Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 142: A Miracle!

"I’m just exploring," he muttered. He didn’t mention that within the thousands of lines of code he’d just digested, he had found the exact schematics for the assembly. He had memorised the blueprints. "Now, give me the motor."

John took the small motor and placed it deep into a specific cavity in the cannon’s base, just next to the hydraulic system, facilitating the big cannon’s movements. Before throwing it there, he hacked into the motor’s source code and found what he was looking for.

’And here it is!’ John’s eyes shone with triumph as he located a specific section of the codes responsible for switching between manual and automated operation. To make his changes work, he used the old administrator passcode that Mark had shared with him.

Then he found a section where it specified the identity of the machine that would give the motor orders to move, and he instantly removed the long series of numbers and letters and entered the cannon’s unique serial.

With a few mental keystrokes, he enforced a permanent change in the motor’s logic, bridging the gap between the small brain of the motor and the massive muscle of the cannon.

He memorised the serial of the motor, then shifted the Shell window content again towards the big cannon. There, he spotted a section that would allow the cannon to operate the motor remotely, entered the motor serial, before enforcing the changes.

’I’ve solved the issue of mobility,’ John thought, ’now all that remains is the issue of targeting!’

"Cissel, give me a sensor," he commanded, his hand still resting on the cold metal.

She handed him two small black phalanxes. John repeated the ritual—the bloodied handshake, the extraction of the sensory source code at the Shell ability, and the rapid-fire editing of code.

He didn’t just turn the sensor on; he rewrote its purpose. He effectively gave the cannon a pair of eyes that were programmed to seek, lock, and destroy any hostile target within its radius.

"Now it’s ready," John said, stepping back.

Cissel looked at the Frankenstein-esque creation—a massive plasma cannon with a tiny motor crudely but effectively wired into its guts and two thumb-sized sensors glued to its frame.

To her, it looked like a madman’s project. She couldn’t grasp how these disparate parts, designed by different engineers for different purposes, were now supposed to function as a single, lethal unit, with the absence of any software addition or edit.

Seeing the bewildered look on her face, John let out a confident smile. "Of course, we need to test it first. Let’s move this baby toward the riverbed and see if it actually wakes up."

With a simple touch, he stored the massive weapon back into his inventory, then began walking with calm steps toward the underwater bridge.

"Since we’re at it, why doesn’t everyone come along and watch?" John shouted, his voice carrying across the entire place. "Time for a demo of our new deadly weapon!"

The call worked like a magnet. The Bulltors paused their digging, and even Elena—who had been vibrating with excitement at the prospect of watching the lake fill—left her post to follow the group alongside Luke. Ricky just came back from his long stroll an hour ago, seemingly bored, so he decided to come as well.

"What exactly did he do?" Ricky whispered, leaning toward Cissel as John redeployed the pulse cannon onto the centre of the underwater bridge.

"I honestly... Have absolutely no idea," Cissel admitted, her voice low. "I saw every move he made, and I still can’t make heads or tails of it.

A limb motor shouldn’t have the torque to move that metallic behemoth, and that sensor shouldn’t be able to talk to the cannon’s operating system, and the latter neither supported automated movement nor had support to receive various data from sensors and process them. It’s...It shouldn’t work."

John wasn’t finished. He placed his hand on the cannon one last time, activating the Shell ability to apply the final touches. He ran a localised search for the user-authorisation code lines and began enforcing a final set of edits.

"John... John Mirage," he suddenly shouted his own name into the thin air.

His friends exchanged glances, eyebrows shooting upward. They wondered if the strain of the past days had finally snapped his mind. But then he turned to them, his expression intensely serious. "Everyone, come here one by one. I need you to say your names out loud when I give you the signal."

Cissel stepped forward first. "Fine. Time to see what all this theatre is about. My name is Cissel!" She crossed her arms defiantly. "Now show me—show everyone—what’s going on!"

"Very impatient for a demo. Fine," John grinned. He made one last edit regarding processing incoming data from the sensors that he missed, and was reminded by it thanks to Ricky and Cissel’s chatter, then turned to everyone. "Now, Cissel, say the magic word. Command it to fire at a target in your line of sight."

"That’s it?!" Cissel was startled, but seeing John’s calm, expectant gaze, she took a deep breath. She decided to play along with his game. She pointed a finger toward a distant, massive pile of machine wreckage. "Attack that pile of wreckage in the distance!"

*Vroom!*

The sound was instantaneous and terrifying. It wasn’t just a click; it was the sound of a beast being jolted awake. The massive pulse cannon groaned as the internal hydraulics ignited. The noise of the machinery working inside that massive body was loud enough to vibrate the very air, taking everyone by complete shock.

Then came the movement. The long, lethal muzzle shifted on its own with a fluid move. It adjusted its elevation and direction in the span of a single breath, perfectly aligning with the target Cissel had designated.

And then, it roared.

*Rumble!*

A blindingly bright silver projectile launched from the barrel. It streaked across the air, a line of pure energy that slammed into the distant wreckage. In an instant, the pile was engulfed in a rapidly expanding sphere of silver light. A second later, the energy collapsed and then detonated with a fierce explosion.

"Hooray!" Luke was the first to break the stunned silence. His shout was closer to a scream of pure, unadulterated triumph. "That’s my big bro! That’s my big bro!"

His voice was momentarily drowned out by the shockwave—a fierce gale of wind and pulverised dust that slammed into their faces, forced outward by the sheer power of the cannon’s shot. The blast was so devastating it didn’t just scatter the scrap; it left a shallow, glowing, smoking crater in the earth.

Hours later, as the group gathered around the promised barbecue to celebrate the day’s success, the atmosphere remained electric. They were eating and laughing, yet none of them could quite bypass the shock John had delivered.

"Incredible," Ricky finally muttered, shaking his head as he recalled the memory of the cannon on the bridge. "I swear, even if we had an entire army of scientists, we wouldn’t have been able to pull that off with the toys we have here. It’s just... Incredible." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Elena, Luke, and Cissel all nodded in unison. They knew that whatever John had done today was more than just engineering. It was a miracle!