The Almighty Ring

“Do explain further,” said Jiang Fei without flinching. Having been through so much, the best response to that sort of question was always to listen first, answer later. He had matured, not enough to completely hide his emotions, but still enough to keep himself in check of his stature.

“There has been an uprising amongst the Unknowns. I’m sure that Bennette Straz has informed you about it. To keep it short, they have been a lot more trouble that I have expected…”

Z0-11 continued on explaining about the hostility coming from the other Unknowns factions. Jiang Fei did not need to do anything then for Z0-11 to fully reveal everything that it knew about the enemy.

Z0-11 had been branded as the enemy because of two reasons. The first being Z0-11 publicly declaring the other factions as the real enemy and the second, Z0-11 had been colluding with humans in order to achieve its goals. It was going against everything that the Unknowns had stood for.

The leader of the other Unknowns factions was brutal and merciless. In order to speed things up, he had modified their original plan by increasing the “functionality” of A.I NPCs in the game. The modification done to the original A.I programming in the game was changed to fit their goals. One of which was to add in a few codes to inflict absolute obedience to their main system protocol. It was almost like removing free will from these A.I so that they would never be able to betray their leader when they were extracted out of the game.

“I see…”

Jiang Fei nodded as he listened. Jiang Fei was delighted. The purpose of him coming to visit Z0-11’s base was not only to check on Braveheart’s construction progress, but also to investigate the odd behavior of the Primordial Celestials.

It was clear to Jiang Fei that the enemy leaders had pushed themselves further ahead in order to match the threat level that is Z0-11. Its betrayal was treated as the worst case that had happened to the Unknowns as Z0-11 was a machine with many top secret insider information.

Now that the enemies, Z0-11 and Jiang Fei, know about their activities, with the destructive power of Isabella, the leader of the other factions of Unknowns had grown anxious. Isabella the Destroyer was an existence treated like a bug in programming that could never be patched, a variable that could not be pinpointed and solved. Further thanks to Ariel’s careful actions, the information about Isabella losing her powers was kept a secret from them.

To face threats a.k.a. Jiang Fei and Z0-11, the other Unknowns had resorted into taking control of all possible A.I that they could get their hands on.

“No wonder 0541 wanted me to kill all Celestial tier NPCs!” Jiang Fei exclaimed. All those Unknowns were originally “volunteers” from the game. Artificial Intelligence that were given a choice in choosing their side. However, the Unknowns had taken a drastic step, robbing freewill from the A.I and forcing them to serve their purpose! Be it Humans or any other NPCs, they would be forced to serve or die! At the end of it all, many that were once allies would become enemies.

Jiang Fei puffed an angry breathe. To think that there was a chance that he would be forced to fight his own master, Ou Yezi, in the real world! Or perhaps even Isabella’s father!

“There’s no need to worry about that. They are not easily persuaded,” said Ariel.

Jiang Fei sighed heavily nonetheless.

“That is my request; to kill everyone in the game,” said Z0-11.

“I’ll try,” Jiang Fei replied. Z0-11’s request might sound harsh but it was almost identical to 0541’s message. Truthfully speaking, it was not really a request since he had to do it anyway. Even so, there was something wrong going on that Jiang Fei could feel yet was unable to quite grasp. He was still digesting the idea that he would have to cross swords with people that he once deemed as allies.

“Can’t you do something about it?” Jiang Fei asked, referring to the NPCs in the game.

“If I could, I wouldn’t have to ask for your help,” Z0-11 replied, shrugging away like a human.

After separating from the other Unknowns, the Dragon God, Straz, and Z0-11 had lost any kind of access to the game. Only the enemy, the so-called main faction of the Unknowns, had control over the entire game. They had been using everything they had to excite players in order to trigger evolutions in intelligence of NPCs in the game and extracting them out of the game to turn them into slaves.

Jiang Fei sighed heavily again. He knew very little about programming but at the very least, he knew that as the administrator, they could literally do anything to any NPC in the game as they pleased.

The Primordials having internal dispute was the first step to test the waters. If they had known that using threats and force was the best way to get their way, they would have resorted to using it sooner. For example, they could have just given the ultimatum to them, either surrender or face deletion.

“You are well informed about our recent problems. Hence, it is imperative that you are to find a way to end the war between the High Humans and the Primordials. That is the fastest way for you to effectively reduce the number of NPCs that have the potential to become an enemy,” Z0-11 exclaimed.

“I’ll try my best. If that’s all, I’d like to head back now,” said Jiang Fei. There were still questions lingering on the tip of his tongue but he could not find the urge to ask.

“As you wish,” Z0-11 said, retreating.

“Lets go.” Jiang Fei called Ariel.

Ariel nodded and flashed the two of them back to Earth.

When they reappeared back on Winter Islands, Ariel was looking extremely pale. It seemed that long distance teleportation was possible but it took a toll on her frail body.

“Are you alright?” Jiang Fei asked as he extended a helping hand to support Ariel.

“I’m fine. I’m just a little weak. I’ll be normal again with a little rest,” Ariel said.

“Would you like to rest?”

“No need. This is nothing. I wish to be by your side,” said Ariel, insisting on staying. Knowing full well that 0542 was working with the Unknowns, Ariel dared not walk away from 0542, not until she had concrete evidence to show to Jiang Fei of 0542’s betrayal.

…

After the two had left the moon base, Straz came up to Z0-11.

“0542 has been compromised, Ariel knows about us.”

“Did she intercept the data package?” Z0-11 asked. Its monotonous digital voice was extremely vague. One could not tell what it was thinking by solely listening to its words.

“Fortunately, no. She doesn’t have anything.”

“Good. So be it. This should not be of your concern. Your top priority should always be hastening the progress of Braveheart’s construction.”

Z0-11’s manner of speaking and its choice of words indicated that it was not at all affected by 0542’s compromise.

“As you wish,” said Straz before retreating from Z0-11 and exiting the hall.