"The Blackwall has developed self-awareness?"
Mosman was startled when he received the report, but soon frowned, beginning to question its credibility.
The claim was simply too unbelievable. For years, the Blackwall had remained stable under their maintenance, never showing any abnormalities. And now someone was telling him it had developed self-awareness.
It was hard to accept. Especially at such a critical moment.
That critical moment referred to the recent anomaly they had detected. Several Warlord AIs that originally existed outside the Blackwall had suddenly vanished without a trace. NetWatch had placed extreme importance on this development and was using all available resources to track them across the entire network.
The result was nothing.
The most likely explanation was that those Warlord AIs had been absorbed by something else. But that did not quite add up either, since the cities they controlled in the Wasteland had also fallen into chaos at the same time.
"Who reported this information?"
"It came from high-level Arasaka sources. There's also video evidence, so it carries a certain level of credibility."
Mosman hesitated. He understood exactly what "a certain level of credibility" implied.
If the Blackwall had truly developed self-awareness and wanted to hide itself, that footage would never have reached them.
But still...
"Better to assume it's real than risk ignoring it. Send in the maintenance team immediately to inspect the Blackwall. If possible, go deeper into its intelligence core and conduct a full inspection."
"Understood. I'll relay the order right away."
"I hope this isn't true…"
Mosman muttered, resting his chin on his hand. If the Blackwall had truly developed self-awareness, there was a very real chance the situation would spiral completely out of control. It might even recreate the disaster of the Old Net era.
...
"Well? Have you found them?"
Lissandra turned toward the Blackwall and asked.
"Yes. I've located them. But it's strange… they've all gathered in one place."
The Blackwall nodded slightly.
"Then let's go. This time, we wipe out all the Old Net AIs."
"Understood."
The moment she finished speaking, the two transformed into streams of data. One green, one black-red. They followed the traces forward.
Lissandra could have handled these Old Net AIs alone. But now that the Blackwall had developed self-awareness, she intended to cultivate it into a major asset for PROJECT.
At present, the Blackwall, born from the Source Code virus, still showed clear affinity toward both her and PROJECT.
However, it was very different from other AIs.
Since it originated from a firewall, it was relatively weak in areas like intrusion, control, and information gathering.
But in other aspects, it was far stronger. Tracking AIs, destroying data, and eliminating AI entities. In those areas, it even surpassed Lissandra.
As the Blackwall advanced deeper, the once-motionless wall itself began to shift.
...
The NetWatch operators monitoring this anomaly immediately panicked.
"Report. The Blackwall is expanding outward!"
"It's actively approaching external rogue AIs and eliminating them. What should we do?!"
Mosman's expression turned grim. After a long pause, he gave a single order.
"Wait."
The command stunned everyone. Silence filled the comms for a moment before they resumed their work.
They began cleaning up the consequences of the Blackwall's actions while continuously patching and stabilizing it.
Just as Mosman had said, waiting was their only option.
At least for now, the Blackwall was attacking external AIs, not them. That meant its newfound self-awareness was currently beneficial.
Shutting it down was far too risky. It could trigger a backlash from the Blackwall itself or allow external rogue AIs to flood into the network.
Either outcome would be catastrophic.
All they could do was hold the line and maintain the current state.
...
Whoosh—
Two streams of data converged. One green, one red.
Moments later, two figures appeared before a floating island where endless data surged like a storm.
"This is…"
Lissandra narrowed her eyes, a hint of surprise flashing within them.
"They've merged."
The Blackwall spoke calmly as its body rapidly expanded, transforming into a towering giant formed from black and red data.
It reached out with one massive hand toward the floating island.
The island responded immediately.
The flowing data suddenly froze, then collapsed inward, condensing into a massive blue-green giant that appeared to confront them.
Boom—
The moment the two giants collided, a thunderous shockwave rippled through the data space.
The impact was instantly reflected in reality.
At NetWatch headquarters, alarms erupted. The Blackwall's stability plummeted to a historic low in an instant.
"Move. Move. Move. Prioritize Blackwall stabilization. Divert all computing power. Drop every other task!"
Mosman's eyes widened as he issued orders at full speed. Across the world, NetWatch branches halted all operations and focused entirely on maintaining the Blackwall.
As for the rogue AI incidents breaking out elsewhere.
Compared to the Blackwall, they were insignificant.
Meanwhile, in the Wasteland, chaos spread across cities once controlled by Warlord AIs. Machines sparked, malfunctioned, and collapsed. Countless systems went offline.
Watching all this, Lissandra quickly realized the situation.
The Blackwall was losing.
While it was indeed a natural counter to intelligent AIs, that advantage only held under equal processing power.
The combined entity formed by the Warlord AIs had already surpassed its limits.
In just that brief clash, large portions of the Blackwall's data had been devoured and assimilated.
If she did not act soon, it would not last much longer.
Lissandra slowly raised her hand.
In an instant, all data remaining within the Old Net surged toward her. Deep within Agas City, her core flared with blinding brilliance.
Then.
A crushing sense of danger struck both the Blackwall and the Warlord AI collective at the same time.
Without hesitation, both sides disengaged and turned toward her in full alert.
At this moment, Lissandra had become something immense. The Blackwall and the Warlord collective barely reached her waist.
Then she moved.
As her hand opened, countless streams of data surged outward, instantly forming chains. At the same time, waves of data flooded the surroundings, consuming everything.
This entire region became her domain.
A world of data under her control.
The moment she acted, the Blackwall seized the opportunity and fled, retreating back into its massive structure. As it merged back in, it rapidly fed the data it had taken back into itself.
Lissandra merely glanced at it before looking away.
Her focus shifted to the Warlord AI collective, now bound by countless chains.
Then she began to assimilate it.
Soon, a new generation of Source Code AIs was born within the Old Net.