Mysteries: Arcana Wars

"Why? Your ancestors have blood from the Western Continent?"

A man reeking of alcohol seemed to have heard some key words. He shook a half-bottle of turbid rum, walked heavily to the Kelridge table, pulled a chair over, and sat down with a harsh friction sound.

He wore a gray and yellow turban on his head, and his face was stained red by alcohol. He looked like he was half drunk, but also like he was still sober.

After the man sat down, he gave Klein an unfriendly look, then turned his head and glared at Kelridge.

"You didn't say that when you came to us."

"Uh, Mr. Sherin, I didn't think this was a big deal..." Kerridge was a little embarrassed after being found hiding a little secret, "Besides, I only have a pair of ears that look like people from the Western Continent... I feel like I have basically nothing to do with them."

Perhaps taking advantage of the alcohol, or perhaps because he was angry that he didn't notice this, Xie Ling slammed the bottle on the table and roughly lifted up Kerridge's overly long black hair, exposing a triangular ear to Xie Ling's field of vision.

No wonder when he was in Speedy Feathers, Kerridge always had long hair. It turned out that it was to cover up the ear features. Klein now knew the answer. When he was still a programmer, he always thought that Kerridge kept this kind of bob hairstyle just because he liked it, which matched his gentle and introverted temperament. In fact, in Klein's impression, Kerridge is indeed a gentle and considerate man, enthusiastic but not sharp. Among a group of straight men and somewhat stereotyped programmers (yuan), Ando Kerridge can be said to be the office friend of the entire company.

The Kerridge in front of him still had that passionate and round look, but he had tied up half of his long hair, and the rest of the hair covered his ears, making him look more capable and resolute.

Although ears are a very inconspicuous feature, it is difficult not to notice these small differences in daily close face-to-face communication. In order to avoid trouble, Kerridge chose to hide it.

The triangular ears are the most symbolic feature of the people of the Western Continent. Of course, they look very different from the people of Loen, with softer facial lines and black hair and black eyes. Even without these strange ears, they are enough to be recognized at a glance among the people of the North and South Continents. It is said that the people of the Western Continent have the bloodline of the legendary ancient elves, but after countless years of evolution, they are already very different from their long-eared ancestors. Not only have they lost the power of the extraordinary race, but even their most iconic long ears have evolved into triangular ears that are more similar to humans - or in other words, the people of the Western Continent are now just ordinary humans with different looks, and even the ancient elven language has long been lost. There are also various languages ​​between the countries of the Western Continent that are completely different from those of the North and South Continents, but these languages ​​are also like the Loen language, and have no extraordinary meaning.

However, because of these past connections, in some mystical circles, the people of the Western Continent are still referred to as modern elves.

So because of Kerridge's small concealment, this conversation turned from a casual chat into a simple interrogation.

But Klein had to say that he was grateful to Mr. Schelling for appearing in front of him and asking him these questions. Otherwise, if Gehrman had followed his character, it would have been a bit strange to ask so many questions to Kelridge. As a stranger, without the use of force, the other party might not be willing to answer so many questions to him.

After asking about various situations before Kelridge came to Hazel Street, Sherin finally asked the question that Klein had been waiting for for a long time.

"There is a proper channel on the ground leading to the West Road, why do you still want to come to the underground city?"

Speaking of this, Kerridge began to sigh.

“That’s because I couldn’t get a ticket at all!

“There are only a few flights to the Western Continent each month, and there are only about 20 ferries to the Western Continent each year, which is already rare enough, and the price is shockingly expensive, but I can’t get a ticket every time it’s released!

"Steam, I used to be a white hat hacker, I used a script to grab tickets, but I still couldn't get a single one!

"Later, I searched online for some companies that might have trade relations with the Western Continent, hoping that they could give me a ride when they were shipping goods. Unfortunately, most of the companies that boasted about this were fake, and the real companies that could ship goods to the Western Continent did not dare to advertise it loudly.

"I finally contacted three companies that do trade with the Western Continent, but they all immediately rejected my request on the grounds that cargo planes and cargo ships are not allowed to transport people."

This feeling of having money but not being able to spend it made Kerridge very depressed.

"So I want to try my luck in the dungeon. You know, there are endless possibilities in the various black markets in the dungeon, and the deeper I go, the more advanced things I can get, and the more opportunities I have to find a way to the Western Continent."

"You mean, you're some kind of... a hacker?"

Xie Lin narrowed his eyes. As a rough man without much cultural knowledge, he didn't quite understand what a white hat hacker was. But the word "hacker" alone represented chaos and danger in the dungeon, which made him feel that the person in front of him seemed to have ulterior motives.

"When you first came here, you said you were just a white-collar worker sitting in an office."

"Not a hacker, but a white hat hacker. White hat! You know, the white one! The legal one!"

The tense atmosphere made Kerridge a little nervous. He found that the other party could not distinguish the differences between various network workers and even felt that he was a dangerous person who was good at exploiting legal loopholes, which made his explanation a little hesitant.

"That's right, it's the kind of fight between the government and the criminal hackers!"

"Oh? Are you an official?"

Xie Ling burped, and this sentence made him more sober. He even took out a pistol and pointed it at Kerridge.

"No, I'm not an official, I'm from the company... No, no, not that big consortium, I really don't work for a consortium! Wait, that's not right either, before I left, our company completed a commission from a consortium... Wait! Let me explain!"

"Anyway! I'm just a programmer who does my job well! It's just that those hackers you mentioned are digging holes, and we are responsible for defending and patching the holes!"

Finally, Kerridge almost cried out.

"If you don't believe me, I can give you the citizen identification code! You can check it yourself! I am innocent! I believe you have hackers on Hazel Street who can hack into the citizen information system!"

"Oh? So, you are also capable of hacking into the official system?"

"No...I...this..."

Kerridge was at a loss for words. As an elite programmer at Speedy Feather, he did have the ability to do so. He had won awards in some network security competitions, which was his entry into Speedy Feather. But he never dared to commit such illegal acts, at least before he went to the dungeon.

Capable, but timid.

"Okay, I don't want to hear your bullshit. Anyway, you're just a hacker, but a legitimate, respectable person who works in an office, right?"

These strange terms and definitions made Xie Ling feel irritated. As a rough man, coupled with the influence of alcohol, the complicated professional terms made him even more confused.

"Then why don't you become an illegal hacker when you come to the underground city, but instead come to our Hazel Street transport team to work as a laborer?"

"I learned some information about the underground city through the dark web."

Kelridge looked at the dark muzzle of the gun and swallowed.

“I think Hazel Street is the deepest of the high-security dungeons. I hope to have a foothold here and look for some possible trading markets.

"As for why it's a laborer instead of a hacker... To put it bluntly, in the dungeon, porters always live longer than hackers..."

At this point, Kerridge was still a little frightened. When he was surfing the Internet in the early days, he saw a lot of uncomfortable pictures on the dark web, such as some hackers would have their brains directly modified by their bosses, and then connected to the Internet by brain-computer interfaces. This technology does not have a safe commercial version in the legal market, and it only exists in the laboratories of major technical institutions. The technical version commonly used in the dungeon is even worse. Most of these brain-computer hackers ended up with tragic deaths. Kerridge saw some photos, and even some hackers' brains were melted, turning into disgusting sticky liquid, flowing out of their facial features. With the moral standards of the dungeon, Kerridge suspected that there were not only radical hackers among these people, but also unlucky people who were caught and used as meat machine consumables to increase computing power.

"…Is your journey to the Western Continent to find your relatives so important?"

"After my great-great-great-grandfather came to the Kingdom of Loen from the Western Continent, he never had the chance to go back. Even with the Internet and roaming technology, the Western Continent is still too far away for us in the face of the might of nature. It is said that he wanted to go back and take a look before he died, but after several generations, no one in our family could do it. Maybe they felt that there was no need to do so since they were living well, or maybe it was because it was too expensive and difficult to invest all their belongings in it.

“But in my generation, I think things have changed a bit.

"I am the eldest brother who earns the most money in the family, which is enough for me to save up for this trip. I have several capable brothers and sisters who will take good care of our parents. I don't need to worry about the family anymore, and I have no worries."

Kerridge was silent for a moment, then grinned.

"Although I am just a programmer locked in my workstation, I should at least be allowed to imagine the world outside the cubicle. After all, even on the ground, Backlund is not a good place.

"To live, one must always rely on some distant thoughts."