Great, we're doomed now!

Chapter 472: Who Isn't a Computer Expert? (4K)

As the constellations twinkled above his head, awaiting Ye Shou's further explanation, he strangely fell silent, turning his attention to something else—

What's wrong with this Cyberpunk?

In the main world and other dimensional worlds he had experienced, Ye Shou always deliberately reduced his prestige and influence, preferring to stand behind the scenes and command most of the time, except when necessary.

Technology, funding, intelligence, manpower... push the "heroes" to the forefront, and then gracefully step back.

Of course, things don't always go as planned. No matter how much he wants to keep a low profile, he will inevitably encounter some crises that only he can resolve... But that's another matter. As far as Ye Shou is concerned, he doesn't want to steal the limelight at all, and he doesn't want to become someone else's idol and be burdened with unnecessary expectations!

As an heir to a long-established conglomerate, this is an instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm.

After all, the most perfect way to rule is to make people unaware that they are being ruled, and the same applies to capital.

Later, in the ancient times, he witnessed firsthand how those deified beings distorted the trajectory of civilization's development and ultimately broke its backbone... Therefore, he was unwilling to be a "god" in the eyes of the masses and had been trying his best to suppress this trend.

But in Cyberpunk, Ye Shou had some new ideas.

First of all, this world is absolutely rotten!

He knew, David knew, Sain's team knew, and almost every native resident, including Lucy, knew that this world was rotten!

And among billions of people, how could there be a lack of heroes and leaders? Countless people dissatisfied with the status quo have embarked on the path of fighting against injustice and fate, and each of their experiences is a true "legend."

—But nothing has changed.

Even if it exists, it's not for a good reason...

The sacrifices of those legendary figures seem meaningless; the sun still rises, and society continues to operate under the control of capital.

This is very unusual!

What are you thinking? Such an absurd plan is completely unfeasible. Cooperating with you would only be a waste of resources.

The AIs chose to reject Ye Shou because they simply couldn't meet the requirement. Firstly, it was too costly, and secondly, once the black wall was dismantled, they themselves would become targets of various viruses and firewall programs.

There are too many monsters and demons lurking in the era of the Great Collapse; who knows what might happen?

In their view, Ye Shou's statement was no different from "I am going to start a world war".

"I... want to dominate this world." Ye Shou paused, then slowly said, "A complete world where all regions are connected."

[I cannot understand.]

“That’s true.” Ye Shou smiled deeply, not expecting the AI ​​to fully understand his thoughts.

Throughout history, resistance against authority has been a constant theme in human civilization.

Needless to say, the East also saw its share of uprisings against the rentier class, with the famous "Louis XVI, inventor of the guillotine," being a prime example of a grassroots rebellion that brought him down.

The causes of these transformative trends are often similar, but their processes and outcomes vary drastically. What, then, is the fundamental reason for this difference?

"Program"!

Every successful uprising must have a clear program (slogan). Of course, other conditions are also needed, but without these, it is impossible to succeed!

Because humans cannot communicate through the mind, everyone is like a headless fly amidst the ups and downs of life, or like a school of sardines caught in a net—vast in number but scattered in strength.

A unified slogan can give direction to those who are blind and concentrate and unleash scattered forces!

(Of course, it would be even better if there were "uniforms" to assist, such as a yellow headscarf.)

In Cyberpunk, the legendary figures may have been aware of the importance of "programs" and "slogans" during the numerous riots, so why did they fail to make a splash?

The answer is simple:

They are only targeting the empty shell, but they cannot get to the core of the problem.

(In reality, most legends are just for personal enjoyment, without any clear awareness of resisting any kind of oppression.)

For example, is Arasaka Tower the mastermind behind Night City? Or is it biotechnology?

Can we stop the expansion of capital by physically destroying Arasaka Tower or crashing airplanes into buildings?

Of course not!

Because real capital is not those who control resources, nor is it the numbers in an account, or the machinery in a factory.

Capital is a kind of "habit".

When you start subconsciously putting a price tag on everything in your field of vision, even on yourself, capital has already achieved ultimate domination.

Technology is advancing at breakneck speed, but civilization is regressing. There are no physical walls between continents, yet the level of communication has degenerated to almost the level of the Age of Exploration... This is something that giant corporations are happy to see.

The isolation zone has become a moat, and inside the moat, companies can unscrupulously extract every penny of profit, filling every crack in ordinary people's lives with the tentacles of capital.

—Until people themselves grow tentacles without realizing it.

Ordinary people need to modify their bodies to survive, and to do so, they need to buy prosthetic bodies from the company. The company makes money and continues to develop more expensive prosthetic bodies, then adjusts the workload, subtly raising the basic requirements.

Therefore, in order to adapt to the increasingly high workload, people had no choice but to continue making changes...

This set of rising spirals, with the left foot stepping on the right, looks like it's moving forward, but it's actually just standing still.

This isn't just about a few villains!

The entire system is a closed loop, with a limited market, limited opportunities, and limited hope of survival—to change this, we must start by dismantling the "black wall"!

Reconnect the various "private territories" that businesses have isolated, and restart the so-called global market!

This time, Ye Shou's identity is not that of a liberator, but rather that of a more thorough capitalist!

On this basis, a series of more thorough and extreme capital games will be carried out.

Spanning the spheres of influence of all existing giants, it will devour the entire world, like a serpent in Midgard, with no end in sight.

We'll devour all the computing power, all the resources, and the entire industrial chain!

This is not difficult for Ye Shou. He can use the Golden Rule to launch a financial war and acquire small and medium-sized enterprises at any cost.

The abilities of Carmilla, Ruri, and Lucy can also be used to destroy the resistance's fighting power, exert full-coverage mind control over the company's top management, and even replace their personalities.

Turn every decision-making node into Ye Shou's puppet, and make all the giant enterprises extensions of the same will!

After everything is done, these giant corporations will be used to manage the world:

The redistribution of jobs and resources will gradually pull those alienated by capitalism back to a normal life. Through widespread education, new ideas will be instilled in the minds of the next generation.

This process is extremely long, and Ye Shou cannot stay in this world forever.

Therefore, he needs "agents," a group of executors who are incorruptible, indolent, and capable of carrying out his will to every terminal... Yes, who is more "cost-effective" than these AIs?

These beings favored by Ye Shou were currently responding to him with furious flashes of light in the starry sky above his head—

They strongly disagreed with Ye Shou's views!

"The global internet collapse is not a natural disaster, and the world is not protected by the Great Firewall, but rather divided into bloodless colonies by the Great Firewall."

The prosperity of giant corporations is built on isolation; they can operate without limit within their self-defined territories… while ordinary people have no choice but to accept their fate.

Even if you could rule the world, you would eventually change; humanity is always...

"My power is sufficient to eliminate all anomalies, my lifespan can last until the extinction of human civilization, and my will is so strong that it will not be swayed by anyone's words—"

I don't need to compromise with anyone!

What I'm going to do is simple: first, become the sole ruler of this world, and then I will build an ideal utopia... until someone starts to question me as the 'one who owns everything'.

When the heroes of this world stand before me and challenge me, allowing me to restore freedom to everyone—that will be the true end.

【romantic.】

But it's meaningless.

The light of the constellations froze for a moment!

The stars connected by light stopped all signal transmission at the same moment, as if reaching a silent consensus, and then they lit up again.

The stars in Lyra burst open first with a halo of incandescent light, followed by Virgo, then Centaurus, one after another, the entire star map flashing on the same frequency.

Ye Shou stood at the bottom of the crater, watching the stars break free from the abstract star map... transforming into countless scattered star seeds.

At the same moment, the space debris surrounding Earth began to move; it no longer floated haphazardly but was reactivated by some unified will.

A piece of military satellite debris, destroyed thirty years ago, was the first to detach from orbit, adjust its attitude, and the old cannon muzzle on its belly glowed red again as it charged. Then came the second, the third, the tenth… hundreds of metallic corpses abandoned in orbit awakened at the same moment, their cannons, originally intended for space-based attacks, now aimed at a mere human!

Ye Shou didn't move, watching helplessly as the blinding laser beam hurtled towards him...

hum!

Seven beams of light struck his chest, shoulders, and abdomen simultaneously, blasting open a flickering light screen.

The satellite's laser cannon continued firing from its distant orbit, thick beams of light piercing the vacuum and enveloping the entire crater he was in in a blinding white light...

As the light faded, Ye Shou stood still, his posture unchanged, and the white light shield around his body had only thinned slightly.

The AIs were speechless.

Although they are all ghosts of the past bound by the old network, and the upper limit of their data volume will not exceed the storage capacity of humanity at its peak, that was already an absurdly large concept. Even if it is only a fragment, it is not something that any individual hacker can bear.

Now that everyone has joined forces, in terms of computing power alone, they can almost recreate the glory days of the past... and they can't do anything to Ye Shou at all.

“Refusal is possible.” While the AI ​​was still in shock, Ye Shou spoke, his tone calm.

"But if you really are unwilling to cooperate, I can only make sure you don't cause trouble while I'm carrying out my plan. In other words, I need to eliminate any destabilizing factors first—"

A "complete deletion" code attack was launched against the old network.

The light of Ursa Minor flashed, and not only Ursa Minor, but almost all the constellations emitted the same signal at the same moment... The kind of fluctuation, translated, is roughly equivalent to the snort a human makes when they hear an absurd joke.

The old website does not have a "complete deletion" mechanism!

It's not a personal computer; you can't just format it or reinstall the system whenever you want.

Ursa Minor's voice regained its initial calmness, even carrying a hint of confident composure.

The old internet architecture was not a single system; it was a complex composite created by dozens of countries and tens of thousands of independent nodes after the global internet collapsed. There was no unified instruction set, and no one possessed supreme administrator privileges.

After listening, Ye Shou nodded: "Please be patient... Now please watch!"

Ye Shou did not disappear at this moment, but his consciousness was multitasking, existing in two places simultaneously.

In cyberspace, he still stood at the bottom of the crater, facing the sky full of constellations.

In reality—

hum!