Su Chen was preparing his "Mortal-Net" pitch for the Emperor when the System began to scream. A notification window, dripping with dark, viscous energy, forced its way to the center of his vision.
[CRITICAL ALERT: Unauthorized Mirror Domain Detected.] [Domain Name: The Abyssal Under-Net] [Status: Encrypted by Malignant Soul-Code]
"The Blood Shadow Sect," Su Chen hissed. "They didn't just give up after the DDoS. They built their own dark web."
He dived into the code. Using his Admin privileges, he peeked into the 'Under-Net'. It was a nightmare version of his platform. There were no skin-care tips or gacha games here. Instead, there was a thriving black market.
GhostFace_Killer: Selling [Corrupted Heart-Devouring Needles]. 500 Spirit Stones. Tracking disabled.NightStalker: Looking for a hitman to 'delete' a rival disciple from the physical world. Payment in Blood Jade. Anonymous: Join the 'Chaos DAO' – A decentralized organization dedicated to crashing the Sect-Gram and freeing us from Su Chen's 2% transaction fee!
The Blood Shadow Sect had realized they couldn't beat Su Chen's security head-on, so they had created a parallel network where the "Terms and Conditions" didn't apply. Even worse, they were using Malware-Talismans. These physical paper talismans were being sold in mortal markets; when a person touched one, their latent mental energy was hijacked to serve as a node for the Under-Net.
"They're building a botnet out of mortals," Su Chen realized, his blood running cold. "They're using the common folk as a giant, dark supercomputer to crack my Golden Bell Encryption."
Su Chen looked toward the Mortal Capital in the distance. He couldn't just give them 4G anymore. He had to give them Antivirus.
He turned to the System. "Execute Project: The Great Firewall of the Central Plains. We're not just going to the Capital to sell tablets; we're going to install a mandatory 'Security Update' on every soul in the empire."
[Warning: Global installation requires a massive amount of Qi. Recommend: 'Venture Capital' funding from the Imperial Treasury.]
Su Chen straightened his robes. "Time to go see the Emperor. I hope he likes the idea of 'Mandatory Surveillance' in exchange for 'High-Speed Streaming'."