Psychics don't die from gunfire

The long blue river runs through the sky, splashing with gorgeous brilliance.

The layout of Thousand Stars City.

With a huge straight tower as the center, the other buildings spread into the distance.

In the center of this majestic tower, there is a bright beam of light that penetrates the sky. When it reaches the top, this beam of light turns into a rain of light and pours down, forming a hemispherical light curtain that covers the entire city and isolates the abyss.

The essence of the "hemispheric light curtain" is a very advanced iterative firewall that isolates memetic viruses and malicious programs, greatly reducing the harm of [Abyss].

on city streets.

Song Shi stood up and calmed down the soul that fell into the [Abyss] and was hit by psychic energy.

Because of the existence of psychic energy, [Abyss] cannot be treated as just a "network domain".

It is also a "redundant psychic aggregate" condensed from countless negative emotions accumulated day after day.

If a person wants to dive into the [Abyss], he not only has to face technical problems such as memetic viruses, crazy artificial intelligence, and vicious programs left over from the past, but also faces the impact and oppression of "redundant psionic energy gathering".

Both problems are equally fatal.

The former need not be mentioned again, while the latter is aimed at the soul. Once it cannot bear it, mental problems may occur at least, and it may become dementia at worst. The most serious thing is that due to the corruption of these redundant spiritual energies, the real body becomes deformed. monster.

Therefore.

The [Abyss] outside the [Network Domain Firewall] uses "depth" to divide regions according to the degree of penetration.

Typically, the greater the depth, the greater the danger and, with it, the greater the opportunity.

The most typical one is "technology". The Seven Lands War caused a large amount of technical data to sink into the [Abyss]. Originally, after so many years, these things should have been outdated long ago, but the existence of artificial intelligence changed everything.

Many of the artificial intelligences hiding in the [Abyss] and falling into madness were scientific research types in the past. Over the years, they have been constantly evolving and analyzing the technical data. Perhaps most of the products are still not good enough, but there are always things that can be used——

In fact, there are many people who have salvaged technology that even giant companies cannot understand the principle and only know the effect, which can be called "black box" level.

In this era, "technology" is wealth, and "technology" is power.

And [Thousand Stars City] is located in the [Abyss] area with depth 1.

······

Under the long glazed scenery, there is a city that seems to be randomly stacked with building blocks, without any planning, and with ups and downs.

Song Shi raised his eyes and looked up.

Without the constraints of physical laws, the architectural appearance here can be said to only depend on imagination. Although [Thousand Stars City] does not allow excessive construction in order to avoid wasting computing power in such unnecessary places, the surroundings are still a wonder.

Looking from a distance, the steam airship made of brass was suspended in the air, black smoke kept coming out of the exhaust pipe, and the wing sails expanded in the wind.

Looking back, not far away, the firelight danced in the window of the craftsman's shop surrounded by magma. It seemed that a blacksmith was working day and night, but the notice board beside it showed that this was just an online bar.

On the other side of the craftsman's shop, on the huge rotating conveyor belt, what is served is not conveyor belt sushi, but three-dimensional projections and price tags of various weapons.

But most of them are pedestrians in a hurry.

In the state of "virtual reality", the information people receive will be transformed into scenes that are close to reality, making it easier to understand and preventing the mind from being directly washed away by network information.

The faces of many people here are blurry.

The embodiment of "anonymous service" is that everyone's appearance is ambiguous - this is the basis for [Qianxing City] as a trading community to survive. They automatically provide anonymous services, including but not limited to IP addresses and individuals. Identity Information.

Of course, if the individual wishes, they can also show their real face, or a fabricated face.

The next step is to find an information dealer and purchase some equipment.

"-Hey! My friend, are you interested in chatting?"

For Song Shi, Qianxing City was already familiar to him. He was thinking about what to do next and was about to take action when a voice suddenly intervened.

"Hey, friend! There's no one else here! I'm just talking to you!"

A man wearing a brown felt hat appeared out of nowhere. He patted his double-row jacket, first gave a military salute with dignity, and then extended his right hand towards Song Shi.

The other party did not choose to blur his face, showing a man in his early twenties, with brown eyes, a high nose bridge, deep facial features, and a round face - a standard Nord appearance.

Although there are "anonymous services" to hide information, and the appearance and voice can be customized at will within the network domain, since the other party has a male voice and a male appearance, he can be treated as a male.

Song Shi looked at the other party without shaking hands.

Seeing this, the man in the felt hat was not surprised and took back his hand with a smile:

"Let me tell you, my friend, is this your first time here?"

"Um?"

Song Shi raised his eyebrows.

"Don't look like that."

The man in the felt hat raised his index finger and pointed upward: "By the way, you should know where this place is, right?"

"Thousand Star City."

"Oh, it turns out you know."

Hearing this, the man in the felt hat seemed a little regretful, and then said: "Did you know? The anonymous service in Thousand Stars City is not omnipotent. Sometimes, some trivial things may reveal a person's true identity."

"I have seen many such examples. It is really regrettable." The man in the felt hat sighed: "My friend, you don't want others to know your true identity, right?"

"Um?"

Song Shi raised his eyebrows: "What do you mean?"

"Friend! My good friend! That's why I'm here!"

The man in the felt hat clapped his hands vigorously and smiled brightly:

"I can answer your questions about the rules of Thousand Stars City, the techniques for not making mistakes, and the situation here. For example, don't you want to know how I know you are a newcomer?"

"Oh, it turns out he is a new instructor——"

Song Shi showed a look of surprise and said sincerely: "Great, I need this exactly! What do you want? Money?"

"Oh my, that's too outlandish. Don't talk about this among friends - four thousand credits!"

The man in the felt hat raised two fingers and said seriously: "But it's not really "four thousand credits". My friend, let me teach you a rule first."

"Since you have come to Thousand Stars City, you should understand what is done here. I can tell you clearly that most transactions here do not require credit points, or in other words, they are not paid directly with credit points."

The man in the felt hat flipped his wrist and took out a card that looked like a "credit card".

“Digital currency, have you heard of it?”

Of course Song Shi knew what this was.

A virtual currency created through encryption of decentralized blockchain data and using cryptography technology to ensure security and immutability is a "digital currency".

Simply put, this thing is an illegal currency.

Although it is essentially a string of encrypted data codes, because of its high recognition, it is often used to engage in black transactions to facilitate tax avoidance and risk avoidance.

"It doesn't matter if you don't have one. There is an exchange office here that can help you exchange credit points for digital currency. Don't worry, I have used it several times. It is very safe and only charges a 5% handling fee."

The man in the felt hat smiled brighter and brighter: "The exchange provides an 'anonymous transfer platform'. Our credit points are equivalent to being put into a black box. Both parties only need to reach in and take it. The identity of the other party will not be known from the beginning to the end."

"That is, as long as I pay you four thousand credits."

Song Shi nodded repeatedly and also laughed: "I can know how to use a timer to confirm whether you are a new person. Maybe you will give me a timer program for free?"

"Yeah, yeah. Huh?" The man in the felt hat smiled stiffly.

"No matter what sacred cloak it wears, "Thousand Stars City" is still essentially a network domain. Technically speaking, people who come here will register a "temporary access permit." Thousand Stars City will directly help us get this done. This is for convenience Domain management, so many people don’t know and don’t need to know.”

“But since it is registration, then registration time is required.”

"Visitors coming to Qianxing City for the first time need to go through a series of complex verifications and data uploads before they can register a 'temporary pass'. For visitors who are not their first time, the above steps can be avoided and the process can be carried out directly. register."

"Of course, compared to the huge computing power controlled by Qianxing City, the time difference between the two is insignificant, only about 0.15 seconds. It is difficult for humans to distinguish this time - but the meticulous timing program is different."

"It's also easy to manage. There are only a few entrance areas to each Thousand Star City."

Song Shi clicked his feet: "You squat in this entrance area, use a timekeeping program to record the appearance time of each person's "substitute program", and then compare the results with the average time. As long as the expectation deviation is too large, you will be sure. The other party is a newcomer and can come up and try to make a fortune.”

[Stand-in program] is the body that people use when virtually surfing the Internet.

"After all, there are quite a few green users who accidentally fell into Thousand Stars City because they opened or clicked on something weird."

Song Shi laughed: "It would be fine if they have heard the name "Thousand Stars City" before, but if not, they can get away with blackmail just by telling them that this place is located in the "Abyss" and threatening them."

"Oh, in an anonymous community, there is almost no risk, and it is still a business without capital."

For many people, they have only heard of the [Abyss] outside the [Domain Firewall] in official announcements and some forums, which are hard to distinguish between true and false. But without exception, these all mentioned the [Abyss]. 】Represents great danger.

Therefore, many people regard the "Abyss" as a terrifying place that eats people wantonly. If they suddenly find themselves falling into it, they will inevitably panic.

You can basically squeeze out a fortune with just a few threats.

Of course, if you really encounter a stupid young man or a poor guy who doesn't have any money, you can only consider yourself unlucky.

"Oh, so that's what it is. Gain knowledge, gain knowledge——"

The man in the felt hat raised his hands over his shoulders, as if he had suddenly realized something.

"Hey! I suddenly remembered that I have something else to do, so let's meet another day."

"Hey, you don't talk about this between friends."

Song Shi had quick eyes and quick hands, and grabbed the person who was trying to escape, speaking in a friendly tone.

"my friend--"

"Don't tell me, I really want to ask you something about this place."