Abyssal Wanderer.

Inside the suspended manned cabin, Jiang Zhou fell silent as he listened to the howling wind outside.

He had heard similar rumors about fifteen hours earlier, in other words...

So I'm dead again?
This is absolutely inhumane!

Calm down, calm down first...

After a brief period of mental confusion, Jiang Zhou dealt with Christie, who was flying, for a while, and then began to calmly analyze the reasons for this time travel.

Firstly, the multi-printer storage area in the Damascus resettlement zone was underground, with tight security and robust protection. Furthermore, Christie was guarding the outside, and Theita was still in Damascus. Therefore, it's highly unlikely that an assassin suddenly broke in and killed him.

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou recalled the dazzling white light that filled his vision before he died... Hmm, it was somewhat similar to the scene he saw during his third time travel.

However, Jiang Zhou was on the observation deck on the tenth floor of the Nord resettlement area when he witnessed a similar white light descending from the sky.

Although I hate to admit it, the answer is obvious.

Thunderous roar.

Hiss... So, the Jupiter Group discovered its true identity before the timeline was rewound?
After all, without any warning or probing, they just launched a massive attack without saying a word. Apart from the fact that his identity as the First Deep One had been exposed, Jiang Zhou really couldn't think of any other reason why the directors of the Jupiter Group would respect him so much.

Even though the Delphi Prophecy Bureau made a prophecy of a second-class crisis and confirmed that it was the echo of the second will, they were still thinking of taking advantage of the Nord settlement.

Is Janus really that scary...? I only leveled up to Depth 5, and he still got hit with a Heavenly Tribulation.

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou couldn't help but purse his lips.

However, this exaggerated, stress-like reaction can be considered a good thing in a way...

If the other party allows me to upgrade to Depth 5 without making a sound, and then carefully investigates and probes in secret, only taking action after they have completely discovered my secrets, then even if I can go back 24 hours, I will not be able to clear the suspicion value, and my file will be completely dead and I will be finished.

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou suddenly felt a cold sweat break out.

So, how did they discover it?
It's important to know that the zombie underground network is extremely well-organized, and its core intelligence is communicated through the Janus program, which acts as a relay station.

Every printing permission sent to him was encrypted and disguised through multiple layers; and every piece of printing material transported to Damascus was shipped with strict confidentiality by Theseus Freight, never even appearing in any ledger...

So, is it because the printing permissions found by the botnet on the black market are problematic, or is the universal printer that you used for modification being monitored?
Or perhaps both?

It's also possible that the Jupiter group possesses some means of monitoring Theseus's path to ascension.

In an instant, a variety of possibilities surfaced in his mind.

The operation of the zombie underground network and Theseus Freight is definitely not the problem, so the problem can only lie in the goods they transport—most of the Theseus route adjustment permissions currently circulating in the market, as well as some of the special printing materials required, are likely under the surveillance of the Jupiter Group.

Or perhaps they are simply bait that they release to fish.

The thought of this possibility gave Jiang Zhou a headache.

In other words, if one wants to continue to be promoted in the future, one either needs to go to the Human Intelligence Ethics Oversight Committee to request a legal quota, or one has to personally go down into the abyss of the dark web to retrieve the original state.

Moreover, the universal printers that might be used for upgrades would have to be sourced through unofficial, unconventional means—if the Jupiter Group has the ability to monitor specific printers.

However, if Jupiter confirmed his identity through those printing permissions, then Jiang Zhou could probably understand why they didn't even try to test him before directly bombarding him with the Great Thunder.

It is highly likely that the unified and meticulous actions of the zombie underground network led them to completely misjudge their current strength... or rather, scale.

Currently, he only has three controllable slots: one connected to the completely missing Sybil, one connected to Jim Ritter who is wandering around the Nord resettlement area, and the other connected to the underground network that maintains 400,000 super zombies.

And those 400,000 super zombies... well, at least the more than 200,000 super zombies scattered outside of Nord, the industries they developed could potentially leverage social resources on a scale of tens of millions of people.

The task Jiang Zhou previously assigned to find Theseus's path for adjustment and modification, even though it only used the tip of the iceberg of their power, revealed an extremely exaggerated scale.

If Jiang Zhou put himself in the shoes of a Jupiter Group director, he would probably panic if he saw such a collective action.

In that case, it's possible that the Damascus resettlement area wasn't the only one targeted; areas like Nord and several others that provided core printing access would likely have faced large-scale purges even without being bombed...

Imagining that hellish scene, Jiang Zhou couldn't help but shudder.

He then secretly warned himself that he had to keep a low profile until he could retrieve the original printing permissions.

In addition, the previous practice of jumping several depths in one go should not be attempted again until it is confirmed that one can reach depth 8 directly.

Once I advance to Depth 8, I should have some strategies to deal with even the Great Thunder.

Hmm... probably.

Thinking this, Christie's voice came from above the manned cabin.

"Little Te, it's still a few hours' drive to Damascus. If you're bored, you can take a nap first."

…………

Before entering the city, Jiang Zhou put a portable scanner on his head.

As a slight buzzing sound arose, he felt his mouth fill with a metallic taste.

His brain, which had almost been repaired by "Pegasus," was once again destructively scanned and turned into a tofu-like mess. At the same time, his memories and personality up to this point in his life were digitized into a mental model and run on an online virtual machine.

Pegasus's "zombie mode" was then activated.

In a moment of distraction, Jiang Zhou found himself in cyberspace.

In reality, this wasn't him using a biological brain as a carrier, but rather a temporary copy created based on a previous destructive scan. However, in Jiang Zhou's current perception, he simply closed his eyes to construct the substitute program and then appeared in cyberspace.

The previous dialogue between Christie and Theta doesn't need to be changed...

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

In just a few hours, he couldn't think of any way to persuade Christie to change her mind and get involved in the battle over the Fifth Will and the Dionysian Framework.

Since she finally agreed to let him go to South America as a free mercenary and promised to provide as much assistance as possible, then let her go back and form a band... Thinking this, Jiang Zhou activated the Hecate mark and summoned a layer of mist; his hacker vision pierced through that mist and locked onto the mark in the Damascus resettlement area's local area network.

That was the mark left on Kumiko Furuzuki by the meme entity Icarus.

During the last rewind, Jiang Zhou activated zombie mode simply to counter Xita's mind-reading ability; he had intended to just wander around the Damascus LAN and kill some time. However, before long, he located a very familiar marker.

That was a mark belonging to the memetic entity Icarus, recorded in the City of Sages.

He followed this sign and found a hacker's private domain that was ingeniously designed but completely unusable.

This private domain was named Yunzhuan Mountain, and the interface design of the private domain made Jiang Zhou roll his eyes - it was simply a hodgepodge of elements from 1920s Xianxia online literature, which was too dated even for him, a "post-35s".

The straw sandal boy, the girl in black, the scholar in blue robes, the aloof fairy, the young man with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, the old man with a Taoist air of immortality... Looking at those overly classic elements, Jiang Zhou suddenly felt as if he had transmigrated with a system.

Then, Junjie Zhang, who had made great contributions in the battle to protect the cyber domain in the Nord resettlement area, also came here. Jim had learned from Jim that this wizard-level hacker had somehow held a graduation live stream shortly after the crisis ended, hastily withdrawn from the virtual streamer world, and then left Nord without a word.

At the time, neither Jim nor Jiang Zhou took the news seriously because they were dealing with the committee's investigation; they thought it wasn't strange for a hacker to go elsewhere and start over after his identity was completely exposed.

I never expected to run into him in Damascus.

Judging from their conversation, it was Sita who took them away.

Perhaps they themselves did not realize that the reason they so easily trusted a stranger and abandoned everything in the Nord settlement to follow him without hesitation was because the Orpheus Path Adjuster had used his abilities.

There's not even a need for forceful control—just a few hints to influence a small part of their cognition, and they'll obediently go on their way, thinking it's all their own choice.

But what did it mean that Sita took the two of them with her before leaving?
At this moment, Jiang Zhou was in Hoshino Hikaru's private domain, concealing himself with Hecate's blessing. He was eavesdropping on their conversation while pondering.

Not only that, Icarus also left a mark on Kumiko Furuzuki... Is there something special about this chuunibyou girl who seems to have been influenced by online novels from the last century?
Also, why was JJ Zhang taken away as well?
At present, in the Nord resettlement area, Booker, who has become the head of the interim government, is planning to rebuild the cybersecurity center. And because of the departure of Junjie Zhang, a wizard-level hacker, he has set his sights on Ji Mu as the chief advisor.

Does that girl have the ability and the sense of responsibility...?

For a moment, Jiang Zhou once again expressed doubt about Booker's judgment of people.

However, this is not something I should be concerned about right now.

At this moment, in Hoshino Hikaru's private world, which resembled a fairy tale, the two had already begun discussing "paradise".

Jiang Zhou first learned about the unknown side of "Paradise" from their conversation.

As a product of the fifth will, what is the true nature of Paradise?
What kind of wish did that person make that led to the creation of a virtual dystopia like Paradise, as the uploader of the super artificial intelligence "Eros"?
Thinking this through, Jiang Zhou deliberately put on an impatient expression.

This time, when he invaded Hoshino Hikaru's private domain, he did not try to analyze the ice wall he designed, nor did he try to search for other information in the database.

Not only that, when the two young people had an interesting interaction, he used a puppet program to make himself have a "swooning" auntie smile on his face, and when the two talked about those "boring" company insider topics, he showed an impatient expression as if he wanted to fast-forward.

Jiang Zhou's performance was solely to attract the attention of the mysterious person who called himself "AR".

It can detect the concealment of the mist without anyone noticing, and even decipher the encrypted message of Hecate's mark in less than seven seconds.

Jiang Zhou speculated that this guy was likely a true favorite of Lady Hecate.

Otherwise, there's simply no way to explain it.

In short, start by getting to know each other through "similar interests".

Thinking this, Jiang Zhou silently calculated the time it would take for Christie and Sita to finish their conversation, hoping that the mysterious person who called himself "AR" would appear.

As time ticked by, the conversation between Hoshino Hikaru and Kou Changsheng began to seem increasingly pointless to Jiang Zhou.

Just one minute before Christie and Sita finished their conversation, Jiang Zhou received a message.

Just like the last time he rewound, the message completely ignored the mist of the Moon Goddess and appeared before him as if it were an ordinary contact message.

Look at the way Kumiko is looking at me! You believe I'm about to start saying something weird?

What's this? Is this like sending comments during a live stream featuring a collaboration between two popular couples?
Jiang Zhou thought to himself, and then, quite cooperatively, revealed a shocked expression.

Who is it?!

This time, Jiang Zhou did not use the Dark Moon Mark to encrypt the message. Instead, he obtained a military-grade encryption algorithm from the zombie underground network and sent it out as if it were a subconscious act.

While this algorithm isn't as sophisticated as the encryption of the Moonlit Mark, it's at least about 50% as effective. Even if Jiang Zhou were to use the computing power of the City of Sages to brute-force it, it would still take him two or three days.

The script of the Moon Mark does not have a decryption function. If the other party is a follower of Hecate, without the corresponding algorithm, even a wizard-level hacker would probably need several minutes to several hours to successfully decrypt it.

[Never mind that for now, focus on that area first!]

At that moment, Gu Changsheng, who was being asked by Hoshino Hikaru how his graduation live stream went, suddenly stood up, making a clattering sound as he did so with the tea set on the coffee table beneath him.

"Hmph! Since you've already decided to sever ties with the mortal world and pursue the path to immortality, why are you still so attached to those mundane things? After saying goodbye, you should completely cut off all emotional ties and stop asking me this question!"

"But didn't you give me five red SCs back then?"

"That was a gift to express my joy at your decision, and also because I happened to have so much money left in my account... Yes, I was also trying to sever my ties with the mundane world, so I gave it to you cheaply."

……

She's shy, so shy... Who understands her reaction when she's shy?

Although he couldn't hear the other person's voice, Jiang Zhou seemed to be able to imagine the other person's excited shouts at that moment.

But Jiang Zhou had no interest in that at the moment.

Judging from the results, the other party cracked his military-grade encryption algorithm in less than a second—and judging from the other party's attitude, Jiang Zhou felt that the other party might not even have realized that the messages he had sent earlier had been encrypted.

Oh, by the way, Ms. Christie is leaving now, remember to go back early -AR

Thinking this, the other party sent another message. (End of Chapter)