Chapter 512: Advancing on Two Fronts
In NERV's view, this "Dr. Ryo" might truly be a nerd with some luck and talent, but fundamentally immersed only in his own little field. His value lay in his research results, rather than any risks he himself might bring.
They had no idea that every "data entry" Ryo performed at the computer terminal was adding a crucial piece to the puzzle of his dormant "phantom."
Nine visits, nine segments of seemingly unrelated and harmless code, had already silently infiltrated the depths of the system, like nine scattered puzzle pieces, quietly awaiting the final command to assemble.
And the "catalytic particles" Ryo took with him, besides being used to maintain the credibility of his front project, were themselves samples for him to research NERV's material containment technology and analyze the special energy environment of this world.
When he left NERV Headquarters for the ninth time, passed security, and confirmed he hadn't triggered any abnormal alarms, he knew the most dangerous phase of the infiltration had been safely navigated.
NERV's vigilance had relaxed somewhat due to his "good" behavior, creating a more lenient environment for his next move.
At the same time, the deadly "keys" were fully prepared, just waiting for him to decide when and how to insert them into the keyhole to awaken the "assembly" hidden in the shadows of the system.
His patience had paid off.
Now, he could begin to consider how to utilize this initially established trust and that to-be-activated "phantom" to reach his true goals.
The stage was set, and the protagonist was about to begin the real performance.
The slightly salty sea breeze swept across the deck, fluttering the white lab coat on Ryo that fit his identity as a researcher.
He stood at the bow of a small survey ship belonging to "NERV Ninth Research Institute," his gaze calmly fixed on the sea before him that had once been dyed an ominous red.
Under his supervision, researchers Shigeo Tanaka and Miyuki Suzuki, along with several other auxiliary personnel, were carefully sowing the latest batch of "catalytic particles" sealed in special containers into the designated experimental waters.
The once-crude pier and cramped isolation zone were long gone.
Thanks to the astonishing results he had previously demonstrated, the project gained further recognition from NERV's higher-ups. It was now upgraded to the official "Ninth Research Institute," with its jurisdiction expanding to the entire relatively enclosed bay.
A broader body of water, more complete onshore facilities, and a slightly increased budget and personnel—all of these were the resource tilt earned by his "pledge of allegiance."
"It's truly... unbelievable," Shigeo Tanaka said while operating the deployment device, looking at the seawater beside the ship, his tone filled with irrepressible excitement. "Senior Suzuki, look at the color of this water! It's almost the same as recorded in the pre-Impact data! We are really returning it to how it was!"
The slightly older Miyuki Suzuki beside him did not reply immediately. She adjusted her glasses, carefully recording the deployment coordinates and dosages, but a rare, almost imperceptible curve also tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Only after completing the log did she look up toward the increasingly clear sea surface. Her voice, though soft, carried a long-lost firmness: "Yes, Tanaka. Although the speed is very slow and the area is still very small, it proves one point—this dead red is not irreversible.
We... we might truly be doing something that can change the future, something that will allow children to see a blue ocean again."
The conversation between the two drifted faintly into Ryo's ears on the sea breeze.
His expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was noncommittal toward this almost naive hope originating from ordinary people.
This identity was initially just his disguise to infiltrate NERV's core. However, not long ago, explicit instructions from the main body forced him to invest more genuine effort into it.
The main body—the Magos Explorator far away in another dimension whose mind operated like precision machinery—seemed to have developed an unexpected interest in his "side project" based on the degraded Genesis Particle technology.
The directive required him to earnestly complete the marine purification experiment and collect the most detailed research data possible.
Ryo could understand the main body's considerations.
In the Warhammer universe—a galaxy ravaged by Warp pollution, radioactive fallout, xenos technology, and ten thousand years of war—there existed countless thoroughly poisoned or twisted worlds.
If this "purification" technology capable of highly efficiently reversing specific environmental pollutants and restoring basic ecological order—even if just a degraded version—could be proven effective and adaptable to the physical rules of the Warhammer universe, its strategic value would be immeasurable.
It might be used to purify a Hive World corrupted by Chaos, or to restore the ecological environment of a Death World, carving out new territories or strongholds for the Imperium.
Therefore, to some extent, Ryo was now truly playing the roles of both "infiltrator" and "environmental restoration expert" simultaneously.
On one hand, he utilized the institute's resources and relatively relaxed environment to continue executing his real mission of stealing EVA technology and accessing core secrets.
On the other hand, he had to allocate considerable energy to rigorously design experiments and analyze data, ensuring this "side project" could produce genuine, reliable scientific results with potential application value to satisfy the main body's requirements.
The bay slowly coming back to life before his eyes was not only his best cover but could also become another unexpected pleasant surprise in the future.
Just as he was focused on the azure waters slowly recovering vitality before him, a silent storm was brewing in the digital dimension within the profound underground space of NERV Headquarters.
The "seed" Ryo had planted had finally reached its scheduled moment of germination.
During a routine maintenance window of the MAGI system, which involved a large-scale migration and optimization of certain core databases, the data flow within the system became exceptionally active and complex.
Within this fleeting chaos, the nine fragments of seemingly harmless code that had long been dormant in various locations were instantly activated, as if receiving a silent command.
They swiftly converged, spliced, and recombined along predetermined, extremely concealed paths.
In the blink of an eye, a complete AI virus possessing high adaptability and learning capabilities was "assembled." Like a drop of ink falling into clear water, it rapidly began to spread throughout NERV's entire network system.
However, the behavioral pattern of this virus was not conventional destruction or extortion.
It was extremely cunning; its core directives were only two: survival and mimicry.
Like a top-tier chameleon, it frantically replicated itself, contaminating the massive amounts of data within the MAGI system.
But it did not simply overwrite or destroy the original data. Instead, in an exquisitely masterful manner, it disguised its data copies to look exactly like the original data—tampering with checksums, simulating access logs, copying file structures and attributes...
It "dyed" itself into the system's own color as much as possible, disguising every byte it proliferated as an original, seemingly normal part of the MAGI system.
It did not seize ultimate authority, nor did it trigger alarm thresholds. It simply and silently expanded its range of existence, eroding every corner of the system, sinking its "roots" deep into NERV's digital foundation.
From the outside, the MAGI system seemed completely normal, still performing complex calculations, processing data from across the globe, and commanding the defense systems of Tokyo-3.
Only the deepest, most meticulous audit could potentially discover that certain low-level data blocks of the system seemed to have become slightly "bloated," and that the response times of certain non-critical processes exhibited almost imperceptible delays.
But under the massive system noise and the interference of the routine maintenance itself, these minute anomalies were easily overlooked.
The virus program had completed its self-assembly and preliminary diffusion during the MAGI system's maintenance window according to its preset commands. Like a predator in the deep sea, it perfectly blended into the system environment and began silently eroding NERV's digital foundation.
Ryo, at this moment, showed no abnormal signs of this.
He remained focused on the maritime purification work before him, recording water quality data and supervising the deployment of the catalytic particles.
He knew clearly that what he needed to do now was to continue playing the role of "Dr. Ryo" well, using more "marine purification results" to consolidate his status and clearance within NERV.
Environmental restoration in the physical world and covert erosion in the digital world—both fronts advanced simultaneously under his masterful layout.
He only needed to maintain his patience and wait for that "chess piece" lurking deep within the system to exert its rightful function at some critical moment in the future.
(End of Chapter)