Super Mothership
Gustav’s flagship was severely rear-ended. Judging by the extent of the damage, it could only be towed, along with the Hive, to the rear spaceport dock for repairs.
However, he had no time to lament the state of his ship. Convinced that he had found a flaw in the spy’s actions, Gustav immediately mobilized his technical forces, deploying all available resources to conduct a counter-trace on the virus and electronic attacks, with the Hive as their primary target.
But what happened next was far beyond his expectations…
"Commander! Just now, our fleet was hit by another hacker attack! At the same time, a massive electronic virus outbreak has paralyzed our systems, and dozens of warships have reported bomb viruses appearing onboard!" The adjutant rushed to report.
"What?! Dozens of ships?" Gustav was taken aback.
One rear-end collision had nearly crippled two warships. If dozens of them were simultaneously affected, his position as commander would be completely compromised.
"What’s the damage?" he asked urgently.
When the damage reports from various warships came in, the adjutant’s expression turned odd.
"Uh… Overall, the losses aren’t too severe. After the Hive’s collision incident, we immediately ordered everyone to be on high alert for enemy cyber intrusions. So far, all attacks have been blocked outside the core firewall of our AI system."
Gustav sighed in relief, but the adjutant continued, "Although the AI’s core functions weren’t breached, the enemy was cunning enough to bypass our heavily fortified zones and targeted peripheral functions instead. So, uh… there’s been some chaos…"
…
On the Hive, the entity codenamed "Surprise Attack" caught the Gemini fleet off guard. However, once the Gemini forces were prepared, the battle became a direct contest of raw strength.
In electronic warfare, the battlefield is generally divided into two domains: red and blue. The red domain represents offensive capabilities—hacking, electronic viruses, infiltration, compilation, decompilation, and other well-known hacking techniques. The blue domain is the opposite, covering firewall technology, antivirus software, tracking and counter-tracking, vulnerability research—everything within the realm of cybersecurity experts.
As a newly born intelligent entity, "Surprise Attack" possessed an unparalleled talent for hacking and intrusion.
If electronic warfare were likened to martial arts duels, three key factors would determine a warrior’s strength: Inner Power, Techniques, and Equipment!
A warrior with immense inner power, exquisite techniques, and legendary weapons like the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber would undoubtedly dominate the world.
In this analogy, computational power equates to "inner power"—the greater the computing power, the stronger the combat capability. At an extreme level, sheer computational strength alone could crush all opposition!
In this regard, as a large-scale lunar supercomputing center backed by massive mechanical insect computing resources, Codename far surpassed the shipboard AI of the Gemini fleet, which was merely designed as a combat assistant.
The offensive and defensive techniques of both sides could be likened to martial arts moves—those with superior techniques could leverage minimal effort for maximum impact. If one could identify vulnerabilities in the opponent’s defense, a single strike could be fatal.
For Codename, who had just upgraded her system to incorporate the Gemini encoding method, she was like a martial artist who had suddenly inherited a century’s worth of internal energy—immensely powerful but completely inexperienced in technique. This was precisely why Nie Yun wanted her to learn from the opponent during this cyber battle, improving her hacking abilities by observing and adapting.
Her intelligence gave her the ability to learn and adapt on the fly, making her attacks unpredictable and flexible. In contrast, the Gemini AI could only follow rigid, pre-programmed moves, making it vastly inferior in terms of raw talent.
Intelligent lifeforms are like spirits born within code. For them, manipulating code is as natural as eating and drinking—an innate talent. Given enough time to learn, the gap between Codename and the Gemini AI would only continue to grow.
However, despite Codename’s immense potential, she was still inexperienced in hacking within the Gemini network. To avoid getting knocked out immediately, she adopted the same strategy as the martial artist Xuzhu from ancient tales—attacking from a distance with concealed weapons.
The Gemini AI had the home-field advantage, protected by an impenetrable fortress—its firewall. But Codename had also developed a deadly concealed weapon of her own: the bomb virus!
Firewalls and viruses are both types of “equipment” in cyber warfare—pre-set programs designed to strengthen a side’s digital combat capabilities.
What made Codename’s virus particularly terrifying was that it incorporated artificial intelligence principles, granting it the ultimate late-game ability—evolution.
It could hybridize, mutate, and exchange information with other variants of itself, continuously refining its own code to become more concealed and more destructive.
This virus was like a slow-acting poison—the longer it remained undetected, the deeper it would spread.
Moreover, the bomb virus had the ability to camouflage itself using surrounding data, much like a chameleon. This made it extremely difficult for antivirus software to detect. Even if it was discovered, without the specific activation protocol, any attempt to disarm it would result in immediate self-destruction!
A typical exchange between the antivirus software and the bomb virus might go something like this:
Antivirus Software: “Haha! I found you!”
Bomb Virus: “Password?”
Antivirus Software: “???”
Bomb Virus: “Boom!”
...
This kind of virus, which self-destructs at the slightest provocation, undoubtedly made counter-tracing a nightmare for the Gemini AI.
When considering the three key factors—Inner Power, Techniques, and Equipment—Codename and the opponent were evenly matched, each with their own strengths.
The initial trial run aboard the Hive had already demonstrated that Codename was capable of threatening the Gemini fleet’s shipboard AI. However, her mission this time was not direct confrontation but harassment—distracting the Gemini forces and dividing their attention. For this reason, she refrained from launching an all-out attack.
Instead, she simply bypassed the firewall’s primary defense zones and triggered precision detonations of the latent viruses at critical locations!
Each explosion of the bomb virus turned vast amounts of stored data into unreadable gibberish. The loss of this data often led to localized system disruptions.
For example, aboard the Hive, the automated maintenance system for onboard drones suffered from massive data corruption. As a result, perfectly functional drones were mistakenly sent for repairs, while malfunctioning drones were left completely unattended.
In another case, a malfunction in the automatic storage system caused redundant loading operations, leading to a ridiculous incident where two drones crashed into each other and were damaged.
But the most headache-inducing incident involved the warship’s access control system. Just moments ago, the automatic door of a public bathhouse suddenly slid open while a female officer was showering, exposing her to two passing male officers—who were left utterly speechless.
Similar “unexpected benefits” played out across various locations, filling the ship with a mix of screams and whistles…
It wasn’t just the doors—overhead lights throughout the ship flickered wildly, transforming what was supposed to be the setting of a serious military operation into something more like a festival carnival.
The confused Seafolk officers found themselves staring in bewilderment at the constantly opening and closing doors and the dazzling, stage-like lighting effects.
Although these peripheral attacks didn’t cause any real damage to the warship, the sheer chaos they created completely disrupted day-to-day operations. The affected warships had essentially fallen into utter disorder—the only way to describe the scene was total pandemonium!
...
By the time Gustav finished listening to all the reports, his face was as dark as it could possibly get.
This was provocation! Naked, blatant provocation!
Though the enemy hadn’t launched a direct military strike, they were slapping him in the face with these antics!
"Are we really just going to sit here and watch them run wild right under our noses?!" Gustav growled coldly.
"Commander! We’re running sandbox analysis on the virus, but we still need some time…" The adjutant wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Have we identified the hacker’s location?! What is the technical department even doing? Sitting around twiddling their thumbs?!" Gustav’s anger flared.
"The hacker has layered their attacks through multiple virus-infected terminals. At the moment, we can’t pinpoint their exact location, but one thing is certain—the attack source is inside our internal network!" the adjutant reported.
Gustav fell into deep thought. His desperation to catch the spy made him temporarily set aside his personal pride. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "Get me Isabel. I demand a network connection for technical support!"
Compared to the Seafolk, the Feathermen had even more advanced electronic technology. But under normal circumstances, Gustav would never lower himself to seek Isar’s help unless he had absolutely no choice.
"Uh… about that…" The adjutant forced an awkward smile. "After receiving our distress signal, the Feathermen became concerned that their systems might also be infected by the virus. So, not long ago, they severed most of their network connections with us. If you wish to contact Lord Isabel, the only way to do so now is through your personal communication privileges."
Gustav: "…"
TL Note- Cyber or Electronic Warfare....
Comments
Post a Comment