Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 449 The Dike Breaks (Part 9 - End of Chapter)

Topological prediction has always seemed shrouded in mystery.

Lin Yue only knew that this was a superpower that consumed a lot of brainpower and was built into the panel like a program. The triggering conditions, or even when it would appear, were completely without any warning...

In a daze, Lin Yue only saw V's extremely pale face.

Lin Yue, wondering what unexpected thing had happened, could only try his best to control his consciousness and asked V to bring the device to cool his brain-computer interface.

V didn't rush to reveal what was happening. Instead, he gritted his teeth and hurriedly connected Lin Yue to a super-cooling device powerful enough to freeze an ordinary hacker into an ice cube.

As the cool temperature spread throughout his body, the throbbing and soreness in Lin Yue's brain subsided considerably.

This is…

The scene of the crushing defeat in space seemed to be rapidly rewinding. Lin Yue tried his best to stay clear-headed and carefully reviewed the future scenes inferred from the current situation.

In Lin Yue's eyes, this ability was almost a bug-level problem—predicting the future… This ability involved time, and time, this absolute physical concept, represented the deepest secret of the world and the universe. Yet, all of this was unfolding in such a brutal way.

Lin Yue didn't know if the future under these circumstances would really be as the panel predicted, but he decided to believe it for the time being...

To avoid the prospect of a defeated future from his perspective, Lin Yue is trying his best to minimize variables in every move he makes.

It was like watching a scene rewind; Lin Yue watched as the future in space gradually faded away.

Could it be...

Lin Yue and Aote had discussed the concept of topological prediction, which is roughly the most likely outcome inferred from a set of existing fluctuations and variables.

The death of the lark seems to be one of the key variables in the cyberwar in Night City.

Sure enough, the future of this world has been completely rewritten.

As Lin Yue and his team rushed into space, Lin Yue witnessed firsthand how the satellites that had been quietly orbiting the azure planet shattered like broken fireworks...

Succeeded?
However, this result quickly dissipated!

Lin Yue's brain-computer interface usage rate had now reached almost 80%...

People are filled with awe for the future, yet they are also eager to understand it. Therefore, Lin Yue watched as the brain-computer interface was climbing at terrifying rates, while he remained unmoved, engaging in two kinds of thinking simultaneously.

Topological prediction has changed too many variables so far. Which ones are positive? Which ones are negative?
Some things may indicate that the future is gradually getting worse, while others may indicate that the future is getting better; it's all unpredictable.

Scenes flashed by, and Lin Yue relied on his memory to see the biggest difference between the two processes of deducing the future.

The situation unfolded exactly as it had before, and as the scene progressed, the stinging sensation in Lin Yue's brain became increasingly intense.

changed!

Lin Yue discovered a dilapidated urban landscape after the cyber war, with gaps appearing at the bottom of buildings that resembled giant city walls. Lin Yue knew exactly what it was.

A black wall?!
Lin Yue's heart sank. Due to the excessive damage to his brain, he instantly abandoned his greedy idea of ​​seeing every detail clearly. Instead, he tried to focus his attention on what happened after the black wall broke, especially the clips that had the greatest impact on him and his base.

Treat it as an indicator of the future; that's all we can do.

If such a large breach has appeared in the firewall, who could have created it? Could it be that the internet surveillance system used this method to eradicate Dreamers in order to work with the company?
Lin Yue endured the pain, while the flames of anger burned fiercely within him.

Even so, he patiently waited for the moment when his brain-computer interface reached its peak. The more he saw, the greater his control would be.

The biggest ICE in the online world has collapsed. He doesn't know what will happen to the Dreamers, but he knows that Night City will suffer a price even worse than when a small nuclear bomb was dropped in 2023.

"These guys are fucking insane!"

It's important to understand that Night City's public network is currently exposed beneath the Black Wall. If the breach isn't located here, there might still be a chance to breathe. However, if any gap is above Night City, the roaming AIs that enter can turn the city into a ghost town in a short time!
Lin Yue carefully examined the visual representations of data within the dark cyberspace, but could make nothing out of the blue color...

Lin Yue, who was staring wide-eyed and trying to understand something more, suddenly let out a low growl. The brain-computer interface had reached its peak power consumption, and the system would be forced to crash in a few more seconds.

These are turbulent times, and Lin Yue dared not remain unconscious for several hours like last time. Therefore, he had no choice but to try to exit the topology prediction state first.

Looking at the entire reasoning process.

The good news is that he, his company team, and Arasaka seem to be able to achieve victory in space.

The bad thing is: with the collapse of the Great Firewall, this future was shattered...

In addition, Lin Yue discovered that the two most important events before this change were the war between internet companies and the death of the Nightingale. Therefore, he immediately ranked the suspicions of the various organizations involved in this matter in his mind.

Lin Yue was still making preparations here, completely unaware that the event predicted in this topological forecast was actually about to happen!
The moment Lin Yue withdrew from the high-powered brain-computer interface, his prosthetic body erupted with a piercing, sharp sound, frantically releasing white steam, and the cooling equipment was running at full speed.

Forced to retreat by the scorching heat, V simply stared at him with wide, beautiful eyes, as if she were looking at a humanized super server.

"cold?!"

Lin Yue, head bowed, exhaled several breaths of hot air. His hair, damp with condensation, heaved with chest pain, his hands resting on his thighs as he slowly raised his head to look at V—

"I am fine."

V breathed a sigh of relief, ignored the thick steam swirling around him, and walked in, grabbing Lin Yue's hand.

"Something's happened, they said from Arasaka's side..."

"The integrity of the Black Wall has been compromised!"

Lin Yue didn't react for a moment, and squinted as he asked, "What?"

V's expression grew even more grim. "The integrity of the black wall is compromised. I'm afraid we—"

Wow!

A loud bang came from nowhere, and the lights in the entire network control room quickly dimmed. The piercing alarms from the servers and firmware made the young man and woman's expressions increasingly grim.

"Turn off the power!"

"quick!"

Lin Yue growled and instinctively grabbed V's hand, "Don't use communication devices!"

V, who has experienced countless big events and can act as an executioner in Jakarta without batting an eye and ruthlessly eliminate enemies at the conference, is now quite flustered.

Just as she nodded and got up to leave, she saw Lin Yue grabbing the Dreamer's independently powered server equipment and preparing to connect to the network!

How can this be!

Lin Yue is indeed very strong, but the black wall has been broken... How can he just casually enter the network?

Seeing the woman grab his hand, Lin Yue was about to say that he could do it when V, breathing heavily, pressed her forehead against Lin Yue's and said, "Take me with you."

Lin Yue frowned.

"The black wall has broken, V! I'm not kidding..."

V's tone left no room for doubt: "Only I can command the Arasaka hackers; we absolutely cannot be the first to suffer this cyber tsunami—"

A cyber tsunami?
Lin Yue's expression was icy cold; he had to admit that V's description was very accurate.

"Mr. Rin, the network has detected... change, change—"

Brandon's voice seemed to pause a second before the power went out, repeating the warning in Lin Yue's ears.

The separated sub-AI is now in a state of complete unresponsiveness.

The two men, who had abruptly looked up, exchanged a glance. The hacker had seen much more than that; if Brandon was interfered with and affected, did it mean…?

The Black Wall collapsed near Night City?!

When Emma stumbled in, she found two figures already lying on the hacker chair… “Damn it!”

Emma's face contorted with rage. After verifying her identity, she quickly went offline from the server that could have caused a data leak at Dreamers Company. At the same time, the company used radio and other means to quickly disconnect all Dreamers employees.

This was originally an emergency plan prepared in case of setbacks in cyber warfare, but it has now come in handy...

"Miss Emma!"

Two hackers, clearly affected by data interference, staggered in one after the other. Qiwei and Sasha felt as if their heads were splitting open, their prosthetic eyes filled with nothing but shimmering, tearing images.

Sasha was familiar with certain data traces, but only outside the data cracks that flowed slowly in red and black on the black wall, like lightning from hell—

There are even more colors that resemble deadly poison.

"Has the connection been lost?"

Emma, ​​her hair slightly disheveled, quickly reached out to support the two of them, her eyes filled with a furious, crazed expression…

"broken."

Emma took a deep breath.

"Miss Emma, ​​why haven't they logged off the network yet?!"

Sasha was still dazed when she finally noticed the two figures lying on the hacker chair to the side.

"These bastards!"

Emma had clearly determined that this situation was a desperate struggle by the companies that waged war on the internet; they couldn't accept one last defeat, so they resorted to such underhanded tactics.

"Do they even know how many people are going to die?!"

Qiwei looked at Emma, ​​who was roaring angrily, and felt a chill in her heart.

Perhaps working in an orderly company like Dreamers made her forget that the company itself is a deformed entity that will stop at nothing to achieve its goals...

Emma was panting heavily. The two hackers looked at each other but didn't say anything.

No matter what decision Emma makes, you can only obey.

This was a rule that Rin had set from the beginning...

"Use Dreamers' emergency channel to notify the community defense team to defend the area, while the remaining troops launch point-to-point attacks from the east and west sides of Taiping Island."

Has friction involving firearms finally arrived?
"Notify Arasaka that Dogtown is theirs now. If they don't make a move, I'll take them all down too!"

Emma's last words were almost squeezed out through clenched teeth as she stared intently at the jumbled code on the screen.

This is…

Dragging the entire Night City down with this?

"Qiwei, put the entire squad on combat readiness. Notify Suzuki to find a way to keep an eye on that New America dog. He will lead the team into Night City from the Lisboa area and Haywood direction!"

After Emma finished speaking, she slammed the walkie-talkie on the control panel with a loud crack.

The two hackers, with their mouths pressed shut, felt that the situation had become the worst possible scenario.

The radio suddenly switched rapidly, and the City Hall's announcements began to appear on Night City's emergency channel.

The gist of the message is that the current situation is unexpected and not a problem with network surveillance. The company is urged not to continue fighting on the network, but to withdraw from the network in an orderly manner to give network surveillance time to repair the firewall.

Emma didn't believe this, nor did Qiwei and Sasha.

They simply nodded emphatically a few times with serious faces, waiting for news of Suzuki's deployment.

……

The online world is now eerily silent.

At this moment, the area of ​​black walls facing Night City has become a data turbulence like a black hole.

The AI, trapped within the black wall's two-way algorithm, unleashed an indiscriminate bombardment like a runaway flood.

The hole is gradually expanding, as if it is being constantly squeezed. The once smooth data layer has become a sea of ​​data spores that can devour countless hackers!

Lin Yue and V's program suite acted as a defensive eggshell, watching helplessly as this terrifying disaster, no less devastating than a tsunami or landslide in the real world, unfolded!
"Those idiots are the internet surveillance team!"

V realized what it meant to be powerless.

She tried to scan the location of Night City's public network, but there were no vectors or directions to refer to in this chaotic storm of data.

"cold--"

V turned her head, and her expression changed rapidly. The program suite behind her transformed into a wing-like structure, as if it were a machine that could change shape at will, and quickly dodged away.

A red and black mass, resembling a tentacle, suddenly slammed into the empty space where V had just been.

The network's underlying vector nearly collapsed during this cyberattack. The Rabies program suite behind Lin Yue swiftly pounced and rushed into the bizarre program composite that resembled various intertwined tentacles...

"Never mind, V, I have to find a way to stop the hole in the black wall from expanding!"

Behind him, Ultraman, who was floating up and down behind Lin Yue, watched all of this with a rapid flash.

"I once calculated the probability of a nuclear war breaking out among humans, and the probability was so high that it contradicted the understanding of human fear of death."

"Now it seems that only you yourselves can destroy you."

Lin Yue's consciousness projection quickly began to condense data. V looked at the terrifying figure beside him, which was almost as huge as Ultraman, and subconsciously took a step back.

On the chaotic ocean in the distance, hackers captured by network surveillance and control programs clung to a black wall, each trembling with extreme fear…

Looking down at the gaping hole below, which resembled a black hole from a movie, the sheer terror was about to break their nerves…

This is like a dam that has been storing water for decades suddenly bursting one day. If nothing is done, what will happen?

"There's no time to hesitate. Make good use of the Black Wall protocol's protection. We must place the repair program at the center of the data 'breach' point."

Having finally mustered the courage, the leader of the cyber surveillance special agent team roared out these bold words, seemingly about to utter the words "save the world," to everyone—

But he saw his teammates hanging on the black wall staring blankly at him.

"Sir...Sir!"

The employee closest to him pointed at the man as if he had witnessed something extremely terrifying!
The man mechanically turned his head, and a giant eye, resembling that of an angel from the Bible, stared at several tiny crawling insects from behind him…

Seeing the behemoth, three or four times larger than Orion, staring at him from above a chaotic and pitch-black sea of ​​data, his last line of defense collapsed!
"what!!!"

A heart-wrenching scream.

The eyes spoke volumes…

"Angel Baking, a master of cooking, your personal Michelin-starred chef! Detected..."

"Fresh ingredients!"

……

……

(End of this chapter)