Chapter 134: Omniscient Misfortune |
[12:01 AM]
[Initialization commencing...]
[All initialization settings completed.]
[Access port opened.]
[Target address: "Second District Main Data Center", IP: [Hidden]]
[Connection successful.]
[AIC signal detected.]
[AIC-Yunxiao: External data connection detected, verifying identity...]
[AIC-Yunxiao: Welcome, S3-Dream Idol.]
[Receiving new data...]
[You have 3,022,107 messages pending processing.]
[12:05 AM]
[You have 2,699,000 messages pending processing.]
[12:30 AM]
[You have 0 messages pending processing.]
[Sequentially expanding 7,598 "Flagged Messages"...]
[Suspicious results found in the testing procedures executed for Anomaly Project CVA-C-3096 in Dongshang City in early February...] [Sent to Dongshang City Intelligence Branch, copied to S4]
[A total of 45 internal whistleblower documents awaiting screening, reported targets include...] [1 through 45 sent to Ethics Committee Headquarters, 11 through 45 copied to S6]
[An operations and maintenance engineer at Capital East No. 2 Data Center failed to submit a timely work report after accessing the system...]
[Expanding logs, retrieving all operation information for the designated operations and maintenance engineer.]
[Operation information is as follows: System login; Entered Mission Command Center Database; Exited Database; Logged out.]
[Reviewing deep security logs.]
[Records match.]
[To AIC-Little Blue: "Remind the logistics department of this Data Center to strengthen internal regulatory education. All operations must leave a trace, including accidental inputs. No punishment is necessary for this incident."]
"How is it?"
"It is done. That should count as a successful transmission, right?"
Shi Rang walked up to the desk with his arms crossed, staring at the Laptop in front of him alongside the Sheriff.
Just a moment ago, a secret email had been dispatched from Shi Rang to the Pan-Continent Alliance. It contained information that "Deer Hunter" would continue acting as their point of contact for intelligence, along with a request for the Alliance to prepare a new method of communication for him.
The justification from the "New World Society" was perfectly reasonable: emails were simply too insecure. Even if the contents were difficult to decrypt, someone could very likely follow the digital trail right back to Shi Rang himself.
By now, the Sheriff could type using a crude miniature keyboard and operate a mouse with the strength of a normal human. The only issue was his tiny stature; the explosive power he exerted on a single point frequently cracked the mouse casing. He still needed a lot of practice.
With that, the transmission problem was solved.
They high-fived in the air to celebrate.
From this moment on, the Sheriff had officially become Deer Hunter Number Two!
"Next, I will hand over the intelligence that needs to be sent one by one. You can pick out some Mini-Humans to continue playing the roles and verify their personas. Once the Alliance gets tired of this old-school method of gathering intel and lets us filter the information in advance, we will not have to do this anymore."
"Understood. By the way, I am currently evaluating a few young lads. When the time is right, can they undergo Tampering as well?"
Shi Rang crossed his arms again, studying the Sheriff thoughtfully.
More than two days had passed since he returned from his first successful Plunder.
The Sheriff had suddenly come to find Shi Rang early that morning. The tiny man had not only swapped his old headwear for a far more stylish flat cap, but his previously plain coat had also been replaced by a black jacket that resembled a formal suit. The notch lapels accentuated his slender neck, giving him a completely refreshed appearance. He truly looked like a general or a king.
After acquiring strength far exceeding that of the other Mini-Humans, the Sheriff had undoubtedly quelled their internal unrest.
Shi Rang knew this worked to his advantage; perhaps very soon, he would have his own personal miniature royal guard. However, his conscience still compelled him to offer a word of advice. "Try to keep things as peaceful as possible, alright? You are all neighbors, after all, and fellow human beings."
"But sometimes, one must adopt the posture of a tyrant to coordinate the big picture and maximize efficiency," the Sheriff replied.
"Now you are stepping into my area of expertise." Shi Rang chuckled. "You are not wrong. In extraordinary times, power must be centralized. But centralization does not mean acting like a tyrant."
"You make a fair point. I will maintain a proper balance... By the way, may I ask a question?"
"We are friends, Sheriff. Ask whatever you want."
"Why have you been clutching your chest all day? Are you feeling unwell?"
Shi Rang looked down at his arms, which seemed glued to his chest. He let out a soft sound of realization, slowly lowered them, and brushed off the concern. "No, it is just a habit."
But as soon as the Sheriff returned to his miniature kingdom, Shi Rang immediately crossed his arms again.
Today was April 27th. Shi Rang had made up his mind to wake up early and witness the "soul-healing streetscape" the Sheriff had mentioned.
Since he woke up entirely too early, he had spent his idle time expanding the Emergency Armory.
After acquiring a complex hand gesture that caused cognitive confusion in anyone who viewed it, Shi Rang, who had been scouring the Archive, finally fell into a trap.
Sometimes, knowing too much was a terrible thing.
But when he possessed the necessary clearance and saw a file explicitly marked "The following is Level 4 classified information; unauthorized access is prohibited," it was impossible for him to resist clicking on it.
However, he soon discovered an Anomaly described as: "When the number and angle of arm swings match a specific pattern, the individual performing the gesture will die without warning." Even though he logically knew the rhythm of this arm swing was nearly impossible to replicate by sheer coincidence, what if it happened?
As a result, Shi Rang now walked with immense awkwardness, utterly terrified of swinging his arms like he used to.
He harbored suspicions that the Council Members might plant fake information in the Database, but he would rather believe it to be true than risk the fatal consequences.
It seemed he needed to be far more careful when browsing the Database in the future. Curiosity truly could kill...
Shi Rang had never dared to read many of the files that were clearly brutal in nature, nor the Anomaly Project entries labeled "Uncontainable" with catastrophic destructive potential. Many of those were apocalyptic threats that could end the world.
Just skimming their titles brought him an immense sense of pressure. He could not help but marvel at the fact that human civilization had managed to survive this long; it was nothing short of a miracle.
Avoiding cruel, despair-inducing information about situations he was utterly powerless to change was a necessary self-defense mechanism.
His mental endurance had its limits.
...He had to admit, the Council Members possessed incredible mental fortitude to remain so resolute in carrying out containment operations while knowing so many horrifying truths.
Seeing that the time was about right, Shi Rang did not call for Jing Zi. Instead, he opened his phone, pointed the screen at himself, and utilized Phantom Transformation to swap his face for that of a random pedestrian he had found online before heading out.
He planned to walk to his destination on foot.
The sky outside was still pitch black. By the time Shi Rang arrived at his destination, a faint, hazy glow was only just beginning to outline the horizon.
At past three in the morning, people in this old residential area located in the Fourth Ring of The Capital had already begun their workday. Sanitation workers hunched their backs, heads bowed as they swept up fallen leaves and rubbish along the street. They cast fleeting glances at Shi Rang, but the sheer exhaustion of their labor quickly ground away any curiosity. Soon enough, they pedaled their tricycles away, carrying their large brooms and dustpans.
Maintaining his Phantom Transformation for a prolonged period left Shi Rang exhausted. He found an inconspicuous storefront and sat down on a fixed wooden bench outside, preparing to test his own limits while experiencing the silent passage of time.
At first, he could not settle his mind. He was constantly distracted by a nagging headache and plagued by worries about whether he had left any digital traces in that Data Center.
Ma Cidi would probably not betray him, and Shi Rang had already deleted those two one-way messages.
He had not just erased the operation logs; he had overwritten them with meaningless memory checksum data, double-checking several sets of backup logs before finally disconnecting. He did not understand the underlying principles of networking or a Database, but his connection ability allowed him to visually 'see' the flow of data, making tracking it remarkably easy.
Taking a deep breath, Shi Rang forced himself to stop overthinking and focused on observing his surroundings.
A street sweeper chugged past him, the noisy engine startling a stray cat into bolting away.
The breakfast stall across the street opened for business. The sanitation workers briefly gathered by the entrance to buy a quick meal before scattering once more, returning the street to cleanliness inch by inch. The proprietress tossed out a handful of dough crumbs, and a flock of sparrows immediately swooped down, becoming the next batch of eager customers at the storefront.
The first rosy ray of dawn struck the peak of a distant high-rise. Like a cautious traveler, it slowly slid down the gleaming glass facade inch by inch until it finally graced the pavement.
More people began filling the streets. Early-rising elderly folks took the place of the sparrows, flocking to the breakfast stall and surrounding the curling white steam rising from the bamboo steamers. Morning joggers wearing sweatbands and wrist guards bounded across the road. Buses arrived and departed in a steady rhythm. Throngs of office workers poured into the subway station in droves, while students clustered tightly at the bus stops, whispering and chatting among themselves.
An invisible, gargantuan gear began to turn. People connected with one another, repeating the tedious yet essential routines of their daily lives...
The city had come alive once more.
Without realizing it, Shi Rang sat there for hours, simply watching.
The raw vitality of humanity seeped into his numb heart, reawakening his joys, sorrows, angers, and desires. It molded him back into a living, breathing member of society.
By the time the sky was bright, a sudden realization struck him in his daze—he remembered today's date.
April 27th.
Exactly one month ago, on this very night, he had discovered the Management Bureau Main Station, kicking off this entire chaotic ordeal.
It had actually been a full month already...
He reached up to touch his face, still maintained in its state of Phantom Transformation, and cast a wistful gaze over the bustling crowds of ordinary people passing before him.
These people were still blissfully anchored in that ordinary world. They remained entirely ignorant of the existence of Anomalies, and they certainly did not lie awake fearing that the world might face complete annihilation tomorrow.
One could say they were as insignificant as ants, as ignorant as frogs at the bottom of a well, but that did not mean it was wrong.
The Management Authority, the Alliance, the Ascension Society, and perhaps countless other anomalous organizations out there—no matter what grand slogans or doctrines they championed, what they truly wanted to protect was this exact world. A world that was simple, dull, terrible, yet undeniably beautiful.
This was the world Shi Rang wanted to protect, too.
The more he learned, the deeper his yearning grew to simply return to it.
Only within the gentle embrace of this mundane everyday life could he ever hope to find true happiness.
The shadows of death and terror still lurked deep within his heart, but in this serene moment, bathed in the soft morning light, Shi Rang allowed himself to forget them.
Wearing the face of a complete stranger, he crossed the street and bought a meat bun from the breakfast stall. He took a heavy bite, savoring the rich juices and savory filling as they coated his tongue. The taste of the bun was entirely ordinary, yet it moved him far more deeply than any exquisite delicacy from the Umbrella Restaurant ever could.
It was proof. A tangible proof that he was still alive.
He could do this. He was absolutely certain he would survive this deadly chessboard of conspiracies and death, and forge his way out!