2077: V really knows how awesome he is

The electronic signals are converted into nerve signals that rush straight to the brain, instantly shattering consciousness into pieces.

Damn, it's a system crash!

Before he closed his eyes, Li De saw V's smiling face.

"I told you he'd run away when he saw me, so I won and I'll give you the money."

Kurt Hansen reluctantly pulled out 5 euros.

They actually used me to start a gambling operation, and it was only a 5-dollar bet?

What a bad person! This V is so wicked!

Solomon Reed closed his eyes in resentment.

When he woke up again, he felt a sharp pain on his face.

Because Alex was kicking him in the face.

Both of them were tied to fixed chairs with their hands bound, which is why Alex could only kick with his feet.

"Alex, stop!"

"Fuck your mother, you betrayed me, you betrayed me!" Alex continued to kick him hard.

"I didn't betray you!" Li De tried to explain. "We should work together to escape from here!"

"Fuck you, all I want to do right now is kick you to death!" Alex continued to kick him hard.

V, who saw this on the monitor, nodded: "Alright, it seems Miles hasn't activated those two yet, we can rest assured."

Kurt Hansen was a little worried: "Could there be other agents in Dogtown?"

"No, just these two."

So, does this mean my anti-infiltration work went pretty well?

Kurt Hansen was only happy for a second when V poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

"No, it's mainly because Dogtown is too poor. Any New America agents with any skills have left, and those who are mentally sound have completely cut ties with New America, which doesn't pay salaries. There's a prosthetic doctor in Dogtown who's like that. In the end, only the two mentally unstable ones are left, so there are only two New America agents lurking in Dogtown."

Kurt Hansen felt a mix of emotions, realizing for the first time that there were advantages to being poor.

"Alright, now that these two nails are out, we can get down to business without worrying about getting stabbed in the ass by New America if we start fighting." V said to the Dogtown boss, "Let's go see the treasure you dug up. Oh, and have your men keep an eye on things. Alex should kick them for another half hour to separate them. Reed will still be useful in the future; it would be a waste if he were kicked to death."

Kurt Hansen waved his hand, and immediately a soldier went down with a stopwatch to start the time.

The two rode the elevator downhill.

During the conversation, the leader of Dog Town explained: "In the 2020s, Military Technology established a secret experimental military project in Taiping Prefecture. They cleverly built numerous bunkers and laboratories under municipal facilities to conceal their activities. Nearly half a century later, a group of real estate developers came here, completely unaware that they were building a large-scale military complex on the site of the former Military Technology, until a construction site unearthed the laboratory."

V raised an eyebrow: "Are the claims that the developers withdrew their investment and ran away, causing the Taipingzhou development project to be abandoned, all false?"

"Of course it's fake. The developers were driven away, and the military technology company built high walls in Taiping State, claiming it was due to a gas leak, incomplete development permits, and unexploded ordnance left over from the Fourth Company War, etc. Of course, in the end, all of this benefited me."

"I see. So what were they researching here for military technology back then?"

"At first, it was about next-generation weapons and war machines, but with the massive network crash, they turned to researching how to bypass the black wall."

"Hold!"

Kurt Hansen scoffed: "The network crashed so quickly back then that people had to cut off the global internet and revert to primitive, outdated local area networks to avoid being hunted by the roaming AI. Later, with the establishment of the Great Firewall, the roaming AI was kept out, and people began to rebuild their homes on the ruins."

"Strictly speaking, we are just a group of refugees now, living off the scrap metal we found in our pockets when the disaster struck. In reality, there are many advanced technologies and techniques that have been lost on the other side of the black wall. Military technology has made relevant estimates, and the technology we have recovered so far is only 39.88% of what it was before the disaster, which is only 40% of the total technology of mankind. How to bypass the black wall and recover the remaining 60% is the main task of military technology in the future."

“That’s suicide,” V said definitively. “Whoever touches the other side of the black wall dies.”

“Everyone knows it, but everyone’s doing it.” Kurt Hansen grinned coldly. “Military technology is doing it, Comtau is doing it, and I dare say Arasaka is doing it too, right?”

V thought of Lucy, the mining card girl, and nodded.

"See? That's how it is. Those big shots appear virtuous on the surface, always talking about the good of all humanity, but secretly they're all selfish and self-serving. They're the ones who ruined the environment, they're the ones who destroyed society, they're the ones who drove endangered animals to extinction. And when something really serious happens, they'll say it's all humanity's fault, and that all of humanity has to pay for it. Screw them! They didn't invite me when we were eating, but now they remember me when it's time to pay the bill! It's the same with the black wall now. They're digging it up secretly, and when problems arise, it'll definitely be because all of humanity downloaded porn and ruined it. Just you wait and see!"

V did not deny it; she had known all along.

"Environment, society, rare animals, or anything else is one thing, but the other side of the black wall concerns the life and death of all mankind, and absolutely cannot be destroyed by anyone." V doesn't want to see the end of the world.

Kurt Hansen shrugged: "That won't work on me. Go say it to the big shots."

V sighed: "I'm sorry, I acted on my emotions."

“It’s alright. It’s human to be emotional. What I like most is to cooperate with people!” Kurt Hansen was saying when the elevator stopped.

A huge room, like a warehouse, appeared before V, with a two-story structure covered by a canvas in the middle.

"This is the little treasure I dug up not long ago, a magnificent offering from military technology, the Chimera, a weapon of war!"

As Kurt Hansen ripped the canvas off, a six-legged machine, exuding the cold, steely qualities of machinery, appeared before V.

This is the Chimera, not an ordinary military vehicle like the Lizard armored vehicle, but a next-generation main battle tank truly built for war.

Its surface is covered with multi-layered composite armor and has a dark gray anti-radar coating. Its main body is similar to that of a traditional tank, but its tracks are replaced by six huge mechanical walking legs. Beneath these "legs", thick hydraulic rods and drive shafts are interspersed, and dark red energy lines are wrapped around them like blood vessels.

Every seam of the machine is embedded with fluorescent green data transmission bands, allowing the core AI to monitor the real-time status of each module. If it is severely damaged, its back armor plate will partially unfold, releasing a swarm of miniature repair drones. These drones resemble metal beetles and repair the damage in a swarm-like manner, turning the Chimera into an "undying mechanical beast" and further enhancing its sense of oppression against the enemy.

But defense alone cannot secure victory; the Chimera's firepower is equally formidable. Its head is equipped with compound eye sensors, and its hexagonal lens array can continuously scan the battlefield 360°. Once locked onto by the projected crimson laser, the enemy will face a comprehensive, three-dimensional attack.

KL-274XYA Arrow-shaped rocket launcher.

PAN-12 burst laser cannon.

The GD27-Fear Pattern Launcher is capable of both ground-to-ground and ground-to-air attacks.

Combat gas sprayer.

Smoke screen generating device.

The TYA-12 is a super-large military-grade cyber defense system designed to resist hacker intrusion.

These weapons and defense systems have transformed the Chimera into a mobile war factory, with every design detail proclaiming: This is not a living being, but a technological creation born purely for destruction!

"Unfortunately, the top is a weak point," V said regretfully.

Kurt Hansen asked, puzzled, "What?"

"Insufficient defense against top-attack attacks and difficulty in performing combat operations in urban environments as originally designed, therefore it cannot be considered a perfect design. — Internal evaluation from Arasaka's side."

"I see, no wonder only 13 were built for military technology." Kurt Hansen stroked his chin. "So, should we still put it into service?"

“Of course, we’re dirt poor right now, so we have to unite all our forces. Although the Chimera has its flaws, it’s still a powerful weapon of war.” V said, climbing to the top of the Chimera, finding the core access point, and pulling out the data cable from his wrist to plug it in.

"The control AI for this thing was removed by military technology, which is why it's been stuck here. I'll write a new one for it, which should take about half an hour."

"Can an AI written in half an hour even work?" Kurt Hansen said. "How about adding another half hour, making it an hour long?"

Good heavens, do you think this is some kind of gemstone girl?

V shook his head: "Don't worry, if nothing unexpected happens, half an hour will be enough."

But as soon as he finished speaking, unsurprisingly, an accident occurred.

Kurt Hansen had already had the Chimera logged into the Ghosthound system. V, now connected to the Chimera, suddenly discovered another cyber hacker was also present. However, the hacker wasn't located on the Chimera, but rather on another data terminal within the Ghosthound.

"The Little Beidou Project?"

V curled the corners of her lips; she knew who it was.

Chapter 47 Virtual War

As V's ally, the Netherhound's system has also been upgraded using the Poseidon Network.

Even so, the intruder was able to sneak in without triggering any alarms and freely spy on the encrypted information in the data fortress as if it were an empty place. In V's memory, only Song Zhaomei, codenamed Nightingale, possessed such high-level hacking skills.

Last time, this little bird caused her a lot of trouble. Song Zhaomei, who could use a portion of the Black Wall's power, even managed to defeat her when she was at her peak.

As for whether I was at my peak when the relic chip was inserted—at least when the chip wasn't malfunctioning, I probably was.

While lost in thought, the lark seemed to have finished downloading the data and was preparing to leave. The reason for saying "seemed" is that cyberspace is entirely composed of virtual figures made up of 0s and 1s; only a rough outline could be seen, and facial expressions and body movements were indistinct, making it difficult to accurately determine a person's intentions.

V felt a pang of guilt for betraying Lark last time. But with a major battle looming and Lark being Miles's right-hand man, and knowing that a super hacker is more terrifying than an aircraft carrier battle group in modern warfare, V quickly made up his mind: he couldn't let Lark leave so easily!

The lark, who was downloading data, suddenly felt a shiver, and then her security firewall exploded into countless fragments.

It was discovered!

Although startled, the lark remained calm and instantly deployed seven layers of data nesting to protect itself.

But a torrent of data, like lightning, tore through the dark cyberspace and rushed straight toward her, containing a terrifyingly vast amount of computing power.

The lark watched helplessly as 70% of the nested data was broken down layer by layer, and suddenly realized that the person who came was no less capable than itself.

"Hold!"

She cursed under her breath and drew upon computing power from the massive server connected to her, finally stabilizing the last layer of data nesting. This not only blocked the "thunderous attack" but also allowed her to locate the network address from which the attack originated.

"Come out!"

With a command from the lark, the numerical disguise of V was torn away, revealing a hazy image exactly like the lark.

Before V could reappear in her disguise, a "dark cloud" appeared above her head, and a cyber rainstorm poured down, each drop of rain a string of hexadecimal virus code.

Goodness, that little bird really knows how to fight.

V curled his lips into a smile, clapped his hands, and a colossal bronze statue rose from the cyber wasteland. Its rotating joints were digital keys, which were updated with each rotation. The flames dancing in its chest were topological quantum algorithms, which were refreshed with each throughput.

The bronze giant raised his hand and punched through the rain, through the clouds, and through the sky. With another stomp, the bronze giant shattered the wind and the earth, then stomped down fiercely on the lark.

With a deafening roar, the cyber wasteland trembled violently. The redundant and overflowing data was restored to its original 0s and 1s, scattering like fragments from an explosion. Amidst a low rumble, digital flames suddenly ignited beneath the bronze giant's feet. The orange-red data stream converged continuously, eventually transforming into a golden phoenix that struggled to break free and soared into the sky.

Each feather of the phoenix is ​​a dancing Hilbert curve. It opens its mouth and spews flames formed by a torrent of Gödel numbers. The bronze colossus reaches out to block it, but its entire arm is disassembled into discrete bytes at the quantum level. Countless abnormal data gushes out from the severed arm, as if even steel is bleeding.

Just as the lark was overjoyed, the blood suddenly reorganized in mid-air, and the data fragments inside condensed into countless hissing topological snakes, which suddenly pounced on the phoenix in mid-air, opened their mouths and bit down hard, injecting the tracking protocol that had been written in advance with their venomous fangs.

Beep beep beep! The Lark's personal ICE started alarming wildly, and the golden phoenix began to writhe in agony.

Damn! When did Kurt Hansen get such a formidable man under his command?

In any case, the lark will never allow the other party to track it down.

She resolutely controlled the phoenix to launch a suicidal attack, while the one-armed bronze colossus was also clearly at its limit and unanimously adopted the same tactic.

The two extraordinary creations rushed toward each other, colliding violently in the most primal way.

There was no loud noise, no vibration, only the constant overwriting caused by the data flushing.

The phoenix shattered into ripples of discrete cosine transform amidst its mournful cry, and the bronze colossus slowly melted away in its own paradox. The entire cyber wasteland collapsed into a digitized Möbius strip, looped once, and returned to its original state.

It's finally over.

The lark breathed a sigh of relief.

But the next second, V emerged from the data dust, and with two fingers, he transformed the attack protocol into a Fibonacci spiral, stabbing it fiercely at the lark's head like a spear.

Keng!

At the critical moment, the lark spread its arms and used the encrypted torrent to form the strongest crystal wall, barely blocking the deadly attack.

The crisp cracking sounds continued, and the cracks in the crystal wall grew denser and denser, like a spider web.

As the spearhead drew ever closer, the lark's body in reality was already drenched in sweat.

This is an example of computing power being used to its fullest extent. Not only is the server operating at its highest cooling mode, but a continuous stream of coolant is also being injected into her body through the hacker chair.

No, I don't want to die! I don't want to die, I absolutely refuse to die here!!!

The lark let out a sharp cry, and the crystal wall, which was about to shatter, suddenly folded, as if a giant mouth had grown out a sharp Sierpinski triangle, which slammed shut with a bang and smashed the V to pieces.

Wow.

The crystal wall vanished, leaving V's virtual avatar riddled with holes. Like a broken rag doll, it collapsed and, just before touching the lark, burst into data fragments that swept over her like dust.

I survived!

The terrified lark dared not linger for even a second longer and immediately activated its escape program, fleeing this terrifying cyberspace.

"what!"

Song Zhaomei sat up from the hacker chair as if waking from a nightmare, and immediately reached out and pulled out the fist-thick data cable plugged into the back of her head.

The medical staff nearby came forward with a blanket, but she pushed them away. She rolled down like a drunkard, crawling weakly on the ground, and finally huddled in a corner, hugging her knees and trembling.

"Song Zhaomei, what's going on? Did you find what I asked you to find?" The new US President, Miles, was a capable middle-aged woman in a white presidential uniform, and she asked sternly.

Song Zhaomei lowered her head, looking like a child overcome with fear.