Chapter 86: Cyberspace

’Well, I’ll be...’

Adam gawked at the scene before his eyes. He could interact with information systems before. But this... this was something else entirely.

Countless points of light were scattered throughout the vast space around him. Some remained fixed in place while others moved along invisible pathways, each one representing a connected device somewhere in the real world.

Phones, computers, watches, and countless other personal terminals appeared as tiny digital beacons within the endless network.

The true giants of cyberspace were the data centres, mainframes, and communication hubs. They rose like towering buildings and signal towers, their surfaces covered in constantly shifting streams of binary code.

Vast highways of light connected these structures together, carrying endless flows of information from one location to another.

Above and below him stretched an endless sea of data. Streams of information moved through the network like glowing rivers, while entire sections of cyberspace flickered and shifted as new data was created, transmitted, and deleted every second.

Basic AI assistants appeared as small moving digital entities linked to personal terminals, while the more sophisticated and self-learning AIs appeared as humanoid figures of flowing data moving through the towering buildings within cyberspace.

As Adam looked around, he realised that cyberspace was not merely a network of machines. It was a living world of information that constantly changed with every action taken in the physical world.

’This is crazy...’ He could not help but swallow. ’I might as well be in a different reality.’

It was a good thing he designed the skill for a detached form of interaction rather than take in everything. Had that not been the case, he would have been overwhelmed the moment he activated the skill.

Hovering above the modestly encrypted hub of the Student Council, Adam floated into the building, seamlessly phasing through its walls. Within it were points of light and beacons representing terminals.

Reading the stream of flowing data around him, Adam quickly found the way to the central hub that connected all Council systems. His cyberspace body disintegrated from where he was and integrated at the hub.

[Are you new here? I don’t recognise you]

The AI assistant that monitored and served all terminals linked to the Council’s system noticed Adam’s presence and flatly asked.

Unlike the terminals and other beacons linked to systems, Adam’s cyberspace body appeared independent and unlinked to any network or protocol. He was essentially a free agent who could go and come as he pleased.

Adam observed the AI assistant, silently reading the code that composed its existence. A moment later, he tore his gaze away and answered.

[Don’t mind me. I’m an independent diagnostic structure inspecting all functioning systems linked to the academy’s mainframe.]

[Understood.]

The AI assistant acknowledged Adam’s half-baked excuse without hesitation. Had Adam been a threat, he would have triggered the defensive protocols of the network. Moreover, his existence was superior to the AI assistant. The best part of this skill was that there would be no trace of his actions once he left. It would be as though he never existed.

’Let’s dig in.’

Finally left alone, Adam did not hesitate and tapped into the system, pulling up his data pertaining to his case. His eyes darted over the collected data like lightning, reading through everything gathered so far.

Everything that had transpired from the moment of his arrest to his interrogation was all there. Nothing was tampered with; for now, at least. Putting that aside, he pulled up the so-called victim’s information, sipping through her details.

’The hell?’

Adam could not believe what he was seeing. The girl’s narration of the event was completely different from what he had witnessed. From what he read, the girl claimed that she had been taking a leisurely stroll back to the dormitories from the city when Adam’s car slowly pulled up behind her.

Thinking Adam had stopped to offer her a ride, he rather stepped out of his car and approached with a confident smile. Since she recognised Adam and they were on academy grounds, she had let her guard down.

Adam had begun by talking about his achievements and how the academy was not as impressive as he thought it was. He boasted about his contributions and made mention of how he could make a better life for himself wherever he wished.

Jessica claimed she had found his boasting cute and played along, laughing softly at his words. That was when he began making unwanted advances, claiming he could take care of her and more.

When she tried to push him back, however, he snapped.

In that moment of distress and panic, she had forgotten she could fight back. But her affinity had very little to do with combat and more to do with support. Adam had torn her shirt in various places in an attempt to take advantage of her.

That was when the security officers showed up.

’This girl is really going all out with her sob story!’ Adam was almost fuming at this point. ’And there’s nothing about those guys at all!’

A new stream of data flowed into the system, drawing his attention. A quick glance at them showed that they were the interviews conducted from the Microbiology Department.

The responses were mostly positive. A few described his attitude as arrogant, with a superiority complex, hinting that it might have driven his ego overboard and led him to act the way he did.

Others mentioned his intelligence, handsomeness and confidence as his defining traits, stating that someone like him could simply put himself out there and girls would naturally flock to him.

But two had specifically stated that his mood that night had been off for reasons they didn’t know.

’Tsk... Not all smiles mean the same thing.’

The people who had shared their impression of Adam remained anonymous, as the investigators were the ones who inputted the information.

What came after was the footage that showed him driving away from the department with the timestamp. A few more surveillance footage of his drive that night entered the system.

’Hm?’

Something was off with the recordings he saw. His drive that night had been anything but fast. He had been thinking about the cure he created and what the academy intended to do with it while driving.

But what he was currently seeing showed him driving really fast.

’Those bastards!’