He Came to Watch My Concert

Cyber Hacker are a very troublesome presence, especially for large enterprises.

They are like ubiquitous crawlers; if there is any flaw in a company's database or confidentiality center, they will transform into a bloodthirsty pack of wolves and devour all trade secrets.

They are employed by rival corporations, anti-mechanicalists, artificial intelligence, or simply out of personal interest.

If the company is a dark forest, these guys are hideous electronic dwarfs.

They share a common nickname: the company's enemy.

Unlike prosthetic doctors, they are very wary of cooperating with local forces and prefer to work alone. Even when interacting with colleagues, they always wear a disguise.

The harsh living environment fostered a wary personality in them; they distrusted everyone.

Even tracing someone's IP address is difficult, because many Cyber Hacker have more than a dozen aliases in real life, while their true identity may have already been successfully programmed into an electronic personality, wandering around some node in the cyber network.

The security force also employs several Cyber Hacker, but most of them are low-level novice hackers below level 10.

Truly advanced, established Cyber Hacker are the ruthless types who occasionally wander around the mother city and provoke the "deep web."

The reason why the senior engineer agreed to Aidoru's request was largely because Cyber Hacker had close ties with some monsters in cyberspace.

Without becoming a "Cyber Hacker," some of his actions simply cannot be carried out.

To switch careers, one must first gain "data literacy".

He had been browsing the cyber network every day for the past few days, but he hadn't found any trace of those 'data concept entities,' including places he remembered they frequented.

Damn, we're here way too early!

Players didn't become aware of the existence of these big data monsters until a year or two later.

And this is only the initial stage when players first log in.

Therefore, capturing a "Cyber Hacker" and forcing them to reveal the location of the big data monster has now become the top priority.

"Are you inviting me to a concert?"

The next morning, Gao Yuanyuan stared blankly at the concert tickets that Engineer Gao handed her, a fork still dangling from her mouth.

"Idol's 999th Live Interactive Concert: Pink Paradise"

"Well, isn't today your birthday?"

The senior engineer grinned. "I remember it all!"

Gao Yuanyuan pursed her lips, her eyes sparkling. This was the first time since her parents died that someone had remembered her birthday.

"Shall we go?"

"Um!!"

As it turns out, even girls with no personality traits like being emotionally distant or indifferent can take a date quite seriously. This seriousness is evident in the fact that an hour has passed and they still haven't changed their clothes.

The senior engineer sat on the first step, next to the slumped robot beggar. The two chatted casually.

"How's business lately, buddy?"

The old machine beggar sighed, "With the economy in a downturn, even beggars are having a hard time. It's just a line of code, but those security guards were both cursing and beating me."

The senior engineer examined the other party's rusty mechanical body.

"Don't just live off your wife. Spend your time fixing the hardware. If the hardware crashes, all your code will be useless."

"Brother, have you ever heard the saying?" the old robot said mysteriously, "Mechanical things are weak, cyber things are soaring."

The senior engineer blinked. "I've heard of the previous version of that phrase before. So this is a second ascension?"

"Once enough data is collected, we can completely shed our mechanical bodies, ascend into the cyber network, and live a good life!"

"Who told you that?"

"Those who preach at night."

"The Turing Church?"

"Yes."

The senior engineer thought for a moment, "Well, buddy, is it possible that the other party is trying to scam you and steal the electronic code you worked so hard to obtain?"

"Impossible! Humans don't lie to robots! I've used big data to calculate my fortune, and it tells me that I will definitely be free from illness and disaster, immune to viruses, and have a peaceful life in the second half of my life."

The senior engineer rolled his eyes and stopped talking.

"I'm all better," a weak voice said.

The senior engineer turned around and saw a pretty young woman in a white dress standing nervously opposite him, with a small red bag slung over her waist. Her aura of "keep away" had largely disappeared.

"Let's go."

"Um!"

Along the way, Gao Yuanyuan looked around excitedly, as if she could never get enough of the scenery around her.

"Is this your first time in the corporate area?"

"No, when Mom was still alive, Dad and I would pick her up from get off work."

The senior engineer nodded. He had always had a question in his mind: how did Gao Yuanyuan's parents accumulate so much debt? It would be one thing if it were usury, but loans for mechanical mainframes are not so easy to get approved.

However, it is clear that today is not a good time to ask.

As everyone knows, it's easy to make money from otaku, and a significant portion of programmers are otaku. When the two engineers arrived at the concert venue in the floating track car, they saw young people in their twenties and thirties with network access pods on their faces, holding light sticks and looking incredibly excited. Some of the otaku even had holographic projections of "Ador" on their heads: mechanical girl Ador, white-haired Ador, cat-eared Ador, and busty Ador.

The otaku who created the character with large breasts was quickly condemned by those around him. At the request of the staff, he reluctantly opened the mod and handed over his bust, waist, and hip measurements.

One of the staff members spotted the senior engineer by chance and excitedly waved to him.

"Brother Gao!"

"Hey, it's you!"

The senior engineer looked at the boy running from not far away. This boy was none other than Ono, who had smuggled himself over with him.

"How did you get here?"

"Hehe, I was broke, so a senior member of the fan club recommended me to work here. I'm now a member of the Adorlu Guard!"

Ono proudly displayed the crest on his chest, which featured a beautiful white mechanical bird.

"Tsk tsk, looks like you're doing well. Keep up the good work, and you might soon become Adorlu's personal assistant."

Ono scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. He looked around and suddenly whispered, "Brother Gao, have you watched the latest episode of 'Grand Feast'?"

"A grand feast, that guy playing football, oh—"

The senior engineer remembered; it was a role-playing show featuring a group of geneticists.

"Gene Master No. 3 won!" Ono said excitedly. "He killed all his brothers and sisters and became the sole heir of the family."

"Really?" Senior Engineer was surprised. He remembered there were more than a dozen candidates. How could they win? They were that good.

"What happens if you win this show? Is there a prize? Do you get a house?"

"There was supposed to be a bonus for the show, but I heard the ratings were so bad that the bonus was cut," Ono said somewhat discontentedly, but then his expression turned excited.

"However, according to the production team, the Gene Guy will be a special guest in the next episode of the 'Fugitive Game'."

"After all this time, it turns out this is still a leveling-up game."

The Fugitive Game was something Gao Gong had naturally heard of. Like Idol, it was a globally popular program that players could participate in after reaching level 20. As far as Gao Gong remembered, the best ranking a player ever achieved was fourth place, which was achieved by a player named "Despicable Me." This player was also a pro, specializing in the rare android assassin. However, Gao Gong couldn't recall whether he later became an ace in the assassin group like Rose.

After chatting for a few more minutes, Ono left, exchanging contact codes before departing.

In front of outsiders, Gao Yuanyuan was always a cold and aloof beauty. Only after Xiao Ye left did she lean closer and ask with some curiosity:

"Does my brother like Adorno a lot?"

In her opinion, the senior engineer and this staff member were so familiar with each other that the senior engineer might be a huge fan.

"She's not exactly young... cough cough," the senior engineer coughed, changing the subject, "Do you like Adorlu?"

Gao Yuanyuan shook her head.

"So you like watching Fugitive Games?"

"I don't like it, it's too violent."

He disliked anything bloody and violent, and he also disliked anything pure and cute. The senior engineer stroked his chin and asked curiously:

"What are your hobbies?"

Gao Yuanyuan blushed slightly, "I like reading about deep emotions."

"Which one do you like?"

The senior engineer knew what this "deep feeling" was. It was an upgraded version of electronic reading, also known as deep immersion. It could not only stir the reader's emotions through words, but more importantly, the text layout could directly affect the secretion of hormones in the human body, producing an infinitely realistic reading experience of love, passion, and sadomasochism.

This feeling is especially real when you're reading something that's not suitable for children.

By the way, these kinds of works are now all created by AI, using big data to personalize content for readers, and can update millions of words a day. The ancient profession of online writer has long since disappeared into the annals of history.

"Oh, so you like this kind of entertainment. I like watching it too. Let me recommend some classic works to you..."

Gao Yuanyuan listened attentively at first, but the more she listened, the more something seemed off. She heard things like "white sun" and "golden sun," and her face flushed bright red. She pouted and slapped the engineer's back hard.

"I'm not going to watch that stuff!"

"These are all classic ancient works; we should focus on their essence and discard their dross..."

"You still dare to talk back!"

Amidst the blooming e-cigarettes, the brother and sister chased each other, having a wonderful time. In the end, the senior engineer took the initiative to admit defeat and bought the other a big cotton candy, which made Gao Yuanyuan stop caring about the other's nonsense.

"Oh, the concert is about to start. I'm going to the bathroom first. Don't wander off."

After saying goodbye to Gao Yuanyuan, Gao Gong went against the flow of people to the toilet. A short man wearing a fox mask had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Gao Gong, he slapped him hard on the back.

"Are you here to help out, or to see the concert?"

The senior engineer said lazily, "What's the rush? They haven't even made a move yet."

Aru shoved a communicator at him hard; it only had one line of text on it.

"I will pluck you away in the night—Hong"

There is also a big heart on the screen.

"This kid actually managed to steal their idol away in front of all those fans," the senior engineer clicked his tongue in amazement. "That's pretty impressive, this kid."

The senior engineer looked solemn and dignified.

"As member number 1314 of the Bull Hunter Legion, it's time to move out!"

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