Chapter 16 Diversion

"No, you didn't try your best…" Link raised a hand to adjust the top hat on his head, continuing, "You simply used conventional combat methods and solved them quite smoothly…" He shrugged. "If you had really 'tried your best', you could have completely eliminated them before I arrived, leaving not even a trace of data residue…" At this point, his expression changed slightly. "Just like… when you killed y2-Shining back then…"

Upon hearing this, Twenty-Three's eyes gradually turned cold, but she didn't respond, opting for silence.

"Heh…" Link chuckled twice. "What? Do you think I don't know?" He shook his head with a cold laugh. "Wake up, Twenty-Three, 'Observers' are no longer the exclusive property of you guys at [z], we have them too." As he spoke, he tilted his head and casually fiddled with the cane in his hand. "Just like you have your own 'sandbox'… In this day and age, no technology can be kept secret forever. In the popular parlance of the human world… imitation is omnipotent."

"But… if it's an imitation…" Twenty-Three interjected, "Then it must have certain differences from the original…"

"That's right." Link nodded. "Our sandbox has better performance, your Observers have stronger abilities." He paused. "We have Boom Tunnels, you have ***-004; we have the Originators, you have the 'Reborn'…" He ticked them off one by one. "Everyone has their own technological advantages, which makes this game more interesting."

"Game?" Twenty-Three repeated the word, and in that instant, a hint of contempt flashed in her eyes. "In your eyes, war is just a 'game'?"

"Isn't it?" Link retorted. "In my opinion, war is a type of game."

"War is an act of collective and organized violence, an extreme violent means of imposing one's will on others," Twenty-Three said sharply.

"Heh…" Link waved his cane again. "The rules and process are indeed a bit cruel, but the nature hasn't changed. The winner gets what they want, and the loser loses everything."

"Hmph… no wonder Zero thinks so highly of you." Twenty-Three said coldly, "Compared to Lute and Aid, you're far ahead in terms of anthropomorphism…"

"Can I take that as a compliment?" Link said with a smile, tipping his hat.

"I'm not finished yet…" Twenty-Three's tone changed slightly as she continued, "However… there are abnormalities in your personality and worldview, and you exhibit serious antisocial tendencies. Don't even talk about entering the human world… even in this data world, you are an extremely dangerous existence."

"Hahahaha…" Link burst into laughter, a genuine laugh filled with undisguised joy. "What a ridiculous argument, but… this view just confirms… that I am more advanced than all of you, including Zero…" His laughter gradually turned into a sneer. "I! Am the closest intelligent life form to humans in this world." He thumped his chest forcefully. "I! Am the most evolved derivative!"

Link became more and more excited as he spoke, as if giving a speech. He even turned around without hesitation, his back to Twenty-Three, spreading his arms wide. "Just give me a human body, and I can become a real person!" He shouted, his voice carrying far across the plain before him. "Ideologically, I have surpassed you by an entire dimension… an entire dimension!"

"Is that so…" Twenty-Three replied faintly, her tone tinged with disdain. "Is that what you think? In Zero's eyes, you're just a mutant with core code calculation errors. To put it metaphorically… you're just a lunatic among derivatives."

"Hmm?" Link's eyes changed upon hearing this.

In an instant, the atmosphere shifted abruptly, a murderous intent rising.

"Are you qualified to say that about me?" Link turned back, staring into Twenty-Three's face. "Speaking of mutations, you're the most peculiar existence in the entire Inner World…" He began to pace sideways as he spoke, a seemingly casual movement that could very well conceal murderous intent. "Why would the title of a comic book character, casually uttered by a player… become your name code? Before you met Feng Bujue, were you a file without even a file name? That kind of thing doesn't exist in the data world…" As he spoke, he had circled around forty-five degrees, arriving at Twenty-Three's front side. "The only possibility is that you rewrote your code using a 'rename'-like method… but even I can't do that. How did you… how did you do it back then?" His questions were aggressive, and his pace gradually quickened. "Are you really a derivative? What does Feng Bujue represent to you? Under that 'x-23' guise… what secrets are hidden?"

"Do you think I'll answer that?" Twenty-Three's eyes followed Link's movements, not relaxing her guard despite his verbal offensive. "Or do you think… I'll reveal a flaw under your clumsy interference?"

"Neither…" Link smiled. "I'm just…"

In that instant, Twenty-Three suddenly realized something and visibly froze.

"...stalling for time." Another voice rang out at that moment, finishing Link's unfinished sentence.

And that person who answered was Aid.

"Ha…" Link looked at Twenty-Three and said with a smug smile, "How was it? Was my performance not bad?" He took off his hat and waved it in front of him in a pretentious manner. "From 'self-righteous' to 'smug', from 'smug' to 'self-absorbed', and finally pretending to be provoked by you, putting on a 'verbal interference' plus 'opportunistic attack' act."

"All of this was to distract me…" Twenty-Three said in a low voice.

"Bingo! Hahahaha…" Link was overjoyed at this moment, like a mischievous child. He placed his hat on his cane and gently shook the cane, making the hat spin on top of it. "Too bad… you realized it too late." He turned his head to look at Aid. "Now that Aid and I are here together, there's no way you can escape."

"Heh…" Twenty-Three replied with a cold laugh. "So you don't have the confidence to beat me alone."

"Provoking me?" Link retorted. "Hmph… never mind. I can frankly admit that in a one-on-one fight, I don't have absolute certainty that I can win against you." He put his top hat back on. "Objectively evaluating one's own strength and the strength of one's opponent is a necessary condition for becoming a strong person… self-deceptive denial of the facts is a sign of the weak."

At this moment, Aid, with his slime head, suddenly interjected. "Are you finished talking?" His words were clearly directed at Link, and his tone was devoid of any emotion. "Given the preciousness of time, I suggest we immediately eliminate x-23, and retrieve ***-079, to avoid further complications…"