"So…what do we do now?"
Chen Ze and Renamon exchanged a hesitant glance. Watching Piddomon and the others disappear deep into Kowloon Level 5, both had the same thought occur simultaneously.
As one of EDEN's most chaotic network zones, Kowloon's danger was well beyond imagination.
In fact, for ordinary people—even most hackers—Kowloon had always been mysterious territory. Without specialized skills and insider knowledge, you couldn't even locate its true entrance.
And Kowloon's fifth layer onwards was considered an outright forbidden zone—once entered, hackers rarely emerged unscathed.
Although Chen Ze and Renamon had spent less than a day in EDEN, they'd already learned this common knowledge through scattered references and bits of data.
Rumor had it that, from Kowloon's fourth layer onward, powerful "virus programs" with genuine AI intelligence dominated the space, turning even veteran hackers into helpless prey.
Of course, Chen Ze and Renamon now knew the truth: those so-called "AI viruses" were actually Digimon. Indeed, ordinary hackers stood no chance against these true digital lifeforms—so the rumors weren't far from reality.
"Should we keep following them?"
Though Chen Ze had previously implanted a trojan on Piddomon, he'd done so merely to collect basic intel—not to track its every movement.
If it hadn't been for the sudden rampage of that Eater, Chen Ze and Renamon would probably still be in Nodens, leisurely dividing up their spoils.
Even after hastily jumping to Kowloon, neither expected to stumble across a fierce battle between Piddomon and Leomon.
After all, when fleeing Nodens, Chen Ze had randomly chosen a UDL link without realizing it was precisely the data he'd previously stolen from that young hacker.
The entire chain of events so far was nothing but sheer coincidence upon coincidence.
Even their arrival at Kowloon had been an accident. The dramatic appearance of Piddomon had simply been too loud to ignore, drawing Chen Ze and Renamon to watch the entire confrontation.
"Let's head back."
Seeing Renamon's eagerness returning—the wounds clearly forgotten—Chen Ze decisively shot down her unspoken proposal.
"Hacker's Survival Code number three: Excessive curiosity kills more than cats—it kills reckless hackers too."
Renamon stared blankly at Chen Ze's utterly serious face, opening her mouth as if to argue, yet failing to produce a fitting reply.
"You lied to me."
After a long silence, Renamon suddenly seemed to recall something and spoke again.
"Your so-called 'Hacker Survival Rules' didn't include that rule before. I remember clearly."
Chen Ze just rolled his eyes irritably. Right now, he was only one step away from pointing at her nose and shouting, "Stop pushing your luck and play it safe!"
"I just added it specifically for you."
Chen Ze understood Renamon's character well enough. Despite her usual calm aloofness, that inherent curiosity continually pushed her towards adventure, toward constant trouble.
Normally, her teasing antics were harmless enough. But they'd just barely survived the battle with the Eater—Chen Ze wasn't about to let Renamon stir up more unnecessary trouble.
"Besides, we have a much more pressing problem right now," Chen Ze continued, his tone growing unusually solemn. He lifted Agumon's clawed hand helplessly and sighed.
"My servers and computer both crashed in the battle against the Eater."
"Rather than worrying about Piddomon and Leomon's outcome, we should focus on how to get ourselves out of here."
Currently, Chen Ze only remained connected to EDEN because he was present as "Agumon," a genuine digital lifeform, rather than as a foreign hacker.
With both his server and personal computer offline, Chen Ze was essentially trapped inside this artificially constructed virtual network—just like any other Digimon.
Remembering this, Chen Ze cursed himself bitterly for his earlier recklessness.
In the heat of the moment, he'd completely forgotten something crucial—using not only his rented servers but also his personal computer in the fight, leaving himself stranded in EDEN.
To escape EDEN's isolated network now, he needed to hijack another foreign server first, one capable of bypassing both EDEN's internal verification and the Great Firewall simultaneously, returning him to wherever his physical body lay.
Judging from his past experience during the Hikarigaoka incident, his real body was likely unconscious right now. Thankfully, the time elapsed shouldn't have raised suspicion yet.
"We need a computer capable of passing verification through both EDEN's network and the Great Firewall…"
"Only then can we return."
Under normal circumstances, if not trapped in this network, Chen Ze wouldn't have worried at all.
Unfortunately, trapped in EDEN as he was, VPN or VPS services weren't exactly an option. Thus, he'd need to hack another hacker's computer that had those services pre-installed, before finally getting out.
And speaking of complications, there was also the issue of Chen Ze's DigiCore.
Due to certain safety concerns, although Agumon's DigiCore had capabilities rivaling a large-scale computer, Chen Ze never installed any external software within it, to avoid catastrophic overloads like earlier.
In a sense, that carefulness now contributed directly to his predicament.
"Wait a minute... Maybe there's another way out of this."
Suddenly, a flash of insight crossed Chen Ze's mind, revealing a perfect solution to his current dilemma.
If he worried about destabilizing his DigiCore, why not simply create an "external computer" separate from it?
Building a genuine hardware device within a virtual network was theoretically impossible—but if something as complex as a DigiCore could exist naturally, why not artificially replicate it?
Coincidentally, Chen Ze had already entertained a similar idea after obtaining Eater's code fragments. Now was simply the perfect opportunity to put that idea into practice.
"What did you think of?"
Watching Chen Ze skillfully summon his virtual screen, Renamon curiously crouched beside him, peering closer to see what he planned to do.
"If I'm worried about damaging my own DigiCore, then all I need is an artificial DigiCore."
Using Eater's (Species Form) data as a core blueprint, Chen Ze quickly constructed the prototype framework for an artificial DigiCore, supplementing it with Innocence-code fragments and the advanced evolution code he'd taken from the Eater (Human Form).
Leveraging his hacker expertise, Chen Ze quickly assembled this artificial DigiCore as an external module, carefully attaching it as a plug-in component to his own existing core.
Compared to risky external programs with unpredictable functions, the artificial DigiCore, derived directly from DigiCore architecture itself, operated seamlessly, perfectly compatible and stable.
"With this, not only have I resolved my safety concerns, but I've also created a foundation to continue refining my 'Digivolution Program.' It's the ideal solution."
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