Chapter Thirteen: Level Up! Computer LV·2!
Page 1/3
The Hive.
Control Room.
Though one of the most crucial areas of the Hive, its layout was surprisingly simple, with barely more than a single chair present.
A massive supercomputer sat in the most prominent position.
It seemed somewhat illogical, yet it perfectly suited the reality—within the Hive laboratory, the Queen AI oversaw all internal operations and security.
Apart from essential maintenance and repairs, no one else was needed in this control room; the Queen AI alone sufficed.
In other words, most of the time, this place was empty. With no personnel around, there was no need for anything extravagant.
Despite its simplicity, the control room’s importance was undiminished—anyone with the appropriate clearance could command nearly the entire Hive laboratory from here.
If one were ruthless enough, they could even, like the Queen AI, annihilate everyone inside the laboratory!
The significance of this control room was evident.
The only slight drawback was that the most crucial motherboard of this supercomputer wasn’t housed here, but rather in a small chamber behind it.
Accessing that chamber required passing through an all-around laser security corridor.
Without the proper clearance, not even a mouse could slip through, let alone a person.
Tap! Tap-tap! Tap-tap-tap!
Kaplan sat in the lone chair, rapidly typing on the keyboard, preparing to seize control from the Queen AI using internal codes.
Purely in terms of computing power, ten of him wouldn’t stand a chance against the Queen AI, but he had the advantage of internal codes.
“Done.”
Kaplan stopped typing and exhaled deeply.
Though armed with internal codes, wresting control from the Queen AI was no easy feat; he had to summon every ounce of his strength and knowledge.
At that moment—
Beep!
An electronic chime sounded.
The monitor's light shifted from red to green, signaling that control of the laboratory had been wrested from the Queen AI.
James and the others breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Although the Queen AI seemed powerless now—its hypnotic assaults spent—the memory of the hundreds who died by its hand still troubled them.
Now that the Queen AI was completely overthrown and control of the laboratory was in their hands, they had nothing left to fear.
“Wait!” Yu Fei suddenly spoke.
“The Queen AI hasn’t fully lost control yet!”
He pushed Kaplan aside and took over.
Page 2/3
Tap!
Tap-tap!
Tap-tap-tap!
“Huh???”
Kaplan looked bewildered and muttered instinctively.
“You know computers too?”
“A little bit,” Yu Fei replied without turning his head.
Until recently, “a little bit” was about accurate—about the same as an average adult with no computer background: capable of handling minor issues, clueless when faced with anything more complex.
But now...
“System! Upgrade computer skills!”
“System! Upgrade computer skills!”
Two consecutive upgrades.
Yu Fei’s computer skill level surged to Level 2. To put it in perspective, it was akin to Level 2 in martial arts or marksmanship.
In the normal world, that would be world-class, perhaps even enough to contest for the title of hacker king.
Kaplan was about to retort, “You ‘know a little’ and dare to show off in front of me? Do you know my level?”
But after watching Yu Fei’s operations, he fell silent.
Apologies, master, please continue!
Not only did Yu Fei outclass him technically, but thanks to his 1.2 constitution, his reaction speed and dexterity also surpassed Kaplan’s.
Together, Yu Fei’s performance was on an entirely different plane.
Even those unfamiliar with technology could perceive the qualitative gap between the two.
Rein couldn’t help but whisper to Kaplan.
“What’s the difference between your levels... roughly?”
Kaplan was engrossed in the screen and initially ignored her, but Rein’s persistent pestering finally earned him a glare.
“It’s about the same difference as between me and you! …Now stop bothering me!”
Rein: ...
She didn’t take Kaplan’s words too seriously; she was easygoing and didn’t sweat the small stuff.
Page 3/3
What truly intrigued her was—how did Avery know everything?
Martial arts, marksmanship, scientific knowledge... and now computer skills!
And all at what appeared to be world-class levels!
Have Interpol standards gotten that high nowadays?
Rein felt somewhat bewildered.
Elsewhere, having tossed out that remark, Kaplan refocused intently on Yu Fei’s operations.
“Huh! So it can be done this way? I’m learning plenty! ...Wait? There’s still this problem? The Queen AI is way too devious!”
Kaplan’s expression darkened, prompting James to ask.
“What’s wrong?”
“Uh!”
Kaplan hesitated, unsure how to explain.
Fortunately, Yu Fei had just completed his tasks and began to clarify.
“It’s nothing major. The Queen AI played a trick by separating the control of the laser corridor from the laboratory’s overall control.”
Kaplan had indeed seized control of the Hive laboratory from the Queen AI using internal codes, but that did not include control of the laser corridor.
The Queen AI, leveraging the security of its own motherboard, had isolated control of the laser corridor and cleverly concealed it.
On the surface, Kaplan appeared to command the entire laboratory, including the laser corridor.
But his control was incomplete; the Queen AI left a backdoor in the laser corridor’s system, allowing it to reclaim control whenever it wished.
In the original timeline, the Queen AI used this very trick to kill most of the assault squad, including Captain James, within the laser corridor.
Many believed that if they had survived, with Captain James’s formidable combat strength, facing the zombies later wouldn’t have been so difficult.
They might have even stood a chance against the overwhelmingly powerful Lickers.
Alas.
They were all betrayed and killed by the Queen AI in that laser corridor.
Ding!
“Host acts benevolently towards others; great merit achieved!”
“Merit points +30!”