62: Chapter 62 Ten Minutes of Darkness: The Power Grid is in Crisis!
The impact of the Ghost Protocol's activation swept across the digital domain of the Dragon Kingdom like a tsunami in an instant.
Inside the power grid control centers of multiple core cities—the capital, Shanghai, Pengcheng, Jiangcheng—piercing alarms rang out one after another, more frequent and shrill than ever before!
On the massive electronic screens, the green curves representing the stable operation of the power grid began to shake violently and abnormally, like the EKG of a dying patient. Load data at several key nodes jumped wildly, exceeding safety thresholds, as red warning boxes popped up incessantly!
"Report! The East China Regional Dispatch Center is under a DDoS flood attack! Data channels are congested!"
"An unknown zero-day exploit attack has been detected on the control interface of Northwest 'Jinwu' Station No. 1! They are attempting to seize permissions!"
"The 'Weaving Net' AI core database is facing targeted infiltration! The opponent is trying to tamper with the dispatch algorithm parameters!"
Bad news arrived one after another. In the control center, the engineers' fingers flew across their keyboards so fast they almost struck sparks, and cold sweat poured down their foreheads. They had never experienced such a high-intensity, multi-dimensional, and precisely coordinated attack! The opponent's methods were endless, like an invisible giant using countless heavy hammers to frantically strike the power grid's 'nerve center' and 'brain' from all directions.
"Activate backup channels! Force a cleanup of redundant data!"
"Isolate the Station No. 1 control interface and initiate manual backup protocols!"
"Initiate read-only lock on the core database! Defense modules, intercept with full power!"
The engineers shouted until their voices were hoarse, fighting back according to emergency plans. Thanks to the firewall prototype and encryption technology provided early on by 'Patriot X', the Dragon Kingdom's power grid defense system was not completely breached in the first instance. That seemingly thin but exceptionally resilient 'membrane' stubbornly withstood the first and most violent wave of the 'Shadow Demon' virus's bites.
However, the situation remained critical!
The attack was like a cancer clinging to the bone, constantly mutating and searching for any possible crack. The fluctuations in the power grid began to affect the physical world—
In Shanghai City, the most prosperous financial district, the lights of skyscrapers suddenly flickered in unison, drawing cries of alarm from the streets. Traffic signals briefly failed, causing several minutes of congestion.
In Pengcheng, the assembly line of a precision electronics factory automatically shut down due to an instantaneous abnormal voltage fluctuation, resulting in immeasurable losses.
In Jiangcheng, the backup power of a large hospital was instantly triggered. Although the lights in the operating room only switched for a few seconds, it sent the lead surgeon's heart into his throat.
Darkness had not yet fully descended, but its cold fingertips had already touched the city's pulse. Panic began to spread quietly like ink dropped into clear water. Speculations about 'massive blackouts' and uneasy comments began to appear on the internet.
At the 'Hidden Dragon' Base Cybersecurity Center, the screen in front of Su Xiaowan was almost entirely covered by red attack paths. The 'Weaving Net' AI's defensive computing power was pushed to its limit, acting like a high-speed spinning shield to block attacks from all sides, but the shield itself began to show fine cracks.
"The opponent... the opponent is learning and adapting to our defense patterns!" an analyst said with a voice full of despair. "The mutation speed of 'Shadow Demon' has exceeded our estimates! Our conventional defense strategies are failing!"
Su Xiaowan bit her lower lip hard, her face pale, but her eyes remained determined. She knew that relying solely on passive defense made defeat only a matter of time.
"Initiate 'Deep Sleep' protocol! Temporarily shut down external data interaction for non-core nodes and shrink the defense line!" she ordered decisively. This was a 'severing the limb to save the body' strategy; it would sacrifice the intelligent management efficiency of some areas, but it would buy time for the core regions.
She suddenly looked up at the dedicated line connected to the 'Torch Dragon' safe house. Now, she could only place her hopes on whether the man who had created countless miracles could turn the tide once again.
She connected the communication and spoke urgently:
"Engineer Lin! The power grid is under maximum intensity attack, the 'Weaving Net' core algorithm is being parsed, and conventional defenses are about to fail! We need... we need a more advanced 'immune' system!"
Inside the safe house, Lin Mo had already seen the critical situation of the power grid through internal monitoring. On the holographic projection in front of him, the mutation data of the 'Shadow Demon' virus and the defense logs of the 'Weaving Net' AI were scrolling rapidly.
His gaze was as sharp as a blade.
"Understood. Give me highest data permissions. Thirty seconds."