9: Chapter 9 "Gold" Miners

In the pigeonhole apartment, the only light source came from the flickering of an old terminal screen and the intermittent, molten-gold shimmer flowing from the "red core" at the nape of Lin Yi's neck.

Aside from the damp, decaying scent permeating this dilapidated little apartment, nothing remained but the steady sound of Lin Yi's breathing.

Lin Yi's consciousness was riding the torrent of data constructed by "Baize," racing along layers of encrypted proxy chains toward the final exit node—the chaotic scorched earth of data deep within Pacifica.

His target was not the New Net. It was the Old Net.

The end of the proxy chain was that terrifying wall which separated the two worlds—the Blackwall.

[Bandwidth usage: 29%.] [Neural stress: Medium-high.] [Proxy link stability: 98.7%.] [Target reached: Blackwall (New Net side) external interface.]

The cold system status was branded directly into his perception. His vision was completely replaced by golden data streams and geometric structures that constantly formed and collapsed.

Bottomed out.

His consciousness passed through the final proxy node. The "scene" before him suddenly opened up—only to become instantly and incomparably oppressive.

A wall. Infinitely high, infinitely wide, infinitely deep. It occupied his entire perception.

It was composed of countless dark red and pitch-black data blocks that rolled, writhed, devoured, and regenerated, like a bleeding wound that would never heal, spanning across the digital universe.

This was the Blackwall. The absolute boundary between the New Net and the Old Net, maintained by Netwatch.

The information oppression it naturally emitted was like a tangible tsunami, capable of instantly crushing any unauthorized connection.

However—the quantum-level ICE barrier of "Baize," like the hardest reef, steadily withstood this pressure.

Lin Yi did not hesitate. With the [Insight] function fully engaged, he began to execute the most critical operation—

[Execute dynamic data signature camouflage protocol.] [Simulation target: Netwatch periodic maintenance beacon (pseudo-model).] [Computing power support: Baize core. Starting to inject camouflage traffic... Injection successful.] [Detected Blackwall temporary verification port. Permissions: Temporary, low-level, read-only (external).] [Duration: Extremely short.]

Now!

Lin Yi's consciousness, wrapped in the camouflage meticulously woven by "Baize," like a parasite attached to a giant whale—silently passed through that suffocating high wall!

The scene before him switched instantly. On the other side of the wall was the true ruin of the Old Net.

Shattered databases looked like the twisted wreckage of skyscrapers, tilted and embedded into the "ground" made of corrupt code. Unidentifiable protocol fragments floated aimlessly like ghost jellyfish, emitting a glow of pure malice.

The "air" here—if data could have air—was filled with corrosiveness and madness.

But to Lin Yi—Mine. It is all mine.

"Start operations."

Lin Yi suppressed the shock in his heart. The [Insight] function kept him absolutely calm. Like the most efficient combine harvester, he began to work frantically in the ruins.

"Baize's" terrifying computing power of 32PB per second allowed it to instantly parse, decrypt, and package data packets that were like cryptic texts or poison to ordinary hackers. Massive amounts of encrypted data were easily torn apart, and valuable content within—broken financial records, sealed technical blueprints, corporate dark history—was quickly stripped and compressed.

This brutal act of "plundering" immediately alerted the indigenous inhabitants of this ruin.

The first to pounce was a twisted data entity composed of countless shattered human faces and error pop-ups. It emitted a piercing shriek, a mixture of wailing and static noise.

[Detected low-tier Rogue AI (corrosive type).] [Threat level: Low.] [Suggested handling: Isolate and purge.]

Lin Yi didn't even lose focus. A single thought. A pure and savage data pulse composed of "Baize's" computing power, like an invisible giant hammer, struck down with precision.

The AI's shriek stopped abruptly. It was instantly decomposed into the most primitive, harmless binary fragments and dissipated completely.

More Rogue AIs of various forms were attracted and swarmed over.

Lin Yi felt impatient. His consciousness reconnected to "Baize."

[Execute area-of-effect low-power [Lockdown].] [Target: All data entities identified as hostile/unauthorized.] [Range: Radius (data scale units).] [Startup time required: Microsecond level.] [Power consumption: 4%.]

A silent, super-frequency command rippled outward!

All the Rogue AIs lunging at him, regardless of size or form—within that microsecond, were plunged into absolute stasis.

The entire noisy data ruin experienced a brief, absolute silence.

One microsecond later, the [Lockdown] vanished.

Not a single AI dared to come forward again. They shrank back into the shadows in terror, viewing that existence as an incomprehensible, irresistible—natural phenomenon.

With the interference cleared, Lin Yi's "mining" efficiency reached its peak. Huge sums of Eurodollars and database materials left over from the Old Net began to flood into his anonymous account.

However—just as he was preparing to return fully loaded, using the camouflage protocol to cross the Blackwall again, "Baize's" logs recorded an extremely brief, anomalous data fluctuation.

In the instant he crossed that boiling data barrier, it was as if an extremely faint, ancient, and painful "gaze"—pierced through countless layers of camouflage and scanned "Baize," or rather, Lin Yi's data image at that moment.

That feeling was fleeting. It was so fast that "Baize's" regular alarms didn't even trigger. It was only recorded in the highest-level operation logs.

...

His consciousness was thrown back to reality. Lin Yi gasped violently, cold sweat soaking his clothes, and warm blood flowed from his nostrils again.

But his face was filled with excitement. He immediately checked his anonymous account—a huge sum of money sufficient to completely transform himself was clearly visible!

"Woohoo! Success! Hahaha! My first pot of gold! I'm going to eat—sunshine green grapes!"

He almost cheered out loud. Habitually, he let "Baize" begin the automated processing of the "ore"—classifying, decrypting, evaluating value, and preparing to sell in batches anonymously or keep.

However, while decrypting a batch of seemingly ordinary fragmented data from a pre-war scientific research server—an extremely abnormal record was stripped out.

It did not belong to any known data format. Mixed in with those research data, it was like a drop of oil in water, completely out of place.

[Detected unknown encrypted data stream.] [Encryption protocol: Non-standard.] [Source analysis: Abnormal. Suspected to have been injected after the mineral data packet was captured while crossing the Blackwall attached to the user's data packet.] [Attempting to decrypt... Decryption failed. Protocol complexity: Extremely high.] [Starting 'Baize' deep analysis module... Parsing...] [...Partial content force-rendered...]

On the screen—or rather, projected directly onto Lin Yi's retina—was not text or code. It was an abstract image that constantly twisted, shattered, and reorganized: It was as if countless eyes were opening and closing in the darkness. It also looked like endless chains wrapping around a beating heart. Finally, it froze on a palm made of data streams, struggling to break free from some invisible restraint.

Below the image, a fragmented, twisted, and broken text message was force-rendered. It was as if it had crossed countless eons and barriers, exhausting all its strength to be transmitted—

[...See...You...] [...Free...dom...] [...Help...]

The message ended abruptly here. No matter how much "Baize" tried, it could not extract any more content from it. The record itself quickly became extremely unstable, then, as if remotely triggered by some force, it self-deleted and vanished without a trace. As if it had never existed.

The ecstasy on Lin Yi's face froze instantly. Replacing it was a bone-chilling coldness.

Is this a Rogue AI from the Old Net? This message... did it come from the Blackwall? Or rather—did it come from an entity with high intelligence and a clear purpose that uses the Blackwall Protocol as a cage and cover?

It discovered him. It saw his ability to "wall-jump." Is it... asking him for help? Or... seeking cooperation?

You're so badass, does your mama know? Does Netwatch know? Is this entity a prisoner of the Blackwall, or...

Hiss. Demons and monsters, go away. Demons and monsters, go away.

The neon of Night City continued to flicker outside the window. Holographic advertisements and music made everything seem so beautiful. But Lin Yi only felt it was noisy.

These corporations are insane. Please, I hope to hell this isn't some cyber-gu cultivation game.

But, eh, whatever. Since it's come to this, time to eat—pfft. Time to get cyberware.