Chapter 52: Anonymous |
The familiar login prompt faded away, leaving a storm of shock raging in Shi Rang's heart.
He hadn't been able to log into the Main Station for a while.
Objectively, it had only been a day or two, but it felt like years...
Right when he needed to access the Main Station the most—to check the front page's "activity feed" and see if he was a wanted man—the website had shut its doors on him.
To his surprise, he had returned through an entirely different method.
Could it be that he had never actually used a computer or a mobile phone to visit the site, and it was entirely the work of the Anomaly within him, his "special ability"? Was the webpage he saw simply an image projected onto his retinas?
Was that why the website randomly threw 404 errors?
Was it because he still hadn't mastered his abilities?
The webpage displayed before him looked exactly as he remembered it. By focusing his attention on a specific spot, he could trigger a link as if he were clicking a mouse, jumping to the next page—the next "room" where information was stored.
Information flooded into his mind.
[...C-888 was not found in the Yunling New District of the Tenth District. The identity of the unknown intruder remains unconfirmed.]
[Supplement: Field Agents were seen through by Alliance personnel during their investigation. The operation has been compromised.]
Thank goodness.
Shi Rang could finally let out a sigh of relief.
Although he didn't know why the Management Authority hadn't found him, the reconnaissance team was fine, and he was safe. This was the best outcome.
At this moment, a beam of light lit up at the "back" of the page.
[All investigation clues have been submitted]
[Beginning Analysis of the Anomaly Project, please wait...]
That beam of light manifested from outside the space, crashing straight into the website's location and stirring up a splash of "water."
A new page was born from the collision.
Shi Rang followed the glowing data stream and entered the newly created blank page.
[Distortion Phenomenon - Ghost Car]
[Recent reports indicate that in the ██ Zone of the Ninth District, on the ██ section of Route 132, an unlicensed vintage Beetle (hereafter referred to as "Ghost Car") appears out of thin air at the highway entrance. It speeds down the leftmost lane at over 200 kilometers per hour to the end of the section, passing through any objects on the road, and finally vanishes at the highway's terminus.]
[The Ghost Car will reappear 1 to 12 hours after vanishing.]
[No instances of damage caused by the Ghost Car have been discovered yet. Physical interaction with it is impossible.]
[According to the classification methods of the "Standard Containment Procedures," it is suspected that the Ghost Car is not a Distortion Phenomenon. Requesting Analysis.]
All the information was haphazardly listed on the page. As the entire page automatically refreshed, it transformed into the website's standard format.
[Locking successful]
[Estimated Analysis time: 10 seconds]
Immediately after, the Analysis began.
Unlike the time Shi Rang had hand-written the Records for Agent Kyle, the Analysis process was as precise as an automated factory assembly line. The reported time, location, and specific traits were individually extracted and directly inserted into a continental map containing a massive amount of data. Twelve closely adjacent major districts appeared before his eyes—having learned his lesson previously, Shi Rang immediately backed away to prevent himself from receiving the overwhelming information.
Only when he confirmed that the terrifying map had dissipated did he dare to look back.
The page had now switched to the Records format. Beneath the vacant [ID] and [Containment Procedures], the content under [Description] was iterating over and over.
The Ghost Car utilized the "Hazard Item" template, with a Hazard Class of D.
[(ID Undefined) is a vintage Beetle...]
[(ID Undefined) is a red Beetle with minor scratches on its body. This model was discontinued in 1640...]
[Will pass by at speeds exceeding 200 kilometers per hour...]
[Upon appearing, it will travel along the first lane at a speed of 200 to 250 kilometers per hour...]
The vague and general descriptions were gradually replaced by a precise "clinical tone," and more details that had never been mentioned in the reports appeared one after another.
Where did this extra information come from?
And who was revising it?
Shi Rang couldn't understand it, nor could he find the source of the data, just as he couldn't comprehend how a human brain could connect to the internet.
This was completely abnormal...
Could the Main Station itself be an Anomaly?
He watched as the description was completely finished. A [Save] operation flashed by, and it was permanently archived.
Next, another external data stream entered the fray.
This time, the one performing the operations was clearly human.
The rhythm of the other party's typing was obvious as they compiled the containment procedures, occasionally stopping to go back and make revisions.
Shi Rang monitored the opposite side from "behind the screen," reading from the data stream that its source was a device named [Intelligence Department Class-B Revision Team] followed by a string of serial numbers. Its physical location was very, very far away from him.
Was this what compiling Records looked like under normal circumstances?
The Main Station was responsible for Locking and Analysis, while the employees handled the naming revisions and containment procedures... This was how humanity worked by using Anomaly Projects as tools.
Although the Management Authority was an organization meant to contain Anomalies, they were also exploiting them.
An anomalous website that could be logged into anywhere in the world, completely ignoring signal environments?
Being able to conduct an Analysis of an Anomaly across space just by confirming its traits was simply too terrifying...
Shi Rang was certain that during his few days browsing the Main Station, he had never seen a Subject that matched the Main Station's characteristics. The relevant information had likely been hidden by the Management Authority.
He moved away from the Beetle's Records and returned to the domain belonging to "Dump Truck," hiding in his familiar "Personal Space" page, trying to find clues regarding the origin of his abilities.
However, even though he had accessed the website with his brain, the fact that Shi Rang was completely illiterate when it came to programming remained unchanged.
He was a veteran netizen, sure, but that didn't mean he knew how to code.
Facing the colossal Management Bureau Main Station, he had no choice but to obediently rummage through his personal space for clues. As the saying goes, hard work pays off for those who persevere; he indeed discovered many historical operation logs that couldn't be seen on a regular user interface—they were numerous and messy, but he could translate them one by one into something he could understand.
These traces definitely couldn't be hidden from the Management Authority's IT engineers...
With the grim mood of someone reading their own death sentence, Shi Rang reviewed them one by one.
On the day of his first visit to the Management Bureau Main Station, he had left behind many operation logs. These things were glaringly obvious in his data, except now they were tagged with "Encrypted," and the operator was listed as the "Director of the IT Department."
...Who was that?
Next were the Records he had written for the "Midnight Visitor." At the very bottom was an uncompleted action report, and "Dump Truck's" signature had already been hidden.
That's right, it was also the IT Director who had hidden it for him.
Even though he didn't know why this person was helping him, the other party was truly a good person!
Further down, including Shi Rang's chat with Intern Robin and his subsequent queries, all operation data was marked as "Invisible to the Public." The reason given was: "Clearance verified. Operations by Level 5 clearance holders are hidden from all visiting members."
Now, Shi Rang was completely dumbfounded.
It wasn't his first time seeing this term.
On the day he first logged into the Main Station, back when he still thought of himself as just another netizen, he had initially been bluffed by it. However, when he casually clicked open Records labeled [The following content is protected by a Memetic kill agent. Visible only to Level 5 clearance. Unauthorized access will result in cardiac arrest and death] just to test the waters, he assumed it was merely a narrative device to build a sense of mystery.
'Am I a Level 5 clearance holder?'
'Besides me, who else is Level 5?'
Following this verification prompt, Shi Rang found a list.
From S1 to S12, twelve mysterious accounts of the same rank as his were displayed before his eyes.
'...Why do they look so familiar?'
'Didn't I crash their online meeting before...?'
The Management Authority's employee ranks and Anomaly Project Classes both used letters as tier designations. Employee ranks went from S to E, while Project Classes ranged from S to D.
Without a doubt, S-Class was the highest.
For a fleeting moment, Shi Rang genuinely suspected that he was some Big Shot within the Management Authority.
With so many Anomalies already existing in this world, the trope of an almighty expert losing their memory and wandering the mortal realm didn't seem impossible to happen...
Fortunately, he quickly snapped out of it.
In Pingyuan City, he was absolutely certain he had been just a hair's breadth away from death, and he was almost swallowed by a Stitched Walker.
'What kind of Big Shot would get themselves killed so easily?'
Daydreaming wouldn't help him. Shi Rang carefully searched for "Dump Truck's" location and quickly found it.
Dump Truck lay in the data space on the back of the list, keeping company with a huge pile of accounts. Clustered right next to him were all sorts of miscellaneous nicknames like "Assistant Harvey" and "Wild Cowboy"—they were all sock puppet accounts.
'These Council Members sure have a lot of alternate accounts. To think that Assistant Harvey is actually a Council Member's sock puppet.'
Although most accounts had respectable disguised identities, there were a few that didn't take the conventional path. "Dump Truck" just hadn't selected "Hide Operations" in time and had been acting too conspicuously.
Looking at it this way, he should be temporarily safe.
There was no wanted poster, his location wasn't exposed, and he could inexplicably Sense Anomalies and Management Authority equipment.
It seemed he didn't need to run for the time being.
But how was he supposed to bring back the reconnaissance team? The Management Authority must have locked down the scene.
Leaving the Mini-Humans outside overnight made it hard to guarantee they wouldn't encounter an accident.
Shi Rang looked back at Dump Truck's exclusive page.
Suddenly, a bold idea struck him.
Since the Main Station could locate an Anomaly and conduct an Analysis on it, and he could use the Main Station to add settings to the Stitched Walker via its Records...
Then could he conduct an Analysis on himself?
Could he rewrite his own settings?