98: Chapter 97 "Dual-wielding" V's appearance confirmed

Lin Yi really couldn't handle V's gaze and gave in first, explaining: "Europa isn't a person. I'll explain the specifics to you in a bit, but I'm worried about the effects from that time with the Voodoo Boys, so let's run a diagnostic first."

"What diagnostic? You're always doing things I don't understand." V curled her lip, complaining out of habit, but still took the small data chip as instructed.

She skillfully inserted the chip into the neural port at the back of her neck, the movement as fluid as breathing. Sigh, they were a couple who had been through life and death together and knew each other inside out, after all.

In an instant, streaks of rapidly flowing, deep blue data light flashed deep within her cybernetic eyes—the external manifestation of the program running through her nervous system.

"What kind of stuff is this diagnosing?" V frowned slightly, feeling the scanning sensation, which was completely different from regular bio-monitoring. "The reading mode is weird; it's totally different from the stuff Viktor uses for physical checkups, right?"

Meanwhile, Lin Yi had sat back down in front of the console, his eyes locked on the execution logs refreshing like a waterfall on the screen.

His fingers tightened unconsciously, his knuckles turning white, as he silently prayed that the worst-case scenario wouldn't occur—it had to be a match failure.

However, fate did not follow his wishes.

Less than a minute later, the diagnostic program finished running. A clear results box popped up, and the last item of the cold, impersonal list of check results displayed four words: [Match Successful].

Lin Yi's heart sank, as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

His intuition about the bad aspects was still too accurate... But after he quickly skimmed through the subsequent detailed assessment report, his tensed nerves relaxed slightly.

The situation was better than the worst-case scenario he had anticipated, and overall, it wasn't too bad.

At the very least, that most dangerous fire was currently still trapped in a cage.

"What's with this 'Match Successful' thing?" V's voice pulled Lin Yi back to reality from his thoughts.

She curiously leaned in toward the terminal screen, looking at the logs filled with technical jargon and encrypted code, as well as the strange names of the diagnostic items. "So mysterious. What exactly did you diagnose? Tell me about it."

Although she was interested in the technical details, she was now more curious about the results, especially when associating it with the unfamiliar name Lin Yi had blurted out earlier. Her super-intuition told her that this diagnostic was definitely out of the ordinary.

Lin Yi took a deep breath, deciding to start from the technical aspect.

"This is mainly a program to diagnose the correlation between Blackwall data content and Rogue AI, as well as to monitor the operation of your cyberware," he explained, keeping his tone as calm as possible. "I just finished rushing it out before you got back."

"Blackwall?" V paused, a trace of confusion flashing in her golden eyes. "Why would I diagnose that thing?"

Immediately after, as if she had thought of something, her eyes sharpened. "Wait... are you talking about that time with the Voodoo Boys? The thing we encountered near the Blackwall?"

Seeing that V had already attributed the cause to the adventure with the Voodoo Boys on her own, Lin Yi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. That was for the best; it saved him from wasting his breath fabricating a more complex excuse. After all, an explanation like "You have a mod on you that I installed in another world before I crossed over" was just too ridiculous for V; she wouldn't be able to comprehend it at all.

"Right," Lin Yi took the opportunity to confirm her guess, steering the topic back to the diagnostic results. "There's good news and bad news from this diagnostic. Which one do you want to hear first?"

V hesitated for a moment, then rolled her eyes in her signature style, her tone tinged with mock annoyance: "It's not like we're strangers, why are you being so formal? Good or bad, just say it all at once and be done with it!"

"Fine," Lin Yi chuckled at her straightforward attitude, the tense atmosphere easing slightly. He organized his thoughts and decided to drop the bombshell first: "Based on the diagnostic results, V, there is a highly encrypted 'Blackwall Protocol' hidden within your personal system, currently in a dormant, standby state."

He paused, observing V's reaction. Seeing that she only widened her eyes slightly, he continued to explain: "You can think of it as... an extremely hidden 'backdoor' that the Blackwall has opened on you."

V gasped, and having studied network technology for some time now, she certainly understood what that meant.

A backdoor connected to the terrifying data hell on the other side of the Blackwall, inside her own body? It felt like having a ticking time bomb buried in her brain.

"However," Lin Yi changed his tone, emphasizing his words, "the good news is that according to the scan, those Rogue AI beyond the wall don't seem to have discovered the existence of this backdoor yet. They haven't tried to connect to you through this channel, at least not yet."

He then tossed out his second discovery: "And there's another... well, let's call it very good news. Your nervous system and cyberware load capacity are ridiculously strong. Based on preliminary estimates, your theoretical neural load limit is almost 2.5 times that of the known record holder—Adam Smasher."

V blinked, seemingly having no concept of the name or the comparison, but she understood the phrase "ridiculously strong." A hint of smugness involuntarily appeared on her face; just looking at her expression, you could tell she was saying, "I'm damn awesome."

"More importantly," Lin Yi pointed to another line of data on the screen, "you might not even realize it yourself, but you have successfully installed and are stably running a 'dual-system'—the Sandevistan speed enhancement system and an Arasaka Mk.4 Cyberdeck."

"What the hell?" V was truly stunned this time. "Can't dual systems be installed at the same time?" She looked bewildered. "I didn't know! Back when I was in Arasaka Counterintelligence, cyberware was always installed in pre-matched sets. After I went solo and went to see Viktor to install the Sandevistan, he didn't warn me either?"

"At first, I didn't know why Viktor didn't warn you either," Lin Yi explained, as this had been one of his own doubts earlier. "Until I retrieved and ported a set of Militech-grade professional deep medical scanning protocols and modified them myself, and just finished a thorough check of your entire body. The results show that conventional medical scans simply cannot detect the Cyberdeck implanted in your body. It's as if... it's completely invisible."

He looked at V, his tone filled with relief. "I suspect that it is precisely because of this peculiar 'invisible' property that when Viktor did the cyberware removal and compatibility check on you after you left Arasaka, he didn't discover the conflict, and naturally, couldn't warn you. Otherwise, given Viktor's personality and professional ethics, he would absolutely never have allowed you to undergo such a high-risk implantation."

Lin Yi reached out and gently pinched V's cheek, with a bit of lingering fear and heartfelt admiration. "But, fortunately, you have innate talent; your nervous system's strength is beyond imagination. You stubbornly withstood this theoretically fatal conflict, and not only are you fine, but you can also run it stably. This is simply a miracle."

V was a bit annoyed by his pinching and slapped his mischievous hand away, but her attention immediately returned to the most critical issue. "Then... what about the Blackwall? What do we do about that 'backdoor'?" That was still the biggest stone hanging over her heart.

"Don't worry about that," Lin Yi withdrew his hand, his tone becoming steady and reassuring. "Just now, while the diagnostic program was matching and confirming that Blackwall Protocol, I simultaneously loaded my custom isolation protocols and multi-layered security defense programs for you. It's firmly locked down now, just like installing a top-tier blast door and alarm system on that backdoor. It's fine for now."

He saw that V seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and added, with a hint of guidance: "Once you hone your hacking skills further in the future and build a more solid foundation, maybe... you can try to research it safely, or even use it to a limited extent at some point in the future."

"Use it?" V's attention was indeed captured. She tilted her head curiously. "So that thing you mentioned, the [Blackwall Protocol], is it... awesome?"

Watching her expression like a curious kitten, Lin Yi couldn't help but laugh, using a simple and crude metaphor that she would definitely understand: "Awesome? It's more than just awesome." He emphasized his tone, saying each word clearly: "It's insanely awesome!"

"Once this thing is activated and you can use it correctly (or rather, dangerously), its power... is equivalent to detonating a nuclear bomb in Cyberspace! You're the little girl who sells nukes. Even measuring it by the standards of the real world, it's equivalent to you holding an EMP strategic weapon that you can launch at any time, hitting whatever you point at!"

After hearing this highly impactful description, V's eyes widened instantly. The previous worry about the "backdoor" seemed to be washed away by this sense of powerful strength.

Her eyes seemed to be sparkling with little stars, her mouth slightly agape, as she let out an exclamation filled with wonder and longing: "WOW—!"

That expression was just like a child who had heard about the coolest toy in the world.