Chapter 199 A Revolutionary Discovery

Just then, the video of *The Bold Explorer* abruptly ended, and the view returned to the warehouse.

Han Xiao stood motionless, his hand leaving the cold shell of the triangular device, silently staring at it.

He remained silent, without any movement. Harrison, who was beside him, didn't know what had happened. He keenly felt that the atmosphere was gradually becoming heavy, and he couldn't help but carefully ask,

"Your Excellency Black Star, is something the matter?"

"...Nothing."

Han Xiao snapped out of his thoughts, glanced at him, and strode out of the warehouse. Harrison hurriedly followed.

"Go do your work. You don't need to follow me."

"Oh, oh, okay."

Harrison was relieved and quickly left.

Although Black Star hadn't done anything, just being in his presence made Harrison feel immense pressure.

After dismissing Harrison, Han Xiao returned to his room, recalling the secrets he had seen in the flashback. His mind raced.

"So the real name of the Virtual Rebellion Virus is Domino Virus. It's a terrifying weapon of war. Any faction that masters this technology can be invincible in information warfare..."

He finally understood why the Intelligent Plague had swept through the entire universe in his previous life. It wasn't just that someone was stirring things up, but the root cause was that the three great civilizations hadn't stopped the Domino Virus from invading.

It wasn't that their technology was lacking, but they were at a disadvantage due to intelligence. The three great civilizations were caught completely off guard.

After all, who would have immediately thought that the Virtual Rebellion Virus had such a mechanism?

If he hadn't seen the true nature of the virus from *The Bold Explorer*, he would probably still be treating the virus core as a simple data program, just like the three great civilizations.

Judging by normal thinking, the virus core was just a switch program that monitored the overall progress of the infection, so the three great civilizations currently felt that they would be safe as long as they created the anti-virus trio.

They naturally didn't know that the virus core had the ability to self-update and evolve. What they were currently suppressing was just the first generation of the virus. As long as the core wasn't resolved, there would be a second and third generation, and the next time, it wouldn't lie dormant but would directly trigger a mechanical rebellion.

Not only was its infectivity more terrifying than imagined, but the virus core itself had an astonishing ability to escape. It wasn't limited to data mode but could also enter the material world, constructing an electromagnetic field as a shell to carry itself, switching freely between the virtual and the real, and not being afraid of being blocked on the network.

Because its foundation was a virtual soul, the virus core could enter the quantum network without physical contact with nodes. This was similar to the ability of a Super-A grade virtual mechanic to enter the quantum network's field of vision at any time. It only needed nodes as exits when it materialized, which meant that it could use the quantum network to complete instantaneous teleportation and flashing between various nodes.

"No wonder I couldn't find any trace of the virus core for several months. It's probably not that Harrison's halo isn't working, but simply that tracking it online is impossible," Han Xiao thought to himself.

This ability was similar to his own Void Flash. To the virus core, the quantum network was like another secondary dimension, where it could freely enter and exit.

This intelligent civilization shouldn't have reached the cosmic level. The three great civilizations had the ability to analyze all the principles of the Domino Virus, but the prerequisite was that they needed a certain amount of research time, so they would have an unsolvable stage when they first encountered this type of virus weapon.

The technology trees of various civilizations were different, and there would always be some civilizations that developed black technology, such as the Kundu Clan's space-time shear. The three great civilizations' attainments in virtual viruses were not as good as this intelligent civilization. After all, specialization was key. Even their citizens were intelligent lifeforms, so this was clearly their strongest point.

"But this is strange. Since the three great civilizations successfully resolved the Intelligent Plague in my previous life, the virus core must have been dealt with. Logically speaking, the three great civilizations would have mastered this technology... But why didn't they use it when fighting the World Tree?"

Han Xiao's heart skipped a beat, and he became suspicious.

Could it be that... the virus core didn't fall into the hands of the three great civilizations in his previous life, but was secretly intercepted by someone else?

In an instant, the image of a crusty old man floated into Han Da Techinician's mind…

The Mechanical Country's Manison!

This bastard was the most suspicious!

It wasn't Han Xiao's fault for thinking this way. Manison had left too deep an impression on him, and this sounded like something Old Man Mai would do.

Moreover, the raw material of the Domino Virus was distorted intelligent life, and Manison just happened to control an AI civilization.

...The thought was terrifying!

Han Xiao hurriedly shook his head, dispelling these distracting thoughts, and muttered to himself,

"The three great civilizations suffered a lot of lessons before understanding the mechanism of the Domino Virus. Now that I've seen the truth in advance through the flashback, I can save the process of groping and prevent it before it happens!"

Thinking of this, Han Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.

In his previous life, the three great civilizations could only suffer losses while exploring, but now that he had this "walkthrough" bastard, they wouldn't have to repeat the same mistakes.

Perhaps they could solve the source when the virus was still in its first generation, preventing the virus from breaking out and minimizing the losses!

—Looking at it this way, the butterfly effect he brought was still leaning towards a positive and active role.

"The main problem now is to persuade the three great civilizations to change their large-scale anti-virus plan. It's useless to kill the virus without taking care of the virus core. And the virus core's ability is so tricky that solving this thing requires the cooperation of the three great civilizations..."

The self-evolution function was the most terrifying. As long as this was resolved, the rest would be easy to handle.

He wasn't afraid of the virus core running out of the Ancient Star Desert, but the quantum network in this star field was blocked, which was equivalent to a large local area network. It couldn't receive data feedback from the Ancient Star Desert virus information package from outside.

Even if the virus core really went out, it would still have to come back to log into this closed network if it wanted to monitor the overall infection situation in the Ancient Star Desert.

This meant that even if the virus core could flash with the help of the quantum network, its range was limited to the Ancient Star Desert.

As for whether it would run to the outside world to spread virus seeds, Han Xiao wasn't worried. Although the three great civilizations lacked intelligence, they weren't useless. To prevent leakage, they were also scanning the outside world on a large scale.

If the first generation virus was widely infected outside, the three great civilizations would soon discover it without him having to worry about it.

After secretly analyzing for a while, Han Xiao had some ideas. He called out Phillip and instructed,

"Help me make an appointment with the people in charge of the three great civilizations in the disaster headquarters, and also call the other Super-A grade mechanics. I want to have a meeting with them and tell them that I have a major discovery about the virus core..."

…

Half an hour later.

Intelligent Plague Disaster Headquarters, high-level conference room.

Upon receiving Black Star's invitation, everyone put down their work. The heads of the three Supervising departments, Sidreun and the others, as well as all the Super-A grade mechanics' remote projections, all arrived to listen to Black Star's findings.

As soon as Han Xiao's remote projection descended, Sidreun couldn't wait to ask,

"Black Star, have you found the virus core?"

"No, I haven't caught it yet, but I have some subversive major discoveries."

Hearing that Han Xiao hadn't succeeded, the people present were a little disappointed and a little relieved. Then, they became curious about the major discovery that Han Xiao had mentioned.

"What did you find?"

"It's like this..."

Han Xiao didn't stand on ceremony and directly explained the mechanism of the virus core in detail, mainly emphasizing the virtual-real transformation and self-updating functions.

The Domino Virus was too threatening. Currently, working together to resolve the disaster was the top priority, so he didn't intend to hide anything at this time.

After listening to Han Xiao's explanation, everyone present fell silent, looking at each other, not knowing what expression to make.

Seeing this, Han Xiao continued to speak, his expression solemn,

"So, your large-scale anti-virus plan is useless. Only by finding the virus core can the threat of the Intelligent Plague be truly eliminated. I suggest you take action immediately..."

At this time, Sidreun interrupted Han Xiao, his face strange.

"Black Star, we would like to ask... where did you get this information from?"

The others present had the same thought, suspicious and uncertain, staring closely at Han Xiao.

They couldn't help but be suspicious. This information was too detailed... so detailed that it seemed like it was made up!

Was he fooling them?

He was so flamboyant, it wasn't impossible!

This matter was of great importance and couldn't be treated as a joke. The truth of the information had to be confirmed. If he didn't provide evidence, how could they casually believe him?

*‘I knew you would say that.’*

Han Xiao wasn't surprised at all and immediately came up with an explanation,

"In fact, I recently discovered traces of the virus core in the quantum network. I was about to track it down, but the target disappeared from the quantum network without warning, and the clues were cut off... I am a peak Super-A grade virtual mechanic. It was able to disappear under my nose and I couldn't even see the principle behind it. There are also experts here, so I don't need to say more about the difficulty. At that time, I was suspicious and felt that it was not just a data program."

"And then? How did you discover this information?" Sidreun asked curiously.

"Your archives should have recorded that I have a passive ability to predict the future. I realized that the virus core was not simple. A few days later, I felt something in my heart and saw the scene of the future Intelligent Plague breaking out and the destruction of all living things. At the same time, I also saw the true face of this virus core," Han Xiao pretended to be helpless. "So if you want me to provide evidence, I really can't."

"This... it's difficult for us."

The heads of the three great civilizations looked troubled.

It wasn't that they didn't believe Black Star, but precognition was sometimes inaccurate. This matter concerned the safety of the entire universe. Without concrete evidence, betting on ethereal precognition was too risky.

Han Xiao couldn't do anything about it. He didn't have any physical evidence, so he was destined to lack persuasiveness. He could only pull out his precognition ability as an excuse again. After all, *The Bold Explorer* was too difficult to explain. On the contrary, precognition was more believable.

However, although the precognition explanation lacked persuasiveness, with his current status, even if the people of the three great civilizations didn't immediately believe it, they would definitely try to verify his claims. He didn't need to argue too much.

If it was proven to be fabricated, the three great civilizations would naturally lower Han Xiao's credit afterward, but before that, they wouldn't immediately treat Han Xiao's statement as false.

—Having experienced so many things, the reputation, prestige, and right to speak that Han Xiao had accumulated in the universe were enough to make the three great civilizations take his suggestions seriously.

At this time, Manison spoke, slowly saying,

"I think Black Star's precognition makes some sense. Actually, I also discovered traces of the virus core some time ago. It also disappeared out of thin air in my eyes. I also suspect that it is not a simple data."

As soon as these words came out, Han Xiao's eyelids twitched.

His encounter with the virus core was made up, but Manison's might be real.

He knew it, Old Man Mai really had made progress. He had been hiding it all along. If he hadn't been fooled by him today, this old bastard would never have revealed this information.

Tsk, and he said that his ideological awareness was not good enough. This bastard was even worse, hiding such crucial information!

Everyone looked at each other, silently digesting this impactful information.

Finally, Sidreun coughed and gave a reply,

"No matter what, we will verify the precognition content of His Excellency Black Star. This is very important information."

As he spoke, he glanced at Manison, his eyes filled with disdain.

—He was the strongest mechanic in the universe, but with the same experience, how could he not dig out so much information? Learn from others!

Manison looked straight ahead, pretending not to see Sidreun's sideways glance.

At this time, Kant spoke with concern,

"If the Virtual Rebellion Virus is really like what Black Star said, then our trouble will be great. The firewalls we made in the past few months will be drilled into sieves by the next generation of viruses. At that time, the disaster will sweep the universe."

"What kind of civilization developed such a terrible virus technology? Aren't they afraid of getting burned?" Mechanic Disaster Francisco expressed his doubts.

"Regardless of whether what Black Star said is true or false, we must develop a response plan," the empire's ally, Quantum Demon Spirit Judis, echoed.

Seeing this, Han Xiao spoke again, his voice deep, "That's right, whether the precognition is accurate or not, it won't hurt to try."

That was the logic... the heads of the three great civilizations looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

"Then what's your plan?"

"It's not exactly a plan, just a general idea."

Han Xiao paused, looked around, and seeing that everyone was looking at him, slowly said,

"The virus core is too mobile and difficult to capture, but there are still limitations. It can enter the quantum network at any time, but when it materializes and leaves, it must choose a terminal node as an exit. This may be a breakthrough.

"In order to receive feedback from the information package, the virus core will return to the quantum network from time to time. This time, we may really have to implement a large-scale network outage to reduce the number of terminal nodes, thereby limiting the virus core's flashing range and reducing the number of exits it can choose. And at each terminal node, we will deploy people and create traps.

"And the ambushers must be Super-A grade virtual mechanics who have mastered ‘Supreme Virtual’. Because the virus core can re-enter the quantum network at any time after it materializes without touching the node, the opportunity is only a short moment - at the moment when the virus core materializes, the ambushing Super-A grade mechanic uses ‘Supreme Virtual’ to suppress the virtual soul of the virus core, preventing it from temporarily leaving its body, and then we will capture it together.

"And the technology to seal the virus core is readily available. That safe must be able to suppress the virtual soul of the virus, preventing it from entering the quantum network. As long as that triangular container is analyzed, this targeted technology can be mastered..."

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but look at Han Xiao again, their eyes strange.

Putting aside the feasibility of this plan, the mere requirement that the ambushers must be virtual mechanics who have mastered [Supreme Virtual] was too blatant.

Supreme Virtual was an ability mastered by virtual specialization God Seat Mechanics, naturally peak Super-A grade. He and Manison alone accounted for two of them.

Was he saying that only virtual green men like them could compete for the virus core, and even the three great civilizations had to stand aside?!

Was he really not fooling them??

On the contrary, Manison laughed and praised the plan like crazy:

"Black Star is right. It is our duty to maintain peace in the universe. How many terminal nodes are there for traps? How about this, I am willing to transfer 50 million spare Overlord clones to be placed at each node to ensure that I can descend to the location where the virus core appears at any time. I don't know if that's enough?"