Chapter 458: Sightseeing Tour Departs, "The Matrix"

"A hacker?"

"A hacker?!" The crowd in the Jiuhua City shop seemed even denser than usual, buzzing with activity the moment the doors swung open in the early morning.

Li Haoran had only just stepped inside when his eyes fell upon the new movie available in the shop, freezing him instantly in his tracks.

Others might not comprehend the meaning behind those two syllables, but as a prodigy of artifact crafting from the Great Jin State, he knew all too well exactly how they had won that information war—the one that had effortlessly shattered the allied forces of the major factions.

It had borrowed its strategy from the ideas of Lester, the hacker from *Grand Theft Auto V*.

Perhaps their tactics back then had been rudimentary, but against other factions completely unequipped to handle such warfare, it had, without a doubt, proven effective.

And so, abruptly confronted today with *The Matrix*...

"There is actually a movie dedicated to this?!" Li Haoran found it rather peculiar. It was true that their past strategy had drawn inspiration from it, but in this world... what use was watching a hacker?

Was it expected that after watching this, one would learn the skills inside and hack into the internet cafe's own computers?

That was hardly realistic.

Furthermore, he glanced at the price and found it genuinely steep: thirty-eight crystals.

He could certainly afford the crystals, but what was the meaning behind a price tag that almost rivaled *The Legend of Shushan*?

In their eyes, the so-called "technology" studied by ordinary humans seemed somewhat like child's play when compared to the cutting-edge, supreme treasures of cultivators found in *The Legend of Shushan* and *The Legend of Sword and Fairy*. If it weren't for its advantages over spiritual artifacts in certain low-to-mid-tier fields, it would have been rendered obsolete long ago.

The Half-City shop.

"Why is everyone standing around here?"

The King of Liberty was a youth with shoulder-length white hair, appearing no older than seventeen or eighteen.

Following behind him was an old man clad in purple robes—none other than the Samsara King of Half-City.

The Samsara King had once courted death by testing the waters on the brink of disaster, but the old man was clearly sharp and vigilant. Since the Great Demon had been suppressed, he had lost all desire to even try, heading straight to the internet cafe every day to play games with absolute docility.

Yet upon entering today, he discovered a vast flock of elders and disciples from the Nanhua Sect, all gathered around the counter.

Mo Xian murmured, "A new movie came out in the shop today. We are debating whether to watch it together."

Yue Yan asked, "What is this *The Matrix*? Is it that after watching it, we can rid ourselves of Lester, hack into people's security systems by ourselves, and handle all kinds of heists on our own?"

Liu Ningyun inquired, "Miss Ruan, do you and your people plan on watching it?"

"I will watch it if the Chairman watches it," Ruan Ning replied. "That Old Demon never takes a loss."

Mo Xian looked utterly disdainful. "Even if we watch it, he won't lose out. The money earned still goes into his pockets."

Perfected Qi Chi spoke up, "A hacker, is it? Let us get to our computers first, and we can ask the cultivators over at Jiuhua City in the group chat while we are at it."

Mo Xian muttered, "I feel like there won't be much to see..."

Having stayed in the world of *Grand Theft Auto V* for so long, they had realized that while the technology possessed some brilliant aspects, everything else was rather ordinary.

And even if it was called brilliant, the truth remained that for top-tier cultivators, once they grasped the underlying principles, dealing with such clumsy machinery was not difficult at all.

The King of Liberty and the Samsara King exchanged glances. "What is this? Should we take a look as well...?"

In the "Boss Fang's Sightseeing Tour" Penguin group, which was usually not very active, the moment a new movie was released, an absolute flood of lurkers instantly leaped to the surface.

Su Tianji asked, "Is the boss organizing a group today?"

Naran Hongwu said, "This does not look like something meant for warriors. Should this old master watch it?"

Boss Fang replied, "Watch it if you like, it is just over two hours. All aboard if you want to watch!"

Su Tianji declared, "Me!"

Dong Qingli cried, "Me, me, me!"

An Huwei shouted, "Count me in!"

"..." The Penguin group chat flooded the screen.

Inside the Half-City shop.

Mo Xian urged, "Go, go, go! Let us hurry up and get on board!"

Beside her, Liu Ningyun was bewildered. "Senior Sister, didn't you say it would be uninteresting?"

Mo Xian countered, "Can't you see that everyone else has gone? If we don't get on now, it will be full!"

Yue Yan urged, "Hurry up, get on!"

"..."

Inside the Yuanyang City shop.

"What is going on here?"

"Why are there so many people?"

"Shall we go take a look too?"

Tang Yu muttered, "What is happening? Let us go see..."

In an instant, a massive crowd of people materialized within Boss Fang's "My Space."

"Didn't you all intend not to watch it?"

"How did you all end up here?"

Fang Qi looked around him, spotting the old man Gu Tingyun, Elder Yu, and others, though he had no idea when they had managed to sneak into the group.

Boss Fang's face twitched. "The sightseeing bus is already overflowing. Please wait for the next shift!"

The customers from both shops who had failed to get on the bus stood frozen. "..."

Black Demon called out, "A sightseeing bus for *The Matrix*, anyone want to join?"

"Me!"

"Count me in!"

Nearby, the Samsara King and the King of Liberty had only just logged onto their computers. "...Why is everyone watching it?"

"Should we watch it too?"

With a clatter, the access permissions to "My Space" were closed, and Boss Fang's sightseeing tour set off.

Hitching a ride with Boss Fang was never free. Every single one of them had claimed it looked uninteresting and that they would wait and see, yet the moment the vehicle started, they had all piled in, leaving the space undeniably cramped at this moment.

A veil of absolute darkness enveloped their eyes, and when light returned, a dense, cascading torrent of data streams appeared before them. Upon the pitch-black screen, incredibly complex data flashed continuously, and it was only thanks to the system's translation function that they could comprehend this was a conversation between two hackers communicating across a network.

"It looks rather impressive..." Wang Xie murmured softly.

No one knew how this fellow had managed to sneak in, but since his master was inside, there was no reason to bar the disciple.

"I wonder how it compares to *The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3*," Tang Yu whispered, as he had only ever encountered the latter.

The environment before them was highly modern, carrying an architectural style reminiscent of the late twentieth century. Inside a dim and spartan room sat a lone female hacker, while outside the doors, lines of police officers heavily surrounded the premises.

"Senior Sister, the clothing of these people is so strange..." Mu Qing said softly, the two of them having followed Jiang Xiaoyue inside.

The cultivators of the Yuanyang City shop currently had no inkling of what they were witnessing; they only knew it bore a resemblance to the opening cinematic of *The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3*, so since everyone else was watching, they simply followed along blindly.

Mo Xian and the others who had played *Grand Theft Auto V* and possessed a highly distinct concept of this world showed a faint trace of disdain. "What is there to see in this? Just catching a hacker? We would be better off driving a few rounds and letting them come chase us instead."

This was the classic behavior of those who came merely to join the commotion—muttering that it lacked merit with their mouths, while pressing closer to watch with their eyes.

However, many others were also slightly disappointed. To them, "modernity" was virtually synonymous with a lower tier of strength. The weapons that had appeared, such as firearms, were things the Wuwei Dao Alliance had already thoroughly mastered; what was the point of watching this?

It wasn't entirely useless, but it overlapped too much with "Grand Theft Auto V."

The cultivators of Yuanyang City also felt that the spiritual treasures and martial arts these people utilized were indeed somewhat childish.

"This is far worse than 'Legend of Sword and Fairy 3'..." Zong Wu remarked. "Senior Gu, what do you think?"

Gu Tingyun nodded in agreement: "Indeed, it is lacking."

Elder Yu added: "With this level of strength, I could easily handle a hundred or a thousand of them myself. It falls far, far short."

"Could I really have come to the wrong place?"

.