Chapter 60 NO003c: Three forks in the road

Author: Sevenfold Body

Chapter 60 NO.003c: Three forks in the road

Gravity is in effect.

Liao Qi ripped off the key on the auxiliary anti-gravity engine and let the heavy all-terrain vehicle fall into a perfect free fall.

And the three people in the car...the two of them suddenly flew into the air without any support.

The graphic grid on the edge of the crack was connected into one piece, and the howling wind sounded outside the window.

The head of the liquid metal humanoid machine was blown open like popcorn, with hot breath remaining, and it was slowly healing. And its hands on Jiang Zhou's neck continued to slowly increase its strength to strangle.

Jiang Zhou felt that the other person's previously cold hands were now hot, but he soon realized that this was a feeling caused by blood stasis.

Feeling this, Jiang Zhou controlled Liao Qi's body and kicked on the car door on the other side.

The car door was kicked out, and Liao Qi also used that force to eject, accurately crossing Jiang Zhou and hitting the opponent.

He grabbed the opponent's neck and pressed its steaming head to the edge of the crack.

"squeak--"

It was like the sound of a train braking. During the rapid fall, the opponent's originally incomplete head wiped out a series of dazzling sparks on the edge of the crack.

The edge of the fissure is the transition zone between different depths of the abyssal dark web. As bedrock, its material is not limited by the basement construction program.

In other words, at least within the framework of the agreement, it is indestructible.

So, just like grinding on a grinder, the opponent's head was smoothed.

But even so, the other party had no intention of breaking Jiang Zhou's neck.

The noose of death tightened around Jiang Zhou's neck.

Then fall faster, even faster...

Jiang Zhou, whose consciousness was nearly blurred due to lack of oxygen, thought to himself.

As long as he falls a little more, he can...

Deep sleep kept flooding into his head, and even his fingertips gradually became numb and dull.

It won't be long before he will fall asleep completely.

However, the moment he crossed a certain depth, Jiang Zhou suddenly woke up.

It's as direct as flipping the switch from "off" to "on".

Hypoxia?

In cyberspace, why do you need to breathe?

Jiang Zhou woke up instantly and realized that he no longer needed "oxygen".

In fact, there is no so-called "oxygen" for him to breathe.

At the same time, the opponent's clenched hands were strong enough to break Jiang Zhou's neck.

But he still didn't die.

Just by shrinking his neck slightly, Jiang Zhou penetrated the opponent's hands strangled around his neck like a ghost.

There is no such thing as a collision volume anymore.

The fall has stopped, they are floating... no, they are suddenly still in mid-air.

Not only gravity, but also inertia no longer exists.

"Although we are still far from falling to the bottom of the abyss..."

As Jiang Zhou "said", he distanced himself from the other party in a single thought.

From Liao Qi's perspective, this scene was as abrupt as a poorly produced low-frame stop-motion animation.

Jiang Zhou recalled what he had previously asked Qianxia Ying:

"Then what will happen if...you jump?"

You won't be thrown to death, because at a certain point, the physical laws simulated by the base construction will fail.

You will fall into the abyss dark web of other depths. Because you will not be able to recognize everything around you, your mental index will drop irreversibly, and you will eventually go completely crazy.

But Jiang Zhou's mental index was completely abnormal.

Although he would feel dizzy for a short time when absorbing the tactical memory, after that, he did not have any visual or auditory hallucinations as they feared.

After the Depth 1 transformation, the mental index detector once displayed the impossible number "1". Even if that number was just a machine failure, according to Booker, his talent was one of ten thousand.

And after falling to the current depth that is said to be enough to drive ordinary people crazy, Jiang Zhou didn't feel anything abnormal about his mental state.

Rather, there is nothing unusual.

"The timing of this drop was just perfect."

Jiang Zhou said.

"Yes, otherwise I would have almost ended up explaining it here."

Liao Qi, who also distanced himself, replied like this.

Alternately present the inner self-talk through dialogue.

Or maybe...his existence itself is already abnormal enough.

The current depth is enough, and the physical laws simulated by the base construction no longer take effect.

The display interface of the liquid metal humanoid still encapsulated the other party's program code, but Jiang Zhou could "feel" the huge amount of information on the other party.

At the moment, neither the other party nor oneself can kill each other through "physical" means.

Between each other, they need to compile their own "ice wall" and "ice-breaking program" based on their own intelligence and computing power for offensive and defensive confrontation.

Until one party's source code is completely destroyed.

As an AI, it goes without saying that the other party has the source code. As a human, the substitute program is Jiang Zhou's "source code".

Once it is destroyed, the apoptosis program on the brain-computer interface will be triggered, causing physical death.

So the question is, Jiangzhou’s Hongqiao brain area has not yet installed any offensive and defensive plug-ins. In addition, the amount of intelligence and computing power expanded by Liao Qi’s Depth 1 transformation can defeat a system that is definitely deeper than Depth 2.

Malicious program?

Jiang Zhou wanted to give it a try.

Since his consciousness can be maintained here, he at least has the qualifications to give it a try.

Based on past experience, Jiang Zhou almost instinctively wrote an "ice wall" that acted on the bottom layer of the network protocol to protect it from the stand-in program.

In his perception, this process became a translucent gray spherical shield, wrapping and protecting him and Liao Qi.

This is the image of the "ice wall" recognized by Jiang Zhou. If another person sees all this without going crazy at this depth, the other person will probably see another scene based on their own perception.

City walls, shields, watchdogs, guards...all the concrete concepts related to "guarding".

Very crude...

Jiang Zhou thought to himself as he looked at the occasionally flashing data on the spherical shield.

But in his opinion, this is effective enough.

So let’s look at the other side…

The "ice-breaking program" that the liquid metal humanoid self-compiled previously has taken shape - it is a tsunami formed by data, and it is rushing towards me overwhelmingly.

Putting aside the quality, the other party is simply a monster in terms of computing power.

The lead-gray spherical shield did not last for three seconds before disappearing without a trace like ice and snow under the blazing sun.

As for Jiang Zhou and Liao Qi?

Seeing the disparity in magnitude between the two sides, he ran away long ago.

…………

The so-called running away actually means changing agents continuously.

Once the coordinates are completely locked, it is impossible to escape.

In response, Jiang Zhou directly released Liao Qi first - after all, he and Jiang Zhou shared the same path, and with one more person, there was an additional possibility of being caught.

Then, he began to run around in the digital maze. As he ran, he left traces of disguise, causing confusion and interference to the AI ​​that was chasing him.

With the crisis approaching step by step, Jiang Zhou felt as if he was a boy sent as a sacrifice in the labyrinth of the Minotaur - engaged in a futile and useless struggle.

The difference in magnitude between the two sides was so great that he seemed to be able to hear the bull-headed monster making a heavy roar just across the wall from him.

This belongs to both "Icarus" and "Theseus". Can I have a way to escape or kill the other party?

On the way to escape, Jiang Zhou complained deep in his heart.

Or, is there anything that can help him?
To be continued...