Chapter 27: Report

Just as Qi Sheng was monitoring the operation of the Test Tower.

In the real world, the Human Federation Star Network Security Center.

Beep!

"Verification passed!"

An electronic prompt sounded, and the metal door slid into the wall.

Ding Xiu stepped into the office and sat down at the computer desk.

Looking at the number of online report messages constantly increasing on the right, he couldn't help but sigh.

At this moment, the projector on the ceiling automatically activated; the beams of light it cast converged before the desk, condensing into a robot projection.

"Smart Assistant A is at your service. You currently have 328 unprocessed online report messages. Among them, 227 reports are marked as AI-handled items and will be processed and resolved by Assistant A for you. The other 101 reports, after retrieval and reading of their content, I cannot make a precise determination on and require you to analyze and resolve them personally."

Ignoring the smart assistant, Ding Xiu pressed the blue button on the desk. Immediately, the projector on the ceiling cast down more light, constructing a virtual workstation centered on Ding Xiu.

Countless blue and white light points rotated slowly around him.

"Start work!"

Gathering his spirit, Ding Xiu quickly fell into a work state, clicking on the white light points surrounding him to read the report information.

After AI screening, the report information presented before his eyes all required his personal processing to judge whether to transfer the report information to local law enforcement departments or hand it over to the internal regulatory units of other races.

After processing four reports in succession, Ding Xiu clicked open another white light point again.

Immediately, a virtual screen condensed before him, displaying detailed report information:

Reporter: Games Are Art

Verified Identity: Wang XueXi (Identity Code:...)

Report Content:

Scammers in the group chat are spreading fake phishing links, claiming the links can download the newly released virtual reality game by the Moon Eclipse Clan, "Dark Lands"...

(Attachment: Group chat screenshot)

(Attachment: Screenshot of the network ID information of the person who posted the information)

Seeing this report information, Ding Xiu felt surprised.

This kind of information is obviously fake at a glance; he didn't need to click the link to know it was definitely false information.

Even games released by the Moon Eclipse Clan years ago had no cracked versions, let alone "Dark Lands," which was released recently and employed more advanced security technology.

Precisely for this reason, it seemed strange.

According to logic, the AI assistant should be able to handle this kind of information completely on its own; why did it still need to be transferred to him for manual verification?

"Assistant A, why didn't you process this report information?"

Facing the question, the AI assistant Assistant A, who had been sitting dully at the desk, stood up and pointed to the report information before him, saying:

"We need to conduct a detailed check on all report information and can only make a determination after verifying the report content. However, for the evidence provided in this report information, I cannot retrieve any useful information and cannot proceed further."

Hearing Assistant A's explanation, Ding Xiu became even more puzzled:

"Why can't it be processed further?"

"There are three reasons. First, I searched for the 'Welfare Officer' mentioned in the report information and found that although this person's network information can be searched on the internet, his account has no verification information, and the IP origin location information cannot be queried... That is to say, this account completed registration without passing identity verification. There is no precedent for unverified registration in my database, which constitutes a logical error I cannot comprehend."

"Second, I entered the reported link to search for other clues and found that this link also has problems. I actually cannot break through the permissions behind the link... This is the feedback I ultimately received."

As Assistant A's voice fell, the light screen information before Ding Xiu changed.

A line of prompt popped up in the projection screen:

【Download limit reached. The publisher has not enabled new download permissions. Download cannot continue.】

A human-like expression of confusion appeared on Assistant A's face:

"My permissions in the Human Federation's network information processing belong to Class A permissions. Only the intelligent main brains of various cities and the Class S information set by the Federation's central brain are beyond my right to read. For all other certifications, I have the right to bypass verification and read directly. Therefore, the inspection of this link can only be judged as a failure."

"Finally, I checked the network traces of the 'Welfare Officer' and could not find any network clues that could be read and traced, including which groups he posted the download links in; I cannot access the specific information."

"In summary, according to Article 238 of the AI Brain Regulations, an AI handling an event on its own must verify all information before it can proceed. However, I cannot further verify these three clues, so the inspection is judged as a failure and transferred for manual processing."

After hearing Assistant A's explanation, Ding Xiu immediately realized that the report information, which seemed obviously fake at a glance, was far from as simple as he thought.

He immediately followed Assistant A's processing method to re-examine the publisher's verified identity, link information, and IP address.

The results obtained were exactly as Assistant A had said; absolutely no useful information could be found.

"Could it be the Moon Eclipse Clan?"

Facing such a bizarre problem, the first thing Ding Xiu thought of was the Moon Eclipse Clan.

The core brains of the intelligent main brains in major cities of the Human Federation and the Federation's central brain were originally completed with the help of the Moon Eclipse Clan.

Including the Star Network, which was connected by the Human Race and various factions that fled as refugees, was also completed with the technical support provided by the Moon Eclipse Clan. Therefore, only the Moon Eclipse Clan possesses the highest permissions to freely enter the networks of other races.

In those years, the Human Federation had also had concerns about this issue, believing that connecting to the Star Network carried hidden dangers and that the Human Race's secrets would be laid bare before the Moon Eclipse Clan.

But this issue was suppressed during discussions in the Federation's Supreme Council.

The reason was simple; someone at the meeting asked such a question:

"May I ask the city managers present and the Federation councilors: given the Moon Eclipse Clan's technological level, if they truly had designs on humanity, what would be the probability of our successful resistance?"

This statement plunged the protesters at the meeting into silence.

In fact, if the Moon Eclipse Clan wanted to invade Earth, the Human Race would have no power to resist.

In the years of contact with the Moon Eclipse Clan, they had never shown any hostility toward the Human Race and had even actively provided various technical supports.

If they could connect to the Star Network created by the Moon Eclipse Clan, the Human Federation would obtain a large amount of technology stored by the Moon Eclipse Clan on the Star Network, providing huge assistance to development.

Ultimately, the meeting voted to decide that the Human Federation would connect to the Star Network, request assistance from the Moon Eclipse Clan, and establish city brains and central brains belonging to the Human Federation.

Therefore, the Moon Eclipse Clan's intelligent main brain possesses supreme network permissions higher than the main brains of all other races.

Only the Moon Eclipse Clan's super central brain has the permission to set absolutely confidential data on the Star Network and can bypass the brains of various races to complete registration information through non-verified registration applications.

Thinking of this, Ding Xiu's expression turned strange.

The highest echelons of the Eclipse Clan, who possess control over a super-intelligent brain, registering an unverified online identity just to post a prank link on the Human Federation's network?

This speculation is truly too absurd.

But apart from the Eclipse Clan's involvement, he could think of no other possibility.

To clarify the identity of the Welfare Officer, Ding Xiu submitted the report content to the head of the Cybersecurity Group.

After detailing the reasons over the phone, he stopped paying attention and continued processing other report information.

Ten minutes later, the group head, "Xie Yue Dong," appeared beside him as a three-dimensional projection.

"Ding Xiu, I have fed back the content of your report to the Federation Main Brain. The conclusion is that it has never approved unverified identity registration information, so the Welfare Officer is likely a high-ranking member of the Eclipse Clan."

"Truly the Eclipse Clan?" Ding Xiu frowned slightly.

"Only the Eclipse Clan possesses the supreme permissions of the Star Network to bypass the Federation Main Brain. Regarding the series of strange behaviors of the Welfare Officer, the Federation Main Brain has analyzed and provided twelve possibilities."

"The first possibility is that some problem has arisen within the Eclipse Clan's high command, causing a member to steal the database of 'Dark Lands' and spread a cracked version on our Human Federation's network."

"The second possibility is that this is just a prank joke by the Eclipse Clan's high command, and there is no cracked version of the game behind the link at all."

"The third possibility..."

Speaking to this point, Xie Yue Dong fell silent briefly before continuing:

"But these twelve guesses cannot perfectly explain the series of confusing behaviors of the Welfare Officer."

"The biggest problem now is that the Federation Intelligent Brain cannot track the Welfare Officer's online traces, including which chat groups he distributed the link to, nor can it download content through the link, so it cannot determine if a game truly exists behind the link."

"Ding Xiu, I am giving you a task now: monitor this link information in real time and wait for the possibility of the download permission being opened again."

Having heard the group head's explanation, Ding Xiu immediately nodded:

"Understood. I will pay attention to whether there are any changes in the permission for this download link which is currently closed."

The group head's figure faded away at this moment. Ding Xiu turned his head to look at Little A, who was sitting dazedly on the desk:

"Little A, help me monitor the link's movements in real time and report any situation to me."

Assistant Little A raised his head at this moment, revealing a human-like expression of confusion on his face:

"I have no authority to access the link and cannot carry out deep monitoring."

"I don't need you to check if the download permission behind the link is open. I want you to click download at a frequency of one hundred thousand times per second, continuously for 24 hours. Since there is no permission, we will use a high-frequency connection method to wait for the moment when the permission might be opened."

"Understood!" Little A nodded at this moment.

Just as Little A initiated the high-frequency connection.

Qi Sheng, who was in Emperor's Tomb Village, received feedback from the Guidance, indicating that an intelligent AI was making high-frequency access requests to the Challenger System.

This made Qi Sheng realize that his method of recruiting players had likely attracted the attention of the Human Federation's Cybersecurity Agency, or even the attention of the Human Federation's high command.

Regarding this, Qi Sheng had no thoughts on how to respond or handle it.

With the number of players in Monster World constantly growing, there will eventually come a day when everything is completely exposed.

He was not worried about exposure; he only wanted to delay the time of exposure.

And the various factions on Earth could not stop the growth in the number of Monster World players.

Because the supreme permissions of the Star Network built by the Eclipse Clan had long been easily penetrated and seized by the Guidance.

(End of this chapter)