Nerima Ward, Hikarigaoka—a certain 24-hour convenience store counter.
"Taking on a powerful government institution single-handedly?"
Perhaps driven by a woman's intuition, after her defeat at the hands of that mysterious hacker, Ji Jia didn't fall into frustration. Instead, she grew increasingly curious about what exactly the intruder was after.
After a brief moment of thought, Ji Jia immediately began using the hacking knowledge she'd just "learned" to search through nearby networked computers.
She truly deserved her reputation as a top computer science student at the University of Tokyo; her grasp and speed of learning were both exceptional.
If she'd had even a bit of exposure to professional hacking beforehand, Chen Ze wouldn't have succeeded so easily in infiltrating the convenience store's surveillance data.
Thus, exploiting data exchanges between nearby computers and loopholes in internet protocols, Ji Jia quickly discovered several local computers. From there, she began using them as "jump points" to broaden her search.
"So this is what a real hacker looks like…"
Given the few computers in Hikarigaoka at this time, Ji Jia, who had just barely stepped into the hacking scene, easily detected a wave of unusual network activity. Following these signals, she soon stumbled upon the police department's server—the battlefield itself.
Limited by the virtual environment, Ji Jia couldn't directly "see" the rare hacking intrusion firsthand.
But judging from the fluctuating network signals and the occasional bursts of virus data leaking outward, Ji Jia had no trouble imagining the danger unfolding within.
Unfortunately, the private computers Ji Jia had used as her "observation platforms" soon suffered heavy damage. Either overloaded by massive data traffic or mistakenly identified as malicious by overly aggressive antivirus programs, essential system software began failing left and right.
To the computers themselves, every strike from a Digimon—be it Vaccine, Data, or Virus type—was effectively a full-fledged digital virus attack.
The only difference lay in the methods: Vaccine-type Digimon were akin to "accidental antivirus deletions," Data-type to "traffic overload," and Virus-type were simply the most direct, malicious "virus infections."
But regardless of form, the harm inflicted on these computers remained brutally consistent.
"This hacking business… is so cool!"
Despite the massive network lag, Ji Jia kept switching computers to continue her "observation," her eyes practically sparkling with youthful admiration.
Utterly unaware that he'd unintentionally nudged a top student from the University of Tokyo onto the path of becoming a hacker, Chen Ze, at this moment, was weathering repeated antivirus sweeps as he penetrated deeper into the server's hard drive sector.
As he executed the "Overload Virus" he'd just created, Agumon's appearance underwent drastic changes.
Mottled, blurred patterns spread across Agumon's body like a true virus, and any data coming into contact with him was quickly overwritten by garbage code.
Overwrite, delete, overwrite again, delete again…
After repeatedly cycling through this process numerous times, not even the world's most advanced data recovery experts would be able to restore these now scrambled files to their original state.
But the cost of using his own body as the carrier for this virus was steep. The constant overwriting and rewriting was rapidly consuming his digital lifespan.
In Digimon terms, this chaotic data distortion was known as "Error Digivolution"—a corrupted evolutionary pathway leading inevitably to self-destruction.
But unlike typical Digimon, Chen Ze's current state wasn't a simple case of data corruption.
Ordinary Digimon underwent Error Digivolution when their internal data conflicted, forcing their Digital Core into logical contradictions and ultimately causing complete data breakdown.
However, the Overload Program Chen Ze created was clear, structured, and logically sound. Its purpose was simply to damage other data, not itself.
Theoretically, if a Virus-type Digimon obtained this code and successfully installed this "plug-in," it could acquire a unique, formidable skill.
Yet theory remained just theory precisely because reality wasn't nearly so cooperative.
Even the same software required extensive optimization to run on different operating systems. This was doubly true for something as unprecedented as the Digimon—an entirely new form of artificial intelligence life.
Even if a Digimon did manage to integrate the Overload Program, it would almost certainly need to be a Virus-type.
Chen Ze, however, was now inhabiting a Vaccine-type Agumon body. Forget compatibility—just the fact that the conflict between these two hadn't immediately destroyed his current digital form was already incredible.
"Forcing software from a completely different system into this body really was asking for trouble…"
Sighing internally, Chen Ze had already anticipated that a Digital Core wasn't truly equivalent to a traditional computer, but the severity of the reaction still exceeded his expectations.
Virus, Vaccine, Data—these categories weren't arbitrary labels.
These three attributes were effectively separate operating systems, each capable of running and hosting entirely different plugins and processes.
It was akin to the fundamental differences between Android and iOS for mobile phones, or Windows and Mac for computers. Though superficially similar, they couldn't be considered interchangeable.
"Thankfully, Digimon compatibility is better than I imagined. Even software from another system can still run somewhat, however imperfectly."
Lost in thought, Chen Ze quickly glanced around. He had already erased most of the surveillance data, but couldn't seem to locate the critical footage he was after.
Just as he was about to give up, his eyes caught a completely blacked-out video segment. The timestamp drew his attention immediately:
[1995-08-12/21:00:00-22:00:00]
The instant Chen Ze saw this blacked-out record, he knew his and Renamon's efforts had been wasted.
"Did Homeostasis already intervene beforehand?"
Considering Homeostasis's identity as the so-called "God of the Network," Chen Ze wasn't particularly surprised that it could quietly erase or alter this piece of surveillance data.
Still, to be absolutely safe, Chen Ze intercepted that blacked-out segment and repeatedly overwrote and erased it using the Overload Program.
In the next instant, the server's hard drive seemed to finally reach its limits, letting out a muffled sound.
Crack…
A noise like glass shattering echoed sharply through the digital space—like the death cry of a failing hard drive.
Before Chen Ze could even react, he was forcibly expelled from the Police Department's server.