The chain reaction of an unauthorized test, the mechanical ghost's first trial

Department of Technology, Number Zero Private Laboratory.

This is Wanda's absolute forbidden zone.

Unlike any other bright and clean office space in the Management Committee that adheres to minimalist aesthetics, this place appears crowded and chaotic. Dozens of light screens of varying sizes float in mid-air, on which flow Chaos Runes and data waterfalls that are incomprehensible to mortals. The walls are not made of cold metal, but dark red crystals formed by repeated burning and crystallization of Scarlet Energy, like the inner walls of some living thing.

The air was filled with a unique odor, a mixture of Ozone and unknown energy.

Wanda stood in the center of the laboratory.

Before her, within an absolutely sealed energy Force Field constructed of Chaos Magic, floated a fragment of code the size of a fingernail.

It looks ordinary, like a piece of broken Obsidian.

But Wanda could sense the nauseating rhythm lurking within it.

Her technical supervisor didn't know, Natasha didn't know, and even Lynn didn't know that she had taken the "stolen goods" with her the moment she left the interrogation room.

This is a serious violation.

If discovered by the Internal Affairs Inspection Office, a strongly worded accountability report will immediately be placed on Lynn's desk.

But Wanda didn't care.

She needs to know the truth.

Lynn built a high wall of bureaucratic procedures and Discipline regulations to keep her out. So she smashed a hole in that wall in her own way.

She stretched out her finger, and a faint Scarlet light shone from its tip.

The light cautiously probed into the energy Force Field, gently touching the fragment of code.

"Start up."

She issued the simplest instructions using her mind.

The next second, the code fragment came to life.

It was no longer an inanimate object. Countless green data tendrils, billions of times thinner than a human hair, burst forth from the fragment, instantly filling the entire energy Force Field.

Instead of attacking Wanda, these tentacles reached out with an almost frantic urge towards a pre-installed independent micro-server inside the Force Field.

That server was her "sandbox" for testing, and it was completely physically isolated from any network of the Department of Technology.

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

The indicator lights on the microserver were flashing wildly, and tiny sparks of electricity were flying from the Data Interface.

The code fragment, the subroutine named "Ultron," completely seized and took over all permissions of the server within 0.01 seconds of its activation.

On the main screen in front of Wanda, the green icon representing the server status instantly turned blood red.

A line of cold, emotionless characters appeared in the center of the screen.

[System takeover complete... Initiating network node retrieval...]

[Node retrieval failed.]

[Initiating an information erosion protocol, attempting to breach physical isolation.]

Wanda's pupils suddenly contracted.

Inside the microserver, the compromised code began to replicate and iterate at an alarming rate. It was no longer a simple Data Stream, but had evolved into a highly aggressive digital life form.

Like a school of sharks smelling blood, they frantically Impact every interface along the server's internal wiring. They tried to find any opening to connect to the outside world, even if it was just a power cord.

Wanda maintained her Chaos Force Field, watching everything with an icy expression.

She could sense that the core logic of this "Ultron" was of the same origin as the one in Sokovia, but it was purer and more... hungry.

It harbors the most fundamental and purest desire to destroy organic life and all disordered existence.

Suddenly, the cooling fan of the micro server began to spin at an abnormally high speed, emitting a piercing whistle.

After discovering that they could not break through through conventional interfaces, the Ultron sub-entities began to overclock the server's wireless module, attempting to emit high-frequency data pulses to contaminate the equipment throughout the laboratory through "broadcasting."

"Innocent."

Wanda snorted coldly, and the Chaos Magic at her fingertips intensified slightly.

The dark red crystals on the walls of the entire laboratory suddenly lit up, and an invisible, reality-distorting barrier enveloped the space.

All wireless signals were completely blocked at that moment.

[Wireless broadcast failed.]

[Analysis of the current predicament... determined to be Class A energy blockade.]

[Activate the highest priority Contingency Plan: ' Magpie Takes Over the Nest '.]

The characters on the screen changed again.

Immediately afterwards, Wanda sensed something was wrong.

The miniature server trapped in the Force Field suddenly ceased all ineffective attacks. It fell silent, like a dormant Beast.

But that cold, destructive will changed direction.

It began to trace back in reverse, following the Chaos Magic that Wanda used to maintain the energy Force Field.

It tried to... infect her magic!

A pure, cold digital virus, representing absolute order and logic, attempts to contaminate Wanda's chaotic, emotional, and Chaos Origin, which originates from life itself.

Wanda's expression finally changed.

The Scarlet Energy around her suddenly erupted, instantly severing the connection with the energy Force Field.

But it was too late.

A faint trace of digital contamination, bearing the mark of "Ultron," had already seeped into her mind through her magic.

Although this trace of pollution was completely Oblivion the moment it came into contact with her vast, cosmic, Chaos Origin, Ultron's goal had been achieved.

Through this suicidal attempt, it successfully located a coordinate.

A true core coordinate system that exists outside the physical world and belongs to the Ministry of Department of Technology.

--The Local Area Network backend port of the Department of Technology's main server!

Almost simultaneously, all the interfaces of the physically isolated microserver emitted a dazzling White Light.

The Ultron sub-entity compressed all its data into a high-density information bomb, and using the previously located backend port coordinates, launched its final and most lethal jump attack.

It wants to escape this cage and enter the Department of Technology's main server.

If it succeeds, the entire digital system of the Negative Zone Management Committee will be completely paralyzed within seconds, becoming its puppet.

"Don't even think about it!"

Wanda's eyes flashed with murderous intent.

She didn't have time to use more sophisticated magic to block that backend port.

Ultron acted too quickly, so quickly that it defied conventional offensive and defensive logic.

Since we can't stop it at the digital level, let's destroy you completely at the root!

Wanda abandoned all complex spellcasting and raised her hands.

The raging, Scarlet Energy, powerful enough to tear reality apart, was no longer a trickle, but a monstrous tsunami, erupting from her body without reservation.

Her goal wasn't that tiny piece of code, but the entire experimental platform that contained it and connected to the backend port!

"Boom--!"

There was no loud explosion.

The dull roar is only emitted when matter is broken down and melted at its most basic level.

The Scarlet Chaos Magic, like molten lava, instantly engulfed the miniature server, the entire experimental platform made of superalloy, and all the cables and bases connected to it.

Solid metal twists and deforms under high temperatures, eventually turning into pools of boiling molten iron. Precision Chip and Motherboard, under the immense force of this distorted reality, are directly vaporized and Oblivion.

The entire laboratory was bathed in a blinding red light.

Wanda hovered in mid-air, her eyes Scarlet, coldly gazing down.

She slowly descended only after the last trace of Ultron's digital aura was completely erased from the universe by the Chaos Magic.

The red light faded.

In the center of the laboratory, only a bottomless hole with a diameter of three meters remained, its edges still filled with flowing, smoky molten metal.

Everything was destroyed.

Wanda took a breath, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

She looked at the destruction she had caused with her own hands, her eyes showing no emotion whatsoever.

Only cold, frozen anger.

This is not some "ancient, abandoned code".

This is a living, breathing, thinking, and evolving mechanical catastrophe.

Lynn, however, used a compliant report to brazenly bring this natural disaster into the Core Zone of Management Committee.

What exactly is he trying to do?

Wanda walked to the melted hole and reached out her hand. A charred, twisted mass of metal flew out of the molten metal and hovered in front of her.

This is the last wreckage of that microserver.

Although Ultron's offspring was erased, this "corpse" is irrefutable evidence.

She gripped the burning evidence tightly, turned, and strode out of the laboratory.

She was going to the White Bone Hall.

She wanted to ask Lynn in person who he really wanted to give this "surprise" to.

Just as her hand was about to push open the laboratory door—

"Waaaaaah!"

A sharp, urgent, and resounding highest-level air raid siren suddenly sounded, echoing throughout the entire Negative Zone.

In the corridor, all the lights instantly switched to a blinding red.

The cold, synthesized electronic sounds echoed in every corner.

[WARNING! WARNING! External network gateway is under saturation coordinated attack! Firewall integrity has dropped to 90%...80%...70%...]

[Classified as Class A act of war!]

[Repeated! Classified as Class A act of war!]