The Decaying Dream of America: I Assemble Corpses and Confront Madness

Chapter 119 Phantom Web: The Prelude to the Data War

"Now, do you still think you can rescue him on your own?" Ava Sterling's voice was steady and cold, like a polished stone striking the softest part of Arthur Morgan and Evelyn Reed's hearts.

Before she could finish speaking, and without waiting for their response, she gracefully turned around, her slender fingers lightly touching the edge of the holographic table. A faint blue halo immediately appeared on the tabletop, like phosphorescence rising from the deep sea, instantly engulfing Lin Zheng's pained and contorted face.

Instead, countless runes, charts, and data streams made of light began to build up layer upon layer above the desktop. They changed and recombined like living things, and the air was filled with the subtle crackling sounds unique to electric current, like a battle song of the digital age.

Arthur's fingers tightened around the revolver as he stared intently at Ava's back. The woman hadn't even glanced at them once; every movement she made exuded an innate precision and control.

"This is an encrypted stream of internal communications for the American Dream company, a channel that should only be accessible to those with the highest authority in the company," Ava explained without turning her head, her voice completely flat.

She casually swept one finger across the light screen, and the layers of encrypted information instantly crumbled, revealing the raw data at the bottom.

Arthur narrowed his eyes. He saw a series of timestamped communications and briefings, including internal assessments of the "Lin Zheng case" and a large number of daily operational logs from "Finch Labs".

The diary is filled with Lin Zheng's daily mental state analysis, physiological parameter fluctuations, and even some of Professor Finch's experimental notes on the "subconscious bridging zone" research.

Evelyn quickly stepped forward, raising her right hand, which was adorned with a portable encrypted signal analyzer, as if trying to capture the underlying protocol of the data stream flowing in front of Ava.

"This is impossible—" she muttered to herself, her eyes behind her glasses fixed on the data. As a top forensic pathologist, she had also worked with the encryption systems of the police and the FBI, but the technology Ava was demonstrating was far beyond her understanding of known encryption techniques.

The encryption method of this data is not only complex, but also carries an ancient and unfamiliar feeling, as if it does not belong to this era. Every time she tries to capture it, the data stream will undergo a subtle distortion, leaving her at a loss.

Ava did not comment on this; she simply turned her wrist, and the light screen switched.

"This is a top-secret internal database that records the entire process of the 'Utopia Project.'"

The data that was released this time was even more complex and terrifying. It included not only detailed reports of human experiments, with each page pushing the limits of morality, but also a large number of obscure documents about the "contract of nation-building," which described this sacrificial ritual that spanned a century in ancient and obscure language.

Arthur's heart pounded. He had seen the darkness of the slums and experienced the corruption of the system, but only now did he realize that this quagmire was far deeper and more unfathomable than he had imagined.

Every character, every symbol, silently tells how the "American Dream" company crushes human hope and transforms it into sacrificial fuel, sustaining some ancient and evil existence.

What chilled him even more was that some documents subtly mentioned the close connection between the "Sterling family" and the "Founding Agreement," suggesting that Ava's family was one of the founders of this grand sacrifice.

This discovery instantly heightened Arthur's vigilance; he even suspected that this woman, who appeared to be a savior, harbored a deeper, more unknown purpose.

Ava didn't give them time to think; her finger touched the screen again, and the data on the screen suddenly changed.

"Emerald Dream City, northeast, suburban slum area. A small reality distortion point has just been detected there," the company's stability maintenance department is deploying.

A city map appeared on the screen, with an area marked with a flashing red dot. Dense numbers surrounded the red dot, displaying information about the stability maintenance forces being rapidly mobilized.

She then operated the equipment in the safe house, and an invisible wave emanated from the control center, forming a brief ripple on the city map. Immediately afterward, the red dot representing the "reality distortion point" suddenly went out, and the information about the stability maintenance forces surrounding it also stopped. The entire area became a blank in the company's monitoring system.

"They'll assume it's a system malfunction, or rather, an illusion created by some unstable element they've eliminated," Ava explained calmly, a hint of amusement in her voice.

At this moment, Arthur and Evelyn truly realized that Ava Sterling was not just a rich girl with some secret information.

She is personally involved in this information war and even possesses the capability to disrupt national-level stability maintenance systems.

Her technical expertise and control have reached a level sufficient to rival national powers.

This is not a weak resistance organization, but an invisible giant net that is silently tearing apart the illusion carefully woven by the "American Dream" company.

"This is insane, Ava." Evelyn finally recovered from her shock, her voice trembling slightly, filled with intense confusion about the unknown power.

She tried to explain everything Ava showed using scientific logic, but Ava's technology, which was ahead of its time, was like an indestructible wall, completely destroying Evelyn's long-established cognitive system.

"How did you do that? This method of bypassing all known firewalls and encryption protocols, the underlying data flow, it almost distorts all known logic."

Ava turned around to face them, her icy eyes devoid of any emotion.

"Knowledge is power," she said softly, without the slightest hint of boasting, as if she were simply stating a perfectly ordinary fact.

"The company believes it has all the secrets, but forgets that the very foundation upon which it survives is built is also made of secrets."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the portable encrypted signal analyzer that Evelyn was clutching tightly in her hand.

"You sensed it, didn't you? That wasn't pure technology. It was—" she changed the subject, a faint smile playing on her lips, "Void programming."

Evelyn jolted; those words struck her like an electric current, piercing through all her defenses. She stared intently at Ava, her lips trembling slightly, wanting to ask a question, yet afraid of the answer.

"Void programming?" Arthur frowned. He was an old-school detective who always kept his distance from things that were beyond reality.

"What does this have to do with us saving Lin Zheng?" He emphasized Lin Zheng's name again, trying to steer the conversation back to the core issue he was concerned about.

"Yes, of course it's related." Ava walked up to Evelyn and gently tapped the screen of the portable encrypted signal analyzer with her index finger.

Do you really think that the company's so-called scientists can grasp the secrets of "the founding of a nation"?

They were merely given incomplete knowledge, allowing them to construct so-called energy models within a limited scope, much like monkeys.

She paused, her gaze falling on Evelyn's hands, which had turned white from prolonged tension.

"They don't even understand the underlying logic of the theory they rely on to manipulate Lin Zheng's mental potential energy difference."

Ava turned to look at Arthur.

"Officer Arthur, you just mentioned Lin Zheng. How much do you know about him now?"

A nameless fire surged within Arthur. Looking into Ava's all-knowing eyes, he knew this woman was doing it on purpose. She was using this condescending attitude to gradually crush their will, forcing them to accept her dominance.

"We know he's being tortured by that Professor Finch, being indoctrinated with so-called utopian fantasies," and then being mercilessly torn apart. Arthur's voice was low, each word seeming to be squeezed out of his throat.

"We know his talent, we know that bastard Finch is using his talent to calibrate some bullshit ritual parameters."

"I know he's in pain, I know he's being torn apart by those inhuman things!" Arthur's tone was filled with unprecedented anger. He almost roared, but forcibly suppressed it at the last moment, his chest heaving violently.

Evelyn put down her portable encrypted signal analyzer and took a step forward. Her voice carried a morbid calmness, as if maintained with all her might. Her scientific convictions were shattered by the brutal truth Ava revealed; she saw an ending more terrifying than death itself.

"I—I saw those data, Lin Zheng's brain activity patterns, his physiological responses, which far exceeded any known range of pain and despair." Evelyn clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms, trying to counteract the trembling that came from within.

"He wasn't being physically tortured; he was being systematically destroyed—his entire meaning as a human being was being destroyed."

His mental world is being dismantled, reconstructed, and even polluted.

She looked up, her eyes, no longer hidden by her glasses, were bloodshot, but her gaze was unusually firm, filled with deep concern for Lin Zheng's situation.

"We cannot let him completely lose himself; we cannot let him become an empty shell exploited by the 'American Dream' company."

Ava looked at them, a barely perceptible glint in her eyes—perhaps satisfaction, or perhaps something deeper.

"Yes, he is becoming the most perfect data sample." She repeated softly, as if confirming a fact rather than reminding them.

She switched the screen back to Lin Zheng's pained and contorted face. His expression was blurred from extreme torment, and his right eye was completely swallowed by that dark chaos, looking like an empty and bottomless vortex.

"Professor Finch is gradually destroying Lin Zheng's self-perception, turning him into the perfect data sample for the 'Utopia Project.' We don't have much time left." Ava's tone was calm to the point of cruelty, once again directly conveying a sense of urgency to the two of them.

Arthur gritted his teeth, his fists clenched. He felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness and anger. While Ava controlled all the information and choices, she had directly deprived them of the right to hesitate, forcing them into the game she had set.

Evelyn stared intently at the rapidly scrolling data on the screen, her brain working frantically to try and understand the "void programming" Ava had mentioned earlier. A sequence of characters she accidentally caught sent chills down her spine; it was indeed an ancient symbol associated with "void programming" that only a very few could comprehend, suggesting that Ava's abilities might far exceed the realm of technology.

Ava tapped the home screen again. She didn't say anything, just let the screen switch naturally.

A still image appeared on the screen, a close-up of Professor Finch. He wore a pair of pristine white medical gloves, meticulously groomed, his brows furrowed, his expression both sinister and focused, as he leaned over and stared at the sleeping Lin Zheng.

His other hand gently touched Lin Zheng's temple, the stroking motion of his fingertips carrying a morbid tenderness, while a satisfied and wicked smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

That smile contained so much: a fervent pursuit of truth, an extreme contempt for humanity, and boundless arrogance over the results of his experiments.

The scene seemed to freeze an eternal moment, but what truly plunged one into an icy abyss was the enlarged portrait hanging prominently on the wall behind Professor Finch's smile.

That was a portrait of Theodore Sterling, chairman of the "American Dream" company, when he was young. The man in the portrait had a dignified and reserved demeanor, with deep eyes, and he bore a striking resemblance to Ava Sterling in front of her. The aloofness in his eyes and brows seemed to be carved from the same mold.

Ava glanced at the portrait indifferently, then her finger lightly touched the screen again, and the portrait vanished as if it had never existed. Her expression remained calm; there was no explanation, no eye contact—everything happened in silence.

However, the shock of that momentary scene stirred up a storm in Arthur and Evelyn's hearts. The deep secrets of the Ava family, and her true motives that had always been hidden, seemed to be drawn out in an instant by some terrifying force, like a cold thread connecting all the clues and pointing to a terrifying truth they had never imagined.

"Who exactly are you? Why are you helping us? Why are you saving Lin Zheng?" Evelyn frowned, her woman's intuition telling her that this was no simple matter.

Ava meant them no harm. If Sterling's mole was trying to fish out any information, there was no need for it. The information they could find was mediocre no matter how you looked at it. To put it bluntly, the three of them were just doing things out of enthusiasm.

What was her motivation?