Digital Hackers' Memories

"Otherwise, becoming a madman would be the best possible outcome."

As he said this, MetalGreymon let out a meaningful sigh.

MetalGreymon noticed something was off about Kari from the very beginning. This "something was off" not only referred to the light power emanating from her, but also to her personality and behavior, which were quite different from those of her peers.

That level of maturity far beyond what is typical is one thing, but the key point is that Jia'er is sometimes seriously thinking about problems that she simply cannot solve, or problems that are beyond her capabilities.

If things proceed normally, Kari's performance as one of the chosen children is perfectly acceptable, because she is the "protagonist" of this world, a "savior" who can unleash her full potential and perform a deus ex machina in times of crisis.

The children, protected by the "protagonist halo," have no concept of being beyond the scope of their abilities; everything beyond their abilities can be solved through sudden power-ups and deus ex machina.

The problem is that the "protagonist halo" of the chosen children has a time limit.

Leaving aside the children of this world, the original children of the original series were sent back to their own world by homeostasis after saving the Digital World.

Furthermore, given Taiichi's past experience of forcing himself to cause Agumon to rampage and transform into SkullGreymon, MetalGreymon seriously doubts the effectiveness of their "protagonist halo."

In MetalGreymon's mind, Kari, the Chosen Children, and their Digimon are all children who have been forced to bear responsibilities they should not have had to bear.

If they already possess the ability to save the world, MetalGreymon has no intention of interfering or opposing it.

However, Kari is clearly the kind of saintly character who likes to force herself and even sacrifice herself for others, which is a bit unacceptable to MetalGreymon.

People with this kind of personality are often most prone to going to extremes, such as the good guys who often turn evil in TV shows, movies, anime and novels.

Especially when their own abilities are severely lacking, the probability of such a character turning evil is almost 100%.

Of course, from the reader's or viewer's perspective, such characters are usually tragic and easy to like.

However, from the perspective of the person involved and from the reality, this is undoubtedly a tragedy, a kind of personality disorder and mental illness.

"No one in this world is omniscient or omnipotent. All we can do is try our best to avoid leaving any regrets within our own capabilities."

"Otherwise, you will not only hurt yourself, but also your family and friends."

Kari was clearly taken aback when she heard MetalGreymon's meaningful words.

"family?"

As Kari repeated the words that MetalGreymon deliberately emphasized, she fell into deep thought, and a memory from the past quickly surfaced in her mind.

That was when Taiichi had just started elementary school, and Kari was still in kindergarten.

Because of work, the adults in the Yagami family asked Taichi to take care of Kari temporarily on the weekend, and he readily agreed.

So, in order to stop his younger sister from staring blankly at the sky all day, Tai excitedly dragged Kari to the soccer field near their home to play soccer.

However, to Taiichi's utter surprise, Jia'er actually had a fever at the time.

However, in order to make her brother happy, Jia'er forced herself not to show any abnormality until she finally couldn't hold on any longer and fainted on the soccer field.

Jia'er doesn't remember what happened after that; she only knows that her brother was severely scolded by their parents afterwards.

That was the first time Jia'er had ever seen her parents with such stern expressions, and it was also the first time she had ever seen her usually strong and brave brother show such a frightened look.

Instinctively, upon waking, Jia'er apologized to her brother who had always been by her side, only to be met with a hug and uncontrollable sobbing.

Jia'er still remembers her brother's first words after she woke up: "Never be stubborn again."

......................................................................................................

"Koushiro, have you gathered any useful information?"

Unaware that Kari had already gone to the Digital World ahead of him, Taichi was bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, discussing the events of the past two days with Koushiro.

"And what about Tokyo Tower? That must have been caused by Digimon, right?"

Although they were at summer camp, thanks to Koushiro's powerful internet skills, Tai and the others still learned about the battle that took place at Tokyo Tower.

After all, it's a fact that the entire Tokyo Tower has disappeared, and no matter how much the government tries to cover it up, it can't hide it.

"Yes, according to videos uploaded to social media by witnesses, the two sides fighting should be the two Digimon involved in the Loop Line tram accident."

At this point, Koushiro paused consciously before continuing softly.

"Especially that Agumon, he seems to have become stronger than when we last saw him."

In the previous battle against Argomon, while that Agumon was indeed powerful, it demonstrated its abilities as a "mage" more.

In his battle against Orochimon, Agumon pierced through its body several times like a berserker.

Combining melee and ranged combat abilities, possessing both warrior and spellcaster skills...

Agumon's overall capabilities in these two battles were simply flawless and incredibly powerful.

"What kind of beings are Agumon and the like?"

It was as if she were asking Koushiro, or perhaps just murmuring to herself...

At that moment, Taichi thought of his partner Agumon, and Omegamon, who made a brief appearance at the last moment.

The power that could annihilate an ultimate-level Argomon with a single sword strike and simultaneously destroy a nuclear missile was simply not something a mortal could possess.

"I've been thinking a lot today about what Digimon really are, and I've also gathered some information from eyewitnesses online."

Upon hearing Tai's question, Koushiro thoughtfully opened his computer and listed out the various guesses he had collected about Digimon.

"There is a theory that artificial intelligence, when developed to its extreme, may evolve into a life form."

"This is consistent with what we have seen in cyberspace before, because Argomon evolved by constantly devouring and absorbing data during its battle with us."

"Even if the other party eventually evolves into a physical entity that can appear in the real world, I won't find it strange."

Chapter Thirty-Four: How Many Chosen Children Were There?

"You mean, Agumon and the others might be AI?"

Taiichi, who was not stupid to begin with, quickly understood Koushiro's guess from the dazzling sound.

Although this speculation sounds unbelievable, Taichi felt it was highly likely given the undeniably real example of Argomon.

"It's hard to say, after all, it's just a guess."

Koushiro gently shook his head, feeling that the existence of Digimon might not be as simple as he had imagined.

Beyond that magnificent, fairytale-like cyberspace, there must be something else hidden that I haven't thought of yet.

The simplest question is: if Agumon and Argomon are indeed artificial intelligence life forms evolved from data, then where do their kind and groups live?

To put it bluntly, while the online world is vast, it lacks any conditions necessary for life to develop.

Especially Digimon like Argomon, which is full of mutation attributes and has a great ability to adapt to its surrounding environment, doesn't seem like a data life form that was normally conceived in cyberspace.

If the digital world were to breed life forms like these, the data of the digital world would likely have been completely devoured by them before these Digimon evolved their own food chains.

"And actually, I still have one major question that hasn't been answered: why did that missile fly towards Tokyo?"

Whether it's Agumon or Argomon, as a different form of life from carbon-based organisms, there shouldn't be any necessary connection between them and humans.

In particular, the Argonauts' intrusion into the US military network system and subsequent manipulation of nuclear missiles to bomb Tokyo seems like a deliberate act with a specific objective.

"I collected all the data on the entire internet and discussed it extensively with friends on forums, but I still couldn't get a reasonable explanation."

Why does Argomon, a being from another dimension, harbor such immense hostility towards Tokyo?

Or to put it another way, why did Taichi and Yamato suddenly go to cyberspace? And why were Agumon and Gabumon already there waiting for them?

All of this was like invisible threads of fate weaving a giant net specifically targeting them.

That Argomon clearly knew something and was very likely one of the masterminds behind this network, which is why it specifically targeted Tokyo with a nuclear strike.

However, this has led to a new problem.

Are kids like Taichi, Yamato, and myself all in Tokyo right now? Is that why Argomon wants to completely wipe them out with a nuclear strike?

Or is it that Argomon is simply trying to retaliate against them by bombing Tokyo because Taichi and Yamato are obstructing them?

In short, Koushiro has made too many speculations about the "nuclear missile bombing of Tokyo," but each speculation lacks strong evidence to support it.

"Hmm, so this is probably why they plan to destroy us and the city because we're trying to get in their way?"

Taiichi muttered to himself, somewhat uncertainly, that his thoughts were the same as Koushiro's.

"That's possible, but if that's the case, what was its original target?"

Judging from Argomon's resistance, it must have had its eye on the US military's network system for a long time. That's why it didn't hesitate to infiltrate the US military network after encountering full resistance from Taichi and Yamato.

"The Loop Line train incident, the US submarine missile misfire incident, plus the Tokyo Tower incident that happened at noon..."

"I have a feeling that the events of the past two days are just the beginning, and similar situations will continue to occur one after another."

Koushiro's "jinx" potential had already been demonstrated during the previous battle against Argomon, so his prediction made Tai, who was already somewhat uneasy, show a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah, I also think it's impossible for it to end like this."

Taiichi nodded as he recalled the enormous and powerful Agumon in his mind.

Compared to its partner, the Agumon that clearly didn't belong to the normal category seemed to know more, and could even appear in the real world in physical form.

"And that Agumon, did you contact him afterward?"

Taichi asked whatever came to mind, making Koushiro, who was already somewhat puzzled, even more distressed.

"No, I haven't been able to contact Agumon since I dealt with Argomon yesterday."

In fact, from yesterday until now, Koushiro has been trying to contact MetalGreymon in various ways, but the results have not been very satisfactory.

MetalGreymon, possessing both data life and superb hacking skills, is like a fish swimming in a vast ocean. Unless it comes ashore on its own, Koushiro can't find a single trace of information about it.

Even during the Tokyo Tower incident, Koushiro only learned that MetalGreymon had fought Orochimon again after seeing videos uploaded by the survivors.

The damage caused was far more extensive than that of the previous loop line train. The battle between the two was like a sudden natural disaster, not only sudden but also incredibly destructive.

"It's a real pity. If we could have contacted that Agumon, we would have known some more detailed information."

Shaking his head with some regret, Taiyi appeared quite open-minded and didn't dwell on the matter any further.

"Oh right, and this thing too..."

As if suddenly remembering something, Taiichi abruptly pulled out the Divine Plan that he always carried with him from his pocket.

"Didn't you say yesterday that you had obtained some information related to this thing? Can you figure out its relationship with Agumon and the others?"

Upon hearing this, Koushiro could only shake his head helplessly and then gave a negative answer, just like the previous questions.

"No, all I got was some basic code about this thing, not any more detailed information."

"The only thing that's certain is that this thing seems to have some kind of connection to Digimon."

As he spoke, Koushiro pulled out his Divine Plan from his pocket.

"It is the 'channel' connecting us and Digimon, and also a key tool that can help Digimon evolve."

"I'm just a little unclear about where this thing came from, and why it chose us?"

"And most importantly, how many people have actually been chosen by this thing?"