Digital Hackers' Memories

After all, in a sense, Chen Ze and Makiko Date were not very good friends; the only reason they knew each other was because of Chen Ze's mother.

However, Chen Ze was also annoyed by the other party's "excessive" care, because it forced him to spend some effort to hide some of his little secrets.

Whether it's his expertise in hacking, or the existence of Reijumon X...

These are secrets that cannot be exposed to Makiko Date, and they are Chen Ze's most basic form of self-protection.

"Perhaps that's why she was able to become a police officer and be valued by her superiors."

On the surface, she may seem carefree and even somewhat violent, but deep down, Makiko Date still possesses the delicate and gentle nature characteristic of traditional Japanese women.

"As a hacker, I ended up becoming friends with officers from the 'Computer Crime Investigation Division,' which is just too unbelievable."

After nodding in agreement with the Fox Spirit X's point of view, Chen Ze habitually glanced at the miniature camera on his chest and found that the lens there had indeed started to rotate.

"Has your previous 'injury' healed completely?"

Upon hearing this, the camera, which had been spinning rapidly, paused for a moment. Chen Ze could even picture the adorable, speechless expression on the face of the fox spirit X.

In the previous few weeks, not only Chen Ze needed to go to the hospital for regular check-ups, but Renamon X, which had been attacked by Swordmon NX, also needed a long period of recovery.

Moreover, compared to Chen Ze, who only suffered minor scratches, Renamon X, who was "smart-depressed" by Swordmon NX, was the real injured one.

Their intelligence has almost regressed to that of a newborn infant, and they will cry loudly if they are not taken care of properly.

Even as time goes by and Renamon X's intelligence gradually returns to its previous level, it still occasionally causes some minor troubles that are inconsistent with its "age".

This includes, but is not limited to, acting cute, being jealous, tripping on flat ground, and maliciously pranking Chen Ze and Date Makiko.

Compared to the last time it regressed into a juvenile foxmon, this period of experience is the real "dark history" of Renamon.

Whenever Chen Ze brings up these things, Youkomon X becomes extremely ashamed and indignant, wishing it could jump out of the digital space and scratch him a few times.

"Shut up and forget about it right now!"

As Chen Ze had predicted, after a brief moment of stunned silence, the fox demon X immediately roared in shame and anger.

If it were the previous fox spirit, she wouldn't have felt this shame and indignation. At most, she would have just asked Chen Ze with a curious and innocent look afterward what it was like to take care of her during her "childhood".

However, through this period of contact, Renamon X is no longer the Renamon who knew nothing about the human world.

Especially after regressing into a small foxmon, Renamon X not only embarked on a new path of evolution, but also became increasingly emotional.

This increasingly evident sense of morality and shame is the best proof of what distinguishes the fox demon from other wild animals—its "intellect."

Compared to the original Renamon, who had no emotional intelligence and whose behavior was more like that of a wild beast, Renamon X, after being trained by Chen Ze, has become more and more like a human.

And this increasingly human-like behavior of the Fox Spirit X is exactly what Chen Ze wanted to see.

Because Chen Ze did not want to become a so-called "human partner" or "Digimon tamer".

In Chen Ze's eyes, the fox spirit X is a family member and partner with whom he can share his worries and joys and confide his innermost thoughts without reservation; an individual who can survive independently even without him.

"Ha ha!"

After two loud laughs, Chen Ze didn't tease the fox demon X too much, but wisely changed the subject.

"Let's put that aside for now. Have you gotten any results from your 'research' these past two days?"

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"Research" findings?

After calming himself down, Renamon X in the camera first looked around the surrounding digital space before speaking in a somewhat uncertain tone.

"I guess we've reached a conclusion?"

In this digital space, which had expanded many times over, the data remnants of SwordKingmon NX were placed in the very center.

However, at this point, Swordmon NX was no longer the chibi Swordmon; it had reverted to its bizarre NAVIT robot form.

Furthermore, various burn marks and data mosaics remain on the surface of this NAVIT robot's body, which cannot be concealed.

In the previous battle in the tunnel, thanks to the sudden intervention of the stubborn beast, the SwordGoldmon NX was ultimately ignited by the WhiteFlamemon's "Overload Flame," which was capable of overturning the data structure.

Whether it's matter or data...

Under that white, high-temperature flame, everything in SwordKingmon NX was burned to ashes, leaving only the remains of NAVIT.

Or more precisely, it was that digital wave, existing between data and matter, that remained; the remains of NAVIT can only be considered the carrier of that digital wave.

It was under the influence of that digital wave that this memory space, which was originally quite small even for infants, became several times larger than the space of a typical computer.

More importantly, through the expansion and modification of the camera during this period, Renamon X discovered that the camera he was hiding in had a tendency to become semi-digital.

In other words, the digital waves remaining within NAVIT are like the tunnel that was being modified, constantly altering the physical world and gradually giving it the characteristics of the digital world.

Even Renamon X, which is hiding here, seems to have a tendency to become "semi-digitalized" to some extent.

Although this is incomplete, it greatly increases the possibility of Reijumon X appearing in the real world.

“I think…we may have touched on the essence of ‘digitalization’.”

Reijumon X has not forgotten his experience back in Hikari Hill.

At that time, Chen Ze and I, with the help of the spacetime power of the Mosti Beast, successfully realized a kind of protein program called "digitization" and it appeared in the real world.

Of course, this may also be related to the rules of the two worlds.

The connection between the Hikari Hill World and the Digital World is far closer than the connection between this world and the Digital World.

In the world of Hikari Hill, digitization is a very simple thing. Even the weakest juvenile digits can be easily digitized.

However, in this world, phenomena like "digitalization" that break the rules of two worlds are not so easily reproduced.

In short, after returning to this world, despite Renamon X and Chen Ze's efforts to decipher the essence of "digitization," they were never able to reproduce the process of digitization and de-digitization as they had with Hikari Oka.

But this current wave of digitalization is undoubtedly "replicating" true digitalization and quantumization, allowing Digimon to appear in the real material world.

"Digitization?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Ze fell silent.

Only those who have truly experienced the power of Digimon can understand the terrible disasters they would cause if they appeared in the human world.

Even more terrifying than this fact is the question of what connection the suddenly appearing Royal Knight—SwordKingmon—has with this mysterious Digital Wave.

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PS: This chapter mainly focuses on the setting of the previous volume, so it's a bit longer.

In fact, this volume is entirely written around the phenomenon of "digitalization".

Chapter Twenty-Two: Enjoying the Process of Pushing Limits

"The Sword Emperor Beast wants to 'invade' the human world."

After a brief silence, it was Reijou X who finally broke the eerie atmosphere.

"Although it's not yet clear whether this is its own will or the choice of the majority of the Royal Knights and the World Tree..."

"But it's definitely not a coincidence that SwordEmperorMon NX appeared at the location where this digital wave descended."

Renamon X's statement was not a baseless speculation, but rather a judgment she made based on the appearance of Sistermon and Gankomon.

"Invading the human world?"

In reality, while pondering the theory of the demon fox beast X, Chen Ze couldn't help but think of countless similar classic storylines.

"Why does this sound so familiar? Is it our turn to save the world next?"

Faced with Chen Ze's sharp criticism, Renamon X from the Digital World could only helplessly shrug. She also felt that the development of the plot was very similar to the plot of a shonen manga.

"It's a pity we don't have the protagonist's halo; we encountered a boss like the Sword Emperor Beast right from the start."

In terms of challenge level, as one of the top thirteen Royal Knights in the Digital World, he is undoubtedly the most powerful and troublesome final boss.

Compared to them, he and Chen Ze were at best newbies who hadn't even left the beginner village and hadn't even found all their equipment.

"I think that nun beast is more like the 'protagonist' than us."

Having already learned everything that happened that day from Chen Ze, the fox spirit X said this.

"They appeared at a dangerous moment, challenged a boss far beyond their level, and actually escaped unscathed..."

"Isn't this a classic case of 'protagonist halo'?"

Compared to that Sister Beast who seemed to have cheated, I, who was "smarted down" before the battle even started, and Chen Ze who went berserk as soon as he evolved, seemed like supporting characters or even extras in a classic manga.

"Don't talk about this, it makes me feel upset."

Feeling rather frustrated, Chen Ze rubbed his chin, realizing that ever since evolving into a white flame beast, he had never truly controlled that violent and frenzied power.

During its first evolution, it fought against the Invaders like a brute, and later went completely berserk because of Renamon.

Secondly, during its evolution, the terrifying power that the Swordmon NX posed as a constant threat of death directly unleashed to destroy the entire tunnel was unleashed.

That feeling of being yourself, yet not being yourself, is absolutely awful.

A violent and unruly nature is a common trait among all fire beasts, and this is even more evident in the white fire beast.

The only saving grace is that Chen Ze's white Flame Beast form is merely a "disguise," and he can revert to his original Agumon form without any qualms after the battle.

Otherwise, Chen Ze simply couldn't imagine what would happen if a violent and arrogant version of himself appeared in the real world.

That terrible feeling cannot be explained simply by a term like split personality or schizophrenia.

Because Chen Ze can clearly remember all his memories and understand his own way of thinking at the time, but he just can't control his temper and outrageous behavior.

It was fortunate that Chen Ze's personality was so different before and after the evolution, otherwise he might not have even noticed the difference and his original personality would have been subtly changed by this "evolution".

"The evolution of Digimon is truly a terrifying 'change'."

Those who haven't experienced that feeling firsthand can never imagine the terror it evoked. Compared to mere changes in strength or form, the subversion of his mind and personality was what truly terrified Chen Ze.

Fortunately, this change is not entirely without merit.

Especially for hackers like Chen Ze who can evolve using "aliases," the personality differences before and after evolution can be seen as another form of disguise.

There are many hackers who can change their appearance...

There are also Digimon that disguise themselves as hackers and infiltrate the EDEN network...

Even among cases of humans transforming into Digimon or data entities, Chen Ze wasn't sure if he was the only one...

However, Chen Ze believed that he was the only hacker who could do all of the above and whose personality was completely different after the evolution.

Appearance can be faked, and multiple layers of disguise can be worn, but have you ever seen a hacker whose personality has changed after "disguising" himself?

"So this is another reason why Digimon are so cautious about 'evolution'."

Unaware of what Chen Ze was thinking, the voice of the fox spirit X echoed in his ears again.

"It will gradually change your mindset, making you no longer who you are."

Normally, Rookie-stage Digimon wouldn't have such concerns, because they are like human children, inherently in a state most susceptible to change.

However, for Digimon like Renamon, which already possesses a mature mind, what they most desire is to minimize the distortion of their personality caused by evolution.

After all, there have been Digimon in the Digital World that were as kind as angels during their growth stage but turned into demons after evolving into their Ultimate form.

The current leader of the Seven Demon Kings, Lucemon, who once symbolized "the existence of ultimate goodness," is a prime example. Its evolutionary path is a process of continuous degeneration and demonization.

"Speaking of which, Chen Ze, what is your motivation for constantly learning hacking techniques and pushing your own limits?"

This is actually a question that has been hidden deep in the heart of Youkomon X for a long time - why did Chen Ze choose to become a hacker?

Why did Chen Ze, who lives in the human world and doesn't need to struggle to survive in the digital world like I did, choose to embark on the path of becoming a hacker?

Especially after witnessing the terror of the Invaders and Digimon, a normal person would stay away from such a dangerous situation without hesitation, right?

Unexpectedly, Chen Ze not only did not distance himself from the company, but instead took the initiative to come to Tokyo, the birthplace of EDEN technology.

"for what?"

Hearing the undisguised doubt from the fox spirit X, Chen Ze was stunned.

Yes!

Why did I insist on coming to Tokyo to study, even though I knew that the EDEN Network was becoming increasingly dangerous and the Digimon's power was becoming increasingly terrifying?

Is it to find a way to return to a past life?

Or is it simply about enjoying the thrill of adventure?

"Perhaps I became a hacker for a certain 'purpose'."

After a brief moment of thought, Chen Ze, a bright smile gradually spreading across his face, said this.