Chapter 288 - Software

Chapter 288: Chapter 265: SoftwareIn the abandoned subway tunnel, Li Cheng’s face writhed, shedding his disguise but still donning the same grey trench coat that Eugene wore.

Gray Rain was beside him, dismantling the black curtains, fill lights, and camera, and packing up the tablet computer that originally belonged to the Whale Song Guild of Bartmos.

Normally, only Bartmos himself could hack into the network system using the tablet computer, but due to the setting of the Erosion Level, Bartmos didn’t want to expend Spiritual Power Value every time.

He simply coded a simple program in a matter of minutes that allowed one-click access to Toy City’s network.

Unexpectedly, he was eliminated early on, and the windfall went to Li Cheng, who was able to disguise himself as Eugene, record the video, and easily send it to the televisions and smartphones of millions of Toy City residents using the tablet computer.

"Is this really going to work?"

Gray Rain muttered, "When the morning news hits, couldn’t the Toy City broadcasters just claim the video content is AI synthesized, a terrorist conspiracy?

Moreover, City Hall has high-end combat forces like Naruto and the Terrorist Mobile Team to maintain order."

"The average citizens of Toy City might be skeptical and follow the instructions of City Hall, continuing to work and live their lives. But those who had friends and family forcibly taken away due to malfunction syndrome won’t be so compliant."

Li Cheng said, "City Hall has significantly downplayed the spread and mortality rate of malfunction syndrome. The actual number of affected people is much higher than the numbers released.

If they hadn’t seen the video, the citizens could still deceive themselves, believing that City Hall is making an effort, and that there was still hope for their friends and family.

But now that they’ve seen the video, witnessed malfunction syndrome victims being dismembered and dumped into the nuclear plant’s cooling water, self-deception is no longer an option.

Even if only for their own sake, they have to demand an explanation from City Hall and take to the streets to make a fuss."

Li Cheng didn’t believe that merely releasing one video could create any significant impact on Toy City Hall. He considered it merely a move in passing.

As long as it could slow down City Hall’s operations and buy him a bit more time for his own actions, it wouldn’t be a loss.

"If only the killing field would extend the mission time a bit longer, I could employ some of Jean Sharp’s tactics. What a pity."

He stowed the camera away in the warehouse, saying offhand.

The name Jean Sharp wasn’t exactly world-famous, but rather notoriously infamous.

He led a non-violent resistance research project at Harvard University in the 1980s and published the book "Making Europe Unconquerable: The Potential of Civilian-based Deterrence and Defense," which caught the attention of "the father of Cold War containment strategy," George Kennan.

The book’s original intent was to guide rulers in the United States and Europe on how to defend against Soviet infiltration and subversion. However, George Kennan recognized its value, financially backed Jean Sharp, and had him reverse-engineer the book to study how to subvert the Soviet Union.

With funding from the U.S. intelligence agencies, Jean Sharp continually wrote books, compiling 198 methods of subverting governments, providing theoretical guidance for the CIA to create chaos worldwide.

On August 19, 1991, Yeltsin made a speech standing on a tank in front of the Russian Federation Parliament Building, and Jean Sharp’s "works" were scattered at the scene.

Thereafter scenarios like the Georgian Rose, Ukraine Chestnut Blossom, Arabic Spring... all the turmoil and chaos instigated by non-governmental organizations had Jean Sharp and the CIA’s shadow behind them.

Just the Arabic Spring alone led to over a million deaths, with KDA ratings maxed out.

He’s appropriately termed as the second greatest Shit Stirrer, second only to the UK before its decline.

All of the CIA’s tactics are reflected in Jean Sharp’s books, such as dispatching intelligence personnel to the target country under the guise of students, tourists, and journalists,

establishing NGO organizations, recruiting volunteers, bribing opinion leaders, coordinating with mainstream media in Europe and America for propaganda militarization, using communication apps that avoid government network detection to incite the public to take to the streets, and so on.

Ironically, the United States developed these kinds of software for this purpose, with names bluntly called "Riot," "Swarm," truly embodying the saying—you can’t hide two pounds of sesame oil in a dog’s belly.

As for why Li Cheng knew all this, uh, on one hand, he was just bored and would read anything he could find,

on the other hand, this set of information could also be used to protest against the school canteen’s bad food, protest that sports, music, and art classes were being monopolized, protest against the school’s shortening of vacations, and so on...probably.

Li Cheng packed up everything and hopped onto the bat-wing heavy motorcycle with Gray Rain, following the map on the tablet computer, heading deep into the abandoned subway.

Gray Rain asked, "Where to now?"

"To the very bottom of the Lower Nest."

Li Cheng squinted his eyes and said, "Eugene had previously entered this script world and holds an ’Advantage’ far superior to other players,

yet even so, the killing field has issued a deathmatch mission, setting the time limit to 24 hours, without any penalties for failure."

Gray Rain asked with confusion, "What’s the issue with that?"

"What if after 24 hours, no ultimate victor is decided?"

Li Cheng said, "Surely it’s not like one person can leave with three keys while another leaves with four, and everyone simply goes home to their mothers, right?"

Hmm...aren’t you an orphan, Lao Cheng?

This hellish joke brewed in Gray Rain’s mind for a moment, but it was left unsaid— even with only 128G of brain capacity, little Gray Rain knew a thing or two about social IQ!

Li Cheng continued to explain, "Of course, due to the conglomerate Attribute of the factory keys, all keys will ultimately converge in one place, but if it comes to that, wouldn’t the mission become meaningless? I tend to think that the 24-hour time limit is a hint in itself.

If all keys are not gathered within 24 hours, something very, very bad might occur. Whether it’s for the players or for Toy City itself."

"Something bad?"

Gray Rain blinked, "Meteors falling from the sky? Nuclear plant explosion? Alien invasion? The end of the world?"

"I don’t know."

Li Cheng shook his head, "The only ones who might truly possess all the information are a few at the very top echelon of Toy City Hall, and the key to this mission... those malfunctioning infected hiding in the Lower Nest."

While talking, Li Cheng had already driven the motorcycle to the end of the subway tunnel.

A whole side was piled up with an extremely thick reinforced concrete wall, and outside the wall, there were loads of barbed wire and metal barricades, almost like at the US-Mexico border.

Clearly, this was one of the entrances to the very bottom of the Lower Nest.

Gray Rain hopped off the bike and smashed the concrete wall with a hammer.

Whoosh——

A fierce gust of wind blew out from the crack in the tunnel, carrying a scent akin to rust.

Beyond the wall was a deep and dim space, with over ten toy bodies lying close to the wall.

Their surfaces were covered with a purple-black substance, crystallized into a crystalline form, covered with a lot of dust, obviously dead for a long time, but the bodies themselves showed no signs of decay.

Li Cheng made eye contact with Gray Rain, they both put on full-body protective suits, and walked together into that dark depth.