"Well, actually, not just that previous battle—even your earlier act of 'hacking' the vending machine was recorded by surveillance."
Looking down at Chen Ze's slack-jawed expression, the completely unconcerned Renamon seriously continued to twist the knife:
"By the way, the camera is right there."
As she spoke, Renamon suddenly turned around, pointing toward the 24-hour convenience store near the vending machine.
Though Chen Ze and Renamon had stealthily avoided attracting the clerk's attention earlier, the camera pointed straight at the vending machine had faithfully recorded everything that happened.
"..."
Stiffly turning his head, Chen Ze stared silently at the glaringly obvious camera for a long moment.
"So, you're saying you knew about the camera from the start."
Although phrased as a question, Chen Ze's tone was flatly affirmative.
"Yes."
And just like before, Renamon's casual, understated tone delivered another devastating truth, almost enough to make Chen Ze break down right then and there.
"I assumed you already knew, and deliberately chose this machine because of that."
If not for knowing that Renamon's words were completely unintentional, Chen Ze probably would have been looking for a hole in the ground to crawl into from sheer embarrassment.
Chen Ze had indeed picked this vending machine deliberately because it looked especially high-end and hackable.
But he had overlooked one critical detail—this was 1995. Any place affluent enough to install this kind of advanced vending machine would surely also have cutting-edge surveillance equipment.
"Since when did cameras become this widespread in Japan—especially in this era?"
Despite knowing it was his own oversight, Chen Ze stubbornly tried to save what little face he had left in front of Renamon.
Unexpectedly, Renamon didn't seem to notice his mistake at all. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, genuinely puzzled.
"You mean you didn't plan to hack in later and erase the surveillance data? I thought that's why you weren't concerned about the camera."
Chen Ze, who was about to bluff further, froze again upon hearing this.
"Ahem, well—of course, that's exactly what I planned!"
After a slight hesitation, Chen Ze could only grit his teeth and roll with Renamon's assumption.
Still, Renamon's words provided him with some insight.
In this internet era, Chen Ze could effortlessly hack into virtually any system—even without using specialized hacker tools.
After all, up until about ten years ago—in 1984—computers had been restricted solely to laboratories and high-tech research facilities.
Before that, all computers relied exclusively on command-line terminals, with no graphical user interface at all.
Such systems were inaccessible to ordinary people; only highly trained specialists and academics could operate them.
Only in 1984 did visual interfaces truly begin to flourish. VisiCorp and Apple had successively launched their first graphical OS—Visi On and Mac OS System 1.0, respectively.
Microsoft quickly followed suit, releasing Windows 1.0 the next year, paving the way for its future dominance.
Yet it wasn't until August 24, 1995—just days away—that the milestone Windows 95 system would finally bring graphical computing to everyday households.
In other words, before 1995, computers weren't designed with hacking or cybersecurity in mind. Their primary purpose was computation and data storage.
In a way, this oversight about surveillance cameras was partly due to Chen Ze's preconceived notions.
He'd always associated cameras with widespread computer usage, and never realized the first genuine electronic surveillance camera had already appeared back in 1991, rapidly becoming commonplace afterward.
A small convenience store like this, having installed surveillance cameras already... isn't that a bit exaggerated?
Chen Ze wasn't sure whether this world's development path differed from his original one, or whether the owner of this small 24-hour convenience store was genuinely a wealthy eccentric.
He inclined toward the former.
After all, this was a world that contained real, digital creatures like Digimon. Being ahead in network technology compared to his original world wouldn't be particularly surprising.
"So, what do you plan to do next?"
Quietly tilting her head again, Renamon openly displayed her curiosity, watching Chen Ze deep in thought.
"What else can I do? Obviously, I'll have to hack into the store's security system!"
In his original world, Chen Ze could have easily used his phone or another electronic device to infiltrate the store's Wi-Fi. As long as the convenience store's computer remained connected, he'd quietly erase or overwrite the surveillance footage.
But the problem now is, how do I pull off an 'intrusion' in an era where dial-up isn't even mainstream yet?
As the saying went, "Even a clever woman can't cook without rice." Chen Ze didn't deny there were probably skilled hackers who could breach a system using nothing but a circuit board, but he definitely wasn't one of them.
"I need a 'terminal' to infiltrate the network—even a public phone would suffice."
Unconsciously voicing his thoughts aloud, Chen Ze glanced around, quickly realizing there were no electronic devices nearby aside from the offline vending machine.
"A 'terminal'?"
Renamon seemed to overhear Chen Ze's muttering. Blinking curiously, she finally spoke up again:
"Aren't you already a 'terminal' yourself?"
Hearing Renamon's sudden interjection, Chen Ze abruptly raised his head, momentarily unable to grasp her meaning.
"Right now, you're Agumon—a living digital lifeform."
Renamon ignored Chen Ze's confusion entirely, speaking as if stating something obvious:
"Since when does a Digimon require external equipment to hack into a network?"
It was just a simple sentence, yet it resonated deeply, as if awakening some innate instinct within Chen Ze. His eyes suddenly flashed with streams of data once again.
But unlike before—when he simply activated his Digital Core—this time Chen Ze truly became aware of the unique qualities of his digital body.
"What… is this?!"
At this moment, in Chen Ze's vision, the boundary between physical objects and digital data blurred entirely.
The high-rise buildings remained as they were—but the cables threading between them transformed completely, replaced by streams of network signals composed of unknown symbols and text.
[??é??è??? ??'??è??? ???????????...]
[??"è??è?"???...]
[???é?…?"???????é?...]
—This was the true perception of a Digimon, the foundational capability granted by a Digital Core.