532: Chapter 176 First Kill 532: Chapter 176 First Kill ——The Igni Seal is perhaps more significant politically than pragmatically.

As the decompilation progressed, Xiang Shan gradually reached this conclusion.

Embedded as a special module in the core firewall of Secluded Crane City, the Igni Seal comprised several components.

One of these components was a “Spell Library,” which contained a massive amount of spells.

The number was slightly less than what Zero had given him, and the two libraries did not completely overlap.

It is likely that such highly-used spells were no longer considered “mysterious” by top experts.

They were the kind that had a high likelihood of being decrypted and counteracted.

Upon detecting “certain specified abnormal situations” in the firewall, or upon receiving a certain command, the Igni Seal would be triggered.

The system would automatically select from these spell libraries, and broadcast randomly across all forms of communication within the signal’s reach.

This constituted the first layer of passive defense.

Many experts could filter out these attacks with their own firewalls.

However, not everyone could resist the broad-based attacks of the Igni Seal.

This would inevitably involve others within the attack range of the Igni Seal, causing unnecessary casualties.

Particularly since some of these spells could cause Prosthetic Bodies to overload and catch fire, which could be lethal.

Moreover, for Benchmark Man wandering at the bottom, even if they did not die directly, they could not afford the damage such attacks caused to their equipment.

It would incapacitate them, leaving them to wait for death.

The other component was a specialized communication protocol.

This communication protocol probably also existed widely among government satellites.

Whether King Aqini had done it openly or covertly, this protocol could construct a dedicated data link between several satellites across the Earth-Moon system.

The message of “Igni Seal being triggered” would then travel to the Moon via this temporary dedicated link, manifesting as a “touch signal” in the consciousness of King Aqini.

And the instinctive retaliatory strike of King Aqini would descend in an instant.

The retaliation personally made by King Aqini was not comparable to the “random backdoor command broadcast, automatic attack” from the Spell Library.

The design of the Igni Seal was quite clever in this aspect.

Only top experts, capable of bypassing the defenses and dispelling the “confusing” fog to extract the “Spell Library” from the Igni Seal, would be indifferent to spells deemed ineffective due to excessive use.

And those ordinary Internal martial artists who needed these spells to replenish their own “Spell Reserves” couldn’t achieve this.

“So, to say, the biggest use of this thing is to take the people around as hostages?

Tch, isn’t there anyone inside the Imperial Court who wants to chop down this old dog?” Xiang Shan shook his head.

After all, all Inner Strength could not affect a can that blocks all external signals.

However, to ensure control over the outside world, things like Prosthetic Eyes and radars were essential.

And in this distorted world, these gadgets had many backdoors.

The strongest aspect of the Igni Seal was its shamelessness.

Apart from that, its threat wasn’t that significant.

——No, wait.

On closer thought, it wasn’t entirely so.

The thing still had some significance.

As long as the Igni Seal existed, Heroes would not be able to stir up much trouble within the city, let alone completely occupy it.

To some extent, the thing signified that the Protector had the resolution to “kill all the city’s inhabitants rather than leave the means of production to bandits.”

Moreover, the actions of Internal experts would be severely limited.

Within the Earth-Moon system, the scenario of “a single Internal expert covertly taking over a city” would be hard to enact.

Even external experts like Zero, who grew up outside the Earth-Moon system and sent their Personality Masks to Earth via “download”, had to act very cautiously.

If not for the Igni Seal, Zero’s entries and exits from the Meiyimei Building would have been as easy as walking in and out of his own residential community’s garden, not requiring him such extensive time to make various arrangements in Pine Eagle City or to infiltrate slowly using Gu.

It likely also serves to boost the confidence of the Protector.

“This device doesn’t pose much harm to the Heroes involved in the operation itself,” Xiang Shan pondered.

“The real issue is how to prevent the AOE from involving unintended bystanders.”

The best method, of course, would be to equip everyone with firewalls.

But that’s also quite difficult in this era.

Most people download programs online based on personal preference, the vast majority without this awareness.

Moreover, creating a public firewall poses a huge risk to the creator as well.

It could likely expose the creator’s Inner Strength preferences and thought processes.

The shared paths might also be traceable.

Facing old hackers like Hartman, such behavior could likely invite deadly consequences.

“If it were possible to instantly uninstall the Igni Seal…” Xiang Shan mused while formulating countermeasures in his mind, he suddenly shook his head, “Tch, I’m still distracted.”

He stretched out his hand and gently waved it in the air.

This gesture was a form of “self-suggestion” or “trigger.” In that moment, several attacks burst forth from Xiang Shan’s brain.

Then, he leaped up from the charging station: “The special uninstall command still needs a bit more setup… I’ll fire it up later.

Let’s give them a surprise first.”

Saying so, he took out a primitive fire-starting device—a regular small battery and a bit of wire would do, and tossed it into a pile of motherboards behind him.

All these were the motherboards of those he had hacked into.

He still planned to maintain a bit of “mystery.”

The fire blazed up.

The fire alarm was triggered.

Xiang Shan simply let the sprinkles fall on him, considering it a cooling shower.

“I remember there’s an underground passage here too,” Xiang Shan hummed nonchalantly: “Cold cold icy rain slapping wildly on my face/Warm warm tears… this song doesn’t fit at all.”

“A rainstorm / traps me here…

no, these lyrics are a bit unlucky.”

“I don’t feel any pain / A little fall of rain…

no, that’s even more unlucky.”

Xiang Shan shook his head, casting these random thoughts out of his mind.

“Memory loss has made my playlist inadequate too,” he sighed, deeply disheartened by his inability to find a fitting background track.

…………………………

Meanwhile

White Hermit and Guardian Zhi burst out of the elevator.

And then, they just witnessed the moment Protector Wan fell.

Protector Wan, having overloaded, convulsed in his limbs and emitted a series of electrical sparks from his cooling vents.

And then, this highly anticipated Internal expert of the Six Dragons Sect, collapsed.