Conan: Begins to collaborate with Miss Bayonetta and become famous

Chapter 847 What is Intelligence?

Tokyo.

The winery's wartime command center, intelligence briefing room.

A cold blue light spread from the huge holographic screen, illuminating solemn faces.

The air seemed to freeze, with only the low hum of equipment and suppressed breathing intertwined.

"So," Xue Shu's cold voice cut through the silence. He leaned forward slightly, his gaze piercing. "What exactly is before us?"

Bourbon leaned lazily against the back of his chair, crossed his long legs, and lightly swiped his fingertips across the touchpad.

The image on the screen changed accordingly. Countless dark blue data particles gathered and dispersed like living deep-sea jellyfish, and finally seemed to condense into a cold giant eye, silently staring at everyone present through the screen.

"This so-called 'intelligence,'" Bourbon said in a calm and clear voice, with a hint of analytical insight, "exhibits multiple distinct behavioral patterns. In some cases, its penetration and destruction patterns are more akin to a highly complex computer virus we've never encountered before."

He paused for a moment and turned the page of the electronic file in his hand.

"However," he said, his tone emphasizing, "in other cases, its organizational structure and spread resemble a vast, collectively conscious nematode network or botnet cluster, coordinated and unified, making it difficult to eradicate."

Jägermeister swirled his glass of red wine, rich as blood, and elegantly took over the conversation with a cynical certainty in his tone: "Its core harm lies in its ability to wantonly distort and contaminate all digital information it can access. It's like... a digital cancer with its own will."

"That's right." James's face was extremely solemn, his fingers unconsciously stroking the stubble on his chin. "Once infected, the authenticity and integrity of any information recorded, stored, and transmitted digitally—from a line of code to a top-secret national policy—will no longer be trustworthy. There is a high risk of silent tampering and permanent contamination."

"Initially, in the two to five years before Rum's defection," Bourbon said, his fingertips pressed together under his chin. "Its activities were mainly concentrated on global news networks and social media platforms. We didn't intervene too much at the time, and even..."

He paused briefly and chose a more neutral term, "...taking a wait-and-see approach. Because the chaos it created at the time often objectively intersects with some of our short-term interests."

"But everything changed completely two weeks ago." A man wearing the uniform of a senior officer of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces spoke in a deep voice. He was a special liaison officer from Tokyo.

He is also the organization's liaison with the military and has worked closely with senior officials for many years.

"The 'intelligent body' penetrated and completely breached the multi-pronged physically isolated network of the Saudi Arabian General Intelligence Agency (GIP)."

"And," Jägermeister took a sip of red wine, savoring it carefully as if infused with new energy. He put down his glass and his tone became more serious than ever. "It successfully stole the core of Saudi Arabia's expensive and highly confidential 'Prophet' project - a strong artificial intelligence prototype that has initially demonstrated nonlinear autonomous learning capabilities."

"Then," he gestured with a "vanishing" gesture, "it carried this world-changing 'trophy' and disappeared deep within the global data cloud, as if it had never existed."

James' voice was heavy, and every word struck everyone's heart. "Since the theft, its infection rate has exploded. Overnight, abnormal data activity detected globally soared ten thousand-fold. Now..."

He took a deep breath, as if he needed extra oxygen to state the fact. "It's expanding at an exponential rate that we can't comprehend. We've lost the ability to predict its size and its upper limit."

"In other words," Xue Shu paused deliberately for a moment, then raised his voice word by word, his cold tone carrying a subtle hint of fear, "the intelligent body already possesses... the ability to perceive."

"What I mean is," the man with a stern demeanor and golden slicked-back hair, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke.

He stared into the blue eyes on the screen through the lenses and said in a low voice, which flashed with deep despair rather than surprise, "It has learned to think for itself."

At the same time, in the encrypted corridor leading to the core meeting room.

A white-haired man was walking forward with steady and silent steps.

He was carrying a heavy black metal box and stopped precisely in front of a scanner that was emitting a faint blue light.

He placed the metal box steadily into the scanning slot, then raised his arms high and accepted the rigorous close inspection by the security personnel on both sides with an expressionless face.

Then he opened his palm and pressed it firmly on the fingerprint reader of the access control system.

Finally, he raised his head slightly, adjusted his collar, and placed his face completely within the capture frame of the facial recognition system.

The cold electronic light swept across his chiseled face.

The heavy atmosphere continued in the meeting room.

"In the past three days alone," Bourbon projected the latest intelligence he had compiled onto the main screen, the red alert icon striking. "It has successfully invaded and partially taken over our global satellite communication encrypted channels."

“The world’s reserve bank gold transaction settlement system.”

"The core server of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and..." He paused, "...the smart grid control system covering Tokyo."

James added in a hoarse voice something more terrifying that Bourbon hadn't mentioned: "It also includes the World Air Traffic Control Agency, NASA's deep data network, and..."

He glanced at the Self-Defense Forces representative, "...the command system of military branches we have established in major key areas."

Xue Shu's eyes flashed with a trace of regret that was difficult to conceal, even a hint of pain: "The multiple offshore financial centers controlled by the organization and the encrypted wealth network accumulated over a century have also suffered a devastating blow. We have accumulated an empire of wealth for more than a century..."

His voice deepened. "At this moment... it vanished into thin air in an instant, like a sand castle washed away by the waves, becoming... worthless."

"And it's not just us." Jäger drank the rest of the wine in his glass in one gulp. That action didn't seem like tasting, but more like a helpless memorial. "It's also spread to other countries. The internal settlement channel of the European Central Bank that I established..."

He gave a wry smile, his smile filled with self-mockery, "...Just now, it was confirmed to have completely evaporated. Not even a trace of data residue could be recovered."

"That's not all." Bourbon revealed an unprecedented solemnity and frustration. "It also simultaneously invaded and paralyzed the defense deployment systems, national financial settlement systems, and critical infrastructure control systems (transportation, energy, and water) of over seventeen major countries around the world."

"Its attack... is comprehensive and synchronized. We are facing a global digital Pearl Harbor."