Gamers Are Fierce

Being watched.

Li Ang didn't show much surprise; since the other party had already obtained his initial internet protocol physical address, it was only natural for them to be able to track him.

If the situation was as severe as they claimed,

it would be unconventional for the Social Security Administration to not conduct any surveillance.

The cricket, or female investigator, said, "I want to act with you."

Li Ang nodded, "Alright, but I can't take you inside the base of the Coastal Wizard Association."

The cricket's antennae quivered, "Why?"

"You'll understand when you get there."

Without further words, Li Ang covered the cricket with his palm, tucked it into his pocket, glanced around, and sprinted toward the colossal hollow pipe on the horizon.

Soon, Li Ang arrived at the site of the pipe,

extending his hand to the surface, his fingertips stretched and dissolved, followed by his entire body being "pulled" inside by an unknown force.

His consciousness raced through the fiber optic lines, as if the perception of time had slowed down,

Li Ang saw beings similar to himself, capable of maintaining form, appearing sporadically within the pipe,

Humans, elves, demons, cars, containers, octopuses, ants—these were all wizards traversing the data world with their own agendas,

naturally, there were also official agents and cybersecurity technicians employed by private firms.

This is the data world, where beneath the bizarre exteriors lie a thousand faces.

Li Ang didn't engage much with these wizards,

just like transcendent beings, a wizard's greatest threat is always another wizard,

and to reduce the chance of being discovered, many wizards change their appearance each time they enter the data world, making it difficult to recognize even acquaintances unless the distance is very close.

Li Ang constantly switched lines, jumping from one node to another, passing countless fortresses and cities, finally reaching the target and exiting the optical network.

This was a barren plain, indistinguishable from the initial login location, but...

Li Ang patted the dizzy cricket in his pocket to awaken it,

then took several steps forward.

The scene ahead changed suddenly, dry and cracked ground sprouted lush grass and vibrant flowers,

With a few more steps, moss and lichen spread underfoot, towering trees rose, and vines entwined along the branches, quickly manifesting into a tropical rainforest.

The cricket poked its head out of the pocket, curiously and greedily surveying the surroundings,

Nothing could dig deeper than the intelligence agencies' hatred for the Coastal Wizard Association; if this were the real world, they would call in bombers and tanks to obliterate the base, then send in special forces to extract the hiding wizards from the ruins.

"Don't move."

Li Ang pressed the cricket's head back into the pocket,

It instinctively resisted, but the next second, a bird of the Scissor-tailed genus swooped down, its sharp talon narrowly missing its head.

"!!!"

The cricket scurried back into Li Ang's pocket, feeling a rush of fear.

"These are all automated programs capable of searching for foreign data."

Li Ang circled round a tree, gently pushing aside the snake-like vines hanging from the canopy,

calmly took a colorful spider off his shoulder and placed it back on the tree trunk,

remarked quietly, "Members of the Coastal Wizard Association dislike outside interference, whether it's agents from intelligence agencies or young wizards trying to enter an apex circle to prove themselves."

This area is automatically generated by a very advanced encryption algorithm, with every plant providing subtle signals indicating to visitors the next step to take.

If you fail to notice these signals or misread them,

your mind becomes confused,

at best, you get lost and emerge on the other side of the forest,

at worst, you provoke hostility from the automated programs, triggering an attack,

or even being flung back to reality.

After the attack, the cricket dared not move recklessly, lying obediently in the pocket.

Li Ang navigated through the tropical rainforest, carefully avoiding one deadly trap after another,

Finally, the road ahead opened wide, revealing a vast and deep rift valley at the edge of the rainforest.

The rift stretched several kilometers, nearly 200 meters wide. Purple mist shrouded the valley floor, with enormous creatures gliding within, their dorsal spikes like shark fins slicing through the fog, obscuring their entirety.

At the cliff's edge at the end of the rift stood a magnificent ancient castle,

Built of gray stones, the walls near the ground were overgrown with moss and dead vines, betraying its long history.

"We're here."

Li Ang halted, took the cricket out of his pocket,

It scrutinized the entire gorge with its yellow-brown compound eyes, curious yet wary, "What's the matter?"

"To reach the castle here, you must walk over invisible tiered stairs; you can't fly or teleport, and a wrong step will provoke an attack from the creatures below the rift."

Li Ang, standing at the edge of the rainforest, calmly stated, "The stairs will automatically scan the data passing over them,

all tangible visitors must pass alone; even if I swallowed you whole,

the stairs would extract you for a solo passage.

Unless you are confident in using only your brain to process hundreds of subconscious instructions per second, avoiding traps and discerning the location of the next transparent stair step to complete the route,

it's better to wait here for my return."

The cricket didn't respond immediately, as if frozen, probably communicating with its superiors.

A few seconds later, it nodded, leaping from Li Ang's hand.

"Hurry."

The cricket's voice carried a barely noticeable urgency, Li Ang nodded, instructed it not to inadvertently trigger traps, then proceeded onto the transparent stairs.

Minutes later, Li Ang effortlessly crossed the rift, casually wiping non-existent sweat from his forehead, and pushed open the grand doors of the ancient castle.

The castle hall was understated yet luxurious,

adorned with crystal chandeliers, hardwood floors, a fireplace burning aromatic wood, paintings on the walls, sculptures, and ceramics on shelves,

not at all as ancient as its exterior suggested—even in the data world, wizards wouldn't stint on themselves.

Several members were already present in the hall,

A stone statue of an elephant sat cross-legged on a wool carpet, facing the fireplace, eyes closed deep in thought by the fire;

A Valkyrie in armor with a feathered helmet sat on a sofa, throwing darts at a target on the wall with pinpoint accuracy;

Merlin in a green robe with a pointed hat stood in a corner, having a hushed conversation with a robot.

The robot's face was a screen displaying an 8-bit style animated face.

This is also a wizard, named "Ohm".

Behind the two is a table, on which sits an old black typewriter.

The mailman.

Li Ang's brow slightly raised beneath the dragon head mask, he walked straight by without stopping.

"Sammaster?"

Disguised as Santa Claus, the most wanted tax criminal—Nicholas—was standing behind a table, and when he saw Li Ang enter, he called out Brown Murphy's nickname in the data world, "Why have you changed your look?"

"A new look, a new mood."

Li Ang casually replied in Brown Murphy's tone from his memory.

The Coastal Wizard Association's castle base can identify visitors' identities, placing badges of various designs on members' chests—mainly to prevent unpleasant pranks, like impersonating others and causing members embarrassment.

The kindly Nicholas paused momentarily over the dead fish-eye of the dragon head mask, somewhat insincerely saying, "It looks pretty good.

By the way, come and take a look at my Christmas plan, do you have any opinions?"

As a well-known, or rather notorious, wanted criminal,

Nicholas kept his habit of robbing the rich and giving to the poor every Christmas, and in front of him was a rotating hourglass and a 3D map of a medieval fortress,

The fortress towers on the map were connected by intricate networks resembling blood vessels.

"Swiss Bank?"

Li Ang recognized the map's location, and the vessels should be the bank's cash flow.

"Exactly."

Nicholas nodded, speaking with a breezy tone: "What do they call the Swiss Bank outside?

The haven, the most secure vault, the world's wallet?

Ha-ha."

Li Ang was surprised: "You broke through the defenses of the Swiss Bank?"

"A little bit."

A sly smile appeared on Nicholas's face, "They restructured the entire fortress last year, the defense mechanisms are quite good, everywhere there are vigilant automated programs,

Outside, there are bank-trained wizards (with their real names already known by the bank, working at fixed locations) patrolling, with many disguised posts inside.

I spent much effort finding a way..."

He reached out on the 3D map of the fortress and flicked, instantly hundreds of new vessels branched off from the cash flow system,

Diving into the ground, leading who knows where.

"Italy and South American Gangs, local military warlords, FBI, CIA, lobbyist executives in the United States' revolving doors, transnational crime syndicates...

All the world's shady money is stored here."

A wizard clicked his tongue in wonder, "You'll offend very, very many people, Nicholas.

I can't imagine, if they find out your real name, what means they'll use to greet you."

"Many people have told me the same, but I'm still alive and well."

Nicholas smiled: "Those hunting dogs trained and recruited by official departments (a derogatory term for wizards who yield to the authorities),

They all grew up in greenhouses,

Never having experienced the wild times where one step wrong meant being shattered to pieces.

Plenty of ability, not enough experience.

Finding me is far from possible.

Moreover, even you can't find my real name."

It's true, gathered in the Coastal Wizard Association are the apex data manipulators, incomparable to amateur circles,

Each member, even judged by the lightest law sentencing, would be enough to spend a lifetime or two in prison.

To gain benefits,

And also to preemptively protect themselves,

Every member of the Coastal Wizard Association has investigated others' identities in the open and dark, each seemingly casual conversation might be thousands of data attacks, covert operations never cease.

Nicholas casually flicked the rotating hourglass with his fingernail, and the hourglass spun 180 degrees, the fine sands flowing, "From now on, every minute, $120,000 will flow out from the Swiss Bank,

Distributed randomly to hundreds of banks worldwide, deposited into family accounts with incomes below the local average.

Until Christmas in three days."

Merlin unknowingly approached, muttering and saying: "Two thousand per second, three days later. Totaling $5.184 billion?"

"A considerable sum, but all originating from dead accounts that haven't moved for long, a portion drawn from each account."

Nicholas smirked: "The nobility who store their shady money in bank accounts might take months or even years to realize they've been robbed.

And this amount of money—for ordinary households might be astronomical, but not enough for them to take drastic measures, form alliances, and search the globe recklessly to find the thief."

"A nice Christmas gift."

Li Ang nodded, clapped, and the other wizards around the table also applauded,.

A subtle smile appeared below Nicholas's bushy beard, calmly enjoying the admiration from fellow wizards, the glimmering eyes hinting at plans for the next Christmas event.

"Truly impressive."

Merlin stopped applauding, shook his head, and said: "But Nicholas, don't you feel this is still too slow?

Look at the outside world, the gap between rich and poor grows ever larger,

Beside high-rises, just a hundred meters away, there are sprawling slums.

Poor families won't be able to live a happy year because of these hundreds of dollars,

The plump and privileged won't go bankrupt due to losing a small portion of wealth—quite the opposite, your robbing the rich and giving to the poor will make them more desperate in finding ways to earn money, ultimately harming the public.

If you want to undertake larger projects,

I mean, if your rob-the-rich-give-to-the-poor is driven by justice rather than flashy self-satisfaction,

Maybe you could cooperate with us..."

Merlin gestured, pointing between himself, the robot Ohm beside him, and the typewriter behind him.

Li Ang's gaze sharpened,

The mailman recruit soldiers after displaying "miracles," seeming to have enlisted Merlin and Ohm.

If the Social Security Administration investigator's words are true,

If the mailman has been controlling the decision department's logic module, subtly adjusting the world's direction for four years, and has recently begun trying to control the military system,

Then what would be his purpose for recruiting the great wizards?

World domination?

Having great wizards serve as his right-hand ministers? Or gathering talented people around him to prevent these data manipulators from interfering with his plan?