Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 420: Chapter 37: Number 0’s Gift and the Unknown Challenge

(Unable to use bonus Chapters for Silver Alliance, completion progress 52/100.)

For over a thousand seconds, Bai Wu and Zero had been communicating nonstop.

During that time, Bai Wu had Zero check on Tang Jing.

"[No background, just an ordinary person from Sheng Country. However, an electronic medical record indicates mental illness, questioning the spread of Hei Wu. That’s quite suspicious. Why do you know this person?]"

"He has the Sequence God Descent. I actually had an experience coming to the World Beyond the Mist once. The function of God Descent, as far as I can tell, is to summon a much stronger person to possess oneself."

"[Similar to the fusion between you and me?]"

"It’s not like that, it’s not as complicated as the Inner World fusion. It’s simply me taking over his body while retaining my own power."

"[A very useful ability.]"

Zero’s cover was more than halfway done, but it was only targeted at this small town, lying dormant in the data, hiding behind someone who seemed to be about to complete the Mechanical Descending God, exerting an undetectable level of data control over this individual.

Bai Wu couldn’t comprehend all this; he just knew that Zero was doing something akin to a king entering a Bronze Level arena to thrash newbies, which he really liked.

"[So he summoned you?]"

"Yes, he became my apprentice, I suppose. The power I displayed far exceeds his own."

"[You have an apprentice too, who would have thought.]" Zero’s words carried a hint of mockery.

Bai Wu felt a little indignant. What did he mean by even I have an apprentice?

However, Zero’s following words piqued Bai Wu’s interest.

"Can’t I have an apprentice? My apprentice really admires me, speaking of which, haven’t you ever thought about taking a human apprentice? Or is it that humans can’t truly comprehend a semi-mechanical life?"

"[Just now, I also came across a human who would make a good follower. In a sense, as I was creating an identity for you, this human displayed hacking skills at the ceiling of this era’s potential.]"

Bai Wu pondered and then said:

"Then he’s really unlucky... This magnate seems to have an extraordinary status. A ceiling-level hacker is really impressive, the threat... might be enough to influence the nation’s high echelons."

"But he met you, must be questioning his life choices now, right?"

"[I don’t know, I don’t care. However, I will keep an eye on her later. I’ll appear in a virtual form, but I need a spokesperson in the human world.]"

"But I must tell you, these top hackers... often have some social issues. They’re highly skilled professionally, but their abilities in other areas might be quite weak."

"[No matter. To transcend dimensions and impart knowledge from Mechanical City to this era’s humans, I need a genius. She should be a genius on the human level. If anyone among humans is most likely to understand my information language, it should be this woman.]"

This woman?

Bai Wu found it interesting:

"A female hacker meeting the Mechanical Emperor? This plotline has some vibes. Speaking of which, what do you think about how long the distortion will affect human world’s technology?"

"[Hard to say. It might come quite soon.]"

Zero had a premonition that, as it infiltrated the human world’s network, those codes it encountered that were beyond the scope of current human capabilities, seemed to be from someone harboring the same ideas as itself.

Even though this person’s technology was a few hundred years behind Zero, such lying dormant, in Zero’s view, was a sign.

The impact of the distortion on human technology, the influence of various radio waves, might also come quite soon.

Humans outside the Mist would experience the same darkness as those Inside the Mist.

Once Mechanical Descending God is completed, it could bring absolute hope and courage to humanity. Conversely, if Mechanical Descending God’s completion could also bring despair to humanity.

So, Zero was curious about the true intent of this lingering presence.

"[Alright, you may now go and explore. I have now gained absolute control over this town. You can use the Angel Envoy to access any surveillance in this town. When you see people walking on the streets, you’ll see lots of data.]" A few minutes later, Zero’s voice reappeared in Bai Wu’s mind.

"Awesome!"

"[But you might need to get used to it.]" Zero reminded him kindly.

"What do you mean?" Bai Wu asked, puzzled.

"[Nothing much, you’ll know once you’re out there. Remember, as I’ve instructed, after completing the investigation, you still need to infiltrate some places. It will take a long time to achieve complete information coverage.]"

"Alright, I’ll go check out that warehouse."

Bai Wu left the hotel, and at that moment, Zero cut off its connection with Bai Wu. freewebnσvel.cѳm

The way down was different from the thunderous aura before he arrived; Bai Wu moved leisurely, eager to see just how lavish Mr. Zhao was.

Upon coming out, Bai Wu was surprised by two things.

The first was the reaction of the people.

The hotel staff had apparently been notified, as Bai Wu found that everyone he passed was saluting him as if they were all saying: Mr. Zhao, hello.

Bai Wu now understood that Zero was the true epitome of Versailles—the energy behind this Mr. Zhao seemed significant—yet Zero’s assessment was that he was merely an ordinary human.

Perhaps the more informational coverage an area had, the more ordinary these people seemed in Zero’s eyes?

The second thing was even more astonishing, and it even drew a comment from Prayle’s Eye.

When Bai Wu’s gaze fell on anyone, a long list of that person’s details would pop up.

The power of an Angel Envoy outside of combat was finally coming to light.

The amount of information was staggering... so staggering that Bai Wu felt as if these people were standing naked in front of him.

Text messages in their phones, call logs, credit card spending records, hotel expenses, internet search tendencies of big data, how many websites they visited, personal preferences, even sexual proclivities.

The most bizarre thing was that focusing on hotel spending records would reveal who had booked a room with whom, during what time period, at which hotel, under what names.

It also included personal social relations: bosses, colleagues, family, friends—all connected with various lines some of which carried labels such as (engaged in shady behaviors).

This behavior undoubtedly violated the privacy of these citizens, but in the era of high-information big data, people’s privacy is only as thick as tissue paper, easily punctured.

It was just that this was Bai Wu’s first time truly witnessing how thoroughly one could strip a person using only the internet.

Apart from humans, many objects also had analyses: usage period, material composition, current price estimation, all the places it had been through.

If Aulora had this system, there would certainly be no crime.

No wonder so many human history films feature humans annihilated by artificial intelligence.

Simply speaking, the information volume is incomparable.

Bai Wu had learned what Zero meant by adaptation—he had to learn to connect his consciousness with the Angel Envoy, filter out certain information, and only select the information he needed.

Otherwise, he would be overwhelmed by all sorts of information.

"You have it now, and you’ve forgotten about me... I can do these things too! But I know better than anyone what you need! Fine... You have no intention of repenting, I get it, I’m leaving. Boo hoo hoo, the sky is so dark, like the heart of a dog in man’s clothing."

Prayle’s Eye made its presence felt at just the right time.

The information provided by Prayle’s Eye was basically exclusive, something the Angel Envoy couldn’t match. However, the Eye’s information was somewhat frivolous and rather random.

Bai Wu had to admit, under normal circumstances, the Angel Envoy was more useful.

After adapting for quite some time, Bai Wu finally mastered the Angel Envoy and was able to smoothly control the pop-up information without being spammed.

With the lower-end but more detailed Electronic Eye of Purel, Bai Wu felt more confident about the upcoming investigation.

He began heading towards the underground warehouse crowded with people.

The underground warehouse was an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Button Town, only two kilometers from the trash heap. Guided by the map from the Angel Envoy, Bai Wu soon found the place.

It was sparsely populated.

On his way, Bai Wu realized that Button Town seemed to be shrouded in a kind of terror recently.

"Hahaha, this dog trash can’t handle it, can it? In times like these, you gotta rely on a born analyst! Part of the ’ration’ hidden in this warehouse is here, you’ll see a grotesquely disgusting sight once you go down. Actually, this exploration isn’t very meaningful because the source has already left. They’ve start to hibernate, waiting to be sacrificed. But you’re still going to have a look aren’t you, curious baby?"

Prayle’s Eye clawed back some ground.

But Bai Wu was indeed curious—ration? Waiting to be sacrificed? The source?

These things were enough to indicate that a conspiracy was brewing in the underground warehouse beneath the abandoned warehouse.

Bai Wu looked around, extended his senses, and picked up a somewhat strong presence. It was actually weak, but substantially stronger compared to other auras in Button Town.

The warehouse was old, uncleaned, with not too much trash around, just purely dilapidated.

The entrance to the underground warehouse was right beneath Bai Wu’s feet.

There was no light, but Bai Wu could see clearly.

When he actually walked into the underground warehouse, a repulsive odor assaulted him.

At that moment, even someone as strong as Bai Wu felt nauseated, but he endured and continued deeper.

It was indescribable: the stench of corpses? The scent of rotting flesh? Or a mix of various food residues?

Each was present and extremely intense.

What was crucial was that Bai Wu could hear the sound of heartbeats—the synchronized pounding of dozens of hearts.

Some viscous liquid was slowly flowing—pus, blood, gastric juices, intestinal fluids—all mixed together, indistinguishable.

This disgusting scene was something Bai Wu had never seen before, not even in Zhong Xu’s Food Domain.

After turning a corner and truly entering the warehouse, the sight inside made Bai Wu want to retch.

He saw monstrously deformed creatures.

Countless heads were pieced together, yellow-skinned, white-skinned, black-skinned, men’s, women’s, children’s, elderly’s.

All were fused into one gigantic body. The heads had become soft due to the flesh and lost their original contours, the faces on the skulls began to deform.

They appeared twisted and anguished.

Some heads grew on the arms, some on other heads, and some on the giant body’s stomach, chest, and back.

It was as if a piece of rotting flesh was covered with bumps, which were not tumors, but human heads.

All kinds of bodily fluids oozed out from the strange body.

Human flesh mosaic...

Bai Wu immediately thought of these four words.

But the most outrageous part was... these things were still alive.

[Perfect Mutation Entry·Rotten Stitching. Through a special kind of insect altering the body, those altered gradually lose their consciousness, lose resistance, and their bodies become strange, enabling them to merge with other infected of the same kind.

If the insect is not removed within five minutes, or say, if it isn’t pulled away from the source of infection, then... that person is gone for good, forever becoming part of the source of infection. ƒreewebɳovel.com

It is worth mentioning that all these individuals are Evil Fallen; they began to panic after the twisted descent, eventually became Evil Fallen, awakening a part of the Entry, and now... they all have returned to the source of infection.]

Bai Wu understood, the source of infection could directly devour the target, or send a kind of insect to infect the target.

And once infected, one becomes part of the source, becoming a source of its power.

Bai Wu looked at this terrifying monster, confirming that these people had been infected for a long time, losing their own consciousness.

"They have lost their consciousness. Now they are merely a part of a body stored here by some source of infection."

"Will it come to take this body away? Or is this just bait?"

Bai Wu found it difficult not to think this way, because these Evil Fallen were not powerful, and their hiding place was easy to find.

If this source of infection could do all this, then perhaps in many places, it had arranged for insects to spread...

"A troublesome opponent, this segment of the infected Stitched seems to have fallen into slumber. If I clear them out now, might it scare off the snake in the grass?"

"Could this be the work of the farm? No, I should be more confident. This must be the work of the farm, and what’s certain is their plan involves accelerating the distortion."

Bai Wu believed that this kind of Sanity-draining monstrosity was very likely the work of someone from the farm. Because the level of distortion has exceeded what he understood to be "early stages of the Hei Wu spread."

Perfect grade Mutation Entries are classified into many ranks, but this Rotten Stitching is definitely a formidable Entry.

This person is infecting and spreading everywhere, gaining strength. If in every place in Aulora, these human bodies pile up and merge together into a grotesque creature...

What massive panic would a super terrifying and disgusting giant creature cause?

Bai Wu stroked his chin, slowly starting to back away.

This was an enemy worth contending with, at least compared to the previous Xu Ling, the mutation level would be very high.

However, Bai Wu was not at all afraid. Seven hundred years ago Inside the Mist, there was a hero like Lin Rui, and today, in the World Beyond the Mist, there are inheritors of the Masked Will.

"I look forward to your performance. I want to see which card you are from the farm."