Gamers Are Fierce

Li Ang nodded. There is nothing to hide. There are very few top wizards, and they are basically all in the same circle. You want me to be the internal factor to help you find out the true identities of other wizards?

This is impossible.

The Wizards of the Coast has existed for so many years, but only a few members have been able to stay there. Everyone has tried their best in private and used various means to find out the identities of others.

As long as you have someone else's real name, you can completely threaten and control that person - it is both a temptation and a need for self-protection.

Especially someone like [Nicholas]...

Not Nicholas.

The female investigator said solemnly, It's the mailman.

oh.

Li Ang closed his mouth, fragmented memories welling up,

It is shown that Brown Murphy himself had an aversion to the title Mailman.

To be precise, it is curiosity, vigilance and a trace of inexplicable fear.

The female investigator asked: What do you know about him?

I don't know much.

Li Ang made a thoughtful expression, He joined the Wizards of the Coast a year after me.

He never showed his true face and only communicated with us using an antique typewriter - we typed what we wanted to tell him on the typewriter,

It can be as short as one hour, or as long as one or two weeks.

He would reply—the typewriter would spit out long pages of written words.

People in the top wizard circles often have high self-esteem and are unruly. At first, no one likes to deal with such mysterious and flashy elements.

Until recently...

He started, uh, performing miracles?

Li Ang squinted his eyes according to the emotion in his memory, and said with some uncertainty: He has done some great achievements that surpassed Nicholas, and successfully made some people worship him.

Not only the mid-level wizards, but also the top wizards in the Wizards Association have become his loyal followers.

Whenever the typewriter spits out paper, he would rush forward and snatch it away as if listening to an oracle, preventing others from prying at him.

Li Ang turned his gaze to the female investigator, who pursed her lips and said softly: The mailman's energy is much greater than you think.

Unlike wizards who seek profit, self-display, and self-gratification, he... has ideological motives.

Li Ang raised his eyebrows and said nothing. The female investigator continued: Since the birth of photonic chips and the rapid advancement of processor computing power, a large number of departments within the government have begun to use automated programs to perform auxiliary work.

At the beginning, let the program help process mechanical and cumbersome reports and data.

As programs become larger and smarter,

These departments began to let the program propose future assessments, formulate plans, compare the implementation efficiency of different plans, and allocate the required human, material, and financial resources.

Even formulate and amend laws, provide military strategic advice,...

Today, the orderly operation of the entire government is completely inseparable from this unimaginably huge automated system. Even the top managers cannot observe and monitor every part of the system in detail.

Li Ang nodded, The larger the system, the higher the learning cost, and the fewer people who can understand the system. It's understandable.

The female investigator continued noncommittally: Generally speaking, most departments have implemented paperless offices, and all work is completed on the computer host.

Only some departments that are lagging behind and have a weak sense of existence still have the habit of retaining paper documents.

One of the departments accidentally discovered that the work status report submitted by the subordinate unit was inconsistent with the requirements of the original paper document.

After investigation and monitoring, it was found that

A computer program module originally used to assist humans in making decisions.

There is a difference with a hard copy backup stored on a USB stick that is not connected to the Internet - someone, or some people, secretly tampered with the computer program module responsible for making decisions.

The female investigator’s expression was particularly gloomy, mixed with a hint of fear, “The more we investigate, the worse the situation becomes.

Military, education, transportation, energy, finance, water conservancy, health, publicity...

Almost every department you can imagine,

Its computer program module for making and implementing decisions,

All have been subject to varying degrees of intrusion and tampering, which can be traced back to four years ago - because paperless offices are advancing rapidly, only lagging departments can see the differences by comparing hard copies.

The more advanced departments are more difficult to investigate.

Therefore, the real time point for outsiders to invade the decision-making center must be earlier than four years ago.

...In other words, it's impossible to do without paper.

Li Ang thought for a while, So, the military system...

It was also invaded.

The female investigator said: But the military system is more conservative...

In other words, it is outdated and backward, and there are considerable differences with other departments.

Moreover, some institutional facilities are not connected to the outside world at the physical level. If you want to invade, you must use a limited number of 'windows', such as the personal computers of senior people with operating rights.

Because of this, we just follow the example,

According to the intruder's style and habits and data ripples (traces left by tampering with data) during the intrusion process,

Discovered the other party's true identity - the mailman.

The defense lines of various systems within the military were temporarily strengthened and the networking between various agencies was closed.

The female investigator's voice trembled slightly, which was not difficult to understand.

The United States in this world also has aircraft carrier fleets, nuclear submarine fleets, and missile launch systems all over the world.

Only one step away from the Mailman stealing the power of the Supreme Force.

It holds the authority to launch more than 6,000 nuclear warheads and countless missiles.

As well as the Zeus system, which was just launched two years ago and consists of 221 low-Earth orbit military satellites - space-based laser weapons, which can use small nuclear reactors.

It shoots lasers from a high position in low-Earth orbit to destroy any missiles and rockets that try to take off.

That was probably the day when all mankind succumbed to individual will and came closest to extinction.

“Military institutions cannot stay offline forever;

Even if we can do it, military systems in other regions may not be able to survive the mailman's conspiracy and remain unbreakable.

The level of development of modern weapons determines that even a missile can cause huge destructive power.

Destroy a city of 100,000, 1,000,000 or even 10,000,000 people.

The female investigator looked directly into Li Ang's eyes, seeming to project a firm emotion into Li Ang's mind, We need you to return to the Wizards of the Coast Association.

Collect as much information as possible about the person who sent the email, and do whatever it takes to get his real name, lock his address in the real world, and help us catch him at all costs.

For the sake of world peace and for yourself.