Dual Worlds: I Have a Doomsday World

"Did this device connect to the backend of the company behind the Prosthetic Body and activate a self-destruct sequence?"

"No, that doesn’t seem right. It’s more like it connected to the Prosthetic Body and implanted a virus."

The researchers who could join the project were no slouches. Their insight was incredibly sharp; they figured out how the device worked after seeing it activated just once.

Lin Qi, on the other hand, recalled the various algorithms and protocols used in the Prosthetic Body designs stored in his memory.

’It’s standard practice for major corporations to leave backdoors in their Prosthetic Bodies, but they are protected by security protocols. Even if the manufacturer were to initiate a self-destruct sequence, it would leave an access record. It’s because of the constraints of these security protocols that most people trust Prosthetic Body equipment. To bypass the security protocols and control a Prosthetic Body, you would need point-to-point wired access—in other words, modifications made by a Prosthetic Doctor. That means this device has three main functions: remote connection, protocol bypass, and virus implantation.’

This method felt familiar to Lin Qi.

Guang Ling!

Remote connection without a network—that was Guang Ling’s specialty.

It seemed no network-blocking device could stop Guang Ling’s access.

’Is there some connection between Guang Ling and Ninghang Technology?’

That was Lin Qi’s first reaction, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

Guang Ling never used such direct attack methods.

Although Lin Qi believed Guang Ling was also capable of this, they had never acted in such a manner.

Without speaking, Lin Qi listened silently from the crowd as Ning Hao explained, "Your assessments are correct. The function of this device is actually quite simple."

"It scans and locks onto a Prosthetic Body, identifies the model, and then launches a targeted protocol attack and selective virus implantation."

An A-level Researcher suddenly interrupted, "This isn’t exactly new technology. If I remember correctly, S-Class Prosthetic Bodies have similar devices designed specifically for cyber hackers. They can launch precise attacks against Prosthetic Bodies, but they’re limited by the cyber network and can’t target offline ones. This device..."

At this point, the A-level Researcher suddenly paused.

’Can’t target offline Prosthetic Bodies...’

’But most M-Class Prosthetic Bodies don’t have separate network modules, so they can’t be targeted this way.’

’How did they do it?’

’Implanting a virus in your Prosthetic Body without a network connection?’

Ning Hao wasn’t surprised by the A-level Researcher’s reaction.

He continued, "This is why our Ninghang Technology has partnered with various major Prosthetic Body suppliers. We’ve developed a new class of chip, named Ningxin, which can achieve a point-to-point breach in a no-network environment."

"It can establish a forced local area network between the chip and the target, completing the remote virus implantation."

"Furthermore, this process requires no intervention from a cyber hacker; the entire procedure is handled autonomously by the chip."

’The core of the technology isn’t the device, but the chip?’

Hearing this explanation, Lin Qi immediately activated his Spiritual Vision to examine the device, focusing specifically on the chip within.

Beneath layers of mechanical structures, a small, intricate chip appeared in his sight.

It was surrounded by Spiritual Particles. There was no need to guess the chip’s true nature.

This was clearly an Extraordinary Item!

In addition, Lin Qi noticed more key details.

’This isn’t a silicon-based chip? It looks like a bio-chip... I get the feeling it still has biological reactions.’

The impression the chip gave Lin Qi was very strange.

It was as if the chip were a living thing.

But this obviously contradicted the established understanding of Prosthetic Engineering.

’This is good intel.’ Lin Qi silently filed it away, planning to report it to Guang Ling and King Arthur after work today.

He looked back toward Ning Hao, who was no longer speaking. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

In contrast, the researchers were growing restless, especially Wei Wutao, the head of the Prosthetic Engineering Department.

"What is the limit of this thing? What class of Prosthetic Body can it affect? If there’s no limit, it means that starting today, implantable Prosthetic Bodies will become a thing of the past."

Wei Wutao’s assessment was spot-on.

Prosthetic Bodies had become mainstream in Cyber Society thanks to the creation of security protocols that strictly regulated the actions of all Prosthetic Body manufacturers.

But the appearance of this device would trigger a crisis of faith among all Implanters.

It could even paralyze entire organized armies of Implanters.

For the current global situation, this would be a disaster.

It would become a powder keg that could explode on its own, without even needing a spark.

Once it exploded, all-out corporate warfare would follow.

Ning Hao replied, "The Ningxin Chip is also graded, from M-Class to X-Class, to target Prosthetic Bodies of different classes."

"Currently, our R&D has only reached the A-Class. The S-Class and X-Class versions exist only in theory for now."

Wei Wutao and all the other researchers breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, the technology still had its limits. If it didn’t, Ninghang Technology probably wouldn’t have chosen to partner with so many other corporations. Instead, it would have aimed for total dominance, becoming an entity even more terrifying than an intercontinental mega-corporation.

Wei Wutao composed himself and asked, "So, what is your company’s purpose in collaborating with us? From what we can see, the technology for this device is already quite mature."

Lin Qi, like everyone else, turned to look at Ning Hao.

"There are two purposes. We’ve already reached a consensus on the first purpose with the Liu Clan, and you don’t need to know the details."

"The second purpose is data collection. This data isn’t limited to various Prosthetic Body models. More than specific types of Prosthetic Bodies, what Ninghang Technology needs are your design philosophies for them."

"The Ningxin Chip is a smart chip. While not a true AI, it has learning capabilities similar to one."

"Ninghang Technology needs to improve the chip’s versatility and prevent it from malfunctioning when facing specific Prosthetic Body models."

’So that’s it. This so-called collaboration is actually about having the researchers help the chip with assisted learning? No, that can’t be right. This is only the most basic level of cooperation. Ninghang Technology has most likely entered into a much deeper collaboration with the major Prosthetic Body suppliers, perhaps involving strategic planning, but that’s not something an ordinary researcher would be privy to.’

For now, Lin Qi had no desire to dig deeper.

He had gotten the intelligence he needed. His next course of action would have to be decided after discussing it with Guang Ling and King Arthur.

The work that followed wasn’t complicated. It was like training an AI in the early days of Cyber Society—just mechanically feeding it data and running experiments.

With Lin Qi’s current knowledge of Prosthetic Engineering, he couldn’t contribute much for the time being.

Lin Qi took full advantage of his "connected" status, moving behind one A-level Researcher after another and began to learn by observing them.

Feeding data to the chip, feeding it blueprints, feeding it design philosophies!

Just like the chip, Lin Qi was also lacking these things on his path to learning Prosthetic Engineering.