Bird of Paradise

One by one, projections appeared, and one after another, incredibly beautiful men and women appeared on the screen, nodding and smiling at the audience in front of the screen.

Some of them were as beautiful as angels with long, white hair; some had handsome features and an air of ancient art sculpture; and some looked like Gandalf, smiling kindly at the audience.

[You have been affected by the 'Capture Aura', Willpower assessment in progress—]

[You've been hit by "Love Vision," your willpower is being assessed—]

[You have been affected by "Advanced Genetic Subjugation," willpower assessment in progress—]

[You have been afflicted by 'Bloodline Domination,' your willpower is being assessed—]

Good heavens, a dozen or so Cloud Nobles have inflicted more than twenty negative status effects on the Senior Engineer. Fortunately, as long as his Willpower is above 50, these negative status effects will be considered failures.

These people waved to the crowd below, and the cheers from the crowd immediately rose in waves.

The senior engineer raised his eyebrows and looked at Ah Hong and Ai Duolu on the sofa. "You two came uninvited, huh?"

"Master, Little A's source code has been bound by chains by several idol sisters, making it impossible to stop the intruders from entering."

Little A's voice sounded somewhat aggrieved.

"Hey, you haven't even built this basic AI framework yet? Is it because you haven't thought it through or your skills aren't up to par? I can give you a few solutions I don't use, but of course, it'll cost extra!"

Ah Hong's voice was filled with arrogance.

A silver-white virtual pistol appeared in the engineer's palm. With a flick of his wrist, the programmed bullet pierced through layers of data streams, striking the execution program of a certain blocking software. It got stuck in the code it generated, and Little A was instantly freed.

The next moment, dozens of hidden gun holes appeared in the walls, the ground, and the roof, some of which even emitted energy light.

As the senior engineer's temporary stronghold, how could he not take sufficient precautions?

Seeing the gleaming gun barrel, Ah Hong's arrogance vanished instantly. He jumped up and yelled, "Hey, hey, hey, are you kidding me? You owed me a million last time and still haven't paid it back. This time you're using me as free labor, and now you're pointing a gun at me and threatening me. Even PUA isn't this ruthless!"

"Isn't this how idols develop their fanbase? If you don't believe me, ask the person next to you."

Aido nodded in agreement. "Addiction to Trojans, emotional support viruses, implanting pseudo-self-identity software into handshake scrolls—that's what the company did when I was an underground idol."

"Underground idols who don't operate this way are either selling their bodies or their blood."

Ah Hong's mouth dropped open. So, when we first met, you were brainwashing me?

I'm Cyber Hacker!

"Speaking of which, what exactly do you want from me? Let me make it clear beforehand: if you want me to help you develop a bishoujo server, I don't have time right now."

Seeing Ador's suspicious look and the crackling of electricity, Ahong quickly changed the subject.

"Two things. First, the 'Decoder Community' invites you to become one of us."

"A codebreaker community?"

The senior engineer snapped his fingers, and the gun barrels flipped into the wall. At the same time, a home robotic arm reached out, picked up a wine bottle, a bartender, and an ice hammer from the wall cabinet, and began to mix him a drink.

According to Ahong, dark web hacker groups are generally divided into two types: one is the troublemaking type, a typical example of which is the Holy City organization; the other is the open-source and forum type, which explores and exchanges cutting-edge hacking techniques.

The existence of such organizations is the cornerstone that ensures the continuous progress and iteration of hacking techniques.

The "Decoders Community" is such a virtual community, and their research focuses on programming technology.

"The old man was the creator of this forum. He and several experts created this forum together. Later, the old man committed suicide, the eldest sister started her own forum, and the second brother went without saying. So, in the end, this creator account fell into my hands."

"Only the founders are qualified to invite others."

Ah Hong was so polite to the senior engineer not because he had dozens of gun barrels pointed at him, nor because he was afraid the engineer would report him.

The main reason was that he suspected the other party was an old monster reincarnated from code, and each of these monsters was a treasure trove; even a glimpse of it was enough for an ordinary hacker to feast on.

That's the real reason why he's so easy to talk to.

"A hacker group? Sure," the senior engineer readily agreed. In the future, he would rely on these hackers to search the world for professional knowledge for him.

"Then it's settled. However, everyone who joins the 'Decoders Forum' must undergo an assessment by the other founders. I believe you'll be fine."

"Certainly!"

Not to mention this planet, but in this entire galaxy, no one can surpass me in coding skills. I, the senior engineer, am absolutely confident in this.

"And one more thing?"

Ah Hong raised his chin towards the holographic television, his tone becoming serious. "I've received news that my senior sister will be appearing in this 'Fugitive Game'."

"Your senior sister, the bird of paradise?"

He had dealt with this guy's second senior brother, a level 40 hacker king, an official powerhouse capable of scheming against the "big data monster".

Since she is the senior sister, her level must be high. In addition, as one of the "Eleven Arhats" who conquered the Abandoned Tower, Bird of Paradise, although not the protagonist of the planet, can be considered an important plot character in a major version.

The senior engineer was quite interested in her actions.

So, the engineer abandoned his plan to go online and instead picked up his whiskey glass, joining the two of them in watching the program.

As it turns out, there's a reason why "The Fugitive" is so popular as a globally hit competition show.

Each colony sent a powerful individual to participate, including super-genetic slaves, mechanical rebels, bloodline natives, and even mutated monsters.

Each participant is at level 30, representing a different career system.

Placing these powerful individuals in a dangerous environment, where they scheme against each other and engage in bloody battles, is even more exciting than watching a holographic 3D blockbuster.

These powerful figures deserve much credit for the revival of this ancient form of entertainment.

The senior engineer had two points of interest: one was the previous champion, a mecha knight named "Kui," who was a fully mechanically modified individual, standing five meters tall, with energy nozzles all over his body reaching three digits, even more exaggerated than the Demon Mountain.

The other was an ordinary genetic engineer who stood out somewhat from the group of fierce-looking powerhouses.

This third clone was the one who smuggled himself over with the senior engineer and, as the final winner of the "Battle of the Elite," obtained a ticket to this global program.

The current No. 3 is different from the No. 3 in the senior engineer's memory. From the perspective of the prosthetic doctor, there are more than a dozen hidden modifications on his body, including poison needles, finger guns, invisible skin, and a perception-type prosthetic eye.

Her entire demeanor changed; her face wore an unsettling fake smile, and her eyes were like those of a venomous snake lurking in the darkness. It's said that in the later stages of the previous show, participants had to kill their "biological parents," their childhood sweetheart "sister," their "uncle" who treated them like his own son, and all their relatives and lovers without their knowledge in order to reach the top. There were also supposedly hidden bonus programs, the kind that are 18+.

When the winner finally learns that it was all just a performance for a show, and that it was broadcast to millions of people, their expression will be quite something.

Many winners suffer a complete mental breakdown at this stage.

Those who didn't break down had their humanity distorted to a near-complete degree.

Number 3 is the second type.

The preliminary round was held in a genetic arena, where the genetically cloned beasts were all mutated and deformed monsters that had undergone various biochemical experiments.

The contestants not only have to solve the problems, but also search for antidotes in various biochemical laboratories, because if they don't find an antidote in time, they themselves will mutate.

Correspondingly, each mutation grants immense power. From the perspective of a senior engineer, each of these biochemical reagents is a product of biochemical blueprints of level 6 or above, although they are all incomplete versions.

How to defeat monsters, prevent yourself from becoming a monster, prevent your opponent from becoming a monster, and prevent your opponent from turning you into a monster...

This is indeed a very interesting game—from a spectator's perspective.

For Ahong, however, his focus was not on the game of escape itself, but on finding his senior sister.

None of the female players he was focusing on resembled the senior sister.

He knew his senior sister's habits very well.

Other Cyber Hacker would rather be as far away from the crime scene as possible, preferably not on the same continent, or even on the other side of the planet.

But the eldest sister is an exception.

She really enjoys being there in person for "hacks," which, according to her, allows her to fully enjoy her work.

If the eldest sister's personality hasn't changed drastically, and if the eldest sister really intends to cause trouble in the "Fugitive Game"...

Therefore, the possibility of him playing a female player is quite high.

Seeing that the senior engineer was seriously discussing with Aidolu who would win, Ahong felt helpless.

Hackers are all lone wolves. It's hard to find someone of the same skill level, and even harder to find someone willing to help you instead of installing a backdoor in your head.

The experts who started the forum are all old cowards. If they knew that their senior sister was going against the mother city, they would probably run as far away as possible.

Therefore, the only option is to seek help from someone like a senior engineer, who seems to be a seasoned expert.

The show lasted a full three hours, with 24 contestants, of whom only 12 successfully advanced. In the next round, that number will be reduced to six.

As the opening ceremony of the 11th "The Fugitive Game", the winners of the preliminary round will have an award ceremony. The award presenters are all big names. For example, this year's award presenter is Mr. Chuang, a top artificial intelligence expert and a super player in the financial world. He can operate millions of accounts at the same time, using various leverage and hedging techniques. He is one of the few who can suppress the stocks of monopolistic companies and is very influential among various companies.

"If I were your senior sister, I would take action at this moment," the senior engineer said abruptly.

Ah Hong was stunned. His consciousness instantly focused. In the holographic projection, Mr. Chuang was awarding an award to No. 3. No. 3's leg was missing, and his face, arms, and neck were covered with strange red dots.

After patting Number 3 on the shoulder, Mr. Chuang revealed a strange smile, and suddenly turned his head 180 degrees to face the screen.

The next moment, Gao Gong and A Hong simultaneously felt a special virus crawling along the holographic projection and invading their brains.