"You understand how the organization operates. Things like introducing new members are not something you or I can do."
Regarding Booker's proposal, the man waved his hand and said so.
But then, before Booker opened his mouth to continue persuading, the man said again:
"Of course, I will help you convey this matter to the higher ups... If the other party is really as talented as you said, I think Prometheus will be interested."
After saying that, the man didn't wait for Booker's face to relax, and then said:
"But the premise of all this is that you need to complete your task within the specified time, otherwise everything will stop."
As he said that, a series of pale countdowns once again appeared in front of Booker's eyes.
【55:07:14:52】
This is not the remaining time for Booker to complete the mission, but a special time point deduced by an internal member of the "Fire Stealer" organization, codenamed "Cassandra".
The name Cassandra comes from the priestess who predicted that the Trojan horse left by the Greeks would bring destruction to Troy during the Trojan War.
Within the "Fire Stealers", the member with this codename is walking on the promotion path of the same name. The direction of its adjustment and transformation is the specialization of intelligence collection and simulation deduction.
According to her deduction, when this countdown reaches zero, a network fluctuation will occur that sweeps the entire Abyss Dark Web. At that time, it will also be the time point when they have the best chance to regain the α-level deep diving interface.
However, now they don't even know the coordinates of Tartarus, the headquarters of Pluto Deep Diving Company.
Therefore, when this "oracle" was announced, many members of the organization, including Booker, were sent to various resettlement areas or ecological reserves where Pluto Deep Diving Company was stationed.
They used their own methods to try to get the top-secret coordinates of Hades.
This is a layout several years in advance.
In fact, because different groups never synchronize their own intelligence, Booker sometimes even suspects that perhaps the "Fire Thieves" senior management has already obtained the coordinates. The reason why I still need to continue the task is that the organization wants to conduct cross-validation.
Of course, this is just his guess.
"As for the force authorization you applied for...showing depth 4 strength at the bottom of the Nord resettlement area will definitely attract the company's attention, which may lead to your identity being exposed in advance..."
Having said that, the man's tone became hesitant.
"But considering what you plan to do in the future, there is undoubtedly a need to upgrade your force. Well, whether it is your own force authorization or the purchase of a complete set of adjustment permissions for Icarus Depth 3, I will respond. Hmm... …It’s almost time.”
As the man spoke, the instrument placed on the table that looked like a class radio once again made a sharp whistling sound of electricity.
The time is coming...
"How long will it take until the next boson oscillator is charged?"
Booker seized the last moment and asked about the quality projection in front of him.
"It depends on the intensity of the solar wind on the moon's surface. You can pay attention to the moon's weather forecast. But I think you won't want to see me again in a short period of time."
After saying this, the man disappeared in front of Booker's eyes as abruptly as he had appeared - the memory foam sofa returned to its original state from the dented state almost instantly, as if the man had never existed. generally.
Even though this was not the first time Booker had seen mass projection, the moment the other party disappeared, he still couldn't help but sigh at this miraculous technology.
As long as this "boson oscillator", which looks like a squad radio, is deployed in advance and has enough energy to maintain it, the other party can project itself within a light second.
If someone insists on saying there is any difference between this and teleportation magic, Booker can only say that there is not much difference.
"Depth 7..."
Booker murmured.
The person he was talking to before was his immediate boss, the coordinator of the organization code-named "Perseus One".
Ascension Path: Perseus Depth 7, those who have reached the limit of human intelligence...maybe should not be called "people", but called "existences".
Booker couldn't imagine what kind of thinking a person who could rely on coordinates to appear at a location within one light second at any time would have.
And...if he were to enter this realm in the future, would he still be able to maintain human cognition?
…………
Moon, Golden Branch City.
As the largest lunar colony of mankind, this ill-fated city was destroyed twice and rebuilt twice during the three cyber wars. In the "lunar eclipse incident" ten years ago, the battleship crashed into the city due to its self-destruction program, once again turning the city into ruins.
However, today's Golden Branch City still looks prosperous - the dome that shields the solar wind wraps the entire vibrant city like a transparent bubble. If you look down from the near-lunar orbit, the towering floors and lush vegetation make this place look nothing like a city that has been destroyed three times and reborn three times.
Several cycles of destruction and rebirth have shaped the national consciousness of the Moon People—an outdated ideology that should have been abandoned long ago in this era.
The genetic modification carried out by the moon people in order to adapt to the low gravity environment of the moon gave them slender and soft limbs, pale paper skin, unique white hair and blood-red eyes. These physical differences from the people on earth have strengthened their national consciousness, thus creating a collective cohesion that is rare in this era.
Although the Order of Olympus considers itself a super-corporate alliance, among the gods, there are two who are difficult to consider as corporations in the traditional sense.
Like the Pluto Deep Diving Company, the Bacchus Order is a new deity after the New Calendar. It has always claimed to be a new age religion. They have never been enthusiastic about business activities. Most of their main income comes from donations from believers and ridiculous amounts of patent fees. No company can match them in reverse cracking the abyss darknet technology.
In fact, if it were not for the compulsory requirements of the Order of Olympus, the Bacchus Order would not even plan to change the name of a god for its own glory, but would continue to call itself the original name "The Order of Bliss".
Finally allowing them to call themselves the "Order" was already considered a major compromise for the Order of Olympus.
But it is different from this maverick religious group with strange behavior. Although Diana Lunar Development Company spares no effort to say that it is a super company in almost all public occasions, in fact everyone knows that they are actually a country that calls itself a company.
A country with the entire moon as its territory and the moon people as its main nation.
Golden Branch City is their capital, and Diana Lunar Development Company is their government.
Perseus 1 took shape again in a secret building in the center of Golden Branch City, and a resentful female voice echoed in his ears:
"You used up about 30% of your energy reserves... just to confirm the situation of No. 3, why bother running there in person?"
At this moment, next to Perseus 1 was a metal tank the size of a person, filled with light green liquid. In the jar was a black-haired girl with her eyes closed and tubes inserted into her mouth and nose. She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old.
The previous sentence came from a speaker on a metal can.
"There will be a sunspot outbreak next week, and it is calculated that it will cause an X-level 2.0 solar storm. This is enough for me to replenish the energy I have used and still have a balance."
In this regard, Perseus No. 1 (hereinafter referred to as No. 1 for convenience) said this, and then he paused and continued:
"You should have deduced this a long time ago, Cassandra."
Upon hearing these words, a series of bubbles appeared from the mouth and nose of the girl named "Cassandra" in the metal jar. Immediately, the speaker crackled out a series of sounds:
"Actually, the strength is X level 2.2... But of course, of course I know. But I just don't understand why you do this. After what happened before, the pressure on No. 3 is already high enough. I I don’t understand why you want to beat him again at this time? Do you doubt his loyalty? "
Asking the other party to meet directly, unless it is an emergency, often means serious criticism.
In response, No. 1 turned his gaze out the window. He looked at the dome covering the entire sky, and then said slowly:
"You can even deduce the changes in stars, so can't you guess why I have to go there in person?"
"Deducing the behavior of a star is much simpler than predicting the workings of a human heart."
Cassandra replied.
No. 1 sighed, and then slowly opened his palms.
Delicate mechanical parts emerged from under his sleeves like worms. They entangled with each other, biting each other, and finally formed a silver-white... memory.
"I'll synchronize the information I just gave you, and you'll understand... I'm worried that there might be some big problem with him."
As he spoke, No. 1 packaged and sent all the previous conversations between himself and No. 3 to Cassandra. After the latter finished reading, his little face soaked in the light green liquid wrinkled slightly.
"There are indeed some problems, but they don't seem to be as serious as you said..."
she said hesitantly.
But Number 1 interrupted her and continued:
"No. 3's previous signal loss was indeed related to his unauthorized dive into the Abyss Dark Web. And he mentioned an existence called 'Paradox', saying that it was that existence that caused Pluto's previous dive The company was attacked... Do you have any information about the 'Paradox' in your intelligence library?"
Regarding this question, Cassandra first said "uh", then she was silent for a moment and then said:
"There is quite a lot of information related to the word 'paradox', but if 'paradox' is regarded as an independent existence, there are very few entries with a granularity of three levels or above...The information entropy is too low. ”
No. 1 nodded and then said:
"It's pretty much what I guessed... In the Abyss Dark Web, there is no existence that can have a drastic impact on a behemoth like Pluto Deep Dive. It's impossible for it to be an unknown existence. The strength of malicious programs is positively related to the amount of intelligence they have. , as long as it has had an impact on the basic reality, there will be no clues. But for the existence called 'paradox', even you can't find any valuable clues related to it."
"what do you want to say in the end?"
Cassandra asked directly:
"Relying on your understanding of Perseus's path, you directly scanned and copied No. 3's external memory. Without his permission, you took away his memory through the program backdoor of the Aegis module. What exactly is the purpose of network coordinate recording?”
From Kassandra's point of view, it was very chilling to use this method to obtain information from a companion who trusted her.
"Don't get me wrong, I have never doubted No. 3's faith and loyalty. But I have often said that his character is too easy to trust others."
In response to Cassandra's question, No. 1 said:
"It's too easy for him to think too well of others and too easy to be superstitious about those authorities... And, as a 'Fire Stealer', his attitude towards the Abyss Dark Web is too awe-inspiring - that kind of religious experience Emotions will make him fear, blindly believe and obey.
"And that's what we want to take away from human cognition."
Number 1's tone was like an older brother criticizing his younger brother's shortcomings.
"So, I have to figure out for him what the so-called 'paradox' is. If it is a scam, I have an obligation to help him expose it. If it is really a threat, I also have an obligation to advance it in advance. Gather intelligence.”
As he spoke, he inserted the memory into the interface of the tin can.
"What are you doing? Even if you do it yourself, you want to drag me into the water with you?"
Kassandra protested violently at this action.
Regarding this, No. 1 said very seriously:
"Cassandra, listen to me... We paid a huge price to trade the right to use their company's α-level deep dive interface from Diana Lunar Colonization Company. And now, since we The layout on Narcissus Plain has been completed. So it is best not to waste the remaining time.
"Now, we only need your help to analyze these coordinates, and we can locate the location of the abyss dark network that No. 3 visited before. Then follow the traces left by the other party to find out the true identity of the so-called 'Paradox'."
Having said this, No. 1 gently placed his hand on the memory.
Cassandra hesitated for a moment and said:
"In case, the paradox is just as No. 3 thinks, it comes from the abyssal layer or even the super-abyssal layer..."
"Will not."
No. 1 said confidently, and stood up as he spoke. The sofa he was sitting on before and the table next to the sofa were scattered into countless parts. Then, like a hurricane, they transformed into a portable deep submersible chamber.
He walked over, connected a cold pipe at the end of the room, and then lay down in it.
"Anyway, the choice is yours. If you don't analyze the coordinates, then I will just dive down and salvage something."
He said this before the hatch closed.
Cassandra hesitated for a long time, and finally, as if she couldn't resist him, she sighed and said:
"Okay, if there is a threat, I will guide you up at any time."
As a result, the circuits were connected, and massive amounts of data were passed between the deep submersible and the iron canister where Cassandra was. Perseus 1 dived along the deep dive interface with ease, and followed the guidance of the coordinates analyzed by Cassandra...
Dive?
No, Number 1 soon discovered that he was not diving, but moving along the Styx Firewall.
Just when he was wondering if there was something wrong with the coordinates provided by Cassandra, he saw a small boat in the mist while gliding over the River Styx.
Cassandra reminded him that the coordinates he was looking for were on that small boat, but...
"Hey kid, what are you looking at?"
The ugly old man holding the boat suddenly raised his head and looked at him with blazing eyes.
2-in-1
(End of chapter)
