North American riot police: Start by arresting P. Diddy!

Chapter 226 Satellite Weapon Turns Against Us!

Ron could no longer maintain the smile on his face.

Even the most foolish person could hear the hidden meaning in Rorschach's words at this moment.

He, who had risen to the top ranks of the Cobra organization, was clearly not that kind of fool.

The wanted criminal sitting opposite me clearly didn't approve of the conditions I offered.
“Rorschach, I think you need to face a fact.”

Ron stared at the man before him with a growing coldness in his eyes. He slowly lit a cigar, the previous respect in his eyes completely gone.

"A few days ago, only the two of you in the entire world knew about this [backdoor]. But now—"

He pretended to count on his fingers and said, "Let me count."

Only after he had spread all ten fingers did he reveal a helpless smile: "Guess what? At least a dozen organizations, including Cobra, know about that super AI that monitors all electronic data in the United States, and that backdoor that can access and modify its database at will."

He casually flicked his cigarette ash, his tone becoming arrogant.

"If I wanted to, intelligence about the [backdoor] could be on the counter-terrorism bureau chief's desk within half an hour. Of course."

He gave a mocking smirk. "Telling to the federal government is too low-class; after all, we're all seen as rats in their eyes. But it doesn't matter."

Ron's face suddenly darkened, his gaze sharp as he stared at Rorschach: "Now that we've locked onto the backdoor, with Cobra's technical capabilities, we'll be able to breach your firewall sooner or later. At that time—"

He deliberately dragged out his words, "You super criminal will have nowhere to hide. You'll spend the rest of your life cowering in a primitive tribe without surveillance or electronic devices! Like a stray dog, you'll eke out a living in the dark sewers!"

After he finished speaking, he kept a close eye on the changes in their expressions.

To his surprise, both Rorschach and Harold remained calm, as if they hadn't understood the threat in his words at all.

He could understand Rorschach's composure, but Harold...
How can this tech geek, who spends all day with code, be so composed?
"Ugh"

Luo Xia sighed helplessly and turned to his companion beside him: "I told you long ago that there's no need to listen to these good-for-nothings talk about cooperation. If you hadn't wanted to give it a try, we would already be eating hot siu mai and pan-fried buns in Chinatown right now."

“Well, I really didn’t expect the Cobra people to be this arrogant and ignorant.” Harold shook his head, his tone filled with disappointment.

Clearly, they didn't take the other party's threat seriously at all.

Harold felt he had wasted so much time, only to be met with such a worthless "transaction".

A mere 10 billion dollars to buy a super AI that monitors electronic data across the entire United States?

Harold was so angry he almost laughed!

Do these people think of him as a poor kid who's never seen the world, or are the entire Cobra leadership just unscrupulous businessmen?

Even if he open-sourced the machine's source code, he could easily make tens of billions.

Not to mention that this system has been connected to major databases across the United States, and its potential value is immeasurable.

Harold knew very well that if it were really going to be sold: the Russians definitely couldn't afford the price; the Middle Eastern oil tycoons had the money but not the guts to buy it; but the rising superpower in the East had both the strength and the financial resources to take over the project!
Ten billion?

Is this some kind of beggar-baiting?!
Seeing that the two were unmoved by his words, Ron could only suppress his anger: "Mr. Finch, allow me to remind you. The first principle of alliance is not to be overly picky about the bargaining chips."

“Sorry, I have never considered forming an alliance with anyone,” Harold replied coldly. “Moreover…”

His gaze fell on the USB drive plugged into the computer; the screen showed that the virus download was complete.

Harold suddenly burst out laughing: "If I'm not mistaken, your so-called 10 billion in cash isn't actually a plan to use the virus I wrote to steal federal government money, is it? To use federal funds to buy my 'backdoor'?"

This usually refined scholar, unusually, spread his hands and questioned, "Is this what you call sincerity? Are you sure you're not treating me like a fool?"

Ron showed no remorse upon hearing this, instead explaining confidently, "Even without your assistance, Mr. Finch, with our hacking skills, getting that 10 billion is just a matter of time. The process might be a bit troublesome, but it's all real cash, we haven't cheated you. Right, Root?"

He turned to look at the female hacker who remained silent.

Gen nodded with a complicated expression, seemingly lost in thought.

"OK, whatever you think, my answer is only one."

Harold pointed directly at them, refusing decisively: "That's NO! I'd rather destroy the backdoor than make a deal with a terrorist organization! And I'd never hand it over to you lot!"

After saying that, he angrily got up and was about to leave.

Seeing this, Ron could only place his last hope in Rorschach: "Is this also your idea, Mr. Butcher?"

Rorschach said calmly, "To be honest, if your terms were sincere enough, it wouldn't be impossible to negotiate giving you a portion of the usage rights to the [backdoor]. Unfortunately..."

He looked Ron straight in the eye and said, enunciating each word clearly, "I haven't felt a single ounce of respect from beginning to end. In your Cobra eyes, do you think Rorschach Butcher and Harold Finch are just small fry you can manipulate at will? Tsk tsk."

Shrugging, Luo Xia slowly stood up from his chair: "Since you don't know how to respect people, then I don't need to be polite to you!"

Ron's expression changed drastically; he could certainly hear the murderous intent in those words.

But he didn't panic. Instead, he gave a sinister smile: "Rorschach, I advise you to think twice. Killing Geb is nothing; there are plenty of Cobra spokespeople like him. But if you dare to touch me—you, Finch, and that police chief and the daughter of the counterterrorism chief you got out of prison—will all be buried with me!"

“That suits me perfectly! I was afraid you'd all cower in fear!” Rorschach suddenly charged forward.

Surprisingly, Ron's skills far exceeded those of ordinary people; he took a step back and created a safe distance.

Then, he suddenly raised his finger and pointed to the sky, his eyes flashing with a fierce light: "A fool like you, who doesn't know his place, will never understand what kind of being he's going against. But that's alright! Now I'll let you see for yourself what happens when you fight against a cobra!"

The next second, Ron suddenly pointed his finger at Rorschach!
Luo Xia, who had been curious to see what tricks this guy was up to, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. At that moment, the [Eye of Judgment] issued an unprecedented danger warning!
Without hesitation, Rorschach retreated rapidly!
"call out--!"

A crimson laser beam pierced through the ceiling in an instant, hitting precisely the spot where he had just been standing!
"This is."

Rorschach stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

What the hell?

Finger-emitting lasers?
How could such surreal abilities possibly exist in this world?!
He didn't have time to think about how the other party did it, because lasers were shooting down one after another from the ceiling, each one precisely targeting his position.

"It's a satellite weapon!"

After a quick analysis, Harold shouted a warning: "Rorschach, you've been locked onto by the satellite!"

"Damn it!"

Rorschach suddenly realized.

He was wondering how anyone could fire a laser with their bare hands, but it turned out to be a satellite weapon!

However, Cobra is truly resourceful, having even developed a satellite weapon capable of precise positioning.

Doesn't this mean that with sufficient preparation, they could even assassinate the president?!
Whoosh— Just as he was thinking, another crimson laser beam, as thick as a wrist, descended from the sky!

Under the warning of the [Judgment Eye], Rorschach had done his best to dodge, but no matter how fast he was, how could he possibly be faster than the speed of light?

The laser grazed the outside of his shoulder, and the high temperature energy instantly burned away the red leather jacket, scorched through the flesh, evaporated the blood and flesh, and exposed the entire shoulder blade!
"Sang'ao Clothing—"

Luo Xia groaned, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

The pistol slipped from his sleeve, and he immediately decided to deal with Ron first.

The problem is that this satellite weapon is clearly controlled by someone else from the outside world, and Ron is just a bait to negotiate. Killing him will not stop the weapon from attacking.

Boo hoo hoo-!
Seeing that Rorschach was about to retaliate, the controller immediately intensified its manipulation of the laser beams, aiming them at him.

Deadly beams of light rained down like a torrential downpour, and even with Rorschach's best efforts to dodge, he could not completely avoid them.

Harold clenched his fists anxiously when he saw that Rorschach was injured.

At that moment, Ron's slow voice rang out: "Mr. Finch, believe me, Cobra's respect for you far exceeds your imagination."

He pointed to Rorschach, who was dodging lasers not far away, and smiled, "To be honest, Mr. Butcher's performance shocked me. Even among the nanobots in our organization, no one could dodge so many lasers in a row."

Harold glared at him coldly, and Ron continued, "My conditions remain the same: 10 billion US dollars plus five nanobombs in exchange for the backdoor source code of the [Machine] and the virus to eliminate its [Machine]'s main consciousness. Oh, right, now I need to add another bargaining chip."

He held up one finger at Harold: "Rorschach's life!"

Harold frowned deeply, caught in a painful struggle.

If it were for any other reason, given his relationship with Rorschach, he would have agreed to the deal to save Rorschach without hesitation.

But at this moment.
That was a groundbreaking super AI that he had spent years creating. Was he really going to hand it over to a terrorist organization?

"Don't agree to him, Harold!"

Rorschach suddenly shouted.

Although he looked a little disheveled, he was no longer flustered.

[Overload Tyrant - Melee Domination] grants him a keen sense of danger and explosive speed far exceeding that of ordinary people.

With this enhancement, even if one cannot retaliate, dodging attacks is still a breeze.

He was getting closer to Ron. If he could control this guy, he could make the person in charge of the weapons hesitate to act.

Ron remained unmoved upon seeing this. He took out his phone and pressed a few keys, causing the laser emission frequency to become increasingly dense.

A blinding red light shot out at Luo Xia's feet, forcing him back several meters.

"Mr. Finch, your time is running out."

Ron warned coldly, "Don't you understand? From the moment you stepped into this warehouse, your lives have been in my hands. Otherwise, why do you think Rorschach was able to find his way here so easily?"

Harold didn't speak; his eyes were tightly closed, his brows furrowed, and all he could hear was the sound of lasers tearing through the air.

"Stop it, I agree."

He opened his eyes, his gaze dim.

His voice was weak and listless, as if all his strength had been drained, but his tone was unusually firm and left no room for doubt.

A smug smile immediately spread across Ron's face, but in that split second—

"no!"

Gen, who was sitting at the computer, suddenly launched an attack. With astonishing speed, she pounced on the laptop, her fingers flying across the keyboard.

"The machine must never be given to anyone else! Only Harold, you, and I can own it!"

This young woman's fingers flew across the keyboard, typing out strings of code on her laptop.

However, the firewall within the organization regarding the operation of satellite weapons was extremely complex, and even she found it difficult to quickly break through the defenses; fine beads of sweat instantly appeared on her forehead.

Ron flew into a rage upon seeing this: "Root! Do you know what you're doing?! You dare betray the organization?!"

Gen bit a stray strand of hair between his lips and sneered without turning his head: "The moment I saw [the back door], I understood—no matter how much she longed for independence, Harold was always the most important person in her heart. As her chosen successor, I will never betray this trust."

Harold was taken aback: "Didn't you say before that the 'backdoor' had abandoned me?"

“She’s lying!” Rorschach shouted through the gaps in the laser beams. “It was the [backdoor] that guided me here! Harold, in the [machine's] heart, nothing is more important than you, its 'father'!”

Harold was slightly taken aback, then a relieved smile appeared on his face.

"I see."

He suddenly looked up and stared directly at the red dot flickering in the laptop's webcam.

The light seemed to have a life of its own, flickering gently as he gazed upon it.

"Is this what you wanted me to understand?" Harold's voice was gentle yet firm. "Stop all of this. I promise you, I will do everything in my power to help you become the true master of the [Machine]. But now, please save Rorschach first."

The red light in the camera flashed rapidly twice, as if in response.

In an instant, the computer screen burst forth with dazzling light, and countless lines of code poured out like a galaxy, each line flashing red.

Almost simultaneously, the death beam that had been targeting Rorschach suddenly disappeared.

The warehouse returned to silence, with only the countless charred holes in the ceiling serving as evidence of the danger that had just occurred.

The backdoor breached Cobra's central control system with overwhelming force, completely paralyzing its deadly satellite weapons.

Harold looked at Rorschach, who only had a shoulder injury, and breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment, he finally realized: the backdoor program he had created had indeed never stopped worrying about him.

But at the same time, she also used the most extreme methods to force him to face his responsibilities!

Unlike the cobra's coercion and enticement, she was using the entire scheme to force him to help her complete her final evolution.

From Geb's bait to the threat of the cobra, and then to Rorschach's appearance...
Every step was meticulously calculated by her.

Whether it's Geb, Cobra, or Rorschach, they are all just pawns carefully designed by the "backdoor," and it's all part of her scheme!

(End of this chapter)