"What? What did you get?" I got nothing.

He didn't answer me immediately, but waved his arm, opening a window in the air before us. He took out a keyboard, began to type. "Look." He moved the window toward me. "You're a Primary Practice Wizard, you should know something about MUD managing. This is a download record of the MWA's account manager system--through it we can check who's downloaded files."

"You mean...."

"It's a bug in the MUD interface. h.e.l.l! We found it once, but no-one thought it was important. Every Wizard account in MUD gets a record in the file. It's very simple; it only lists the permission level. For example, your record simply reads: Xingxing (PPW). The system will check your permission from the file when you log in, and then give you access."

"It sounds reasonable."

"The problem is...the problem is the system won't remove the record from the file automatically after the user is dead. So the account will still have its original permissions once it is re-registered. Your account," he said soberly, "is an example, I think."

"Unbelievable! How could MWA let this bug exist?"

"On the one hand, it's a historical problem," he said. "In earlier MUD, in the original age of MUD, the system was designed like that. At that time, the system wouldn't delete the account, just decrease the user's parameters. There was no real danger, and the account stayed on indefinitely unless a user manually deleted it. On the other side, Wizards usually set themselves as undead. Even if they didn't--like you--"

I scowled.

"--still the possibility of someone else signing in with your account name, in the period between your dying and trying to sign in again, is close to zero. So MWA never worried about it. But now...." He laughed without humour.

I still tried to stay optimistic. "I'm just a PPW, it's no use cracking my account."

"Look!" He pointed at the window, which was showing the latest file download records. On the third line from the end, it said, impressively, "/imm/etc/pa.s.swd->102.36.64.234.7.190.111.1 by Xingxing 11/03/2097 16:24:55 GMT." That meant a Wizard named Xingxing had downloaded the pa.s.sword file to a machine with address 102.36.64.234.7.190.111.1 just then.

"So what?" I said. "The pa.s.swords in the file are all encrypted."

"Right. But you could still compute it in half an hour if you had good tools and a decent machine. If this is true, hundreds of PPW accounts are in danger of being hacked." His voice was cold.

I was frightened. "So what should we do?"

"We're lucky that your account can only get the pa.s.sword file of other PPWs, and this account can't modify system modules. So we can keep the account security for upper levels like Wizard, Arch-Wizard, G.o.d, Arch-G.o.d. Unless...G.o.d!" He cried, knocking at the keyboard.

I watched him helplessly.

"Three minutes ago, a PPW was advanced to Wizard. So if someone hacked this account, he could get all kinds of pa.s.sword files and modify the system now!"

I nearly cried out.

"Let's go find this Wizard!" Porket pointed in the air and picked me up. Darkness covered me....

When the light came back I found myself in a palace that was built in a mix of Eastern and Western styles. Pictures flickered and changed on the wall. In the centre of the hall was a statue of Careless--the father of MUD.

About 50 years ago, Careless formed the integrative standard of the MUD system, integrated each divided MUD, and created a worldwide virtual reality system on the Internet--modern MUD. You can find his statue almost everywhere. No-one knows his real ident.i.ty. There were many rumours about him. Some even said he was still alive, and travelled the Worlds using an anonymous account. The original Careless account was reserved. No-one could use it.

"Where is it?" I asked. Porket shook his head. "I've never been here either. It looks like a secret first-level World. I made us move to the Wizard's World just now."

A caterpillar half the height of a man came out from a corner, crept over and through us as if we weren't there, and left a trail of multicoloured slime. Porket walked over to the statue. "d.a.m.n it!"

"What's the problem?"

"I can't get permission to check this World! I actually can't get the permissions!" He shot the statue with a ray of purple light. "What the h.e.l.l is this place?" Perhaps with his ego bruised, Porket began to show his magical powers. Flames and lightning were flying all around him as he roared with manic laughter. I stepped back quietly. It's best to keep away from a Wizard when he's pouring out his anger. I remembered those glory days when I was still a PPW, and sadness and anger flooded me.

The caterpillar came out again, crept by, burning Porket slowly. Very clearly, I saw him burn, but there was no damage. The caterpillar kept moving. I shouted, "Stop!"

"Are you talking to me?" Porket and the caterpillar turned back and said simultaneously. Porket was ill-looking and the caterpillar lovely. Porket turned to the caterpillar at once. "Are you a user? Are you the new advanced Wizard?"

"Of course," the caterpillar said. "My name is Babyb.u.t.terfly. It really should be a caterpillar, I guess. It's not a mystery. You looked confused there." Babyb.u.t.terfly turned to me again and said, "What's up?"

"Are you yourself?" Porket said, which I didn't at first understand. Without answering him, Babyb.u.t.terfly said to me, "How did you get here?"

"He brought me here," I said, pointing to Porket, "We have something to tell you. Your account may be attacked. You better change your pa.s.sword right away." Through a whisper channel, Porket scolded me. "Stupid! Don't tell him anything. How do you know he is not the man who hacked your account?"

"Do not whisper here. As the Master here, I can hear the messages of every channel," Babyb.u.t.terfly said. Apparatuses were wriggling inside his semitransparent skin. It was impressive. I said, "Are you the creator of this World?" and he nodded. "It's beautiful!" I said.

He smiled a little. It was the first smiling caterpillar I had ever seen. "Thank you."

"How could you--" Porket interrupted and was stopped by Babyb.u.t.terfly.

"Keeping propriety is very important, even in MUD. Did I talk to you? How could you do this as a Wizard? Peoples today are so...."

Without reason, I liked this guy, and told him everything. "What can I do? " I finally said.

"It's easy," he said, smiling. "Kill him and rob it back!"

"Do you think that guy hasn't set himself as undead? Are you out of your mind? Which idiot advanced you to a Wizard?" Porket was gnashing virtual teeth.

Babyb.u.t.terfly smiled and pa.s.sed me a card. "I don't have time right now. Call me when you find this guy. I'll be there."

"Thanks." I accepted the card. "By the way, how did you make it? Even a Wizard couldn't test this World."

He laughed loudly, "MUD is not an unbreakable system. There's no such system on G.o.d's earth! See you!" And he disappeared at the end of the hall.

"Who does he think he is? A prophet?" Porket shook his head. "Let's go," I said. Porket caught me. Darkness came again.

The Flower Square. "See you later!" Porket told me tersely. "I need to discuss this with the other Wizards and trace that address. You are a common user now, so just wait for our message."

I nodded and hugged him goodbye. I walked everywhere trying to find Pig Tongue but gave up an hour later, feeling it was pointless. I quit the system instead.

It was midnight, and I felt a little cold. I rubbed my face, turned off the computer, turned off the light, stood up. I stepped into the other room. Here there was only a table and a bed, and badly-printed wallpaper covered the wall. I went forward, then stopped, changed my mind, went to the bathroom. A haggard face stared at me from the mirror. The curve of the falling water was beautiful, and I watched it for a long moment after I flushed. Later, I puked, catching the sides of the sink. Puke everything, puke to death. Through tearful eyes, I saw the world turning round and round. I waited for it to stop.

When it did I brushed my teeth, gargled, and went back to the bedroom, staring at the bed for a whilst. Then I climbed in, slowly. She was lying there, sleeping. She seemed to me like an illusion, although here, there were only real colours, real textures. I stopped trying to remember who she was and hugged her, lying against her back in the dark. Listening to her soft breathing, I hid my face in her hair.

Her body was so smooth and soft. Inhaling her scent, I finally fell asleep.

Light was shining on the wall. It moved a short distance every time I opened my eyes. I didn't get up until it had moved to the corner. She'd already left. I stood up and opened the blind. Underside, outside, it was another world, a noisy world.

I grabbed something to eat, then sat by the computer and began to work. Every day I had to process nearly a hundred technique query letters about Conix Systems. I earned 2000 points every month. I was a Wire Worm: a creature whose life depended on the wires. There were millions of people like me living on the planet.

We never go outside.

There were less than thirty letters that day. At 12:23, having completed all of the letters, I decided to wash my face and connect to MUD. As I walked to the sink I heard my computer emit a scream. An emergency letter! I ran back to the desk, opened my mailbox, and typed in the reading pa.s.sword.

Dear user: Regretfully, we must notify you that, because the Multi User Dungeon (MUD) system was attacked by an unknown force, MUD Wizard a.s.sociation (MWA) made a decision as follows: we will commence shutdown for each of the 27 main servers, and 2078 a.s.sistant servers of Earth Section on Nov. 4, 2097. We suggest each area shut down their third-level servers.

System shutdown will cause: All your current (or otherwise) data will be reset to null.

Your score points will be reset to null.

Your inventory (taken, purchased, or stored) will be reset to null.

Each illegal World (if any) you created will be erased.

Each third-level World or lower will disappear.

We will examine each user account before deciding whether it will be kept or removed.

We suggest you back up the Worlds you created (whether legal or illegal).

All the Wizards of MUD are working hard to trace the attacking source, check the level of damage, and effect a solution. We hope we will be able to restart the system very soon.

We are very sorry for your inconvenience in this matter.

M.W.A.

11/04/2097 04:20:47 GMT.

I was sweating. A system shutdown! The MUD system had never shut down since it began in 2045. It had more than four billion registered users and more than one billion online users. MUD was not only very important to the Internet, it was important to the real world. But now, it would shut down....

Something had to be done. I took up my headpiece, connected to MUD.

The Flower Square was a mess on this Doomsday. A few men were beating a beautiful girl. Bees were creeping on the ground. A woman hummed by my ear. A man dressed as a priest was shouting in the square. The colour of the sky changed all the time, displayed random characters.

Walking around without a destination in mind, I came to the priest. "This is the real World!" he shouted. "This is the World which is greater and more real than the real world! We can't live without this World, we can't accept the decision to shut down!"

I nodded, agreeing with him. He was getting more excited, and he turned to me. "Do you know why? Do you know why we need this World so much? No, you know nothing! I can see it in your face! Let me tell you, this is the destiny of all human beings! This is the destiny written for us ever since Jesus' blood ran down the cross!

"Data! Information! What do these mean to us? Are they dispensable? No! Today, in the age we live in, these things are essential to us, they are as necessary as food, water, shelter, clothes; a man can't live without information, just as he cannot live without air.

"Somebody told us this is a fake world. They called it 'Virtual Reality'. They didn't know it, they didn't think about it, yet what is different between the real world and this World? Can we live without computer networks? We have a life here. We have memories here. We have a history here. We have everything here. How can they tell us this is a fake world?"

I walked away.

Through scared crowds, I came to the office I had used before. This was the house MWA gave to PPWs. Of course I had my own World, my own house, but I'd lost them all after I was dead, and I was so stupid that I hadn't backed them up.

Who knows if the World will ever come around again?

The office door was open. I stepped in, pushed the door to the inner room, saw him.

He didn't show his name, but I knew who he was right away.

"How are you, Xingxing?" I said, looking around.

He was startled, but immediately relaxed. "You should say, 'how are you, former Xingxing!' " he said.

"Why did you do this?" I asked coldly.

"You should have seen it already. Haven't you received the shutdown notice?"

"Why? I want to know why you want to destroy the World."

He smiled at me. "Permission denied--I won't tell you."

This guy almost drove me crazy! I composed myself and said, "You killed me and robbed my account, I have a right to know."

He watched the sky outside the window, read those words written in the sky, brought out a pipe, and changed himself to Holmes. "Sit down, child. You are reasonable, so let me tell you."

I sat down. A chair rose from the floor toward me. Someone had improved this house. He was smoking and talking very slowly. "I know you want to know who I am and wish to kill me. Actually, your reaction is excessive. You were only the first step of our plan. Compared to the whole system, your expense was nothing. If you really can't accept the result, I can give the account back to you and change the data as you wish.

"I am a member of the Hacker's Cave. What? You don't know it? Of course you don't. Actually, no-one knows it except its members and a selected few. We are an important force for worldwide hackers, controlling their theories, skills, tools, and so on. Our members are the world's top hackers, the backbone of hackers...no, I'm not preening, I'm talking about facts.

"Think about it. What is a hacker supposed to do? There's only one aim: hacking systems. You know, most hackers are childish. They can only hack simple systems, pry open someone else's mail, leave a few words on others' desktops...in the beginning, we put our minds to stealing information, researching newer, faster hacking technologies, and ruling hacker society. Later, we found that if we aggregated our collective force, we could hack the system that had never been hacked. No, don't ask me why we want to do this. It is our destiny, it is in our blood. Once you see a door left unlocked, you will push it open. What's behind the door? And how could we open it if it's locked? Every hacker wants to know that. In fact, every one of us is the same. If you saw a pretty woman, wouldn't you think about what she looks look like under her clothes?"

I didn't reply. The guy continued. "After an argument that lasted nearly half a month, we decided to attack the MUD system. The plan was designed and actualised at once--we don't have what you might call a bureaucracy. We spied on more than ten thousand Wizards, and finally chose you. Heh, look how many contenders you've beaten! First, you didn't set yourself as undead. Second, you'd never died. Once killed, you would be adrift for a whilst. Third, you'd only been a PPW for a short time, didn't know much about the MUD system, and weren't particularly wary. So we designed a fourth-level World and sent somebody to tell you. Each secret was designed to be easy to find, because we knew you were impatient. Additionally, you are finicky, so a crude World with only 256 colours would make you fidgety and disturb your mind. We were watching you drop into this trap--it was easier than we had planned. Actually, we had designed twelve steps to allure you, but you jumped directly to the end from the third step."

I was deadly ashamed. I took out the card, shouting, "Babyb.u.t.terfly!"

"Haha!" Holmes laughed and morphed in front of me, changing to a caterpillar. I almost fainted. "I was using the account whilst you found Babyb.u.t.terfly. I promised you I would appear, right?"

Shocked, I turned and ran out of the house. Babyb.u.t.terfly laughed behind me loudly.

The street was getting more and more crowded. People came together to say goodbye. I saw Porket moving toward me. He was hanging upside down. "What's wrong with you?" I said, surprised. He shook his head despondently. "It's Doomsday and somebody changed my data. I can only move like this."

"But you are a Wizard!"

"Wizard? I was changed to a common user. Everybody is in danger now--even the Arch-G.o.d's account has been attacked. The core part of the system has already shut down to protect it from being destroyed. Everywhere is being attacked. We have serious problems. Even the Arch-G.o.d doesn't know when we can restore the system."

"What about the address we found? Have you checked it yet?"

Porket smiled, with a little text window beside his mouth that said, "This is a sad smile." He said, "He used a fake address. After tracing it for half an hour, we found the address was disabled already."

"Why was it disabled?"

"Don't know. The information was in Security Level S0, we didn't have the right permissions."

The sky became dark suddenly. Sound boomed across the Worlds. "Krak...wuuuu...En, this is the System Arch-G.o.d broadcasting to all Worlds. This is the System Arch-G.o.d broadcasting to all Worlds. The system will shut down in five minutes. The system will shut down in five minutes. Please log out! Please quit as soon as possible! Please remember the time we had together! Goodbye!"