A Strange Ruin

Emmett Protozoa, an extremely rare "reproductive" information life-form.

Generally speaking, information life-forms were difficult to classify from the perspective of carbon-based life. They embodied virtuality more than biology. This "virtuality" was somewhat similar to the "authority" of big-data life-forms, except that this "authority" no longer depended on a cyber network, but on their own life structures.

In other words, "reproductive" information life-forms truly could reproduce without limit—at least until they were suppressed by an opponent of the same type.

Gao Yuanyuan was one example.

As for how Velvi had obtained this third-order information life-form, it had been a fortuitous opportunity at his previous employer. After forming the Velvi Pirate Group, this Emmett Protozoa had helped him survive countless crises, including several serious brushes with death.

Even the top cyber hackers found dealing with massive amounts of generated garbage data extremely troublesome. This was not one mountain of shitcode, but countless mountains of shitcode.

As a veteran of virtual testing, Gao Gong felt a profound sense of empathy.

Gao Yuanyuan, however, was delighted. With a casual beckoning, the caterpillar burrowed into the screen and crawled all over her hand. Her boss template, "Hyperlink Girl," could link to any information life-form. For an information life-form like Emmett Protozoa, which had not developed an AI, this link was equivalent to a master-recognition protocol. It directly bypassed Velvi's control methods and signed an agreement with the other party.

Gao Gong watched the screen and stroked his chin. Suddenly, he said, "Did you break through recently?"

Gao Yuanyuan asked in surprise, "How did you know, Brother?"

It turned out that moving from a planet-wide cyber network into a cramped shipboard database really did feel like falling from a mansion into a solitary cell. To say nothing of the fact that, under the hardware limitations, most