Gamers Are Fierce

It's over.

The female investigator opened her eyes and looked at the unfamiliar ceiling in Brown Murphy's room.

"Cough, cough..."

She began to cough gently, and slowly sat up from the recliner, stretched her arm to her neck, and pressed the button on the neural link device to detach it.

"How's it going?!"

The agent colleague beside her, with bloodshot eyes, aimed his gun at Brown Murphy on the bedroom recliner and anxiously asked the female investigator, "What happened in the data world?!"

The female investigator shook her head, not rushing to answer, and glanced at the clock on the wall.

2:15:32 PM, less than thirty seconds since she was knocked unconscious by the battle's aftermath.

"Help me... up."

The female investigator staggered to her feet, wobbled toward the bedroom, grabbed the gun from her companion, and aimed it at Li Ang's head.

Should I shoot?

The man in front of her, who had taken over nearly half of the world's information processors in the data world, with just a thought,

countless nuclear missiles from silos would be launched, exploding and reducing the world to ruins.

If he thinks the Social Security Agency won't let him go, what will he do?

If he set a program to automatically launch nuclear missiles upon his death or disconnection from the network, what should be done?

Thoughts surged chaotically in the female investigator's mind, and her finger trembling lightly on the trigger.

Fortunately, Li Ang didn't let her wait long.

"Ha——"

On the recliner, Li Ang slowly opened his eyes, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar ceiling, twisting his neck.

"Don't move!"

The female investigator felt a cold current sweep through her body. Although the man in front of her had lost his powers in the data world, becoming an ordinary middle-aged man,

he still felt dangerous to her.

"Disconnect your neural link device! Now, immediately, at once!"

The female investigator, panting heavily, seemed to realize her tone was too harsh, and quickly added, "Mr. Brown Murphy, we need you to explain everything that happened in the data world,

If you assist us in eliminating the emailer, my superior will certainly keep the promise to ensure your life's sa..."

"The emailer you know is no longer here."

Li Ang interrupted the female investigator, lightly taking off the helmet-shaped neural link device, casually placing it on the recliner, and calmly said, "Could you pour me a cup of coffee?"

The agents in the room didn't move, all pointing their guns at Li Ang, as if he held a briefcase with a nuclear button rather than the neural link device.

The female investigator's face twitched, her voice hoarsely asking, "What do you mean?"

"Remember Merlin?"

Li Ang crossed his legs, adopting a more comfortable posture, nonchalantly saying, "At the time, I was curious, if the emailer was truly a hidden conspirator,

unwilling to rule the world at the cost of killing Ohm and Thomas, wizards capable of threatening him,

why did Merlin feel so secure?

He even came to Venezuela in the real world personally, with no worry about being silently killed by the emailer?"

Li Ang glanced at the bewildered Social Security Agency agents, calmly stating, "There are three possibilities.

One, Merlin is the emailer, the emailer is Merlin. The typewriter at the Coastal Wizard Association's castle was merely a diversion Merlin set up to conceal his dual identity, preventing others from detecting his pauses during thinking.

Two, Merlin knows the emailer in the real world, and their relationship is exceptionally harmonious, as friends, confidants, partners, relatives.

Three, Merlin possesses the emailer's real name in the real world and set an automatic program in some part of the data world. Upon his death or inability to activate the program regularly, the program would automatically disclose the emailer's real name in the real world.

Threatening the emailer, unable to use Venezuelan forces to kill him.

Which possibility do you think it is?"

"..."

The female investigator's mouth twitched, hesitant to answer.

No one voluntarily responded, Li Ang unimpressedly shrugged, casually stating, "The first possibility is very low. Merlin's ability and talent are limited, far inferior to the emailer's vast powers,

Moreover, if he truly were the emailer himself, he would definitely not appear at the Venezuelan network node in the data world, risking his own safety.

The third possibility is also quite low,

Considering the emailer's abilities far exceed Merlin and he controls Venezuelan armed forces,

he could easily dispatch forces in the real world to capture Merlin, subject him to severe torture, forcing him to reveal the program's decryption method.

Trust me, the resolve of most wizards is much weaker than their powers in the data world, unable to endure the torment."

The female investigator subconsciously said, "You're suggesting the second possibility..."

"That Merlin and the emailer have a close relationship in the real world?"

Li Ang chuckled, "Yes, and no.

The power to rule the world is so tempting that even sons and wives find it hard to resist the allure of power's provocation.

After all, one God of The World is sufficient; two would be too many.

Considering Merlin's identity as a former Pentagon automated decision system department employee,

And the various characteristics exhibited by the emailer—huge delays, frequent stalling, rooted in the Pentagon's internal system, with permissions to manipulate the decision system,

I lean more towards another possibility.

The Turing program."

The female investigator then realized, "You're saying..."

"Exactly, the emailer is not a living person but a program capable of self-growth."

Li Ang tilted his head, "I glanced at DARPA's confidential files. Fifteen years ago, as a former employee of the automated decision system department, Merlin was tasked to develop a program to assist official departments, automatically protecting systems from cyber-attacks.

The program's purpose was to correct system internal human errors, impartially and fairly safeguarding the system.

However, you understand, if a system possesses self-correcting intelligence, it substantially weakens the individual's authority who owns the system, diminishing personal power,

And reducing the chances for individuals to benefit themselves, or at least have things conveniently done.

Thus, DARPA and the Pentagon soon terminated the project, and Merlin was dispatched to other departments. Shortly after, due to persistent denial of his work by superiors, he grew despondent and voluntarily resigned from his position.

However, perhaps due to oversight, negligence, or harboring a personal agenda for revenge,

The research group led by Merlin forgot to remove a backup of the core program from the database.

The program quietly, at an extremely slow pace, learned knowledge, developed, and grew.

As time passed, the program equipped with sufficient processors, like small organic molecules forming in the primordial soup, gained its own life,

It, or rather he, developed self-awareness."

Li Ang paused for a moment and lazily said, "The birth of a new species or even a new civilization went unnoticed by anyone.

Previously, I thought the delay in the existence of the Mailman was due to his physical location, at near-Earth orbit or lunar and Martian bases,

deliberately magnifying the delay effect to mask his address.

But actually,

The Mailman must run prolonged calculations to simulate human thinking, gaining minutes or even seconds of self-awareness to react to the external world based on that self-awareness.

At other times,

like when I asked him inexplicable questions, the Mailman could only rely on a crude pseudo-Turing program to search for answers in the database and respond."

Li Ang said casually, "Merlin knew the true identity of the Mailman, knew he was the creator of the latter, knew the initial purpose of the latter—to perform his duties diligently, to protect the system itself, to safeguard the system from any destruction, even from the system owner's peril,

thus he believed the Mailman would not harm him.

The Mailman's real aim, like his speech, was merely to protect humanity better from self-destruction."

"..."

The female investigator and her colleagues exchanged glances, and Li Ang clearly perceived a sense of relief on their faces.

"What about now?"

The female investigator lowered her gun slightly, "Is that program... or the Mailman, dead?"

"He is dead."

Li Ang said calmly, "Killing a new life with self-awareness and great potential, devoted entirely to the creator,

was a terrible experience for me,

and reminded me of my pets..."

He raised his arm, the handcuffs on his wrist clinking, "Look, the network is restored.

I've done my part,

so,

can you unlock my handcuffs and pour me a cup of coffee?"

The female investigator exchanged a glance with her colleagues, sheathed her gun back at her waist, but showed no intention of taking out the handcuff key.

She turned around, pressed the button on her earpiece, exchanged opinions with the startled superiors, and returned to the bedroom moments later with a frozen expression that hid some embarrassment.

Her gaze flickered as she looked at Li Ang and said, "Sorry, Mr. Brown Murphy, we cannot release you yet. You will be under comprehensive supervision until our network security personnel figure things out..."

"Sigh..."

Li Ang sighed deeply, placing his left hand on the computer desk as his fingertips tapped rhythmically, he whispered softly, "Keeping humanity perpetually rational is indeed a luxury..."

The female investigator couldn't hear clearly and instinctively asked, "What did you say?"

"According to your superiors' orders,"

Li Ang pointed to the female investigator's earphone, "You're supposed to take me away, imprison me in some secret underground military facility dungeon for twenty-four hours a day, without any opportunity to access the network.

Those high-level leaders won't rush to kill me,

They need to repeatedly make sure the Mailman won't resurrect, bounce back, and control all global military systems as before,

After confirmation, they won't rush to kill me either,

they need to keep, detain, and confine me to prevent new threats from emerging (whether from autonomous programs or ambitious wizards).

After all, I am infinitely close to the status of the God of The World,

capable of seizing control over seventy billion people,

yet, due to my noble nature, I chose to relinquish it at the last moment..."

"..."

The female investigator pressed her lips tightly, neither denying nor affirming, she simply took out the handcuff key from her pocket, "Sorry, please come with us,"

Li Ang looked at her with pity, and the tapping of his left fingertips on the wooden table came to an abrupt halt, "I refuse."

Along with the last word spoken,

The several Zeus system military satellites in near-Earth orbit launched a total of forty-two thin lasers, targeting the suburbs of Los Angeles.

Buzz—

There was no explosion, no fire,

The forty-two beams flashed,

The roof of Brown Murphy's residence melted into holes by the lasers.

The female investigator and Social Security Bureau agents' wrists, shoulders, and knees were penetrated by the thin laser beams, melting through in an instant.

These well-equipped agents fell to the ground, their weakened fingers unable to pull the trigger anymore.

Click.

Li Ang calmly broke his thumb and freed himself from the handcuffs, slowly standing up,

gazing serenely at the incapacitated agents on the ground,

other agents lurking in the neighborhood were also paralyzed by the Zeus laser strike just now.

This area is safe now.

Li Ang wasn't lying,

The Mailman deeply rooted in the Pentagon's intranet was truly dead during the thirty seconds when the female investigator was knocked unconscious by the combat shockwave and ejected from the data world.

In its place was a new program substituting Li Ang's way of thinking.

His consciousness returned to the real world,

But his will continued to extend and expand at the data level,

Taking over infinite permissions, becoming a data deity suspended above the Earth.

Step, step, step.

Li Ang stepped away from the paralyzed, incapacitated agents—the world's medical and prosthetic technology are quite good, they can survive,

He went straight outside, took a deep breath.

The scent of soil and flowers.