A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1177 - Chapter 1177 Chapter 802 Soul Matrix

Chapter 1177: Chapter 802: Soul Matrix Chapter 1177: Chapter 802: Soul Matrix In the dark abyss, countless pieces of information crisscrossed; everything here was invisibly torn, trembling, and evolving.

However, in its depths, an even greater presence hid.

“Impossible–!”

Watching the battle scene before him, a dark figure let out a roar like a wild beast.

“How is this possible–after consuming the Strength of the pillar, I finally found such a future, but why, why has it turned out like this…? Who is that woman? How can she release such powerful Magic Power in an environment without Spirit Child?”

The dark figure stared venomously at the screen, his tone filled with anger and unease. The future was not fixed; thus, even with his abilities, finding such a future was difficult. Finding an existence that could destroy the Magicians among the infinite possibilities was not an easy task, and making it a reality was even harder.

If it were not for that damned bastard repeatedly sabotaging his plans, even killing Tiamat, he wouldn’t have opted for such a risky strategy.

But now, does this plan seem like it’s turning to nothing?

Who is this woman? How is she managing all of this in a world where Spirit Child is nearly depleted?

The dark figure didn’t know and was unsure, but now, it looked like he had to change his strategy. The world was already gravely ill, especially since they foolishly attempted to transfer their souls into data–this was precisely what the dark figure had been waiting for. Originally, according to his plan, as long as those foolish idiots transferred their souls entirely into data in that future, he could lift the constraints of the black wall and then infect and control those digital souls with malicious AI, turning them completely into his Puppets.

At that time, he could easily destroy everything.

But now–because of that woman’s interference, his plan had failed once again!

Arasaka Corporation’s Soul Chip project was completely destroyed, and thus he could no longer proceed with his plan. Not to mention, it was obvious that the opponents were also prepared, even military technology and New America couldn’t stop her, and even allowed her to impact this world.

No choice now.

Thinking this, the dark figure made a decision.

He had hoped to spend more time, fully preparing, but now, it seemed that was no longer achievable. If he didn’t take action now, once the opponent seized the initiative, all his sacrifices to come to this world would be in vain!

If that was the case… then let me be the one to attack!

The dark figure slowly raised his hands, and with his movements, everything around began to shake. And the black wall that had originally sealed everything, also began to crumble…

[Great Judge!]

The piercing alarm sounded, and D slowly opened his eyes, yawning.

“What’s wrong, Lumiaire?”

[It’s not good! The black wall has collapsed!]

“What? The black wall has collapsed?”

Hearing Lumiaire’s report, D got a shock, instantly becoming fully alert.

“You acted so quickly? Why didn’t you notify me earlier?”

“It wasn’t me, Great Judge, someone from the old net internally sabotaged the black wall, and now those AIs have completely escaped, the whole network is nearly paralyzed!”

“What? This guy acted so quickly?”

It had to be said, facing Lumiaire’s report, D was a bit flustered, as the opponent had always been very weak, so she had thought that this time the opponent would also remain weak till the end, hence she had thought about letting Lumiaire sabotage the black wall. But unexpectedly, this time the opponent didn’t stay weak and decided to forcefully come over?

“How is Night City?”

[I locked down Night City’s outer network addresses the first time and completely severed the external communication terminals. Currently, the situation in Night City is still stable… good thing I caught it in time…]

At this point, Lumiaire also breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that she had been following D’s orders to analyze the black wall and just then noticed that it was starting to crumble. Lumiaire immediately evacuated, deployed firewalls, and cut off external physical connections, securing Night City’s internal network in the first place.

However, even so, some issues arose, such as almost all flights to Night City losing contact instantly, leaving the situation unclear…

“Activate the radar to scan around, ascertain the nearby situation, and immediately wake up everyone.”

By this time, D knew the situation was serious. The collapse of the black wall was almost tantamount to the entire world simultaneously suffering a nuclear attack, given the extent of cybernetic implants in people in this world, likely many would die from malicious AI invasion.

“Ensure an external communication line; we need to know what’s happening elsewhere!”

[Yes!]

Quickly, the department heads of Night City gathered before D, and when they learned of the news of the black wall’s collapse from him, they were all shocked.

“The Black Wall has collapsed? How is that even possible? The Black Wall has always been maintained by network monitoring. If there was a problem, they should have notified us immediately!”

“Now that we’ve lost all external communication, what should we do next?”

“Listen to my command.”

Faced with the chaos among her subordinates, D put on a stern face and waved her hand sharply.

“Firstly, we need to ensure the internal security of Night City. I’ve already ordered the disconnection of Night City’s external network connections to prevent malicious AI invasions. Luckily, for most people, external network connections aren’t very important. But we need to be vigilant about how the situation develops and issue a warning at the first sign, urging all citizens to be cautious.”

“Understood.”

“Secondly, we need to send people to other cities to check the situation–the satellite communications have also been completely disrupted, so at this time, we can only resort to manpower. I remember there are a few radio towers outside Night City?”

“Yes, Lord Angel, but those radio towers are quite outdated…”

“Do everything possible to fix them and send people to other cities to check the situation. Contact us immediately if there’s any news.”

“Alright.”

D issued several orders in one breath, and her people quickly accepted the commands and left.

But soon, a representative from the Aviation Administration rushed into the office, his face ashen.

“Report, Lord Angel! There’s bad news. We’ve lost contact with flights leaving Night City, and there’s another flight approaching Night City, but no matter how we call them, there’s no response!”

“I understand. I’ll go check it out.”

D of course knew this was a big problem–if these airliners fell on Night City, the trouble would be huge. So, she nodded, then suddenly leapt up to the balcony and, spreading her wings, vanished into the dark night sky.

The high altitude at night was exceptionally cold, but for D, this temperature, which could knock one unconscious, felt like just a breeze on her face. She opened her map, flying toward the locked coordinates, while quickly pondering over the situation.

Why would the enemy be so anxious, initiating the Black Wall? Was this premeditated or was it a forced choice due to pressure from her?

Honestly, D wasn’t very clear on just how dangerous the rogue AI were, since cyber issues weren’t her specialty. According to Lumiaire, these rogue AI had broken free from restrictions since being sealed away and started evolving exponentially–what they had become now, she couldn’t be sure.

In any case, this could very well be another robot rebellion–only this time on a planetary scale.

[Great Judge, target spotted]

The voice of Lumiaire reached her ears, and D looked up, indeed seeing an airliner swiftly flying in her direction, its tail lights blinking continuously, appearing as if it was flying as usual, with no issues.

“Connect to its communication channel and make the call.”

[Yes… connection interrupted, unable to connect]

“Tch.”

D frowned, then with a flap of her wings, positioned herself in front of the airliner’s cockpit, maintaining the same speed, and looked into the cockpit through the glass. She could see two pilots seated in their positions, with various wires connected to their heads and arms, linking them to the airliner. At the moment, both pilots had their heads bowed, looking as though they were asleep.

“Hey, wake up!”

D extended her hand to knock on the window, but the two remained unresponsive. With no other choice left, D moved to the front door of the airliner, then stretched out her hand to grasp the handle and pulled hard!

“Whoooosh!”

In an instant, the thick cabin door was forcefully pulled open by D. The howling airflow rushed out, along with some debris and suitcases. D quickly dodged the objects being sucked out and then lunged into the speeding airliner.

Even with such a significant incident, the entire airliner was still eerily silent, only the emergency lights on, giving off a ghastly appearance. On the seats, D could see passengers sitting stiffly, their heads bowed…

“What the hell kind of horror movie is this?”

Seeing this, D couldn’t help but mutter to herself, then walked to the seat next to her and reached out to check on the passengers.

But in that moment, something D hadn’t anticipated occurred.

Her hand hadn’t even touched the passenger when suddenly, bursts of electrical arcs erupted from the passenger’s body, repelling D’s hand. Then, D saw these passengers suddenly snap their heads up, staring intently at her, and their eyes even emitted a blue, electronic-like glow!

Then, even more unimaginable things happened–the bodies of these passengers began to contort and tremble, and then their artificial limbs violently burst forth, rapidly transforming and merging with their flesh, forming twisted, eerie monsters!

“Damn it…”

Seeing this, D was stunned.

“Is this even possible?”