As the boundary land between the Digital World and the human world, the internet carried traits of both.
With real-world computers acting as nodes and the lines between them forming the network, data inside the internet could be transmitted to any corner of the world in an extremely short time.
Free from restrictions of time or space, the only limits on data transfer were volume and size.
Especially in an era where network technology had yet to reach high speed, the difference between sending a few bytes and sending several gigabytes was enormous.
And a semi–artificial-intelligence program like "Digimon.SMS," when trying to move freely across the network, was similarly limited by what the network could actually support.
In fact, before network technology advanced far enough, tapes and optical discs became the main carriers of computer programs for precisely this reason.
Compared to downloading a program bit by bit at KB speeds, copying directly from a disc or tape was an entirely different experience.
Keeping this principle in mind, now back in the internet, Chen Ze set his goal on tracking massive data transfers. He consciously began searching for programs with large data loads moving across the network.
He didn't even need to think about it—once he found such a program, it had to be Renamon.
The only problem now was: how was he supposed to search for such data streams?
Breaking into one computer after another, reading log files to check recent activity—that would be the most tedious and inefficient method possible.
As a seasoned hacker, Chen Ze naturally wouldn't use something like that.
Writing a program that automatically measured network speed, scattering it across the internet, and letting it infect every computer it could reach like a worm virus—that was the proper hacker method.
At this point, a little explanation was necessary: what exactly was a "worm virus"?
Unlike traditional computer viruses, a worm was a self-replicating piece of code capable of spreading across networks autonomously, requiring no human intervention.
Once a worm invaded and fully took control of a machine, it would use that computer as a host to scan for and infect others.
And after those new hosts were taken, they would continue scanning and infecting in the same way.
Worms typically spread through email, instant messaging, P2P protocols, system vulnerabilities, and even search engines.
As for what kind of damage they ultimately caused—that depended entirely on the developer's intentions.
One famous incident in Chen Ze's previous life occurred in 2007: the notorious "Panda Burning Incense" virus—a worm exploiting Windows vulnerabilities to invalidate EXE files.
Because the virus turned desktop icons into a panda holding three burning sticks of incense, people called it the "Panda Burning Incense Virus."
And in the world after Chen Ze's reincarnation, hackers had gotten even more creative with worm viruses.
Many hackers took advantage of worms' unique traits to capture high-performance computers, using them as stepping stones, trojans, or nodes in botnets.
So what Chen Ze needed to do was simply select a few open-source worm programs with broad compatibility and embed his own functions into them.
Even so, recalling and writing a worm compatible with most computers took him an entire morning.
Fortunately, Koromon's Digital Core operated like a high-performance computer, so temporarily compiling and storing such a program wasn't too troublesome.
The only thing Chen Ze needed to consider was how to load this program onto his Koromon body as a "plugin" without interfering with the Digital Core's inherent functions.
After all, having the Overload Program appear unexpectedly once was more than enough. A Digital Core might have immense computational power, but its nature still differed from an actual computer.
At the very least, Chen Ze had never heard of a computer whose hardware evolved based on the programs loaded into it.
If only I still had my personal terminal.
Once these worm viruses began propagating, all Chen Ze would have to do was monitor unusual data spikes and check them one by one.
Times like these made him miss his personal computer more than anything.
As standard equipment for any hacker, it stored countless program source files that allowed him to build the tools he needed within seconds.
Not to mention, that machine also contained plenty of ready-made utilities. If he wanted to break into something, he only needed to open a few pieces of software.
"This one isn't it. Not this one either."
In the virtual network space, Koromon used his long ears in place of hands, swiping across floating screens as he searched for any trace of Renamon.
"Wait—what kind of god-tier operation is this? They downloaded a whole gigabyte of… censored images at KB-per-second speeds?!"
Staring dumbfounded at the newly infected computer, Chen Ze suddenly felt curious about the owner of this machine.
"What's the point of pictures? If you want to look, look at something real!"
A wicked grin curled onto his face. Not only did Chen Ze delete the painstakingly downloaded files, he also dragged over a mysterious chunk of code from a large server—purely to amuse himself.
"If you can download this much data, I'll be genuinely impressed!"
Looking at the newly created file on the desktop, Chen Ze couldn't wait to see the owner's reaction once they opened it.
"Alright, back to business."
After indulging in a brief moment of mischief, Chen Ze remembered his actual priority and quickly moved on to the next captured target.
Just like that, he spent nearly two hours scanning every computer in Hikarigaoka with abnormal data traffic—yet still found no trace of the one he sought.
"Where did Renamon go…?"
His long ears drooped unconsciously. It turned out that locating a living "artificial intelligence" was far harder than he'd expected.
"Is she hiding herself? Or did she already leave the Hikarigaoka area…?"
As Chen Ze hesitated, he failed to notice the ripple forming quietly in the network space behind him.
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T/N:
Hello. I'm Enkidu.
Before you start… thank you for coming this far. Stories are strange things—once they leave the hand that wrote them, they become part of the world, like water joining a river. If this chapter keeps you company for even a moment, I think that is worth something.
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