Chapter 27: Report | Monsters Are Coming
While Qi Sheng was monitoring the operation of the test tower, events were unfolding in the real world.
Human Federation Starnet Security Center.
Beep!
"Verification complete."
With an electronic tone, the metal doors slid into the wall.
Ding Xiu stepped into the office and sat down at the desk.
Glancing at the rapidly increasing number of online reports on the right side of his screen, he couldn't help but sigh.
At that moment, the ceiling projector activated automatically. The beam of light converged in front of the desk, forming the projection of a robot.
"Smart Assistant A at your service. You currently have 328 unresolved online reports. 227 of these have been flagged as AI-handled cases and will be processed by me. The remaining 101 reports require manual analysis as I was unable to make a definitive assessment."
Ignoring the assistant, Ding Xiu pressed the blue button on the desk. Instantly, more beams of light poured down from the ceiling, forming a virtual workspace around him.
Countless blue and white light points slowly rotated around him.
"Begin work!"
Refocusing his mind, Ding Xiu quickly got into working mode, clicking on the surrounding white light points one by one to review the reports.
The reports presented to him had already been filtered by the AI and required his manual judgment to determine whether to forward them to local law enforcement or the internal regulatory agencies of other races.
After processing four reports in a row, Ding Xiu opened another white light point.
A virtual screen materialized before him, displaying detailed report information.
Reporter: Games Are Art
Verified Identity: Wang Xuexi (ID Code: …)
Report Content:
A scammer is distributing fake phishing links in the group, claiming the link provides access to the Lunar Eclipse Race's latest VR game 'Dark Land.'
(Attached: group chat screenshots)
(Attached: poster's network ID screenshots)
—
Reading this report, Ding Xiu was quite surprised.
At first glance, it was obviously fake. He didn't even need to open the link to know it was a scam.
The Lunar Eclipse Race's games had never been cracked, not even those released years ago, let alone the recently launched Dark Land, which used far more advanced security technology.
And yet, that was precisely what made it strange.
Normally, this kind of report could easily be handled by the AI assistant. Why had it been forwarded to him for manual verification?
"Smart Assistant A, why didn't you handle this report?"
The AI assistant, sitting idly on the desk, stood up and pointed at the report information floating before him.
"All reports require thorough verification before resolution. However, I was unable to obtain any useful information from the evidence provided in this report, preventing further processing."
Ding Xiu became even more confused.
"Why couldn't you proceed?"
"There are three reasons," Assistant A explained.
"First, I searched for the user 'Welfare Officer' mentioned in the report. Although network data exists for this account, it has no verified credentials, nor any IP ownership records… In other words, this account was registered without identity verification. My database contains no precedent for unverified registrations, creating a logical error beyond my recognition."
"Second, I attempted to analyze the reported download link for additional clues. However, I was unable to penetrate the link's backend permissions. This was the final feedback I received."
As Assistant A finished speaking, Ding Xiu's screen updated.
A projection message appeared.
[Download quota reached. Publisher has not enabled additional downloads. Further downloads unavailable.]
Assistant A's face displayed a human-like expression of confusion.
"My permissions rank as A-level within the Human Federation's network. Only city AI cores and the Federation's Central Brain hold S-level permissions that I cannot override. For all other credentials, I have bypass rights. Thus, my attempt to analyze this link failed completely."
"Lastly, when tracing Welfare Officer's online activities, I found no network trail, no group activity records, and no data on where the links were distributed."
"In summary, per AI Protocol 238: AI systems may only process reports after fully verifying all evidence. Since I was unable to verify any of the three key pieces of information, processing failed and was escalated for human review."
After listening to Assistant A's report, Ding Xiu immediately realized this seemingly obvious scam report was far more complex than he had thought.
Following Assistant A's procedure, he attempted to recheck the publisher's credentials, link information, and IP address.
The results were exactly as Assistant A had stated, no useful information could be retrieved.
"Could it be the Lunar Eclipse Race?"
Faced with such a bizarre situation, Ding Xiu's first suspicion turned to the Lunar Eclipse Race.
The Federation's city AI cores and Central Brain had all been built with the Lunar Eclipse Race's assistance.
The very Starnet, connecting humanity and numerous refugee races, was created with their technological support. Only the Lunar Eclipse Race possessed the supreme authority to access any race's networks at will.
In fact, back when the Federation was first formed, there had been debates about the security risks of connecting to Starnet, fearing that all of humanity's secrets would be laid bare before the Lunar Eclipse Race.
But the debate was ultimately shut down at the Federation's highest council.
The reason was simple, at the meeting, someone had asked. "May I ask all city governors and council members here, if the Lunar Eclipse Race really wished to act against humanity, what are the odds of us successfully resisting?"
This question silenced the opposition.
In truth, if the Lunar Eclipse Race ever invaded Earth, humanity would have no means of resistance.
Over the years of contact, however, the Lunar Eclipse Race had never shown any hostility, instead providing generous technological support.
By joining their Starnet, the Federation gained access to vast amounts of Lunar Eclipse Race technology stored on the network, immensely aiding human development.
In the end, the council voted to fully integrate with Starnet, formally requesting the Lunar Eclipse Race's help to build their AI cores and Central Brain.
Thus, the Lunar Eclipse Race's super AI systems possessed supreme network authority surpassing those of all other races.
Only their superintelligence could register non-verified identities, bypassing all authentication protocols.
At this thought, Ding Xiu's expression grew strange.
The highest levels of the Lunar Eclipse Race, wielding super-AI authority, registering an unverified network identity just to post a silly link on the Human Federation's network?
The idea was absurd.
But aside from the Lunar Eclipse Race, he could think of no other explanation.
To clarify Welfare Officer's identity, Ding Xiu forwarded the report to his supervisor at the cybersecurity division.
After explaining the situation in detail by phone, he returned to processing other reports.
Ten minutes later, his supervisor Yue Dong appeared beside him as a three-dimensional projection.
"Ding Xiu, I've forwarded your report to the Federation's Central Brain. The conclusion is: no unverified account registrations have ever been authorized. This means Welfare Officer is likely a member of the Lunar Eclipse Race's high command."
"It really is the Lunar Eclipse Race?" Ding Xiu frowned.
"Only the Lunar Eclipse Race controls the supreme Starnet authority capable of bypassing the Federation's Central Brain. The Central Brain has analyzed Welfare Officer's odd behavior and proposed twelve possible scenarios."
"The first possibility, some internal issue occurred within the Lunar Eclipse Race, leading to someone stealing the Dark Land database and distributing a cracked version on our network."
"The second possibility, it's simply a prank by someone in the Lunar Eclipse Race's upper ranks, and there is no actual cracked game behind the link."
"The third possibility…"
—
After a brief pause, Yue Dong continued:
"But none of these twelve theories fully explain Welfare Officer's strange actions."
"The main problem is this, the Central Brain cannot trace Welfare Officer's network trail, determine which groups he posted links in, or verify whether the download link actually contains any game data."
"Ding Xiu, I'm assigning you to monitor this link in real-time, and watch for any changes in its download permissions."
Ding Xiu nodded at once.
"Understood. I will monitor whether the download permissions reactivate."
As Yue Dong's projection faded, Ding Xiu turned to the idle Assistant A:
"Assistant A, monitor the link and report any activity."
Assistant A raised his head with a confused human-like expression.
"I have no permission to access the link. I cannot monitor it directly."
"You don't need to analyze its backend permissions. I want you to attempt downloading it 100,000 times per second, continuously for 24 hours. If we can't access it, we'll brute-force it with high-frequency connections and wait for any possible permission window changes."
"Understood!" Assistant A nodded.
—
As Assistant A began high-frequency access attempts, Qi Sheng received a report from the Guide inside Emperor's Mound Village.
The report indicated that an AI was submitting high-frequency access requests to the Challenger System.
Qi Sheng immediately realized that his player recruitment method had likely attracted the attention of the Federation's cybersecurity agencies, possibly even the highest authorities.
Yet, he had no intention of responding.
With Monster World growing in player numbers, full exposure was inevitable.
He was not afraid of being exposed, only seeking to delay it as long as possible.
After all, none of Earth's factions could stop Monster World from expanding.
Because the supreme permissions of the Lunar Eclipse Race's Starnet had long since been effortlessly infiltrated and seized by the Guide.