Chapter 276 - 257: Like a Commoner

"Dad, Terminator!"

Little Frank flexed his muscles at his dad, Frank: "Can you lift something that heavy?"

Frank felt a bit embarrassed. Saying he could, but that thing sure looked heavy. Saying he couldn’t, well, that wouldn’t feel great in front of his son.

But he was a special forces soldier, not a former bodybuilder. Could he explain to his son that his dad was more badass at killing enemies on the battlefield?

To be honest, the more he had a family, the happier his life became, the more he felt uneasy about what they were doing overseas. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have applied to return home and take a desk job.

Maybe it was the curse of the Mei Country soldier. Who made them impulsively choose to enlist?

This life, in the end, what other path could he choose besides this?

His wife, Maria, noticed her husband’s discomfort and tapped her son’s nose: "Your dad may not be stronger than the Governor in this aspect, but he’s still your dad.

We love our family not because they’re amazing, but because we naturally protect each other."

"Got it, Mom. I was just asking."

The family sat outside a café, planning to have a warm and harmonious afternoon after watching the impressive Governor.

Sitting across from Frank, his young daughter, Lisa, suddenly pointed behind him: "Dad, lots of vans!"

Frank turned to look in the direction his daughter was pointing—several similarly sized vans.

Instinctively, he immediately noticed something was off because on the other side of the street, there were similarly moving cars advancing side by side...

They were surrounding this place.

Frank scanned the area with a frown. He saw Governor Newsom finishing his speech and walking down from the stage, intending to mingle with the voters.

This place was about 100 meters away from the speech square, close to a street...

Doubt struck him when he turned his gaze to the Governor, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind:

The Governor’s previous car accident—

The car accident wasn’t an accident at all!

"Shit... Maria, we have to get out of here..."

As he stood up, several vans suddenly accelerated, heading... heading straight toward him!!!

The street was blocked off, heavy machine guns protruding from the van windows. Staring at those dark muzzles, Frank’s blood froze like it was his first time on the battlefield—

This was New York, and now it should have been his vacation time with his family!

How could this be happening!

They seemed to be coming right for him!

"Run!!!"

In that instant, Frank erupted with tremendous strength.

With a roar, the veins in his neck bulged exaggeratedly. He grabbed his two kids and sprinted towards the café!

The mere 20 meters felt agonizingly long in his eyes.

The children’s screams drowned out the gunfire—he had never wished more in his life to be a Superman with three heads and six arms.

In his frightened eyes, he saw the crowd scattering, his wife standing up in confusion, her bewildered eyes looking at him...

At that moment, Maria’s bewildered eyes overlapped in his mind with those of countless other bewildered gazes.

Some were his comrades, some were civilians crawling out of ruins, some were civilian fighters clutching guns, awaiting death...

He knew all too well what would happen in such an environment, facing so many automatic weapons.

But he had only two hands. Holding his two children meant he couldn’t hold his wife.

There was no crueler choice in this world.

As a soldier, he had never, in his life, wished so hard for a world without guns...

Wished like a civilian would.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

Gunfire, screams, shattering glass, and bullets striking walls—a terrifying symphony of sound, blood splattered everywhere!

Bam!

Frank dove to the ground, shielding his two kids. Protecting them amidst the hail of bullets, his trembling body felt like a new recruit’s first day on the battlefield, reality long forgotten.

An exaggerated noise echoed in his ears, a piercing pain shot through his back, but he dared not move a muscle!

It seemed like an eternity before the children’s voices reached his ears. He then noticed the gunfire had ceased...

He lifted his head to see his wife, forgetting to breathe—terrified to see the worst...

But the fact was, Maria had already taken cover, looking as if she’d been thrown into it—

In the chaotic square, nearly everyone had found some semblance of cover!

On a streetlight, a mysterious figure in pink, white, and black tight clothing waved her hand.

"My God, has political conflict evolved to this level? A bunch of guys with automatic weapons sweeping the streets? I’m exhausted..."

As for the armed thugs, their guns were blocked by Spider Silk, some even backfiring.

The people in the vans simultaneously turned to Gwen, who tilted her head: "Where are you all from?"

...

Twenty minutes earlier, Lille submerged into Cyberspace.

[Data barrier connected...]

[Current data barrier computing power: 3000CCU]

CCU (Cyberspace Computing Unit, Note 1), is a special unit for measuring computing power, used to gauge the computational power involved in large-scale network activities within Cyberspace.

In the network surveillance manual, 1-500CCU denotes small-scale network conflicts, involving personal hacker activities and small group-based network activities.

Correspondingly, the previous cyber war in Night City, where the Dragon Hunter invested a total of 20,000 CCU units in the battle, had already reached the threshold for significant corporate network warfare.

When a Hacker dives into Cyberspace, the person becomes akin to a super wetware computer core, with most CCU provided by external facilities forming data barriers.

The more skilled the Hacker, the more exaggerated the computing power they can handle, mobilizing more CCU to conduct cyber attacks.

However, the higher the CCU, the greater the burden on the Hacker, with increased potential for permanent damage to the Hacker’s nerves.

3000CCU, equivalent to the computing power some medium-sized enterprises in the Cyberpunk World could mobilize, also served as the threshold for most professional Hackers.

But it definitely wasn’t Lille’s current limit.

He focused his attention on the data barrier representing ctOS in front of him. It was a simple structure, mainly for processing data.

Electrical signals all connected to his nervous system and were transformed through the Jing Yuan-Bragg algorithm into signals humans could perceive—

Instantly, what appeared to be a normal system was riddled with problems.

ctOS’s firewall was constructed using Skye’s personal technology. Perhaps observing through a computer panel and rational analysis, the firewall seemed strong, but in reality...

It was already riddled with holes!

Unlike the constantly changing data firewalls of the Cyberpunk World, this data barrier appeared sturdy but was inflexibly static.

No matter how solid a system is, there will always be vulnerabilities!

This was the core difference between two generations of network defense technology. In the Cyberpunk World, excellent firewalls were in a constant state of flux!

The supposedly simple and orderly ctOS data barrier was already filled with rust-like abnormal Data Blocks, and these abnormal Data Blocks were interconnected in hidden locations.

Such minor irregularities wouldn’t trigger the system’s self-check at each node, but they stood out in Cyberspace!

In Cyberspace, the Little Octopus on Lille’s shoulder poked him, pointing to the abnormal areas:

[Little Octopus: Boss, these things are so disgusting... Can I get rid of them?]

Lille nodded slightly: "Focus on observation and feature collection first, see what they are trying to do."

Little Octopus quickly analyzed the abnormal data flow. Tracing these abnormalities, Lille soon understood the opponent’s intentions.

The abnormal data could cause specific circuits to fail at determined times or even alter data in ways undetectable to ordinary Hackers.

These abnormalities all pointed to one location:

The front of Osborne Tower.

The vans, which should have been flagged as anomalies within ctOS, were recklessly speeding through various intersections. Through surveillance cameras, one could barely see the automatic weapons inside.

The opponents, confident due to their successful infiltration over this time, seemed ready to brazenly execute their move.

Planning a direct attack in the heart of New York City...

Indeed, they were pioneers of this era.

Lille quickly sent messages to Gwen and Martin—

[Lille: Osborne Tower, political assassination.]

Finished, Lille turned to the Little Octopus.

"Let’s go big this time."

[Interface open, preparing to boost connection device]

[Reminder: Hastily boosting computing power may cause severe cognitive decline, please...]

[Enjoy your usage.]