Ten thousand I am across the heavens

After Mo Chengzi returned to school, he found that the system had been updated with some new content. Most of it was about internet "wool-gathering" (or "coupon-hunting") – not something that would make him rich, just scraps from the internet. But if he got his hands on it, it could at least supplement his household income.

It's impossible for the average person to make money through this channel. The effort required to search so many websites and find so many places to "get freebies" is simply beyond the reach of most people. Even if someone works diligently and cultivates this field extensively, they can only barely make ends meet, and only those with systematic assistance can sustain themselves through "freebie hunting."

Back at school, he planned to continue his classes for the day, which, according to the schedule, would all be related to hacking techniques. Students would need to perform neural connections and, under the teacher's guidance, engage in related operations.

But when he arrived at school, he was surprised to find that David wasn't there. Not only that guy, but no one was there either. There were still bloodstains in the classroom that hadn't been cleaned up yet. The three people who had bullied him before were now lying on the ground with bruises and blood streaming down their faces, applying medicine to their wounds.

Mo Chengzi instinctively wondered why they hadn't gone to the school clinic. The wounds on these three guys looked far more serious than he'd imagined. Yesterday, when he'd treated them, he'd only pricked them a few times with needles. Although it was excruciatingly painful, it hadn't actually left any visible wounds. By the time they got up and recovered from the pain, the wounds were almost completely healed; they could barely even find the needle marks themselves.

Today, he was truly beaten black and blue, his skin torn and bleeding. While he didn't suffer any broken bones, his face was lacerated and bleeding. He should have needed stitches. But he stubbornly refused to go to the school clinic.

However, after recalling the memories of this body and comparing them with the environment of this world, he roughly understood what was going on.

It's actually quite normal to endure an injury like this. Hospitals are just too expensive. Even for relatively wealthy people, it's often unaffordable.

Families with a monthly income of around 5 yuan might not be able to afford to go to the hospital. Most medical problems are handled at unlicensed clinics near the community. Even then, it's extremely expensive. The school clinic has a legitimate medical license. Its fees are similar to, or even higher than, those of a regular hospital. These students are much wealthier than David, but not to the point of being willing to go to the hospital. So they could only borrow some medical supplies from other students to clean their wounds, apply some medicine, and bear with it.

Mo Chengzi sighed helplessly. This was truly treating people like dirt. If families with a monthly income of tens of thousands were like this, one could only imagine the miserable state of those in the lower districts, struggling to make ends meet. Based on his experience, these people not only had no savings, but were also perpetually in debt. They were basically in a state where they couldn't survive without borrowing money. Some couldn't repay their debts at all, so they had no choice but to hide in garbage dumps or abandoned ruins outside the city, trying to earn a little money by scavenging or using other unconventional methods to survive.

If Mo Chengzi hadn't graduated high school, he probably would have ended up in the same situation. A debt of hundreds of thousands isn't easy to repay. It's fortunate he awakened this inexplicable system, which allows him to earn money while keeping his daily expenses almost zero.

I asked around among my classmates and found out what happened. David came to school today wearing a coat stained with blood. It seemed like he had experienced something terrible. He looked quite depressed.

These three guys, incredibly, continued to provoke him, trying to get revenge for what they did yesterday. Normally, given their level of physical enhancements, they could easily have dealt with David, who was alone.

For some reason, David was incredibly fast today. He was practically invisible to the naked eye. After giving the three of them a sound beating, he left the school. Nobody knows where he went.
Mo Chengzi frowned; something must have happened. But the two weren't very close. His messages went unanswered. It seemed the other party wasn't planning on replying anytime soon.

"Judging from this, something must have happened. And the speed is so fast that it's invisible to the naked eye, which is beyond what ordinary prosthetic modifications can achieve. This guy's financial situation isn't much better than mine, so how could he afford something so expensive? Could it be that he's also activated it?"

Although he had such thoughts in his mind, he temporarily gave up the idea of ​​searching for the other person. He didn't know where the other person lived, nor did he have any other way to contact them. In this metropolis of tens of millions of people, finding someone was like finding a needle in a haystack. It was more important to continue attending classes now. Today, he could finally afford the potion that the teacher was promoting. Of course, he could choose not to buy it, but this kind of thing was just like when a school teacher organized private tutoring sessions and asked if you wanted to go. Even if you had a good grade in this subject and didn't actually need tutoring, you still had to go, otherwise, the teacher would write it down in their little notebook.

This time it was another neurostimulant, but a more potent central nervous system drug. I spent 500 yuan on two vials, which is already a routine consumption of neural connections.

Mo Chengzi inserted the suppressant into the injection site at the back of his neck, and immediately felt his consciousness begin to drift away, his control over his body starting to decline. Controlling his body felt like there was a huge delay; a thought would only be executed after a period of time.

This situation left him somewhat bewildered for a moment. However, after a moment's thought, he remembered what was happening: a neural connection needed to be established. Therefore, a low level of physical anesthesia was required to reduce the influence of the body's nerves on the central nervous system. The more blurred the perception of the body, the deeper the neural connection to the network world would be.

Of course, higher isn't always better. According to this world's evaluation system, entry-level hackers need to increase their neural connection depth to 10%, while most students can only reach 5%. Mo Chengzi, due to his frequent use of medication, is considered an excellent student and has now increased his depth to 8%, maintaining it stably.

However, this kind of thing can't be rushed; technology and connection depth must be improved simultaneously. Otherwise, it's extremely dangerous. The higher the depth of neural connections, the higher the level of danger of the networks that can be accessed. If the technology isn't up to par, access to this more dangerous information could be life-threatening.

Even for top-tier hackers, having neural connections exceeding 80% is extremely dangerous. And the vast majority of people who have reached 100% neural connection depth never wake up again.

Mo Chengzi recalled the history textbooks he had read before, learning why the online world was so dangerous. It went back several decades. At that time, cybernetic implants had just been invented, primarily used on disabled people to help them regain their freedom of movement. Everything was much the same as in the 21st century on Earth.

Technology was advancing rapidly, and society seemed to be thriving, yet no one realized that after a certain point, technology would become what it is today. But some people were prescient—or perhaps not prescient, but for other purposes. In any case, during the era of rapid internet development, a super genius emerged who was dissatisfied with the world. He created true strong artificial intelligence and granted it the freedom to destroy the internet.

Thus, the human internet was breached in an instant. However, unlike Skynet in science fiction, even if genuine strong artificial intelligence wreaked havoc on the network, it would be far from enough to destroy human society. This is because the level of intelligence in human society at that time was far from sufficient. Important military facilities such as nuclear submarines and nuclear facilities, and even ordinary troops, could not be mobilized by artificial intelligence; orders had to be issued manually. Only manual operation could command the army.

While the judgments of artificial intelligence have brought considerable trouble, the greater crisis lies in the economic sphere. Wars are initiated by humans themselves, and artificial intelligence at most plays a provocative role, but cannot take the lead.

Ultimately, the AI ​​rebellion was suppressed, but humanity lost its original internet; the network became a forbidden zone, and the existing network system was almost unusable. However, rebuilding an internet was far too costly—it required global infrastructure development. Humanity in the post-war era simply lacked the manpower and resources for such a massive infrastructure undertaking.

To save costs, the original internet was reactivated. Meanwhile, all the modern electrical engineers collaborated and reached an agreement with artificial intelligence, establishing the "Black Wall Protocol." They built layer upon layer of black walls within the internet, isolating artificial intelligence outside. This rebuilt the internet, much smaller than before, reconnecting the world once again.

Each megacity is a vast local area network, protected by a black wall, and immune to the threats of external artificial intelligence. However, the connections between megacities are relatively narrow, making data exchange between them far less efficient than data exchange within the cities themselves.

Beyond the black wall lies a forbidden zone, an area almost no human dares to tread. Any program script created by an ordinary electronics engineer would be dismantled by artificial intelligence within a short time if it entered this area, yet this forbidden zone still attracts a large number of people.

Because strong artificial intelligence is simply too powerful. Even with its connection to the real world almost completely severed and isolated behind a black wall, it can still produce a wealth of advanced technologies simply through theoretical research based on data. Many of these technologies even surpass those of our current era.

Beyond the Black Wall, though fraught with peril, lies the opportunity to acquire advanced technologies. Successfully obtaining a cutting-edge AI technology often means triggering a financial storm and initiating a technological revolution in the real world.

The deeper the neural connections, the greater the potential humans can realize within the internet. However, this also means greater access to information beyond the internet's firewall. Once the depth of neural connections reaches 100%, human consciousness is almost unprotected by the firewall and directly confronts external artificial intelligence. This is why almost no one survives after neural connections reach 100% depth.

With this information, Mo Chengzi lay down in the neural connection pool, a pool filled with ice. He inserted a data cable into the back of his neck and then submerged himself in the ice-filled water.

This is similar to the function of a computer case. Computers mostly use fans for cooling. Similarly, the human body, after being connected by nerves, also generates heat, just like a computer case. Lying in ice water can quickly cool the body and prevent overheating.

As the neural connection entered the virtual world, Mo Chengzi saw his own body and a set of standard armor on it. From his perspective, the armor looked like it was mass-produced on a standardized assembly line, as did the weapon at his waist and the gun in his hand.

It's even clear that this armor isn't finished yet. A significant portion still appears as a semi-transparent data stream.

He recalled the original owner's memories. He remembered that this thing was a script program he had written in the real world. After the neural connection, these programs became objects that he could see and touch. For him in the neural connection world, they were equivalent to equipment he wore.

At the same time, he saw his other classmates. Most of them were equipped with similar gear to him. This was standard equipment, custom-made tools based on their textbooks and their own physical conditions. However, most students' completion rates were not as high as his. Only a few top students had more complete power armor.

When their teacher appeared, everyone saw that his power armor was far more elaborate than theirs, and it was a complete set. Clearly, he had already finished manufacturing his power armor.

"After half a semester of study, we have learned the basic operations in the virtual world. Starting today, I will guide you in practical training."

Next, you will enter a virtual examination room and deal with attacks within it. Break through the defenses and retrieve the data saved in the virtual examination room.

This task is extremely difficult for you right now, and it's practically impossible to succeed. If you can successfully bring the data out of the exam room, it means you're qualified to pass the first semester's final exams. The rest of the semester will focus on this; whoever obtains the data first will have priority access to the school's student loans.

[To be continued]

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