Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Ghosts Live on the Internet Too (3)
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It's a story some might know, but there's a thing called the Dead Internet Theory.
The concept is simple. It's the hypothesis that most of the content on the internet is actually created by AI and bots.
Meaning, the news, videos, and posts you encounter online are all fabricated, and the reactions to them are from fake accounts that don't actually exist.
Therefore, we are easily manipulated by public opinion manufactured by someone else—that was the gist of the conspiracy theory.
Still, this was a story that had been circulating since the distant past, when the capability to do such a thing didn't exist.
It was nothing more than a trivial internet topic to be laughed off.
However, as technology advanced, it became something that couldn't be dismissed as a joke.
Deceptively manipulated fake news and false data, so difficult to verify, flooded the internet to the point of overwhelming real information.
Fake accounts mimicking people, so-called bots, could easily sway public opinion with reactions more human-like than actual humans.
In particular, millions of metahumans with no resistance to media and marketing contributed to the further spread of these shenanigans.
'We can't let AI manipulate us like this. We need an internet space truly for humans.'
This situation was welcomed by no one, except for the few factions who intended it.
Thus, the place that stepped up to eradicate generated information and fake accounts was Pioneer.
That was also the reason it rose to become the most popular site of the era.
“Hmph. Looks like a real person. An elaborate photo that bypasses AI detection and a linked social media account with records going back ten years. On top of that, an officially verified bank account… But it seems you couldn't change Nighthaven's ironclad database, could you? Busted.”
A dark, cramped room where all the windows were covered by blackout curtains, not a single ray of light penetrating.
Here, a girl was squatting on a chair in a posture that looked bad for her back.
Her appearance, faintly illuminated by the monitor's glow, was quite unique.
Pink skin that looked soft to the touch and golden eyes.
And two long, thin tentacles extending from the back of her neck.
Though she had a human form, she was a metahuman closer to tentacles clumped together to resemble a person. Her name was Sephara.
Her specialty was striking enemies with the hard, swift tentacles that grew from her nape.
They were powerful enough to easily crumple a cheap iron sword.
But in her enemy-free room, they merely served as pseudo-fingers to help her type.
“Ha, trying to deceive an admin with a method like this? You're a hundred years too early!”
Sephara was an outstanding hacker. Her handle, Phara, was taken from the latter part of her name.
Perhaps because many hackers had fallen victim to her, she had another nickname: Mad Dog Phara.
Though she did have an embarrassing past where she was utterly defeated by an anonymous hacker and burst into tears on the spot.
Still, she was skilled enough to be counted among the top hackers in Nighthaven on one hand.
Perhaps because her incredible skills were recognized.
Sephara was able to become an admin for Pioneer, guaranteed an enormous sum of money.
Her role was to determine whether a suspicious user was a real person or a bot.
If it was a fake account, she had the authority to delete it immediately.
The skill to expose their identity to the world with just the smallest trace.
And the overwhelming power to eliminate an opponent with a flick of her finger.
Sephara was, in essence, an iron-blooded guardian of Pioneer whom no one dared to challenge!
“Still, it's a bit disappointing. I thought they'd come up with a novel method this time. In the end, aside from being more sophisticated, it's no different from the old ways.”
After eliminating the fake account, Jane Smith, which had been generating unusually high traffic.
Sephara leaned back in her chair and let out a deep sigh, looking bored.
Getting paid a lot was nice, but it really wasn't fun.
Perhaps it was because the ones who tried to pull stunts on a community site like this were usually amateurs.
Of course, a heart-pounding showdown would probably wreck the site.
Sometimes, she even wished for something special to happen, even if it meant getting fired as an admin.
But as the saying goes, the mouth is a gate that invites disaster.
Was it because she'd had such a thought? An alert with a cute icon immediately popped up on her monitor.
[Suspicious account detected in the Indian Cuisine Community!]
“Huh? Again? It can't be the same one. It should take at least an hour to create a fake account of that quality.”
Crack.
Sephara stretched her stiff body, pulling her arms high above her head.
Then, she straightened her posture and used her tentacles to operate the mouse, quickly checking the situation.
The anomaly was occurring in a fringe community with few users.
A desolate forum where a new post appeared once every three or four days.
There, new posts were appearing every ten seconds, as if it were a popular community.
Of course, the content consisted of posts that looked like they were generated by a cheap auto-generation program.
However, that wasn't what truly irked Sephara.
The author of those posts was, surprisingly, Jane Smith1.
The very same one she had just kicked out.
“Ha, so you want to go a round with me, is that it?”
Throb. A vein pulsed on Sephara's forehead.
To crawl back in with the account she had just banned. No matter how you looked at it, this was a clear provocation.
She moved her tentacles to swiftly ban the Jane Smith1 account.
Then, she gathered all the garbage posts that looked like clumsily copied sentences and deleted them all at once.
With just that, peace was quickly restored to the Indian Cuisine Community.
Sephara, with a grim expression, confirmed there were no more signs of trouble before searching for Jane Smith1's account information on a secondary monitor.
Surprisingly, it wasn't the Jane Smith she had seen earlier, but a person with a completely different face and past.
This time, the address wasn't Nighthaven, but an obscure city called Belmond.
But Sephara quickly realized that this person was also fabricated.
‘What, are they using pre-made profiles one by one? No, if they can do this, they should be robbing a bank. Why are they causing a ruckus here?’
Tsk, still, if this is all they've got, they're not a threat.
She whipped her tentacles through the air as she began to trace the person who created this 'Jane Smith'.
If they were creating such an elaborate fake persona, there had to be a mistake somewhere.
Sephara planned to find their face and plaster it all over Pioneer's public announcements.
However, the more information she dug up, the more her expression hardened.
Even after analyzing the personal information, IP address, email, and social media.
There were no traces, as if it were a real person.
“Huh? It's not an AI-generated photo, and it's not stolen from somewhere else? Then what is this? Who are all these other people in the photo! Who puts this much effort into a disposable fake account!”
They're annoyingly detailed. This makes a back-trace a bit difficult.
Sephara clicked her tongue and carefully watched the situation, anticipating the next intrusion.
And just as expected, Jane Smith2 attacked the community. She banned it immediately.
But this time, as if anticipating the ban, Jane Smith3 resurrected a few seconds later. Banned.
Following that, Jane Smith4, 5, 6... bombarded the Indian Cuisine Community.
When Jane Smith25 finally met its futile end at the hands of the admin, Sephara.
She slammed her tentacles on the desk and shouted.
“Aaaargh! This pest is so persistent! Do they have a grudge because they never got to eat Indian food?! Why are they sticking to this so hard!”
At this rate, it'll never end. I have to eliminate the source somehow!
Meanwhile, somehow they'd found her admin email. Glaring murderously at the incessant *ding-dong* notifications, she kicked a button under her desk with a loud *thump*!
In an instant, her ordinary-sized desk expanded, and multiple keyboards and monitor screens appeared.
This was Neo Sephara Mode, which tripled her skills and abilities as a hacker!
The only one who had ever defeated her in this state was an anonymous hacker with the handle 'D'.
“I'll absolutely destroy you! Jane Smiiiiith!”
A murderous glint flashed in Sephara's golden eyes.
It was a menacing aura that promised this wouldn't end until her opponent was finished.
But if there was one thing she hadn't anticipated, it was that this wasn't a battle between hackers...
...but a simple prank from someone with no ill intent.
“What, this far already!”
Fzzt...!
The monitor screen Sephara was looking at flickered and blurred.
No, not just that one; the same symptom appeared on all nine of the surrounding sub-monitors.
Don't tell me they planted malicious code already!
Startled, Sephara was about to hammer on her keyboard to assume a defensive posture.
When a phenomenon that made her mind go blank occurred right before her eyes.
“...Eh?”
Rippling through the monitor's surface, a hand emerged.
A pale, pristine white hand, reminiscent of a mannequin's.
With hands suddenly jutting out from all ten monitors.
The shocked Sephara froze, unable to even scream.
What is this? This... isn't even magic?
Faced with a bizarre phenomenon that defied reality, she could only stare blankly, her mouth agape.
The hands continued to push through the screens, approaching the motionless Sephara...
When they were close enough to poke her in the eyes.
Then, in the blink of an eye, they vanished without a trace, as if they'd never been there.
A hallucination? Or a mental breakdown?
Still frozen in place, it was several tens of seconds before she could finally manage to speak.
“...This is an expensive chair.”
Feeling the sudden dampness, Sephara squeezed her eyes shut and secretly wiped away a tear.
It was a day that added another line to her dark history, one she could never tell anyone about.
***
At the same time. Pouting at the admin's lack of response despite her prolonged trolling, Yuria brought the Echo to her forehead.
‘What's this? You said you'd just interfere once. The admin isn't showing up at all. You didn't do anything dangerous, did you?’
[...My apologies. It seems the admin has temporarily left their post after receiving a great shock.]
‘What did you do...? Ah, whatever. Just delete all the posts I just made and create a new account for me. I'm just going to lurk from now on.’
[Understood.]
Bye-bye, Indian Cuisine Community.
I'm going to play in the big leagues now. Thanks for being my playground.
Yuria thought to herself as she logged into Pioneer with her newly created account.
This time, it wasn't another 'Jane Smith' from who-knows-where, but an anonymous username.
And so, leaving behind a legend known only to a few, the greatest troll of all time quietly retired.
Should the day come for her to reawaken... the internet would surely be reduced to ruins.