“I really should have immigrated sooner.”

Thomas’ voice was extremely weak. “The rebel armed forces have blockaded my city.

Ports, highways, flights, all suspended.

The coastline and small roads are also full of checkpoints.

I originally thought this was just a coincidence,

But after discovering that Ohm’s life or death was uncertain, I realized that this was a trap.

A trap targeting wizards.

If the Mailman really wants to rule the world through data and information systems,

Then we, the disobedient, most powerful, and most likely to discover him, are undoubtedly stumbling blocks on his path—he simply doesn't need too many people to share power with him.

Ohm is already dead, and the Mailman has begun to command armed forces to search the district I am in. It is estimated that it will not be long before they reach my area.”

Thomas slowly exhaled a breath of stale air: “I cannot contact the American intelligence agencies. He must have already controlled the monitoring satellites in near-Earth orbit and infiltrated every corner of Venezuela.

Once the agents of the American intelligence agencies are dispatched, wanting to take me to a safe house, he will instantly lock onto my location,

He might even launch a missile to destroy the street I am on, in order to silence me.

Also, I cannot confirm the extent of the Mailman’s infiltration of the American intelligence agencies—perhaps the Mailman himself is an internal member of the intelligence agencies, or an entire shadow system behind a revolving door.

They are unwilling to see the decline of American hegemony, and are maliciously subverting other forces in secret.

Perhaps all of this is a trick to scare me, and he is just waiting for me to panic and fall into his trap.

My only way now is to find his real name before he finds me,

And threaten him with his true identity.

However...

If you hear this message, it proves that my plan has failed.

My ending is self-evident.”

Thomas said with a wry smile: “My old friend, now you have three choices.

The first choice is to sit in your seat and pretend that nothing has happened. After the recording is over, leave the castle, hide yourself well, and inform the intelligence agencies of different countries of the news,

Let them increase their efforts to search for the Mailman's whereabouts—Venezuela is relatively poor and backward, and has no strategic significance internationally.

The turmoil that occurred here is clearly an experiment, a large-scale attempt to subvert other political entities.

A wizard far away in a foreign land can use all the automated decision-making systems in the world for his own use without even lifting a finger.

This fear will definitely make the intelligence agencies of all countries act quickly.

As long as the news spreads widely enough, even if the Mailman's backer is really the American Social Security Administration or other departments, they must give an explanation to other greatly shocked political entities.

Completely stop the Mailman's plan, or start World War III...

The latter possibility is relatively small, after all, America's ‘Zeus’ system (near-Earth orbit military satellites that can launch lasers to destroy intercontinental missiles) is not unique internationally.

Even if a world war breaks out, there will not be intercontinental nuclear missiles flying all over the sky,

Instead, it will become a traditional war of land, sea, and air conventional forces.

The second option is to stop plane-walking and completely abandon brain-computer interface devices.

Quietly enjoy the rest of your life, and coldly watch the Mailman's crazy actions.

Your whereabouts have not been completely exposed, and the Mailman has not found your real name yet.

Now, take your savings and live in a remote mountain forest that is completely disconnected from the Internet. Maybe even after the Third World War without nuclear missiles has passed, you won’t even know what happened.

And the third option...”

Thomas’ usually frivolous voice suddenly became serious, “After leaving the message, I will start trying to seize control of several giant computers in South America.

If the plan goes smoothly, I can smoothly take over the giant computers and first start cleaning up the data centers in various regions of South America—the Mailman always controls Venezuela’s automated decision-making system.

He has to hide his tracks and call a large number of processors for calculation, which is convenient for him to adjust the automated decision-making system.

Then he will definitely not set the calculation location too far away, it must be near the South American mainland,

Otherwise, the bandwidth for cross-border transmission would be too obvious.

Top wizards, like you and me, will soon discover it.

Assuming that it is not found in various South American data centers, then I will start to check the communication satellites in near-Earth orbit one by one.”

Thomas' voice carried a hint of his signature cunning, "This is also my open conspiracy,

Regardless of whether the plan to find the Mailman is successful or not, I will carry out destruction at the data level.

When you hear this message,

If the real world has news of [South American data centers being invaded by wizards],

Then it proves that my guess is correct, the Mailman, or at least his computing program, is hidden in the data center.

I will fight him to the death.

If there is no news of [South American data centers being invaded] in the real world,

Then my guess is also correct, the Mailman is also hidden in the data center, but his strength is far superior to mine,

He can completely subdue me before I start to destroy.

If in the real world, there is news of [South American data centers being invaded], but there is no news of [near-Earth orbit communication satellites being invaded by wizards],

It proves that the Mailman is hidden inside the communication satellite.”

After Thomas finished this awkward and complicated speculation, which was like a tongue twister, he said in a deep voice: "I may not be able to defeat the Mailman, but at least I can seriously injure him, or leave traces in the center of the battlefield.

You can go to the center of the battlefield to find clues.

No matter how capable the Mailman is, he will not risk completely exposing himself at this stage and destroy the data center or communication satellite—he may not even have that ability.

In short,

Whether to oppose him or not, the choice is yours.

My message is over, remember to delete the dialogue records of the castle servant program, good luck, my friend.”

Accompanied by a “beep” prompt, the message playback program buried in the chessboard automatically formatted itself,

Li Ang picked up the last black piece and slowly leaned his body back into the seat.

He could hear Merlin and Ohm, not far behind, still acting like salesmen,

Promoting their “great cause” with the Mailman.

If Thomas wasn’t lying, then Ohm, who was standing there with a simple and honest smile, was already an empty shell...

During the time Li Ang was playing chess, Merlin and the others didn't look over,

The typewriter also stayed on the table properly, with no signs of typing automatically.

“...”

Li Ang rubbed the dragon whiskers of his mask, his brain running rapidly,

Distinguishing between truth and falsehood, calculating risks, and weighing gains and losses.

His impression of Thomas came entirely from Brown Murphy's memories,

But listening to the half-frivolous, half-heavy voice in the message,

Thomas' black and white circular face (Thomas' image in the virtual world is the little train from that classic children's animation) slowly appeared in front of him, extremely clear.

“Hoo...”

Li Ang exhaled a breath of stale air, threw the chess pieces casually on the table, and snapped his fingers, causing the chessboard to dissipate.

He turned his head, looked left and right, as if he was bored because Thomas himself had not arrived for a long time.

After waiting for a moment, he slapped his thigh, stood up from the sofa, and walked towards the castle gate.

“Samast, are you leaving so early today?”

Merlin, standing not far away, waved to Li Ang with a smile, “Aren’t you staying? There’s a party tonight.”

“Not today.”

Li Ang waved his hand and walked straight to the main entrance of the castle, pushing the door open and walking out.

Leaving the Coast Wizard Association stronghold was much easier than when he came,

The complexity of the transparent stairs dropped sharply. Li Ang stepped on the suspended ladder at a leisurely pace, passed through the canyon, and arrived at the opposite side of the rift valley.

The female investigator, transformed into a cricket, lay honestly on the trunk of a tree, motionless, for fear of arousing the attack of the surrounding automated programs—her talent for walking in the data plane could only be said to be average.

Being besieged “death” by programs was a small matter,

Attracting the attention of other wizards or even the Mailman was a big deal.

Seeing Li Ang finally walking out of the castle, the antennae on the top of the cricket's head moved slightly.

Li Ang hooked his palm imperceptibly, and the cricket immediately jumped off the bark and landed on Li Ang's palm.

The cricket said nervously: “What’s the matter, any news about the Mailman?”

Li Ang did not rush to answer, and quickly passed through the entire rainforest, away from the scope of the Coast Wizard Association.

As the distance widened, the rainforest gradually disappeared, turning into an ordinary wasteland landscape.

While Li Ang strode towards the fiber optic network, he quickly told her the message from Thomas that he had heard.

Thomas's conjecture that the recent turmoil in Venezuela was artificially manipulated,

Greatly shocked the female investigator and the Social Security Administration behind her. The cricket seemed to turn into a statue in a matter of minutes, motionless.

The Mailman's plan was not just to usurp power in the United States, he even wanted to carry out vertical rule over the world.

Venezuela, with its 31 million people, was only the initial small piece of territory for him.

Li Ang ignored the frozen cricket.

At this time, the female investigator and even her superior's authority was definitely not enough. They must have reported the news layer by layer.

Although the American decision-making system has always been slow and lazy, when it comes to life, their speed of action must be fast, even if they don't want to.

Soon, the cricket's antennae moved slightly.

The female investigator's voice contained a trace of imperceptible fear, and her tone was much more peaceful and polite, "What are you going to do?"

“Give me control of the entire federal data system, let me control all the federal data computing centers, open up the confidential local area network including the military system to me, and let me retrieve all the old data.”

Li Ang's tone was flat, as if he was saying that he wanted to eat egg fried rice tonight.

“Impossible.”

The female investigator refused directly without thinking, “One Mailman is troublesome enough, we don’t need a second one.”

The wizard's talent for data manipulation is extraordinary power.

The processing power of the wizard's processor is the upper limit of the total amount of extraordinary power.

The bandwidth that the wizard masters is the output efficiency of extraordinary power.

Let Li Ang access the data system and open up all permissions to him,

Means that Li Ang can see everything in an instant, and see all the secrets accumulated by the federal data system for decades.

Small to someone or a certain group's embezzlement and bribery,

Large to secret military action records and the specific location of missile bases.

“You are holding a gun to my head in the real world, okay? If I’m not mistaken, you have also arranged snipers in the houses near the community.”

Li Ang said helplessly, “If I make any move, you can shoot me to death.”

“Your application will not be approved.”

The female investigator's voice calmed down again.

The wizard's methods are numerous and complex. Li Ang can make countless dangerous behaviors in the short time he takes over the permissions.

Leaking secrets and letting enemy forces know the deployment of American military forces is the lightest thing,

If he takes the opportunity to hack into the military system and launch missiles—even if only one or two succeed, it would be enough to cause the biggest man-made disaster this century.

Uh... the Venezuelan turmoil that broke out before doesn't count.

“But we can give you other help.”

The cricket said, “Where are you going now?”

“Venezuela.”

Li Ang's words were clean and neat. He stretched out his hand, touched the outside of the fiber optic tunnel, and his figure disappeared instantly.

————

The feeling of traveling through the fiber optic tunnel is similar to the transmission of the Killing Field system.

The next second, Li Ang jumped out of the tunnel and came to the Venezuelan network node.

The image here is like a modern city,

There are both high-rise buildings (large data centers) lined up,

There are also scattered bungalows (servers of small and medium-sized enterprises),

Some automated programs responsible for guarding the streets.

In fact, there was no news of [South American data centers being invaded by wizards] in the real world today,

But this does not mean that Thomas guessed wrong.

Li Ang hovered in mid-air, and invisible and intangible divine power poured out around him,

Shining on the surface of the city like sunlight.

The high-rise buildings transformed from large data centers immediately revealed flaws.

Their surfaces melted like candles, revealing a devastated essence.

Last night, a big battle broke out here. The two sides were both top wizards, but one side's computing power was obviously dominant. Not only did they eliminate their opponents, but they also had the energy to create the illusion that everything was normal...

“Detected, foreign intrusion program.

Strategy: Clear.”

The automatic program robots on the ground turned their eyes from black to red, and attacked Li Ang without any hesitation.

At the same time, on the edge of the city, dark canopies quickly rose up, covering the entire network node.

This is a trap.

The thought instantly flashed in Li Ang's mind. A green data stream flowed in his hand, forming the appearance of a Basha Heng Lan Shuo,

A single sweep of the spear shattered a large number of oncoming anti-virus programs.

Bang bang bang.

The Colt revolver continued to fire, and each shot could wipe out more than ten anti-virus programs.

There is no need to suppress strength in the script world.

Li Ang easily cleared the obstacles and rushed towards the most dilapidated data center.

Suddenly, a gust of wind rose sharply.

Li Ang's pupils shrank, his feet heavily trampled on the steps formed by [Ladder Cloud Vertical], and his waist twisted back at an intuitively strange angle.

The Basha Heng Lan Shuo he was holding was in front of him.

Boom! ! !

A giant fireball with a diameter of twenty meters, flying from nowhere, instantly engulfed Li Ang's figure.

The exploding flames shot straight into the sky.

After a few seconds, the flames dissipated.

Li Ang landed on the edge of the wall of the data center ruins, his white coat tattered and full of scorch marks.

“...”

Li Ang was silent, patted his chest lightly, activated alchemy, and caused the dragon head mask and white coat to regrow.

He was ambushed.

The ambusher was Merlin, who was slowly descending in the extreme distance.

“Samast, Samast.”

Merlin held a staff, shook his head, slowly landed on the top of a tall building, and sighed, “Why are you so stubborn?

You don't want the chance to become a superior person, but you have to oppose us.”

“You’re following me?”

Li Ang glanced at his palm. The green cricket transformed from the female investigator did not withstand the impact of the fireball just now and had dissipated.

Looking up again, the dark canopy had covered the entire network node,

Unable to see the stars in the sky symbolizing communication satellites.

This place has been blocked.

Well, since the Mailman can manipulate the armed forces of Venezuela at will, it is not difficult to send troops to directly take over the data center in the real world.

“Follow?”

Merlin shook his head and said, “Your technology is not as strong as you think, and I am not as weak as you think.

Thomas thought he was great, but he still died in my hands in the end.

With his character, it is impossible not to have a backup plan.

After playing a game of chess with the automated program he left behind, you left the castle—this performance is too obvious.

You are too hasty.”

“You were the one who fought him yesterday? When you say death, are you referring to the data world or the real world?”

Li Ang frowned and said, “Wait, you should know that Ohm, who first cooperated with the Mailman,

Died in Venezuela in the real world, right?

What the Mailman wants is to rule the world. To this end, he needs to eliminate the great wizards who pose a threat to him one by one.

First Ohm, then Thomas, then me.

Cooperating with him is tantamount to seeking skin from a tiger...”

Merlin seemed not to have heard Li Ang's words, his expression was calm, and he said to himself: “I’ll give you one last chance, agree to cooperate with us, and I can let you live.

If you don't agree, I will kill you, then discover your real name,

Finally, I’ll kill you again in the real world.”

“You know.”

A flash of light flashed in Li Ang’s eyes, “You know that Ohm and Thomas are already dead, and you don’t care at all...

What benefits did the Mailman give you?

No, with your character,

No matter how much the Mailman promises, it is not worth mentioning in the face of death.

You are sure that the Mailman cannot harm you,

Then you and the Mailman have a cooperative relationship in the real world? Do you have his real name? Or are you the Mailman?”

“Sigh...”

Li Ang’s self-questioning attitude made Merlin sigh, tighten his wooden staff, and said leisurely: “If you are unwilling to cooperate, then die.”

Dong.

The wooden staff heavily poked on the top of the building.

The server that originally belonged to a certain company in Venezuela was instantly taken over by Merlin, providing a large amount of computing power.

Massive tree people grew out of the soil, waving their branch arms and striding towards Li Ang.