The core members of the Voodoo Gang are few, but each one is an elite hacker, top-tier even if placed in large corporations.

No one knows how they recruit these individuals, and coincidentally, they're all Haitian black people.

Their bases are spread throughout Taiping Continent, and even those who haven't been to Taiping Continent have heard of the Voodoo Gang.

Moreover, their encounters with the Internet Supervisor are just as frequent as those of the large corporations; you could say they are a minor nuisance to the Internet Supervisor.

"Neptune, from now on, don't let Placid get involved in these matters, and don't tell him anything about relinc."

After sending away that big guy, Brigitte rubbed her brow wearily.

"He's just straightforward, you know."

The black man called Neptune got up from the hacker's chair and unplugged the data cable from the back of his neck.

"Many Haitians have been helped by Placid; he's simply seen too much."

Though the Voodoo Gang's core is in the network, people need to eat, and Placid is responsible for handling the Voodoo Gang's affairs in reality.

Seeing too much naturally leads to thinking from a real-world perspective.

"He's a headstrong beast, Neptune, only focused on solving the immediate needs but unable to see the core of the problem."

Brigitte walked to the computer, gathering the recently collected data with an expressionless face, speaking in a flat tone.

"We've made quite a bit of money over these times, and for us, spending hundreds of thousands is not a problem, but what good does spreading those hundreds of thousands do?"

"Maybe provide a few meals for our Haitian compatriots on Taiping Continent?"

"Once the money is spent, everything will return to square one, the hungry will still be hungry; we can't feed so many people as long as companies exist and as long as this world exists, everything will just get worse."

"The only way to escape all this is through the network; there's no hunger, no disease, no corporations, everything we need in the network is more beautiful than reality, isn't it?"

Brigitte shook her head, unwilling to continue the discussion, and Neptune chose to remain silent.

As they walked out of the building and down the overpass, Brigitte glanced at the chaotic crowd of Haitians still kneeling and worshiping around the church, her eyes flashed with disgust and disdain.

She said to Neptune,

"Warn Michelle, tell him it's better to spend energy on what he has rather than preaching; he left Haiti alive, so he shouldn't be tangled with those Old Gods, true power isn't those useless straw idols."

"I'll go check the subway tunnel, the subnet Sea God seemed to have a bug earlier and needs maintenance."

Neptune nodded, understanding who Brigitte referred to as Michelle.

One of the people who followed Captain Philip across the Atlantic to Night City.

Now, the only Haitian survivor from that ship.

A legendary figure among the Haitians of Taiping Continent, he has nearly become a spiritual belief, an embodiment of the divine.

Though as a Haitian, Brigitte despises such superstition, she feels Michelle has never really moved past that tsunami.

With science advancing so much that hovercars fly indiscriminately and there are people everywhere in space, companies have even built structures on the moon, yet this relic still dances superstitiously, praying for those illusory gods to save Haitians, isn't it laughable?

Moreover, he's constantly opposing them; if not for Michelle's reputation, she'd have sent someone to kill the old fool long ago.

Honestly, compared to Michelle, the slippery Hansen's lapdog who split the Voodoo Gang and hid in Dogtown a few years ago seems much more favorable.

......

"Did Brigitte send you to find me?"

Seeing the blond-haired black man walk into his room, Michelle, who had just finished praying for the congregation and was resting in his room, lay on the bed.

[Just entered the Voodoo Gang, the dead being worshiped in that church]

His long white hair shone brightly against his crumpled black skin.

Yet he wore sunglasses, covering the only visible white on his face, making it unclear whether his eyes were open, closed, or simply blind.

"Brigitte, she…"

The young hacker called Neptune sat honestly beside Michelle.

"Sent me to see you."

"She wanted you to connect with the Internet Supervisor, and now you're bold enough to deceive even me?"

Michelle grabbed a handful of addictive candy from the table and began chewing it.

These are common street candies, just two pieces can open children's doors to a new world, ensuring a future market.

Michelle also enjoyed these.

Seeing Neptune remain silent, he continued, "Is she still trying to find a breach in the Black Wall?"

"Yes."

Neptune appeared a bit dejected, "She's still trying to find Outkanning, hoping to replicate the miracle that happened to Captain Philip."

"She says it might allow us Haitians to completely break free from the world's suffering, and it seems she's found a bit of a way."

"Hmph, she's just daydreaming."

Michelle sneered at Brigitte's ideas.

"I've seen the world beyond the Black Wall firsthand, those rogue AIs are demons coveting humanity."

Under the sunglasses, his eyes seemed to travel back in time, returning to when the ship was battered by waves in the Atlantic.

Those AIs played with everyone on the ship like hell's demons, including Michelle and Philip among top hackers appearing as a flickering flame in a storm, easily extinguished.

To keep everyone on the ship alive, they made a deal with the demons.

After landing, some wanted to go back on the deal as if nothing happened, since rogue AIs couldn't cross the Black Wall to harm them.

Some witnessed the power of demons, believing the world would inevitably be destroyed, hence devoted themselves to cyberspace, even willing to rely on AIs.

Michelle swallowed the candy, this hallucinogenic drug seemed to have no effect on him, and he continued to babble coherently.

"Don't think too highly of this woman, Brigitte doesn't care about anyone except herself."

"Compared to this woman, I still prefer Slippery, at least that blind guy is more straightforward, he likes money.

"And the Internet Supervisor, those people also have issues, they're not clean. Be careful when you make connections with Mossley, don't let them trip you up."

"Hmm." Neptune nodded and was about to get up and leave, seemingly forgetting the task Brigitte had given him.

Finally, as he was heading out, Michelle called him back.

"Remember to tell Brigitte I've received her warning."

......

Likewise, underground, where Brigitte was located was not as damp and dark as the sewers.

The Voodoo Gang chose the abandoned subway station in the Taiping Continent as their base, not only spacious, solid, and sturdy, but they also could freeload the subway company's electricity.

It's known that high-powered computers have a terrifying demand for electricity.

A myriad of servers were neatly and orderly stacked in the original subway workshop, dense cables hanging down, converging under several central servers.

The few people operating here were all high-level members of the Voodoo Gang, Brigitte's confidantes.

This was the Voodoo Gang's network.

Servers independent of the city network, independent computing modes, things that even major gangs like the Tiger Claws didn't have.

This was the greatest heritage brought from Haiti.

'Sea God subnet connected'

In cyberspace, the endless tide of information simulated real ocean waves, and compared to it, Brigitte was almost an ant, yet she could swim within it.

In the absence of external interference, hackers could call these information data at will like gods, simulating anything they wanted.

The more data there was, the closer the simulation was to reality.

This was the allure of the network.

And the things stored in the Voodoo Gang's subnet were far more than just a pile of information.

There's also the one called Sea God by the Voodoo Gang, Philip Orestes.

The formless data gradually coalesced into a terrifyingly huge face.

AI, roving AI

What's the difference between the two?

There's only one answer.

The obedient ones are AI, the disobedient ones are roving AI.

Very direct, very realistic.

Otherwise, how do you think Delaman can still run taxis in Night City, even flipping the boss without anyone caring?

Because he obeys the rules established by human society, so he's not a roving AI.

Many know the Voodoo Gang has a subnet named Sea God, but they're not aware there's a Sea God hidden within the subnet.

And the Sea God was not naturally born but is an AI born within the Black Wall.

On that stormy rainy night over the ocean, to fulfill a transaction with demons, surrounded by many devils, it transformed itself into one of the devils.

Brigitte stared at the face that could be described as terrifying, striving to associate it with the humanoid she first met over a decade ago.

But regrettably, she couldn't recall the face she saw then, and correspondingly, the face before her was no longer the original Philip Orestes.

"Great new god!"

Brigitte appeared particularly humble before the human face, knowing well the other was AI yet still using human etiquette.

Mere seconds ago, she scorned the Haitians' faith in the old gods, and the next moment, she was crawling at the feet of the new god.

"We've found a way to contact Outkanning, Huang Ban seems to have developed a relic 2.0 version, and they're using Johnny Silverhand's imprint. If I can get it, I can bypass the Black Wall, freeing myself from this mortal shell."

Brigitte didn't know how jealous she was of Outkanning.

Such an extraordinary hacking talent, coupled with inventing the Soulkiller, a program worthy of being recorded in history.

The equation for humans transforming into data lifeforms was born in her hands.

In the old net, she was famously Lilith.

Every single thing she could never accomplish in her lifetime.

The voice of the enormous face transformed into data poured into Brigitte's body, making her understand the meaning.

"Brigitte... you're doing well... but it's far from enough... Black Wall... needs a breakthrough...find a way."

Brigitte's expression froze.

Breakthrough the Black Wall, she had no damn way.

Those major corporations exhaust every effort, spending vast amounts of resources just to stabilize the passage, yet with the mere handful from the Voodoo Gang, they'd be smashed by the Internet Supervisor with the Anti-Terrorism Squad before even starting.

Major corporations can do it because they give the Internet Supervisor loads of money, it doesn't mean the Voodoo Gang can do it.

But Brigitte suppressed her racing thoughts, 'piously' saying,

"We're trying our best..."

The Voodoo Gang's hackers were all nurtured by the Sea God, this AI was a seed planted within the wall by outside devils, hoping it could root and sprout inside the wall, piercing through a corner of the Black Wall.

But human hearts may be far more complicated and shortsighted than AI imagined...

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