Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 511 Port [5.2K]

Lin Yue is imitating.

He was very curious about what a city structure with only one company in control would look like, especially in terms of the internet.

It's unclear whether it was Arasaka or 404 that provided the standard answer.

They divided the city's network, which resembled a water pipe system, into several sections, each with valves to block access. This blocking wasn't just at the network level but also at the physical level, meaning Lin Yue and Otto only killed the guards stationed at the endpoints.

The poor hacker had no idea what was happening when he saw a gigantic entity, resembling a roaming AI, crush past him. The sheer number of data particles was enough to completely overwhelm his memory... not to mention the AI's subsequent attack behind those data particles.

"It seems I've been in Night City for too long. I never expected the internet could be fragmented in this way. This is probably why it's so difficult for the lower levels to access Arasaka's information."

Lin Yue muttered to himself.

Otto looked down at the empty space below; there seemed to be nothing there.

"That's why I asked you to find that guy and interrogate him about his secrets. And... I've already thought it through. The two of us can go and scout ahead first. At least I can guarantee your safe return, Rin."

Ultraman always possesses a kind of inexplicable curiosity that doesn't belong to programming, and this isn't the first time this curiosity has appeared.

In other words, she enjoys challenges.

However, this guy always considers all possible backup plans before taking on any challenge, because the program's thinking is absolutely rational.

"Alright, but I think we might need the girls' help. Let's locate it, Ultraman, and see how far our power can go with the nearly 100 years of accumulation at the Arasaka Warsaw branch!"

A competitive glint also flashed in Lin Yue's eyes.

A faint smile seemed to linger on Ultraman's blurry face. "I thought you would drive me to do all this."

"After all, in your human mouths, Ultra Cunningham is the largest entity and intelligent mobile AI on the Cyber ​​Network, especially Arasaka... who has done a lot of things against me, which is why I dragged you into it."

However, Lin Yue only gave Ultraman a strange look.

“We’re partners, aren’t we? At least… we’re friends now or something—so don’t say things like that anymore. Arasaka will naturally be wary of you trying to take advantage of him from any angle. After all, you used to frequent the European online forums many years ago, didn’t you? I helped you, and you helped me.”

"friend…"

Ott seemed to be shaking his head. "Friends need to be honest with each other, and I don't think I've been that honest with you."

Lin Yue felt that Ultra AI was really good at ruining the mood, so he shook his head and looked helplessly at the girls who had completed their mission. He needed a reliable guy to send Ivanov back.

The other two people who remain need to be highly functional, highly mobile, and flexible to find offline physical equipment.

In the end, Qiwei chose to stay at the subnet of Mama's Bar and help these two not-so-experienced hackers keep an eye on things... Lin Yue and Aote both came out, which was a support that these hackers in the team had never received before in their lives—having learned to control the situation alone in the Night City network, they were more confident than ever before.

"Then come on!"

The black ACPA that rushed out of the door like a heavy truck had already turned into a streak of black light. However, Sasha looked more like a humanoid killing machine with nearly 90% cybernetic body. The bent steel door was smashed and quickly became crooked, smashing away many people who still wanted to stop them in the yard.

"Run, race fast, Lucy!"

Lin Yue turned his head and looked at Sasha, who was jumping out of the hot air vent behind him and laughing excitedly. This surprised Lin Yue. He felt that Sasha was becoming more and more like Lucy.

After getting into the car, Lucy stepped on the gas. Having never learned to drive in Night City, she received training in this skill in Arasaka. You could say that... Lucy is now a veteran driver who can rival Falco.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Falco is doing in his racer challenge in Night City.

Lin Yue watched as the sports car, its wheels emitting blue smoke, disappeared into the horizon lined with mountains of garbage on the floor, and couldn't help but feel a little sad.

He sensed Falco's estrangement—

Perhaps this is the nature of wanderers; even if their best buddies become part of the company, they will still keep their distance.

“Sector D, the abandoned urban area, contains dangerous buildings. You may need to use unconventional methods to approach those physical devices. Once you unlock them, leave them to me and Ultraman. Just to let you know in advance, all you need to do is connect to the network; you don’t need to worry about the rest.”

Rin is a woman of few words, but she is reassuring.

Unconventional…

The person who liked hearing this the most wasn't Lucy, but Sasha, who had obtained ACPA trial qualifications. This super weapon that fit her body perfectly was Sasha's favorite. She had long wanted to try it out to see if it could meet her needs and allow her to directly charge into those buildings without any entrances.

The coordinates calculated by Ultraman appeared in the hacker's eyes. The location of these things was easy to guess. Ultraman had only looked at the location of the peak power in the entire D area and made a deduction based on the physical distance.

In the vast emptiness of the network, Otto looked at the two faintly visible ports. This kind of one-way vector was the most dangerous; who knew if someone was watching them from behind...

Kill them.

This is the only command in Ultraman's head.

The other party would never relinquish control and leave first, so Lin Yue and Aote had very little time. The moment the two hackers unlocked the offline ICE (firewall), they had to simultaneously perform two actions: path calculation and timely blocking.

Only AI and those legendary hackers are capable of performing this behavior.

Sasha's every step covered a distance of more than ten meters. Below her, on the uneven road, Lucy, her knuckles white, gripped the steering wheel tightly. Outside the car window was an underground city with a reddish-brown color scheme and neon lights, filled with pungent chemical fumes. They had entered the old city of D District, where very few people lived.

Wow!

As Sasha stepped onto one of the platforms, the dilapidated steel triangular support beneath it suddenly shattered.

The area Lin Yue had mentioned had finally been reached.

At this moment, Lucy was faced with a wall of trash that was so thick that it was impossible to tell whether she could squeeze through it, with only a small gap in the middle.

Lucy clearly didn't back down; instead, she floored the accelerator, and the engine of the driving machine roared in its ultimate mode, hurtling towards them at nearly 130 miles per hour.

Sasha, who had maintained her balance in the air above, was surrounded by a light screen filled with dotted lines and squares as she helped calculate whether Lucy could pass.

boom!
Sasha's body, encased in the ACPA shell, scraped across the ground, leaving a long trail. Lucy in the cockpit realized that rushing across like this was a bit too much. However, that wasn't the worst of it. The machine guns hidden in the shadows suddenly spat out their terrifying tongues of fire.

Surprisingly, neither of the two hackers showed any sign of backing down; on the contrary, they had extremely excited expressions on their faces, which meant they had found the right place.

Sasha rolled several times, leaving terrifying marks on the ground, and ran like a cheetah with his head down, while Lucy in the car only glanced at the rearview mirror and was no longer worried about the speed.

"Lucy, you big idiot!"

Even Sasha was terrified under the powerful mech. Lucy naturally saw the dense machine guns, but she had no intention of fighting them right now. During her training at the company, Lucy knew the importance of time.

Sasha rushed forward, ripped open the car door, and pulled Lucy tightly into her arms. In a half-kneeling position, she raised one arm, which quickly transformed into a small, semi-transparent shield. Sparks flew from its top, and Lucy's eyes flashed with a rapid, sharp light, completely silencing the machine gun. In a cloud of smoke—

A jet-black blade spun out from the thick smoke, piercing through the last roaring automatic cannon. The short-circuit current then caused the roadblock to explode instantly!
"What the hell? Are you in such a hurry to die, or—"

Sasha placed her hand on her chest and patted it several times to calm her racing heart.

The two looked up and saw the entirety of this abandoned city. Below lay a bottomless pit of garbage, above were various scaffolding structures, the condition of which was questionable. In the distance stood a dilapidated but still functioning power plant…

Lucy released the long thread from her hand, her eyes serious.

The tighter the enemy's defenses, the more she feared something; this feeling of overturning the layers above fascinated Lucy.

The guards, one on the left and one on the right, looked completely out of place with the company; they were all dressed in flashy uniforms and had Russian writing on their bodies.

They certainly wouldn't let these two sudden intruders get away with it.

At this moment, Lin Yue silently watched the battle scene. The girl, who was jokingly called "graphics card girl" in his memories of his previous life, was obviously very suitable for this path. He had no worries and patiently waited for the two hackers.

Just less than ten minutes.

All problems solved.

Sasha swung his longsword downwards, and after wiping the sticky blood off the back of the black carbon fiber blade with his elbow, the two rushed into the steel building ahead.

The process of cracking ICE is crucial.

However, Lin Yue and Otto, being massive entities connected online, couldn't help them crack the code the moment they connected to the network. Otto glanced at Lin Yue's clenched fist.

It's really exhausting for a person at this time.

But when someone else does this, there is inherent risk involved. Is he worried about that?

"No hacker chair, damn it."

Lucy wanted to find something to cool her down, even a bathtub filled with ice water would do...

Sasha glanced at the port's access point and, without hesitation, lifted the top cover, tearing off the thick cable that connected to the brain-computer interface to Lucy's astonished gaze!

"Hey!" Lucy simply couldn't believe that Sasha, a professional hacker, would make such a decision.

Sasha muttered to herself, "Too late, too late... Do it my way!"

Lucy was pushed around by Sasha, who grabbed her arm and connected her to the human-computer interaction line. "I'll handle the heat and calculations. My ACPA is enough."

"what?"

All hackers have a word that commands awe: heat.

The pressure caused by firmware heat or the sudden surge in data is undoubtedly fatal, but Sasha is using herself as a heat dissipation and computing device, while Lucy is in control of the decision-making process for cracking.

Sasha didn't offer any further explanation, but instead looked at Lucy with a reassuring expression.

Sasha was connected to the line among the mixed lines, and the two hackers quickly sank into the cyberspace composed of light particles under combat conditions.

Complex pathways are just a basic feature of ICE; the corners and corridors in those light paths, and the various complex paths that allude to the real world, are the most fascinating aspects of cybernetic networks.

Lucy glanced at Sasha, who was faintly visible behind her, and she keenly sensed that the amount of data in this place was too large. Obviously, the firewall had undergone many iterations and was not formed overnight.

"Mother…"

A flicker of disbelief crossed Lucy's eyes.

Data is devoid of emotion, but those familiar details became a profound memory for Lucy, who had escaped death multiple times.

Sasha gritted her teeth and growled, "My God! Why is it so hot?!"

Lucy immediately realized, "Hang in there!"

Her brain raced, issuing commands. The phantom behind her dragged her along. Deep within those broken data fragments were fine threads capable of shattering the cybernetic image. Lucy concealed the fear on her face and gave precise instructions, guiding Sasha to run nimbly over the various dangerous protruding data.

Sasha's painful groans echoed in my ears from time to time; she was trying her best to control herself.

Lucy's forehead was covered in sweat, her eyes scrutinizing the stability of the data, her tone calm—

Panic at this time will only make things worse.

Unconsciously, the spectacular scene of Rin dismantling Ye's ICE with one hand that day appeared in her mind.

A resilient spirit that grows upward and never gives up takes root in my heart.

Faster…

Faster...

As the saying goes, haste makes waste.

Two identical data fragments floated above the network gap. After assessing the data volume, Lucy chose the left one without hesitation, but then…

A sudden change occurred!

The seemingly solid data was actually a perfectly disguised trap. They almost lost their footing, and their cyber network image was about to fall into the abyss that would destroy their network image. But this misstep did not matter. The activation of the trap naturally attracted the attention of the hackers on the firewall!
One bad thing after another, nothing could be worse than this...

"careful!"

"what!"

Sasha let out a low growl, and the data chains, unsure if they could support two people, suddenly wrapped around the data. Fortunately, the feeling of falling disappeared immediately.

At this moment, in the outside world, Sasha was hunched over, and terrifying white steam was spewing out from every opening in front of her, instantly engulfing the entire room where the port was located in smoke...

Sasha gritted her teeth, gripped the data chain, and slowly climbed upwards. Each step brought immense pressure, and Sasha's control panel was filled with error messages about excessively high temperatures.

"Lucy, aim carefully!"

Sasha, enduring excruciating pain that felt like her head was being torn apart, tossed Lucy up. As she climbed up, she gasped for breath. The hacker's figure was already in front of her; standing on this data point would only make her a sitting duck.

What should I do?!

Sasha looked at Lucy's condition and whispered, "Hey! Look at me, you're right here, they can't figure it out in a moment. Give me remote guidance, quick—the port is very close."

Lucy was completely flustered and had no idea whether she could give the correct instructions after making that mistake.

Without saying a word, Sasha sprinted forward a few steps toward the other side. Lucy couldn't access any data, otherwise her brain would be burned through in a second. Sasha's cat paw instantly tore apart a clueless guy who had circled around from behind the data wall!

"Lucy!"

Sasha's loud shout forced Lucy to bring out her most subconscious judgment.

"right!"

Sasha ran headlong into the data wall on the right without a second thought, and Lucy didn't even dare to look, instinctively closing her eyes.

The moment the sound of data fragmentation rang out, she saw a pink catwoman crawl into it, surrounded by a swarm of online hackers!

Since Sasha had no problem going down that road, does that mean I can go too?
Lucy immediately checked how long the brain-computer interface could maintain a safe temperature. In just two seconds, Lucy had already come up with a plan.

Sasha looked at the four or five hacker figures in front of her, each holding a different weapon—the source of the cyberattacks…

"A crazy idiot who barged in? Kill her..."

They discussed it in this way.

Sasha knew that to accomplish this, she had to defeat these guys head-on. Fortunately, Sasha still retained her combat skills from the real world, which were all manifestations of her quick reflexes.

Swish!
"Just make one breach! Just one!"

Sasha's eyes were resolute. As the particle bullets from the opponent's gun flew, she suddenly bent down and stood up. Her two cat paws plunged into the guy's data image.

Almost without a sound, that guy turned into slowly disintegrating data particles, and at this moment, someone appeared from the side to finish him off!
"Help me, Sasha!"

Lucy's voice came from behind, and Sasha, terrified, immediately turned around.

The illusory girl had already rushed over despite the high temperature. The malicious software in her hand tore apart the guy who tried to sneak up on Sasa in a second. Sasa, who was stunned, looked at where Lucy was looking and at the speed at which she was running, and immediately understood!
She dodged to the side, grabbed Lucy's arm, and flung Lucy away violently in a discus throw motion!
In that instant, several shadowy figures appeared around Sasa; they were all men who came to kill her…

Lucy turned her head and looked at Sasha, who was almost surrounded by hackers on the Internet. She let out a sharp roar and lunged into the ball of light!

Sasha had no time to react; she could only try to find an opening to break through.

At this moment, a stunningly beautiful scene unfolded online.

Lucy, straining with one hand, was nearly exhausted from the countdown timer in her brain. If the temperature exceeded that point, she would suffer the same fate as Sasha...

Sasha, with claws like a panting cat, tore apart the creature in front of her. With one hand raised to her forehead, she was powerless to deal with any more. In Lucy's mind, the countdown in milliseconds was ticking faster…

00:00:02!

beep--

Lucy's eyes widened suddenly as she touched the ball of light!

Sasha, who raised one hand to shield her face as she faced her fate, did not feel any discomfort in her body for a long time; she was not dead.

Immediately afterwards——

Blah blah blah!

The mirror-like world shattered instantly!

Lying on the ground, panting heavily, Lucy struggled to lift her head, and Sasha behind her witnessed an extremely horrifying scene…

This?
A roving AI?!
The blood-red Rubik's Cube floated at the broken point, and the despair in her eyes deepened.

Lucy, lying on the ground, almost instinctively spun the net, then closed her eyes and yelled—

"cold!!!"

……

……

(End of this chapter)