"Finally done!"
Chen Ze stretched deeply, looking at the EDEN debugging device he had just finished assembling, a satisfied grin on his face.
"Is this really enough?"
Renamon stared at the black metal box, somewhat resembling a computer case, her face filled with uncertainty.
"Of course it is. With this, no one will be able to tamper with our 'login coordinates' anymore."
After returning from Hikarigaoka, Chen Ze had deliberately avoided using the EDEN network for quite a long time. His goal was to investigate the truth behind his mysterious "journey to Hikarigaoka."
Following extensive investigation, Chen Ze finally discovered some faint traces from his computer's logs.
The last "Hikarigaoka Incident" seemed to involve a highly skilled hacker temporarily rewriting the login coordinates for both him and Renamon, causing them to inexplicably appear in another world.
To this day, Chen Ze still didn't understand exactly how that unknown hacker had managed to send them from a virtual network into a parallel reality.
This went far beyond the scope of ordinary hacking techniques or electronic devices—if anything, it resembled the powers of certain god-level Digimon.
Fortunately, even if that unknown ability was bizarrely powerful, it still relied on cyberspace and electronic hardware.
Thus, after careful consideration, Chen Ze finally came up with a targeted countermeasure—the EDEN debugging device was born from this idea.
The EDEN debugging device could also be called a Private EDEN Server Network.
Unlike his previous method—which used traditional network paths to temporarily jump into Japan's EDEN network—this debugging device could simulate a secure channel infinitely close to virtual cyberspace, connecting directly to EDEN.
With this setup, the kind of login coordinate tampering from last time would no longer be effective.
Of course, to better understand how the EDEN debugging device worked, we need to clarify two fundamental concepts related to hacking in this era.
The first was known as the "Digital Avatar."
A digital avatar was constructed from real-life personal identity data, creating an online avatar capable of moving freely through any public network areas not specifically blacklisted.
This concept was similar to the username-password combinations Chen Ze remembered from his previous life.
However, the digital avatar's scope was much broader, involving far more vital data, effectively becoming an online identity card for every citizen of this era.
Only by having such a basic digital avatar could humans access various permissions, granting them near "god-like" abilities in cyberspace.
For example, if someone wanted to read an e-book online in this era, their digital avatar needed to purchase the corresponding permissions and information before they could read it through their personal network terminal.
This authorization would permanently bind to the digital avatar. No matter how many electronic devices you changed, your permissions would always follow your avatar—until that avatar was officially deleted.
Particularly within the EDEN virtual reality network, a digital avatar was almost equivalent to a second physical body—an authentic digital counterpart of a human's physical self.
Thus, except for a minority of hackers who recklessly surfed the web without disguises, most hackers created a secondary, nearly-perfect imitation digital avatar separate from their authentic one.
After all, hackers weren't exactly known for their commitment to cybersecurity. Some had even skirted or outright broken laws.
But how exactly did they create these fake avatars?
Different hackers had different methods.
Some hackers liked to frequently discard and replace their avatars. As long as they achieved their goal, they didn't care about the suspicious "irregularities" their avatars might cause.
These disposable digital avatars were usually easy to detect and were only suitable for exploring limited network areas, rather than fully integrating into public cyberspace.
The other type of hackers differed significantly. Instead of simply damaging network security, they preferred honing their techniques—constantly refining their fake avatars toward near perfection.
This kind of avatar usually started from real-world identity data, which was then modified or disguised internally to meet the hacker's specific needs.
However, regardless of these differences, both kinds of avatars directly created a dark market—a shadowy industry chain involving identity theft, where real people's information was stolen and sold to hackers in need.
In fact, the greasy middle-aged hacker Chen Ze had encountered on the dark web previously was involved in precisely this business.
Chen Ze's first digital avatar—the one he named "Pale War God"—was also sourced from this channel.
But after Chen Ze thoroughly modified and disguised it, the avatar's internal permissions and identity recognition had become completely different, becoming nearly half-real in existence.
Therefore, when browsing or navigating certain darker corners of cyberspace, Chen Ze usually bound all relevant permissions to this particular digital avatar to conceal his real identity.
Apart from digital avatars, another extremely important concept in this era was the Network Address.
Or rather, since the birth of the internet itself, network addresses had always been crucial as they served as the exclusive channel for almost every electronic device logging into the network.
In the early twenty-first century, network addresses were known by another name—IP addresses.
However, compared to the IP addresses of that era, contemporary network addresses covered a much broader range. Regulations strictly required every device to possess its own unique network address for interaction with other network devices.
Physical location, registered real names, home addresses—anyone technically skilled enough could use a network address to find out virtually all identifying information of the person on the other side of a computer.
In other words, if a digital avatar represented one's "information" online, then the network address indicated their real-world "location."
And that skilled, mysterious hacker had exploited this process, causing the data avatar—originally logging into Japan's EDEN network—to inexplicably appear in a parallel reality instead.
"Can this thing… really work?"
Renamon wasn't doubting Chen Ze's abilities, but having personally witnessed Mirei's power, she still found it hard to believe a simple black metal box could block interference from such overwhelming forces.
"As long as the person behind this still uses hacking methods, the EDEN debugging device will stop him from pinpointing my location."