Using Poison to Counter Poison

"This is--"

After regaining its simulated perception, the first thing Dida noticed was the beach beneath its feet, where countless 0s and 1s formed pebbles that stretched to the visible end.

She picked up a '0', and an indescribable feeling suddenly welled up inside her, causing her to involuntarily shiver.

"This is a data collection; don't touch it carelessly, or it will permanently add negative status effects to your account."

As Mr. G spoke, '0' suddenly melted, turning into a liquid similar to 'bean sprouts', and tried to burrow into the 'protective suit'.

On the system panel, the information value plummeted, quickly dropping to two thousand. Tick was taken aback and quickly shook the thing off.

Ahead, Mr. G was talking to a group of "astronauts," who were undoubtedly experts from the Earth Network Group. As she approached, one of the leaders was speaking—

"I'll have to rely on you to pinpoint the location of Sub-Database 0. We only have ten minutes. After that, a new cyber assassin will be born, and once discovered, this infiltration will be declared a failure."

"I understand. You do your thing. Don't worry, as someone who's wanted, I'm more worried about being hunted down than you are."

Soon, these 'Spacers' dispersed, their hands flashing with data that constantly transformed into various kinds of machines.

As we all know, hardware is the foundation of software, and the technology of the EarthNet Group has enabled it to replicate hardware in cyberspace by leveraging the power of software.

The blueprints behind these machines are all at least level 7.

Compared to the scientists who were racing against time, the senior engineer seemed much more relaxed, even looking around as if searching for something.

"Is there anything you want to ask?" the foreman asked without answering.

"Is this the original code layer of cyberspace?" Dida asked curiously.

"Yes and no. To be precise, it's the source code of cyberspace that the EarthNet Group wants us to see."

"Electrical signals travel at the speed of light, while the transmission speed of nerve signals that the human body can sense is far less than the speed of light. This also means that, theoretically speaking, we will never be able to 'see' the bottom layer of cyberspace."

The senior engineer picked up a '1' and casually tossed it away. "What we're seeing right now is just the model of the Earth Network Group."

"Data modeling, huh?" Dida mused.

"That's right, transforming the abstract conceptual model into a physical model, such as this—a data collection."

Looking at the 'digital sand' scattered on the ground, Dida asked with interest, "Are those the shells of the cyber killers?"

"That's right, these 'data aggregates' are essentially products of cyberspace data interaction," the senior engineer said, looking into the distance. With a strange wind blowing from somewhere, one 'data zombie' after another began to emerge from the sand. Although they looked missing limbs, one could vaguely feel the dangerous feeling unique to 'cyber killers'.

"Many large corporations and underground organizations are looking for the weaknesses of cyber killers, but this is impossible, because unless cyberspace crashes on a large scale, the data in the space will only interact constantly, and 'data aggregates' will be created every second, making them inexhaustible."

"What a terrifying existence!" Dida glanced at the other party. She hadn't forgotten that when they first met, the other party had given her the identity of a cyber assassin.

There must be more backstory to uncover about this NPC.

"What are you looking for?" Seeing that the senior engineer wasn't using hacking techniques to find Database 0, but instead was digging around in the sand, Dida couldn't help but ask.

"Of course, it's about finding 'data collections'. You probably don't know that there are some special 'data collections' that are also called 'concept fragments'. Absorbing them can provide the blessing of a permanent state."

The senior engineer's eyes lit up. He turned over the sand and a red '0' appeared.

Concept Fragment - Life Enhancement: Optimizes and transforms the respiratory system through big data, increasing the respiratory system transformation rate by 1% and permanently increasing blood volume by 5%.

"This, this, this—"

Dida blinked. As a pro gamer, she immediately realized the purpose of this thing. Her eyes lit up and she quickly joined in the "beachcombing".

At first glance, 5% of health may not seem like much, but it's important to know that this is a permanent boost. This means that you will gain 5% more health every time you level up, and this accumulation becomes quite significant in the later stages of the game.

For someone with high HP, even at level 30, the increase in HP is still exaggerated.

The current senior engineer has 8127 biological HP and 9327 mechanical HP. The 5% bonus from both is equivalent to an additional 872 HP. An average player can only get this much bonus after leveling up seven or eight times.

Moreover, on this planet, these "concept fragments" are only produced in two places: one is the bottom layer of cyberspace, and the other is the items dropped by the level 80 boss monsters that explode Data Concepts, namely the Mother of Data and the Pipeline Overlord.

Theoretically, it is possible, but technically... it is unlikely.

Therefore, the drop rate for this item is extremely low.

Five minutes passed, and when the Spacers, with a dark expression, stopped the two of them, the senior engineer had already increased the number of 'concept fragments' in his hand to five.

Three of them are minor top-tier items: permanent +5% health, permanent +8% stamina, and permanent +4% agility.

One is a junk product, with a +3% neural system modification rate, but no attribute increase.

This might be useful for players, since upgrading requires increasing the modification rate, but for advanced engineers, it's practically garbage.

The last one is an exceptional item, granting a +15% increase in reproductive system efficiency.

Only by serving rich women well can he continue to roam around. As a young wolf, the senior engineer has never forgotten his job.

"Mr. G, you seem to have forgotten that our real goal is to find the door to Database 0. Time is of the essence," the Spacers said coldly. "If you don't cooperate sincerely, I can remove your 'protective layer' at any time and leave you here permanently."

The senior engineer pursed his lips. He simply couldn't believe that the other party had no other means of locating Database 0 besides himself.

However, he did not refute it, but just smiled and said, "Don't say there are still five minutes left, 30 seconds will be enough."

"30 seconds?"

The astronaut's expression grew even uglier, but before he could say anything, the engineer's hand disappeared, quickly transforming into a red "data transmission protocol" under the influence of cybernetic programming language.

As soon as this link appeared, a red light immediately appeared on the astronaut's body, which is the highest level of alert.

"What... what are you thinking?"

"Of course, it's downloading some software that's not suitable for children, or even going further, directly downloading viruses."

The next moment, the "data transmission protocol" turned into a red line more than ten meters long. The red line was suddenly pulled open, and countless rogue software, remote Trojans, system vulnerabilities, and emails fell like endless pieces of paper, like snowflakes, covering this "desert" in just a few breaths.

And in the air, it seemed as if a girl's hysterical laughter could be heard.

The best way to find and fight viruses is naturally to fight them with poison.