On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

It was in this desolate, deserted bar.

Sudden.

A red light flickered from somewhere in the corner, standing out conspicuously in the dimly lit bar.

That was a

monitor.

The bar's original security cameras.

When Brian left, he had already turned off all the electrical appliances in the Sand Bar, and then he even turned off the main power switch. The entire bar should have been without power, and there shouldn't have been any appliances working.

but.

Yes, surveillance cameras are part of the "security system," and even after a power outage, they can still be turned on if necessary because there is an emergency backup power source.

But the problem is

It should be "broken".

As for obvious things like surveillance footage, Liao Ji destroyed them all when he used the [Ermagnetic Pulse]. Otherwise, when the Knights arrived, they would have known everything just by looking at the surveillance footage.

The Knights didn't have much doubt about this.

Because when a Calamity-Induced Being goes berserk, it releases intense Calamity pollution, and many case reports have shown that Calamity pollution can indeed affect inanimate objects such as electrical appliances, causing permanent malfunctions and damage.

Therefore.

That's why the camera that suddenly "lit up" in the dark seems so eerie and bizarre.

The surveillance camera flashing red light is just the first step in everything.

Immediately afterwards, the electronic screen in the monitoring room corresponding to the camera also lit up, and lines of text began to appear on the screen.

[Hack successful.]

System restart successful.

[Attempting to repair damaged data. Current progress: 14% 29% 40%]

[Maximum data volume restored: 91%]

[Initiating image analysis.]

The image on the electronic screen changed, and the surveillance footage from the Sea Sand Bar over the past month flashed by rapidly. The last frame of the footage was the moment Liao Ji used the [Ermagnetic Pulse].

The following scenes represent the 9% of data that "it" was unable to restore.

but

that's enough.

In the empty monitoring room late at night, the computer seemed to have a mind of its own, operating on its own. It kept zooming in on a particular shot in the recording.

Until the very end

What has been magnified countless times by "it," and what now fills the entire electronic screen, is...

A young girl's slender and fair neck.

Of course, that's not the point.

The focus is

On the back of the girl's neck, there was a complex and profound shackle-like pattern. Although it had been magnified countless times, the surveillance footage had become incredibly blurry, and only the outline could be vaguely seen.

But that's enough.

【.】

【.】

[Item No. 857956: Cumulative deployment time of this "observation object": 4,690,032 hours]

[Successfully detected "Euclidean" pulse ripples...]

[A suspected "contract" structure has been discovered; comparative analysis shows a 95% similarity to existing data.]

[The conditions for the highest level of access have been met. Requesting execution of the "Ashes" procedure.]

[Request to proceed with call preparation.]

[Temporary virtual platform construction complete]

[Anti-virus network setup complete]

[Brain-Computer Interaction Chip "S-11" Combat Application in Pre-Download - Completed]

[Energy monitoring completed]

【.】

【.】

[Awakening the Mother Brain. "Zero"]

Chapter 29 Zero (Part 2)

hum!

Every computer in the monitoring room suddenly lit up, and their electronic screens began to flash with dense and complex codes. The enormous computing power burden caused the chassis below to emit a mournful cry of overload, as the fans inside were running at full power in an attempt to cool down the severely overheated machines.

In contrast, in the dead of night, an abandoned bar might suddenly be seen from the outside with faint lights flickering inside.

All the overhead surveillance cameras pointed their lenses directly at the center of the bar's lobby.

Under the hacking program's control, the hacker modified the circuitry, and now the internal components of these cameras not only function again but have also been given a new capability.

projection.

Beams of fluorescent blue light shot out from cameras positioned at various angles around the bar.

The constantly rotating, angle-adjusting surveillance camera resembles a needle, while the beams of light shooting out from within the lens are like threads.

It is these elements that create the interplay of light and shadow in the bar at this moment. In every stitch, the fluorescent blue beams of light, as the camera moves, seem to be weaving something.

First the feet, then the legs, and finally the entire body is "woven".

The whole process probably lasted about ten seconds.

This is the limit.

After all, with the old and low-tech firmware in the Sea Sand Bar, it would probably burn out if left for any longer.

The bar went dark again, and every security camera seemed to have completely broken down, losing its light.

But corresponding to

As the final result of projection and weaving, a virtual woman composed entirely of fluorescent blue light and shadow appeared in the center of the bar's lobby.

She has no physical body, which is why she can see that the particles of dust illuminated by her in the air can penetrate her body without any obstruction.

Her hair was styled in twin ponytails that spiraled like DNA, hanging down on either side of her face.

The woman's face could not be fully seen because the upper half of her face was covered by a blindfold-like device, revealing only the lower half of her delicate, flawless nose and her thin, delicate lips.

From a distance, her limbs look no different from human limbs, but if you get closer, you'll find that they are not real limbs, but bionic prosthetics with streamlined circuits. The woman's entire body is slightly suspended in the air, and her toes do not touch the ground.

Although her entire being exudes a serious, technological feel, and she is essentially a virtual projection, this does not detract from her beauty.

This kind of beauty is different from ordinary "pretty". It is more like a sense of beauty. If you have to describe it, it is like when a man sees an ultimate top-of-the-line sports car, even if it is not a human female, he will still release a lot of dopamine to produce stimulation and pleasure.

After all, for "zero"

With a beautiful body according to human aesthetics, she can satisfy any needs and fetishes of Lord Ash regarding the opposite sex's body by changing his breasts, legs, hands, feet, and other parts at any time, as long as Lord Ash desires it.

unfortunately

From the moment she was bought by Lord Ash until the day she was raised by him, the various human reproductive techniques she learned through data images have never been activated by Lord Ash.

No longer recalling the past from the database, knowing her time was limited, Zero severed her emotional circuits, raised her crystal-clear virtual arm, and uttered a mechanical, cold voice.

"Reshaping Conventional Data."

Instantly, a strong aura of turbidity radiated from the virtual projection of Zero. From the outside, the entire Sea Sand Bar looked the same as usual, but from the perspective of the interior at this moment...

The overturned tables and chairs on the ground got up on their own and floated back to their original positions. The broken bottles and jars on the wine rack were put back together, and even the spilled and evaporated wine returned to its corresponding bottles.

Time seems to rewind inside the Sea Sand Bar, with everything inside constantly flowing backward.

The changes finally stopped.

At this moment, inside the Sand Bar, besides Zero, there were many other people, or more accurately, many virtual projections just like Zero.

They are

Some were the corpses of gangsters lying on the ground, while others were gang members about to pull the trigger and unleash their gunfire.

A young girl exposed to gunfire from the gangsters, about to be riddled with bullets.

Brian, the owner of the bar, and his staff.

And

Standing at the back, a young man with electricity crackling at his fingertips, as if he were about to unleash some powerful ability.

This was the actual battle at the Sea Sand Bar that afternoon, the moment Liao Ji used [Ertz Pulse].

It looks as if time has been reversed.

In reality, this was achieved through zero capability, digitizing the entire Hai Sha Bar, simulating the scene, and ultimately recreating everything back to this moment.

The advantage of doing this is...

The floating Zero arrived in front of the youth's virtual projection. Because it was just a simulated sculpture, the youth did not react to Zero and remained in the same pose as when he was about to release the [Ertz Pulse].

Zero reached out his hand, trying to touch the youth's fingertips that were crackling with electricity, but every time he was about to touch them, he withdrew his hand as if in fear.

Although Zero's face was expressionless and her body was very stable, the light and shadow of her virtual body still exposed her. The constantly blurring and vibrating projection should be expressing an emotion called "excitement".

Finally, the projection stabilized, and Zero was dressed in a new outfit—a gothic-style maid outfit.

After being dressed as a "maid," Zero stopped floating and landed on her toes. Then, she positioned herself facing the young man's projection sculpture, crossed her legs forward, bent her knees slightly, placed her hands on either side of the hem of her gothic maid dress, and finally lifted the hem of her dress slightly while bowing her head to the young man.