vstars Chapter 46 Ghost Codes on the Dark Web
Chapter 46 Ghost Codes on the Dark Web
The server racks in the basement emitted a low hum.
Acha sat in front of three huge curved screens, his fingers typing on the mechanical keyboard, creating dazzling afterimages, while the green light of the holographic projection reflected on his furrowed brows.
"The encryption logic of this thing... it's practically alive."
Acha's voice trembled slightly. He abruptly ripped off his headphones, and the data stream on the screen instantly stopped, freezing on a constantly rotating blood-red symbol—the inverted triangular spiral lock that Suya had unconsciously drawn in her sleep.
Lin Mo stood behind him, toying with the chip fragment salvaged from the deep-sea listening device. The chip's surface had carbonized due to the high temperature, but the core quantum encryption module still emitted a faint, eerie blue glow.
"Alive?" Lin Mo's voice was as cold and hard as iron.
"Look at this." Acha pulled up a spectrum analysis graph, pointing to the distorted waveforms. "This isn't an ordinary firewall. It's learning. Every time my crawler tries to crack a layer of encryption, it reorganizes itself, generating new defense mechanisms. And..."
He took a deep breath and hovered his finger over the Enter key for a moment.
"Moreover, its data source is not on the public internet, or even the deep web. It's in an encrypted channel called 'Noah.' That channel is like a ghost, appearing only during specific time windows to receive data packets from our coordinates."
"Noah..." Lin Mo chewed on these two words, a chill running down his spine.
This is by no means a coincidence.
In the Bible's "Garden of Eden," Noah's Ark carried the chosen species through the Great Flood. Now, this ghostly channel, named "Noah," is monitoring Suya's every move. Do they also consider Suya a...chosen species?
"Can I go in?" Lin Mo asked, his hand already on the slot for the neural interface.
"Theoretically, it's possible, but the risks are extremely high." Acha turned around, her expression grave. "To enter 'Noah,' you must use that blood-red symbol as a key for a handshake verification. Once the verification is successful, your consciousness will be connected to the underlying logic of that channel."
He paused, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes.
"But Lin Mo, that channel is very strange. It's not just a chat room, it's more like... a consciousness incubation dish. A fragment of data I just intercepted shows that they're discussing 'container compatibility.' If you go in, and they identify you as the other host of the 'twin virus'..."
"Then let them see," Lin Mo said without hesitation, inserting the neural interface into the slot at the back of his neck, a resolute red light flashing in his eyes. "On this ark, who is the real flood?"
As the system started, a cold current instantly pierced through the spine.
The images of the real world faded rapidly, and Lin Mo's consciousness was pulled into a pure white data void.
There is no gravity, no sound, only countless floating, semi-transparent dialog boxes wandering like ghosts. Each dialog box represents an anonymous ID, and their avatars are all that blood-red inverted triangular spiral.
[ID: Observer 7]: The sample showed a stress response today, with a peak heart rate of 180. It is speculated that external interference factors have not yet been eliminated.
[ID: Architect]: No problem. The anchor point is firmly planted, and the key is activated. When the moon reaches its full phase, it will be the day the "Ark" sets sail.
Lin Mo remained hidden in the shadows of the data stream, watching these indifferent words intertwine in the void. The "sample" they were talking about referred to Su Ya.
Just then, a special dialog box suddenly exploded in the center of the void, emitting a red light that was more dazzling than any other ID.
[ID: Administrator (Codename: Ark Master)]: The key holder has awakened. Preparing to begin the "Second Phase" of the cleansing process. If external interference cannot be eliminated, let the "container" expel the toxins itself.
Lin Mo's pupils suddenly contracted.
The second stage? Cleaning?
He suddenly reached out, trying to capture the data trajectory of the "administrator". However, the moment his fingertips touched the red dialog box, all the text suddenly twisted and deformed, turning into countless sharp code spikes that pierced his core consciousness.
"Warning! Unauthorized intrusion detected! Countermeasures activated!"
The void collapsed, and the white background was instantly stained blood red.
Lin Mo felt a sharp headache, as if countless electric drills were probing his brain. He knew that this was the "Noah" channel's defense mechanism attacking his neural connections.
"Trying to shut the door?" Lin Mo sneered from the depths of his consciousness, and a dark golden killing program instantly erupted on the data level. "I kicked the door open, and the key is mine!"
He stopped hiding and revealed his ID directly in the data stream—it was a bloodstained broken blade.
Like a wolf that has broken into a flock of sheep, he frantically harvested the surrounding data fragments. Although he failed to catch the "administrator," he intercepted a crucial piece of coordinate data and a red countdown timer:
【72:00:00】
Countdown.
Lin Mo abruptly pulled out the neural interface, panting heavily as he returned to reality.
Sweat soaked his back. He stared at Acha's astonished face on the screen, his voice hoarse yet chilling:
"Prepare the diving equipment. Before they come looking for us, we need to dismantle the keel of this 'Noah's Ark' before the countdown ends."
Acha stared at the still-running countdown on the screen and murmured, "What exactly are they trying to cleanse?"
Lin Mo stood up, picked up the battle blade on the table, his eyes sharp as knives.
"No matter what it is," he said coldly, "anyone who dares to touch Suya must die."