Digital Hackers' Memories

"Risk level: Moderate..."

"Unexpected factors account for 78%..."

"Requesting a reassessment of the risk level..."

In less than a ten-thousandth of a second, MetalGreymon made the best judgment using its built-in scanning system.

This Agumon is not a simple Rookie-stage creature; its size of nearly three meters is even more exaggerated than most weak Adult-stage creatures.

Furthermore, the Dragon Beast's keen combat instincts raised MetalGreymon's danger level to another level.

"Danger level readjusted—Altitude!"

"Requesting the use of nuclear lasers..."

Agumon's pupils suddenly contracted. Although he didn't know what the Kagune Laser that MetalGreymon mentioned was, the sense of danger that the other party was showing made him feel a chill down his spine.

【run! 】

Following its instincts, Agumon had no intention of retaliating and sprinted toward the exit behind MetalGreymon.

Silence!

In the blink of an eye, a blazing laser beam shot out from MetalGreymon's left arm, passing right over Agumon's head.

Followed by the second, third...

Silence! Silence!

Like an endless laser turret, the Metal Dragon Beast converted all its physical strength and heat into the most primitive energy to power the frequent firing of nuclear lasers.

——Nuclear Laser (Metal Dragon Beast Trial Version 1.32)!

In fact, as one of MetalGreymon's strongest attacks, the Nuclear Laser is not simply a mechanical weapon, but a perfect fusion of biotechnology and mechanical structure.

The cells in the specially enhanced section can generate beams of light autonomously. When the metal dragon beast gathers and condenses this biological beam of light through the mechanical structure on its left arm, it can fire a nuclear laser that can penetrate everything.

At least at this stage, Agumon is not capable of withstanding this beam attack.

"Are all the people in the Steel Empire crazy?!"

Feeling a chill run down his spine, Agumon muttered a curse under his breath, then immediately turned and unleashed a pale fireball towards MetalGreymon.

—Overloaded flame!

It was far larger than any fireball before, and the high temperature and destructive power it contained even briefly surpassed the White Flame Beast's Flame Fist.

After all, White Flamemon is a form evolved from Piccolo, and Agumon's Overload Flame is at best a "plug-in," only able to indirectly exert its own power.

But the current Agumon is different. Injected with a large amount of dragon factor, it has enough physical strength and power to support the extraordinary burst of Overload Flame.

“Damaged data detected…”

"Suspected 'overwrite program', Digital Alloy automatically generates 'data protection barrier'..."

However, to Agumon's utter surprise, in the face of its resolute outburst, MetalGreymon simply calmly raised its left arm again and fired an even more ferocious nuclear laser.

Boom!

Just then, the jet-black "Chrono Digizoid" on MetalGreymon's body revealed its powerful properties, actually reflecting Agumon's Overload Flame back at it.

"what?!"

Seeing this, Agumon realized that he was now facing the Steel Empire at its peak.

As a special Digimon that possesses certain biological characteristics and can evolve along with Digimon, "Chrono Digimon" has been widely adopted by almost every mechanically modified Digimon.

Especially within the Steel Empire, they developed "Chrono Digizoids" with different attributes for different types of Digimon.

Clearly, the jet-black Digimon alloy on MetalGreymon's body is a "specialized product" with enhanced hardness and defense, a "Chrono Digimon alloy" capable of deflecting all attacks.

"The Steel Empire is indeed full of lunatics!"

While dodging the storm of nuclear lasers in a disheveled manner, Agumon pondered what to do next.

Those nearly endless nuclear laser beams had completely sealed off his plan to escape through the main entrance...

And the metal dragon beast's powerful body, which seemed to ignore all attacks, was slowly approaching him...

In this situation, even the usually calm and resourceful Agumon couldn't think of a better way to leave.

"Wait, why would I use such a 'rigid' method to escape?"

Just as MetalGreymon was gradually cornering Agumon in the laboratory, where it was possible to eliminate it at any moment, Agumon seemed to remember something and rubbed its forehead in annoyance.

"I'm a hacker!"

Before MetalGreymon could analyze the meaning of the sentence, a blurry data mosaic suddenly appeared around Agumon.

Immediately afterwards, Agumon's figure, along with the appearance of the mosaic, vanished from MetalGreymon's sight.

—Hacking Skills: Data Leap!

After a full second of stunned silence, the built-in intelligent program of MetalGreymon finally reacted and began scanning for various data fluctuations left behind by Agumon before it disappeared.

"Unknown program detected, suspected data transfer..."

"Live footage is being generated. Activate Level B preset..."

"Uploading analysis results, requesting secondary resource allocation from the main control computer..."

After a series of operations and analyses, MetalGreymon finally obtained sufficient resource access from the internal network, deploying thousands of Guardianmon and Gearmon to conduct a thorough search of all possible areas where Agumon might appear.

Chapter Sixteen: The Dark Network

In the third district of a magnificent industrial city, there is a sewer that is considered a "no-go zone".

"Cough cough!"

Unaware that MetalGreymon had already classified him as a "Class B" or higher dangerous individual, Agumon, after a brief data jump, found himself disheveled in a dark sewer.

This was not a jump location pre-set by Agumon, but a chaotic area where it had to make an emergency landing due to data corruption during the jump process.

At that time, Agumon only thought about himself as a hacker in addition to being a Digimon.

But he forgot that the digital world is not the EDEN network.

Or to be more precise, the EDEN network is not a complete digital world, and using hacking skills rashly will definitely cause problems.

Compared to being torn to pieces or having two arms growing out of your head, landing in a chaotic area is already the best possible outcome.

"I suddenly feel like hearing Renamon's rant..."

Climbing out of the filthy sewage with a wry smile, Agumon now particularly misses Renamon's sharp tongue.

If she saw herself looking like this now, she would definitely laugh at herself mercilessly, wouldn't she?

When they first met, the fox spirit X was still so aloof and naive, not understanding even the slightest bit of human relationships.

What's the result now?

Not only has she become increasingly sarcastic, but she has even developed a liking for "cooking," something only humans would enjoy. It's truly unimaginable that she was the same fox spirit she once was.

"No, even the original fox beast was a hidden, naturally cunning person."

Thinking of this, Agumon suddenly remembered that Renamon X wasn't actually as aloof as he had imagined.

First, they inexplicably hacked into their own computers, and then deliberately changed their redirect address, which resulted in the two of them traveling to Hikari Hill in another world.

Let's set aside the question of what mindset Reijumon X was behind his series of actions.

The first thing Renamon did after arriving at Hikari Hill was to touch its own head? Was it complaining about its height?

"Thinking about it, it's been several months since then, hasn't it?"

After looking around at the filthy sewer, Agumon regained his composure and sighed softly.

"Homeostasis, if you really brought me to this digital world, then what exactly do you want me to do?"

Now that things have developed to this point, Agumon can sense the numerous crises plaguing the world.

It wasn't the kind of "personal crisis" I experienced when encountering Molemon or MetalGreymon before, but a broader sense of fear and dread that came from the depths of the Digicore.

This feeling is as if an unknown crisis is approaching this digital world, but those within it have no idea where this inexplicable crisis is coming from.

"Is this the ability you gave me?"

Agumon instinctively clutched his chest, and a subtle change occurred in the expression on his face.

His instincts told him that if he couldn't find the source of the crisis, he might not be able to return to his original world alive.

"I'm not a royal knight. So what if you grant me the ability to 'foresee danger'?"

"At the very least... you should give me a hint, right?"

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

"What a bunch of brainless idiots."

After entering the emergency escape route, Molecularmon did not run towards the exit as MetalGreymon had predicted.

The Molecular Beasts were well aware of the Steel Empire's power; in this industrial city forged from steel, no one could escape the Steel Empire's search and pursuit.

So, shortly after entering the emergency escape route, the molecular beast stopped and immediately "dissected" its own body, revealing its intricate internal mechanical structure.

It's important to know that Molecular Beasts are small Digimon created specifically for healing and repair, and their internal parts are far more sophisticated than those of ordinary mechanically modified Digimon.

Furthermore, the molecular beast inherited the crazy nature of its agents and further modified and upgraded its own body.

The result of combining the two is that the molecular beast's tiny body contains hundreds of millions of tiny machines, the smallest of which even exceeds the nanometer scale.

"The first thing to do to get rid of the Steel Empire's pursuit is to replace the artificial digital core."

The almost frantic molecular beast dismantled all the parts of its own body, leaving only some parts of its life support system, and muttered to itself.

Unlike a real digital core, an artificial digital core, although it is also just an intelligent program, still has some physical structure.

Therefore, after the Molecular Beast dismantled most of its mechanical structure, the entity that carried the artificial digital core program was also naturally dismantled.

Next, the molecular beast must use its own understanding to write a "man-made digital core program" that is unique to it on those limited life support systems.

In this way, the ideological imprint engraved on the bottom layer of the artificial digital core program naturally loses its original effect.

However, the price for doing so was that the Molecular Beasts lost everything the Steel Empire had given them, leaving only their modified and upgraded fragments.

In fact, this is also an important reason why the Molecular Beasts secretly upgraded and modified their bodies without the knowledge of the Steel Empire.

Even without this unexpected incident, the Molecular Beast would have eventually abandoned the body given to it by the Steel Empire and gained true freedom.

As for the power lost during this transformation?

The molecular beast didn't care at all; compared to regaining its freedom, the power of a "mere" perfect-level being was still within its scope of abandonment.

"The sacrifice was a bit big, but it was worth it."

After dismembering and reassembling his body, the Molecular Beast looked at his crude mechanical form and felt an unprecedented sense of pleasure deep within him.

However, despite their enjoyment, the molecular beast did not forget that it was still in danger.

After initially regaining its mobility, the molecular beast began writing some unknown program on the walls of the emergency passage.

It was a virus program infused with dark power, created by the Molecular Beast through reverse engineering the virus that infected it.

"The Dark Web..."

While writing unknown virus programs, the molecular beast remained vigilant for any unexpected situations that might arise in its surroundings.

After all, from the moment the Molecular Beast began writing the unknown program, its behavior was no longer as simple as "betraying the Steel Empire".

"The existence on the other side of the firewall..."

Although the current situation is worse than he had anticipated, Molemon still couldn't suppress his excitement and anticipation at the thought of witnessing the "truth" of the Digital World.

Did those legendary "beings" ever really exist?

Chapter Seventeen: Filthy Code Beast

"It feels like my situation has never been good since I came into this world?"

No longer pondering why he was even in this world, the ravenous Agumon raised his head and stared at the endless sewer ahead, a sense of defeat rising within him once more.

First, it got lost in the desert, then it was captured by Molecular Beast, and now it has inexplicably become the target of MetalGreymon's pursuit...

Although Agumon has only been in this world for less than two days, it has already experienced things that ordinary Digimon would never encounter in a year.

Agumon doesn't dislike being "busy," he just dislikes the feeling of being "passive."

If it's voluntary, Agumon won't have any complaints no matter how many things happen in a day; on the contrary, he'll face any challenges that may come with great enthusiasm.