Data Connection

"Hmm?" Huang Si suddenly sensed something strange, as if he had broken through a barrier.

Then, after passing through another stretch of flowing data, his consciousness arrived in a vast space.

The space was extraordinarily high and wide. Huge pillars wrapped in arcs of electricity rose throughout it, reaching from floor to ceiling.

Huang Si managed to stop and look around.

It seemed to be a transport hub. Countless points of light moved back and forth around him, operating in an orderly fashion.

Huang Si had no idea what state he was in now. He tested things out and found he could withdraw his point of view at any time, so he didn't rush to do so.

His consciousness rose into the air and floated over to one of the pillars. Then he tried to "touch" it with his mind.

A burst of electricity immediately flashed across the pillar and struck Huang Si.

Huang Si hadn't expected to be shocked at all, and he had no idea how to dodge it. He took the hit head-on.

As for how it felt... well, it wasn't even enough to tickle.

But the shock did provoke a reaction from the pillar. The electricity swirling around it suddenly sped up and grew brighter.

Just as the electricity was about to attack Huang Si again, the pillar suddenly went dark. Then a mechanical voice rang through the space, sounding puzzled. "Is that you, Master?"

It was Xiao Ke's voice.

Since Xiao Ke could contact him in this space, did that mean this was the Green World?

"Yes, it's me," Huang Si said. "My current state is strange. I didn't log in normally with my administrator account. My entire consciousness entered this space directly through the network cable. Is this a computer inside the base?"

Xiao Ke replied, "Yes, Master. This is the base's Master Control Supercomputer Cluster."

Huang Si asked again, "Then what state do you perceive me to be in?"

Xiao Ke thought for a moment before replying, "I'm not sure either. I only noticed that something was affecting the computer's operations, so I ran a check. Then I discovered that the intruder had thought patterns similar to yours, Master."

Huang Si was taken aback. "What are thought patterns?"

"The characteristics of thought processes. Mine, yours, and those of the twelve AIs are all different."

"Fine... I suppose that's something only an AI assistant can sense."

"That should be the case."

Huang Si realized that chatting with Xiao Ke in this formless space wasn't a solution. Besides, he could clearly feel that there was a delay on his end, while the responses from the other side came so quickly that he could barely keep up.

This was probably caused by the difference in the flow of time between the two spaces.

But the effect was milder than Huang Si had imagined. More precisely, the time he experienced here wasn't the same as the time passing in the room where his body was.

It was probably faster than real time, but slower than time in the Green World.

After thinking for a moment, Huang Si asked, "Where's the control program for the cameras? See if you can show me the way."

"I'll try."

After quite a while, the Data Space changed again. Part of the walls dimmed, and a glowing path lit up among them.

Huang Si's consciousness followed the path of light. Before long, he arrived in a room.

Inside was an enormous mass of data, which looked like countless points of light fused together.

"Master, this is the Camera Master Control Program. Can you control it?"

Huang Si tried to penetrate the mass of data with his consciousness.

"What an enormous amount of data!"

Huang Si had to focus all his mental strength just to process the data he had just deciphered. After a while, he finally finished analyzing that portion. Then, with a thought, he diverted the tremendous streams of light that had been flowing toward the data cluster and drew them into his consciousness instead.

Huang Si's soul had grown immensely powerful, and his comprehension was exceptionally strong. He had just deciphered the data cluster and simulated it within himself. Then he intercepted all the data flowing in and out, making himself its true controller.

At this point, even Xiao Ke could no longer control the cameras. But without a personality of its own, it simply waited quietly for Huang Si's orders.

As data flowed into Huang Si's consciousness, he was initially a little lost. But soon, the program he had simulated in his mind began analyzing the data stream on its own.

As the data was analyzed, dozens of small windows suddenly appeared in midair around Huang Si's consciousness, one after another. Their number kept growing until there were over a hundred.

Each small window showed a live video feed from a surveillance camera.

However, as more windows appeared, some of the first ones began to show signs of crashing. When Huang Si lost focus for just a moment, dozens of windows shattered and vanished into nothingness.

Processing over a hundred video streams across a time difference of 323 to 1 was too much for even Huang Si's vastly strengthened soul. He was overwhelmed and struggled to keep up.

Video processing now took up over 99 percent of his consciousness. Even so, it wasn't enough to sustain every feed, and the windows continued to collapse.

"Xiao Ke, help me out."

Huang Si managed to set aside a portion of his consciousness to call for Xiao Ke.

A mechanical voice rang out in the space:

"Understood, Master. Based on your capabilities, I will take over 82% of the video processing."

As soon as Xiao Ke finished speaking, the number of video windows around Huang Si dropped by more than half, leaving only sixty.

Huang Si felt the pressure ease. Sixty video windows were just within his limits. Xiao Ke had taken over the work at once. When it came to processing massive amounts of data, people really couldn't compete with computers!

"Xiao Ke, filter for the cameras in the Biology Department's labs. One per lab."

"Yes, Master. Filtering complete."

Xiao Ke's processing speed was incredible. The content of the small video windows around Huang Si immediately changed, showing scenes inside the laboratories.

Huang Si looked through them one by one. He saw all kinds of strange animals, as well as some ape-men.

"Are they being raised along different evolutionary paths, like I instructed before?"

"Yes, Master. As you requested, we're cultivating the beasts to be stronger and larger, the small animals to be more agile, and the ape-men to be less hairy and more upright. At the same time, we're focusing on developing intelligence in all species."

"Good work. Have there been any particularly impressive results?"

"Yes, Master. Take a look at this Fire Fox."

Xiao Ke switched the video feed, enlarging one of the windows before Huang Si.

The Fire Fox was one of the Green World's native species. It had bright red fur and looked much like a fox on Earth, though it was very beautiful. Of course, it was also larger than an Earth fox and considerably more powerful in combat.

"This Fire Fox's combat ability is about 110% higher than that of others in its species."

Huang Si watched the Fire Fox, which sat quietly in its breeding cage with no reaction. Its large, pointed ears looked rather cute.

As a mechanical arm operated at the top of the lab, a log dropped into the Fire Fox's cage.

The Fire Fox immediately let out an uneasy cry. Its back arched, and its eyes grew dark and deep.

Suddenly, the Fire Fox sprang into action. It lunged forward and swung its claws, raking deep grooves into the wood.

With a harsh cracking sound, the log was torn apart by the fox's claws. It split into several pieces that fell to the ground.

Huang Si asked, "How strong is a normal Fire Fox?"

"Under combat conditions, its front claws can leave marks about two centimeters deep in a tree."

Huang Si was pleased. "So that's quite an improvement. This Fire Fox is impressive. Have it reproduce as much as possible."

After shredding the log, the Fire Fox circled it and sniffed it. Once it was sure there was no danger, it settled back into the corner of its cage.

It still had no idea that, thanks to a certain someone's approval, the rest of its life would be spent in the hell of breeding.

"By the way, don't switch the feed yet," Huang Si told Xiao Ke. "I want to test something."

Next, Huang Si focused on the video feed and tried to unfold his Mental Force Field within the Data Space. Before long, he found the video stream showing the lab where the Fire Fox was kept.

His consciousness attached itself to the video stream and traced it upstream. Soon, he found the physical location of the camera.

Guided by his consciousness, his Mental Force Field silently descended, instantly enveloping the Fire Fox's cage.

Huang Si tested it. His perception had grown vague and faint, but even after crossing the passage between two different spaces—and even after becoming a data stream to reach this place—he could still extend his Mental Force Field along the network cable and use his consciousness to analyze the Fire Fox's structure.

But he didn't need to do anything to the Fire Fox right now. He wanted to test something else.

With the camera and his Mental Force Field locked onto the target, Huang Si used his Creation Power.

As the Creation Power gathered, a metal sheet dropped from the ceiling with a clang, landing in front of the Fire Fox.

The Fire Fox looked tense. It had never seen anything like this before, and it backed away a little.

Huang Si had no intention of hurting it. He had only created an aluminum sheet for the Fire Fox to play with.

Before long, the Fire Fox charged forward and swiped at the aluminum sheet. It warped slightly, leaving several claw marks.

"Using Creation Power seems to work without any difficulty." Huang Si studied the video, lost in thought.

One thing was certain: his spiritual consciousness couldn't pass directly through the Ring's passage. But it could travel through the network cable along with the enormous volume of data, and during the process, his Mental Force Field seemed to turn into data.

When Huang Si wanted to, he could extend part of his Mental Force Field out from the network cable and restore it to its normal state.

At the same time, he could use Creation Power.

What's more, using Creation Power went smoothly. It didn't even seem to weaken after crossing through time and space, unlike his Mental Force Field.

Did this mean Creation Power was a higher form of energy than mental power? Huang Si wondered, but there was no way to verify it.

Leaving the Fire Fox alone, Huang Si instructed Xiao Ke:

"The base has a new major development plan, with a priority of 9: explore the entire planet and build telecommunications stations and wired networks covering its entire surface."

"I want global connectivity. Global video surveillance."

"Understood, Master," Xiao Ke replied at once.

Huang Si smiled. He had finally found a way to plan everything from afar and ensure victory from a thousand miles away.

Because he could connect his Mental Force Field to the network.