Digital Hackers' Memories

Erica, who is strong-willed by nature, does not want her family and friends to worry too much about her health, even if their intentions are good for her.

"Erika is simply a demon..."

Staring timidly at Erica as she resumed typing, the Bug Beast hesitated for a long time before finally muttering something indistinctly.

"Huh? What did you say?!"

However, as if Erika had heard the Bug Beast's murmur, she suddenly glared at it again, startling it so much that it almost closed the pop-up window.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, the Insect Beast is just... just..."

The worm-like beast, with a long face, stood there for "only" half a day, but still couldn't find a suitable excuse.

"Humph!"

Erica glanced smugly at the Insect Beast, determined to teach this "traitor" the lesson of betraying her.

"Wait, what is that?"

After "teasing" the bug beast, Erica was about to do something else when she suddenly noticed a strange "mosaic" on the screen.

"Virus?"

Erica immediately sent the scan results to Guiyou, and without even looking at the bug-like creature beside her, she quickly opened her specially made antivirus software.

"Not a virus?"

Erica stared at the "mosaic" that was clearly eroding her screen but showed no signs of a virus, and then, as if remembering something, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Insect Beast!"

"Got it! (≧▽≦)"

The dejected expression vanished instantly. The Bug Beast, which had already developed a perfect working relationship with Erika, didn't hesitate for a moment and turned around to "dive" into the other party's "memory server".

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

Rewind a few minutes to the fifth floor of Kowloon in the EDEN Free Zone.

After confirming that Angelmon was no longer in the area, Keisuke had no choice but to lead Leomon back the way he came, because he realized that he seemed to have been tricked by that guy.

It's possible that Angelmon didn't even venture deep into Kowloon's fifth floor, but instead hid somewhere near the entrance, watching as the two of them went in the wrong direction.

And this was indeed the case, judging from Erika's feedback. Apart from the initial entrance, there was no trace of Angelmon anywhere else.

Forget about specific data, Keisuke and Leomon didn't even see a shadow of the other party, which can only mean that the other party never went deep into the fifth floor of Kowloon from the very beginning.

"AngeAngemon really tricked us!"

So when Keisuke returned to the entrance of the fifth floor of Kowloon and saw the traces left by the battle between Angelmon, Piccolo, and the Invader, he finally confirmed his guess.

"The question now is, what exactly did FlameAngemon fight?"

A deep, powerful voice spoke up just in time. Without hesitation, Leo Beast shielded Keisuke behind him and then cautiously stared at the seemingly "calm" entrance.

"It's an Invader!"

As two virtual screens flashed by, the cartoonish images of Erica and the Bug Beast were projected directly in front of the two of them.

Erika: "It's the kind of invader we encountered before. Angelmon was just fighting one of those things."

Insect Beast: "(?ò ? ó?) This was found after Insect Beast spent a full 5 minutes searching through the memory folder related to Mr. Yamashina Makoto!"

Erica: "(╯°Д°)╯︵ ┻━┻That was a folder I had already organized a long time ago, you didn't even look for it properly!"

Bugmon: "And also... Erika was just bullying me, Keisuke, Leomon, you have to help me! o(╥﹏╥)o"

Erika: "You're not listening to me at all, are you...?"

"..."

Keisuke and Leomon exchanged a glance, both feeling a headache coming on – it seemed that this headache had been getting worse ever since Wormmon joined.

Also, when did Erika learn the habit of using emoticons from Bugmon?

Boom!

Just as Keisuke and Leomon were pondering how to comfort Erika and Wormmon, a sudden, crisp sound broke their conversation.

Immediately afterwards, a black and white tentacle appeared at the entrance, its writhing and twisting appearance like an evil creature descended from the heavens.

Erica: "(￣ー￣*||| Oh no! I forgot to mention, that invader hasn't left yet! It's all your fault, Insect Beast!"

Bugmon: "〒_〒 I forgot too, Leomon, you guys run!"

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Data Reproduction

"You two are both scumbags!"

This wasn't Keisuke's voice, but rather the usually serious Leomon couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.

"You didn't even tell me about something this important beforehand!"

Suddenly drawing his sword and slashing, Leomon, who had fought against the Invader before, knew how terrifying it was. Turning to run away now would only make him and Keisuke "food" for that thing.

Therefore, Leo has no intention of running away; it is willing to risk its life to protect its companions.

— Overlord Blade Slash: Triple Slash!

He immediately unleashed his strongest killing move, and three wind blades that tore through the air instantly took shape.

Leomon could tell that the invader that was about to invade the fifth layer of Kowloon was not an ordinary original species, but an evolved form that had absorbed enough data to undergo a transformation.

Last time, we almost wiped out a whole group of them when we were dealing with a primitive species that hadn't yet mutated. Who knows what other strange abilities this evolved Invader might have? So now we should try to attack first whenever possible.

Although Leo adheres to his principles, he is not pedantic.

Especially when it comes to the life and death of its companions, its decisiveness is in no way inferior to any virus-type Digimon.

Silence! Silence! Silence!

Just as Leomon had predicted, the Invader, which had only just extended one of its tentacles, instinctively "curled up" and assumed a defensive posture in the face of three massive wind blades hurtling towards it.

Bang!

The sound of metal clashing resounded for more than ten meters in an instant, and the noise generated by the air vibrations traveled more than a hundred meters away.

"go!"

Not daring to linger in the fight, after temporarily repelling the unknown invaders, Leomon decisively grabbed Keisuke and ran off in another direction.

There is never just one entrance to the fifth floor of Kowloon, and what they need to do now is to exit through another exit and temporarily avoid the invader that is powerful enough to make FlameAngemon back down.

Yes, Leomon was quite certain that FlareAngemon had not been killed by the Invader, otherwise the Invader's power would not have been so weak.

"Leomon, something's not right."

However, just as Leomon was pulling Keisuke away from the area, Erika, who was continuously scanning the region, was the first to notice something amiss.

"what?"

Influenced by Erika, Keisuke, who had been on guard, was the second person to realize that something was wrong.

"That invader wasn't tracking us?"

Upon hearing this, Leomon paused its retreat, looking slightly stunned, and turned to look at the Invader who was still in a "defensive" stance.

"what happened?"

Unlike the Invaders they had encountered before, this Invader that had already completed its transformation did not continue to pursue them as Leomon had imagined.

Instead, it continued to extend its tentacles, as if it were exploring something, focused and serious.

This is not normal, because the invader has no will; its instinct is to assimilate and erode all the data it can access.

The invaders seem to have a strange "love" for human mental data, always listing it as the first target for invasion and assimilation.

In fact, this is why Leomon chose to leave with Keisuke immediately.

Because the invaders are far too dangerous for humans.

"It's searching for 'past' data in that area!"

Upon seeing this, Bugmon, who had once lived in the Digital World, quickly connected it to a similar situation and realized what the Invader was doing.

It's not like Erica's simple scan of existing area data, but rather using existing residual data to trace back and recover past information, to the point of "peeking into the past".

Even in the Digital World, Wormmon has only ever seen similar abilities in Ultimate-level Digimon like Fairymon and Wisemon, who are proficient in data manipulation and possess magical abilities.

"It is searching for the whereabouts of FlameAngemon."

After a brief hesitation, Erica immediately demonstrated her abilities worthy of the title "genius hacker," quickly obtaining sufficient data samples from the Infiltrators.

Those data samples reveal that the invaders are using a method similar to "hard drive data recovery" to reconstruct information from that area.

The most eye-catching of them all is undoubtedly the "fire feather power" that is filled with flames and intense heat.

"It's the Digimon Black Market."

Using the data shared by Erika, Keisuke quickly determined the Infiltrator's destination—it was infiltrating the Digimon Black Market in its own way.

"Digimon Black Market?"

Leomon frowned, a rare sight indeed, clearly disliking the "Digimon Black Market".

Due to the special nature of the Butterfly Organization, Keisuke and Leomon had frequented the Digimon Black Market several times, and Keisuke even obtained a fixed DUL link from a black market dealer.

"Erica, I don't like that place."

Like Leomon, Wormmon, who is also a Digimon, clearly dislikes the place that sells its own kind.

If it weren't for the chance encounter with Keisuke and Erika, Bugmon felt that with its current abilities, it would most likely have become a "commodity" in that black market.

"I know, I don't like that place either."

It's rare for Erika to agree with Wormmon's point of view. After spending so much time with Wormmon and Leomon, she no longer sees Digimon as just simple "programs".

Therefore, in Erika's eyes, those black market dealers who sell Digimon are no different from those slave traders who sell slaves; both are despicable beings.

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

clack clack...

On the other side, the Invader ignored Keisuke and Leomon directly in front of it and began to act on instinct, retracing some data of this area.

Meanwhile, the invader's entire body gradually "flowed" from the fourth layer of Kowloon to the fifth layer during this process.

clack clack...

It was only at this moment that the twisted and bizarre appearance of the humanoid invader was truly revealed to Keisuke and his group.

The eroder, whose body was entirely composed of twisted, tangled tentacles, moved forward in a bizarre manner.

The wriggling tentacles, rendered in black and white, evoke a unique sense of horror.

clack clack...

In a daze, the inexplicable mechanical noises continued, while the eerie humanoid invader continued to scan the "former" data of this area with its seemingly bewildered and indifferent single eye.

Boom!

The next moment, the humanoid invader stretched out its tentacles toward a completely unknown space, as if tearing apart the space of the fifth layer of Kowloon, intending to tear it apart directly.

Unfortunately, the humanoid invader's usually invincible "invasion method" failed this time.

Boom!

The powerful firewall severed the tentacle of the humanoid invader, and a massive torrent instantly sent it crashing back to the fourth level of Kowloon.

Chapter 39 Rie Kishibe

Tokyo, Japan: Headquarters of Kamishiro Corporation.

This is the birthplace of EDEN virtual technology and the origin of the entire EDEN space.

Beneath this massive company lies an underground laboratory dozens of meters below the surface, accessible only to researchers with extremely high privileges and high-ranking members of the Shindai.

Because in the giant underground laboratory, top virtual reality experts from Japan and even the world have gathered together to push EDEN virtual reality technology to a higher level.

As the leader of this project, and also the right-hand man of Rie Kishibe, a high-ranking official in the Shindai, a man named "Akimi Suedo" is the core researcher of this project.

However, this usually somewhat neurotic man was unusually serious today, so serious that Kishibe Rie wondered if he had been replaced by something unknown.

"Oh my, look who's here?"

"Our researcher, Mr. Motang, can be this serious sometimes?☆"

Rie Kishibe's high-pitched voice and exaggerated tone immediately drew the attention of everyone in the research institute, while Akemi Suedo's serious expression truly surprised everyone present.