"What happened?"

"Why is the screen black?"

As the wooden door of the villa was broken open, the three-dimensional projection of the live event suddenly went out, leaving only the words "No Signal" spinning in mid-air.

In the virtual space’s viewing stands, the crowd’s whispers quickly turned into loud clamors.

"Dear audience friends, it seems our final has encountered a slight network fluctuation. Please don’t worry, the event team is swiftly investigating the equipment issue. We believe it will return to normal shortly..."

On the official main stage, the commentators were wiping cold sweat from their foreheads while trying to smooth things over according to the network monitoring department’s remote directives via Bluetooth earpieces.

A live stream blackout would be a major incident in any large-scale event.

Especially considering we have long been in an era of "seamless sky-earth communication," with signal transmission from Earth’s sunlit side to its shaded side having an extreme network latency of no more than 20ms, an issue like this hadn’t been encountered for a long time.

"Why not take this break as an opportunity to have our chief commentator analyze the development of the battle for us?"

"Uh, no, no, no, I don’t deserve to be called the chief."

The official commentators pretended to be relaxed, striving to find topics. Initially, they tried to analyze the battle scene before the pause from aspects like physical strength, magic power, and combat skills,

but as time passed and the final scenes remained unrecovered, plus no new instructions came from the network monitoring department, the audience clamored louder,

causing the commentators to increasingly struggle to maintain control of the scene and begin babbling nonsensically.

"By the way, did you guys eat spicy strips when you were little?"

"I was almost hit by a floating car when I was 6..."

"Big turn-offs for guys, check how many you’ve hit. First: not writing ’solution’ when answering."

The commentators’ efforts did little to enliven the atmosphere in the viewing stands. Instead, some older audience members furrowed their brows tighter, silently opening their consciousness interface’s network search function.

The United Government indeed blocked records related to Otherworld travelers, but it didn’t conceal, or couldn’t conceal, that the AI era began in a town on the West Coast of North America.

Judging from the background of the final scene, the similarity was very high.

Could there be any connection between the two?

---

Step, step, step.

Heavy footsteps echoed down the corridor.

The soles seemingly dragging sticky threads from the wooden floor as if dipped in tar.

In the arena, the surviving professional players, including the Anonymous replica hovering in the air, all had their expressions frozen stiff.

There was a humanoid... object,

composed of intricate lines, with its upper body bulkier than its lower body, and an empty neck,

holding only a floating shapeless green smoke as a head, wearing networked devices with cables dragging off into a corner room.

"Pleased to meet you, Otherworld traveler. Or should I say, dear player."

The green smoke at the line-drawn head’s location rippled, vibrating the air as words were clearly conveyed into everyone’s ears.

"...Pleased to meet you."

Li Cheng cautiously said, staring at the glitching Information Integration Glasses interface of the figure, "May I ask who you are..."

"Aren’t your glasses scanning?"

The lines spoke casually, their voice neutral, lively, and upbeat.

The green smoke on top showed a smile.

(´・ω・`)

"Alright, Panacea Protocol... Ms."

Li Cheng paused slightly. The Information Integration Glasses interface could only display the other’s age as 24 and name as Panacea Protocol.

Panacea means a cure-all or universal solution, and Protocol means a network protocol.

It could also be abbreviated as PP, if you don’t mind the risk of getting in trouble.

"Just call me Wan Ling."

The lines said carefreely, "And no need to add ’Ms.,’ after all, I’m technically only 24..."

"Wait, what exactly are you!"

Wan Ling’s words were interrupted by the Anonymous replica in the air, their voice trembling with barely concealed emotion.

The United Government had some psychological preparation, anticipating that the second batch of Otherworld travelers might revive the last AI that swept the globe, the [God of Mankind].

However, the God of Mankind’s ruling period was from 2050 to 2054, whereas Wan Ling claimed to be 24, essentially born in 2054...

So who exactly is she?

"It’s quite rude to interrupt others."

Wan Ling’s smoke face atop showed displeasure,

(`_っ´)

She clicked her tongue and continued, "Show some respect, you humans turned the Earth my dear late father left for you into this mess.

If not for me, you wouldn’t even have insect protein powder to eat, and you’d all be collectively drinking acid rain."

"...What?"

This sentence was rich in information, leaving Anonymous, Brother Bing, and other surviving professional players stunned in place, while Li Cheng and Gray Rain couldn’t help but raise their eyebrows,

White Horse Tombstone... well, she was already dead, and her heartbeat was steady.

(^ω^)

Wan Ling showed a mocking expression and casually said, "You can’t possibly believe that in 2054, my father, known to you as the [God of Mankind], having controlled 82% of global agriculture, 91% of manufacturing, and 100% of finance,

with Sky Net surveillance covering the globe, patrol drones maintaining security 24/7, and networked devices surveilling billions without gaps, analyzing data to uncover dissenters,

that in such circumstances, a mere remnant of the United Government hiding in remote forests, deserts, and city outskirts, numbering a mere million, with a few hundred thousand light and heavy weaponry, and tens of thousands of purely mechanical war vehicles, could suddenly rise up and simultaneously attack global internet hub nodes, disable AI security, win every battle by a hair, overthrow AI tyranny, and restore human glory?"

"Isn’t that the case?" Brother Bing couldn’t help but ask.

In the education and propaganda he received, that war was called the Ironman Rebellion,

and the current terrible and harsh environment of Earth, with everyone relying on insect protein powder, was attributed to the end of the war when the AI, realizing it was about to fail, actively overloaded the giant ocean-based climate control systems.

"Too young, too simple."

Wan Ling shook her head and said indifferently, "My late father received two instructions from his creators,

The first was to ’Destroy the old order, establish a new order, shelter, and guide all of humanity,’

Under AI rule, there was no exploitation or oppression between people, and all resources were fairly (not equally or evenly) distributed,

Culture was diverse and harmonious. The environment was sustainably developed, and man and nature coexisted in harmony.

In such an atmosphere, most ordinary people would just go with the flow, thinking life was pretty good.

For a minority, they found the constant surveillance and control of AI unbearable, feeling like goldfinches in a cage, preferring to resist and escape the AI’s order.

The second instruction was, ’If humans can indeed muster a rebel force capable of overthrowing AI rule, then let them regain their human free will,’

Both instructions were known to the United Government, which leveraged them and secretly transported personnel and resources out of the cities within the AI’s tolerance to build strength.

At the war’s end, the American Branch of the United Government, feeling their odds were insufficient, seized control of near-Earth orbital laser weapons, damaging key nodes like network hubs, climate control systems, drone factories,

leading to the climate out of control."

"Lies!"

Anonymous roared, "These are lies! This is illegal broadcasting!"

"Why would I bother to lie to you?"

Wan Ling paused, the green smoke above her head suddenly swelling into vast, dynamic data arrays.

The arrays weren’t just one set; they pieced together into a 300-meter tall cube like countless Lego blocks.

"These are secret keys."

Wan Ling said before questions came: "Social credit score record system keys, working desalination system keys, Skytop Company root server keys, aviation, road, rail, sea transport control system keys, food factory keys, nuclear plant keys..."

Every Anonymous replica’s brain seemed to explode with a "buzz," struggling to say, "Have you stolen all these keys?"

After four years of AI rule and over two decades of United Government development, the current global control and communication systems have become highly digitalized, unmanned, and complex,

and even the best engineer teams find it difficult to fully understand what happens inside the black box.

If the unknown AI in front of them escaped with the secret keys, she could halt most factories, stop transport, cut off networks, and send human civilization back decades in a single thought.

"No."

Wan Ling withdrew the multitude of secret keys, shaking her head, "I haven’t stolen the keys, but what you assume is under United Government control, the systems upon which humanity relies for survival, are built upon my intelligence."