Digital Hackers' Memories

Upon hearing this, Ryuji could only sigh inwardly.

Although he didn't know why Kishibe Rie wanted to find the fox spirit that had been involved, judging from her tone, his previous request to "capture" the clove spirit probably really had turned into a capture.

At the very least, given Rie Kishibe's personality, she wouldn't allow the Lilac Beast to cause trouble in the experimental area she "designated".

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

Inside an expensive villa in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Japan.

"..."

Ah Zhe stared silently at his completely broken personal computer, his mind replaying the fleeting image of the Sword Emperor Beast.

That's definitely not an ordinary Digimon!

The ability to sever one's own computer with a single sword strike across the internet is a cross-space attack method that even a magically proficient Sage Beast cannot achieve.

Interfering with reality through the internet, temporarily materializing data...

A Zhe had no doubt that if the Sword Emperor Beast really appeared on his computer screen, it wouldn't be impossible for it to kill him in the real world with a single sword strike.

"Sword Emperor Beast..."

Muttering the name that the Sagemon used to refer to the unknown Digimon, A-Zhe felt as if he had taken another step closer to the "truth" of the world.

"What kind of being have you provoked, Lilac Beast?!"

Due to a lack of information, A-Zhe was unable to determine the status of SwordKingmon in the Digital World.

But he knew in his heart that the appearance of Sword Emperor Beast meant that everything Lilac Beast was about to do was extremely dangerous.

It's so dangerous that even if you're in the real world, you could very well be "slashed from a distance" by that strange Digimon.

"So that's why you're deliberately avoiding me?"

Now that things have come to this, Ah Zhe finally understands why the lilac beast suddenly disappeared—she was protecting herself.

"But... I don't need your protection."

As he spoke casually in a low voice, a hint of stubbornness flashed in Ah Zhe's eyes.

Since the Lilac Beast stopped showing up a month ago, A Zhe has mobilized all his manpower and financial resources to search for it.

For this reason, A-Zhe even gave up the opportunity to win the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" tournament for the fourth consecutive time, just to let Lilacmon make an appearance.

Because A Zhe knew in his heart that the Lilac Beast would definitely appear on the day of his match, and as long as the opponent couldn't find him on the field, they would definitely try to stop the match from continuing.

What Ah Zhe never expected was that the hacker he had temporarily hired was far more powerful than he had imagined. He had actually found out Dingxiang's whereabouts before Dingxiang could interfere with the competition.

What surprised A-Zhe even more was that the Lilacmon, no longer disguised as a human, was so strong that it was able to slip away right under Ryuji and Sagemon's noses.

"If the footage Ryuji just provided is accurate, then it should be Shinjuku subway station, right?"

With that thought in mind, Ah Zhe got up and headed towards Shinjuku. He needed to confirm his guess.

"Can Digimon... really appear in the human world?"

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P.S.: Last night, when I was about to start writing the new chapter, I suddenly realized that my previous outlines and drafts were gone...

That's a whopping 30,000 words! I'm so angry!

In other words, all my efforts over the past week have been wasted!

Chapter 53 Different Stances

"Shinjuku subway station isn't that big, is it?"

The real Shinjuku subway station is known as "Japan's largest transit hub," boasting a complex network of routes and a whopping 178 exits, but its actual floor area is not that large.

They've been walking for an hour and still have no clue what to do, at least not as big as the white flame beast.

However, after being eroded by digitalization, this place has become a complex digital space, like a maze, and one that seems to have no end.

"In the world of the internet, distance has no meaning."

Upon hearing the white flame beast's question, Takumi, who had been leading the way, explained it this way.

As a qualified "cyber detective," Takumi may not have advanced hacking skills, but he possesses an unimaginable keenness in perceiving data and conducting investigations and tracking.

"Even in this semi-digital space, the 'distance' in the conventional sense disappears as the degree of erosion intensifies."

Having previously investigated this subway entrance, Takumi was quite familiar with the area.

In his mind, this place was just like the real EDNE network, seemingly possessing a spatial concept unique to the human world, but its essence was still data.

If necessary, the number of subway entrances affected by this bug could be expanded indefinitely, depending entirely on the amount of data available.

tumultuous!

Just as the white flame beast was about to ask something more, a burst of light suddenly came from in front of them.

Immediately afterwards, countless rays of light emerged from the depths of the subway station, bathing the surrounding mosaic walls in a silvery-white glow.

"Search program?"

After setting aside the dazzling appearance, the well-informed Takumi immediately recognized the true nature of the light.

It's a physical search program that analyzes and strips away the digital waves that are eroding physical matter by constantly scanning the entire subway station.

Boom...

As if in response to Takumi's guess, after the light swept across the entire subway station, a deafening crash suddenly echoed throughout the station.

The next moment, the endless radiance flowed back, along with the digital waves that had already spread out.

Silence! Silence! Silence!

Each stripping of digital waves signifies the return to normalcy in one part of the subway station.

In just a short while, most of the chaotic mosaic and dot matrix patterns within the white flame beast's sight had disappeared.

What remains is either something that hasn't been recognized or cracked by the program, or something that's too tightly integrated with the material world and needs time to be separated.

"It's a clove beast."

Before Takumi could speak further, the white flame beast revealed its guess.

"She deliberately chose to come here."

Whiteflamemon absolutely refused to believe that the return and convergence of the Digital Waves was merely a coincidence, just as he refused to believe that Lilacmon taking Renamon X away was just a coincidence.

Putting aside everything else, the fact that they were able to recover most of the digital waves from the subway station in such a short time is remarkable.

If the relevant procedures hadn't been prepared in advance, even ten of them combined couldn't have done this much.

According to White Flame Beast's observation, although Lilac Beast possesses superb hacking skills, it is absolutely impossible for it to be more powerful than ten of itself combined.

"She came here for the digital waves."

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

"She came here for the digital waves."

At that very moment, on the other side of the subway station, Ryuji, who also witnessed this scene, made the same judgment as the white flame beast.

Such a large-scale recovery of digital waves can only mean that Lilacmon had made ample preparations and was just waiting for this moment to arrive.

Moreover, compared to Takumi and Chen Ze, the experienced Ryuji, based on what Philosopher Beast had said before, could even roughly deduce that Lilac Beast was refining the real "Philosopher's Stone".

Thinking of this, Ryuji suddenly turned his gaze to Rie Kishibe beside him.

As Sagemon previously stated, the reason why the Shinjuku subway entrances became bugged was because someone was generating a large number of Digital Waves.

Without a doubt, Rie Kishibe is the one who created the digital wave and used that digital power to transform Shinjuku Station into what it is today.

"Heh, so this was her real purpose?"

Just as surprised by the Lilac Beast's behavior, Kishibe Rie tilted her head and asked in a low voice, her tone ambiguous, as if she were mocking or sarcastic.

Although Rie Kishibe didn't know what Lilacmon was planning to do, she was still angry to see the semi-digital space she had painstakingly "created" being erased.

"I think I need to change the delegate now."

Turning her head to look at Ryuji and CyberDragon, Rie Kishibe spoke in an almost commanding tone.

"As long as you don't harm the fox demon beast, you can do whatever you want with that lilac beast."

When she said this, Rie Kishibe deliberately emphasized the word "casual".

Clearly, the "whatever" she used was not the same as the casual understanding most people would have; it was clearly a 100% order to kill.

"..."

Having worked with Rie Kishibe for so long, Ryuji naturally understood the meaning behind her words, but he simply maintained his usual silence.

As a qualified "cleaner," Ryuji's hands were already stained with indelible filth, and this was just another sin he had committed.

More than the clove beast, Ryuji was concerned about Rie Kishibe's current behavior and subtext.

"Aren't you going?"

Even though they had already come this far, Rie Kishibe suddenly stopped, allowing Ryuji to overtake her.

"It's not time for me to show my face yet."

After glancing thoughtfully in the direction of Takumi and the white flame beast, Rie Kishibe simply said this.

Sword Emperor Beast has not forgotten its current disguise. Without reverting to its true form, "Kishibe Rie" is just a weak human woman.

This semi-digitalized subway station is important, but not so important that Swordmon would risk exposing its identity to protect it.

Or rather, while Swordmon did indeed want to capture Lilacmon, who was "stealing" Digiwave, it did not appear as "Rie Kishibe".

Moreover, even if the Sword Emperor Beast really intended to give up its current human identity, it wouldn't be so foolish as to provoke Takumi.

Because SwordKingmon knew that behind Takumi stood Alphamon, whose stance was unclear.

Although Alphamon is also a member of the Royal Knights, its stance has always been ambiguous.

As the master of the Void Creation and a force that acts as a counterforce to the Royal Knights, Alphamon usually appears as an "enemy of the Royal Knights."

This time, Alphamon is still undecided about which side to take, so Swordmon naturally won't force the other side into the enemy's camp.

This is also why SwordKingBeast decisively canceled all its plans against Takumi after discovering that he had joined the detective agency.

Not only that, but Sanada Shin and Shiramine Nokia also became targets for the Sword Emperor Beast to temporarily avoid.

"I have more important things to do now."

After a brief silence, Rie Kishibe turned and left the subway station, which was gradually returning to normal.

"I hope you won't disappoint me this time either, Ryuji Mishima!"

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PS: Monthly pass 28/200, blade 20/200.

Chapter 54 Large Barrier

Deep inside Shinjuku subway station.

As countless rays of light flow back, a massive digital wave spreads and recombines from this center.

In the blink of an eye, a huge barrier was formed, completely enveloping the Lilac Beast and the Fox Beast X.

On the surface, it appears to be a powerful barrier formed by a mixture of magic circles, spells, and some random shamanistic rituals.

From East to West, from ancient times to modern times...

The barrier spell cast by the Lilac Beast seemed to summarize and categorize all the array formations that humans had ever created, displaying an unprecedented grandeur and magnificence.

However, the above are only the most superficial "forms of expression".

Because in the eyes of the fox spirit X, who is proficient in hacking techniques and demonic illusions, this huge barrier is clearly a massive program composed of countless 0s and 1s.

Each logically rigorous and structurally ordered line of code is written within a massive system.

This system integrates all the magic (programs) that Lilac Beast has learned and come into contact with, as if it has built a system that belongs only to her.

The brilliance that swept across the entire subway station was just one part of this huge system; it was a program specifically designed to scan and identify digital waves.

In addition, functions such as summarizing, manipulating, compiling, and reorganizing are also part of this huge system.

Under the operation of this enormous system, the returning digital waves were extremely compressed and reconstructed, and a completely new form appeared in the very center of the barrier.

boom!