Chapter 153: Angel

After entering the computer through the river of black-and-white static, the noise didn't vanish. Zhang Wenda, his body numb, could only grit his teeth against the sensation as he pressed further in.

He didn't know what would happen if he inhaled this stuff, so he could only hold his breath and wait for an exit to appear.

Just as he was about to pass out, the space above him suddenly opened up, and he finally broke through.

But the moment he emerged, Zhang Wenda quickly ducked his head back. 'There's someone outside!'

The pool of black-and-white static where Zhang Wenda found himself was surrounded by bizarre green circuit boards. He had entered a world made entirely of them.

It looked like a wastewater treatment plant, with the discharge from various pipes pooling here.

In the distance, a figure holding a gun stood with his side to Zhang Wenda, yawning languidly. As his mouth opened, Zhang Wenda saw that his tongue was made of various blades.

After carefully observing the guard's position, Zhang Wenda realized he was blocking the only way out of the pool. As long as he was there, there was no way to leave.

He didn't know how many others were around. 'If I attack him recklessly,' Zhang Wenda thought, 'it'll definitely draw attention.'

Zhang Wenda thought for a moment and came up with a plan. His body began to dematerialize, slowly turning transparent.

This time, however, he didn't cross over into another ideascape to attack the guard. Instead, he held himself in a halfway state, entering a kind of semi-transparent camouflage. He took on the color of his surroundings.

This state offered him maximum concealment.

Moving with excruciating slowness, Zhang Wenda crept up behind the guard and silently climbed out of the pool of static. He stood behind him like a shadow, quietly waiting.

A few minutes later, the instant the guard closed his eyes to yawn again, Zhang Wenda's semi-transparent body blurred into an afterimage, dashing toward the corridor ahead, which was completely lined with green circuit boards.

However, just as he was about to bolt, two figures appeared at the other end of the hall, walking toward him and chatting. Sensing something, they turned their heads to look, but the corridor was completely empty.

After the two had left, Zhang Wenda, now hanging upside down from the ceiling, let out a sigh of relief. Luckily, this body of his was an excellent climber; its sharp, hooked sickles could dig into any surface with ease.

Seeing how long the green corridor was, Zhang Wenda decided not to come down. He began to traverse the ceiling like a gecko, a method which would also help him avoid some detection measures.

Zhang Wenda was on high alert, not daring to let his guard down for a second. His uncle had gone to great lengths to get him this one chance. 'Who knows when I'll get another opportunity like this,' he thought.

The world inside the computer was vast, incredibly so, and the labyrinth of tunnels branching in every direction was starting to disorient him. Zhang Wenda had to rely on the notches his sickles left in the circuit boards to make sure he wasn't retracing his steps.

He avoided areas that were obviously crowded, focusing instead on finding and memorizing any equipment or instruments he came across.

He was here to gather intelligence. Piecing it all together later was a job for Bureau 507.

'Why is this whole place made of circuit boards? What on earth is Tang Xingxiong's project?' Zhang Wenda felt a growing sense of urgency. He had no idea how much time his uncle had been able to secure for him.

Just then, Zhang Wenda stopped on the ceiling. He pressed his ear tightly against the circuit board and listened intently.

THUMP... THUMP... THUMP... A deep, vibrating sound drifted from the distance. Zhang Wenda silently crept toward its source. The closer he got, the louder the sound became.

As Zhang Wenda rounded the end of a corridor, the space before him opened up. Behind a thick screen made of a flowing stream of 0s and 1s, in a spacious workshop, Zhang Wenda saw a Buddha—a giant Buddha pieced together from machinery, flesh, and plants.

It had the form of a Buddha, but its appearance was utterly horrifying.

The giant Buddha, over ten meters tall, wore scarlet welding goggles. From a nearby cart, it scooped out one dazzling sun after another, placing them on a square platform that resembled a metal structure. The suns varied in size, some as small as ping-pong balls, others as large as coconuts.

Zhang Wenda knew how valuable these things were. 'A single sun was enough to make 2826 that tense,' he thought, 'but there are at least a hundred of them on that platform!'

After more rainbows were poured over the suns like an adhesive, the Buddha picked up a nearby hammer inscribed with a swastika (卍) and began to smash it down upon them. The suns were struck, flattened, and forcibly fused together.

With each blow of the hammer, slivers of moons were knocked out from within the suns. Before long, the Buddha's feet were littered with crescents and other lunar fragments.

'What in the world is going on here?' Zhang Wenda watched, stunned. He didn't understand what he was seeing, but judging by the sheer number of suns, he knew this was something huge.

He then made a silent vow to himself. 'When I get back, I'm definitely going to that old man for a raise. This job is way more dangerous than 2826's.'

Blow by blow, the suns were eventually forged into a dazzling golden circlet. Zhang Wenda roughly estimated its diameter to be about three meters.

Just then, Zhang Wenda saw the Buddha pick up the circlet with a look of satisfaction and walk toward an adjacent room. He quickly followed.

'The security in there must be tight.' Fortunately, all Zhang Wenda had to do was record what he saw. Peering once more through the curtain of flowing 0s and 1s, he saw the Buddha stop in front of a strange creature.

It was a massive, oval-shaped eye, completely bloodshot and covered in wounds. Several chains as thick as bowls shot out from the surrounding circuit-board walls, hooked into its body.

Data cables were plugged into it from behind, and it looked to be on the verge of death. Its pupil was already starting to dilate.

But just then, the Buddha placed the circlet upon the great eye. Instantly, the eyeball erupted in a brilliant golden light, and three pairs of pure, white-feathered wings materialized behind it.

A golden halo appeared around the eyeball, and Zhang Wenda could even hear the sound of a sacred choir filling the air.

Its strength instantly restored, the eyeball began to thrash wildly, on the verge of breaking free. But then, more green chains formed from 0s and 1s shot out from the surrounding circuit boards, piercing its wings.

Looking at its pure white wings and the golden circlet on its 'head,' an absurd thought surfaced in Zhang Wenda's mind. 'Is this... an Angel?'