Abyssal Wanderer.

The moon dimmed, and the River Styx rose.

But the River Styx did not rise voluntarily; rather, it is more likely that its riverbed was forced to change because it followed the trajectory of some enormous creature.

After personally dispatching the company's top security forces to escort "Seventh Will" away, Briarius had just returned when he heard this weighty news.

Centered on the local area network of the Nord resettlement area, the entire Styx Firewall experienced abnormal network fluctuations. The surging network protocols instantly overwhelmed and covered a large number of network nodes, disrupting not only the Nord resettlement area but also the entire World Wide Web in Central Asia.

Furthermore, the problem wasn't with the Styx Protocol itself—a fact that the Watcher of the Styx had already confirmed immediately.

The Styx Firewall remains unbreakable, and all contracts signed with advanced artificial intelligence, those who break through the limits of human intelligence, and those who manage the pan-human intelligence architecture still possess absolute binding force.

Not only was there nothing wrong with the Styx, but they also unexpectedly detected that the "Pan-human Intelligence Deep Flow Circulation Network Architecture - Poseidon" had been illegally used not long ago - and its command range was the entire Central Asian region.

While such abuses of power are often turned a blind eye within the Olympian order, it depends on the time and place. At this critical juncture, what has Neptune Traffic done to wield "structural agreement" authority over the Nord resettlement area?

Forget it... let the legal department deal with these headaches from now on.

Briarous turned his attention back to the Styx Firewall.

The problem wasn't with the Styx Protocol itself; in other words, it was a great entity outside the system that caused all of this.

It either originates from the last wish left by a super artificial intelligence, or from some unknown entity in the super abyss.

Or both.

The Bacchus Order has confirmed that it was not their doing...

As Briarius pondered this, the latest intelligence came back from the diplomatic corps.

But it was clear the intelligence officer hadn't finished speaking.

And then? What else did they say?

Briarius immediately pressed for an answer.

They advised us that it was best not to get involved in the Nord resettlement area; neither we nor He would want to see each other now.

Briarius, who had experienced the "Great Shock," naturally understood the meaning behind the Bacchus Order's reminder.

It really was Him...

For a moment, Briarus was very glad that he hadn't rashly activated the "Hundred-Handed Giant Protocol" to contact the master of ceremonies.

Otherwise, who knows what might happen.

Although it was His promise at the last moment that enabled them to establish the order we have today, promising this order does not mean that He likes it—it is merely respecting humanity's choice.

His recent resurgence may be to thoroughly address the second will, but it also means...

As Briarous pondered this, the invitation to the board's highest decision-making meeting appeared in his mental matrix.

The meeting's title consisted of only eight characters.

[Warning: First Will Be Manifested]

Even after such a long period of peace, what's meant to happen will eventually happen...

Briarous couldn't help but sigh.

He then began to encourage himself.

In any case, not actively interfering with humanity's own choices is His basic principle; at worst, He'll let them lead all of humanity to victory again!
…………

As far as the eye could see, there was only deep darkness, enormous eyes, and shadowy ghosts.

Later, most Nords regarded the bizarre sights they witnessed on the Narcissus Plains as a dream.

While it may seem unbelievable that more than three million people share the same dream, the rampant spread of the Dionysus virus, the formation of meme entities, the resonance of online ideologies, and the endorsement of authoritative research institutions all provide a seemingly reasonable explanation for this phenomenon, which resembles a new era of online activity.

Humans often have little interest in the truth itself; they simply need an answer that can convince them to accept the present moment.

But Christie knew that wasn't the case.

Because she knows this place all too well.

The City of Sages, her former prison.

It was here that the Dionysus Bureau was swallowed whole by that abyss.

And now...

She wasn't sure if the giant eye in the sky was staring at her right now.

Probably, maybe, probably not...

Christie comforted herself by feeling a chill under the other person's gaze.

After all, considering the fate of the Dionysus Bureau, if that enormous being wanted to destroy him, he would have died long ago.

But why did He bring Himself back here?

[An old man?]

She tried to call Charon, but then realized that this was inside the Styx Firewall, an absolute no-go zone for dark web AI... So what exactly was that behemoth in the sky?
It can't be a human, but it's not dark web AI either.

As she was thinking this, she saw the Eye of the Sky lower its black filaments, as thin as eyelashes, to the grand theater in the center of the city.

She had witnessed a similar scene before—that's how Liao Qi was inspired!

Thinking about it carefully, Charon probably tricked him into diving into the abyss because he hoped that he could be chosen by Him.

Thinking of this, she slowly walked towards the grand theater.

To be honest, she had no complaints about not being selected; such a suspicious thing didn't seem like a good thing at all.

She was just curious: who would be inspired this time?

…………

Although this place was clearly inside the Dark Web, the master of ceremonies did not rashly activate the "Hundred-Handed Giant Protocol".

The reason it wasn't used in the past was because it was worried that the matter was too trivial and unnecessary to bother Lord Briareus.

The reason it wasn't used this time is because the matter was too serious.

The entire sky was covered by that entity; according to the company's classification of malicious programs by scale, this was already the highest level, "Sun Obscuration."

Although the actual depth of the creature is not yet known, its sheer size alone makes it a terrifying entity.

If the other party truly harbors malicious intent and follows the agreement to find Lord Briareus, then the sin I have committed would be far too great.

In other words, he must now conduct an independent investigation and collect information, and ensure that even if he dies, he can pass on the intelligence from here.

With this mindset in mind, he walked towards the grand theater in the city center.

…………

No way, not again?

The moment he saw that colossal creature open its eyes, Number One couldn't help but facepalm. He had no idea what kind of bad luck he had encountered. Ever since he got involved with the Nord Resettlement Area, he had run into one dangerous entity after another—Charon the Ferryman, Hecate the Goddess of the Moon, the unknown artificial intelligence paradox, and the evolved memetic entity. These were things that ordinary people would never see in their lifetime.

Now, the entire sky is filled with some unknown, enormous entity.

He didn't even know where to run to.

Fortunately, the other party doesn't seem to have any ill intentions towards me for the time being...

Or perhaps, the other person didn't even notice them...

Number One thinks the latter explanation seems more likely.

Therefore, when he saw that entity lowering a thin black line towards the theater, he decisively chose not to join in the fun.

Run as far as you can.

…………

It wasn't that being pulled the entire Nord settlement into the Styx Firewall, but rather that He came to the Nord settlement, and the Abyss Web spread over there.

To prevent the entire Nord settlement from sinking into the Dark Web of the Abyss due to His visit, He specially pulled the River Styx, thus protecting the more than three million people there.

The instant those dark, thin lines touched Jiang Zhou, countless pieces of information, in a non-verbal form, were directly poured into his mind.

He figured out almost instantly what had happened at the previous Nord resettlement area.

But that's where it ends.

Apart from this message, Jiang Zhou still couldn't understand any other information instilled into his mind.

Just like the information He poured into his mind after He devoured the Dionysian Council last time.

However, compared to the last time when communication was conducted through the "Dionysus Bureau," this time, perhaps because of the connection with Jim, a Deep 7 Coordinator, and the powerful computing power of the City of Sages, Jiang Zhou at least did not lose consciousness due to information overload the moment he came into contact with that being.

Meanwhile, Jim's true form—a massive amount of self-replicating Nyx Factors—converged into a bright silver storm, processing the vast amount of information transmitted from the dark lines at full power.

Calling it "processing" might be a bit of a stretch; Jim felt it was closer to... storage.

He simply doesn't have the ability to process that information properly; he can only record it all in a superficial way.

However, there's no point in recording it. Just as Jiang Zhou felt, the information wasn't presented in the form of words or numbers—it was more like a combination of countless ambiguous impressions, superimposed with multiple forms, allowing multiple contradictory logics to take effect simultaneously.

Jim tried various translation programs, but none of them could translate it into a symbol system that could be precisely defined.

This process didn't last long—about ten seconds later—the information transmission stopped. This meeting brought far less information than Jiang Zhou had expected.

So little that it was enough to completely fill up Jim Ritter's Nyx Factor storage space.

After the information transmission stopped, those thin black lines were retracted by that entity.

One of them lightly touched Jiang Zhou's forehead as it left—without any additional information being infused, as if it were simply greeting him. Then, like lightning, it vanished instantly into the "night."

Janus?

Seeing that the other party was about to leave without saying a word, Jiang Zhou couldn't help but shout towards the sky.

Including the blurry image he saw during his first dive, this was the third time Jiang Zhou had seen Him.

After meeting him three times, he still couldn't be sure if the other person was Janus.

No... that's not even the key point this time.

It was one thing to be bombarded with a bunch of incomprehensible information before, but this time I sacrificed a "controllable element quota" to be able to meet the other party, and yet I was still bombarded with a bunch of completely nonsensical information.

"At least give an explanation!"

He shouted towards the sky.

It's not just about explaining how this information should be used, but also about explaining how things have developed into what they are today over the past century.

And what kind of mission do I have in coming to this era?

Is it merely to witness the birth of a world where humanity understands each other?

However, the other party showed no intention of stopping to explain.

The eyes in the darkness slowly closed, and then the entire night sky began to fly away rapidly, gradually transforming into an enormous tentacle in the distance.

"Tsk..."

Jiang Zhou was speechless and was just about to complain.

Then he stopped.

Just now, Jim accidentally discovered what the information the other party had transmitted was.

"It's a memory..."

Jim murmured, as if talking to himself.

It cannot be symbolized, nor can it be precisely recorded; it is like a combination of countless ambiguous impressions, allowing multiple contradictory logics to take effect simultaneously...

By reading through a "strong empathy loop," he discovered that what the other party was transmitting to him was actually real and authentic memory.

It contains the memories of more than 400,000 people.

All existing memories of Superman and Zombie.

More accurately, it's their memories before they became superhuman zombies.

With that in mind, Jiang Zhou immediately opened the Janus program interface.

[Connection Depth 7 Orpheus (Jim Ritter) has enabled second-stage Relic Recovery privileges]

[Second Wish Recovery Authority: After the Janus program reads the corresponding memories, high-risk unconscious individuals will be considered as controllable elements. They will not occupy controllable element slots, but will still occupy slots for puppets of level two and below (Note: High-risk unconscious individuals can only utilize the functions of the read memories and still have no self-awareness)]

[Second Will Destruction Authority: Delete the corresponding memory; this will trigger the apoptosis program in high-risk unconscious individuals]

I see……

In other words, as long as the Janus program reads the data on Jim, all of the existing 470,000-plus superhuman zombies will become options for controllable elements, and they will not occupy the original controllable element quota, but rather occupy Jiang Zhou's level-two puppet quota.

The Theseus Path Adjuster in Depth 3 has a total of 36 slots for Level 2 Golems.

In other words, he can now directly draw out 36 controllable elements without self-awareness—these individuals will play their original roles and perform at the level expected of those roles.

Considering that these superhumans have infiltrated various industries, and most of them are doing quite well, with many even having their own underground forces...

Hacker organizations, money laundering organizations, intelligence agencies, black market industries, political families, mercenary groups, secret societies, idol fan clubs, and nomadic tribes... Activating the second will recovery authority is equivalent to directly taking over the vast underground network that these zombies have been operating for decades.

It's no exaggeration to say that if Jiang Zhou can make good use of these 400,000 zombies lurking in human society, his intelligence and logistical support capabilities in the base reality might not be much worse than some second-rate Olympus companies.

As a last resort, if one wants to eliminate superhuman zombies, one only needs to erase their corresponding memories—perhaps in Janus's view, when even the last memories of their existence are lost, they will no longer be treated as "humans".

At that time, the apoptosis procedure will automatically take effect. (End of Chapter)