better it is at counter-tracking. You walked into its trap and brought me in with you."

"It's up to you now."

Bridill initially thought it was just embarrassing, since Mr. Wendy was there and the two of them would be able to escape soon. However, Mr. Wendy insisted that he untangle the trap that they had inadvertently entered.

Could it be that…

Wendy's ethereal cybernetic form looked at the young man and said, "It... has activated the supernatural system."

"Don't worry, although my computing power has been taken away, Orion is not so easy to deal with. Be patient."

Bridil stopped talking and stared intently at the trap data, wanting to salvage this unfortunate mistake through action.

Wendy stared quietly at the place he had dedicated his life to, his mind filled with countless thoughts that only he himself could truly understand.

There's a saying among cyber hackers: they'd rather attack with data than fall into a trap.

With sufficient technical skill, most traps can be avoided. However, once you fail to avoid a trap and fall into it, it will take a long time to calculate and crack it.

The time spent may not be a big problem in the real world, but in the ever-changing cyber warfare situation in cyberspace, such spending can lead to major changes.

but…

Wendy continued to comfort her gently.

"It's not that bad; Orion is performing very well so far."

However, Bridil, who was completely absorbed in solving the puzzle, did not notice that the thread on the gentleman's back was becoming more and more obvious.

Time passed by minute by minute.

finally…

The data, which theoretically required ten minutes to process, was destroyed in the eighth minute.

Bridill glanced at Mr. Wendy instinctively.

"Well done. People who don't understand the Black Wall's data would have a hard time calculating it so quickly... Let's go."

Bridil beamed with joy, "Orion solved?"

Mr. Wendy shook his head. "There are more important things to do than get off the internet."

The bewildered young man hesitated but ultimately obeyed his teacher's instructions. The two of them logged out of the network one after the other. Still a little dizzy from sitting in the hacker chair, he noticed that Mr. Wendy had already walked out the door.

Mr. Wendy sat at his desk, diligently writing action records. Unlike other departments that were constantly being urged to complete their action records, Mr. Wendy never missed a beat.

Somewhat awkwardly, Bridil sat opposite, fidgeting and making many small movements to hide his embarrassment.

In her agony, Wendy pushed a discrete chip over.

"Hand him over to your superiors. Don't talk about this. After the upgrade, it's an AI event that we can't handle. Here's the separate chip for you. It contains a detailed evaluation of your operation this time. You need to take a good look at it."

Bridil felt that her husband had been acting strangely ever since they came out of the internet. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but the scolding she had expected didn't come. He just seemed to be in a hurry.

"I'm so sorry, sir..."

Wendy, contrary to her usual behavior, slightly stood up.

"Didn't you understand what I said? I've already been very lenient by not reporting your mistake to your training instructor. Now you need to stop dawdling and get this done for me."

Bridil couldn't remember how he got out of the house. The embarrassment and burning sensation on his face made him feel awkward looking at his colleagues coming and going outside the door.

When the elevator doors opened, I rolled up my sleeves, and a man in a striped shirt stood in front of me.

The stunned Bridil almost bumped into it.

"Hey! What are you doing?! You almost stepped on my shoe!"

Bridil: "Damn...uh, thinking about something."

This is Bridil's superior, a senior agent investigating the Voodoo Cult.

The man looked down at Bridir's clenched hands. "You look terrible. Need any help?"

"no thanks--"

The man gripped Bridir's wrist, his eyes fixed on the man with the terrible expression. "What's wrong?"

Bridill's anger dissipated, and he said dejectedly, "I have to go and submit an operation record for Mr. Wendy."

The man's expression instantly revealed his understanding. "Hmm...it seems someone's business isn't going well."

"I'll pay it for you. You need to rest, honestly."

“You know the director’s eyes; nothing escapes his notice. Old Wendy values ​​you so much—don’t let this guy embarrass you.”

She saw the man wink at her.

A glimmer of warmth washed over Bridil's gloomy heart.

He reluctantly handed the chip to his superior, saying, "Maybe you're right, I've felt a bit blank in my head ever since the network access ended—"

"Damn it..."

The man offered a few words of comfort, took the separation chip from Bridil, and patted him on the shoulder.

He walked towards his office with his head down, barely saying hello along the way. As soon as he entered the office, which was so messy it resembled his bedroom, he collapsed onto the sofa.

He rested his head on his arm, crossed his legs, and looked at the evaluation his employer had given him.

Wendy never said anything harsh, and she had no idea how the chip evaluated her.

He sighed heavily and shoved the chip into his neck—

[Wendy]: First of all, I regret to inform you that Orion failed...

The moment the first sentence was uttered, the young man practically jumped up from the sofa!

The rest is completely irrelevant; does Wendy's failure mean that within 24 hours...

Colleagues carrying documents in the hallway were nearly bumped into by the sprinting Bridil!

Hey! Watch out!

"Holy crap! Are you crazy?"

Old Wendy's office was located three floors above her own.

He pressed the elevator button furiously, but the elevator never arrived, forcing him to turn around and head towards the stairs.

Huff, huff...

He sprinted down the stairs to Mr. Wendy's floor, almost missing his spot due to inertia as he ran into the hallway. Grabbing the corner of the wall, he leaned slightly as he ran towards old Wendy's room.

The moment his hand touched the doorknob—

His eardrums felt as if they had been instantly deprived of the ability to hear; the exquisite wooden door began to swell visibly; and his body suddenly felt light…

boom! ! !
The scorching heatwave instantly blasted Bridil against the opposite wall, debris embedded in his skin, plunging the world into darkness.

Click click click…

In the flickering light, fallen embers were everywhere, the crackling of burning firewood filled the air, and the stench of burning wool carpet and smoky wood filled the nostrils…

It looked like he had been lying on the carpet for a long time.

Bridil's hand moved.

He wanted to see the room inside, blackened by the heat, so he crawled forward with all his might—

"Watch out for a secondary explosion!"

There's another person here!

Someone is shouting…

A series of hurried footsteps.

Bridil's body was half-suspended in the air, his hand weakly reaching forward. Several trauma team security personnel split into two groups, one group carrying guns and walking into the room, and the other group dragging the wounded from the explosion site out.

At that moment, the young hacker felt as if something was blocking his chest, and the sharp pain of his broken ribs made it hard for him to breathe.

His eyelids grew heavier and heavier. The trauma team members were reporting loudly, but Bridil's hearing was intermittent due to the impending dizziness.

"Trauma team signal lost, name Wendy Brown..."

"Suspected human tissue found!"

"The subcutaneously implanted signal transmitter has been found; death confirmed..."

……

　【Bridil】: In the 2077 main storyline, the Network Surveillance Agent discusses the selling price of Relic with Evelyn Parker. On the computer, you can see that this affects the story's linear pair and the Network Surveillance Agent are connecting, preparing to sell the stolen Relic chip behind the back of the Voodoo Gang.

　　Richard Oldman: The Witch Hunter's True Destiny (AI Hunter, introduced earlier)

　　[Top Agent]: Bridil's position level in network surveillance in 2077.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)