Chapter 1444: A New Phase (9)
A cursor slowly blinked on the blackened monitor screen.
Letters were typed in an instant, without the sound of a keyboard.
[Bypassing Central Network Firewall]
[Deepweb Connection Established]
Fwoosh-
The blackened screen split open, revealing the familiar design of the site at a glance.
Davi, nestled in Lennok’s arms, said while wagging her tail.
[Logged in with an anonymous account, Master.]
“Good job.”
The study inside Lennok’s private office, located on the top floor of the District 49 Magic Tower.
After parting with Aris, Lennok had returned to his study with Davi and was accessing the Deepweb.
[Investigating internal trends in Vulcan. Grasping the international situation. Even the sharing and spreading of all sorts of illegal and unlawful data!]
Davi said, wagging her tail vigorously.
[There’s no better place to peek at the honest thoughts of organic beings about all sorts of incidents. Elixir gave some wise advice.]
“Lately, Aris seems to have completely accepted you calling her Elixir.”
Lennok tilted his head, looking at the monitor with a wry smile.
“I heard the central network was paralyzed, but the Deepweb connection is smooth… Is there some other problem?”
According to Aris’s explanation, most of the central network was currently paralyzed and lagging badly.
The direct cause was that the events Lennok had caused in Paradise Lost had become known across the entire continent.
Naturally, the Deepweb, which piggybacks on the central network, should also be inaccessible for a while.
Nevertheless, with Davi’s help, Lennok was able to access the Deepweb simply by bypassing the firewall.
Davi hadn’t used any particularly special method, so anyone in the know should be able to connect this way.
The answer was surprisingly simple.
[Right now, there’s more traffic on the Deepweb than on the central network.]
“…What did you say?”
[Um, you know that AI we installed in the search engine you and I made a while back?]
Davi said, rolling around on Lennok’s lap.
[It seems it got super popular, and the Deepweb became famous along with it. Most organic beings in the know seem to be aware of how to access the Deepweb?]
“Come to think of it, I believe I heard something similar once… Was the name ChatterFox?”
ChatterFox, the autonomous AI language model that had completed its deep learning through the search engine Davi created.
Before Lennok left for Gateway City, hadn’t that AI become a hot topic, making the site’s existence widely known?
The Deepweb administrator had even contacted Lennok directly, saying that the connection rate had increased abnormally.
“Are you saying they can’t restore the central network right now because the Deepweb traffic is excessively high?”
[I think so.]
“I’m speechless…”
Lennok covered his face, looking dumbfounded.
For the Deepweb, which leeches off the central network, to have such a high connection rate that it was consuming traffic in reverse—this was putting the cart before the horse to an absurd degree.
As Lennok seriously considered whether to stop ChatterFox’s service right now, Davi, who had been cautiously observing him, spoke up.
[But seeing as it hasn’t been restored for this long, I think the higher-ups are letting it happen. It feels like they’re deliberately watching?]
“What do you mean?”
[Well, the whole thing in Paradise Lost is a topic that’s not exactly suitable for public discussion on places like the central network, right?]
Lennok, immediately understanding Davi’s words, had a slight change in expression.
“Are you saying the City Council is deliberately allowing information to be shared on the Deepweb, which is why the central network’s restoration is delayed?”
[Of course, that’s a hypothesis we can only consider if the information currently being shared on the Deepweb is actually valuable enough…]
Davi said, slyly switching the monitor to show the Deepweb.
[Just looking at the titles of the posts coming up now, I can pretty much guess which it is.]
“…”
Just by glancing at the monitor, Lennok could understand what Davi was trying to say.
[Paradise Lost on the Brink of Collapse, Observed via Spirit Satellite.jpg] + 25256
[On the Four Ways an Ascendant Can Meet Their Death] + 36242
What Will Happen Due to Jinwa’s Death, and Its Impact on the Continent?
Statements from City-States and Transcendents Regarding the Collapse of Paradise Lost
[Invest in Vulcan’s Magic Tower Stocks Right Now] + 67841
[Is he really trying to conquer the world??] + 14455
Most of the posts continuously appearing on the Deepweb were about the Paradise Lost incident or related topics.
Not only was every single title extraordinary, but they also had an enormous number of comments.
The meaning contained in each title was so intense that he was reluctant to click on them one by one.
“Even looking at the titles, I have no idea what could be written inside…”
[Ehehehehe]
A sly chuckle came from his lap. Davi was squirming as if she could barely contain her excitement.
Lennok smiled wryly at the spirit’s reaction—kneading with her front paws, unable to control her excitement—and opened the topmost post.
[Paradise Lost on the Brink of Collapse, Observed via Spirit Satellite.jpg] + 25256
Click!
“…This is.”
Absurdly enough, as soon as he opened the first post, Lennok understood why the central network hadn’t been restored yet.
At the same time, he realized Davi’s speculation that there might be data or videos that could only be shared in a shadowy community like this was correct.
As soon as he clicked the post, a satellite photo unfolded. An overwhelming wide-angle view, as if taken of a star from outside the atmosphere.
The planet’s surface, where clouds had evaporated and the thermosphere had been carved away, was covered in an immeasurable, eerie noise.
As if it had captured a quantity of light too immense for the camera’s pixels to handle, the entire photo was damaged and distorted.
Crackle, crackle…!!
It wasn’t a direct photo of the sea of lightning that had spread between the star’s orbits beyond Paradise Lost.
It was a photo taken at the very last moment, as everything was ending and returning to its place, just before the open sky closed.
But even that fragment contained the chilling traces of deterioration, enough to overwhelm anyone who saw it.
So much so that even Lennok could immediately recall the events of Paradise Lost just by looking at the photo.
Below the photo, a brief explanation described the scene.
=A Spirit Satellite photographed the sky above the Central Front area where Paradise Lost was last observed.
=The satellite was completely destroyed after taking this photo, and communication was lost.
=The light and heat that couldn’t be captured on screen are characteristic of the lightning magic used by Adamant Thunder.
=Though hard to believe, it is speculated that at the end of the battle, Adamant Thunder’s spellcraft partially breached the planet’s atmosphere.
Below the post, countless comments were packed so densely it hurt the eyes to look at them.
└Holy shit, is this for real?
└How is this photo not fake
└It’s a lie, right? There’s no way a human could do this
Countless comments from people who couldn’t believe it even after seeing the video, or who just repeated strange exclamations.
└Are you fucking kidding me? Even cheap CG doesn’t look this bad lmao
└It’s not CG. He just used magic to blow up the atmosphere.
└He just dropped some lightning and temporarily evaporated the planet’s ozone layer~ Not that hard, right?
└Seems like you all don’t know, but planets can burn.
└What are you on about; is this like ‘people die when they are killed’?
└People die. Adamant Thunder doesn’t.
└Just fucking die already lol
└Please die lmao
Reactions of awe and shock, some seeming so bewildered it was as if it didn’t feel real.
└If you still see that wizard as a fellow human, just get off the Deepweb
└The guys who watched the Subjugation Operation live are at it again lol. Do they have the memory of a goldfish?
└But what happened in Paradise Lost is on a completely different level from what Adamant Thunder has done before
└It’s impossible to burn a planet’s atmosphere with a living being’s mana reserves. You couldn’t even attempt it using the power of a megacity
└So are you saying this picture is fake? Tbh I wish it were.
└Look at how many times this post has been saved. If it was doctored, someone would have noticed by now
There were also plenty of comments mocking such reactions or questions, or adding further explanations.
└Did he really kill an Ascendant? Of all people, Jinwa?
└He didn’t just kill her. He went all the way to Paradise Lost, destroyed her Ideological Domain, and then killed her
└People die. Adamant Thunder kills.
└I don’t get how that statement is even possible. Is it even possible to kill an Ascendant inside their Ideological Domain?
└The info was only leaked after Paradise Lost collapsed. It’s clear that no one knew the outcome until it was all over
└It means the Whispering Grand General of the Central City is dead… The great figure who created the common language is gone
Jinwa was one of the most widely known Ascendants on the continent.
She was the person who created the common language used by people all over the continent today.
Just as her evil deeds were well known to the public, so too were her great achievements.
The level of shock among those who logged into the Deepweb to check the news and data was beyond words.
└A great Spell-Word user who will go down in continental history has passed. Her crimes were great, but she was one who deserved to be mourned.
└Get your facts straight. A mass murderer who devoured tens of thousands of innocent people is dead.
└Mass murderer? By that logic, what’s the difference between Adamant Thunder and Jinwa?
└The Subjugation Operation was a war started by The Legion, how is that the same? Twisting facts again
└Jinwa: Kills humans who enter her Ideological Domain / Adamant Thunder: Enters an Ideological Domain to kill someone lol
└Looking at it like this, he’s a true madman lmao
└Has there ever been a Transcendent in history with such a bizarre track record?
Amidst all this, there were plenty of users posting streams of comments and fighting.
└Ever since I was a kid, Jinwa was famous as the Ascendant who devours people in Paradise Lost. To think such a monster is dead…
└Doesn’t that just mean you’re a wet-behind-the-ears punk?
└Why are you picking a fight? Wanna show me your citizen ID?
└Are you an idiot? Who the hell here has a citizen ID?
└I heard there’s been a huge influx of new users to the Deepweb because of some weird AI, guess it’s true
└It’s because of that damn AI, ChatterFox or ChickenBox or whatev%@%#%
“…”
Amidst this, Davi’s swift action in selecting and suspending the account that was badmouthing ChatterFox.
As Lennok stared with a dumbfounded expression, Davi nonchalantly wagged her tail and tapped the screen.
[I’ve ‘corrected’ the misinformation about the search engine, shall we continue looking?]
└Its performance was too good for rumors not to spread. It seems a lot of users came over as word got around among the citizens.
└The search engine’s filtering is pretty strong, so the fact that it weeds out the malicious files littered all over the Deepweb seems to have been a major factor
└This garbage site is just full of so much weird data and nasty viruses.
└Tsk, kids these days are so weak… Back in my day, that was just part of the deal if you wanted to find rare info
└We’ve decided to call that ‘having normal sensibilities,’ not ‘being weak.’
The public opinion in the comments, which started by talking about the search engine, instantly devolved into nostalgia.
└It was full of psychos who would mix precious info and data in between snuff films. I miss those days
└These days you get your account banned just for saying ChatterFox’s name wrong, this is bull^#$@$#!!
└The bastards complaining up there are the morons who got banned for posting gore pics.
└What’s so great about videos of people’s heads exploding?
└They’re airing a series of those videos in the Paragini Republic, so fuck off over there
└If you’re all gonna fight, get off my Deepweb
└Yeah~ this isn’t yours anymore. It’s a playground for wholesome and virtuous citizens.
└From now on, the Blue Fox Brigade rules this place
[Hmph-]
Davi cleared her throat and changed the subject, pretending not to notice Lennok’s gaze.
[Um… shall we check the other posts?]
“…”
[Title: A few of my acquaintances are currently part of the on-site investigation team] + 43543
=Even with a high-level psychometry user, the specific combat records can’t be read, but they said there have been huge gains nonetheless.
=I heard that as an astronomical amount of heat covered the planet’s surface, large quantities of minerals and metals that didn’t originally exist on this star were created.
=According to them, the entire combat zone was altered to become surprisingly similar in composition to meteors that fall from beyond the Outer Sea.
=The investigation team’s hypothesis is that the final clash between Adamant Thunder and Jinwa may have taken place outside the Outer Sea.
└Now this is some refreshingly original bullshit
└So Adamant Thunder and Jinwa were fighting in Paradise Lost, ascended, and then settled it in the Outer Sea?
└Why don’t you just say they fought, reached enlightenment, and became Outer Gods together
A post containing purely speculation and hypotheses, with no concrete evidence or data.
Naturally, the reactions weren’t entirely positive, perhaps because the post was too much of a leap in logic.
However, the content written within was sharp enough to surprise Lennok slightly.
“…Incredible.”
Lennok, who had been pinching Davi’s tail, read the post, and his eyes lit up.
“I knew several investigation teams were dispatched whenever a major incident occurred on the Central Front, but to think there are ability users capable of this among them.”
└Even I can grab some nameless acquaintance and use them to farm for clicks
└According to my acquaintance, Adamant Thunder is actually the son of some unknown Ascendant?
└My acquaintance says Adamant Thunder and Jinwa are the same person. The whole thing in Paradise Lost was just an elaborate hoax
└My acquaintances say all your bullshit is correct yep
A stream of comments followed, mocking the original poster or spouting strange nonsense.
In contrast, there were also quite a few reactions defending the post or trying to discuss it seriously.
└This is stuff that will be announced anyway once the investigation team returns from Paradise Lost, so there’s no reason to lie about it now
└Just looking at the footage of Adamant Thunder’s spellcraft filmed by the Spirit Satellite from outside the atmosphere, you can get a rough idea, can’t you?
└It’s clear the final battle between the two Seekers took place on a level that at least transcended the world’s standards
└We don’t know that. No one even knows if Adamant Thunder has reached Level 9 yet
└He killed an Ascendant, and you’re saying he’s not an Ascendant himself? Does that make sense?
└Didn’t you see the evaluation in the notes section when Adamant Thunder hit #1 on the power rankings? He’s a mortal already stronger than an Ascendant.
└The power rankings haven’t been updated in over a month. They say the creator skipped town.
└He farmed all the attention, enjoyed it to the last, and then bailed. Must have been fun
“The scale of this incident was so large that it seems many people across the continent were paying attention.”
Lennok said as he scrolled down, observing the atmosphere of the comments flowing in real-time.
“There are more diverse opinions and professional analyses than I thought. At this rate, are people from other continents and city-states also accessing the Deepweb?”
[Something I noticed while doing a quick search is that Vulcan’s network infrastructure seems to be very highly regarded everywhere.]
Davi answered, flicking through the monitor screen, a tablet, and a hologram screen.
[All sorts of information and statistics are handled in Vulcan, so it seems many interested parties have started operating on the Deepweb. There are even people moving to Vulcan or its nearby satellite cities just to use the service.]
“I thought the number of posts was increasing by the day, and it wasn’t my imagination. The number of strange comments has increased proportionally, though…”
└There was a lot of talk about Adamant Thunder’s whereabouts after the Subjugation Operation, looks like it’s finally getting sorted out
└A lot of people were curious about what he was planning to do after wrecking The Legion by himself
└Did he run out of things to kill, so now he’s gone to kill an Ascendant?
└People die. Adamant Thunder kills.
A trivial joke, immediately followed by an endlessly serious analysis of Adamant Thunder.
└Among all the Transcendents in history, he is the most dangerous and inscrutable.
└Has there ever been a being who killed so many people, yet filled that entire list with only superhumans and Transcendents?
└I didn’t know before, but it seems he doesn’t even feel it’s worth fighting anyone who isn’t a powerful superhuman.
└He might be a madman who only finds pleasure in breaking the paths and hierarchies of others.
└He’s probably a person with a lofty and arrogant pride that is beyond understanding.
└I’d like to meet him once before I die. Just what kind of person would go all the way to Paradise Lost to murder Jinwa?
└I don’t know. In my experience, people like that mostly don’t rely on grand reasons or justifications.
└What do you know about Adamant Thunder’s feelings? Are you a serial killer or something?
└It’s embarrassing, but I’m following the path Adamant Thunder walked. Just got my 5th.
└?
└?
└Call the cops, fuck
└Where are you gonna find cops here lmao
└Don’t worry, there are robbers
└There are scammers and drug dealers too
└Deepweb in a nutshell lol
└There’s nothing but bastards worse than the Adamant Thunder wannabe here lmao
Reactions and comments with completely different atmospheres coexisted within a single community.
Of course, a significant number of the tens of thousands of comments were spam or viral marketing, but even after filtering those out, there were still quite a lot of reactions worth reading.
This diversity might be the reason it was attracting interested parties from other cities, but for Lennok, who had watched the Deepweb for so long, he only ever saw people fighting over comparison posts all day—
“Hm?”
At that moment, Lennok realized something unexpected and tilted his head.
“Come to think of it, the comparison posts I’m sick of seeing on the Deepweb are unusually scarce today. I thought something was strange, was this why?”
[Oho? So, Master also feels empty without the VS battles?]
“That’s not what I meant.”
All sorts of comparison posts that would pop up whenever Lennok checked the Deepweb out of boredom felt rare today.
There was no way that the people who fought over power rankings all day and debated who was stronger at the drop of a hat had all quit the Deepweb.
Could the Deepweb administrators have deliberately blocked the excessive mentioning of that topic or keyword?
No, from what I know, the administrators hardly ever interfere with the information on the Deepweb…
[Actually, what you said is correct, Master. There’s no way these organic beings would pass up such interesting bait.]
“Then?”
[Actually, the reason the traffic on the Deepweb is so high right now is because of this. I’ll show you right away.]
Davi chuckled and applied a filter to the popular posts.
Listing the posts with the most views and comments in order from the top.
At the same time, only after seeing the title of the post that appeared at the very top could Lennok understand the situation.
[Title: Adamant Thunder, who murdered an Ascendant in Paradise Lost vs. Cheonbeon, who conquered the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors (Poll included)] + 3689041
“Wait, this is…”
Lennok muttered with a flabbergasted expression.
“Don’t tell me, were they fighting in a separate post from the very beginning?”