Chapter 103 A Scam: The Deceived Mission Taker
Shi Wan is currently developing a new flagship product.
She thought about it seriously and realized that since the New Year, she seemed to have been going further and further down the path of research and development...
First came the farm's new products, then the special cat-themed items...
Oh, speaking of the special cat product, Elder Qiyuan's satisfaction with the new product was obvious to the naked eye. He excitedly video-called Shi Wan. I don't know if he was too happy or if he felt that he had become familiar with Shi Wan. When the video call was answered, he was stretching his paws and doing a big yawn, meowing as he walked around.
Perhaps because her research and development achievements have been recognized, Shi Wan is not only not resistant to developing new products, but is also quite eager to try.
I often cut myself a fruit platter, grab a small drink, and sit in front of the formula research machine for an entire afternoon.
This time, we are developing a cat food made primarily with high-quality cod.
She was full of confidence, after all, cod has delicious meat, is hypoallergenic and high in protein, it is simply the "white moonlight" in the cat's diet.
She had a feeling that this product would become a new blockbuster once it was developed.
However, the research and development process encountered some minor problems that gave her a headache.
For example, the simulated nutrient data displayed on the screen occasionally flickers very slightly, as if there is a poor signal.
For example, the temperature of the constant temperature drying equipment that she set up deviated from the preset value by a few tenths of a degree once or twice. Although it was corrected automatically very quickly, this had never happened before.
On another occasion, she was calculating the optimal ratio of cod and starchy ingredients, but the data stream flashing on the system interface seemed a little slower than usual.
These anomalies were so subtle, like a speck of dust falling onto a precision instrument, that they were almost imperceptible without careful observation.
Shi Wan initially thought that the equipment needed maintenance, or that she was just imagining things because she was too tired lately.
She even began to suspect that perhaps she had been focusing too much on rabbit research lately and had been pulling too much fur, causing the machine to become overwhelmed.
Or perhaps her CPU processor (brain) needs an upgrade?
But despite her thoughts, she didn't pay much attention to them; she simply recorded the data more carefully and repeatedly checked the equipment.
Tangyuan's assistant continued to dutifully squat beside the control panel to supervise, but occasionally he would suddenly prick up his ears, his heterochromatic eyes looking warily at a certain point in the air, letting out a low, questioning "meow" from his throat, as if sensing some unseen fluctuation.
One late night, Shi Wan finally developed a basic formula for cod cat food that she was very satisfied with.
She excitedly prepared to save and archive the final data, only to find that the save command took a full two seconds to execute successfully.
These two seconds, which are usually almost instantaneous operations, seem exceptionally long and abrupt.
It was this unusual two-second delay that made Shi Wan suddenly realize something.
An unprecedented thought suddenly popped into her mind.
Hiss...something's not right!
This is definitely not a problem with the equipment!
Equipment failures are generally random and unpredictable, but these subtle anomalies, though difficult to detect, all subtly point to the same source.
That core that kept the farm running, which should have been incredibly stable...
It's a star descending!
Only an Ascendant who is closely connected to the farm's core and created this farm system can so subtly influence the devices and data streams that rely on the system for operation.
Shi Wan subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, but then immediately tensed up again.
Although it's neither her problem nor the system's problem, it seems... there's a problem with the "backend server"...
Could it be that Starfall's CPU load is too high?
I wonder how things are going on his end.
Thinking that something might have gone wrong with Xinglin, the joy I had just felt vanished instantly.
She hurriedly wrote down the cod cat food recipe in a computer document, saved it, and then began to try to focus all her attention on perceiving that invisible connection.
She could feel that the connection was still there, but it seemed... somewhat "weak," as if the energy supporting it was being rapidly depleted.
“Starfall…” she murmured to herself, her brows furrowed. “What… are you going through?”
Deep within the data deluge.
Xinglin's consciousness, like a drop of water merging into the ocean, is lurking in the most hidden corner of the main system's vast database.
This is no longer a concrete space, but a boundless sea of information composed of countless 0s and 1s.
He exists in a form beyond human comprehension, carefully evading the ubiquitous scanning program of the main system.
This time he was more careful and better prepared than before.
The farm's energy continuously replenished him through that invisible bond. Although it was only a trickle compared to the main system's size, it gave him a confidence and endurance he had never had before.
He seized upon that long-lurking logical flaw, as inconspicuous as cosmic dust.
That was an extremely brief blind spot in data verification caused by insufficient iteration of the underlying code.
Last time, he discovered this vulnerability, but due to insufficient energy and slow action, he was detected by the main system just before reaching the core, and then suffered a merciless data formatting.
This time, he was like the most patient hunter, waiting for the perfect moment.
While Wan was racking her brains over the cod ratio at the farm, he was also mobilizing all the computing power, sneaking into the outer layer of the main system's core database like a ghost in a fraction of a second after the vulnerability appeared.
Instead of venturing deeper, he disguised himself as a harmless piece of redundant data, attaching himself to a massive daily information flow, drifting slowly with the torrent, while silently "interpreting" the data fragments flowing around him like the most skillful spy.
These data fragments are mostly cold, hard information such as energy harvesting rates in various small worlds, monitoring of mission participants' status, and resource allocation logs.
But Xinglin keenly noticed some discordant notes.
He discovered a large number of mission participant files marked as "recovered" or "mission failed, soul annihilated".
At first, he didn't pay much attention, since the data seemed quite normal. High-risk missions inevitably come with high losses, and every year some mission participants would disappear.
However, as he delved deeper into the analysis, Xinglin frowned, as if he had discovered some problems.
Some of the "death" records in the archives do not match the time points of the abnormal energy fluctuations in the mission world at all.
What alarmed him even more was that he captured a fragment of highly encrypted code that appeared to be an internal instruction from the main system.
"...Target soul energy extraction reaches threshold... Memory overwrite protocol executed... Mission implantation failed, death cognition implanted... Initiating the next mission cycle..."
"...The rebirth promise maintains the mission participants' motivation...The actual return channel is permanently closed..."
"...The demand for core energy continues to grow...Accelerate energy collection..."
Xinglin's brows furrowed more and more, and his heart felt as if it had been soaked in ice water.
The truth is shockingly cruel.
There was absolutely no chance of being reborn.
All the "taskers" selected by the main system were tricked from the very beginning!
The main system overwrites their memories with data, creating the illusion that they have died in their original world. Then, with a vague promise of "rebirth," it drives them to constantly travel between different small worlds to plunder energy and resources from the main system!
The so-called "mission failure and death" is likely just because the soul energy of the mission taker has been extracted to its limit or has lost its value and has been "dealt with" by the main system!
This is a complete scam!
A cruel machine fueled by the freedom and lives of countless souls!
What is the ultimate purpose of the main system going to such great lengths to plunder energy?
Xinglin has not yet uncovered the deepest secrets, but what has been revealed so far is only the tip of the iceberg, yet it is enough to fill him with anger and chills.
He recalled the confusion he felt when he was first drawn into the system, and the "fellow travelers" who rushed through the mission worlds, their eyes numb or filled with despair...
It turns out that we are all the same; we are all prisoners trapped in this giant cage.
Xinglin finally remembered the person who gave him the chance to live, and the weariness and helplessness on that person's face when he saw him for the last time.
At that time, Xinglin didn't understand why his eyes were so dull and lifeless.
Now Xinglin understands.
He must have known something back then, right?
That's why she gave up the chance to live to Xinglin and chose to die in Xinglin's place.
Xing Lin took a deep breath, feeling the burning anger in his chest.
It must be stopped!
This thought has never been as firm as it is now.
He wanted to survive, he wanted to return to Shi Wan's side, he wanted to gather strength, he wanted to tell the truth to all the mission takers, he wanted to unite all the forces that could be united, and he wanted to completely destroy this main system built on lies and plunder!
This goal is ambitious yet dangerous, like an ant trying to shake a tree.
But he is no longer the isolated and helpless data life that could only passively accept formatting.
He has the farm as a backup, and people are waiting for him to return.
Xinglin exuded an unprecedented sharpness and decisiveness.
His infiltration became more cautious, and his analysis more in-depth.
Every slight disturbance in the data was a silent battle between him and the main system's defense mechanism, which indirectly led to the subtle anomalies that Shi Wan sensed at the farm.
But he knew he had to speed up.
Before the main system discovers this "virus," find more evidence, find possible weaknesses, and find... the way home.
The torrent of data continues to surge, concealing the undercurrents deep within and the determination of a lone warrior.
The angrier he became, the calmer he became. Xing Lin quietly lay low, mentally rehearsing countless possible paths to success. The main system had existed for so long that it was impossible to investigate in detail, and it would be difficult for him to accomplish this alone.
He needs allies, the more the better.
Xing Lin glanced deeply at the core that was flashing deep within the data, then turned and silently disappeared along the path he had come from.
He knew there was one person who would believe him.
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