Chapter 1317: NO．221：This is his main way out

NO．221：This is his main way out.

Aomo, when he was young, had once heard in the orphanage the teacher say that the world was just a large Soviet Matryoshka doll.

Beyond Earth is the universe; beyond the universe there are universe bubbles; beyond the universe bubbles there exist higher-dimensional worlds, and this still does not count as parallel universes or other worlds of that sort of nesting.

Such boxes within boxes, if truly traced back, might go on endlessly—just as even the dimension Aomo inhabits still has many lower worlds.

Merely having a computer already gives rise to a computer world.

And this does not even count the digital world built from accumulated internet code, nor the other worlds in those parallel states of the digital world.

Moreover, above these lies an even more surface-level network world closer to reality—the channel where most cyber hackers and net police roam, and also the aforementioned third-level network.

Encompassing all surface data channels, including the dark web, there are many passenger routes, and it also connects many traditional-faction game software worlds; moreover, it is a gathering place for many companies that establish nodes in the network world.

These later additions forced the originally empty network world into a city model crisscrossed with countless splendid roads; thereafter, the influx of tourist groups, company node security, and outsourced digital beast guards infused the city with vibrant life, enough to make one dazzled.

Even a place one has been to before may require wandering several loops on a second visit to find one's bearings.

If one is directionally challenged, it's even easier to be completely lost—just a moment's inattention and one gets swallowed into the city's breakneck pace.

Perhaps after coming to, one finds oneself already at the data channel entrance several major zones away.

On an ordinary day, even Aomo himself would have to stay tense, but this time he brought along an old horse that knows the way.

This is Xiangyu Tuohai; even if he was once directionally challenged, he has long been honed by the digital world's Gou Shi map into a navigation voice persona.

With him, Aomo wouldn't need to rely on Gilbaris's card even if he carried it.

Frankly speaking, this Gilbaris‑type computing‑power plug‑in isn't suited for this.

Used for finding a route, it can only process all information to exhaustively enumerate paths—it's mismatched to the specialty, but its performance is so strong that crossing specialties becomes irrelevant.

Such an approach, akin to winning an inverse‑attribute battle purely by high stats, feels great but isn't worth advocating, because one will eventually run into problems that high stats can't solve—like the paperwork issue with adult horse girls he had to ponder a few hours earlier.

Likewise, the stubborn underground area beneath the ruined walls, into which he now needs Xiangyu Tuohai's help to infiltrate relatively quietly.

Why say it's stubborn?

Because Sai Luo has given it light, the building‑shaped corporate data piles are already completely shattered, some areas even tending toward pulverization, with fragmentary data constantly drifting—yet the lower half where the underground area resides remains firmly standing.

Not only does it stand, but repairers have even arrived——

The Steel Empire's mechanical digital beast guards, a group of men and women in form‑fit uniforms, are hurriedly erecting data around the damaged structure.

They are obviously wary of a possible repeat attack, each occasionally glancing upward, having apparently obtained intel that the attacker is Sai Luo Ultraman.

Vigilance is meaningful, but this time the illegal intruder lacks a 50‑meter height and does not act openly; instead, he advances from the visual blind spot.

Even when he cannot reach the visual blind spot at times, Xiangyu Tuohai's juvenile digital beast can temporarily evolve into a form possessing illusion skills.

This is a professional veteran beast tamer.

Rather than favoring a flashy Ultimate form, he prefers to carry six juveniles like ornaments on a tree, walking as if under weight‑training load, and returning as if laden from a claw machine.

Once something happens, he can let the digital beast evolve instantly.

From low to high, he also enjoys the freedom to laterally extend evolution paths, which is why his partners often go into action in juvenile form.

Save energy? Conserve consumption?

He isn't using Holy Plan‑chosen children, nor is he financially poor or lacking independent financial capability; Xiangyu Tuohai has also had times when he led a flashy Ultimate team.

Even before Aomo grew distant from others, I had seen him like that, but I don't know when he turned into this ultra‑practical, ever‑ready‑to‑switch‑routes mode.

Perhaps he is a PvP expert.

Fully aware that as a beast tamer Tuohai must have taken up the battle path earlier than himself, Aomo not only understands but also supports this.

As for the witch beast, it has no interest in laterally extending its evolution tree; otherwise, in Aomo's view, the Lilith beast, Zudomon, and Granny beast—Ultimate forms she could shift into—would also offer some operational leeway in ability differences.

But even if she isn't a professional beast tamer, respecting the partner's wish is basic; if she doesn't want to change, she won't—anyway, he also thinks the Lilith beast might be troublesome.

Although mature digital beasts can keep the personality and stance of each form relatively consistent, so that devolving or evolving into another form doesn't even change allegiance—leaving kin unrecognized—but the relatively uniform digital core always influences the beasts' behavior.

This influence is no different from that of a horse‑racing spirit on horse girls; both are troublesome types.

If it could be directly avoided, there would obviously be no need to hem and haw.

Unlike insisting on clashing head‑on with nature, championing a rebellious Bal Beast X, the Belstamon clearly seeks stability—besides the point, and anyway Aomo Lindun, who hasn't become a PvP expert's requirement, evidently has a more convenient option when actually facing PvP.

Monster cards that make passage through the data world smoother give the feeling of a special‑effects experience akin to wearing a fighter's spirit.

Even without transformation, the card mode can still deploy twenty to forty percent of its power, likewise bringing convenience unattainable by ordinary people.

This is precisely the case now.

With Xiangyu Tuohai smoothly opening the door using the Mole Beast's operation, and the Witch Beast evolving into Belstamon executing a remarkably Bayonetta‑like kick to dispatch the Andulu Beast Queen nearby, Aomo was able to reach the front of the underground data installation pilings and solemnly raise the card held between his fingers.

For him now, even a card left in its case can be used without hindrance; there's no need to specially clip it between his fingers.

But drawing the card from its case remains a necessary step.

Because this makes it easier to call forth the red‑sphere form of the artificial‑brain mode.

The artificial‑brain mode capable of maximum computing‑power release is, for eroding others' databases, utterly effortless.

Just as every computer may harbor its own computer world, in this endless nesting filled with all manner of universes, the digital world likewise possesses countless parallel spaces.

They encompass both naturally born little realms and artificially forged little factories.

Inside lie inexhaustible digital laborers, performing heavy toil day and night—content once reported in the news, but not the universe Aomo is presently accessing by forceful intrusion via erosion.

"Aomo……are you getting tangled up in something again……?"

Having likewise witnessed the scene before him—a truly cosmic panorama, with the universe aside and countless monster corpses piled up—even the well‑seen Xiangyu Tuohai instinctively widened his eyes.

By contrast, Aomo's eyeballs merely flashed crimson serpentine pupils for an instant, then returned to the ancient‑well‑still brown gaze staring into the distance.

"Obviously, my friend, but I don't advise you to join this party."

"I also really don't want to join……" the red‑haired young man grudgingly glanced at the endless barren corpse‑strewn planet, "I thought below would be something of the digital world, but it seems to be only the data of the monsters you're interested in."

His professional competence makes him unwilling to meddle in this insufficient‑digital‑beast affair, and he doesn't think this friend would want him to intervene either.

Fact proves his guess was correct.

"Indeed, sorry for making you run a pointless errand," this friend, who is prone to being nitpicky in such places, apologized solemnly, then added, "But please let me thank you once more, after all, my gains are not small."

"What use could these data have? They're just corpse records—can't they turn into real monsters?" Takumi glanced again at the scene that, at first glance, felt like at least forty-odd huge corpses scattered haphazardly.

Even the wonders of the Hei'an domain don't feel this outrageous.

"Filling it with life makes it useful—although I say that, right now it's indeed not being used that way."

"For now, its main use is these visible signs; these are clues worth digging into, but even before digging, my intuition has already given me a hasty conclusion."

"What conclusion?"

"There's a good chance; maybe this time we can talk with the city government."

?

Xiangyu Takumi couldn't understand.

Couldn't understand when this friend started craving trouble, to the point of showing this unconscious, silent, relaxed and happy natural smile.