Ten minutes passed.
Lin Yi watched the ongoing cyber battle and commented calmly,
"Looks like the opponent really does have some skill if they can hold Screwllum off this long."
He was in no rush.
A cyber war at this level—at this scale—was extraordinarily rare.
The longer it lasted, the better.
He intended to record everything from start to finish.
Earlier, Herta had claimed she was busy.
But once she noticed the Simulated Universe's processing power being fully mobilized—and still running at full capacity this long later—
her actions betrayed her words.
A puppet body soon arrived to watch in person.
Lin Yi smiled.
"Thanks, Herta."
Within the Meta-Domain, Silkall frowned.
"Something's wrong."
"Very wrong."
"Did they switch players? This is completely different from before."
She studied the incoming streams of attacks.
"This level…"
"Could it be Screwllum?"
In Silkall's view, only Screwllum possessed this level of capability.
Though she rarely left the Meta-Domain and spent most of her time immersed in research, that did not mean she knew nothing of the outside world.
She had never fought a cyber battle of this scale before, but based on everything she knew, only Screwllum could match her like this.
Mechanical lifeforms had natural advantages in information warfare.
And Screwllum was a Genius on top of that.
"Are Geniuses outside actually this friendly with each other now?"
Silkall sighed in disbelief.
To call another Genius for help on such short notice—
and have them respond with full commitment—
could only mean their relationship was exceptionally close.
Among the Genius Society, that was nearly unimaginable.
If Elias Salas were here, he might crawl out of his coffin just to deny it.
Before now, only the Golden Age trio had relationships like that:
Bohuan
Ram
Klein
And even that was only because they were born on the same planet, in the same era, and somehow became trapped in an absurdly twisted love triangle.
A full day and night passed.
The cyber battle remained deadlocked for twenty-four straight hours.
At first, Screwllum had nearly overwhelmed the opponent several times.
But each time, at the very last moment, the enemy reversed the pressure and dragged the fight back into stalemate.
Lin Yi had not expected this either.
Even with Screwllum personally intervening, backed by such enormous resources, the battle had lasted this long.
At this point, Lin Yi no longer felt embarrassed about losing earlier.
Losing to a monster like this in a field outside his specialty was perfectly reasonable.
It wasn't because he was weak.
It was because the opponent was absurdly strong.
The past day had been extremely valuable to Lin Yi.
Watching a battle like this at close range had given him tremendous insight.
He could even see Screwllum's algorithms iterating and evolving during the prolonged struggle.
The opponent's logical structures had also become increasingly sophisticated.
A clash between equals like this was priceless for both sides.
For someone like Screwllum, this was likely the first time he had met an opponent of equal caliber in this field.
An enemy worth treasuring.
Lin Yi smiled.
Looks like he would not owe Screwllum a favor after all.
He had already learned everything he could from watching.
What remained now was time to digest it.
Continuing to observe would yield diminishing returns.
So he made a decision.
Time to end this farce.
If Screwllum wanted to keep fighting afterward, that was his own business.
Lin Yi only wanted to know who the opponent was.
Besides, a conflict at this scale consumed enormous resources from the Mechanical Empire.
Screwllum likely wanted it over too.
And Ruan Mei's linked swarm computers had already suffered heavy strain under the sustained load.
How would Lin Yi end it?
Simple.
Call more people.
His connections were no joke.
Private Message
Stranger Traveler → Silver Wolf
"Silver Wolf, need a favor."
Silver Wolf
"Who are you?"
"How did you get my contact?"
Stranger Traveler
"Kafka gave it to me."
"Details don't matter."
"I'll send you an IP soon."
"Hit it as hard as you can."
Silver Wolf
"LOL."
"Who do you think you are?"
"Why would I help you?"
(Thumbs-down emoji)
Stranger Traveler
"I'll give you twenty game cartridges."
"Games you've definitely never played."
Silver Wolf
"!!!"
"Deal!"
"You better not go back on your word!"
"If you do, you know what happens!"
IPC Executive Group Chat
Lin Yi joined the chat.
Diamond: "?"
Fantara Kane: "?"
Yan Shiluo: "?"
Lin Yi:
"Why all the question marks?"
"Everyone knows your encryption is basically a box that opens whenever you want."
(Cat-cake holding sign.)
"The IPC's internal structure is too bloated for me to sort through."
"So I'll keep this simple."
"I need computing power."
"I need it immediately."
"If you want to help, hurry."
"If not, forget it."
Lin Yi left the chat.
Next message.
Lin Yi:
"Marshal Hua, are you there?"
Hua replied almost at once.
"Mr. Lin Yi, what do you need?"
Lin Yi:
"The Xianzhou still owes me a favor."
"Time to repay it."
"I'm fighting someone right now."
"Lend me the Ten Directions Radiant Realm."
"And temporarily assign Fu Xuan, Diviner of the Luofu."
Hua answered calmly.
"The Xianzhou agrees."
"Is that all?"
Lin Yi snorted.
"That small favor is nothing."
"You'll owe me a bigger one later."
Hua:
"???"
(Crooked-neck Red Kite emoji.)
Lin Yi kept sending messages.
One after another.
Calls.
Contacts.
Civilizations across the universe that had dealings with him were all being summoned.
Not everyone would respond.
But if even half of them did, it would be enough.
Many civilizations already owed him favors.
And after the Universal Medicine spread throughout the cosmos, his reputation had reached its peak.
It was time to show this mysterious opponent—
what real connections looked like.
"So what if you can fight?"
"What's the point?"
"Out here in the universe…"
"It's all about connections."
Lin Yi had spent years building relationships.
Aside from the Garden of Recollection, he maintained good ties with nearly every major faction.
A reasonable Genius with a good personality having many friends—
was only natural.
The favor the Xianzhou owed him came from an earlier matter.
Lin Yi had once helped General Feixiao of the Yaoqing Xianzhou.
He created a device capable of suppressing Moon Madness.
It allowed Feixiao to control her berserk state.
The method was not universally applicable—it depended on Feixiao's terrifying physique and willpower—but it meant a Xianzhou general could finally fight without restraint.
That favor had been enormous.
The Xianzhou could not deny it.
Soon, support began arriving from every direction.
The balance of the cyber war shifted rapidly.
What had been evenly matched became overwhelmingly one-sided.
Private Message
Silver Wolf
"LIN YI YOU BASTARD!"
"I just found out who you are from Kafka!"
"WHO THE HELL IS BEHIND THE IP YOU SENT ME?!"
"Stop pretending to be offline and answer me!"
"You dare do it but won't admit it?"
(Silver Wolf sitting on the ground crying emoji)
(Wronged emoji)
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