Time passed by second by second.
The portion of her consciousness she had segmented could not remain within the Blackwall for too long; otherwise, not only might it be detected by the Blackwall AI, but prolonged separation from her main body would also lead to data decay and logical confusion.
"I must increase the investment…" Spider Murphy's core consciousness made a decision.
Although the risk was immense, she could not give up.
Latch was right before her.
She began to mobilize more computing power, transmitting a larger portion of her core data sequence through the Blackwall's hidden channels towards the Wasteland Town.
This process was like walking a tightrope; she had to precisely control the intensity and characteristics of the data flow to avoid triggering an overreaction from the Blackwall.
With the injection of more data, Spider Murphy's "presence" outside the firewall significantly strengthened.
She began to attempt more aggressive methods.
She was no longer content with finding vulnerabilities but instead tried to directly parse the firewall's underlying construction rules.
Her data flow transformed into countless tiny Analysis units, like nano-level Probes, attempting to decompose and understand the material basis of this barrier.
Inside the workshop, Osiris immediately noticed the change in pressure on the firewall.
"Invasion intensity increased by 47.3%. Strategy shift, from exploratory infiltration to active architectural parsing," he calmly recorded, his crimson optical lens glowing faintly. "The 'guest' has begun to invest more core resources. Decision logic leans towards risk-taking, target priority is extremely high."
He noted that this parsing attempt was not a blind brute-force attack but carried an intention to "understand."
The opponent was attempting to reverse-engineer the firewall's mathematical foundation and information encoding methods.
This behavior, in Osiris' view, was more valuable than a simple attack.
It indicated that this "guest" possessed advanced cognitive abilities and a desire to learn, rather than merely being a tool executing preset instructions.
Osiris still did not intervene.
He even slightly relaxed the firewall's countermeasures against this parsing attempt, allowing the opponent to acquire some strictly filtered "noise" data regarding the firewall's basic logical units.
He wanted to see if the opponent could gain anything from these fragmented pieces of information, which would be crucial for assessing its intelligence level.
Spider Murphy immediately captured these subtle changes.
The firewall's feedback was no longer complete silence; occasionally, it would return some seemingly chaotic but implicitly patterned data fragments.
This invigorated her, as if she had seen a glimmer of light in endless darkness.
"Is it… responding to me?" This thought sent a chill down her spine, but more than that, it ignited a fighting spirit provoked by the challenge.
She concentrated all the transmitted computing power and began to analyze these feedback data with full effort.
Her mind raced through the data ocean, trying to piece together the firewall's blueprint from these fragments.
This was a silent, fierce game played at the micro-data level.
On one side was a creation of the Adeptus Mechanicus from another peak technological era; on the other, a legendary consciousness that had evolved to the pinnacle of the local network environment.
The former remained calm and observed; the latter exerted all her strength, trying to pry open a tiny crack.
Spider Murphy felt an unprecedented fatigue; this high-intensity parsing was also a huge burden on her data structure.
But she could not stop; Latch's face constantly flashed in her core, supporting her to continue.
She began to attempt to construct targeted cracking algorithms, adjusting attack strategies in real-time based on feedback data, her reaction speed and adaptability already surpassing any known human netrunner or ordinary AI.
Osiris calmly recorded all this: "Parsing speed accelerated, self-adaptive algorithm generation efficiency exceeds local baseline by 389%, target exhibits extremely strong environmental adaptation and learning capabilities, consistent with high-level rogue AI or deeply modified early-network era consciousness entities."
His evaluation of this "guest" continued to rise.
To be able to achieve this level in front of his firewall already proved its extraordinary value.
Whether as a research sample or as a potential tool with special abilities, it was worth his greater attention.
However, the firewall remained solid.
Spider Murphy's efforts were like tides crashing against a reef; though intense, they failed to truly shake it in the slightest.
The more computing power she invested, the more she felt the unfathomable depth of this barrier.
Its defense seemed multi-dimensional; even if she achieved seemingly breakthrough progress at a certain logical point, it would immediately trigger deeper, more complex defense mechanisms.
A sense of despair began to spread quietly.
She realized that with the current method alone, she might never be able to break through this defense.
The opponent's technological level completely exceeded her understanding; this was simply not a contest on the same level.
Just then, Osiris decided to end this preliminary observation.
He had already collected enough data to assess the current value of this "guest."
Continued probing was no longer necessary; it was time for the next step.
He manipulated the firewall to emit a clear, stable, non-aggressive, yet absolutely authoritative data pulse, directly targeting Spider Murphy's consciousness, which was futilely attempting from the outside.
This pulse carried no complex information, just a simple, repeating binary instruction sequence, whose meaning, when translated, was equivalent to: "Halt, state identity and intention."
This instruction was not an invitation but rather an command that must be obeyed.
It traveled backward along Spider Murphy's data connection, carrying an undeniable force.
Spider Murphy's data flow instantly solidified.
All ongoing parsing and attack attempts were forced to stop.
She felt an indescribable, cold and vast will lock onto this portion of her consciousness.
There was no anger, no threat in that will, only a pure sense of scrutiny, as if observing an experimental specimen.
She realized that she had been completely under the opponent's control from the very beginning.
The previous stalemate was merely the opponent observing and testing.
Now, the observation seemed to be over, and true communication was about to begin.
What should she do? Obey the instruction, revealing her identity and purpose?
Or immediately cut the connection, abandon this operation, and risk losing part of her consciousness data?
A brief struggle flashed through her core.
Looking at Latch's life signal, so close yet so far, and considering the opponent's unfathomable technical power, Spider Murphy knew that strong resistance or escape might both be futile, and could even provoke the opponent, leading to worse consequences.
She quickly made a decision.
Retaining this part of her consciousness and attempting to establish communication with the opponent was the only possible way to approach Latch at present.
She stabilized her data structure, preparing to respond to that cold instruction.
At the same time, she began to secretly execute a backup plan.
All data encountered here, including the characteristics of that firewall, the code snippets of that instruction, and the chilling sensation of the opponent's will, were packaged and compressed, ready to be sent back to her main body outside the Blackwall at all costs if the situation turned sour.
Inside the workshop, Osiris waited for a response.
His mechanical tentacles hovered silently above the control panel, ready to activate the corresponding protocol based on the opponent's reaction—it could be further communication, or it could be… a capture program.
This uninvited "guest" had already aroused enough of his interest; now, he needed to judge whether it was worth incorporating into his collection or research sequence.
In the invisible data space, the brief silence was broken, and Spider Murphy's response data flow cautiously surged towards the vast will within the firewall.