Late at night, Case and his wife were asleep in their bedroom. Case was somewhat famous in the training circuit, but he also engaged in illicit activities in the underground world of Creek Valley. In reality, he worked as a security expert for an insurance company.
In the cyber age, insurance companies were lucrative businesses. With chips implanted in people's brains allowing data to directly affect their minds, preventing viral invasions became a pressing concern for everyone. After countless firmware upgrades and firewall updates, as long as a person didn't intentionally download or connect to illegal programs, problems could largely be avoided.
As a security expert, Case was well-versed in the latest viruses on the market. He and his family had even installed the newest firewalls behind their heads. But tonight, his wife was awakened by his restlessness. Initially, she thought Case was just talking in his sleep. She found it amusing, as he usually slept soundly and never snored or talked in his sleep.
Curious, she turned on the recording function to capture her husband's silly antics. However, after less than half a minute, she was horrified. Case wasn't mumbling in his sleep; he was uttering some terrifying, unknown language. "Ah yulu guka sihama liji yahua huka wa…" His tone was deep, monotone, as if he were chanting. His lips twitched as if in convulsion, and his eyelids fluttered, occasionally revealing the whites of his eyes.
She was so frightened that she nearly fell out of bed. She quickly shook Case, but he didn't respond at all. In a panic, she dialed for emergency services. "My husband suddenly started talking like a possessed person while sleeping, convulsing and rolling his eyes. Please come quickly!"
To her dismay, the emergency operator replied urgently, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but there's been a widespread outbreak of this situation across the city, and we are short-staffed. I'll send you the nearest hospitals with available beds. If possible, please take your husband there yourself. I apologize!" The line abruptly cut off.
Stunned, she took a few seconds to process before contacting Case's company. They had a field team responsible for emergency rescues for high-end clients and senior staff. Whether clients were in dangerous conflict zones or kidnapped due to chip invasions, this team would swoop in with impressive firepower, top-notch security experts, and medical personnel to rescue them.
As a senior security expert at the insurance company, Case had the same privileges as their high-profile clients. But this time, the usually quick-response field team didn't connect! At that moment, Case's wife realized that something serious might be happening.
She dashed to the far side of the bedroom, opened the deepest closet, retrieved a suit of battle exoskeleton with a power amplifier, and scooped up her convulsing husband, sprinting toward the garage.
---
Meanwhile, in a black space.
In a discussion board that hadn't garnered much attention in the past few days, a flood of new posts suddenly appeared. The top post read: [Creek Valley Reports Massive Brain Data Infection, Suspected Zero Virus].
This "Zero Virus" referred to the red mist data from the concert that Qin Xuezhong had initially given to Zhang Yuan, who then placed it in a quarantine section within the black space. This section's data couldn't be read, copied, referenced, or transferred, for fear that once leaked, it would cause even more infections. It could only be viewed through visual means within the black space, displaying the code.
This section was called the "Zero Quarantine Area," and the virus program inside was simply referred to as Zero. Everyone was cautious because something that could make even ghosts so wary was undoubtedly powerful. Many members adept at data analysis and virus programming spent nearly all their time there, trying to decipher the code composed of programming language and garbled text.
As a security expert, Case spent almost all his time in this section. Those interested in Zero were quite familiar with Case, who had been at the concert. With such a significant event occurring today, his absence led many to speculate that he might have been infected. Some early members he had invited even highlighted a post in the black space, hoping the ghostly overlord would see it and find a solution.
In reality, Qin Xuezhong had already noticed. At that moment, she was happily enjoying a late-night snack downstairs. With the black space established, many issues were directly resolved by these individuals, allowing her to worry less. She had basically achieved freedom.
But next to the spicy noodle stand, a person who had been wandering suddenly collapsed, convulsing and starting to mumble meaningless words like Case. Qin Xuezhong instantly recognized this was related to Yue Zhao because the person's clothing still bore the glowing sticker from the concert!
She immediately entered the consciousness void, realizing that Creek Valley was experiencing a large-scale unknown brain infection, and the outbreak points were all among those who attended the concert. At the same time, she saw the post about Case's disappearance.
Rushing home, she plugged in the internet. Ever since she had pulled Case and the others into the consciousness void, she discovered a faint connection with them. As long as she wanted to locate someone, if they were online, she could pinpoint them precisely in the cyber network, following the initial invite wave.
Amidst the vast sea of network data, she used the invite code she had given Case to locate him directly. The moment she accessed Case's consciousness space, she found herself surrounded by thick red.
Quickly approaching, she began absorbing the malevolent substance with her Dead Silence Orb. Perhaps because she had dealt with this substance before, the absorption sped up significantly this time. In just a few minutes, the red mist around Case was completely absorbed.
Case's wife was soaring through the sky. Looking down, she could see a flicker of flames, indicating that something had happened. The flying lanes between the buildings were filled with red and white ambulances; it felt like the entire fleet of Creek Valley's ambulances had been deployed.
On the radio, the host spoke in a serious and rapid tone about the current situation. "Creek Valley is experiencing an unknown brain infection program that may be contagious. Please refrain from using the internet. If you experience symptoms such as fainting, convulsions, or mumbling, seek sedation treatment at the nearest hospital as soon as possible…"
Worried, Case's wife looked at him. She had used several pieces of clothing and ropes to secure Case in his seat, preventing him from injuring himself.
Suddenly, Case's mumbling stopped, and his convulsions ceased. His wife was startled, thinking he had died. She reached out to check for his breath and heartbeat, but Case suddenly opened his eyes wide and struggled a bit.
Both were shocked, and the sudden jolt nearly caused the vehicle to veer off course in the air. Case looked around in terror, seeing his wife beside him. "Where are we? What happened?"
Relieved that he was okay, his wife hesitantly explained what had transpired, even showing him the video she had recorded. Case, still confused, had no idea why he was awake. But his intuition hinted that it might have something to do with the ghost.
He gently reassured his wife, asking her to pull over first while he entered the black space to check things out. As soon as he entered, he saw the posts from everyone and, before he could feel touched, received a message from the ghost.
"Are you okay?" Qin Xuezhong asked.
"I should be fine now. Thank you, boss," Case replied obediently. In such a chaotic event, if it weren't for the help of someone powerful, his mind might have already been compromised.
He felt a chill — it was unbelievable that the ghost could find him in such a short time and directly eliminate the influence of the Zero virus. He even began to suspect that his wife might be the ghost herself.
Unaware of Case's thoughts, Qin Xuezhong continued to ask, "Is there any solution?"
Having directly connected with Case, she already knew his real identity. Since he was a security expert, perhaps he could come up with some ideas.
Case responded, "The Zero virus seems to be a combination of a mental illness and a virus program, which allows it to spread through data and infect the human brain… We can only use sedatives to control it for now and think of a solution later."
"Is that all?" Qin Xuezhong sounded a bit disappointed. She had hoped that with such capable individuals in the black space, they could develop a vaccine or something similar to directly resolve the situation. She still wanted to slack off tomorrow.
Hearing the ghost's disappointment, Case inexplicably felt a surge of fear. — He had disappointed such a terrifying figure! Would his future be difficult now?!
Sure enough, pressure bred motivation. Case suddenly thought that since the ghost had somehow removed the Zero virus, perhaps there were remnants of the virus within his chip.
As a security expert, Case took out the tools he had prepared in the vehicle and performed a deep analysis of his chip. Sure enough, he found some unknown data fragments.
"I think I found something, boss. It seems to be the remnants left after you neutralized the Zero virus while saving me. I will compare it with the virus in the quarantine area. Maybe we can extract some fragments to locate the Zero virus. Once we can pinpoint it, we can develop a quarantine program to prevent Zero from affecting the human body."
"Good, go ahead," Qin Xuezhong nodded in satisfaction.
Case didn't dare to waste time; he immediately gathered a team under the Zero section and began working. Progress was much faster than Qin Xuezhong had imagined. Within just half an hour, Case and his team achieved initial results.
With Qin Xuezhong's approval, someone quickly took the findings offline for testing. Within a minute, feedback came back.
"It worked! The patient calmed down instantly and regained consciousness!"
Everyone cheered.
After these two events, the sense of camaraderie among the people in the black space grew significantly. At that moment, they all thought in unison: this time, they were going to be famous again.