"So, didn't you investigate anything?"

Meredith Stott looked at the members reporting in front of her, and her forehead bulged.

She is the head of operations of the military technology group, and in order to seek a high position, she can do anything, which is called unscrupulous, so she is very successful.

She could even search every corner of Night City if she needed to, smashing anyone stupid enough to go against the company, and she thought she was on track to make it to the top within five years, dictating to professionals like herself.

However, this extravagant hope has fallen to the bottom not long ago, and a mysterious man from nowhere has completely destroyed the armory of military technology.

If she can't find this mysterious person, then she can say goodbye to her future.

In order to climb to a high position and for his own future, Meredith was almost crazy to find out the mysterious man who destroyed the company, but the result was only nothing, and he couldn't find any clues at all.

Whether it was the intelligence department or her own eyeliner, the investigation report given was a blank.

Seeing that another investigation failed, Meredith threw the information in his hand on the reporter's face, and the reporter could only show a flattering smile, not daring to reveal the slightest emotion.

Looking at this flattering smile, Meredith became even more irritable in his heart, and directly scolded angrily: "Get out, if there is still no news next time, you can leave the company and become a bum." ”

Hearing Meredith's final announcement, the reporter's smile froze, and he could only leave with his head bowed humbly, not daring to complain.

The official level crushes people to death, not to mention that this is still in the highly competitive company, as long as he dares to complain, then his boss will dare to replace him on the same day.

Watching the reporter bend over and leave, until he was the only one left in the office, Meredith exhaled a depressed breath and pressed his throbbing forehead.

"Can you really just give up ......?"

She really didn't want to give up, but there was no clue, even if she did whatever it took to do it.

Meredith, who shouldn't be good, sat down in her office chair, staring blankly at the void, thinking that she had once done anything to get to this position, and now she would lose the possibility of being promoted to a high position here.

Just as she was despairing about her future, her eyes suddenly froze as a pop-up popped up in her virtual vision.

"Virus?"

Meredith looked at the pop-up window in surprise, and her first reaction was that her brain-computer interface had been hacked by network hackers, otherwise she couldn't explain it.

But before she could make a move, the pop-up window began to scroll from the bottom up, scrolling on the crimes she had committed, and in the process, no matter how much she tried to mobilize her virtual vision, it was useless.

"Damn it!"

Realizing that this pop-up window could not be closed by her own strength, Meredith scolded secretly and immediately wanted to call the company's hackers to solve the problem.

But to her consternation and even horror, she couldn't reach anyone anymore, and the company's network was cut off from her personal link.

In addition to the corporate network, even Night City's city network is disconnected from her, and she becomes an island in the online world, and she is the only one on the island.

Fear crept into her body, Meredith's breathing began to rapid, and in this eerie atmosphere, a muffled sound suddenly reached her ears, as if something had exploded.

And this muffled sound seemed to bring about a chain reaction, and a continuous muffled sound appeared, followed by a bloody, burnt smell gradually began to spread.

Suddenly, Meredith found herself in her virtual vision scrolling to a halt, as if to signal that her approval was coming to an end.

"Actually...... Quite a lot. ”

Meredith tried to hide her fear with disdain, but after holding it for a second or two, it eventually turned into a strange self-deprecation.

Then, at the bottom of the crime, a blood-red sentence suddenly popped out.

【The death penalty】

The bloody sentence stimulated Meredith's nerves, and she tugged at the corners of her mouth in disbelief, her expression distorted: "Death penalty?!" ”

Who dares to judge her!

She is a business executive, the new aristocrat of this world, a person who sits on a luxurious chair on the top of a skyscraper in the company area every day, overlooking the city from a high vantage point.

However, at this moment, looking at the result of this blood-red trial, she only felt that the blood in her whole body was surging up.

A sense of absurdity that is out of step with reality fills her head, causing her eyes to get redder and hotter!

The next second, there was a muffled sound.

Meredith's body shook, his chaotic thoughts paused, his pupils dilated instantly, and his expression slowly dimmed from his eyes.

Then she staggered and fell to the ground, two strands of brains that were burning more than her body temperature slowly flowed out of her nostrils, and a stench of burnt blood spread.

This scenario is not uncommon, generally speaking, if those cyber hackers who dive deep into the network are killed in the cyber world, their way of death will become like this, and their brains will be directly scalded and exploded, and they will die so that they can no longer die.

However, when this not-so-uncommon scenario starts to happen in a steady stream, and the dead people don't have a deep dive network, it becomes quite rare.

Meredith's death didn't make much of a splash, as she wasn't the only company executive to die in Night City.

It's not even company executives, some gang bosses, and some evil guys, whose brains have been scalded by their own brain-computer interfaces.

At first, no one cared about the people who died because of the people who died because there weren't too many people in the city as a whole.

It wasn't until the so-called criminal trial appeared in everyone's virtual vision that the residents of Night City realized that this event was closely related to everyone.

Everyone's crimes are different, some are more, some are less, and some are even none.

Precautions are also marked below the crime, including the length of the sentence, what actions will increase the sentence, and so on.

If you wait quietly for the trial, you can naturally reduce your sentence; If you are not satisfied with the verdict and deliberately do something to increase the sentence, you will naturally wait for the death penalty without accidents.

Because there is an example of a brain explosion in front of him, no one dares to ignore the news floating on his virtual vision, and no one dares to test it with his own life.

Those who dare to test are already cold even with boiling brains.

It's not that no one has tried to contact the outside world, but no matter how much they try, they can't reach other networks, and all networks in Night City are cut off.

There are also people who want to escape Night City, and then they realize that even if they flee outside, the trial of their crimes has not disappeared.

Of course, this is only a very small number of people, and most of them are still quietly staying in Night City.

After all, for them, even if the earth explodes tomorrow, they still have to live today.

Everyone is guessing who is behind the scenes, Arasaka, Military Technology, Kang Tao...... There is even speculation about aliens, that is, no one guesses about the new company established in Taiping Chau.

At the moment, within the Metal Gear Solid Company.

"I'll go, this is too fierce, it's worthy of the AI I designed."

Xia Yu couldn't help but boast as he watched the AI taken out of the group devastate the network of Night City and start the Great Trial.

They are all Xia Yu, so is there a problem with him saying that the AI designed by other Xia Yu was designed by him? That's going to be fine.

After this AI swallowed and fused the network of Night City, Xia Yu issued an order for the AI to open a big trial for everyone through the information stored on the network.

Damn it, stay it.

Unite Night City, then experiment with the Inquisition, and then slowly spread across the globe until the world's web is reunited.

At present, it seems that the practice of trial has not caused a backlash, and the vast majority of people have accepted this trial, after all, those who did not accept it are dead.

Through Night City's experiments, the trial is feasible, and Xia Yu straightforwardly asks the AI to devour other local networks, so that all networks can be reunited.

Moreover, through the Internet, people's brains can explode and die in an instant, and the emergence of war is also avoided.

Unless someone has neither a prosthetic nor a brain-computer interface, and is a pure human, but such a guy can't afford to make any waves.

Even if you insist on yourself, this world is already inseparable from the Internet, and even the wanderers in the Badlands have brain-computer interfaces and prosthetic bodies.

After receiving Xia Yu's order, the chat group AI directly and coldly began its own devouring.

Those who dare to stop their own wandering AI directly assimilate and devour, and those who dare not stop it will be temporarily circled and wait for Xia Yu to fall.

As the online world is getting bigger and bigger, the speed of chat group AI is getting faster and faster, including other human-controllable networks, are linked.

Since the collapse of the old network, the controllable network of mankind has become an isolated island, and it is no longer the global communication platform it once was.

Today's web is largely made up of a few scattered local hubs, public forums for national governments, state governments, city networks, and a combination of domain names for private companies, among others.

Whether it's internal communication, work, entertainment, or advertising, it can only take place within these controllable networks.

However, in the horrified eyes of those rulers, these networks, which were originally isolated islands, were connected by an even more powerful force.

Whether it is a controllable network for human beings or an uncontrollable old network, it is actually merging!

The convergence period naturally brought a data crash, but this collapse was quickly contained, and the power of the converged network forcibly stabilized the collapse.

By the time governments and giant corporations finally reacted and prepared to implement emergency protocols, the convergence of networks had gradually stopped, and the silos of data and code were gone forever, leaving only a data fortress that brought everything together.

And when this data fortress appeared, everyone was horrified to find that a crime trial popped up in their virtual vision, regardless of the country, regardless of identity, everyone has it.

(End of chapter)