The distorted blue sky, the slashed black blade, the shattered and crumbling world, the dark eternal nothingness......

The virus program that Carl called up from the background of the system, and what was displayed after running in isolation, was actually such a video animation.

"Uh, what is this? Are you kidding? The corners of the man's mouth, who didn't notice the expected situation, twitched, "The picture quality is really delicate, and it doesn't look like an ordinary CG, but a live-action shot or a reproduction of the scene in the hypercube, but as an arrogant virus program, isn't it too simple to have only this?" ”

Ryan on the side seemed calmer, and he reached out and clicked on the attribute bar.

"16KB capacity...... Although it is a bit small, usually an ordinary MP3 is about 4000K, and an ordinary JPG compressed image is 30-40K, but every year the famous Warez organization around the world will release a small cartoon to compare, just to show off its strength.

I was relatively impressed by this event, the most classic masterpiece prophecy in 2000 "Comet Hit the Earth", this program with a size of only 64KB demonstrates nearly 30 minutes of 3D film with music that is not repeated, and its 3D rendering and sound effects are still shocking, and its technology is shocking~ Because, in fact, the real capacity of this animation exceeds 15G, that is to say, this Warez organization compresses it by 250,000 times -

In comparison, this 6KB virus is not a single second, but it is not worthy of its name if it is not destructive. Why don't you check the virtual machine for any traces of other bad programs? ”

"Understood, but it's already being done." As if his previous fears had lost their weight, he pulled an afterimage of his fingers on the virtual keyboard in a state of workmania. "I also know the super compressed video you said, only a few thousand bytes of the program can do that, if that power is transferred to destruction, it must be absolutely extremely secretive and difficult to find, but as long as it is a crime, it is impossible not to leave any evidence, I will definitely pull out its feet!"

Ryan, who knew the strength of his hand, nodded, but his frown did not let go.

The premonition that made him feel uneasy. Instead of disappearing, it became clearer and closer to the spine, and then ...... From the unreal to the real.

It's as if I've been guided by some inexplicable great will. Ryan unconsciously took out the mobile phone he had put in his hand at some point, and there was no reason at all to just subconsciously look down, and the result was that this glance made him suddenly scream-

"My phone -- it's, it's autodialing!"

"What!"

Carl stiffened as he tapped the keyboard, and after less than half a second, he suddenly jumped out of his seat. He snatched Ryan's mobile phone, which was showing a file upload pattern. With the hand speed of dragging up the afterimage, he entered a few instructions but had no effect, he simply slammed the mobile phone in his hand on the table, and the mobile phone board was immediately separated from the host under this violent action, and the lit screen seemed to be very unwilling to extinguish the light.

But after doing this, Ryan's pupils shrank, and his face changed drastically, and he shouted at Karl, "Cellphone, your phone!" ”

Carlton, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, gasped, and he pushed Ryan away as he thought of him. threw himself on the side of the bed where he was lying down, took out his mobile phone from the pocket hanging on the hanger, and threw it to the ground without thinking.

There was a dead silence.

After half a ring, the man kneeling on the ground raised his head with a lifeless face.

"Failed. Maybe it's too late. He muttered, clutching his broken phone in his hand, "The file upload has been completed, and the virus has probably entered the Internet...... Maybe this is his real hidden method, when our attention is attracted by the video of the appearance, through Bluetooth to connect to the wireless facility, from the original physical isolation from the Internet hypercube system, with the help of our hands into the network, this logic will still be AI?

…… No, this is a real soul and we have put into reality a demon who could not have anticipated the action! ”

Almost hysterically yelling, the man crouched down with his head in pain, and the fear that had just been lurking came back to his heart.

But at the same moment, Ryan still kept his composure enough.

"Wait, don't be so pessimistic, things aren't that bad yet." Pulling Carl up from the ground, he muttered as if talking to himself, "No matter how high the IQ of that program is, in the real world, you still need to follow the laws of reality, even if he can show off his power in the network, the limit of what he can do is to cause the network to be paralyzed and affect further fields, although this plot is more similar to the "Skynet" in the Terminator, but the plot in the movie is actually exaggerated.

Because of the existence of hackers, the internal systems of most military bases are physically isolated from the outside world, after all, even more advanced hackers cannot invade the area where the line has not been laid, and the most critical nuclear bomb launch program is even more so.

So, the limit of that guy is to make us give up the operation of the network for a while, after all, he is just a clown who comes out of a narrow box, and he has no possibility of becoming a demon king that threatens human civilization......"

“…… Is that so? Carl asked incredulously.

"Ninety percent likely." Ryan replied ambiguously, "But we don't need to think about the next thing, report all the details word for word, and the company will assess the seriousness of the situation by itself, and then make the right choice they think is the right one, and we have no need or possibility to meddle in this matter." ”

"Could it be that in order to protect their reputation and not cause panic in society, they choose to hide the truth of the matter from the masses?"

"This, I don't know......"

The conversation that originally agreed on the same opinion ended unhappily, and the two who had their own thoughts on each other stopped talking, and while Ryan was sorting out the data before and after the incident and writing the report, Carl lay back on the bed sullenly, thinking about the program that escaped to the Internet and the bloody memories that had plagued him before, although this time he was close to a nervous breakdown without thinking about it, but there was still an idea in the intermediate level that had been entangled in his heart.

- Whose line of sight is that?

Although he knew that there was nothing behind him, and that he had turned on the lights to the maximum so that everything could not be hidden, he still felt like he was being watched by someone, because it did not lead to the feeling of real danger was too ridiculous, and he did not mention it to Ryan again under his self-esteem, but pressed it in his heart.

(Hallucinations, it's just hallucinations.) ）

He told himself, and then as if the self-hypnosis had taken effect, the gaze seemed to have crept away.

But is that really the case?

"Whew, whew, ah......?!!hh

The next day, he woke up from a familiar nightmare.

Looking at the familiar ceiling above his head, Carl's back was completely soaked, relieved, and he was extremely glad to find that he was still alive, and although the fear of the unknown existence had not faded, it had not further intensified except for the poor quality of his sleep.

In any case, it was just an illusion after all.

While it is true that nightmares have affected his life to some extent, there is nothing hopelessly about finding real people in an illusory world.

Anyway, it should be just his problem, caused by his own experience of being too real in the hypercube and causing his San value to drop by almost half.

――But is that really the case? (To be continued......)