Chapter 129: To Interfere |
Jing Zi drove the car around the Third Ring Road elevated highway for a full lap, but Shi Rang still shook his head.
He retracted his Sensing and gestured to keep driving toward the suburbs.
As a qualified subordinate, Jing Zi exited the elevated highway without a single word of complaint.
With exhausted bodies and minds, they continued the search that had already been going on for eight hours.
After resting for a day yesterday, Shi Rang had dragged Jing Zi out today, handling paperwork while simultaneously conducting their search.
This self-production and self-marketing plan required luck.
Shi Rang had to find a Distortion Phenomenon that had not yet been destroyed, located in a sparsely populated area to facilitate his operations.
Moreover, this phenomenon needed to give him room for Tampering. It could not be something like the chocolate frog—an anomaly, sure, but one with effects that would leave him not knowing whether to laugh or cry if applied to himself.
Most importantly, the thing had to be destructible.
He had found quite a few Distortion Phenomena, but none met his criteria. For example, there was a "haunted" intersection where nearby residents claimed the wind was always blowing, a door that seemed fixed in space and remained motionless, and a manhole cover that would inexplicably vibrate on its own. For many of them, he had no idea how to fill out the Analysis intelligence, nor did he know what use Analyzing them would bring.
Even though he considered himself a highly creative person, he had no clue how to turn these useless things into treasures, nor how to quietly destroy them.
He suspected that the only reason these Distortion Phenomena still existed was because the people from the Management Bureau and the Alliance were too lazy to deal with them.
In reality, he found that what most hindered his operational efficiency was the limit of his Sensing.
Compared to the massive expanse of the Capital, his Sensing range of a mere five hundred meters—which also frequently gave him headaches—was simply too small.
He could stretch out his Intuition Sphere, but such rough probing yielded almost no useful, precise information, and Shi Rang had a limited capacity to process these external inputs.
It was not like back in Sector 257, where he only deployed a maximum-range scan because he was certain there was nothing in that direction other than the Communication Device signal.
Realizing that searching aimlessly like this might never yield results, Shi Rang—whose temples were throbbing wildly as if pierced by needles due to the continuous use of his ability—waved his hand, signaling Jing Zi to pull over at the next rest stop.
He leaned against the window in the back seat and pretended to sleep, but in reality, he had located the Communication Devices he was Mounting.
Mounting did not place any mental burden on Shi Rang, but once canceled, he would no longer be able to connect to them remotely.
Because of this, Shi Rang had not cleared his Mounting slots. Currently, all three devices were online, and he began to check them one by one.
Agent Kyle's Communication Device was charging. The latest message was a transfer order moving him away from the temporary facility in Green Island City. Since the operation in Green Island City, Kyle had been placed under supervision as special personnel, yet he was still classified as a human—Shi Rang had played a small part in helping with that—and the device's charging base was located in... the Ninth District?
'He went that far,' Shi Rang thought.
But since there were traces of use, it meant Kyle had gained some initial trust and freedom of movement.
'I'll help him again when I get the chance in the future.'
Doctor Sammy's Communication Device had already returned to the Eastern Border High Wall of the Tenth District, and it was filled with nothing but boring work conversations.
Finally, Shi Rang opened the one belonging to the "Negative Review Juror" and discovered it was currently syncing data at a Data Terminal, which was directly connected to a Data Center in the Capital!
This gave him, the Humanoid Virus, the perfect opportunity to infiltrate!
Shi Rang's consciousness slipped out of the Communication Device and entered the Data Center's system, where he immediately sensed a stream of information actively approaching him.
[Hello, (Unnamed User). How can I help you today?]
The one sending the inquiry was [AIC-Little Blue], an artificial intelligence.
"Do you have the operational information for the Containment Squads?"
[Accessing operational data requires Level 2 authorization. I must first verify your identity... User information not found. Alert.]
[No external injected information detected... Stopping alarm.]
[No clearance level identifier detected. Error. Commencing autonomous analysis.]
[User is a normal visitor.]
[User is not a Level 0 visitor... Not Level 1... Not Level 2... I understand. User is an operations and maintenance engineer.]
[Access authorized.]
Shi Rang, whose heart had leaped into his throat as he prepared to sever the connection and run, let out a long sigh of relief.
The name "Dump Truck" might scare the employees of the Management Bureau, but it was completely useless against a rigid program.
This Data Center did not use the same authorization verification system as the Management Bureau Main Station, so his status as a Council Member was entirely ineffective here.
Fortunately, this AIC was not very smart.
To it, Shi Rang was no different from a troublemaking customer walking into a bar and ordering fried rice; it simply confused the AI completely.
At this moment, most of the Database in the Data Center was open to Shi Rang, but he did not step into that oceanic "data room." An overload of information would damage his brain. It would not be fatal, but it would be extremely painful, and he would fail to glean any useful information.
He directed "Little Blue" to find the operational records of the Containment Squads for him.
He could not find a suitable target on his own, but he could borrow the hands of the Management Bureau to find one for him!
After all, according to their mandate, the Management Bureau was going to destroy the Distortion Phenomena anyway. He was simply accelerating the process on that foundation and taking away some invisible things along the way.
Soon, Shi Rang noticed a Containment Squad that had registered for an operation scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM today. The squad was supposed to have five
members, but three of them were currently listed as "offline." Despite this, the operation had still been approved to commence.
Right now, only one person had checked in at the operation site, and they had been waiting there foolishly for over an hour.
The program's annotation read: "Manpower shortages caused by personnel losing contact should not affect the mission. No additional support will be provided."
Shi Rang glanced at the name of this unfortunate kid.
[Ma Cidi, Class-E Personnel, Containment Squad Intern]
[Training Status: Basic Onboarding Training √ Basic Containment Operations √ Field Assessment × Military Literacy Training ×]
Oh, there were also several messages Ma Cidi had sent to his superiors logged in the system.
[Director, Leader Lin hasn't shown up to check in. He keeps telling me to take a taxi over to him, saying he has something good to show me. Can this taxi fare be reimbursed?]
[If not, I think I'll just wait here.]
[Leader Lin took a picture of a Flyer and sent it to me, but now he's not answering his phone. Has he been subjected to Memetic Contamination? Are the other three not coming either?]
[Should the mission be canceled? Does the return fare count as a work expense?]
[Director, if we wait any longer, the Distortion Phenomenon is going to appear. What should I do? Leader Lin was supposed to bring the Cleanup Equipment.]
The final message was still in an unread state.
Shi Rang felt deep sympathy for this Intern.
Although most of the defectors were low-ranking members of the Management Bureau, a massive organization would struggle to function without its lowest tier.
The impact caused by that ridiculous Flyer was indeed quite severe.
He read over Ma Cidi's mission. The objective was to investigate an old house where a Paranormal Blogger had recently done a Live Stream and captured footage of something that was clearly not artificial special effects, leading to suspicions of a Distortion Phenomenon.
Shi Rang pondered for a moment and began to manipulate the system.
Under the cover of his "operations and maintenance engineer" clearance, he sent a message in Ma Cidi's name, visible only to superior leaders: [I am preparing to start the operation].
Next, using the leader's identity, he sent a one-way message to Ma Cidi:
[A temporary employee currently under probation has been assigned to your squad. Once you rendezvous, proceed with the work as usual.]
Perfect. All he had to do later was erase the evidence, and everything would be settled.
Shi Rang opened his eyes and unlatched the tactical equipment case in the back seat, which had been taken from the Ascension Society Stronghold. He began selecting an appropriate Wig and realistic Mask for himself. Jing Zi, sucking water through the straw of his cup, cast a curious glance from the driver's seat but ultimately did not ask any questions.
"Drive to Old Temple Mountain."
Shi Rang picked up the Handgun inside the case, shook his head, and put it back.
He did not know how to use a gun. However, if he needed a weapon for self-defense, he had a much better option.
As the vehicle headed toward the mission location, Shi Rang dialed a number from his contacts and brought the Mobile Phone to his ear.
Before a single busy tone could finish sounding, a resonant bell chimed through the receiver.
"You won!"
A loud, booming male voice announced.
"You have won this month's prize: a boat tour on the West Coast. Press any key to claim your reward. You have won a—" "I'll claim it later." Shi Rang hung up the phone and exhaled a breath.
The weapon was already in his hand. If he needed it, he could use it at any time.