Chapter Fifty-Eight: Battlefield of the Web – Clash of the Titans
The raging flames of the battlefield of public opinion had, for the time being, been extinguished by the power of the people’s hearts.
Anderson’s last and most formidable weapon was now reduced to one: the Internet.
In the command center, on the immense screen that symbolized the final battleground, war descended with a speed that surpassed the limits of human perception!
Boom—!
The zombie network, formed from hundreds of millions of hijacked smartphones, cameras, and smart devices across the nation by “God’s Scepter,” converged in this moment with the “Pangu” backdoor program erupting from within the “Firmament Network.”
Billions of blood-red streams of data, representing the onslaught, surged forth like two galactic rivers of destruction from different dimensions of the universe, converging from all directions with world-shattering force to slam, mercilessly, into the golden sphere at the center of the map—that symbol for the “Huaxin Network.”
Yet, the cataclysmic collision and explosion everyone expected did not occur.
At the instant those bloody rivers touched the golden sphere’s surface, a sudden transformation took place!
The surface of the golden orb bloomed like a lotus, instantly manifesting countless intricate, dazzling hexagonal “honeycombs” glowing faint gold.
This was Lin Feng’s long-prepared—Digital Labyrinth.
The blood-red torrents, despite their fury, caused no real harm. It was as if they had crashed into a sponge made from the universe’s most advanced energy-absorbing material, instantly being absorbed, swallowed, and redirected by those endless honeycombs.
Everyone in the command center witnessed this miraculous scene through the visualized battle interface:
The overwhelming red flood was decomposed in 0.1 seconds by a colossal cosmic honeycomb into billions of insignificant crimson trickles. These streams were funneled into an infinite labyrinth of “logic dead loops” and “data camouflage traps,” where they churned in vain—spiraling, consuming themselves—until, their energy spent, they vanished as if they had never existed.
No resistance. Only dissolution.
This was a blow at the level of the Dao itself—a dimensional reduction strike that left any attacker powerless and despairing.
...
Overseas, in the safehouse.
“Useless!”
Anderson, witnessing his attack’s utter failure on the screen, lost his composure for the first time and hurled his tablet to the ground in rage.
He realized instantly that he was facing an opponent on his own level—or even stronger. Someone, like himself, who could manipulate code between the realms of rules and art—a monster.
But the anger lasted only a second. The next instant, he regained the calm of a hunter.
He knew that any flawless defensive system, to function, must maintain an interface for the exchange of energy and information with the outside world.
That was the weakness.
Sure enough, after his main scanning program performed billions of sweeps regardless of cost, a minute, almost negligible “anomalous data port” briefly flickered on the otherwise impenetrable “honeycomb” defense.
“Found it…”
A flash of greedy cruelty, like a predator catching prey’s weakness, passed through Anderson’s eyes.
“Foolish defender… Did you really think you could hide?”
“Prepare the Ouroboros main attack program! Abandon full-scale suppression—switch to single-point maximum penetration!”
He stood up, issuing his deadly command.
“I will personally crawl through this damned rat hole… and then rip out the hearts of every last one of you!”
At the core of the Huaxin Network’s servers—a digital space as vast as the starry universe, woven from endless streams of golden code.
A monstrous electronic serpent—the Ouroboros—composed of the purest, most destructive red code, slithered silently along the “VIP channel” Anderson believed to be a flaw.
But at once, it realized it had come not to the heart, but… into hell.
A colossal “code furnace” forged from countless layers of “data strangulation” algorithms had long awaited it here!
“It’s a trap!”
Anderson’s consciousness reacted instantly, his fury erupting.
He no longer relied on the Ouroboros shell, but made a more reckless decision.
He projected his vast, arrogant, and destructive will directly into this digital space via quantum communication links!
Boom!
The entire digital universe trembled.
A shadow demon god, a hundred meters tall and forged from the darkest binary code, wielding a gigantic hammer crackling with purple lightning, descended from thin air!
“Zhurong!”
Anderson’s thunderous voice roared through the digital realm, seething with the rage of being toyed with.
“I know it’s you! Get out here and die!”
“Tsk.”
Opposite the demon god, the space rippled, and a languid voice sounded.
Lin Feng’s figure appeared, not as a towering giant, but as his usual self—a hoodie-clad, sleepy-looking youth.
But behind him, the vast sea of golden code symbolizing the will to protect began to boil, gather, and ascend!
A dragon’s roar, primeval and majestic, shook the heavens!
A thousand-meter-long Eastern dragon—majestic, sacred, its scales gleaming—formed from pure protection code, coiled behind Lin Feng. Its golden eyes stared coldly at the demon god.
Standing atop the dragon’s head, Lin Feng yawned softly.
“…You’ve arrived.”
“I’ve been waiting a long time… loser.”
“Courting death!”
Enraged by the taunt, Anderson roared, swinging the thunder hammer in his hand—capable of shattering a planet—bringing down a torrent of electricity and destructive force upon Lin Feng and the dragon!
Lin Feng’s gaze sharpened in an instant.
“Roar!”
The guardian dragon beneath him bellowed, its colossal body swirling like a star-wreathed serpent, meeting the attack head-on without fear!
Hammer versus dragon!
The Ragnarok, symbol of Norse myth, clashed against the totemic guardian at the source of Eastern civilization!
Red and gold.
Destruction and protection.
In the heart of this digital universe that symbolized the nation’s technological lifeblood, the two forces collided in the most primal, savage, and dazzling manner!
...
Their duel shook the heavens and earth, yet quickly fell into a deadlock.
Anderson’s thunder hammer was wild and devastating, each swing sending ripples of “code collapse” through the space.
But Lin Feng’s Eastern dragon, an eternal law incarnate, countered every blow with the ceaseless principle of protection—each claw and sweep of the tail dispelling every attack into nothingness.
In the midst of this standoff, a strange smile suddenly curled on Anderson’s face.
“Zhurong, you are indeed formidable… beyond anything I imagined…”
Even as he fought off the dragon’s coils, he cackled, speaking words that made Lin Feng’s heart sink.
“But did you really think… I would stake all my chips on this childish ‘video game’?”
The scene shifted in a flash.
Shanghai, backstage at the press conference.
A group of men in “International Media” vests—eyes fierce, temples bulging, muscles knotted like stone—suddenly sprang into action from the crowd like leopards!
Shedding their disguises, they pulled silenced submachine guns from enormous camera cases, their barrels glinting with cold light!
Their target—the core server room backstage!
And… everyone present.
“Dark Bureau” command center.
Xiao Ran stared in shock at the unexpected development on the surveillance feed, her perpetually icy face for the first time showing a look of horror.
“…No!”
Her voice, for the first time, trembled with urgency.
“It’s a real-world assault! Their target is to physically sever the servers! And…”
“…take hostages!”