Chapter 1 Being Watched

Li Ang wasn't particularly surprised. His initial Internet Protocol physical address was already compromised; it was only logical that they could trace him back.

If the situation was as serious as they claimed, then the Social Security Administration *not* monitoring him would be abnormal.

Cricket, or the female investigator, said, "I'm going with you."

Li Ang nodded. "Alright, but I can't take you inside the Coast Wizard Association's hideout."

Cricket's antennae twitched slightly. "Why not?"

"You'll see when we get there."

Li Ang didn't bother arguing. He cupped Cricket in his palm, stuffed it into his pocket, looked around, and then sprinted toward the massive hollow pipe at the horizon.

Soon, Li Ang arrived at the pipe.

He reached out, his fingertips stretched and melted against the pipe's surface, and then he was "dragged" inside by an unknown force.

His consciousness rapidly traversed the fiber optic lines. His perception of time seemed to slow as he saw other beings like himself inside the pipe, maintaining a corporeal form.

Humans, elves, demons, cars, containers, octopuses, ants – they were all wizards walking in the data world, each with their own purpose.

Of course, there were also official agents and cybersecurity technicians hired by private companies.

The data world was like that – bizarre exteriors hiding a thousand different faces.

Li Ang didn't interact with these wizards.

Like transcendents, a wizard's greatest threat was always another wizard.

Furthermore, to minimize the risk of being discovered, many wizards changed their appearance each time they entered the data world. Even acquaintances were difficult to recognize unless they were close enough.

Li Ang constantly switched lines, jumping from one node to another, passing countless fortresses and cities, until he finally reached his destination and exited the fiber optic network.

He found himself in a barren plain, no different from where he'd first logged in. But...

Li Ang patted the dazed Cricket in his pocket, allowing it to recover its senses.

Then, he took a few steps forward.

The scenery abruptly transformed. The dry, cracked ground sprouted lush green grass and colorful flowers.

A few more steps and moss and lichen spread beneath his feet. Towering trees rose from the ground, and vines snaked around the branches, rapidly creating the image of a tropical rainforest.

Cricket poked its head out of his pocket, curiously and greedily surveying its surroundings.

The intelligence agencies hated the Coast Wizard Association with a passion. If this were the real world, they'd immediately dispatch bomber squadrons and tank divisions to obliterate the hideout, then send special forces to flush out the wizards hiding in the ruins.

"Don't move."

Li Ang reached out, pressed his finger on Cricket's head, and pushed it back into his pocket.

Instinctively, Cricket wanted to resist, but the next second, a jacamar swooped down, its talons nearly tearing off its head.

"!!!"

Cricket scrambled back into Li Ang's pocket, finally feeling a wave of lingering fear.

"These are all automated programs that can search for external data."

Li Ang walked around a tree, gently pushing aside a vine that hung down like a python.

He steadily reached over his shoulder, removed a colorful spider, and gently placed it back on the tree trunk.

He calmly said, "The members of the Coast Wizard Association don't like outsiders bothering them, whether they're intelligence agents or young wizards trying to prove themselves in the top circles."

This area was automatically generated by a highly advanced encryption algorithm. Every plant and tree was based on subtle, weak signal hints, indicating the next step for visitors.

If someone didn't notice these signals, or misread them,

their brain would be thrown into chaos.

At best, they'd get completely lost and emerge on the other side of the forest.

At worst, they'd provoke the automated programs, triggering an attack,

or even be ejected back into the real world.

After that close call, Cricket didn't dare act rashly and obediently remained in his pocket.

Li Ang weaved through the rainforest, carefully avoiding one deadly trap after another.

Finally, the road ahead opened up, and a wide, deep rift valley appeared at the edge of the rainforest.

The rift valley stretched for kilometers, with a width of nearly two hundred meters. Purple smoke filled the valley floor, and massive monsters swam and floated within the chasm, their spines cutting through the mist like shark fins, obscuring their full forms.

On the cliff at the end of the rift valley stood a grand castle.

The castle was constructed from gray stone, with moss and withered vines covering the bricks near the ground, giving it an ancient appearance.

"We're here."

Li Ang stopped and took Cricket out of his pocket.

The latter scanned the valley with its yellow-brown compound eyes, curious and wary. "What is it?"

"To get to the castle, you have to cross an invisible, segmented staircase. No flying, no teleportation. One wrong step and you'll attract the monsters below the rift valley."

Li Ang stood at the edge of the rainforest and calmly said, "The staircase automatically detects the data passing over it.

All corporeal visitors must cross it alone. Even if I swallowed you whole,

the staircase would pull you out and make you walk it alone.

Unless you're confident that you can rely solely on your brain to process hundreds of subconscious instructions per second, avoid traps, determine the location of the next transparent step, and complete the entire journey,

you're better off staying here and waiting for me to come out."

Cricket didn't respond immediately, seemingly frozen in place, probably communicating with its superiors.

After a dozen seconds, it nodded and jumped off Li Ang's palm.

"Hurry."

Cricket's voice contained a hint of urgency. Li Ang nodded, instructed it not to move around and trigger any traps, and then stepped onto the transparent staircase.

A few minutes later, Li Ang seemingly casually crossed the rift valley, wiped the nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead, and pushed open the heavy doors of the castle.

The interior of the castle's hall was understated yet luxurious.

Crystal chandeliers, hardwood floors, a fireplace burning fragrant wood, famous paintings hanging on the walls, sculptures and porcelain placed on shelves—

it didn't look as old as it appeared from the outside. Even in the data world, wizards wouldn't mistreat themselves.

Several members were already in the hall.

A stone statue of an elephant-headed god was sitting cross-legged on a wool rug, facing the fireplace, eyes closed, warming itself.

A Valkyrie in armor and a feathered helmet sat on a sofa, throwing darts at a target on the wall, hitting the bullseye every time.

Merlin, wearing a green robe and a pointed hat, stood in a corner, quietly talking to a robot.

The robot's face had an electronic screen with an 8-bit animated face.

This was also a wizard, named "Ohm."

Behind them was a table with an old black typewriter on it.

Mailman.

Li Ang, his brows slightly raised beneath the dragon mask, passed by without stopping.

"Samashtr?"

Nicholas, the Internal Revenue Service's most wanted criminal disguised as Santa Claus, was standing behind a table. Seeing Li Ang enter, he called out Brown Murphy's data world nickname. "Why the change of style?"

"New look, new mood."

Li Ang casually replied in the tone of Brown Murphy from his memory.

The Coast Wizard Association's castle base could identify visitors, placing uniquely styled badges on the chests of members—mainly to prevent unpleasant pranks, such as impersonating others and making them look foolish.

Nicholas, with a kindly face, lingered on the lifeless fish eyes of the dragon mask for a moment, and somewhat reluctantly said, "It looks pretty good.

By the way, come take a look at my Christmas plan. Any thoughts?"

As a notorious, or rather infamous, wanted criminal,

Nicholas still maintained his annual tradition of robbing the rich to help the poor every Christmas. On the table in front of him was an hourglass and a three-dimensional map of a medieval fortress.

Between the towers of the fortress on the map grew intricate networks like blood vessels.

"The Swiss Bank?"

Li Ang recognized the location on the map. The blood vessels in the map should represent the bank's cash flow.

"That's right."

Nicholas nodded, speaking in a light tone, "What do outsiders call the Swiss Bank?

A haven, the safest vault, the world's purse?

Heh."

Li Ang asked in surprise, "You breached the Swiss Bank's defenses?"

"Just a little bit."

Nicholas wore a sly smile. "They reconstructed the entire fortress last year. The defenses are pretty good, with highly alert automated programs everywhere.

There are wizards trained by the bank (whose real names have been taken by the bank, and they work in fixed locations) patrolling the perimeter, and many hidden sentries inside.

It took me a lot of effort to find a way..."

He tapped the three-dimensional map of the fortress, and hundreds of new vessels immediately extended from the vascular system representing cash flow,

drilling underground, leading to unknown locations.

"Italian and South American gangs, local warlords, the FBI, the CIA, revolving-door executives and lobbyists in America, multinational criminal organizations...

All the world's ill-gotten gains are stored in there."

A wizard marveled, "You're going to offend a lot of people, Nicholas.

I can't imagine what methods they'll use to greet you if they find out your real name."

"Many people have said the same thing to me, but I'm still doing fine."

Nicholas smiled. "Those hounds trained and recruited by various regional governments (a derogatory term for wizards who succumb to the government),

all grew up in greenhouses.

They never experienced the era of recklessness where one wrong step meant utter destruction.

They have the ability, but lack experience.

They're far from finding me.

Besides, even you can't find my real name."

That was true. The Coast Wizard Association, which gathered the top data plane walkers, couldn't be compared to those small circles formed by amateurs.

Each member, even if judged by the lightest laws, would be imprisoned for a lifetime or two.

In order to obtain benefits,

and to preemptively protect themselves,

each member of the Coast Wizard Association had investigated the identities of others, openly and secretly. Every seemingly casual conversation could be thousands of data attacks, with open and hidden schemes never ceasing.

Nicholas casually flicked the hourglass with his fingernail. The hourglass shook, rotating 180 degrees, and fine sand flowed down. "From now on, every minute, 1.2 million dollars

will flow from the Swiss Bank to hundreds of banks around the world, randomly distributed to family accounts with incomes below the local average.

This small chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!

Until Christmas in three days."

Merlin approached at some point, pondered, and said, "Twenty thousand dollars a second, for three days. A total of 5.184 billion dollars?"

"The total is large, but it all comes from those dormant accounts that haven't been touched for a long time. Only a portion is extracted from each account."

Nicholas smiled. "Those dignitaries who put their ill-gotten gains in bank accounts may not realize they've been stolen for months or even years.

And that amount—which may be astronomical for ordinary families—isn't worth them making a big fuss, forming alliances, and digging three feet into the ground to find the thief."

"A nice Christmas present."

Li Ang nodded and applauded. The other wizards around the table also applauded.

A reserved smile appeared beneath Nicholas's beard. He calmly enjoyed the praise of wizards of his own caliber. Beneath his sparkling eyes, he was probably planning new activities for next Christmas.

"It's really impressive."

Merlin stopped clapping and shook his head. "But Nicholas, don't you think that's still too slow?

Look at the outside world. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening.

A hundred meters away from skyscrapers are crowded slums.

Poor families won't have a happy year because of a few hundred dollars.

Overfed dignitaries won't go bankrupt and perish because they've lost a small portion of their wealth—on the contrary, your robbing the rich to help the poor will make them more eager to find ways to make money, ultimately harming the people.

If you want to do something bigger,

I mean, if your robbing the rich to help the poor is for a sense of justice and not for ostentatious self-satisfaction,

maybe you can cooperate with us..."

Merlin gestured, pointing between himself, the robot Ohm, and the typewriter behind them.

Li Ang's eyes narrowed.

After displaying his "miracles," Mailman continued to recruit, and it seemed he had already won over Merlin and Ohm.

If the Social Security Administration's investigator was telling the truth,

and Mailman had really been controlling the logic modules of the decision-making departments, subtly adjusting the world's direction for as long as four years, and had recently begun trying to control the military system,

then what would be his purpose for recruiting powerful wizards?

To rule the world?

To have the wizards serve as his right-hand men? Or to gather talent around him to prevent these data walkers from interfering with his plans?