Chapter 1296 - Siege (1/2)

Inside the wide factory filled with mechanical devices, many mechanical arms were working constantly. Teams of mechanical assistants worked day and night, and countless assembly lines produced all kinds of machines.

Manison hovered midair in the factory and meditated with closed eyes. Golden electric arcs jumped on his body like snakes. His brain was operating rapidly, focusing on training his computing power. This was something most Virtual Mechanics did every day.

While he traveled in the sea of data, an alarm suddenly rang from the firewall at the link between his mind and the quantum network, echoing loudly in his mind!

“Alert! Alert! Abnormal data detected, infiltrating the database firewall!”

Manison suddenly opened his eyes, his focused state interrupted.

“Someone’s hacking into my database?”

He frowned and subconsciously thought of Han Xiao.

The last time someone did this was many years ago. Could it be that b*stard Black Star this time?

Although they were now on the same side, Manison never stopped expecting the worst from Black Star.

His consciousness sunk into the quantum network. Through the network nodes, he instantly jumped to the firewall that was hacked. The next moment, the scene before his eyes changed drastically, and he came to a virtual world formed of data streams.

In front of him was a thick firewall like layers of translucent protective shields, and endless code flowed on its surface. This was what protected his virtual artificial intelligence center and his multiple databases, making it invisible on the quantum network so that ordinary people could not find it.

Anyone who could hack into it would either be a Beyond Grade A or the main artificial intelligence of an advanced civilization or a large organization. Regardless, the attacker did not come with good intentions.

At this time, a large pile of slightly illuminated dark purple data stream was stuck to the surface of the firewall like a slime, rolling and moving nonstop to corrode the firewall. Large portions of purple spread out. At a micro perspective, the two sides’ data codes were slaughtering each other at the point of contact. The shattered bits of the firewall reformed and became the purple data stream’s bits, devoured and assimilated by this strange data stream, causing its size to slowly grow.

Inside the firewall, a data stream rose from the ground and turned into the appearance of Manison’s Virtual Soul. He looked at this with narrowed eyes, extended his palm, and grabbed a data stream. The two sides of the data stream extended outward, and it turned into the shape of a staff in Manison’s hands.

He tapped the ground with the staff, data streams rose from the ground like lava and quickly became a fully armored AI soldier army, standing behind him.

Having completed the preparation for battle, only then did Manison speak with a poker face. “Dare to invade my territory but don’t dare show yourself?”

As soon as he said that, Mornisa’s virtual figure appeared outside the firewall. Looking at Manison who was protected by the firewall, she coldly said, “We meet again… teacher!”

“So, it’s you.” Manison narrowed his eyes. “What, you still haven’t given up?”

In the past, Mornisa tried to secretly steal his technology because she found out some secret routes from him, so her ambition pushed her to do it. However, back then, Mornisa was not strong enough and failed; Manison discovered her plan and scolded her heavily. Afterward, Mornisa joined the Federation of Light, and this matter was left unsettled.

In all these years, Manison had taught many Mechanics, Mornisa being the most talented one among them. After Mornisa became a Beyond Grade A, he originally wanted to support her to found her own organization, make her his ally, and indirectly expand his forces. Sadly, Mornisa stabbed him in the back, and this plan was abandoned. Since then, the two of them had been colleagues instead of teacher and student.

However, although their relationship was not good, they did not instantly become enemies. On the contrary, the two of them maintained a certain extent of information partnership all this time. Mornisa occasionally provided some not so crucial internal information to Manison, from the way Manison looked at it, she was her way of fawning upon him and keeping him from attacking her.

He considered himself as someone who knew the personality of this student quite well. She was someone who would not give up easily once she set a goal for herself and would definitely find all methods possible to achieve it. She was not going to give up stealing his technology so easily.

Therefore, Mornisa’s invasion was out of Manison’s expectations but within his understanding.

Hearing this, Mornisa snickered. “Teacher, times have changed. Black Star’s rise took away the faith of the Machinery Faith; you’re no longer the invincible Mechanic Emperor you were decades ago.”

Hearing Black Star’s name, Manison snorted in his mind and did not refute it. He said, “Even so, beating you will still be easy.”

“I’m not so overconfident to think I’m capable of fighting you alone…” A sarcastic smile appeared on Mornisa’s face as she said, “I came with help this time!”

As soon as she said that, unusual data streams rose simultaneously from a few other directions and suddenly crashed into the firewall. Tons of code fragments shattered. Along with the data streams, a few other Beyond Grade A Mechanics appeared.

With the support of the part of the computing power of the main artificial intelligence of the three Universal Civilizations, the speed at which they broke through the firewall received astonishing bonuses. Defense blocks were shattered one after another, and layers of firewalls were filled with holes.

He was surrounded instantly! Manison’s expression changed slightly. These people were all direct members of the three Universal Civilizations. This was clearly a joint operation from the three sides.

Dealing with the invasion of several Beyond Grade A Mechanics was already troublesome enough, yet on top of that, the three Universal Civilizations even shared part of the computing power of their own main artificial intelligence to assist them.

The main artificial intelligences of the three Universal Civilizations had the highest computing power in the entire universe. They were improved and updated by Beyond Grade A Mechanics one generation after another, even fusing the memories, experience, and part of these Mechanics’ consciousnesses. They could be considered the strongest tools in the Virtual Technology field. Without them, the three Universal Civilizations’ core database would have been infiltrated many times.

However, usually, most of the computing power of the main artificial intelligences had to be used to maintain the operation of the civilizations’ affairs, so their strength was not displayed. If all of their computing power was focused in one, it would be extremely horrifying