Abyssal Wanderer.

Whether it was at the request of the Jupiter Group or truly to fulfill its responsibilities, the Anthroposophical Ethics Oversight Committee also intends to participate in this battle...

After receiving the information about "Zhou Jiang" through the Janus program, Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

The reflection that named itself "Zhou Jiang" was a superhuman zombie, just like Hanel. Previously, when Jiang Zhou was gathering information through the underground zombie network, Zhou Jiang, who had occupied a level-two puppet slot, transmitted back a great deal of intelligence held by the committee.

Before Jiang Zhou could even sort things out, Zhou Jiang brought even more important news.

Since there were no other path matching adjusters within the committee, and it was too late to train them temporarily, they unanimously decided to use the Depth 4 Reflection that Hanel had left behind as cannon fodder...

Jiang Zhou was both amused and exasperated upon hearing the news.

Putting everything else aside, are those guys on the committee really out of their minds to let a Narcissus with a Depth 4 participate in a war of this magnitude?
Zhou Jiang's fierce objections at the meeting were obviously just a performance by zombies, but Jiang Zhou, who had been listening in through the Janus program, still had the illusion several times that these were heartfelt words.

However, Zhou Jiang, who has absolutely no concept of "self," certainly wouldn't have any objections.

I wonder if she deliberately chose the name "Zhou Jiang" to remind Jiang Zhou to pay attention to the situation here...

With Zhou Jiang's participation in the competition, Jiang Zhou has indirectly secured a spot in the competition as well.

This is actually a good deal for me...

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

Even so, he still intends to help Theta win.

After all, if Zhou Jiang wins, the Dionysus architecture will be under the committee's control; at that time, he will not be able to obtain the right to use the Dionysus architecture in a fair and square manner without revealing his relationship with Zhou Jiang.

Of course... in reality, the probability of Zhou Jiang winning is extremely low.

In fact, even the committee didn't expect her to win.

They probably didn't even have much hope of being able to help the actual participants as supporters.

It's highly likely they just intend to use this cannon fodder to occupy a position.

Jiang Zhou felt this was especially evident after learning about the other participants' information through the committee's intelligence channels.

According to the committee's intelligence, there are only seven spots available in this competition for the architecture, and only one person can participate in the adjustment path that integrates the Dionysian architecture.

There are eight possible matching paths: Orpheus, Narcissus, Jason, Amprous, Ariadne, Aeneas, Heracles, and Theseus, which can match any architecture.

As for the choices of the other participating parties...

Jiang Zhou began to review the intelligence gathered by the committee.

Only four Olympus companies have been confirmed to participate in the competition, and the only information Jiang Zhou currently has is about the participants they have selected.

First, there was Zhou Liqi, who led the African independence movement at the end of the Third Cyber ​​War.

Jason's path adjuster at Depth 6 is known as the "God Eater Ant".

A banner for marginalized resistance fighters worldwide, a legend among legends.

His claim to fame was commanding a large number of mid-to-low-level adjusters to destroy the "Basic Adjustment Factor Level 7" deployed by the executive director of Venus Digital Media through ingenious planning and micro-management; this battle was broadcast live and is the only time that a non-human intelligence limit adjuster has defeated the Basic Adjustment Factor.

With the conclusion of the Third Cyber ​​War and the eventual failure of the African independence movement, Zhou Liqi was arrested as a matter of course. There were rumors that he was secretly executed by the company, but there has been no confirmed news. For the past ten years, people have frequently undergone plastic surgery to resemble him and claimed to be him, swindling and deceiving others.

All of this is because Zhou Liqi's image of resistance was later developed by Venus into an international IP, printed on canvas bags and T-shirts, and became a fashionable consumer symbol popular among young people.

Now, this anti-corporation hero, who has been out of the public eye for many years, is going to represent Venus Digital Media Company in the fight.

Seeing this, Jiang Zhou felt a sense of irony.

Although I found it ironic, I didn't feel contempt—after being locked up by the company for so long, if they really used technological means, no one could withstand it; it's not surprising that a legendary hero from back then is now working for the company, at most I just lamented how disgusting the company's methods were.

But... Jason from Depth 6?
Jiang Zhou looked at the document and thought to himself.

It's important to understand that Venus Digital Media is a legitimate Orpheus path adjuster with a depth of 7; however, Venus's board of directors still chose Zhou Liqi, who has "background check issues." This could be partly due to considerations of combat effectiveness, but it's also possible that Theta used his personal connections with the Bacchus Order to secure the Orpheus path spot in advance?

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou added a question mark next to "Depth 6" in Zhou Liqi's notes, and then wrote "Depth 7".

If you choose to cooperate with a company, upgrading to Depth 7 is normal in order to improve your win rate.

Jason's path itself is not bad in terms of combat capability, especially in air combat; however, this path mainly specializes in strategic and tactical command capabilities, and is a path that can maintain its dominance as long as resources are poured in regardless of cost.

Back then, Zhou Liqi was able to defeat "Basic Adjustment Factor Level 7," whose strength surpassed Depth 7, with only a bunch of scattered soldiers. Now, with Venus's full support, his strength should not be underestimated.

If we really have to fight, a decapitation strike is the best option.

Jiang Zhou marked it this way.

Then there's Sam Washington...

Jiang Zhou couldn't help but feel a little nervous when he saw the document solemnly emphasizing that he was the "88th President of the United States".

Well, it's not that I can't understand why this point needs to be emphasized... but after all, I'm from the Common Era, and suddenly seeing familiar elements appear in this form is indeed a bit unsettling.

But it is clear that this Depth 7 Ampros path adjuster was trained by Mars War Corporation specifically for this war.

Because there are no combat records in Sam's files; even the time of his adjustment and modification is very vague. Even though the Ampros Path is a Level 2 controlled path due to its large-scale destructiveness, his registration with the committee was still at Depth 4 until yesterday.

Having not participated in any publicly recorded battles and deliberately concealing the true depth of its modifications, this is a standard practice for the company in creating humanoid weapons to complete a certain mission.

Let's not even talk about the United States, which currently has only fifty-odd registered members. In today's magical North America, there are countless similar abstract organizations. Although they claim to have a complete legal lineage, they look more like intangible cultural heritage supported by the Mars War Corporation.

After all, the predecessor of Mars War Corporation was the War Department of the United States. Perhaps some of the directors of Mars are nostalgic.

The key lies in its adjustment path. The Ampros path is a specialization of the direction of microbial manipulation.

Although the physical strength of these path adjusters is weak, their expansion and survival capabilities are extremely strong, and they are very difficult to kill by conventional means. Their specialty is to control organisms, including humans, through hallucinogens and parasitism, and to create fungal beasts with combat power no weaker than military constructs through special fungi.

This guy needs to be dealt with first...

After reviewing the information on Ampros, Jiang Zhou came to this conclusion.

Once his fungal carpet spreads out, it will become a huge problem that is impossible to solve.

While both involve adjustments and enhancements in biotechnology, the expansion of the Chimera pathway still requires existing biomass; whereas the microorganisms dispersed by Ampros can act as producers, rapidly expanding directly through sunlight and atmospheric carbon dioxide. Once fully developed, their threat level is entirely different.

It's unclear whether Sita's abilities will work on those fungal beasts. If not...

Jiang Zhou decided to bring phosphate weapons.

Because Juno Finance's secrecy was so effective, the committee was unable to gather information on their participants. However, it was speculated that they were one of the three paths: Aeneas, Theseus, and... Hercules.

Jiang Zhou felt that the Theseus path was the most likely, since it seemed that every Olympus company had a Theseus path adjuster with a depth of 7—he didn't know if it was some strange tradition.

As for the Hercules Path Depth 7 Adjusters, Jiang Zhou searched through all the available records of cyberwars via the zombie underground network and only found two.

One is whose specific name is unknown, but it is certain that he joined the Jupiter Group after World War III and was most likely a member of the board of directors; the other is a legendary mercenary named "Alex," who moved between various companies during the Second and Third Cyber ​​Wars and eventually disappeared in the chaos of the "Lunar Eclipse" incident, and has been missing for nearly ten years.

He's probably dead...

Jiang Zhou consoled himself in this way.

Considering the poor compatibility between Hercules and the Dionysian architecture, and the severe damage that its adjustments and modifications would inflict on the mental index, Jiang Zhou didn't think Juno Finance would bring in a Hercules adjuster who wasn't at Depth 7 to participate in the war... that seemed too unstable.

Of course, this might also be because he genuinely didn't want any Hercules path adjusters involved.

"It's best to be careful..."

Jiang Zhou muttered to himself and marked "BOSS" next to the information panel of Juno Financial.

However, if it really were Hercules, then he wouldn't have any countermeasures.

Next up were the contestants from Minerva Information Technology.

“Anne Rachel…”

He read the name aloud.

This wasn't intelligence from the committee, but rather information Jiang Zhou gathered through the zombie underground network—Minerva Information Technology's security was equally excellent, but because they had a habit of using zombie bodies to record important information, many superhuman zombies had also infiltrated Minerva's company and obtained a lot of top-secret data.

One of the representatives they sent was among those who participated in this battle for control of the architecture.

Anne, Ariadne Path Depth 7, is one of the first Coordinators to have experienced the "Great Shock"...

The first Coordinator?
Jiang Zhou's pupils contracted involuntarily upon seeing this.

This was his first time encountering a first-generation Coordinator.

If possible, it would be great to get firsthand information from her about the "Great Impact".

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

However, it might not be a good idea to talk to the Coordinator of Ariadne's Path alone.

Like Orpheus and Narcissus, Ariadne employs a specialized approach to manipulating the human mind. However, unlike Orpheus, who modifies cognition and Narcissus, who implants personalities, Ariadne achieves manipulation by triggering the subconscious and evoking desires and traumas.

This is by no means a suitable path for direct combat. Its combat power is not even as good as that of Orpheus and Narcissus of the same depth. Apart from its excellent hacking ability, it does not have any other decent means of attack or control.

Those who adjust this path generally help the company guide public opinion and brainwash and educate employees. Through their hands, ordinary new employees can be transformed into the talents the company needs in a very short time—both in terms of personality and business skills.

Ariadne's path adjusters are highly sought after in any company. Even having one in the HR or PR department can greatly optimize talent acquisition and improve the company's public image.

But given the path adjuster's terrible combat ability, it would be a crime to send her into this kind of battle—as foolish as sending logistics to the battlefield in the Common Era.

It was even more foolish than the committee using Daylight Ginger from Depth 4 as cannon fodder.

But the board members of Minerva Information Technology are clearly not fools.

The following ascension paths have been confirmed to originate from the super artificial intelligence Eros technology route: Ariadne, Ampros, Daedalus, Icarus, and Minotaur.

[Without the exception of the Orpheus path, the Dionysian framework should logically be merged by the Ariadne path. Conversely, after the Dionysian framework rises, the Ariadne path wields its most powerful authority, capable of summoning memetic entities close to the "prototype."]

Therefore, to prevent the trump card "Hercules" from being exposed prematurely, I propose awakening Anne to fight, using the "prototype-level" memetic entities she summons to enhance our combat power. Even if we cannot achieve final victory, simply breaking the tip of the God of War's spear and completely annihilating His absurd ideological plan in Thebes would be enough to accomplish the objective of this mission.

This is a meeting summary that Jiang Zhou found through a zombie underground network.

From this, he obtained three important pieces of information.

First, the super artificial intelligence Eros is suspected to be closely related to the Dionysian architecture. After all, apart from Orpheus, the ascension path created by Janus, the two paths he created have the highest degree of compatibility with the Dionysian architecture.

Then, Minerva seemed more interested in preventing Mars from obtaining the Dionysian framework than in acquiring it herself. Perhaps then she could use this to form an alliance with that contestant named Anne and stop the 88th President of the United States from growing in power as quickly as possible.

Finally, and most importantly...

After the Dionysian structure rises to the surface, it seems that all the contestants are able to summon "meme entities" to assist them in battle.

So, this is what the committee previously mentioned: the Bacchus Order would strengthen all participants to narrow the gap in strength between those who had different adjustment paths?

Summoning those memetic entities that embody human thought? (End of Chapter)