"Let's stop with the questions. Communicating via the public network might attract Internet Surveillance. We need to start solving your problem now."

Serum urged.

[Mission Objective Updated]

[Activate [Cyber Era]. (Not Achieved)]

The game program was activated.

John felt his consciousness spinning around like in a washing machine. A cold sensation pierced from the back of his head through his skull, reaching his temples.

He couldn't hear anything.

The loading interface shattered with invisible ripples.

[Communication Channel Established.]

[Unknown Contact/Implicit Approval]

John entered the deep dive game, jumping from the local network cyberspace into the company's built cloud server.

Serum would direct his actions through the headband.

[Serum: The first load requires verifying your biological information and synchronizing with the corresponding cloud account. You don't have to start the game from scratch or expose your personal information, because I've prepared a character profile for you in advance. Now, scanning for you.]

"Sounds impressive."

John had encountered "Cyber Era" before and even helped Angelica with two accounts stuck in the game.

"There must be many multinational companies behind this game? Ordinary hackers wouldn't be able to handle this!"

[Serum: Because ordinary hackers don't have the key. What I'm using now is Bismarck's project key. It allows us to access a developer platform filled with data backdoors.]

John felt something was off.

"Why leave security vulnerabilities in the game?"

[Serum: Because there's more than one multinational company behind Cyber Era, and humans are creatures that attack, betray, and plot against each other.]

"Ha, great, AI and human interactions, let's end this topic. Seriously, what does the company dog gain by leaving backdoors and sending hacker spies inside?"

[Serum: Like us, they are searching for some abnormal game accounts in this Eden. The company is also looking for this data and trying to communicate with them.]

"Hey, wait, them!?"

John realized something.

[Serum: That's right, John, there are AI smuggled over from behind the black wall on the game server, similar to my state, capable of communication, and there's potential for collaboration.]

"Fuck!"

John felt a chill down his back.

The company and Internet Surveillance promote the roaming AI threat theory every day, yet they put user consciousness and AI on the same server!

[Serum: Don't be too nervous, the black wall's restrictions still exist. We're just using the game for smuggling, and there's little we can do. AIs willing to jump here each have their reasons.]

Serum finished the adjustments.

The world before John's eyes began to reorganize, much like Harbor Company's combat tests.

He logged in at the location of a skyscraper.

It was tall, with an architectural height unattainable in reality. Each floor had extravagant designs, with glistening lights occasionally flickering, and surreal sound effects audible from afar.

This was the ultimate arena of "Cyber Era".

Including Boxers, various professions eventually come here to compete for the ultimate reward of the mission line.

John had learned about it when helping Angelica with her account.

But at that time, the character's level was nowhere near enough for this place, and the game account provided by Serum gave him a sense of lightness and fulfillment upon login. As the headband connected with the server, body data unattainable in reality started meshing with his nerves.

John accessed the user interface.

The fighting data of this account was very high, with reaction parameters outrageously fast, able to simulate Sianweistan's effects in the game.

[Serum: We are not here to grind and level up. I've downloaded hundreds of fighting chips into the holographic headband and opened a backdoor. You can tap into this data to cheat, until you catch the attention of "Sora".]

[Mission Objective Updated]

[Continuously Match Game Opponents. (Not Achieved)]

The scenery in John's vision began to shake.

Soon after, skyscrapers collapsed into a dim octagonal cage, the electrified barbed wire draped with numerous charred bodies, with blood-red graffiti flowing around, and a heavily modified, burly opponent waiting for him.

This was a player.

John easily dodged while assessing, blending the chip's moves with the Igdrasir's combat integration program, flipping over and delivering a whip kick onto the opponent.

Bang!

There was an incongruous sensation of a grenade explosion.

The brute of flesh and blood flew back, losing half his health bar to the barbed wire.

"This game's too fake!"

In reality, John also made a living off killing, thus the strong sense of incongruity was telling him—this was a game, regardless of the body or details.

But the competitive element did exist.

Once actions became exaggerated, it demanded higher reaction capabilities, requiring responses to each move.

John was a cheater.

"Cyber Era" prohibited chips, with all data having to be ground out in the game with money or time.

However, Serum had boosted John.

He could access chip moves from the headband, and had altered the reaction parameters, so every opponent on the arena was actually competing against a database.

There was no suspense,

John's win streak quickly reached double digits.

He didn't spend much time, gradually losing interest—after all, it was a virtual product, detaching from reality to provide stronger sensory stimulation for players. The higher the account level, the more exaggerated the attack effects.

In other projects, there were reportedly "magic components," enabling players to experience warriors slaying dragons, or superheroes saving or destroying cities storylines.

In comparison...

John's here was already quite "real".

With each subsequent match, the arena's scenes collapsed and reassembled.

John battled a bio-fanatic by a pool of strong acid, dealt with a ghostly killer on a burning intercity train, dueled with a Butcher in the heart of a gang war, and even engaged in a life-or-death chase with a lunatic from a special ops team...

These scenes were set by players according to their preferences, a so-called home field advantage.

Yet ultimately, they couldn't withstand a cheater like John.

Especially with a roaming AI performing real-time calibration between the headband and server.

Winning was preordained.

After another match concluded,

John's headband's indicator light flickered an unusual yellow.

It seemed something was on its way; a mosaic and fragmented red-black data flashed before his eyes once a match succeeded.

This was the "incongruity" detected during server checks, caused by Serum's coexistence with another "large data," resulting in malfunctions with deep diving equipment.

John's consciousness was nearly kicked out, only to be forcibly pulled back.

Serum monitored the equipment operation throughout.

John cautiously cooperated during this process—primarily by restraining Black Light's control over the equipment while not obstructing Serum's operations, else the game would surely malfunction due to a three-way struggle.

The arena changed once again.

The grid floor collapsed into pieces of linen-colored tatami, with walls and weapon racks appearing around.

Compared to the exaggerated and insane home field constructions of other opponents, this one appeared "normal and cozy."

Bang, bang.

The punching bag hanging in the corner shook with each hit.

"Phew~ another cheater."

It was a fresh-faced young man, standard Asian features, well-proportioned build, unlike other opponents with muscle-bound and prosthetic bodies.

"You data miners always can't keep your hands off, phew~ lacking a sense of responsibility towards this virtual world, phew! Always cutting corners!"

He spoke while pummeling the punching bag in front of him.

Each move transitioned swiftly, even while talking, maintaining his attacking rhythm, exuding an aura of an "advanced player."

John's expression became solemn.

[Account Nickname: Kenichi Sora]

[Matches: 687]

[Win Rate: 100%]

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