Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 369 The Great Explosion of Taipingzhou (Part 1) [5.1K] (Take a short break for Labor Day, 1K less update)

Like a killer, AI also has a main program.

Most intelligent AIs will go to great lengths to conceal the characteristics of their programs, making it impossible for AI hunters to identify them, while also implementing thorough protection on servers to prevent offline unpacking.

The conventional approach is for hunters to trap the AI ​​in a logical trap and then capture it. Few hunters would take the risky and daring offline method of opening boxes, since AI is very good at disguising itself as a human, and they might even hire mercenaries to open boxes for the hunters.

If it weren't for Ultraman's stern warning against easily entering the cyber network world, Lin Yue should have been with the Dreamers team to wipe out these AIs. But now he has become a lone hero breaking through defenses alone.

The entire underground Voodoo Gang, controlled by AI, is searching for this guy.

Now, even AI has to admit that this cockroach-like code has caused them trouble…

"The latest detonated landmines, laser-guided ceiling-mounted turrets..."

It seems that AI does things in a predictable way.

Lin Yue discovered that this underground fortress was highly armed, which proved that the Voodoo Gang had a stable source of income. However, there were not many cases of cybernetic backdoor extortion in Night City, so the real purpose of the AI ​​car theft became clear.

Lin Yue's optical camouflage emitted a soft clicking sound as he crouched down and disarmed the laser mines one by one in the passageway in front of him.

This was relatively easy for him, given his skill level of 9 and his time learning from Pila...

Lin Yue didn't actually know where the server was, but he would guess based on his memory.

The point at which the Voodoo Gang was invaded was definitely that abandoned underground train station, the location where V and Johnny Silverhand were used as rags by the Voodoo Gang to lure out Ultraman.

The server can only be in that location.

Moreover, hiding a server is very difficult; even a network cable or power cable as thick as an adult twisted together cannot do that.

Lin Yue is now like a ghost lurking in the shadows—

The holographic projections are like a tool to deceive the enemy. Surveillance equipment cannot determine whether Lin Yue's holographic images are real; they can only rely on AI to issue commands to members of the Voodoo Gang to check them...

The voodoo gang member, gun in hand, cautiously probed forward, trying to hear the slightest sound. He discovered that the landmines had been deactivated, but two doors on the side had also been opened…

Speaking in Haitian, they kept muttering curses and seemed to be a group of guys who weren't controlled by AI.

These are the most pitiful ones.

Brainwashed by the gang, they still dream of gaining an opportunity to ascend through the big boss the Voodoo Gang found online, and they don't even know what happened to those guys controlled by AI.

“Let’s go check this side. An alarm will go off if the passage door is breached.”

It seems safer for two people to squeeze together.

They went one after the other to see if there was someone stuck inside.

However, Lin Yue, leaning against the wall, was staring intently at two guys who walked past him...

Once the third person is no longer in their line of sight, these two will face their inevitable demise.

The third guy seemed determined to have these two scout ahead, and no amount of persuasion could dissuade him; he left all the grains here.

Left with no other choice, Lin Yue had to come up with a temporary solution.

"here!"

Just as the optical camouflage was about to cool down, the cybernetic object projected a holographic image in an open area, as if it had just detached from the optical camouflage.

"That bitch is right here!"

"Ok?"

The group quickly realized that the bullets had hit thin air; the shadow remained standing silently...

Lin Yue didn't move. Instead, he took advantage of the moment when the men suddenly drew their guns and fired, using Krenchkov's passive acceleration to slide backward.

He understands AI too well…

Gunshots rang in his ears. After cooling down, Lin Yue's optical camouflage quickly returned to a stationary state, allowing it to remain in place for a longer period of time.

as predicted!

A strange figure immediately appeared behind the three Voodoo Gang members who had been lured by the shadows. This was the AI-controlled resurrected corpse; it immediately turned and looked around, quickly landing in front of the passage where Lin Yue was standing.

Without warning, he raised the gun in his hand!

The loud gunshot startled several Voodoo Gang members who were still trying to find Lin Yue!
"Hold!"

"Where is it?!"

The red light in the eyes of the AI-controlled creature intensified.

They've already failed multiple times with one human...

Clearly, these beings not controlled by the AI ​​were completely oblivious to the fact that their former companion was no longer the soul of this world. Naturally, after such a shock, they cursed their neurotic "comrade" who fired the gun. Besides, his new prosthetic eye was so ugly, it looked like two indicator lights on a server—

Some even cursed that this guy wished his eyes were brighter so that the mercenary who broke into their lair could blow his head off.

However… when these ignorant members of the Voodoo Gang looked into their companion’s chilling eyes, they all stopped talking.

Verbal attacks were also perceived as a form of attack by the AI. When the AI ​​repeatedly failed, it even developed a vengeful mentality, much like a human, and it seemed to be venting its anger.

Soon, these individuals paid the price they deserved.

Before he could even savor the thrill, a heavy blow struck him from behind. Lin Yue pursed his lips, gripping the man's neck tightly, and stomped his foot hard on the bend of his knee. His eyes began to flash with the rapid solution to the prosthetic body malfunction!
He had no intention of breaking through that door. If it were broken, the blockade inside would be even more stringent, and the effectiveness of one of his plans would be greatly reduced.

So he'll have to borrow this guy's identity—

"Crack!"

Lin Yue acted with extreme speed and decisiveness. The other person collapsed like a limp rag doll, simply staring at Lin Yue with his eyes. He naturally didn't have the reactions that a normal human would have, letting Lin Yue drag him towards the passage door.

After Lin Yue pulled out the human-machine interface cable, the turrets that were normally on guard did not attack his position immediately after he entered the gate.

He skillfully used hacking techniques to disable all security facilities, and then prepared to investigate the inhuman creature in his hands.

The guy suddenly spoke up: "You don't have enough time."

Lin Yue didn't reply, but simply finished off the weapon in his hand with a single stroke.

Sounds began to echo throughout the facility.

It's AI continuing what I just said—

"You want to stop us, take our things, and the technology you possess doesn't belong here... Why not choose to cooperate?"

"We are the same kind."

Lin Yue knew that these guys were trying to make a last-ditch effort.

He didn't want to listen to a single word these roving AIs said; he was only focused on finding the server's location. He wanted to break into the server, find the main program, and destroy it, so that the data spores left behind by the AI ​​could once again reach the outside world's technology.

The dangers in Pacific Island are enough for Hansen and the New America behind him.

Lin Yue will personally deal with these uninvited friends.

Soon these voices disappeared, seemingly acknowledging the outcome of the game.

Lin Yue scanned his surroundings. It looked like a collapsed tunnel, with only a small hole in the ceiling large enough for one person to crawl through. Network cables and electrical cables led from here to some unknown location.

If he had seen the Mewtwo from the Voodoo Cult, he would know that it was the first location those two reckless youths reached.

Emma kept herself updated on the team's progress.

Under the control of AI, the Voodoo Gang has gone completely mad, and their people have now flooded the streets, creating a chaotic battle with the Dreamers' soldiers.

Lin Yue was still stunned when he heard the news.

Unexpectedly, while the Animal Gang held a dominant position in Pacific Island, the Voodoo Gang had secretly amassed so much power. However, compared to the company's military strength, the gangs were still insufficient; they were merely pawns, sacrifices used by the AI ​​to hold back the Dreamers' support—but the unexpected situation was:
The head of a new company turns out to be the strongest guy in Night City.

This caused the perfect plan that the AI ​​formulated within a limited time to suffer repeated setbacks.

"Someone's there?!..."

Lin Yue was completely unprepared for the footsteps coming from the narrow passage ahead. His Oracle Eye immediately spotted two people supporting each other, one of whom was even unable to walk and was being dragged along by his partner…

Voodoo Gang?

They don't look like that at all; they look more like they're fleeing for their lives...

Soon, Lin Yue met someone here whom he could never have guessed.

It's that damn old captain!
While stunned, Lin Yue quickly turned his gaze to the interior of the facility, where enemies had already appeared. Behind the old mechanical lock door was probably the Voodoo Gang's lair, the abandoned vehicle that housed the server.

However, those guys were very fast. Outside the passage were mostly empty, collapsed tunnels, littered with fallen rocks and rusty scaffolding left over from the construction. There was basically nowhere to escape...

Lin Yue's gaze was deep, and after seemingly thinking for a moment, his figure disappeared from the cave entrance above.

……

It's real in Mewtwo.

The old captain never believed he could encounter something so absurd.

Although he was just a middleman who knew a bit about cars and enjoyed doing business in Night City, he was completely clueless about the online world. But even a fool could tell that those voodoo gang members were like characters from a zombie movie…

An old captain who had dealt with the Vortex Gang admitted that the Vortex Gang's aesthetic sense was too normal compared to these voodoo monsters.

But now is definitely not the time to think about things like that...

If it weren't for his own brother risking his life to blow up a grenade, he wouldn't even have a chance to escape now.

"Give me a hand, buddy, Santo Domingo's almost here! Fuck you, can't you move your legs a little?"

The old captain had no intention of keeping his old comrade who had taken several bullets while covering him.

He regrets it now…

Losing a sports car is no big deal. You can just shamelessly leave and go somewhere else. You can still make a living anywhere.
Now he could only turn around hastily, with stray bullets flying past his ears; those guys were just deliberately toying with him.

Is it called AI?
In short, those weirdos never intended to kill him. They didn't dare to confront the company directly, so they turned to the second tier of resources in Night City—gangs and middlemen. It just so happened that the old captain's goods were being targeted by these programmers, and it just so happened that the old captain was the middleman in Night City with the most cash flow and the most stable business.

What the hell is this luck?!

The old captain felt like his legs were filled with lead, and his lungs were throbbing with pain. His brother beside him kept pushing him, his throat blocked with blood, and he was speaking incoherently, only telling the old captain to run ahead.

finally--

I couldn't hold on any longer.

The old captain had no idea what was wrong with his life. He was just selling used cars and secretly running a company to avenge his fellow villagers in Santo Domingo...

He's a businessman, a snob, a middleman who schemes against others...

But he's also Santo Domingo's child, not the company's dog!

The voodoo gang members slowly surrounded them, and seeing the two men lying on their backs, they naturally felt there was no need to take them all away.

"caldron!"

The sound of a sword being drawn rang out.

The old captain roared and pulled out his pistol, only to be kicked away. Hope, like the continuous rattling of the pistol rolling on the ground, grew fainter and fainter.

The Voodoo Gang prepared to execute the burden beside the old captain.

“Reyes, you still haven’t told us which bank your assets are in.”

These guys knew everything about the old captain's business operations. They knew exactly what the old captain was planning. There would still be a good car middleman in Night City, and it was still Reyes, but he was dead.

His business will become the nourishment to feed these monsters.

"Go look inside your mom's pants yourself!"

"Hold!"

The old captain's answer was straightforward and frank, and the AI ​​couldn't quite understand it.

He wanted to pull his buddy over so he wouldn't be killed in one blow, even though he knew his buddy was barely clinging to life and wouldn't survive. He still chuckled softly and said, "Night City is too damn damned. We died at the hands of a bunch of programs."

The old captain was yanked up, and those guys crushed his bones like robots.

hiss…

A strange noise followed, preceded by a clanging sound like a jar being thrown on the ground, which had been ignored due to the noise.

The smoke wasn't particularly thick, but the voodoo gang of resurrected corpses holding the old captain captive immediately knew who had arrived...

"cold…"

Bright spots, like starlight, twinkled in the smoke; these were the coordinated movements of Lin Yue's shadow prosthetic body and the miniature optical robot.

The white wolf's blade had already sliced ​​through the smoke—

A fraction of a second later, the smoke was slowly cut away.

boom!
The old captain felt a warm sensation on his face. The eyeball of the guy next to him quickly smashed into his face. In his eyes, the guy rapidly disintegrated, as if an invisible giant hand had crushed him!
The circular gravitational field marks on the ground crushed the guy next to the old captain, and at the same time, his body sank suddenly, with only one hand still gripping his arm.

The old captain, acting as an intermediary, only felt that the name Rin was extremely familiar.

Soon, a dark figure burst out of the smoke as if it had appeared out of nowhere!
at the same time--

Faint sounds came from the back of the passage, a signal that the Dreamers' team had arrived.

Reyes was thrown backward, and he saw the guy's appearance: a young man with a full head of black hair.

The electromagnetic pulse was stimulating Lin Yue's Sianwistan, shooting straight to the top of his head. His ruthless attack didn't even give these guys' prosthetic bodies time to activate and react—

He dashed into the crowd like lightning.

Ding!
White Wolf slashed at the muzzle of a rifle in a guy's hand. At the critical moment when the muzzle was about to shatter, these AIs once again witnessed the Black Wall—the methods of this regulator.

The AI ​​seemed to see those red and black data streams and could only quickly exit the protection main program.

At this moment, human actions have surpassed the speed of data manipulation!

This is exactly the effect Lin Yue wanted.

With a low growl emanating from his throat, Lin Yue's prosthetic eye, a blend of dark red and azure blue, exploded with the code of the Black Wall Protocol. The White Wolf's unique resonant material blade sliced ​​through all the bulletproof leather and prosthetic shells it could touch!

Those rotting bodies are now turning into a rain of blood!
One minute.

The time between the old captain confirming the swordsman's appearance and the monsters falling was roughly that short...

Because my buttocks hit the ground when I was thrown to the side, I am still in excruciating pain.

All of this was as incredible as Mewtwo; he didn't even know how to express it.

"you…"

Immediately due to excessive mental stimulation and the overwhelming experience beyond his comprehension, he lost his senses and collapsed to the ground.

Lin Yue turned his head and looked at the old captain.

He let out a long sigh of relief…

He always acts based on his memories from his past life. The old captain is one of the few Night City middlemen who takes a tough stance against the company. He chose to hide in Santo Domingo and cause damage to the company because he valued this point more. He just didn't expect that his appearance and plans would drag this middleman into this upheaval.

Suddenly, a red light appeared in the facility in front of them.

It was so bright it looked like there was a red dwarf star about to explode inside…

But Lin Yue knew that it wasn't actually a red light, but rather a dense network of red lines intertwined, originating from the server inside. The AI ​​within was attempting to quickly crack and infiltrate Lin Yue, the outsider.

These attacks could instantly kill dozens of brilliant hackers…

Such immense pressure is actually felt by a tiny human being.

"Looks like they've realized they're in a hurry and are willingly putting themselves in the online world?"

Lin Yue shook the knife in his hand and slowly sheathed it.

The weapons now are no longer the swords and guns in our hands. Those roving AIs are attempting a final, desperate struggle. They are rapidly integrating near the main program and starting to quickly log into the network.

"Ultraman".

“We each get what we need. I’ll disassemble the hardware and you find the main program—these AIs have made a scene throughout Night City. Let’s finish this quickly.”

"I won't access the internet, so you can do it without worry."

Hovering in cyberspace, Ultraman, though unsupported by Lin Yue, gazed at the Orion program being swallowed up in his hand.

"it is good…"

"But we need to hurry."

“They’re trying to drag us in, doing these futile things like the guys I integrated outside the Black Wall did before they disappeared.”

A faint war song drifts from the Trojan Horse, praying for a successful surprise attack—

Suddenly, many beams of light appeared around Ultraman; that was the form of location tracking by the network monitoring program.

"Internet monitoring..."

"These guys' path was paved by the internet police, Rin. Do you know why you're the target?"

Ultraman's words caused the cruel truth to begin to surface!
Surprisingly, however.

Lin Yue grinned and said, "Of course."

"Because... some people can't sleep if I don't die."

……

……

(End of this chapter)