Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 11: Data Hacking

To prevent the Martian situation from reverting to the era of human brain-computer interfaces, Zhang Qiming must reach a meeting and cooperation agreement with Saint Sophia as soon as possible, and use her name and prestige to end the infighting among the four major factions on Mars and complete the true mechanical age.

If Skydrive wants to end its internal strife and unify the forces of Mars, it must cooperate with Saint Sophia to gain the legitimacy of its regime and the support of the Martian people.

With that in mind, Zhang Qiming didn't linger in the living quarters any longer. He turned off the control panel, got up, and went out, following the internal passage of the Mariner Valley Manufacturing Corridor to the agricultural area that St. Sophia was going to inspect today.

……

……

The Seventh Agricultural Dome.

This is one of the few blocks in the middle section of Mariner Valley that is specifically responsible for food cultivation and biological recycling. It usually provides a part of the basic supply to the main city of Mars and the surrounding industrial area. The outer layer is a thick protective shell and a sealed skeleton, while the inside is covered with layers of three-dimensional planting racks and circulating hydroponic tanks. At first glance, it looks like an artificial field covered by a steel shell.

Mars is not suitable for true terrestrial agriculture, so everything here has been redesigned. Light is controlled by artificial spectral lamps, water is recycled through a closed-loop system, and fertilizer and gas exchange are handled by a separate set of biochemical units.

This is the area that Hagia Sophia specifically requested to inspect. She has always been very interested in plants and even pursued a doctorate in botany in her early years.

Among a group of believers who spend all their time on machine spirits and prosthetic bodies, her hobby seems somewhat out of place. But precisely because of this, her understanding of agriculture and ecological cycles is far deeper than that of the average church leader.

At this moment, the agricultural area had been cleared under martial law. Covenant soldiers and church security personnel stood on the perimeter, while inside, representatives from the four major factions surrounded the area, creating an extremely solemn scene.

Saint Sophia stood in the center of the crowd.

Her face was extremely beautiful, with a clean and calm look between her brows and eyes. Her skin looked almost no different from that of an ordinary person, except that the traces of prosthetics could be vaguely seen on the sides of her neck, behind her ears, and at the joints of her wrists. Those fine metallic patterns were covered very deeply by the simulated skin, and if you didn't look closely, you might even think that they were just some kind of decorative silver pattern.

Representatives from the four major factions surrounded her. One representative from the Labor Commune pointed to a row of cultivation tanks in front of her, whose lighting was being adjusted, and spoke respectfully and warmly:

"Your Highness, the main crop promoted in this area now is a high-calorie, fast-growing crop. The cultivation cycle has been compressed to less than 30% of the original model. It is mainly supplied to the grassroots workers in the Sailor Valley and the Tharsis Plateau, giving priority to ensuring the basic calorie intake of workers in high-intensity jobs."

As she listened, Hagia Sophia nodded frequently, and in between, she exchanged several rounds of opinions in hushed tones with the representatives from the Labor Commune.

Once the agricultural block matter was mostly settled, she turned her gaze away from the layers of cultivation racks and looked at the Steel Templar Knights, bringing up the issue that was currently of greatest concern to the church—the Skyward Organization.

"Tell me about the Skyward Organization."

The representative from the Iron Templars bowed slightly before speaking with a grim face, his voice filled with barely suppressed anger:

"The Skywards are a damned heretical organization; they are terrorists in essence."

"If they dared to openly assassinate a Cardinal this time, who knows what other outrageous things they might do next? Moreover, what they exposed this time is far more dangerous than the assassination itself."

"Based on the available intelligence, the SA machine that carried out the assassination mission is likely close to a third-generation machine. More importantly, it has extremely strong stealth capabilities, and our sensors have never been able to truly lock onto it."

The faces of the surrounding faction representatives were not very pleasant.

The Iron Templar Knights paused, then continued:

"In addition, they also have extremely strong information infiltration capabilities. At that time, the monitoring links and regional networks around the Cathedral Square were tampered with. Not only was data lost, but even some of the backtracking records were erased. This level of intrusion capability is beyond the capabilities of ordinary underground organizations."

For the church, Sky Drive is no longer just a simple organization, but a terrorist organization that wants to overthrow the church's power, and it must be dealt with with a heavy blow!

"The Church invited the Holy Maiden back to Mars this time, partly to stabilize the situation, and partly to rely on your strength. Both Ares's access level and your perception of anomalous data and high-level systems make it easier for you to dig these people out of the shadows than we do."

Saint Sophia listened without any change in expression, and simply nodded slightly.

"Send all the current investigation data to me."

The representative of the Iron Templars immediately bowed his head in agreement.

The inspection was about to end here. The representatives from all parties made a few symbolic remarks about the follow-up arrangements. Hagia Sophia did not stay any longer and soon left the Agricultural Dome, surrounded by security personnel and her entourage, and returned by car to her temporary residence in the Valles Marineris.

It was a high-standard residential area that had been temporarily designated. The outer security was tight, but the interior furnishings were very simple, with only the most basic work area, rest area and independent terminal room remaining. Compared to the Saintess Palace, it was more like a temporary office with enhanced security.

Upon returning to her residence, she went straight into the terminal room without even changing her coat.

Soon, a series of investigation reports currently in the church's possession began to unfold before her.

The surveillance gaps in the Cathedral Square, the forcibly erased network logs, the invalid identification records, the blurred features of the Skydrive Type I mech, and all the traces that could be pieced together after the assassination were compiled into a detailed report and quietly floated in the light screen.

Saint Sophia sat in front of the terminal, her gaze sweeping across the pages, her expression calm and revealing no emotion.

Just as she was reading the report, a series of silent waveforms, not belonging to the church system, suddenly appeared at the bottom of the terminal, causing the light screen in front of her to flicker slightly. She frowned slightly, but without the slightest panic, and simply uttered a soft sentence:

"Data hacking, huh..."

[Data hacking] is one of the essential skills of hackers. It can forcibly take over the data interface of the target terminal in a short period of time, block the surrounding tracking links, and reorganize, disguise and cover the target information flow.

In fact, whether relying on Saint Sophia's own abilities or directly mobilizing Ares's [black wall gateway], it is possible to block [data hacking].

But she didn't do that.

Because in that very instant, she had already sensed the intruder's true nature through the [Words of the Machine God]—a Class III AI with strong artificial intelligence.

Saint Sophia's eyes flickered slightly, and she withdrew her fingers from the edge of the terminal. Not only did she not intercept the terrifying creature, she also proactively stopped the [Black Wall Gateway] protection that was waiting on Ares' side.

She's becoming increasingly interested in the Skyward organization.