Abyssal Wanderer.

Most of the adjusters of the upgrade path, after reaching depth 6, will use different solutions to solve the problem of long-term battery life of the prosthetic body.What really limits their output power is actually the heat dissipation performance of the prosthetic body—after all, it is the base reality that is restricted by the iron law of thermodynamics, so many high-power devices are installed in such a small body space. The importance cannot be overemphasized.

Therefore, interfering or destroying the opponent's cooling device is the most efficient way to restrict the opponent's combat effectiveness in the battle of high-level adjusters.

It was like Christie at this moment, because the destructive virus implanted by "Perseus One" was attacking her body's cooling system, making it impossible for her to run or even activate many of her body's functions.

Nowadays, she seems extremely reluctant to even keep the anti-gravity system floating in mid-air.

But Christie, who was already a little over the top, saw that No. [-] was about to escape from the range soon, so he still planned to reluctantly activate the "strong observer vision" again and make one last pursuit attempt.

But as soon as she gave the command, overheating warnings immediately filled her visual interface - if she activated this ability in her current state, she would have to melt a large number of her sophisticated prosthetics.

"Hey! Old man, come out and do me a favor!"

In desperation, she finally connected to that special calling channel—she planned to seek the help of her "rider" Charon, and let the AI ​​from the abyss and dark net help her eliminate the erosion of the virus.

Just like there are all kinds of people in society, those "riders" who use "horses" to gallop through basic reality also have various personalities.

In terms of attitude towards their own "horses", some AIs will simply regard the horses as their own wet tools; some will establish a friendship-like relationship with their horses and support each other; and some will simply take what they have. as needed, without interfering with each other.

As for the relationship between Christie and Charon, according to Charon, the relationship between the two parties is as good as "Faust and Mephistopheles."

In other words, every time I seek help from "Charon", I have to pay a corresponding price.

Therefore, even when she and No. [-] were engaged in offensive and defensive battles in the temporary network domain, she did not let "Charon" come over to help her break the balance of computing power between the two parties.

But right now, she is willing to pay a certain price for it.

Seeing that the other party did not reply to him immediately, Christie continued:

"Old man, what would it cost me to kill that pile of 'Lego'?"

As the words fell to the ground, there was a "cracking" sound like burning dry wood.Even though she was still in mid-air, the temperature sensor on Christie's body felt an abnormal hotness—the moment she said the request, she seemed to be riding a small boat on a river of fire .

A message came along with this feeling.

【I don’t need to pay any price, and I won’t do anything】

This was Charon's answer to her.

After hearing this reply and seeing No. [-] getting further and further away from her, Christie suddenly became anxious.

"Is it like this again? Are you selling me out again at such a critical moment? You old bastard still hasn't changed after all these years!"

She cursed as she reluctantly chased No. [-], who was gradually pulling away, regardless of the cooling system.

However, Charon's answer once again exceeded his expectations.

[It’s not that I don’t want to, but it’s not necessary. I don’t like doing this kind of useless work]

【After all, his fate is already doomed】

Then, Charon turned and said:
[Perhaps you can witness his and the fate of the Nord settlement with your own eyes]

With the end of this message, as if to verify Charon's statement, No. [-], which was flying at high speed with Liao Qi and was planning to leave here, suddenly decelerated and hovered in mid-air.

Then... If Christie read it correctly, Liao Qi, who was originally sealed in the prison position by the other party, flew out of the drone array waving the broken mercury wings behind him.

At this moment, Liao Qi looked like a different person, maintaining calm and rationality without any mental collapse.

But... how is this possible?
Falling into the uncanny valley of the mind, there is no precedent for returning to normal.

Unbelievable things, but not only that.After the previous scene appeared, with No. [-]'s response speed, he immediately controlled the Aegis module and began to build a cage, intending to recapture the opponent.

What happened next was completely beyond Christie's imagination.

Liao Qi who was confronting No. [-]—at least it seemed to her before that Liao Qi was confronting No. [-]—raised his hand slightly towards him.

In the next moment, as if No. [-]'s ice wall program did not exist, the adjuster who had reached the limit of human intelligence directly lost all control over the prosthetic body.He struggled a few times like a bird with its wings broken, and then fell powerlessly from mid-air.

Of course, for the prosthetic body strength of an adjuster at the level of No. [-], a free fall of several hundred meters will not hurt him at all.

But at this moment, the attack on the other party is not in the base reality, but in the network.

Before Christie could think about what was happening, the surrounding scenery changed.For some reason, she once again came to the "City of Sages" where she had been imprisoned for decades. After being imprisoned here for decades, there was probably no one in the world who knew everything here better than herself. .

But what is different from before is that there is now a thick fog filling the city, and evil spirits and black dogs are vaguely visible in the fog - in her perception, it is not a simple texture modeling, but a real self-disciplined operation. offensive program.And judging from its strength, if more than a certain number of people swarm it, even in its heyday it would be difficult to withstand it.

As for the new owner here, it goes without saying - an abstract human figure made of countless deformed color blocks, looking down at everything.

Hecate, the goddess in charge of countless paths and sorcery, is standing by the side.

The moment he saw the other party and sensed the other party's strength, Christie felt his heart tighten.

That attitude of treating everything as a humble dog, that attitude of not caring about humans...

The other party didn't even use the chat program as their own interactive interface, but showed their own majesty.

And the surroundings other than them... Well, the surroundings are even more lively.

As she expected, the core member of the Fire Stealer code-named "Perseus One" is also here.And the survivors of the three Wolfbane squad fell to the ground with gnawing wounds all over their bodies—they have already completed the adjustment and transformation of the whole body prosthesis, but at this moment they are suffering like natives groaned.

In addition to these few people, Booker Irwin, the leader of the Icarus Liberation Front, is also here.Judging from the expression on his face, the other party was probably pulled in without any preparation.

And in the end, standing in the middle of everyone was a person who shouldn't exist.

Liao Qi——At this moment, his stand-in program was shining with dazzling red light, like a lingering ghost, standing here without saying a word.

"At this point, there is still one person missing. However, the trial can also start first."

The color block figure is looking at him at the moment.

He said so.

The voice of the other party was not converted into an auditory signal, but directly transcribed in the depths of her mind.

This is……

Along with His words, Christie felt that the destructive virus previously implanted by No. [-] in his driver was instantly cleared.

"Grateful...thank you."

Although he didn't know why the other party wanted to help him, Christie subconsciously thanked him.

At the same time, she felt a sense of fear - the other party could dispel the virus on herself so easily, so if he released the virus into his own driver, it would be just as simple.

"There is no need to express gratitude, just because in the future trials, I need you to maintain clear thinking and be able to make a fair judgment."

That mysterious and powerful existence said this in an extremely solemn tone.

"Judgment?"

It's not just Christie, whether it's No. [-], Booker, or the three members of Wolfsbane, they all raised questions.

Among them, Booker didn't forget to glance at his wrist, which showed that there was less than a minute and a half left before the explosion.

Seeing this, Booker, who felt anxious, was about to say something, but "Paradox" continued:

"Then before the moment of decision comes, let us arrange the time and venue of this trial."

The surrounding buildings that were constantly breaking apart were instantly disintegrated and reassembled with His words.Almost in an instant, a solemn building between the court and the temple was formed around everyone.

The three-headed dog with venom dripping from its mouth is the guard here, and the evil spirits wandering around are the guards here.

The Tribunal is established here.In the presence of this god, they were about to witness a judgment.

At the same time, the atomic clocks built into each of their brain-computer interfaces slowed down under His announcement.

No, it's not that time slows down.

Everyone present was instantly awakened.

The thinking speed of each of them, as well as the running speed of the substitute program, have become tens of times faster.

Not only did he pull them into the Narcissus Plain, but he was also overclocking the minds of everyone present, widening the gap between the time flow in the cyberspace and the time flow in the base reality. (end of this chapter)