Free Web NovelChapter 419: Chapter 36: Bai Wu Seizes a Body, Zero Dimensional Descent
(Unable to use extra updates for the Silver Alliance, progress 51/100 completed.)
Work between Tang Jing and Mr. Zhao swiftly got underway, and during this period, all sorts of strange events were occurring everywhere, causing all institutions to be overwhelmed.
Mr. Zhao quickly categorized these strange events by level, dividing them into chaos, riot, catastrophe, and apocalyptic catastrophe. Of course, there was also the top level of Doomsday-level Catastrophe.
In Mr. Zhao’s opinion, the current occurrence of various strange phenomena was a harbinger of the advent of a Doomsday-level Catastrophe.
Prioritizing tasks with the highest level of difficulty became the operational logic of Mr. Zhao and Tang Jing.
While Tang Jing was leading the Card Sealing Group in their investigations, a mechanical ship with a futuristic design arrived at the port of Button Town, which was still considered a bustling small town, on the border of Aulora Island.
Bai Wu, successfully arrived in the area beyond the Mist.
...
...
Aulora’s Button Town.
People from Sheng Country without identity cards could basically only sleep on the streets in Aulora, but Bai Wu always had more solutions than problems.
Especially after he found that he could communicate with Zero beyond the Mist, many problems ceased to be issues.
"I’m now walking on the street, talking to myself, wearing strange clothes, and I’m still in that ugly blue uniform from the Investigation Corps. A lot of people look at me like I’m some kind of... cough, you know, a hardcore anime fan."
"I don’t understand, could you describe it more precisely?" Zero teased Bai Wu.
Of course, Bai Wu knew what little schemes the other side had in mind.
"We should solve the housing issue now, but I don’t have an identity card."
"Infiltrate, isn’t that what you’re thinking? After the infiltration, once in a residence, the Angel Envoy will detect nearby wireless networks. Although it’s also possible now, you would look rather suspicious."
This was exactly what Bai Wu was waiting for:
"So you should be able to help me take care of things like identity information, right? And maybe get some money too?"
"Give me a question with some difficulty."
"Got it."
After this conversation, Bai Wu went to a hotel and blended into one of the rooms with a speed invisible to the naked eye.
In the hotel lobby, a gust of wind blew inexplicably, making everyone feel strange, but that was all they felt—just a sense of strangeness.
On the nineteenth floor of the Hui’erle Hotel, Bai Wu lay on a soft waterbed, feeling as though any second now a beautiful woman would knock on the door and say, "A certain technician at your service."
This feeling of nostalgia from a past life was very comfortable for him, which he hadn’t experienced from Tang Jing’s body, but felt quite distinctly since arriving here.
"No power. You need a hotel access card."
"Not a big problem, the Angel Envoy has already detected nearby networks. I just need a little bit of time to hack into the hotel’s security system."
"How long will it take?"
"It was done as soon as you finished your last sentence."
As Zero’s voice fell, Bai Wu realized the power was on—the hum of the air conditioning and the brightness of the lights forced Bai Wu to acknowledge what it truly means to have an all-capable patron. This one not only fielded battles but could also fix computers.
Of course, the capabilities that Zero demonstrated were far beyond just fixing computers. More accurately, this Mechanical Emperor was in the process of repairing the world.
"What do we do now?"
"Two things, first I’ll get you a legal identity outside the Mist. In half an hour, you can go to Carrie Bank to withdraw money."
"How much money?"
"Depends on what you need. Or rather, on how much the bank can come up with."
Bai Wu was thrilled inside.
"And the second thing?"
"Starting with this hotel, I’m going to begin information overlay, look up some information, change some information, and simultaneously prepare for our dimensionality reduction cover."
"I’m all ears."
Bai Wu took a hot bath. And after Zero had arranged an identity, ordered some food.
The food from the living world.
He envied the people outside the Mist, living in an era without the need for a Spirit Possession Pot.
Bai Yuan was envious too, in his filial Inner World, he could finally expand the coffee shop’s menu.
But then a little accident happened.
The person delivering the food surprised Bai Wu, or rather, the scale of the delivery was somewhat extravagant.
The hotel director, the person in charge, the manager, and a group of the most excellent waiters were standing outside with the utmost respect.
"Mr. Zhao! I hadn’t expected you would grace us with your presence, what an honor! Such an honor!"
Bai Wu was baffled, looking at the overly enthusiastic, almost obsequious line outside his room, he quickly realized Zero might have given him an absurd identity?
"So, Mr. Zhao is so young and yet the richest of all! Or is it that... you are Mr. Zhao’s confidant? I’m sorry, I know my question is abrupt, but it’s just... You are so mysterious, many people are guessing, what kind of person you are."
Clearly, Zero had slated him for a VIP identity.
In the outside world, this Mr. Zhao was a playboy, spending money lavishly and involved in scandals with many celebrities.
But that was just a body double for Mr. Zhao, creating the false impression of a prodigal son from a wealthy conglomerate.
The real Mr. Zhao was a person of great wisdom, currently striving to save the world.
Bai Wu didn’t know any of this, and neither did the hotel staff.
However, Bai Wu knew exactly what to do.
"You are disturbing me. I just want some peace right now."
Bai Wu displayed a practiced disdain, not aimed at anyone in particular, but at a situation he felt had occurred countless times in life.
Understated, yet indisputably Versailles.
Just seconds before, he was still a penniless nobody.
"Of course! We will disappear immediately! So sorry, so sorry, we were too presumptuous!"
The fact that the staff could be so respectful to this Mr. Zhao piqued Bai Wu’s curiosity about who this person was.
After they left, while munching on Western pastries and sipping coffee, he asked:
"What was that just now? What kind of identity have you arranged for me?"
[I don’t recognize him, just a minor character with a bit of money, nothing to fuss over.
I am quite busy right now. There seem to be some things hidden in the information underpinnings of this world, similar to a computer language I researched centuries ago.
This is strange... Human civilization as it’s expressed should not have reached this level. Plus, it’s been well concealed, and there appear to be many programs spying on human information.]
Zero’s infiltration had spread across the world, and just as he expected, this world’s computing civilization, or information civilization, was still stuck seven hundred years in the past.
But he soon discovered that there were a few extraordinary geniuses among mankind who had mastered some of the early intelligent information languages he had developed centuries ago.
Very incongruous.
It was like in a martial arts world, there lurked a master of a fantastical style waiting for a dimension-reducing strike.
Of course, in this analogy, Zero subconsciously ignored himself. If he included himself in the comparison, he would probably be the primeval entity.
"Sounds serious, doesn’t it?"
[Not serious. Although I don’t know why it would be there, I can soon trace the source of this information.]
"What do you plan to do? Sounds like there’s a formidable hacker that appeared before you came along?"
[Not formidable.]
"Alright, not formidable. You’re the most formidable, the best."
Bai Wu was well aware; the Mechanical Emperor could be defeated by force, but he would never be bested in information technology.
"I plan to play along with it, lurking behind humans while I lurk behind it, to see what it really wants to do. If it’s a friend, I’ll improve and upgrade it."
"And if it’s an enemy?"
"I hope it is an enemy."
Tsk, such a wicked sense of fun.
Bai Wu suddenly felt some sympathy for the genius scientist who had surpassed human civilization by several eras.
Only to be concerned by a true mechanical deity who had surpassed humanity by even more eras.
...
...
As Bai Wu enjoyed the delicacies and chatted with the future mechanical deity.
Within a technology building, Marcus, a highly skilled butler, was startled by a report from his subordinates.
"Sir appeared at the Hui’erle Hotel in Aulora?"
Marcus thought that couldn’t be right; the real Sir was inside the building discussing the recent anomalies with Tang Jing.
And that profligate Sir used to deal with the outside world was in some married female star’s bed.
How could he possibly show up at the Hui’erle Hotel?
The mysterious—or rather, the insanely spendthrift Mr. Zhao, was none other than Zhao himself.
Before Marcus received the news, Zhao had already gotten wind of it.
And it was even more precise information.
A bespectacled young girl with a somewhat vacant expression and messy hair raised her head and said:
"I’m sorry... I can’t track him down."
Zhao was surprised but also amused.
"You are supposed to be the greatest hacker in the world. At eleven, you even gave the Meinan National Security Bureau a hard time."
"Sorry... He’s too good," the girl said, feeling wronged.
Her name was Jiang Ling. Zhao usually called her Zero.
Growing up, Jiang Ling thought she had become a god-like existence in this binary world.
But not long ago, her sacred domain had been easily breached.
The most topical and mysterious billionaire’s identity had been stolen.
Or rather, borrowed.
And the most irritating part was... her computer screen was now displaying a word in capital letters—ZERO.
Zero.
Jiang Ling was so angry that she wanted to cry, messing up her hair even more, which was exactly how her boss referred to her as Zero.
Leaving behind a Zero... wasn’t that a provocation?
Hackers have their unique "signature."
Leaving one’s name on someone else’s screen is a form of provocation. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
But Jiang Ling had never encountered someone leaving their opponent’s name before.
Why would he leave my name? Surely he can’t also be called Zero, right?
The girl couldn’t figure it out; she bit her lip, unable to find a trace or make sense of it, her anxiety making her bleed.
"Zero, don’t panic, I trust you. If even you can’t do it, then no one in this world can. But you also said he was just borrowing it," Zhao attempted to reassure her.
Zhao was not particularly flustered.
He even felt a bit of anticipation:
"Every human in the world is mutating. Maybe we’ve come to know someone who can communicate through information. This person is very powerful; I hope we can meet someone with the same aspirations."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ling became even more panicked:
"He... he... if you get him, I’ll be useless, boss!"
Jiang Ling’s disposition was just like a child’s, and although she was a young girl, her world was simple—it consisted only of the people she wanted to protect and the endless world of zeros and ones.
When she heard that her boss wanted to recruit someone even more skilled, she felt a sense of powerlessness for the first time.
Zhao said:
"You will always be useful. Without you all these years, I wouldn’t have been able to remain behind the scenes. But Zero, there are many experts in this world. Maybe there truly are people out there who are better than you. To meet such people, we need to acquaint ourselves with them and befriend them. This is our chance to seek guidance and improve ourselves."
Jiang Ling nodded, her confidence nearly shattered by the recent battle in the realm of computing.
Because she had never encountered any opponents, she considered herself invincible in this field.
If it were another arena, it would be like a young girl effortlessly mastering various top-level martial arts.
Then, just as easily, she defeated legendary figures in a tournament at Mount Hua.
But just when she thought she was unbeatable... someone suddenly appeared, and with a flick of the finger, they left her severely injured.
Unable to understand the opponent’s moves, clueless about how the intruder accessed the information, and also clueless about how to track them down.
At this moment, Jiang Ling felt like she was a complete novice when it came to information... an egg.
What she faced... was it a person or a deity?
...
...
Meanwhile, at the faraway Hui’erle Hotel, Bai Wu was unaware that a casual act by Zero had almost hijacked his disciple’s biggest support system.
And a young genius girl had had her defenses shattered.
He continued to chat with Zero, who assigned Bai Wu several tasks.
Infiltring these places and establishing network connections. Ultimately, achieving complete information coverage and protection for this world.
Bai Wu committed these locations to memory and then asked:
"By the way, are there any interesting developments recently?"
"There’s one right in this town. Later, you’ll need to go to an underground warehouse. Through information monitoring, I’ve noticed a lot of people gathering there recently, and you need to find out what they’re doing."
"An underground warehouse?"
"Yes, those people have been inside for many days without any food."
"They haven’t come out? Isn’t there another exit?"
"Not that I’m aware of."
"Alright. It seems there are indeed some issues to look into."
A group of live humans, as if in unison, entered an underground warehouse, and all of them stayed there.
No one has left for many days, nor has there been any noise.
This was peculiar.
While Bai Wu felt the World Beyond the Mist was an inferior version of the world beyond his tower, he did not take it lightly.
Twistings were hard to predict; unexpectedly, they could breed some troublesome monsters.
Especially under the current circumstances, which seemed similar to those of seven hundred years ago but were actually quite different.
With the schemes of the farm owner and Well Six, perhaps things that only appear with significant twistings could emerge prematurely.
"I still need one thousand one hundred thirty-four seconds."
"Understood. I hope there’s an unexpected find in that warehouse."
