A Core Ship From The Start Chapter 1176

Chapter 1176: 801 Chapter 1176: 801 During this period, what dominated the news headlines around the world was none other than Night City and its angelic ruler, as well as the complete disintegration of New America.

President Myers naturally died a thorough death in the crash of the Crystal Palace Space Station, and others were no better off; the upper echelons of the New American Government were nearly collapsing. In such circumstances, the Free State once again started to take action, claiming that all of this was divine punishment. To atone, the Free State once again seceded from New America, and other states that were part of New America also began to move. The disintegration of New America now seemed only a matter of time.

And as expected, D had once again accepted a live televised interview.

“Lord Angel…”

Compared to before, the journalist showed even more respect to the angelic girl before her. After all, her battle with military technology had thoroughly proven her strength. Whether this girl was an angel, an alien, or some other being, she indeed possessed the terrifying power to confront an entire private military force on her own.

“Regarding the recent conflict between military technology and Night City, do you have anything you'd like to say?”

“I don't really have anything to say.”

Facing the camera, D shook her head.

“Night City is now under my rule. Military technology's actions were an invasion of my territory. As the ruler, I naturally would not allow such acts to occur, so I destroyed them. It's that simple.”

“There are rumors that the fall of the Crystal Palace Space Station onto Washington was also your doing…”

“It was my doing.”

“But why would you do such a thing? According to reports, this disaster caused tens of thousands of casualties…”

“So what?”

However, faced with the journalist's questioning, D simply interrupted her.

“New America launched an attack on us, so New America is our enemy. Eliminating enemies is a matter of course. Is there a problem?”

“But, most of them were civilians!”

“As far as I know, wasn't the President of New America elected by these civilians? Since they did not prevent all this from happening, these civilians are also complicit. In my view, they have no innocence to speak of.”

“This…”

Hearing D's response, the female journalist was dumbstruck. She had never before imagined that an interviewee would speak such blasphemous words right in front of her.

“But this must be against the teachings of the deity, right?”

“What you imagine the deity to be is your own business, but this does not mean the deity must act according to your thoughts. You have arbitrarily established churches to worship the deity, invented lies about it, and then used these lies to brainwash others. What does this have to do with us?”

“What?”

Hearing D's response, the female journalist was entirely stunned.

“Do you mean… the Church… those religious organizations… are they not spreading the will of the deity?”

“If necessary, the deity would send its Saints in person to intervene, just like I am now–why rely on the words of humans? To be honest, if you just kill each other, compete, the deity wouldn't care. Because that's nature, survival of the fittest, the struggle for existence, all creatures compete for survival. But you cannot commit slaughter and then push everything onto the deity… If I remember correctly, it's illegal to use someone else's name without permission in the Human World, isn't it?”

Faced with D's response, the female journalist was utterly flabbergasted, and it wasn't just her–the religious believers watching the broadcast all over the world were also shocked. The angel's statements fundamentally negated everything they believed in.

The deity had never permitted humans to spread its will, nor had it allowed humans to wage wars in its name. So what did all those years they had lived through and fought for mean?

And from the angel's words, it seemed the deity had had enough of humans attributing their misdeeds to it, which is why she was sent down?

“So… What exactly is your purpose in coming here? Don't misunderstand, I mean… In the name of the deity, what kind of future will you lead humanity toward?”

“What kind of future humanity will move toward is up to humans themselves. My purpose in coming here is only to prevent humanity from walking toward destruction.”

“Do you mean humanity will head toward extinction?”

Hearing this, the female journalist suddenly became anxious.

“Could you please tell us what exactly humanity did wrong that will lead to extinction? What should we do?”

Hearing the journalist's question, D paused for a moment, then said only one thing.

“Watch the other side of the black wall.”

The broadcasted interview wasn't long, but it caused unimaginable shock and turmoil worldwide. Religion was hit the hardest–after all, the deity's envoy had explicitly stated that those religious organizations acting in the name of the deity had nothing to do with it, and what they advocated wasn't the will of the deity. As a result, the believers were incredibly angry, accusing these religious institutions of deceiving the public, and the latter were at a loss for words…

Of course, apart from this, the most concerning issue for the public was–humanity's destruction!

After all, even the angels appeared for this reason, suggesting that the people of this world really faced a doomed fate. Not only that, but a reason was also given!

The other side of the black wall!

Old Web!

Long ago, the world's network was all-encompassing, but then the hacker god Bathmoth destroyed the original network, causing a massive overflow of AIs. As a result, network surveillance created the Cyber Wall, completely isolating the Old Web. Today, people use regional networks for this very reason.

If this were to be likened to reality, then it would be as if all of humanity were hiding behind a barrier named the Cyber Wall, living their peaceful lives, while on the other side of the barrier, countless malicious AIs roamed. These AIs were much stronger than humans, with nearly no hacker who dared to scale the Cyber Wall returning alive.

However, because network surveillance had always protected the Cyber Wall, everyone believed there shouldn't be any threats from the Old Web. Indeed, some people thought that a way to completely resolve the Old Web issue was necessary, but for most, the Old Web had long been separated from their lives.

Now, the threat of the Old Web and malicious AIs once again lay before mankind.

Network surveillance rapidly summoned leaders from other nations for a meeting to discuss countermeasures. They had confidence that their maintenance of the Cyber Wall was impeccable, reasoning that no matter what, those malicious AIs shouldn't be able to breach the Cyber Wall. But one could imagine that once the malicious AIs crossed the Cyber Wall, what followed would be a catastrophe for humanity.

These malicious AIs far surpassed humans; they could easily overload any electronic devices humans possessed, annihilating those enhanced with cybernetic prosthetics and, in essence, physically knocking humans back to the Stone Age. Any electronic product connected to the network could become the accomplice of the malicious AIs. By then, all that humanity possessed would turn against them.

How could this problem be solved?

For the people of this era, this was indeed a difficult issue. In this age, where countless networks were interconnected, people's lives flowed through the net. Severing the net for humans of this time would be akin to giving up breathing. Under such circumstances, how to eliminate the threat from the Old Web… What should be done?

To be honest, even D didn't have a very good solution.

“How are things looking?”

Staring at the terminal before him, D furrowed his brows and asked, to which Lumiaire quickly responded.

[The situation is very dangerous.]
“Dangerous?”

[Yes, Great Judge, the Old Web has completely gone out of control. According to my investigations, they have even managed to survive without the support of the physical layer–this is no longer just a simple network. It is a plane, a whole new world…]
“Are you saying that even if we destroy the core server of the Old Network, we can't completely obliterate this network?”

[Yes.]
“Tch…”
D clicked his tongue upon hearing Lumiaire's answer.

“That damn bastard really knows where to hide, damn… this thing is seriously beyond me.”

Although Duanmu Huai didn't understand the principles Lumiaire had explained, he roughly guessed the current situation of the Old Web–it was similar to the war between the Ancient Saints and the Fear of Death that had lasted for millions of years, creating what is now known as Subspace. The original network, once blown up and isolated, had evolved uncontrollably due to the malicious AIs over the decades, forming an existence akin to Subspace or the Shadow Plane.

In other words, even if D destroyed the servers of the Old Web, he couldn't destroy the electronic network world–unless he delved into it directly.

“Is there a way for me to enter the Old Web?”

“I can use the Superdream System of this world to project your spirit into it, Great Judge. However, I fear it won't last long. Given your tremendous Strength, if you conflict with the malicious AIs of the Old Web, the resulting shockwaves are likely to completely destroy the Superdream Facilities you are using. If that happens–your consciousness might be trapped in the Old Web, unable to escape.”

“What a hassle.”

Frowning upon hearing Lumiaire's response, D was certain that the mastermind was definitely hiding within the Old Web. However, as Lumiaire had pointed out, fighting an enemy on their turf was not a wise choice.

In that case…
With this thought, D's expression slightly darkened, a hint of murderous intent flashing in her eyes.

“Then let's turn it around and have them attack us directly. Lumiaire, is it possible for us to disable the Cyber Wall?”

[Great Judge?]
It goes without saying that Lumiaire was taken aback by D's question.

[Once the Cyber Wall is disabled, malicious AIs would instantly spread throughout the entire network, and by then…]
“By then, that idiot hiding inside won't have a choice but to come out.”

D interrupted Lumiaire.

“Remember, Lumiaire, this is just an illusory, uncertain future. No matter how many we kill here, it's just a number of 'potential losses' for our era. Once this future is completely destroyed, it cannot bind the past–remember this. We're not here to save this world, keep that in mind. And I've given them a warning already. Do you understand?”

[Yes… Great Judge, I understand.]
“Can it be done?”

[I will need a little time.]
“Get it done as soon as possible.”

[Yes.]

Chapter end

Report