The Digital Battle (Part 2)

The Seventh Warehouse at Pier 3 in Tokyo Bay loomed like an iron tomb in the darkness. Tang Yu crouched in the shadow of a shipping container, rain dripping from his waterproof jacket. There were less than two hours before Tsukishiro had to return to the Hive for synchronization.

Karuizawa was pale. "I... I'm afraid of heights..."

"Trust me." Tang Yu looked at her resolutely. "I'll protect you."

The shouts downstairs grew closer. Someone started pounding on the bathroom door. Karuizawa gritted her teeth and nodded, grabbing the shower curtain cord and starting to climb down. Tang Yu followed close behind, scanning the area below with the system:

[Ground personnel detected]

[Number: 6]

[Armed with: Nonlethal stun weapons]

[Recommendation: Turn toward the bushes on the left]

When they reached the level of the second floor, the shower curtain suddenly tore! Karuizawa screamed as she fell. Tang Yu leaped after her and caught her in midair, activating:

[Exchange: Instant Buffer Force Field]

[Cost: 5,000 points]

[Remaining Emotion Points: 2,400]

An invisible cushion of air formed just before they hit the ground, absorbing most of the impact. They rolled into the bushes, and Tang Yu immediately covered Karuizawa's mouth, signaling her to stay quiet.

Six security guards carrying stun batons ran past less than five meters away. Their powerful flashlights swept over the bushes, nearly catching them. Only after the footsteps faded did Tang Yu remove his hand.

"What now?" Karuizawa asked in a low voice. She was soaked through, her blond hair plastered to her pale cheeks. "They've definitely sealed off the school gates..."

Tang Yu thought for a moment, remembering Ayanokoji's text. Tsukishiro depended on a central node... If they could find and destroy it...

"Let's get off campus first." Tang Yu made up his mind. "I know somewhere Tsukishiro won't find us."

Taking advantage of the torrential rain, they moved through the blind spots in the surveillance coverage. Tang Yu used his remaining Emotion Points to exchange for a brief ability to see through the surroundings, avoiding all the patrols. By the time they finally climbed over the school wall, the horizon had begun to pale.

"Where... are we?" Karuizawa looked at the shabby apartment building before them.

"Ayanokoji's safe house." Tang Yu entered the access code-715229. "He told me before he left."

The apartment was unexpectedly tidy, with all the necessities of daily life. What stood out most was the old but clearly modified computer in the middle of the living room, along with the wall covered in notes and photographs-all about the White Room.

Karuizawa collapsed onto the sofa and finally broke down sobbing. "Why me? I haven't done anything! I just... just wanted to start over..."

Tang Yu knelt in front of her and gently wiped away her tears. "Because your change is so pure, so real. Tsukishiro wants to analyze this transformation, replicate it, and then..." He remembered Tsukishiro's words at the hearing: "harvest" it.

"What should we do?" Karuizawa looked up through tearful eyes.

Tang Yu looked at the materials on the wall, his gaze settling on a blurry photograph-a basement in some building, lined with dozens of devices resembling incubation pods. In the corner of the photo was a label: WR-Hive-7.

"Find the Hive," Tang Yu said softly. "Destroy Tsukishiro's central node."

He helped Karuizawa to the bedroom to rest, then returned to the living room to study the materials Ayanokoji had left behind. Beside the computer lay a USB drive labeled "For Tang Yu."

He plugged it into the computer, and a video began playing automatically. Ayanokoji's face appeared on the screen:

"If you're watching this, Tsukishiro has already made his move. The White Room's Seventh Hive is located inside an abandoned flood-control facility beneath Tokyo Bay. The entrance is at the Seventh Warehouse on Pier 3 in Minato Ward. Tsukishiro's main server is there, but it's heavily guarded."

The video switched to blurry surveillance footage showing Tsukishiro walking into a basement. After taking off his jacket... a clearly visible port could be seen at the back of his neck, connected to his spinal nerves.

"As you can see, Tsukishiro Shuhei is a biological AI vessel. He must return to the Hive every 72 hours to synchronize his memory and energy. The next synchronization is..." The screen showed a string of numbers: 72:00:00, counting down.

Tang Yu checked the current time-the next synchronization was 31 hours away.

"The Hive's defenses include 12 armed guards, motion sensors, and an electromagnetic pulse barrier. A direct assault is impossible. But there's a flaw in Tsukishiro's design..."

The video abruptly switched to a complex technical diagram.

"...His biological neural network relies on quantum entanglement, which means any attack on him will immediately feed back to the main server.

"The reverse is also true-if you can hack into the server, you can directly affect every Tsukishiro unit connected to it."

At the end of the video, Ayanokoji's expression was unusually grave. "The choice is yours. Attacking the Hive is extremely dangerous, but it's the only way to stop Tsukishiro. I've set up all the necessary hacking tools on the computer. Good luck."

The screen went dark, and Tang Yu fell into thought. Within 31 hours, he had to plan an infiltration of a heavily guarded facility while protecting Karuizawa, and his Emotion Points were nearly depleted.

The bedroom door opened quietly, and Karuizawa came out wearing clean spare clothes. "I heard some of it... Are you going to that Hive?"

Tang Yu nodded. "This is our only chance to end all this."

"'Our,'" Karuizawa stressed. "I won't let you risk it alone."

"It's too dangerous!"

"Is it more dangerous than tonight?" Karuizawa gave a bitter smile. "Listen, I know I don't have your special abilities, but I can help. Tsukishiro wants me, which means I can act as bait..."

"Absolutely not!" Tang Yu interrupted sternly. "You have no idea how dangerous Tsukishiro is!"

"That's exactly why I have to be involved!" A rare resolve shone in Karuizawa's eyes. "This isn't your fight alone, Tang Yu. My life, my memories, my future... I want to take them back with my own hands."

They looked at each other for a long time. At last, Tang Yu sighed. "All right. But we need a plan, and you have to follow my instructions exactly."

Karuizawa nodded, looking a little more relaxed. She came over to Tang Yu and looked at the computer screen. "So, Mr. Genius Hacker, how do we hack into a super AI's lair?"

Tang Yu couldn't help smiling as he started browsing through the toolkit on the computer. His top-tier hacking skills immediately told him these weren't ordinary programs-quantum decryptors, neural network simulators, even algorithms for disrupting AI consciousness. Ayanokoji had prepared thoroughly.

"First," Tang Yu said, opening a map of Tokyo Bay, "we need to figure out the Hive's exact layout and the guards' rotation schedule..."

Outside the window, the torrential rain began to ease, and the first rays of sunlight pierced the clouds. Over the next 31 hours, they would plan an almost impossible raid.

And somewhere, Tsukishiro Shuhei was searching for them through countless cameras and surveillance devices.