Chapter 1135: Chapter 369: Concert of the Old Cybernet Network_3
No need to even mention how players styled themselves—whatever makes them happy.
To someone unfamiliar, it might seem like they’ve entered some sort of infinite loop space.
Originally, Johnny Silverhand should have stood out because of his looks, but among these monsters and goblins, he was actually quite inconspicuous.
And this left Johnny, who was already confused, even more unable to make sense of the situation.
"Where the hell is this now?"
The good news was, he recognized it—this seemed like Cyberspace, but the crowd was overwhelming.
And your styles are way too diverse for this; when did the high-end Cyberspace start resembling a bustling marketplace?
Just as he was in a daze, a few passing Roman soldiers suddenly surrounded him.
"Johnny Silverhand, are you using John Wick’s face or Neo’s face? Surely not Constantine’s, it’s too outdated."
Jing Luo, in tears, felt that the ID sounded familiar, though he didn’t think much of it. It’s normal to sound familiar since game IDs can be anything, like Douglas MacArthur.
Without any hesitation, they dragged Johnny towards an Endless ship docked near the Old Web’s entrance.
Under countless Lego bricks, it looked just like the real thing from a distance away.
"You look like a newbie who just entered the game, come on, our group just needs one more person to venture into the Old Web dungeon, lucky for you."
"What?"
Surprised, Johnny was pulled along before he could react.
This group is supposedly from that ’spooky’ company too?
They’re going to the Old Web?
What kind of place is the Old Web?
Besides, they don’t look like hackers; how can they enter Cyberspace, and why drag me in just for numbers?
A head full of questions and no answers, but he remembered Lin Miao said Ote was in the Old Web.
Thinking that, Johnny didn’t resist and let the Jing Luo trio take him, wanting to see what these supposed Horizon Corporation folks were up to.
You never know, he might just run into Ote.
Unfortunately, it was just wishful thinking. Silverhand’s cyber persona was just a virtual machine, hardly different from other players, even Ote couldn’t locate Johnny Silverhand unless exceptionally lucky, colliding head-on in Cyberspace, and only then being exposed in conversation.
At the boarding gate of the Endless, Wheelchair Sprint waved towards them, still several kilometers apart.
"Hurry up, we’re just waiting on you guys!"
Ecstasy fiddled with the terminal on his wrist.
"Nero, get us on board quickly."
A girl in a red battle dress with a Takeshi face flashed before Johnny’s eyes, sweeping the four of them onto the ship in a blink, then merging into the ship’s body.
"What the heck? An AI?"
But what shocked Johnny even more was that after boarding, his body was compiled by some program into three little figures.
Players on the ship cheered and celebrated.
"GO! GO! GO! Endless is ready to set sail!"
"We’re like the first Lego battleship to set sail, haha."
"Well, there’s nothing we can do; the big shots are all fighting in Cuba, barely have time for anything, let alone Cyberspace dungeons, we’re the ones taking advantage."
"Hurry and level up, and gear up; I heard things are getting heated over there, the giants even have tanks flying up there reported by big planes."
"I heard over in Europe, seven armed private companies have already taken orders, perhaps dungeon entry levels will even be raised."
Surrounded by the noise of players, Johnny was still in a daze. The Lego battleship, five or six kilometers long when scaled to reality, trembled mightily, its rear engines spewing block-shaped flames, propelling the entire ship away from Lego World’s construction port.
Though the convoluted theatrics weren’t necessary, players value ceremony.
Cuba...
Europe...
Wars...
The players’ words baffled Johnny even more.
For he remembered that before he died, the Latin American war had been over for a long time, how could Cuba be at war?
"Hey, what era is it now?"
Johnny looked over at the Roman soldiers, who were already clinking glasses and drinking.
These guys seemed even more carefree than him?
Luo said,
"Huh? Should be seven o’clock, right?"
"I’m asking about the year."
"2076, haven’t you seen the setting (calendar) entering the game (life)?"
"2076? I’ve been dead for over fifty years now."
Even on a Lego face, Johnny’s shock was clearly visible.
"Nonsense."
Ecstasy smashed a mug of beer in front of Johnny.
"Newbie, are your stats good? Seems you have six points of intelligence, want to join our Roman Legion?"
"Not interested."
Johnny proudly rejected Jing Luo Ecstasy’s recruitment, yet honestly took the beer, gulping it down.
"Good beer! I didn’t expect to drink in Cyberspace, if I’d known, I’d have asked Ote to teach me hacking."
Fifty years.
Johnny believed this guy wasn’t lying; such basic info couldn’t possibly be faked, nor would there be any need— a simple check would do.
"Do you have a guitar here?"
Finding a guitar in Cyberspace.
If it were an average hacker, they would think he’s a fool, but he happened to end up on a ship full of fools—in here, anything goes, even suonas are aplenty.
Ecstasy didn’t ignore Johnny despite his refusal to join, and called out to the other players,
"Hey! Beatles, someone here’s looking for a guitar."
Pei Ying Beatles’ lead singer, Black Jiajun, casually spawned a guitar and tossed it over.
"Catch!"
Johnny caught the guitar, feeling the sensation it gave off. Though it’s Cyberspace, it provided almost the same drinks and guitar as reality.
"Ha, not bad, you know your stuff."
Yet he couldn’t recognize most of the song titles on the data guitar’s playlist.
But Johnny didn’t mind; he was, after all, the lead singer of a world-renowned top band, prideful, only playing his own repertoire.
The impassioned melody rang out from his guitar, echoing throughout the Endless, as it sailed through the Old Web’s portal, navigating the hellish deep web’s data ocean as called by today’s hackers.
"We lost everything!"
Although tens of data fortresses and masses of malicious software, AI, and programs had been cleared by players, the destruction amounted to little compared to the vast existence in the Old Web, a mere drop in the ocean.
An enormous data form suddenly appearing in the deep web immediately caught the attention of numerous malicious software, swarming in a frenzy like waves, stirring chaos within the data ocean.
And the players on the Endless responded in the most direct way possible.
Amid Johnny’s spirited performance, the six AIs, making up the battleship, each controlled a part of the vessel; hundreds and thousands of attack programs materialized into Lego cannons.
"All ships, open fire freely!"
