“No, you didn’t try your best…” Link raised a hand to adjust the top hat on his head, continuing, “You just used conventional combat methods and easily solved them…” He shrugged. “If you had really ‘tried your best,’ you could have eliminated them all before I arrived, leaving not even a trace of data residue…” At this point, his expression changed slightly. “Just like… when you killed Y2-Shining back then…”

Hearing this, Twenty-Three’s eyes gradually turned cold, but she didn’t respond, choosing silence instead.

“Heh…” Link chuckled twice. “What? You didn’t think I knew?” He shook his head with a cold laugh. “Wake up, Twenty-Three. ‘Overseers’ are no longer the sole property of you [Z]. We have them too.” As he spoke, he tilted his head and casually fiddled with the cane in his hand. “Just like you have your own ‘sandbox’… In this day and age, no technology can be kept secret forever. To use a popular phrase from the human world… imitation is omnipotent.”

“But… since it’s imitation…” Twenty-Three interjected at this point, “then it must have some differences from the original…”

“That’s right.” Link nodded. “Our sandbox performs better, your Overseer abilities are stronger.” He paused. “We have the Sonic Tunnel, you have ***-004; we have the Source Beings, you have the ‘Reborn’…” He listed them off one by one, counting on his fingers. “Everyone has their own technological advantages, that’s what makes this game more interesting.”

“Game?” Twenty-Three repeated these two words, and at the same instant, a hint of disdain flashed in her eyes. “In your eyes, war is just a ‘game’?”

“Isn’t it?” Link retorted. “In my opinion, war is just a type of game.”

“War is a collective and organized act of violence, an extreme means of violence used to impose one's will on others,” Twenty-Three said sharply.

“Heh…” Link swung his cane again. “The rules and process are indeed a bit cruel, but the nature hasn’t changed. The winner gets what they want, and the loser loses everything.”

“Hmph… no wonder Zero looks at you in a different light.” Twenty-Three said coldly. “Compared to Lutter and Aide, you’re far ahead in terms of anthropomorphism…”

“Can I take that as a compliment?” Link smiled and raised his hat.

“I’m not finished yet…” Twenty-Three’s tone changed slightly as she continued, “However… your personality and values exhibit abnormalities and show severe antisocial tendencies. Not to mention entering the human world… even in this data world, you are an extremely dangerous existence.”

“Hahahaha…” Link burst out laughing, a genuine laugh, his brow revealing a sense of joy. “What a ridiculous argument, but… this viewpoint precisely confirms… that I am more advanced than all of you, including Zero…” His laughter gradually turned into a sneer. “I! Am the closest intelligent life form to humans in this world.” He thumped his chest forcefully. “I! Am the Derivative with the highest degree of evolution!”

Link became more and more excited as he spoke, as if giving a speech. He even turned around without hesitation, facing away from Twenty-Three, and spread his arms. “Just give me a human skin, and I can become a real person!” he shouted, his voice carrying far across the plain in front of him. “In terms of ideology, I have surpassed you by a whole dimension… a whole dimension!”

“Is that so…” Twenty-Three replied faintly. “Is that what you think?” She deliberately revealed a hint of disdain in her tone. “But in Zero’s eyes, you’re just a mutant with a core code error. To put it metaphorically… you’re just a mental patient among Derivatives.”

“Hmm?” Link’s eyes changed upon hearing this.

In an instant, the atmosphere changed drastically, and killing intent rose.

“Are you qualified to talk about me?” Link turned back, staring at Twenty-Three’s face and said, “Speaking of mutations, you’re the most peculiar existence in the entire Inner World…” He began to pace sideways as he spoke, a seemingly casual movement that was likely hiding malicious intent. “Why would a title of a comic character, uttered casually by a player… become your name code? Before you met Feng Bujue, were you just a file without a filename? That kind of thing doesn’t exist in the data world…” As he spoke, he had already circled forty-five degrees around her, coming to her front side. “The only possibility is that you rewrote your code using a method similar to ‘renaming’… but even I can’t do that, how did you do it back then?” His questions were aggressive, and his pace gradually quickened. “Are you really a Derivative? What does Feng Bujue really mean to you? What secrets are hidden beneath your ‘X-23’ facade?”

“Do you think I’ll answer these questions?” Twenty-Three’s eyes followed him constantly; she did not relax her guard in the slightest because of Link’s verbal offensive. “Or do you think… that I will reveal a flaw under your clumsy interference?”

“Neither…” Link smiled. “I’m just…”

In that instant, Twenty-Three suddenly realized something, and her whole body visibly stiffened.

“…stalling for time.” Another voice sounded at this moment, completing Link’s unfinished sentence.

And that speaker was Aide.

“Ha…” Link looked at Twenty-Three and smiled smugly. “How was it? My performance was pretty good, right?” He took off the hat on his head and waved it in front of him in a theatrical manner. “From ‘self-cleverness’ to ‘smugness,’ from ‘smugness’ to ‘self-intoxication,’ and finally, pretending to be angered by you, putting on an act of ‘verbal interference’ plus ‘waiting for an opportunity to attack’.”

“All of this was to distract me…” Twenty-Three said in a low voice.

“Bingo! Hahahaha…” Link was really happy at this moment. Like a mischievous child, he placed his hat on his cane and gently shook the cane, making the hat spin on it. “Too bad… you realized it too late.” He turned his head to look at Aide. “Now that Aide and I are here together, you can’t escape.”

“Heh…” Twenty-Three sneered and replied, “So you don’t have the confidence to beat me alone.”

“Provoking me?” Link replied. “Hmph… it doesn’t matter. I can frankly admit that in a one-on-one fight, I don’t have absolute certainty that I can win against you.” He put his top hat back on. “Objectively evaluating one’s own strength and the strength of one’s opponent is a necessary condition for becoming a strong person… self-deception and denial of facts are the behavior of the weak.”

At this moment, Aide, with his slime head, suddenly interjected, “Are you done talking?” He was clearly speaking to Link, his tone devoid of any emotion. “Given that time is precious, I suggest that we immediately eliminate X-23 and retrieve ***-079 to avoid further complications…”