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墨書 Inktalez
"Disintegration?" Yang Meng exclaimed. The system was on the verge of collapse? What kind of terrifying virus could reduce a control terminal with national-level information security defenses to such a state?
"Is there any way to salvage this?" The Director gripped the Safety Officer's shoulder tightly, his anxious eyes fixed on the nearly shattered display screen.
The Safety Officer's ten fingers were frantically pounding the keyboard, but there were hardly any visible areas left on the screen. He leaned in closer, squinting just to make out the analysis code that was barely hanging on. This was already a powerful unknown virus, and finding a breakthrough was a time-consuming and mentally taxing task. Now, with the computer being rapidly eroded by the virus, there was almost nothing left that was still operational.
"Ah!" The Safety Officer slapped the screen in frustration, looking as if this was his last act of defiance. The last clear area on the screen was overtaken by a shattered floral pattern. Yang Meng turned her head to look around; the entire room, whether it was the projection screen or traditional monitors, was completely dominated by this glass-like fractal pattern. Reluctantly, she turned right and then left, confirming multiple times that there were no usable screens left, while also noticing that the glass-like patterns on each screen were slowly shifting!
"This is impossible." Yang Meng couldn't comprehend how a virus could behave as if it had a life of its own, moving together like this.
Everyone present anxiously watched these patterns. As they drifted, Yang Meng scanned all the screens and discovered something extremely eerie—if all the screens were pieced together, they formed one word: death!
In an instant, fear spread through everyone's hearts. No one knew what this virus was that had reduced all of the nation's most advanced computers to its exclusive display screens!
"No, no!" The Safety Officer stood up from his seat, pacing back and forth with his hands clutching his helmet. "This is too terrifying... The Heavenly Eye's targeting system and its Armed Satellite Matrix rely entirely on this computer group for control—now it's all gone! All gone!"
The Director understood what he feared—if this virus took away all control from the Control Lock, would the mastermind behind it aim the Armed Satellite Matrix's weapons at the city? God forbid, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Due to unprecedented system intrusion, alarms blared throughout the building, and the shrill sirens intensified with red lights flashing repeatedly against the walls, creating an atmosphere of panic. Other staff members continued to hammer away at their keyboards in an attempt to revive the computers. Seeing them act like clueless children in such a critical moment infuriated the Safety Officer: "Damn it, stop typing! Do you think this is CPR?! There's no way out now! The entire Control Lock has been taken over by the virus!"
"Is there a backup?" Yang Meng stepped forward in an attempt to calm him down. "There must be backup programs for such an important operator as Control Lock?"
"Yes, yes!" The Safety Officer pointed at Yang Meng and shouted, "In Room 325 of Building Two, there are five standby robots. Their hard drives contain all backup records—go get them! Quickly! The password is the Director's USB serial number."
"I'm on it!" Yang Meng exclaimed before immediately turning and rushing out of the room.
If they could find the backup system and reconnect it to the terminal, there might still be hope. Yang Meng had used the Director's USB many times and had memorized its serial number long ago. Now everyone's hopes rested on her shoulders.
As everyone's gaze followed Yang Meng's retreating figure, suddenly, a crackling sound erupted from the main computer as if it were exploding with electrical sparks. The Director turned sharply to find that the word "death" formed by all screens had mysteriously vanished. Amidst the shattered displays, a control panel reappeared; everyone could vaguely see a red warning—system under forced control! Please take all measures to protect the system!
"The computer is calling for help with its last consciousness," sighed the Director as he looked at the decaying screen.
"It's not just that," said the Safety Officer as he adjusted his glasses and stared wide-eyed at the screen. "It's been controlled; it's issuing a final warning. Why—what kind of virus could even overpower our computers here?"
All they could do now was pray that the attributes of their computer system servers would hold out until Yang Meng returned.
However, things began to deteriorate: amidst everyone's worried gazes, behind that red warning message appeared a blue-black code zone on the computer screen. Recognizing these visuals, the Safety Officer realized that it was related to Heavenly Eye's targeting system and its Armed Satellite Matrix's Control Lock! Every layer of protective measures was being altered by this virus using unknown code; incomprehensible symbols surged through like an unstoppable force, easily breaching firewalls painstakingly established by their predecessors!
"How is this possible!" The Safety Officer erupted in anger, his expression akin to a general witnessing his troops being routed. He turned back to shout at the Director, "This virus is changing our firewall! It's not even attacking! It behaves like a living organism!"
"This..." The Director was dumbfounded as he and the Safety Officer watched helplessly as all servers of Control Lock fell completely under control of the virus; only an unknown cursor remained clicking automatically until it finally landed on the weapon system switch.
At nearly sixty years old, it was his first time encountering such a computer virus. As he gazed at the screen filled with strange runes, he gradually began to form an answer in his mind but truly did not want to confirm it.
"So," he silently clenched his fist, "you've come after all? What exactly do you want?"
On the other side, Yang Meng had arrived at Building Two and was searching for the room number. An overwhelming sense of fear began to envelop her heart, causing her hands to twitch involuntarily. As she turned to glance out the window, she seemed to catch a glimpse of a white flash in the sky. However, the situation was urgent, and without thinking much, she grabbed the lock at the entrance of Room 325 and entered the password.
At the very moment Yang Meng pressed the unlock button with force, a thunderous roar erupted from the heavens, and a blinding white light suddenly illuminated her profile! The deafening sound startled Yang Meng, making her crouch down at the door and cover her ears. The brightness, more intense than daylight, rendered her momentarily blind!
In a panic, Yang Meng screamed. In the next second, the glass in the corridor shattered into pieces from a powerful shockwave. Time seemed to stretch on indefinitely as she lost both her hearing and sight. It felt as if everything outside had come to an end before she cautiously opened her eyes…
“Port activation confirmation in progress, Technical Division One employee, Yang Meng.”
“Ah—”
The sudden mechanical voice made Yang Meng's already frightened expression turn pale; her features twisted in tension as she fell to the ground. When she braced herself with her hands, a sharp pain shot through her palms from the shards of glass.
“Hello, Ms. Yang. Do you need assistance getting up?”
Yang Meng focused her gaze and nearly fainted from relief. The robot in the storage room had been activated by her door operation. Apart from the leading robot blinking its blue eyes at her on the floor, there were four more pairs of blue eyes peering out from the darkness behind it—likely the five intelligent robots with backup systems mentioned by the Safety Officer.
“I…” Yang Meng struggled to rise, raising her palms only to discover that both hands had been pierced by glass shards on the ground, leaving small holes and intertwining trails of bright red blood that made her shiver involuntarily. As memories of the last few seconds began to return, she turned to ask, “What happened?”
“I’m afraid it’s something you wouldn’t want to see, ma’am,” said the robot as it looked past Yang Meng toward the window. “Although we don’t know what exactly occurred.”
Yang Meng turned around, and her pupils shifted from black to a fiery red—Building Three, which had stood just a minute ago, was now gone. Flames flickered across the ground while thick smoke billowed into the air, revealing a nightmarish truth: Building Three had vanished.
In a daze, Yang Meng felt lightheaded from suddenly standing up too quickly. Like a zombie, she stepped over the glass shards in the corridor and approached the window, staring blankly at a vast expanse of charred ruins in the distance.
“Ma’am.”
A cautious voice shattered Yang Meng's trance. She turned around to find five robots riding on tracked vehicles behind her.
“We regret to inform you that just moments ago, the Heavenly Eye system completely collapsed and our connection has been severed.”
“What do you mean?” Yang Meng asked.
“It means that on this control end, all systems can no longer detect any signals. The Heavenly Eye targeting system has malfunctioned; the Armed Satellite Matrix was activated and launched a Satellite Beam sixty-eight seconds ago before entering self-destruct mode.”
“Self-destruct?!” Yang Meng exclaimed incredulously as she straightened her neck. The robots looked up at the sky as she did; in the distance above rolling hills, several red meteors with gray smoke trailing behind them streaked across the skyline before disappearing from view.
“Don’t look at that; those are remnants of the Armed Satellite Matrix.”
A strange voice came from nearby, echoing through the quiet corridor. It didn’t sound like something a robot would say; it was a natural yet imposing female voice.
“Who is speaking?” Yang Meng asked as she glanced back at the robots. However, all of them were looking toward a corner of the corridor on their right.
“Thank you for your efforts, Miss Yang Meng. I was just wondering where I could find a backup for the Heavenly Eye system when you provided it for me; please accept my gratitude.”
The sound of rhythmic footsteps echoed as black heels clicked against the marble floor littered with glass shards. The silver handle of a dagger at her waist glinted under the chandelier’s light while an illuminated holographic display highlighted the contours of her jaw beneath a black hood. In Yang Meng's terrified gaze, this woman clad entirely in black spandex resembled a demon from hell.
"Who!" The five robots immediately stepped forward, shielding Yang Meng behind them, their arms transforming to reveal gun barrels aimed at the Stalker, who appeared before Yang Meng like a ghost.
"Let me lay down my rules, Ms. Yang," the Stalker said dismissively, not even acknowledging the five gun barrels. She lowered her arms and rested her fingers on the hilt of her knife. "When I carry out a mission, I have two principles: first, efficiency comes first; second..."
In the blink of an eye, the Stalker melted into the shadows, gliding toward Yang Meng behind the robots. In an instant, she leaped, and with a swift motion of her blade, she struck down, cleaving through the five unsuspecting robots! With a series of sharp sounds, their heads fell to the ground, accompanied by the violent crackling of short-circuited circuits.
"Leave no survivors."
The Stalker was now standing before Yang Meng. Before Yang Meng could even scream for help, a piercing sensation erupted from her chest as if all her blood were rushing toward her throat...
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