Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

Internal cybersecurity division affiliated with the security department.

drop.

The automatic door opened. "Manager Vera," the hacker Arasaka bowed respectfully upon seeing Vera.

“Yes, a security repeater.” Vera nodded, then easily found a seat and waved.

The customer service representative, who wasn't dressed in black, lay in the data cabin. An employee belonging to the Arasaka hacker administration staff gave a wry smile and said, "Manager, you... hey, take it easy." As he spoke, he handed Vera a repeater that looked like a tablet computer.

This thing acts as a layer of protection. Compared to directly plugging in a personal connection cable, even if a hacker traces your location and uploads a Puppet attack virus to counter it, only the repeater will be destroyed, not the user's brain.

Arakasaka wears shoes, so naturally he has such things.

Vera wouldn't be like a naive person who would directly connect her brain-computer interface to external devices.

The lines on her fair skin became visible. Vera pulled out her personal connection cable from the end of her palm, plugged it into the security repeater, leaned back on the sofa, and closed her eyes.

"It connects to the old network. It wakes me up precisely at midnight."

"Yes."

From Vera's perspective, after the spreading darkness, a glimmer of light appears. Blue and white data fluids float in the dim space, densely packed and arranged in a neat matrix, faintly revealing a straight path ahead.

In the endless distance, there was a dim yet shimmering dazzling light.

There--

It's cyberspace.

"Then, let's begin the 'exercise'."

------

PS: This has been recommended for the next issue.

Thank you again for your support and votes φ(゜▽゜*)?

Chapter 009 Cyberspace and Wei-style 'Training'

Cyberspace.

Simply put, it can be seen as the internet space that was once open source.

The reason I say "once" is because it was bombed.

This is why cyberspace is also known as the Old Web.

Numerous gradient 1s and 0s in fluorescent green, blue-white, and deep red formed a space resembling a visible space. Using this as a foothold for her data consciousness, Vera gazed at the luminous data world outside the Arasaka Security Network program.

It is intricate and disorderly, deformed and chaotic.

Here, Vera could even see the boundaries separating the various network domains: the firewalls of Arasaka, Junke, and Kangtao's corporate LANs, and... the wall that separated the old network.

A red and black wall, built with astronomical amounts of solidified information density and security defense programs and intrusion countermeasures units.

The "black wall" established by the Internet Surveillance Bureau.

Compared to the "Black Wall" and the old network that blocked the outside world, the Night City LAN that Arasaka built over decades was nothing.

Cybernetics is the outward manifestation; cyberspace is the true essence of the cyber world.

"Hmph, Lucky Bartmores, you're such a kind-hearted bastard."

After routinely cursing the perpetrators of the "Great Internet Crash" more than fifty years ago, Vera skillfully lowered her mental data processing speed, allowing her data flow to gradually smooth out from its chaotic state.

Lucky Bartmores.

A legendary figure in the internet field more than 50 years ago, the most awesome hacker, the most awesome of all, hailed by some hardcore hacking enthusiasts as the hacker god who has never been defeated on the internet.

Before he died, he unleashed the Rabids virus, a supervirus that devastated the already ravaged internet due to the Fourth Corporate War.

The old network crumbled, melting away like ice cream placed on a fire.

This event is historically known as the "Great Internet Crash".

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped several hundred points in just one hour, the stock market collapsed in an instant, and there was widespread lamentation around the world. Even CEOs of giant corporations committed suicide. Despite the best efforts of internet surveillance and major corporations, including Arasaka, they could only salvage a few scattered fragments.

At the same time, a large number of AIs went out of control, and malicious AIs proliferated and spread. In order to prevent people's brains from being overwhelmed as soon as they connect to the Internet, the Internet Procuratorate created a "black wall" to isolate and completely cut off the Internet.

Currently, Night City uses a local area network (LAN), and Arasaka and Military Science also use their own LANs.

Before Barthemos caused the "Great Internet Crash," the world was covered by the internet, and everything from unencrypted public documents to corporate secrets with the most sophisticated encryption could be sent and stored online.

After the "Great Internet Crash," the internet became isolated islands of algorithms and code, fragmented and controlled by different companies, governments, and factions.

'Bartlemos, you son of a bitch!'

Perhaps initially, the public was happy to see the internet crash, because it was a good opportunity to see the rich and powerful suffer, and many praised the hacker god.

But after the initial chaos subsided, the consequences of the internet's disappearance made the public realize that if they wanted to connect to the internet, they could only rely on companies, handing themselves over to them and accepting their control, with no power or ability to choose.

Naturally, the criticism of Barthemos increased. This was true except for the most veteran fringe figures.

As for Vera, from the perspective of a corporate employee, I'll curse her!

...

Soon, a tall, well-proportioned female avatar stabilized and was projected onto Ara-saka's cyberspace.

It's very similar to a highly skilled cyber hacker using deep-sea equipment to transform into a supercomputer, thus accessing cyberspace like data projected by a computer.

Deep-sea equipment refers to cyber plug-ins and a series of support devices designed to access the network at the greatest possible depth and achieve higher data transmission rates.

The biggest difference is that Vera, fearing for her life, didn't connect herself; she was transferred in.

They belong to the kind that are most despised by those old-school internet users and street hackers.

Also, due to the 'outsourcing', Vera's data transmission efficiency is relatively low, but it doesn't matter. If the efficiency is not enough, we can make up for it with high-quality products.

As long as you use top-of-the-line products, it's not difficult to outperform those poor folks on the street.

Backed by Arasaka's top-notch facilities and aided by a dedicated channel that countless skilled webfarers in Arasaka had programmed and stabilized over the years during the data collection process from the deep web, Vera easily reached the deepest part of cyberspace that normal humans could safely reach at present.

In other words, the company is at the forefront of cyberspace security development.

After swimming out of the cybersecurity zone built by Ara, Vera continued to infiltrate, but the "black wall" did not react.

As she approached the "black wall," she could already see the post-apocalyptic data wasteland beyond the wall, a wasteland resulting from a digital nuclear war.

A place that holds many precious relics and secrets of the old internet world.

Arasaka and all the companies in the world suffered heavy losses in the collapse of the old network. Countless valuable data were lost, and technology regressed. While street gangs' lone wolf hackers often go deep into the network for thrills, corporate hackers infiltrate it to discover and salvage assets.

The kind of thing where you can also plunder assets from your competitors.

Cyber ​​archaeology.

As far as Vera knew, there were many organizations in Arasaka that accepted volunteers, selected social orphans, and trained them to become deep-dive hackers.

Once they reach a certain level of hacking skill, they are forced to mine old web data. It is not uncommon for them to be attacked and killed by rampant, mobile AI during this process.

Vera has reviewed many of the company's archived case files. One of them was about a training institution that was betrayed and killed by the "consumable hackers" it trained due to lax management. This case was studied as a typical example of management loopholes and used as a warning.

Vera followed the route she had taken during her last 'training' session and soon spotted a crimson, turbulent flow of data.

A rampaging AI on the run.

[WARNING: Out-of-control AI is approaching; hostility level is highest. Immediate avoidance is recommended.]

"Yo, here we come."

Vera gave a look of delight at seeing her precious baby.

"Zizzizi..."

The moment that crimson data mass sensed Vera, it began to writhe violently, like a thick, flowing watercolor painting, sometimes a robot, sometimes a hybrid of animals, sometimes a sex doll, sometimes indescribably deformed tentacles…

It seemed to be twisting and emitting a silent roar. In the next instant, it transformed into a massive red and black wave formed by a huge amount of chaotic data, which covered Vera's data-mimicry image.

Damaged data flow and network virus intrusion.

"Zizzizi..."

In the chaotic data storage chain of roaming AI, it vaguely remembers doing this many times.

At this time, these non-human beings... wait, why do I know they're called humans? Never mind, it doesn't matter. At this point, they either howl, melt, or explode, or they disappear and flee in the blink of an eye...

Huh? Why didn't this person run away or cause an explosion?

The unstable intelligence of mobile AI raises questions.

"The intensity is too weak, and the power is not enough."

Amidst the red and black storm of 0s and 1s, Vera smiled gently and waved lightly at the roaming AI.

The rampaging AI continued its instinctive rampage, attempting to destroy, crush, and assimilate the human data mimicking before it, but—

"Zi-"

A sudden, intense feeling of incapacitation washed over it.

It found itself unable to control the data before it. Deep within that human data mimicry shimmered a pitch-black void. Though it knew nothing of heat or cold, it felt an incredibly cold entity pulling at its intelligence, eroding, devouring, crushing and assimilating everything it was made of.

The roving AI has collapsed.

Vera opened her eyes, a surge of indescribable emotions welling up inside her: a feeling of overwhelming pleasure, mental excitement, and joy from the soul, mixed with a sense of unease or agitation.

"I guess I can still be considered a human being."

Vera whispered.

I guess it counts.

A person dies when they are killed. In reality, she was shot in the head and would certainly die. Therefore, she is still a human being.

Vera knew very well that she was lucky, not invincible.

The "black wall," which is difficult for ordinary people to survive in and requires careful infiltration, is a treasure trove for her.

However, it cannot be said that it has no impact.

She was merely a mortal with a physical body whose strength and resistance to abstract concepts such as thought, consciousness, and soul far exceeded those of ordinary people. The potential brought by the "divine gift" of time travel could not be realized and remained just potential.

Seeking fulfillment and transformation requires caution, and the process of delving into cyberspace and digging deep into the old network is the most suitable 'training' method for Vera. The security relay device ensures that she has no worries about her life or property.