Thursday, June 8, 2023.
After sending Lilie off to school, Ryuuji headed to the office.
The rain had stopped which was unusual for this time of year. The sun was peeping through gaps in the clouds and the smell of wet grass wafted through the streets. He opened the window and let fresh air into the car. It was going to be a wonderful day. Unless Yuri Seto was quietly working towards his goal.
“On Thursday, June 8, I will unleash my rats on the whole world,” Seto said in a back-alley of Mac Anu’s harbor.
“My rats will descend on every computer terminal and will render the Great Light of Salvation to all those who are tired of the internet.”
Ryuuji arrived at the office, sat at his desk and opened his handheld computer. He then looked up the NAB news site and carefully looked through every corner of each page. The front page, the financial column, editorials, national news, international news, and the obituaries. Ryuuji read through them all.. The United States did something, Russia reacted, China did something, Britain apparently did something, something about the cabinet, imports, exports, baseball, soccer, a traffic accident, fires, an earthquake, stock prices, due to various factors, cucumbers are recommended as this year’s garden vegetables, and many more news items.
There were no cases that suggested any activity from Seto. The world seemed to be maintaining peace despite how much danger was out there.
However, Ryuuji still could not help feeling insecure. He felt like something unimaginable could happen.
A call came from David before ten o’clock in the morning. He said that he was on his way to the office, but his voice had a gloomy resonance.
“Did something happen?”
There was an extended silence on the other end of the receiver.
“There’s news from the head office. Seto was found. In the real world,” David said.
Ryuuji gripped the receiver.
“Has he been arrested?”
“No, that’s impossible. He can’t be arrested now,” David said as though spitting something up.
“We found his body. It seems that he’s been dead for at least three months…”
Ryuuji hung up the phone and looked out the window.
It seemed as though he was witnessing a nightmare oozing out from under the early summer sun.
It was as he had predicted. Something unimaginable had happened.
At 10:30 AM, David arrived by taxi. His face was pale.
“Let’s put the course of events in order,” said Ryuuji.
“Yuri Seto was released from prison last June. After that, he was hired by the San Diego branch, but nine months later in April he disappeared. I met Drain in The World on June 3rd and today, Seto was found dead.”
It was reported that Yuri Seto was found in an abandoned shack in a suburb in Colorado. He had been sitting in a chair in the corner of the room and died in a position that suggested he had been taking a nap. There were no signs of a struggle and the police concluded that it was a suicide. Although the cause of death is unknown, it is speculated that he might have used drugs.
Thanks to the dry climate in Colorado, the corpse did not decay and became a mummy. His identity was confirmed with his fingerprints.
“From the corpse’s condition, Seto’s time of death is placed between January and March of this year. No later than April.”
David nodded.
“When we met with Seto in the game and talked with him, he was already dead in real life.”
“It looks that way.”
“Then, who is controlling Drain?”
“Perhaps someone else is impersonating Yuri Seto and operating his PC.”
Ryuuji shook his head in response to David’s suggestion.
“I don’t think so. If someone was impersonating Seto, the investigation should have uncovered it by now.”
“But… if you’re right, what would that mean in this case?” David asked cautiously. Naturally he knew the answer. He understood. He was trying to make Ryuuji say it to ensure they were thinking the same thing.
Ryuuji spoke.
“Only Yuri Seto’s mind is active inside the game.”
Ryuuji and David stared at each other.
“What a hilarious joke.”
“It really is a cruel joke, isn’t it?”
David shook his head.
“But, it is possible. We are talking about The World. There are reports of similar cases in the past. In R:1 and R:2. Yet, this time it was different since apparently that man wanted to become a Lost One himself. An artificially created Lost One - no, in this case, he should be called a voluntary Lost One.”
Why did he do such a thing? That was also clear. He had said it himself many times. It was for the trial that others couldn't understand or sympathize with. He cast away his physical body so as not to be disturbed by anyone and went deep into the world of the electronic brain.
It turned out that it was now impossible to detain Seto in the real world. There was no choice but to stop him in the game.
Then David and Ryuuji went over other information for about an hour.
David told Ryuuji about the information he had learned from NAB's Akasaka branch.
“In the background of the incident in 2022, there was a cat PC that made full use of the power of the Black Forest. This cat confined the consciousness of regular PCs to The World, split an airship in two, converted background data into huge monsters and move them, and generally seems to have make quite a mess. Then, the information dealer's side of the story could be properly interpreted. We could confirm the images of the rats with the person in charge, but the exact same purple hexagonal effect that showed on the rats also showed on the monsters that appeared at the time.”
“It's almost the same as this case,” Ryuuji said, and David nodded.
“There’s no doubt that Seto uses the power of the Black Forest.”
Just as Flugel linked his powers to the Akashic Records and made improvements to Brieler Roessle, Yuri Seto joined his powers with the Black Forest and created a large number of rats. This solved the secret of the huge swarm of rats.
Ryuuji explained that he met with Taichiro Sugai, a former Associate Professor at Chikuba University.
“He was involved in this before Seto was apprehended.”
“That’s a very old acquaintance. Seto was arrested in 2003. He’s an acquaintance from over two decades ago?”
“Right. He was a professor when Seto was a student at Chikuba University. I heard some interesting stories from him,” Ryuuji explained.
David had a strange expression on his face.
“Is that helpful?”
“Probably. He may be the secret weapon that puts a bullet in Seto.”
Just then, Ryuuji’s cell phone rang. The name displayed on the screen was “Unknown Caller.” There was only one person other than David who knew the number to this phone.
It was Urania.
“Flugel, can you come right away?”
“What’s wrong?”
“The fucking rats suddenly appeared in town. I don’t know where they’ve been hiding until now, but they’re transferring in one after the other. The Sophia Squad are going around burning them, but we need more helping hands.”
Ryuuji felt as if his entire body suddenly had a fever.
It seemed that Yuri Seto had set his plan in motion.
“Come to ALGOS and help us out.”
“Understood. I’ll be there soon.”
“KK is at his wit’s end and is completely useless. Give him a kick in the ass and put him to work.”
ALGOS’ @HOME was in an uproar as though someone had disturbed a beehive.
About ten or so system administrators who had not shown up at all when Flugel last visited were now running this way and that. They must have been full-time programmers.
There was KK, blending in with them. When he saw Flugel and Kusame, he stood up from his seat at a terminal in surprise.
Flugel raised his hand.
“Thanks for the other day.”
“Flugel, why are you here?”
“I just came by to kill some time. How’s it going?”
KK was obviously frustrated. His bird mask was dangling a little from his face, but he did not seem to notice. He stared at Flugel with sharp eyes.
“I’m working right now. I’m sorry, but I cannot show our activities here to outsiders. Please leave immediately.”
“Now, now. Now, now, now. I brought some very valuable material. Here, the manual of rat countermeasures I promised.”
Of course, it was a lie. He had not prepared such a manual. Flugel looked around at the programmers moving excitedly.
“But, what happened? There’s a very tense atmosphere here.”
“Flugel.”
“‘We can work together.’ That’s what you said, isn’t it?”
He said, affecting a light tone, then speaking in a low voice.
“You may be too late if you don’t hurry. I do not know what is going on, but you’re in charge here, aren’t you?”
KK was at a loss for words. It seemed he was trying to weigh his options in his mind based on things such as advantages and disadvantages, posture, responsibility, trouble, confidentiality, and self-interest.
KK broke the silence after a pause of about two seconds. He passed by Flugel to the center of the room.
“Actually, right now the situation is abnormal.”
KK signaled the nearby System Admins and numerous windows appeared on the surface of a wall. In the windows, images of the swarms of the rats and the Sophia squad following it were displayed.
Flugel was astonished.
Rats, rats, and more rats. All the windows were filled with rats. The rats were packed together very tightly. They kept running all over each other without any clear direction.
From the sky, the Sophia squad delivered napalm blasts, but in Net Slum, the bombing that should have been effective was now unable to clear out the rats. A direct hit from the napalm merely dispelled some of them.
However, once the fire dissipated and the smoke settled, rats crawled out from under the pile and resumed running around. There was no end to them. No matter where one looked, there was no end. It was as though the ground were covered in a dark brown carpet. The carpet moved as though landslides were occurring.
“Didn’t you chase the swarms of rats to the brink of destruction?”
“We were supposed to have done that. As of midnight, the number of rats had fallen to about three hundred. With a little more effort, we hoped to be able to eradicate them today. Then, this morning, swarms of rats suddenly appeared in all the towns and in some areas and the number keeps increasing. The Sophia Corps is tackling the situation and carrying out anti-viral procedures, but they are short on hands. The speed at which the rats increase is too fast.”
“They keep increasing?” Ryuuji asked.
“How many are there now?”
KK seemed reluctant to answer.
“A few minutes ago, they exceeded 300 million.”
Flugel was speechless.
The number far surpassed all of his expectations.
In the battle in Net Slum, the Sophia squad overwhelmed the rats, but Ryuuji remembered that it took seven people and roughly 30 minutes to delete everything. The swarm of rats at that time was Probably about 100 million. Now it was three times that number.
All the windows disappeared, and single large window expanded across the wall.
“This is a data diagram that integrates a bird’s eye view of each server in The World. Please note that each red dot represents one hundred rats.”
As though a brush of red paint was swiped across a canvas, innumerable small red dots appeared across the huge window. They were too numerous to count. The World was being eroded by the rats.
Is this the power of the Black Forest?
Drain said something behind the alley of Mac Anu.
“I will fill this this world with rats.”
Now the final match was getting underway.
This is a do-or-die situation, Flugel thought. I must get hit by his attack. I will endure and surpass it and my chance to counterattack will appear.
“By my calculations, we were supposed to be able to finish today. However, we couldn’t because Urania was reluctant to sortie…” KK muttered.
“I told her to annihilate them as soon as possible…”
It was a miscalculated view, but Ryuuji didn’t say anything.
“Where’s Urania?”
“She’s doing work in Mac Anu. That’s where most of the rats are.”
“I want to talk to her.”
“Well…” KK mumbled.
“Is there a problem?”
“As you probably know, Urania is a difficult person to handle. I hate to call you away from your work for this.”
“That’s okay. You’ve only asked two or three times.”
After looking at with suspicious eyes, KK switched on a desk microphone and gave it to Flugel.
“Well, please use this.”
Flugel moved to the mic and spoke.
“U, can you hear me?”
“Huh? Who’s this?” said Urania, her voice reverberating around the room.
“It’s Flugel. Sorry to bother you while you’re working, but I’d like to talk to you for a moment.”
There was a pause.
“To what do I owe this unannounced intrusion by a damn punk who should be here? Why are you calling? Especially when I’m so fucking busy…”
After she groaned sullenly, she hurled insults in an angry voice.
“KK, you brought him to the monitor room? What were you thinking?! Do you not understand that this is a really bad time right now?”
Fluge extended the microphone and KK approached and spoke. He was noticeably flinching.
“Sorry. I told him that and he didn’t listen to me, but I have it a shot…”
“You jackass. Is this some ploy to pull me away from my backup files? Wouldn’t that be a breach of contract? What will you do if I fail to exterminate the rats because of your stupidity?!”
“Understood. We’ll talk about this later. Please just talk to Flugel for now.”
After KK tried to appease her, Flugel took back the mic and spoke.
“Ah, is that okay?”
“Go ahead, Flugel,” said Urania who changed the tone of her voice.
“What do you want to know?”
KK looked at Flugel in amazement, but Flugel moved to the microphone and spoke into it without any regard for KK’s expression.
“First, please tell me the situation.”
“We are dispersing to the town in each server, exterminating the rats and moving on to the next place.”
“I heard that the rats are increasing in real time. Why is that?”
“About a thousand rats are sent to the Chaos Gate at regular intervals. It’s unbearable. I have no time to catch my breath. The rats that transfer in do not attack general PCs and don’t fight back against the Sophia Corps. They just transfer in and start running. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to their movements, but that doesn’t mean they’re running around without a purpose. It feels as though they’re running round and round along the same path.”
“Are they not getting incinerated? Like the time at Net Slum.”
“They’re tougher than that time. Even with the Sophia squad’s firepower, a single blow doesn’t delete them. They seem to be defeated after getting hit by two or three napalm strikes. It seems the enemy has implemented some kind of countermeasure program.”
“Has there been any damage to regular PCs?”
“No, at least not yet. As I said earlier, since this phenomenon began, the rats have not done any harm to the players. They’ve completely ignored them.”
She gave a little laugh.
“It seems that regular PCs believe this to be an event. Some of them are taking screenshots. It’s an easy-going atmosphere.”
“That’s a big relief,” said Flugel.
“It’s better than people panicking or becoming Lost Ones. I get it. Please continue things as they are.”
“Is there something you’re aiming to do? I’m getting tired of chasing this parade of rats.”
“From now on, I’ll concentrate on locating the swarm’s source.”
Urania whistled.
“Please tell me if you find it. I’ll send my complaints directly to the bastard. Then the shit will really hit the fan.”
Flugel ended the call and turned around to see KK and the programmers staring at Flugel, seemingly short of breath.
“So,” Flugel said to them.
“Rats are being sent to towns using the Chao Gates’ transfer function. That means that a battalion of rats is hiding and waiting somewhere in The World. Perhaps Drain will also be there.”
One of the programmers spoke up.
“But… we have been searching for him with ALGOS’ camera for a long time.”
Another programmer chimed in.
“Yet there’s no sign of him anywhere. We can’t find him.”
“Hold on, don’t just give out information arbitrarily,” KK said in a hysterical voice.
“I will answer Flugel’s question.”
Flugel thought back upon what was written in Travis Bond’s log.
Travis was analyzing the @HOME on the instructions of Seto. If Seto were concealing the rats, it is doubtful that he hid them near the @HOME.
“Oh, I would like to check the camera’s functionality. Can it peek inside the building?”
“Of course,” KK said with a nod.
“Even inside an @HOME like ALGOS?”
“It can certainly have a look.”
“What about an expanded room? What if one was added by a cheat rather than a legitimate system?”
“It can,” KK promptly answered.
“The method is not an issue. ALGOS cameras have absolutely not missed anything whether it’s a cheat or not. As long as there’s data there, the cameras will find it.”
As he listened to the answer, Flugel looked all around him. Suddenly one of the monitors caught his eye. An airship was floating in the sky above a town.
An airship is one of the systems of a guild. By upgrading an @HOME, users will be able to use an airship in the same way they use a motorcycle.
“How did that get there? That airship.”
Flugel pointed at the monitor.
“The same as any airship.”
KK shook his head shrewdly.
“The camera is set to the program’s highest height. Since the airship’s hover zone is far below that setting, the airship can be monitored like a normal @HOME.
While going back and forth with questions and answers with Flugel, KK seemed to calm down.
“ALGOS’ monitoring system is perfect. So, there would be no reason for it to miss anything.”
As long as they followed the correct procedure, this world would be protected, but if not, his tone of voice suggested that something strange may be happening in this world.
Flugel was silent for awhile.
“Can you change the height of the camera?”
“What?”
“Can you raise the camera’s position higher than the currently set height? Perhaps you can do it using the debugging function.”
“It’s no use,” KK said as he shook his head.
“There’s no graphical data beyond that point.”
“That’s okay. You can, though, right?”
“Well… even with admin privileges you can’t do that, but…”
“Please try raising the camera’s height anyway,” said Flugel.
There had to be a blind spot that ALGOS had while overlooking all data of The World. A place the camera could not see. A place where surveillance could not reach. In other words, behind the camera.
KK stubbornly asserted.
“We can’t do that without a solid reason. I have responsibilities as guild master of ALGOS. I cannot accept this. This would make the system unnecessarily unstable.”
“My reason is that I can’t think of any other options.”
“That’s not a good enough reason. I can’t take on such a massive liability.”
“That’s not it at all, is it?” said Kusame, who had kept silent in the shadows until now.
KK noticed Kusame for the first time.
“And you are…”
“I am NAB investigator Kusame. Real name David Steinberg, affiliated with the Washington D.C. Headquarters. Here on request of the Akasaka branch.”
The tall Kusame stood before KK, looking down at him.
“You should do as Flugel says. This is an urgent matter. You just have to nod your head and not worry about what you’re responsible for.”
“Do you know what you’re talking about?” KK replied.
“NAB works to preserve network stability, doesn’t it? Your remarks now directly refute that. On NAB’s authority, I would be forcing inappropriate conduct on the company. This will be a problem.”
“You are not being forced to do anything. I’m just making a suggestion.”
“A suggestion? Then, are you saying that NAB will take full responsibility? It is not you but the organization called NAB that will be responsible for the damages that may arise from here on. Is that what you’re saying? If that’s the case, I am willing to do it, but…”
“I don’t mind doing it that way,” Kusame said flatly.
“Let’s do it as soon as possible.”
KK tried to say something further, then closed his mouth.
KK looked back and forth at Flugel and Kusame.
The atmosphere became tense and KK cleared his throat to ease it.
“If that’s the case, I have no objections.”
KK gave instructions to the programmer beside him.
The programmer nodded and operated the computer terminal panel.
“We will raise the position of the camera as you requested. Let’s hope that, at the very least, the situation doesn’t get any worse.”
Just then, a lag occurred for a moment.
Everything in The World stopped moving and the audio was out of sync, but it soon return to normal. ALGOS’ camera penetrated the sky graphic pasted above them.
The programmer reported that a CPU load was beginning to be applied to the amount of data.
“Please keep steadily raising it.”
Darkness was projected through the camera to the view window. It showed a place where nothing exists. They couldn’t see anything. There was nothing there at all.
It was natural because the data did not exist.
“Not yet. Go higher,” Flugel instructed.
“The load is increasing.”
“Don’t worry, keep going.”
A few more noises occurred and the screen corrupted.
Unexpectedly, red dots little by little lit up in the middle of the window.
KK gasped as he came to realize.
Silence like still water spread through the monitor room.
One red dot became two, then after a moment it became several dots, then it became like a red vortex quickly spreading throughout the window. It looked like blood overflowing from a deep scratch.
These were not dots. All the screens were now painted red. There was no black margin anywhere.
“Switching from an overhead view to the normal camera,” said the programmer who operated the terminal board without waiting for instructions from KK.
The windows were switched, and from the integrated bird’s-eye view, the image changed to a picture that captured a airborne army floating in the data void.
Rather than an airborne army, it was more of a large fleet. Just going by what could be seen in the window, there were five super-huge battleships, roughly twenty smaller cruisers, and even smaller attack craft surrounding them, all flying soundlessly in formation in the complete dark.
It was a pity to think that all these ships were full of rats.
Ryuuji did not want to ask, but he asked anyway.
“How many rats are there?”
The programmer replied with a stutter.
“Uh, well, it’s… over three billion. We can’t get a count beyond that.”
Ryuuji wished he hadn’t heard the answer.
“Unbelievable. That’s insane…” KK said as he sank down to the floor.
“You said it,” murmured Kusame.
“To think that a rat breeding farm was floating in the sky above a town.”
“Please check whether there are any PCs on board.”
KK put his hands to his head and sat still, but the programmer beside him reported it to Flugel.
“A signal was found. There is an airplane that has just one PC on board. They’re alone.”
“Where is it?”
“Mac Anu.”
Flugel grabbed the microphone.
“Urania. I figured out where Drain is. He’s above your head. He’s in the sky above Mac Anu.”
He was standing in the dark.
He could not see anything, nor could he hear anything.
He did not sense anything, nor did he comprehend anything.
He felt as though this had been going on for a long time.
He felt as though he had come to this place at this very moment.
Where could I be, he thought.
At that moment, he realized that he already knew the answer. He remembered. A single word roused him and surfaced in his memory.
Yes, this was Hell…
A place where he did not even receive the sun’s light and warmth.
A place where a stream of endless desire keeps overflowing. A place where dreadful screams and ominous cries roar. An inescapable place.
He awoke and a darkness like a black hole surrounded him, the same darkness as though he was still wandering in his dream-state from a moment ago. In his periphery all he could see was an infinite jet-black expanse.
He got up and went down the stairway of the central deck from the bow where he had been lying down until then and entered the hangar of the hull.
The ship he was now on was a massive 200 meter battleship of a type that is classified as a battleship even among airships.
If it were the default setting, it should have had more than ten medium-sized battleships in the hangar, but no ships were loaded on this airship. It was completely empty with a huge vacant room hangar twenty meters square.
Drain did not look around and started walking with a steady gait.
The plan was progressing smoothly. The rats that were given the Exodus Command were steadily transferring into each town.
A town’s Chaos Gate governs the management of logged-in players data. By using the records left there, they could follow logged-in PCs and travel to external computers all at once. This was the Exodus.
The rats, which were products of Schicksal PCs, could not go outside The World’s system. However, if The World had been installed on the computer terminal, they could get in through the network lines. Just like they dealt with Kiyoteru Yodogawa, Senior Managing Director of Cyber Connect Japan Company.
Once they got into a person’s terminal once, they could move by following the member address like a normal computer virus. From player to player. From acquaintance to acquaintance. The infection of rats would spread. If they got to that stage, no one could stop the march of the rats.
In less than one hour, everything would be over.
His trial would bring a beautiful end to this perfect harmony.
Then the next trial would begin. Then it would repeat. He would continue to produce and disseminate rats spray and produce rats as much as he desired in order to let the real world know the stench of humiliation that will envelop the network.
As Drain finished thinking about that, he stopped walking.
He saw a shadow inside the ship that was supposed to be empty except for him.
“Welcome. I figured you would come,” Drain said softly.
A golden Sophia stood like a statue.
“This was somewhat sooner than I expected. Welcome, Urania.”
How did she get into the ship? This anti-virus who thoroughly massacred the rats in the previous fight in Net Slum. CC’s secret weapon with overwhelming fire power.
“Get your money ready. A bonus for when I’ve taken down the boss character.”
Urania looked at Drain with cold eyes while she talked with someone in the chat. The edges of her mouth twisted and she scoffed.
“I’ll destroy you.”
“It is you who will be destroyed,” Drain said softly. A saintly smile spread across his face.