Digital Hackers' Memories

After that, with the support of the super server Valhalla, the Kamishiro Corporation gradually established its first foothold in this disordered and chaotic network, and expanded the existing EDEN network from there.

It conforms to human aesthetics, human habits, and human order...

Centered on the existing EDEN public area, the Kamishiro Corporation, through continuous technological innovation and upgrades, gradually changed the original appearance of this cyberspace, truly making it a "EDEN Network" that better meets human needs.

The so-called free zone is actually the network area on the edge of the Kamishiro Corporation's management scope, which is also the boundary between the traditional Internet and the EDEN network.

Here, data exists in its most essential form, and the various "rules" that defy human cognition and habits are the original form of this world.

When outsiders truly delve into the world beyond Kowloon's fifth layer, even these data blocks that can occasionally be used as stepping stones will disappear, returning to the most authentic form of the network world.

"This is the real online world."

Taking a deep breath, the FlameAngemon, floating above a piece of data, flapped its wings and murmured this.

It has had enough of those digital spaces created according to human rules. Only in this environment, which is infinitely close to the real network, can the power of the Digimon be maximized.

"Those two stubborn fools will realize this sooner or later."

Watching Keisuke and Leomon, who hadn't noticed him and were heading in the opposite direction, the usually dignified and powerful Angelmon sighed helplessly.

"If it weren't for owing a favor to the Emperor, none of you would be leaving here today."

In this chaotic, primitive digital space, FlameAngemon is confident in defeating Leomon, who grew up in the human world, just as it is confident in shaking off Keisuke and Erika's pursuit.

Ultimately, Digimon are the natural data life forms, and Champion-level Digimon like Angelmon, which can blend into the human world, are among the best.

Boom!

Just as FlameAngemon was about to ignore the two guys and return to the fourth floor of Kowloon, a sound like breaking glass suddenly came from behind him.

"Varied……"

As a warrior, the instinct of the FlameAngemon made it flap its wings immediately and fly away from the hell where it originally was.

Immediately afterwards, it saw Renamon, whom it had met once before, appear at the entrance to the fifth floor of Kowloon with an Agumon that was entirely blue and white.

Moreover, a bizarre "eyeball" filled with mechanical style was constantly floating next to that strange Agumon.

......................................................................................................

"Have you gotten rid of that thing?"

On the other side, when Chen Ze and Renamon hid in the fifth floor of Kowloon, they didn't even have time to look back to see if the Invaders were chasing them before they spotted the stunned Angelmon not far away.

"Uh, would you believe us if we said it was just a coincidence?"

Seeing this, Chen Ze had no choice but to find a data block to stand on, and then smiled awkwardly at Angelmon.

"coincide?"

Clearly, they didn't believe Chen Ze's explanation. FlameAngemon wasn't a "fool" like Leomon who grew up in the human world; it had an extraordinary understanding of the darkness of this world.

Moreover, judging from their behavior, these two suddenly appearing Digimon clearly noticed the battle between me and Leomon, and it is highly likely that they witnessed my transformation from a "human" into a Digimon.

"The Fox-Beast? Then you are... that human?"

After glancing at the elegant Renamon standing behind Chen Ze, and then carefully examining the "Agumon" in its eyes, Angelmon nodded in realization.

"No wonder you get along so well with the fox spirit. It turns out you're not human at all."

Without much explanation, FlameAngemon immediately realized that the "human" was actually Agumon in disguise, and immediately mistook him for a Digimon as skilled in hacking technology as himself.

The well-informed Angelmon didn't find anything strange about this.

In its memory, such Digimon are not many, but they are not uncommon either. In fact, a considerable number of well-known hackers are actually Digimon in disguise.

Aside from the inability to enter the real human world and the inability to disguise themselves in EDEN's public areas, the line between Digimon and hackers is not as clear as one might imagine.

In fact, besides those Digimon that disguised themselves as humans, FlameAngemon has seen other even more bizarre Digimon.

A fairy beast that enjoys dating human men online and via text message...

LadyDevimon lives deep within her own server, only occasionally venturing out to sell strange items...

A sage beast lurking on a certain online bookstore, browsing all the novels on the server simultaneously, causing the website to crash...

Because he fell in love with a certain game, he transformed himself into a random character in the game, relentlessly killing all human players—the Steel Bean Beast…

On one of the most outrageous occasions, FlameAngemon even witnessed an Invadermon protesting on various video websites in a grand manner because it was dissatisfied with the human government's "immigration policy".

Compared to these truly bizarre Digimon, those that merely disguise themselves as humans to carry out hacking activities are already among the most law-abiding characters.

"Why are you following me?"

Recalling the Trojan program Chen Ze had previously implanted in him, FlameAngemon quickly realized that the other party must have been tracking him down by that Trojan program.

"My deal with you should be complete by now, right?"

Not wanting to have too much contact with Chen Ze and his group, FlameAngemon decided after a brief moment of thought to ignore them and instead flew towards the entrance to the fourth floor of Kowloon.

Compared to these two exceptionally curious Rookie-level Digimon, Enbrelmon just wants to get rid of Keisuke and Leomon as soon as possible.

***********************

PS: The bizarre Digimon in this chapter are all part of a short story I plan to write; I'll see if there's a chance to incorporate them later.

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Invader's Anomaly

"and many more……"

Seeing this, Chen Ze disregarded the embarrassment of being discovered by the person involved and immediately spoke up to stop the FlameAngemon, which was already approaching the entrance to the fourth floor of Kowloon.

"If I were you, I wouldn't choose to go back now."

This time, it wasn't Chen Ze who spoke, but the fox spirit who had regained its calm and elegant demeanor.

"What do you mean?"

The FieryAngemon stopped flying, seemingly realizing that the other party meant no harm, and a look of confusion appeared on its face.

However, before Angelmon could react, a strange black and white tentacle suddenly emerged from the entrance to the fourth floor of Kowloon, aiming directly at its head.

boom!

At the critical moment, Little Bick appeared out of nowhere.

And by using his own body to shield the Invader from the FlameAngemon, FlameAngemon was saved from dying a miserable death from the Invader's sneak attack.

Immediately following, just as it had broken through the barrier of Kowloon's fourth layer of digital space, the Invaders once again extended their power into this chaotic space through some unknown means of invasion.

Boom!

Like shattered glass, the spaces touched by the invader's tentacles were reduced to their most primitive data mosaic.

Only Little Piccolo, who shares the same origin and possesses similar abilities, remains in the form of a white sphere, barely managing to defend against the opponent's sudden and extremely fast attack.

"An Invader?!"

Only then did the bewildered FlameAngemon come to its senses and escape the tentacles' attack range with near teleportation speed.

tumultuous!

In the next instant, countless fiery feathers rained down from the sky like meteors, shooting fiercely towards the Invaders who had not yet fully emerged.

—Flame Feather!

Silence! Silence! Silence!

The high-speed impact, combined with the high temperature of the fire feather itself, instantly ignited the Invader's terrifying tentacle, as if it were burning a real entity.

clack clack...

Although no screams were heard, the invaders, whose main bodies remained on the fourth level of Kowloon, still emitted a strange mechanical sound.

Taking this opportunity, Little Bick suddenly "unfolded" his body, as if a huge membrane had suddenly swallowed the data fragments left by the invaders.

Click!

Caught off guard, before the invader could react, the tentacle that appeared on the fifth level of Kowloon became Little Beek's "meal".

clack clack...

Immediately afterwards, as if he had received some kind of supplement, after Little Bick devoured the Invader's tentacles, his body began to expand uncontrollably and then compress rapidly.

After repeating this process several times, it finally returned to its original small size.

However, after witnessing Piccolo's gluttonous appearance and its ability to ignore the assimilation ability of the invaders, FlameAngemon dared not regard it as a truly "harmless" thing.

Even though he knew that Piccolo might be some kind of special program written by Chen Ze, and that Piccolo had indeed just saved his life, Angelmon still decided to keep a certain distance from this strange thing.

FlameAngemon's intuition told it that Piccolo was not much different from the Infiltrators in essence; both were dangerous programs that could easily trigger a "data disaster" if not handled carefully.

............................................................................................................

"What exactly is going on?"

After a short while, once he was certain that the terrifying invader had indeed been repelled and the remaining data had been devoured by the strange "eyeball," Angelmon approached Chen Ze and Renamon again.

Even so, it dared not completely let its guard down, and kept a close watch on the entrance to the fourth floor of Kowloon.

Or more precisely, FlameAngemon was wary of the tiny, toy-like Piccolo, fearing that the other party might suddenly develop some kind of berserk tendency.

After all, that's how the Invaders were born.

If the hacker leader hadn't implanted a dangerous program into the Flame Beast that he couldn't fully control, that thing wouldn't have suddenly appeared in Nordens and gone berserk.

So in the eyes of Angelmon at this moment, Piccolo is just as dangerous as the Invader, the only difference is that Piccolo has not yet gone berserk!

"Ordinary invaders shouldn't have this ability to 'travel' through time, right?"

For FlameAngemon, who had seen the Invaders more than once, it had never seen an Invader that could hunt across space.

In fact, this is one of the reasons why Angelmon decisively withdrew from Nordens and went to Kowloon.

Because it knows perfectly well that the invaders will only assimilate and erode the data that it can access.

Besides, it has no real consciousness or self, so naturally the concepts of "hunting" and "hatred" do not exist.

Theoretically speaking, without any external assistance, it would take at least several years for an Invader to completely assimilate a small digital space like Nordens.

But the intruder just now was clearly an exception; it was able to break free from the "rules" written in the core of its program and perform cross-space tracking.

"Well... we're not too sure either."

Sensing the subtext in the Flame Angel Beast's words, Chen Ze, who had assumed that every Invader was like this, couldn't help but ponder.

If this eroder's current behavior is illogical, then when did this anomaly begin?

Is it because I previously planned to control the Infiltrators? Or is it because of Little Piccolo?

Chen Ze muttered to himself, feeling a little guilty, and glanced at the fox demon. Only after realizing that the other party didn't seem to realize this did he secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Chen Ze hadn't forgotten what he'd said before, like "the fox demon is my nemesis."

If the Invaders really did catch up because of his own actions, then Chen Ze would truly be contradicting himself.

"The most urgent task is to find a way to leave here."

With an elegant and calm expression, the fox beast seemed to have completely forgotten about the matter and began to quickly browse through its database, intending to find a suitable UDL link.

"Ordinary digital spaces cannot stop the invaders from 'tracking' us."

Seemingly sensing Renamon's thoughts, FlameAngemon hesitated briefly before choosing to share a hidden UDL link with Renamon and Chen Ze.

"In terms of secrecy, there is probably no more secluded place in the entire EDEN network than this place."

Chen Ze casually opened his virtual screen and accepted the link invitation sent by Angelmon.

Then I opened it and downloaded a UDL program with extremely high encryption and permission requirements—Digimon Black Market.UDL.

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Digimon Black Market

The Digimon Black Market, as the name suggests, is a black market specifically for selling Digimon.

As mentioned earlier, hackers have been very interested in this new type of "virus" with intelligent AI ever since they discovered the Digimon that had fallen into the EDEN network.

Especially after the program called "Digimon Catcher" became popular, how to capture and raise a Digimon that belongs only to oneself became the most interesting thing for most hackers.

It's a "consensus" in the hacker community that Digimon can evolve into different forms and branches depending on the data they absorb and their environment.

Theoretically speaking, if a hacker can consciously guide a Digimon's growth process, then every hacker could potentially raise the Digimon they desire most.

By constantly absorbing and learning various virus programs, the Digimon that evolve in this way have a high probability of becoming adept at attacking viruses.

Digimon that are permanently stationed inside a computer and evolve by imitating various antivirus programs have a high probability of becoming vaccine species, and the best of them may even have the attribute of "virus killer".

In contrast, the evolution conditions for Data-type Digimon are not so demanding. As long as a Digimon is good at learning and enjoys accessing new information, it can generally evolve into a gentle Data-type Digimon.