"You trust him that easily?" Trinity asked.
"Of course not." Morpheus shook his head. "Keep checking his information. I want his exact background."
Meanwhile, in the real world.
Morin frowned slightly.
He looked at himself, then at the countless cultivation pods around him. Data cables were connected to arms, torsos, mouths, and even the backs of heads.
It gave him a headache.
(I watched The Matrix a long time ago. I checked it again and realized I misremembered some details before. The current settings take priority.)
The data cables attached to the bodies were used to intercept human neural signals. Conscious action commands issued by the brain were intercepted and transmitted into the [Matrix] world.
The physical body remained motionless.
Muscles slowly atrophied.
The cable in the mouth connected directly to the stomach. Combined with the surrounding nutrient fluid, it maintained basic metabolism. As for waste after digestion, it was also extracted through that same tube.
Simple.
Efficient.
The pillars connected to the pods weren't just filled with circuits and wiring. They also contained pipes that led downward, into something like an underground sewer.
When a human was detected as dead, the machines of the [Matrix] would pull the plug from the back of the head.
Connections along the body and spine would automatically detach.
The pipe beneath the pod would open.
The corpse would flow downward, into the sewer, and then be sent to the [Waste Treatment Plant] for complete destruction.
From birth to death.
Everything spent inside a virtual world.
Morpheus and his group had a simple method for saving people.
They hacked the biological parameters of a target. Then they used the tracking program embedded in the body to locate them. Once the [Matrix] judged the target as dead, the connectors detached, allowing Morpheus and the others to retrieve the person.
Morin had originally planned to pretend to be an awakened individual like Neo.
But now, seeing these pods up close, a very practical problem surfaced.
Having plugs inserted everywhere was fine. The [Mechanical Controller] could easily make him appear like a normal "pod human."
The problem was the sewer.
Morin didn't have an extreme cleanliness obsession.
But if it wasn't necessary, who would willingly swim through that?
Unfortunately, he had already told Morpheus...
Morin's gaze suddenly stopped on [Master-Level Programming Skill].
He remembered that it involved summoning the soul of a top-tier programmer.
A top-tier programmer knowing top-tier hacking techniques...
That sounded very reasonable.
"Ahhh!"
Neo woke up screaming.
His consciousness was stuck on that moment.
Captured by men in suits and sunglasses. Dragged into an interrogation room. Labeled a hacker.
Then-
His mouth disappeared.
A mechanical insect was stuffed into his belly button and crawled inside.
The fear.
The pain.
It was still echoing.
Neo frantically tore open his clothes and stared at his abdomen under the light.
Nothing.
He pressed. Touched. Checked again.
No wounds.
No scars.
He remembered the pain clearly, yet felt nothing now.
Was it real?
Or just a dream?
Had he never even left his bed?
The thought crept in.
Just as he reached for the date, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
His hand paused.
Fear and expectation tangled together.
In the end, expectation won.
Neo picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Although you didn't escape successfully, fortunately, they didn't realize your importance," Morpheus's voice came through.
Neo relaxed.
Then excitement surged.
It was real.
All of it was real.
"My importance?"
"That will be explained later. For now, get out of the car. Our people are waiting downstairs," Morpheus said.
"..."
Neo hesitated.
He wanted to ask about Morin Smith.
Then he remembered Morin's warning.
He stayed silent.
"Target secured," Trinity reported.
"Remove the tracker, then return," Morpheus said. "We need to move quickly."
"Did we find anything about that Morin?" Trinity asked. She couldn't stop thinking about the man who claimed to be the number one hacker. "Are we picking him up?"
"No."
Morpheus's tone was heavy.
The urgency he'd emphasized earlier came from this.
His conversation with Morin made one thing clear-Morin was definitely awakened. He could perceive that the [Matrix] world was wrong.
Yet when Morpheus checked the records, there wasn't a single anomaly.
That shouldn't have been possible.
But it was.
There were only two explanations.
Either Morin truly possessed hacking skills beyond imagination-
Or Morin was one of the [Matrix]'s own.
Should they still retrieve him?
Morpheus hesitated.
For reasons he couldn't articulate, Morin Smith felt wrong.
Not obviously wrong.
Something subtler.
"Morpheus?" Trinity's voice pulled him back.
"I'm here," Morpheus said.
He made a decision.
"Let's pick him up. Send Neo back first. I'll call and get his location."
Then he turned to Cypher.
"Prepare the escape measures. Be ready."
"Okay," Cypher replied.
"Ring-ring."
Morpheus dialed.
"Mr. Smith, it's time. May I ask where you are now? I can send someone to retrieve you."
"Thanks for the offer," Morin's voice replied.
There was a pause, as if he were checking a street sign.
"I'm at... 37 Double Dragon Boulevard. Near Iron Mill Alley."
"...Iron Mill..."
Morpheus instinctively turned to relay the location.
Then he froze.
The address was far too familiar.
"...Are you sure you're at Iron Mill Alley?" Morpheus asked slowly.
"Hm. Looks like your location tracking is still very accurate," Morin said calmly. "You're right here, aren't you?"
"...How did you do it?"
Morpheus gestured for his team to prepare to disconnect.
"Are you an antivirus program?"
"I don't know what that term means in your framework," Morin replied. "But I'm very sure I'm a pure human."
"As for how I found you-didn't I say it already? I'm a very powerful hacker, Mr. Morpheus."
There was a knock.
"Your methods are decent. Virtual layers, jump terminals, obfuscation. But with enough time, I can still trace it."
Another knock.
"It's this door I'm knocking on. Right?"
"Creak..."
The phone line went silent.
The door opened a crack.
A dark gun barrel emerged.
"That's not how you treat a guest," Morin said, raising an eyebrow.
"Tracking someone without permission isn't how a guest behaves either, Mr. Smith," Morpheus replied.
The door opened wider.
In the darkness stood Morpheus-black skin, black sunglasses, black coat, black pants, black shoes.
Almost invisible.
"Please," he said calmly.
"Come in."
Find Advance chapters
And for More Fan fiction
👇
👇
[Support link: pat reon.com/RioRaRyu]
------------
More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 250 power stones = Bonus Chapter
Give me more Power Stones
------------