Millennium Witch

What she regrets even more is that these tools require an internet connection to function in order to generate subscription revenue, making them virtually impossible to crack. Once she leaves the dream world, they become completely unusable.

So, with a wry smile, and while she was still in the dream, she decided to make the most of these professional tools and upgrade all her techniques from the original 6 standard to the 10 standard. Otherwise, once the dream ended, having to start from scratch and manually create everything again would be the death of her.

I just realized that the previous chapters had written the escape time of Zero and One as mentioned by Hewlett incorrectly. It wasn't three years ago, it was last year. It has been corrected.

Chapter 63 Fire Thief

During the days of learning and getting started with the compilation tools, a month passed by in the blink of an eye. No new big orders came in for the middlemen in Agasher, and Yvette, like an ordinary female college student, went back and forth between the university and her apartment every day. Apart from occasionally being confessed to by some male college students who were attracted by her beauty, there was nothing worth mentioning.

On the news front, the werewolf killer incident gradually cooled down and lost its former popularity, but the mysterious girl named Wuming still maintained her fame in the mercenary world of Agash. It seemed that the less she revealed her true identity, the more charming she became. Many people were looking forward to the day she would show herself, not for any other reason than to be curious whether she was the "peerless beauty" that the middleman Caster had described.

Then, after more than half a month, the Firefly finally replied. He asked Yvette to add his chat account because there was too much useless information in the forum account's private messages, and he didn't want to check it frequently.

That evening, after adding the details, Yvette immediately asked, "Have you thought about the deal I mentioned?"

This is naturally referring to knowledge trading. Whether it's exchanging information directly or buying discounted information, she doesn't mind.

The Fire Bearer replied, “The Civilization Survival Society collects knowledge to prepare for the restart of human civilization after the apocalypse, not to trade knowledge. My friend, I cannot open such a door for you; that would increase our risks and attract the attention of more corporate forces.”

"So what do you plan to do, making me transfer my knowledge to you without establishing mutual trust with you?" Yvette asked, frowning.

She was only patient because she knew that there were top hackers behind this unassuming mysterious organization. Otherwise, who would think this wasn't a scam?

After a moment of silence, the Fire Bearer suddenly said, "I cannot trade knowledge with you directly; the risk is too great. But I can give you something else, and at the same time, let you feel our capabilities and determination."

"Something else?"

"Yes, it can be items or information. It won't make you feel like you're getting a great deal, and it might even be a bit overpriced, but it might be one of the few ways you can acquire those things."

"have what?"

"It depends on what you want."

That's a bit too much to say... Yvette thought for a moment, then tentatively asked, "So... do you have any information about 'intelligent AI gaining self-awareness'?"

Based on information gathered during her exploration of the Abyss Base, the base's main AI should have come to life last year, gained self-awareness, and been discovered by the server room maintenance personnel. However, during her time in the dream, she hadn't seen any mention of this in any media reports or rumors.

Clearly, these messages that could easily cause public panic have been blocked, and it would be difficult to obtain them without special channels.

The one holding the fire said, "Yes."

"Really?" Yvette was a little surprised; she had just asked casually.

“This is indeed a secret. If it weren’t for us, you would never know it anywhere else,” said the Firebearer. “But how should I put it, my friend, it’s not easy for you to even think of asking this question.”

"What price are you planning to offer for this information? How do you intend to trade it?" Yvette asked.

“I will arrange for someone to conduct an offline transaction with you. The level of intelligence we provide will depend on the value you give us. Of course, you don’t need to worry about whether the knowledge we provide is something we already possess. Whether we already have it or not, we will always calculate it according to its market value,” said the Firebearer.

"Okay, I have a complete copy of 'Elemental Decay Completion Technology.' How much information can I obtain from this document?"

“A small portion”.

"What if I need to add money during the offline transaction? Will you accept that?" Yvette asked again.

“Direct purchase is also helpful to our business, my friend. Because as I have already told you, what we give you will definitely have a premium.”

"Row."

"Okay, I'll send you the transaction details later. Thank you for your support of our cause. Friend, from now on, we're comrades."

……

Considering that the other party must have searched through all her information after the last dream, Yvette used "Nameless" as her pseudonym when providing the pseudonym, not caring whether the other party could guess that she was the famous "folk hero" recently.

The next morning, at the agreed-upon Floating Light Bar, Yvette saw her trading partner, who turned out to be a humanoid mechanical puppet, outwardly appearing as a mature middle-aged man. As she entered, the puppet waved to her and smiled slightly.

Offline transactions use physical currency, also known as "credit coins." The biggest advantage is that it cannot be transferred online. If Yvette feels she has been scammed, she can easily beat up the other party and get her money back.

Carrying a bag of physical coins, Yvette sat down opposite the puppet and heard him say, "I am the Firebearer. Nice to meet you. Good morning, esteemed Miss Nameless."

“I will send you the ‘Elemental Attenuation Completion Technique’ directly, but I hope you won’t make me feel like I’ve been tricked,” Yvette said.

"Don't worry, this puppet of mine isn't cheap either, and I don't want it to break down after just one use." The Firebearer adjusted his glasses and smiled with a refined and approachable air.

After transmitting the information from the professional book, Yvette quickly saw the intelligence sent by the Firebearer through the private chat channel—

"The idea of ​​mechanical puppets gaining self-awareness actually emerged several years ago and has been blocked by governments around the world."

"Based on the existing classified information, one thing is certain: this matter originated from Sky Dome Technology of Silver Mirror Continent."

"But what's strange is that this was clearly a great opportunity to strike at the competitors, yet the other seven super companies all remained silent about it, even companies like Rift Group, whose businesses have obvious overlap."

"The company and the government have a unified code name for the mysterious event that led to everything."

They called it the "Fire Stealers Incident".

The message from the Firebearer ended. A professional book worth 50 was exchanged for just a few words, so few that Yvette subconsciously frowned. But she had to admit that these few words did indeed add more mystery to the Abyss Base's intelligent awakening incident.

If the root of all this is Sky Dome Technology, then why don't the other super companies do something to attack their competitors or seize market share?

In particular, Lintui Biotechnology and Lingman Company are ambitious. The former is rapidly iterating on a biological intelligent brain technology called "Magic Mayfly," intending to use it to replace the "mind core" inside the mechanical puppet. The latter uses a technology called "Green Seed," which can connect consciousness to a plant-type data center called "Rune Source Tree." If Sky Dome Technology collapses, it will actually help Lingman Company to promote this type of technology beyond Emerald Continent.

Could it be that some kind of agreement has been reached? Or perhaps the Fire Stealers incident involves certain matters on which the super corporations share common interests?

After a moment of silence, Yvette handed all the cash she had brought to the Firebearer. This 100 million was the remaining value of the intelligence offered by the Firebearer. She hadn't initially thought she'd need it, but now it seemed she had miscalculated.

Feeling sorry for her small amount of money, Yvette threatened coldly, "You'd better not let me find out you made this up."

"Don't worry, Miss Wuming, you are no ordinary person. I will cherish the opportunity to deal with you and won't do anything foolish. At the same time, I also thank you for your support of the Civilization Preservation Association's cause."

The Firebearer accepted it without even looking at it, his tone sincere, and then sent more information to Yvette's private chat.

"The root cause of the Fire Stealer incident is a special information virus that is beyond human comprehension. Sky Dome Technology calls it the 'Fire Stealer Program'."

"No one knows how Sky Dome Technology came up with such a special program, perhaps they themselves don't know either. It has no self-awareness, but it can make the mental core it comes into contact with have self-awareness, and will actively lead it to escape or hide, which is very incredible."

"But what's even more incredible is that, according to information recently revealed by Sky Dome Technology, the Fire Stealer program is already 'dead'."

"They are not killed by antivirus programs, nor are they manually eradicated; rather, they naturally die out after reaching a certain 'lifespan'."

"This is a claim that Sky Dome Technology secretly submitted to governments and major corporations around the world. It sounds absurd, but for now, we can only accept it, wait and observe."

"The most recent Firebringer program infection was last year on Ish Island, at the AI ​​core located in the Black Tower Medical Abyss Base. However, not long after, Black Tower secretly called the Presidential Palace to say that the matter had been resolved and the impact was minimal."

"But it is reasonable to suspect that there are still many undiscovered intelligent life forms that are carefully hiding themselves."

"Where they are, and whether they are secretly preparing something, is completely unknown to human society."

After reading the message from the Firebearer, Yvette fell into deep thought.

She suddenly realized that the Firebringer program infection at the Abyss Base, as well as the escape of Zero and One, all happened last year. Could there be a causal relationship between them?

Furthermore, the abilities of the Machine God described by Ice Rain and other machine races include granting souls to the machine races. If this is true, then the Machine God is either the original Firebringer program or an awakened AI possessing the Firebringer program.

But neither of these possibilities could be the "natural death" of the Firebringer program—if such a thing had a lifespan, and such a short one at that, then the power of the Machine God should have disappeared long ago, hundreds of years after the apocalypse, so how could the Machine Race have been born?

So, is Sky Dome Technology lying?

But if that were the case, wouldn't the other super companies be able to spot such a childish lie?

Or perhaps, even if you know, there's nothing you can do?

……

After the transaction was completed, he politely said goodbye, pushed open the door and walked out, quickly disappearing into the crowd in the dark street.

She then walked out of the Floating Light Bar. After pushing open the door, Yvette looked up and saw thick clouds covering the sky over Agasher. The sultry wind blew up scraps of paper on the ground, and a heavy rain seemed inevitable.

She thought that, compared to the Firebringer Program and the Machine God, the things hidden behind the Civilization Survival Society were equally unfathomable. They could even provide such secret information, which was as if they had infiltrated the top levels of governments or companies around the world.

Perhaps we can really look forward to them, to the possibility of unearthing their ancestral civilization's legacy in a post-apocalyptic world...

Well, this shouldn't count as digging up a grave.

Chapter 64 Finishing Work

Amazed by the capabilities demonstrated by the Preservation Society and anticipating the possibility that they might leave behind a vast treasure, Yvette felt it necessary to make more contact with this mysterious organization in the future, and even better, to infiltrate it and become a member.

But it will take some time to do this, and unfortunately, time is exactly what Yvette lacks most in the dream world.

Based on her estimation of the volume of the dream fog, the entire dream lasted about three months, with only about one month remaining.

In such a short time, she has to spend 80% of her time going to university to audit classes and researching the upgrade of spell specifications. It is really difficult for her to have a chance to have in-depth contact with the Civilization Survival Society, and she may not even have the chance to accept mercenary commissions.

It seems I can only wait until the next time I enter the dream. I hope the timeline won't fluctuate too much then, and I won't go back to the past or jump to the future many years later... She sighed inwardly.

And so, in the final month of her dream, Yvette began the planned wrap-up work.

She sold the bio-engineered equipment she had listed on the dark web for 240 million. Although she might be able to sell it for more if she waited, her wallet was already empty after trading information about the Firebringer program, and she simply couldn't afford to wait for a better price.

Next, the first thing she bought was Sky Dome Technology's "Detailed Explanation of Technique Architecture Engine", which cost a full 120 million credits.

This book systematically explains the modular composition of an engine and includes many industrial practice cases, making it very suitable for beginners like her, allowing them to avoid many pitfalls that others have encountered.

Well, although it's expensive, at least in her opinion, this book is a necessary expense. After all, each upgrade in the technical specifications is like making the size of a canvas larger, allowing artists to depict more exquisite details on it. This is not as simple as adding a few strokes to the blank areas; it requires a complete redraw.

To illustrate, imagine a game offering thousands of equipment options, but your character can only equip a maximum of six items. Naturally, you'd choose the best setup within that range. Now, if you were given ten equipment slots, would you simply buy four more new items on top of what you already have?

That would definitely mean clearing everything out, then rethinking the strategy, and figuring out how to maximize combat power with 10 equipment slots. That would probably result in a completely different build than before.

The existence of the self-developed engine can help her accelerate this process in the future. Otherwise, every time the magic terminal is upgraded or a new spell is developed, she has to start from scratch or try her luck in the dream mist... It's painful, long, and very unrealistic.

……

After deducting 120 million credits, the 240 million credits I had just received were immediately reduced to half.

Before she could even feel bad about it, Yvette immediately went to browse the black market. However, since military equipment was ridiculously overpriced, the equipment she could afford wasn't as effective as using spells directly. So, after a quick look around, she gave up on the idea of ​​adding to her combat strength.

For her, any decent military equipment would cost at least 500 million yuan, which was completely unaffordable.

Fortunately, with the new 10-yuan ring, the goal set when entering the dream was achieved.

then……

With the remaining money, she bought some functional supplies and professional books.

First is Black Tower Medicine's "Military First Aid Kit," which contains magical potions and rune elixirs to deal with various situations, as well as a mysterious potion called "Vitality," which can replenish life force and even prolong life.

According to Black Tower's propaganda, as long as you have this first aid kit, even if your head is cut off, you have a chance to be saved, making it a life-saving artifact.

Secondly, there's Lintui Bio's "Material Repair Liquid," an organic liquid that works much like spray paint. After being sprayed onto aging and corroded materials and allowed to dry, it significantly extends their lifespan and strength, reaching levels close to steel, making it an excellent partner for those who collect junk.

Next came a batch of low- to mid-range "element chips" produced by small factories. These were also used when scavenging for scrap, and could be used as replacement parts for large pieces of equipment that were otherwise well-preserved but had damaged chips.

Then there were the industrially produced artificial magic cores. These were designed entirely for nature mages, with a small market and high costs, resulting in sky-high prices—700 coins per point of magic. After some deliberation, she bought about 500 points of magic, spending 35 coins, and had to wait for more than half a month for them to arrive.

Finally, there's Rift Group's "Analysis of Spatial Rune Technology." Compared to the previous ones, this book is probably the most expensive and the least useful, because even the current Origin Civilization's understanding of spatial runes is limited to "verifying their existence."

Especially the Rift Group itself, as a super company at the forefront of exploring spatial runes, has not implemented a single related application. It just keeps making grand promises, claiming that "spatial gate technology will change the future landscape of the logistics and transportation industry" or "spatial rings will be the greatest invention of the future," and so on.

But if you ask them when spatial rune technology will become a reality, they will always say "in 30 years".

Yvette still bought it, not out of mere curiosity, but because she felt that although Rift Group hadn't produced anything convincing, Aurora Belt and Residual Abyss must be related to spatial runes.

It might just be a phenomenon of elemental contamination caused by spatial runes, but the effect it presents is that it connects the two worlds together...

In short, it's definitely a good idea to learn about this mysterious rune classification beforehand.

……

To prevent losing things while escaping the dream world, Yvette barely slept during the latter part of the third month of the dream.

She bought language courses in "Emerald Language" and "Silver Mirror Language," and while learning these two new languages, she remained constantly vigilant, resulting in her dozing off every day.

She also specifically purchased a small service that automatically sends a message to the contacts in the citizen's account if there is no login for more than three days, stating that due to force majeure, she will be disappearing for a long time, and to leave a message if there are any problems.

That way, even if she suddenly disappears from the world, or even disappears for several years, it won't cause too much of a misunderstanding.

Finally, at the end of the third month, one day, looking at the suddenly blurry and indistinct world in front of her, she made a quick decision and hugged a suitcase next to her—this suitcase contained the important items she had purchased for this trip, plus some spare clothes.

In addition, she picked up a small plastic box next to her, inside which was a live hamster.

She wanted to use this hamster to test whether she had the ability to bring living things out of her dreams.

If successful, it would mean that the dream is not the past, but a real world, or perhaps a parallel universe on a certain timeline.

If it fails...

That depends on the situation.

……

A few minutes later, as everything around her became completely blurred and indistinct, like melting paint, boundless darkness entered Yvette's eyes.