Fantasy Game: Infinite City

City C, unlimited company branch building, scientific research center.

In the underground of the old city a few kilometers away from the C City branch, Han Zu was undergoing a series of examinations. At this time, he was lying on a large device, with measuring instruments and various energy lines attached to his body. Judging from his relaxed yawning, he didn't seem to feel uncomfortable, just a little bored.

"Okay, all the data has been checked. Your physical condition is very good, but there is a big problem with your system data in the Infinite City."

A researcher used the terminal in his hand to stop the operation of the large device on which Han Zu was lying. After the device was completely shut down, he and several other researchers began to remove the measuring instruments and various energy lines from Han Zu.

"What do you mean?"

"We don't know the details, but it seems that there is some conflict between you and the Infinite City system. We can only draw a conclusion after the data is processed. However, according to the current test results, although the data is strange, it should have no effect on you."

Han Zu sat up and left the large device. A researcher next to him handed him clothes, and then they went back to their work. Han Zu put on his clothes, said hello to the researchers, and left the laboratory.

"Han Zu, the person in charge wants to see you."

"where?"

"The weapons testing area on the negative second floor."

"Okay, I'll be there in a moment."

Han Zu stretched his neck, yawned, and left the work area along the corridor. He came to the employee lounge, poured himself a cup of coffee, and walked to the smoking area with the coffee. He found an empty seat and sat down. Han Zu took a sip of coffee, then took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit one and prepared to refresh himself. Several hours of inspection had made Han Zu bored and a little sleepy, but now that the inspection was over, he felt a little better.

"What are the test results?"

"Huh? Why are you here?"

Just as Han Zu was holding a cigarette, his eyelids drooping and his mind empty, a familiar voice appeared in his ears and attracted his attention. Turning his head, Han Zu saw the mysterious woman, the person who had been helping him complete the tasks in Q City before. She was sitting on the chair next to Han Zu, and also looked a little sleepy.

"It's similar to your situation. I've also been here for several hours for examinations. I'm so sleepy...ha...so sleepy."

"What do you mean? What's my situation?"

"Huh? When you came in for the examination, didn't the researcher tell you why?"

"No, I'll think about it later."

Han Zu took a sip of coffee and thought about it. He vaguely remembered that when he first arrived at the research center in the morning, there seemed to be a researcher holding a terminal when the elevator just reached the underground, as if he wanted to say something to him. However, Han Zu glanced at the document on the terminal, which was more than ten pages long. So Han Zu did not listen to what the researcher said, but directly asked him what he needed to do. Then, under the guidance of the researcher, he entered the laboratory for inspection until just now.

"You really are... Never mind, I'll tell you something then."

According to this mysterious woman, in the recent ongoing guild competition, due to the update of the new version of Infinite City, many teams that were originally eliminated are now rematching. In these competitions, many anomalies have appeared in the system data of Infinite City. This anomaly is not caused by a system error, but by someone using some third-party software or hardware to privately tamper with part of the data of Infinite City. Although this tampered data can pass the system detection of Infinite City and take effect in the copy and Infinite City, the system has no record of this data, so it will report an anomaly. Simply put, someone is cheating in the guild competition, and the number of people is quite large.

"It's just cheating? What's so strange about that? The problem of cheating has always existed since the emergence of games as an entertainment project, but I don't know what these guys who use cheats have to do with you and me."

"If Infinite City is really a game, then this kind of thing wouldn't be serious and would be easy to handle. But you and I both know that Infinite City is not that simple. After all, don't forget that some of the abilities you gain in Infinite City can be brought back to the real world. If someone uses cheating to gain abilities they shouldn't have, then that's a big problem."

"So what you mean is..." Han Zu seemed to realize the seriousness of the matter.

The mysterious woman continued, "The higher-ups initially suspected that some external forces were trying to interfere with the "operation" of Infinite City. These people took advantage of the time when Infinite City was upgrading, and used this data that could pass the Infinite City system screening to allow most players to gain abilities that they should not have. We don't know yet if there are any organizers behind this, so the higher-ups need some capable people to stop these cheaters and investigate accurate intelligence to find countermeasures."

"So... I guess this matter can't be put on the table?"

“That’s right. If the official intervenes and starts an investigation, and this matter really gets out, it will not only cause panic among the players, but it may even alert those with ulterior motives and alert them.” The mysterious woman sighed, rubbed her swollen temples, and said with a headache.

"Then what should we do?" Han Zu asked.

"Everyone has a different mission. Some people need to search for and infiltrate the teams of those cheaters, collect evidence, and try to avoid alerting them. Once valuable clues are found, report to the higher-ups."

"It seems that this kind of task is not suitable for a careless person like me."

"Yes, although it has not been confirmed yet, but judging from your style of doing things, the higher-ups should give you other tasks."

"Then what is your mission?"

"After searching for information and confirming the identity of the cheater, I will enter the copy they are playing and balance their data so that they cannot use the modified abilities. At the same time, I may also need to ensure the safety of our people, which means I need to act in secret. It is a technical job."

"It sounds very troublesome, and I think that this kind of mission may fail."

"How to say?"

According to Han Zu's idea, judging from the technological level of Infinite Company, Infinite City, as one of the most important projects at present, the investment in it is undoubtedly huge, so the safety factor of Infinite City can be imagined. Although Infinite City is currently upgrading the underlying logic code, the original protection measures may have some weaknesses, but even so, it is not a simple task to rely on external software and hardware to invade the system database of Infinite City.

"You said last time that the Infinite City system is somewhat special. Although I don't know what's special about it, if someone has the ability to invade and modify it, it must be very difficult. In this case, the guys who made these software and hardware that can pass the Infinite City system screening must have expected that the Infinite Company will take corresponding countermeasures, so the mission you are going to carry out may also be within their expectations."

"That is to say, even if I find those cheaters and access the balance data of the event dungeon they are in, there may still be some that slip through the net? For example, they have a way to detect their own data to offset my actions?"

"That's what I mean." Han Zu flicked the ash off his cigarette and took another sip of coffee. "And they are very likely to use the modified data to destroy the data of you or the people who do the same work, or directly attack you in order to prevent the truth from being exposed. If you are exposed, although the possibility is small, it is not zero after all."

The mysterious woman thought for a moment, rubbed her chin with her fingers, and looked at Han Zu twice, which made Han Zu a little nervous.

"What's that look in your face?"

"If that's the case, I think I know what tasks the company will assign you. Even if it's not exactly the same as what I think, it's probably pretty close."

"What did you think of?"

The mysterious woman nodded and did not answer Han Zu's question. She just looked at Han Zu and muttered a few words to herself.

"Since Mr. γ showed up, the company's policy has indeed changed a lot, becoming more... tougher. But it's a good thing this way, because now we have the capital to fight against the board of directors. The chairman's vision is really sharp, and he was able to discover your role."

"What do you mean Mr. γ? Isn't that my code name? What's wrong with the operational guidelines? What does this have to do with the chairman?"

The mysterious woman's mumbling confused Han Zu, but the woman supported her chin and seemed to be lost in thought. She couldn't hear what Han Zu said at all. Even when Han Zu stretched out his hands and began to rub her head, she didn't react.

"Han Zu? Han Zu?"

"Here! What's wrong?"

"The person in charge asked me to tell you that he is no longer at the weapons testing site on the negative second floor. He has a meeting upstairs and needs to attend. Someone else will contact you in a while. Do you have your terminal with you?"

"Here it is."

Han Zu raised his left hand and shook an expensive watch on his wrist. It was a personal terminal specially customized for Han Zu by the research center.

"Well, my letter has arrived, and I will get busy."

A researcher found Han Zu, delivered a letter to him and left. Shortly after he left, the mysterious woman also left the lounge, leaving Han Zu confused.

"Why is everything so strange today? I should have looked at those documents first thing in the morning."

After finishing his coffee, Han Zu stood up from the chair in the smoking area and prepared to get another cup of coffee. Walking towards the coffee machine, Han Zu began to think about what the woman had just said.

While Han Zu was thinking, a notification sounded from his personal terminal. He raised his wrist and saw that it was a new contact who sent a message. The other party was a staff member of the weapons test site, asking him to go to the A3 area of ​​the weapons test site now.

Han Zu put down the empty coffee cup and walked towards the elevator. After taking the elevator to the negative second floor, he went to the A3 area. On the way, he was still thinking about the strange things that happened today. After arriving at the A3 area, a researcher in a white lab coat walked towards him, briefly introduced himself, and took Han Zu into an office.

"The person in charge asked me to give it to you. He said you'll know what's going on after you read it."

"Did the person in charge say anything else?"

"No, I'll be busy then?"

"Ah."

The researcher handed Han Zu a data card, then left the office, closed the office door, and went to do his own work. Han Zu checked the data card in his hand. There was no shell on it, only the storage device inside that could be seen through the transparent material. Han Zu looked at the data card and the terminal in his hand. This data card could not be read using a personal terminal, and a special reading device was required. Han Zu turned his head to look inside the office and found that next to the computer on the desk, there was a small device connected to the computer. There was a groove in the middle of this small device. Han Zu compared its size with the data card in his hand. It looked like it could just fit the data card in.

"Click."

Han Zu put the data card in his hand into the groove in the middle of the small device. Not long after, a lot of windows popped up on the computer. Han Zu carefully checked these pop-up windows and found that they contained some data files, 3D topographic maps, and a large number of precise coordinates.

"A copy of the map? A copy of the guild competition? What does that mean?"

These three-dimensional drawings with detailed data and coordinates seemed to be the copies used in this guild competition, and the detailed geographical information of these copies was marked on them. While Han Zu was observing these documents, another window popped up.

"Quests required to clear the level...Enemy types...Ability types...Type restraints...Hidden maps...Hidden enemies and bosses..."

This document displayed all the important information about these event copies in front of Han Zu. Han Zu seemed to have some premonitions and almost understood what he was going to do, but he could not confirm it 100% for the time being.

“Buzz! Buzz!”

After a while, when Han Zu was sitting in a chair looking at the files in the computer, his personal terminal vibrated. On the other side of the communication was the head of the scientific research center who had just attended a meeting. Through the communication, Han Zu received the work and tasks he needed to do during the guild competition.

The specific matters are very simple, that is, to hide the identity of NPCs in the dungeon, and stop those players who use cheating methods from passing the event dungeon. This will buy enough time for other technicians to reversely find their source code through the modified data, and thus fundamentally solve all abnormal data.

"To what extent does it need to be done?"

"You can do whatever you want, the chairman will cover you."

"Got it. When does it start?"

"Two days later, the technical department locked onto a team. We confirmed that they used cheating methods. I have already sent the previous investigation data. We will then send you to the event instance they are about to enter to see if our method will work."

"no problem."