Chapter 173 - System vs. System (XXIII)
After explaining the rules, they played five pairs of mahjong.
In the first game, 061 was a little rusty and unsurprisingly lost, but in the second game it was much more fluid, and although it still lost, it managed to hook the opponent.
At the start of the third hand, 061, disguised as a signal, dives into the network and scans the entire map in system space.
The handover port mentioned by his cellmate, in the north-west of the space, requires a 24-digit code for access, which is dynamic and is generated randomly when the world line code password is reported at the handover port and sent internally to the system.
The world line code, which he managed to get during the interrogation earlier, is nothing to worry about.
…… Just how do I get a dynamic password?
and ……
061 When thinking, it does not delay him from playing his cards.
In the third, he won.
The other side rubbed their hands together excitedly, “More, more.”
061 said, “It’s no fun just doing this. Let’s bet on something.”
His cellmate thought for a moment, turned and walked over to the corner bed and lifted the panel with a clatter.
The bedpan was hollowed out and filled with a bed full of snacks.
The cellmate raised an eyebrow with interest, “I told you, it’s not the first time I’ve been in here.”
061 With a smile, he held his handkerchief out in front of him, “This is all I have.”
The other person said by name, “I see you have a peace knot, it looks good, I want to give it to someone.”
061 Gentle refusal: “That was given to me by my friend ……”
As he said this, his mind suddenly moved and he reached out to stroke the peace knot in his front breast pocket as if he had an understanding, then he put his hand down and pretended that nothing had happened.
061 played mahjong patiently with him for a long time, and the two of them went back and forth, losing and winning, 061 losing a handkerchief and the other losing three bags of snacks.
The opponent asked for 061’s name as he drew his cards.
061 said, “Just call me 061.
The other party smiled and said, “Six? You’re quite a six in poker, let me call you Teacher Six.”
061 Shaking his head, “No.”
This is the first time that 061 has shown a clear assertiveness in his words.
The other person blinked, “Why?”
061 had no intention of explaining, but said gently, “Just call me 061.”
The other person didn’t mind and said cheerfully, “Sixth Brother?”
061 : “……” is fine.
The two men played mahjong for seven or eight hours, until the other man fell asleep with a new hand of tiles directly in his hands, 061 before getting up, going to the corner bed and lying on his back on it to stare.
…… How’s it going at Xiaochi?
He should have thought of that possibility after he disappeared together with “Wen Yujing”, as he had already laid enough ambiguity since he took on the form of Wen Yujing.
If he thought about it, then he would surely be panicking.
The more this happens, the less one can stay here for long.
With this in mind, he reached into his pocket and took out the peace knot.
089 made a somewhat peculiar gesture as he presented it to himself.
At the time, he slapped it twice on his pocket and said, “Take it, it’s a piece of my father’s work.
…… is “painstaking”?
He took the peace knot out and examined it carefully.
061 Pinch the peace knot between your fingers and try to squeeze it twice.
Nothing happens.
He squeezed twice more and still nothing happened.
There doesn’t seem to be anything special to the touch, and after parsing, there is just some radioactive material. It looks like it has been left with something radioactive for a long time and it has stained the thread, it doesn’t seem to be anything special.
But 061, after a brief moment of bewilderment, laughed softly.
In a sense, 089 did take a lot of pains.
He gripped the peace knot and rested his clenched fist on his forehead, counting the hours that passed, his lips opening and closing slightly, as if he were calculating something to himself.
The 1:2 speed of time passing in system space and real space made him a little anxious.
In order to ensure Xiaochi’s safety, he has only reserved a day for his stay here. If he could not be granted permission to leave, he would have to think of other ways.
He had been detained so suddenly that he could now go back and solve the problem for Xiaochi by simply showing up in front of Chi Yunzi and others.
When the time comes, it doesn’t matter if he is recaptured and held until the end of the mission.
But as expected, it was not to be.
The next day he applied twice, hoping to meet the security system that was in charge and talk to him.
But the person watching him said that Mr 002 had a lot of work to do and was not available to see him.
061 didn’t seem too impatient and said that since he couldn’t see it, he would wait.
It was good that he had a cellmate to talk to.
His cellmate, who didn’t look very old, was an extraordinarily talkative person when he had his cards, gabbing on about the system and simply knowing everything there was to know.
He pointed to the electric shock collar around his neck and said, “Look at this thing, it was made by our second boss, yes, that 002.”
061 pulled the collar up and observed, “Well, it’s cleverly made, it’s a total control type, and it has some other built-in designs inside that have been encrypted. You’ll have to go to him to unlock it, I think.”
The other person said bitterly, “No, he’s an old pervert. We’ve all been put through the wringer by him.”
061 Smiling as if he didn’t care, he put the collar down and continued playing cards.
Nothing for a day.
By the time night came, his cellmate was once again sound asleep.
And 061 has waited long enough.
The longer it is delayed, the more dangerous it will be for Xiaochi.
He wasn’t going to wait any longer.
He condensed the half-cup of residual water into a hairpin-thick ice needle, gently held it in his mouth, and sent the tip precisely into the eye of the lock.
When the ice needle enters the lock hole, the hardened ice needle turns into fluid and the seeping pivot immediately short-circuits and the handcuffs open in response.
He wordlessly removed the handcuffs and fed a small program that had taken two days to write into the running security system.
In an instant, all the doors in the system space popped open in response, the seven fire alarms in the southeast corner went off simultaneously, and at the same time, all the sprinklers inside and outside began to snort water.
061 Once he turned around, the figures of the clothes on his body were fine-tuned and rewritten to the same dark blue colour as his cellmate.
He gave a slight bow to his sleeping cellmate and said meaningfully, “Many thanks.”
With that, 061 took the work cap he had won from him this afternoon, put it on, and walked straight out of the cell.
As he walked to the door, he happened to come face to face with the system that was responsible for guarding him.
The other man was so confused by his outfit that he failed to react at first, until he saw the electric shock collar around his neck and gasped, “You-”
He turned his head away, intending to grab the electric shock activation button on the table, when 061 stepped forward and helped him sleep with a clean hand slash.
061 took the man by the waist, laid the fainting man gently on the table, posed him as if he were dozing, pulled off the identity wristband from his wrist and put it on himself while he picked up the activation button on the table and studied it.
No, the button only activates the electric shock function and does not release his neck ring.
After confirming that the watchman did not indeed have the key to unlock the collar on him, he put his face close to the employee, scanned the data of his retina with his left eye, then squeezed the brim of his hat and took a step towards the handover point in the north-west corner.
The cellmate, who had been “sleeping” a moment before, paced out leisurely as his figure disappeared around the corner.
He pulled the unconscious system up and, noticing that the identity wristband was missing from his hand, slapped his face right off, manually typed a line on the floating electronic screen that popped up above his wrist, and muttered to himself, “Failed quarterly assessment.”
061 Headed for the handover point as fast as possible.
With the hose spraying in unison, a man walking with his hat on against the side didn’t look suspicious at all.
A system with glasses came running out of the room, caught off guard again and got bared in the face and his glasses were blown.
He took off his glasses and wiped them off, and squinted at 061 who passed by him, “What’s going on here?”
061 replied smoothly, “It seems that a fire has started in the southeast corner.”
The system gave an ah-hah and stretched its neck to look to the southeast, but when it turned its head again, the man from earlier had disappeared.
When he turned his head again, he came face to face with his “cellmate”.
The “cellmate” grabbed the dumbfounded man’s wrist and swiped his ID wristband: “You’re not qualified either.”
The “cellmate” was humming a little tune and following 061, happily collecting data along the way, when he was tugged from behind by the collar.
A tall, slender young man grabbed him by the back of his collar, one hand behind his back, his movements introspective and calm.
His voice was a little thin and he sounded elegant and polite: “Where are you going, boss.”
The “cellmate” who had been caught escaping from prison immediately put on a smile: “Good evening, brother.”
The young man he called Ergo had the number 002 on his chest.
”Shouldn’t you be in prison right now?” He spoke clearly quiet and soft, but there was a sense of laughter, “What are you fooling around with again?”
”Who’s being naughty.” The “cellmate” was quite unconvinced, “You’re the one who dared to put your boss in jail, you’re really getting bold. I’ll have you fired if you don’t believe me.”
002 hit the nail on the head: “So you gave the networking code to that system and helped him escape from prison just to test my security for errors?”
001 looked at him for a moment and teased, “It’s not just security work, is it?”
002: “Hmm?”
001: “I verified all the information after he was locked in yesterday, it was our own employee who broke the rules, and the matter had nothing to do with him in the first place. Didn’t I send you a message last night asking you to get his report approved early?”
002 smiled gently, “Sorry, because you are always annoying and I forgot to unblock you after I blocked you last time.”
001 was not surprised, nor was he angry: “Forget it, it’s not going to happen again, or you’ll really be fired.”
002 gave a humble bend, “Yes. So can I get the man back now.”
001 waved his hand: “Don’t, I wanted to do a safety drill a long time ago. I wanted to see if he could escape or not without either of us doing anything, and to see if our staff could subdue him. If he escapes, we won’t be looking for him. By the way, want to bet on something? I bet he can get away.”
002: “At the risk of asking you, is gambling that much fun?”
”Of course I do.” 001 had a big-tailed look on his face, “How about a bet on that old pocket watch of yours, Ergo?”
002 responded, “Good.”
But 002 knew that there was no way 061 could get away.
First of all, even if he had snatched the identity ID, knew the Worldline code and scanned the retinas of the employees, there was no way he could have gotten the dynamic password.
Without the dynamic code, it is impossible to open the door to that transmission.
Secondly, the design of that collar is not that simple either.
002 glanced at the pedometer displayed on his wrist.
He just has to walk another 30 steps ……
Most of the systems were awakened from their dreams by the cold water poured over their heads and were busy rescuing their drenched beds, and all the way here, 061 didn’t meet any systems.
Noting that the handover point was close at hand, 061 picked up the pace.
The operator console at the handover point, which is similar to the system he is on, should not be too difficult to operate.
It’s soon, it’ll be ready soon –
However, just as he lifted his foot, a ring of pale blue sparks lit up unintentionally, sizzling a snowy arc of light down his neck!
061 His face changed, his body stumbled and fell forward, and for a moment he could not even get up.
His mind was instantly enlightened.
The collar, which he has not been able to crack successfully, contains several programs that are also encrypted.
It turns out that there is a hidden program that counts the number of consecutive steps.
Once the number of consecutive steps exceeds the specified value, the collar automatically generates electricity.
…… and the power-generating ejector has extremely thin hidden needles coated with diluted cyanogenic jellyfish toxin.
061 The surrounding body was rapidly paralysed.
He lifted his hand and brushed his cheek.
The skin on his chest, back and even his face emerged with large, bulging whip-like wounds that burned like fire, rolling and searing, excruciating pain invading every section of data and extending to every limb.
It was a nerve pain that screamed of tingling in the teeth.
But 061 rose shakily from the continuous pain, dragging one unconscious foot and stumbling towards the console, while reaching out and tugging hard at the edge of the collar.
The collar was still releasing a steady stream of electricity, and under the forced pull, the flow of electricity suddenly rose at a geometric level.
His hands were instantly burnt with large swathes of red and charred black, his cheeks and lips were as blue and white, and he looked as if he would pass out at any moment.
He almost threw himself onto the console.
002, who was peering from the shadows, turned his hand behind his back and shook his head gently.
To be honest, in 002’s perception, the other party was already considered strong-willed for not passing out under such circumstances.
Why bother?
It’s only a few days’ wait. What kind of urgent matter is there that you have to rush back now?
001 was a bit sorry for this nice poker player.
He gave 061 a chance to escape and a reminder that his collar was not simple, but unfortunately, 061 didn’t seem to take it to heart.
He said to 002, “Well, people are getting dizzy, so hurry up and take them back.”
However, a voice actually emanated from 001’s mind, “Thank …… this Mr. Lord GOD for his concern, it is not necessary.”
001 froze and immediately logged out of the system in front of him, only to discover that 061 had used his network code to secretly create a two-person mahjong room and set it to run in the background so cockily that he hadn’t noticed it all the way through.
And the room’s voice system, which is always on.
Does this not mean that the conversation one just had with 002 ……
Wait, doesn’t this also mean that he might have known his identity for a long time?
And just as 001 gave a rare look of surprise, something even more startling happened.
061 Grasping the shock collar, his fingers kept pulling with force, while the collar, little by little, was torn to distortion, twisted, and finally, with a click, was ripped apart.
At this, even the normally calm 002’s eyes widened slightly.
He had physically destroyed the electric shock collar?
How is it possible?
061 With his upper body crouched over the console, he raised his hand, scanned his identity wristband with difficulty, and then scanned the retina he had just copied, and indeed succeeded in passing the initial verification.
As he trembled his hands and entered the world line information, he whispered, ” Mr. Lord GOD, as I told you, at that time, I was reported and formatted …… I don’t remember what happened before, all I know is that the formatting was painful, the pain of having your whole head blown off but your body still alive. Then, for a long time, I would walk past that punishment room and reflexively want to vomit.”
He put one foot on the torn electric shock collar on the ground, “So, this …… is nothing for you, don’t feel sorry for that.”
001’s curiosity had by now completely overwhelmed his shock: “How do you know I’m the Lord GOD here?”
061 Entered the world line information incorrectly twice and patiently corrected it back one by one.
He said softly, “You gave me high access to the networking code, even to see how the handover point operated, but when I tried to see the specifics of the security system, or the design room for the electric shock collar, it showed unreadable again. I guess you want me to see what you want me to see, don’t you?”
001 said, “You know who I am, why don’t you let me do it for you?”
061 propped up against the operating table, the end of his eyes red with a slight gasp: “You do not admit your identity, I do not know what you want to use me to do, so, it is only possible to take advantage of the situation. ……Xiaochi said not to reveal your cards before your opponent when it is not clear what he is up to. But thank you, Mr Lord GOD, for being willing to let me go back.”
…… He did hear his own bet with 002.
I didn’t expect that my opponent had left a bottom card when he thought he had a sure win.
What an excellent poker player.
001’s surprise had passed and his tone was unconsciously more than a little appreciative: “‘Xiaochi’, this man is the reason you’re going back?”
”He’s always been my reason.” 061 Blushing furiously, he stepped onto the teleportation point with one foot while reaching into his jacket pocket, “I am his system, I have a contract with him, my body, everything I am, belongs to him. If he’s in danger, I need to be by his side.”
002 was calm: “He can’t get back in, he can’t open the door ……”
And the very next moment the words fell, an energy fluctuation distorted a transparent vortex of space in the air.
A hand reaches out from space.
And Ji Zuoshan’s voice came from that side: “Teacher Six, grab my hand!”
061 gave a somewhat pale smile, let go of the console supporting his body, and stood up shakily.
At such times he has not abandoned his manners.
He said softly, ” Mr. Lord God, this hand is on me. You are also a very good poker player, and I hope to play with you again in the future if I have the chance. …… We’ll meet again sometime.”
With that, 061 shook Ji Zuoshan’s hand.
And in the next instant, his form disappeared into the system space like a dense mist.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶