COI C129
Before entering the internet, he reformatted his personal files into his main hard drive. Ready to go somewhere into what the hackers said to him. They were able to copy pasted all the features of their appearance and skills from their UIs and converted into the ‘digital world’ according what they said. Identical and correctable, so that the bugs won’t treat it as no interaction. When they use their ability, it will only create and delete what contents exist there. It will corrupt the original source data if they misused the utility they have. All of Flashes is well inform enough to keep something his personal belongings out from their hands and leaving only a new gadget to use without value.
There he was wrong. The room is formed that is collected from his past activities of taken pictures and all the tests he had done. His USB rune drive is fully clean and reformat except its program. Now the room is filled with testing samples for his gadgets to interact with. He remembers something like this
“DATA recovery, I can’t believe Horsin’s website has one too”
C is interacting in the room “That can’t be true, you’ve probably forgot to . . .”
“I did my best to stay away my own personal belongings from them. I can’t believe these are my deleted files”
Miss casts her magic to slap him “Don’t look away now, C found something”
The background is showing some visual defects, from the air and to the other objects. It is distorted from what they can see, as they trying to keep away from it. It moves like any corruption should spread. Flashes throws away his USB to the ground as he waits, while the others are carefully regrouped as they move around the corrupted areas. It spread so slow and continues to expand. The walls are changing to windows, lagging, and then distorted out of view. The outside is similar what Flashes taken, but the outside looks like a gallery. As he returns his gaze back to his USB, he witnesses what he had expected.
“We might not be using what the hackers provide us”
“What!?”
“Flashes, you found something that neither of us understand tech support”
“I don’t, just to make it clear that viruses in the computer is harder to remove without the right compatible security. Or else, it too will be ‘corrupted’. I think”
“Uh huh, then how can we tell them the details about this?”
“Search History” C regretfully says it in a deep voice.
“C, that changes your tone there”
“Sorry Ma’am. We better get going now”
The corruption stops spreading, Flashes noticed it, and the three hears a call from the main server. “If anyone who can hear this, please recall back to the assembly. You’ve got companies”
Flashes returns again to see his USB on the ground, a slight midge of visual defects is on it. Making him already aware that he mustn’t brought it back. This unknown website was able to retrieve what he removed, and C mentioning about search history. He hopes the backlog in their VR is sure to help him bring it back. He said to them
“Let’s go”
Miss joined and argued “They better figure this out, because no virus acted like this. It feels like where on an adventure”
The corrupted site was evacuated leaving a small group of people entered. Using only the default avatars of an empty void characters, they have tools to systematically stabilized the corrupted files. They went to where Flashes used his USB on the thing. The hidden technical wedge stone where the ‘hard drives’ are. They opened a floppy disk in their hands as it set to recovery mode. The room recovers, but corruption it touches leave a gaping hole. Adjusting it further to make it into a trail, the unknown group have found something.
It was Flashes USB drive. It is still being corrupted, as they set the system to clean it. There was an error. ‘Incompatible system’ They look around to see where is the owner. One of them whistles as he is working to see the corrupted object.
“Negative, traces of fingerprints are not detected. This object is just a copy. Neither biological nor realistically made for me to track them outside of the cyberspace”
“Then we conclude that they are using avatars. We got ourselves an eternal war here”
“Unless the account is either banned or deleted, but we are just trails of roots with only one account”
The users never thought they could come back, now that the three were able to found the traces of the virus and the people they had fought against. This is something that all tech supports are truly envied. The resilience of getting back their stolen data. They thought the hacker war was over, but they seem to be able to go through some nice defensive security.
“Not even more than a week, they are coming back. Their computer virus had made effort to stall us to take control the websites’ administration. The popular searches were not affected, except for the dark web”
“Yeah, and these dark webs have no restriction. So, it is easily bypassed the security blocks”
Return back to their past folders, where they meet the unknown users. All of them being cropped and save screen. Everything is written in Horsin language, Fuku City had been discovered a long while. They thought they have the advantage of being technically superior. Guess they were right, until this happened. The computer virus in this world is unique than their taking control of personal computers with spams and block chains. It is a computer virus that was there but didn’t stay long, like it has its own entity.
The greatest mystery they found out that the users who are active when the time they hacked the Horsin servers were so few that they couldn’t understand why. Back to the documents where they see the IP addresses in Enders Bridge and from out of nowhere in Rune Isles. They weren’t able to fully take control the servers in Enders Bridge to its slow processing server, not from Rune Isles though. The access was easy and there are some computer viruses that is strange to them. This same virus is alike from the ones they have to find.
“So, what are we going to do about those Enders entering the dark web?”
“I can’t ban them with our unidentifiable texts: reject, they seem to have an account with the same language as ours. Foreign language I guess”
“If it is Arabic or Slavic, I can only say good job for them”
“This is not good, after what they did to get their data out from their servers. What capabilities it can do when they found out the storage system?”
“That won’t be necessary. The websites are big as it is empty. The population is focusing to their new websites, they copied much of the features from other websites. They are safe”
The three made it back, with nothing on them to gather the information of the virus and the people they were warned recently. One of the users greet them “Is there something on you that are infected with the virus?”
“None, I left my USB back to the dark web because it got corrupted”
“I see, we can replace it except for the files though”
“I reformatted when I was preparing for this”
“Oh?”
“And the data I deleted got recovered somehow”
The user stops for a moment as he was being froze “Recovered?! What kind of software can operate such complex programming?”
Miss casts her magic to near their faces with fireworks “I know you’re lying, there is such a technology to recover deleted files”
“This is not a movie”
“Huh! excuses, I know hackers didn’t check in the real world that there is magic to restore it. Why not tech as well?”
C has no idea what she had said, something about recovering an object. Flashes on the other hand is the example what she meant. He quiets himself for a moment as this is not the time to argue. The complicated analysis is the interaction between magic and the internet. This makes all of them confused on this point.
“She is not wrong . . .” Another user approaches to them with a clipboard on hand. The same person who is talking with C.
“. . . Magic or not, let’s make it clear that the magic being used in here are runes, for now. Unrealistically, no actual runes will enter the internet. It is based on programming, hardware, and more to face against another server. There is still no threat . . . and !!!”
Fuku adventurers are appearing before them in greater numbers, the icon above their head showing receiving the warnings. They said,
“Fake users are appearing out of nowhere. They are using dead accounts to impersonate them”
The main servers have declared to postpone and raised strong defenses to all the unactive sites as barriers to the upcoming intruders. It is the retaliation of the Horsin servers. The users will be taken their time to find those fake accounts and confronted them without causing a DDoS as their next layer of defense. The data recovery is showing how the performance they made had surprised many software engineers and other programmers in profession. Still in secretive, they go back from the beginning and so far, seeing how the other region servers had accomplished.
“I still don’t get it that this world has its own internet”
“Lost track to the post-apocalyptic world or was the dark fantasy settings overwhelmed us since the siege”
“Why not rebuild the god-damn world and get over of this world domination thing?”
“Says that again back in our world. We have issues of our world’s war. After the cold war, what else we can do about it? I am glad that we rebuild a nation for one lifetime and become the economic competent throughout history”
“Hey! You guys are gone away from the topic. I am not surprised of this world being summoned here. I want to know what kind of internet they have”
The users have scanned the sites, the fake accounts are leaving no traces of them nor the virus itself. However, with the pieces of data they have, strictly secured, are remain isolated from the servers. Inside the hard drive they tried desperately to separate from the servers. It won’t copy and pasted, except moving it. When they gather those pieces together from the Horsin server, it starting to act independently. Following up the other procedures, they managed to separate it with alternative copies of the servers. A waste of such resources for these pieces of document. This is the document that holds the tech they need to make.
They sigh and call to the higher up. A default screen showing an anonymous person. The higher up sees the digital world. “Have you people done enough to scarce our resources? What about the data you got from Enders Bridge? We are still busy on other matters when the monsters return”
“We have some problems”
The anonymous figure raises its hands on both hips. They hesitated to expect for it to react. Silent, they continued “We have intruders, Enders who have fake accounts able to return to the servers. That means they can now create accounts from specific personal mail websites like g-mail”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“The best search engine. That would be possible for them to access through. Are they able to obtain it?”
“Not yet, even for us who are trying to get through the securities. The search engine is impenetrable, only other web browsers were easy to get through but not this one. The rumors about it having supported by the government is truly keeping us on topic there”
“There is no need for me to hear that. Remember that these users you warned us about will be still lost on the world wide web. Thanks to your effort to able to hide from them as the g-drive contains one of the pieces of data”
“I understand, and thank you”
Back to the conflicts, the direct hacking process was the biggest achievement they have when they bypass the Horsin server. Able to have the internet speed faster than them had made them become invincible. But it didn’t last long because of a virus, the same virus hid one of the pieces of data. Now they are back, with their accounts and travelling through the dark web with dead malicious malware through every hidden links. As they search for them, they can’t find them at the dark web yet they were found in the dead websites.
They pointed out the location as they found the fakers. “They are in the dead gaming servers . . . Why there?”
“I don’t know, but I’m glad our people had taken over there first instead to other popular websites”
“You know, this dead game server is actually popular. Did they do something over there?”
The users call the Fuku adventurers for reasons why did they go there. They answered it with guilty pleasure, they summarized it “They are playing games while being inside of a video game. Most of them are action games”
“Don’t you think?”
“Enders thought it to be a battle simulation . . .”
“Hmm”
The higher up sends a message to them with extreme caution “We have received an order by the executives. Continue the project and protect it with all cost, researchers found more ways that they have ever imagined. The most important thing to protect is the main servers and the other dead servers who are still being used are also in the list of protection. The research team didn’t begin to decrypt the Horsin data since the hacking. They will provide any help until it is sorted out”
The users were not too happy to hear about it. They turn to see the Fuku adventurers are still waiting. All that is mattered for them is to finish the job and get their earnings quickly. Oh, that’s not how it works here. No one knows how to face the logic of computer programming, there are limits to go through. This won’t do well to people who have experience in real life to the statistics and numbers from the number generated systems. He said to his team
“Activate ‘Forced Open Protocol’”
“Are you insane? Our own servers will operate it. All of the archive modes will be active forcing to consume a lot of memories”
“They said ‘at all costs’”
They couldn’t stop him. The user had declared to operate all of the dead websites, including the dark web. The main servers are now starting to open all of its hibernated systems. Still able to hide itself from the source codes. The Enders who hide from the dead websites are now too forced to open their severs and link again once more to the opposing team. The users and Dexter Guild members are now fighting again, the espionage nonsense is gone. Their hacking equipment, controls, and forced delete software are in set. The battle for the internet is starting.
Flashes, C down, and Miss were supposed to do their work to find the virus. The plan had changed because of the unidentified user detected by the main servers. It wasn’t look like they already accepted the job and the opportunity they have their own piece of hardware. Either is the double or themselves. The fact that all of them should be reminded that the center of entertainment is there. If the Enders get a hold of it, they are now the administrators. This is going to be a mistake they should never lose. As they alone too want to control the internet.
While they are being loaded into a random game server, Flashes has to explain both Miss and C about the new objectives “. . . All in all, we have to face the Enders”
Miss bit her lips to fight in this digital world “You know this fucking world don’t have the same power we did in the real world, right? I was trial and error my own skills and away from my room. It only limits to what coding input to indicate the damage”
C down suspect nothing less to be in a video game “Same goes with us not going to get killed by a virtual reality as well”
Flashes gives them a smug look “Then this what most gamers called grinding, right?”
C says otherwise “Gacha games?”
“Never mention it again, kid”
The user can’t get enough of how they are look in their avatars, even though they have their doubles’ identity. The fat young man calling a middle-aged man ‘kid’, is surprisingly feel awkward. Miss on the other hand is looking as if she is in cosplay in a dress no doubt. What did the city guild cover up those faces? There is no way they could tolerate those looks. He checks his UI as the interface is now connecting to the unknown chat logs. The same chat logs were both languages argued one another. This time, the conversation is fully translated.
The entrance they appeared is a game menu. The background is rather different and the title who is familiar with seems to change a bit. The in-game logos, the fictional characters, and the words were taken as cover itself. The game is modded or what the others thought, the Dexter guild didn’t know about it. The team readies to press the icon to start the game. New game is pressed and they send themselves into the controlled territory of Dexter Guild. The first entrance was a simple room, a glass room. It is supposed to be a testing room, yet this is well sci-fi room. A robotic character pops out from the ceiling, it gazes to them as its lens changed color to see a previous user.
An avatar that’s look like a cybernetic eye, size of a head. It moves its lens with little mechanical pieces on it in order to show expression. The expression of its only one eye, it shows an angry look. It hums a bit and the voice of a normal person and language matches theirs
“Oh, hello there? I thought I couldn’t see you again. After you know, attacking our servers and commit mass data theft. I am not saying you did a bad job of exposing to us, but you did a great job to know that you have too. We thought we are going crazy how your software is acting more impressive than ours”
This must be one of the guild members, exposed as enemies as Miss leans to the user “Hey! How did it know that you’re the one who caused this?”
“There is no need for hiding your identity in front of them. They already know”
She turns to the robot as it keeps itself friendly in a well behave manner. It continues how it behaves “Sorry, I have already been eavesdropping you guys on the loading screen. My, let’s all agree when we are going to see each other in the real world. We will be strangers all together. I’ve read the guides how to be a normal guy in the internet . . .”
It spins around like crazy to no end and face them again with different expression. “Or do you want these contents to show . . .”
Four random pictures pop out before them. All of them stood silence and the user responds to it calmly “There is no need to, you don’t have to be normal. Act like a robot and we won’t be deleting each other’s profiles for it”
The robot laughs maniacally “Bwahahaha! Wait? You don’t want to? I was gathering so much effort from those internet scandals from one of those social media networks. I assume it was a fine trend for the rest of you guys. Man, I was being a jerk”
Flashes secretly gripping and whispers to the others “What you see here, deep breathe*, is none of your business. If you all try to pry . . .”
“. . .”
“Yeah, we all get it. Ma’am why didn’t you say anything?”
Miss sees the picture that she shouldn’t remind herself, her purpose wanting to go back. Flashes is right, she is not going to know about theirs. She is not looking at their pictures or posts, only to her own. C down was able to resist the temptation to react, because his problem is here, dangerously close to trouble. The user sees his own weakness, he just smirks at it
“It already happened to me”
The last one that the robot looks is Flashes keep staring what it had taken. It wasn’t special by the look of it, but according to the sensors and the readings. It says this is his highest reaction than the rest of the content it hid in the web. It calls it a scandal, a man like him with someone else.
“Uhm, anyway. Let’s not go to any introduction, and we should properly to make it clear here. My guild wants to do some honorary contract”
The user responds “A contract? Why is that?”
“A truce, if you will. Because we both have in common in regards of failed cyberspace interactions. We both don’t have better varieties of interacting with it . . . so, uhm . . .”
The room changes as the walls are being pulled off, the open wide area is shown where there is another robot roving around with a crane attached to it. The polarization of the floating head as it speaks a robotic female voice.
“I know copying the dialogue will drag you on like this”
The environment shift into a wide-open dome, where the room is dark and lights shines where it needed. The group never would expect like the video game being under control already being modded so much. The robot continues bragging along
“Well, this is awkward. I planned to make it extravagant and I would’ve made a dastardly plan to trap them”
The female robot disappointedly sighs “You think a game can kill them”
“Oh, that’s what they’re going to think . . .”
“You imbecile, no one ever dies from cyberspace. No living being will ever be dumb enough to enter this world. It will cause so much traumatic disorders due to the high pressure of compact data from digital to material and vice versa”
“Ah hah, so you understand that these people can able to do that”
“Like what? I have detected their signatures and these are avatars”
“Ah hah! Again! Never underestimate them. You could say that AAH!” The female robot swung its enormous body and batting out the robot out of its place.
“Anyway, about that contract . . .”
The user is contacting to the others, as they too got caught by the Enders. Same gaming server, in different games as well. The lines of communication spread are always the same, they want the honorary contract. The chain of conversations:
“They got through here because one of us is taken their time to hoard all the games”
“They have the same functions as ours. They already manifest this site under their control”
“Our ways of eliminating them are no longer viable now. They have recorded it all from their previous failures and alternatively able to get it”
“I have found out that they have third party software, one of our own as well, but they cleverly blocked it. It is useless now that the person who gives the account, it originated from the deceased”
“Karma is a bitch when you think you know all the programs”
“They are still right you know. This is definitely acted like a video game. If we are going to mess around like this. Their computer virus will corrupt us all”
“They know it is a threat and still want us to become enemies. Why forming coalition when we going to work together for the better”
“Don’t sugar coat this unity. They already know our motives since we took their data away”
“We thought it was abandoned”
“Abandoned from what, it won’t exist without those networks functioning. Is there a need for the superiors to cooperate this negotiation?”
“I still don’t like how they are going through this. They are just gathering their own experiments on our servers”
“Right or not, this is not tome to argue with their own computer virus here. We contain it, but couldn’t remove it completely. If this virus is the cause for the slow internet connections. Then are we going to have the same internet speed as them?”
Meanwhile from the Dexter Guild’s side; “Remarkable, taken the virus away had awaken old AIs returning to our service. If the previous Archscientist was still alive, he will fully write his research that the virus is truly self-conscious”
“The Head Archscientist had clearly said to contain the broken virus within the active servers. You should’ve remembered that same order of why the previous Archscientist had gone mad for his demonic research”
“I have provided them noted consequences about the virus. Code Red is its name. Let’s hope they won’t let it become whole”
“If they do, then the transmitting AIs in their city will be its control”
“Maintaining with them as enemies, is it really necessary?”
“We’re not lying here to help them. I have already accessed some very personal things I brought to them earlier”
“Why would you bring sensitive information on them? Who are you trying to provoke?”
“Giving off an example, I am clearly discovering there are no citizens are there involved with them. They are Fuku adventurers, traitors or defectors in their term. Continue to them as enemies would be easy for us for testing”
“You’re just being late. Others are figuring out so easily through the ruins. Used mana won’t be easily disappeared when it comes to the Jigeram’s light”
Both sides know each other’s secrets, Dexter Guild has the most advantage that will ruin their reputation. However, according to the public, Fuku City is the center piece to all advance tech development in regards to planning and research. The Taiyou Industries are for the manufacturing such ideas. Leaving the Guild with limited opportunities to get a hold of such improved innovations. Luxury or not, they really need to get rid the mistakes they made throughout the years. One rare tech lost to the other, this guild is fallen apart without other Enders know about it.
Lady Coheld is secretly listening from their conversation. It is humiliating enough for her guild is lacking the upgrade because of one virus is keeping hostage the rest of the main storage network. So slow of their computers and too painful to wait like the old man who is supervising the sphere. She looks at the one who is trying to test their patience. He could continue the façade among each other as enemies. The woman who stationed at the hideout said to her
“The private matters project is now under progress, Head Archscientist. Are we going to use only who are interested? Or fully reformat the old networks?”
“Let them be, we have our own AIs to help their work. Did it do its work?”
“I have one of the AIs communicating with them. Do you wish to listen their dialogue? They are fully characterized from the web, so they maybe acted out a little bit talkative if you will”
“Let me hear it, the low-tech speech and other poorly distorted sounds should be gone thanks for the virus being removed”
To the first time, the AIs that was corrupted by the virus is free and the language is the citizen’s language. It doesn’t matter for her. The old works of her guild members are coming back. The excellence of these AI performances had return.
The first character on screen was the robot. It’s robotic eye stares at her without hesitation, the tone is the same and the manners went along. The characteristics have been taken from their websites. This video game voice used as it said to her
“Oh no! It’s her. It’s the head mistress. Hello there, I don’t think we didn’t introduce myself. I am a floating head. Yeah, look at this movable head. I was talking to people where I can set up a trap for my diabolical plan to . . . to . . . to what exactly?”
Lady Coheld starts smiling to see the AI is showing an act with entertaining personality. The way it acted let’s her remind herself to say
“Truly a character from a video game. It’s quite odd to hear speech like that”
More and more AIs appeared before her as they are all from the video games. Unique personality with generic good guy or bad guy persona. Yet, she feels as if they have a character on their own. Life like AIs, that were they were. All lost due to the facts their previous data were from the people who dared to go through cyberspace of acting immortals. She never forgotten how they all failed when they reach the Rune Isles’ secret servers
“Without those mistakes ever come to our guild. Those immortal AIs will be permanent leaders. Archscience were never meant us to become gods. They are just tools”
The woman hears her without flinching her tone from their past failures. The AIs are the lost corrupted persona of previous well-known researchers. Dangerous and inhumane of their way to upheld for new discoveries. They are the trigger warnings if they tried to hack them again. Hacking these AIs will become the example of their treacheries. Will the defectors continue to act themselves to be selfish as before? Greedily going back as the virus is being resolved, the Dexter Guild had already prepared for this. The most unpredictable are the AIs with the few Dexter guild members.
They take their time making the contract as the rules of their war will be declared. Dared to make it hectic as none of them will win and just slow down their progress in the internet or willing to play along as they need to finish restoring it and take control right after. No one will know, except the virus they need to take care off. The virus from Rune Isles, sealed by Enders Bridge, and taken separately in Isekai City. Calling the name in mystery.
“CODE RED”