Chapter 174

Chapter 174

Continuous log-out notifications sounded in the separate space. The entire room was clean and spacious, with the most conspicuous feature being the slightly lower control console in the center. There were several large instruments near the gaming pods, connected to the people inside.

The person inside the gaming pod slowly struggled to come out after a long pause.

He trembled as he disconnected the cables attached to his body. Just as he emerged, he dramatically collapsed on the floor and couldn't get up no matter how hard he tried.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

The hurried footsteps grew closer and turned into a running sound by the time they reached the door. The door suddenly swung open, and a middle-aged woman wearing silver-rimmed glasses and a gray casual suit rushed into the room.

Seeing the person from the pod trying to get out, she quickly brought a wheelchair over. She helped him up, allowing him to lean on her arm for support, then moved him into the wheelchair. She then reached for a bottle of medicine and fed it to him.

The man swallowed the medicine and began to gasp for air.

His face contorted in pain as the mental backlash from connecting to another world spilled into the outside world.

Ringing in his ears and shortness of breath, the dual agony of body and mind briefly left him unable to speak.

The woman gave him some time to recover before asking, "Jiang Chudu, I know you've failed. What's your plan now?"

If Fang Zhou were present, she would have recognized that the man's name was the same as the game company's name.

Jiang Chudu's voice was hoarse and difficult, as if that of a dying person. "Xie Hai'an, you should have sent the players into the world earlier to remind me."

Xie Hai'an showed an annoyed expression. "You know there's a significant time difference between the inner and outer worlds. Since the virus appeared, the program calculations have completely failed, and we couldn't interfere with the inner world. By the time I found out, things had already reached this point. I used the fastest method to send the players into the game."

Her irritation seemed to be triggered, and she continued, "You're the one without time, and you're the one who should be in a hurry. Don't come to question me. Instead of that, why don't you explain why, with all your power in that world, you couldn't eliminate a program BUG? If it weren't for your inaction, things wouldn't have become so urgent."

Jiang Chudu remained silent.

He pursed his lips and remained silent for a while, without defending himself. He released his hand from Xie Hai'an's arm and controlled his wheelchair to move to the central console, where he began to operate.

"What do you want to do? Do you have a solution?" Xie Hai'an asked, realizing his purpose as she approached Jiang Chudu and saw the code he was inputting.

She quickly intervened and stopped him before he pressed the confirmation key.

"Are you insane? Are you planning to do this right now?" Xie Hai'an shouted at him. "Do you know how many people are currently inside there?!"

"Cough, cough..." Jiang Chudu coughed twice.

His eyes remained cold as he explained, "The only way to reboot is to accelerate the destruction of this world. Enhancing the connection between the two worlds can achieve that effect."

"But you can't do it this early..."

Jiang Chudu continued, somewhat self-absorbed, "You can send out more gaming pods. The time difference between the inner and outer worlds is significant... By the time this world is destroyed, you can restart it. Haven't you always wanted to see the research results? Now is the time, or else..."

Hearing him say this, Xie Hai'an fell silent.

She released him and paced nervously in place for a few rounds, considering the consequences of this action.

After several internal struggles, her gaze became more determined and fervent, and she quickly accepted this outcome, shifting to another topic. "Have you figured out why 'Fang Zhou' became a BUG?"

"She deliberately forgot herself, altered her memories to 'disguise' herself as someone from the outer world, and broke free from program control. There were signs of her breaking free from her original character settings, which is also why we couldn't kill her during the event in Angang." Jiang Chudu looked puzzled. "I wonder who gave her this inspiration."

Hearing this reason, Xie Hai'an showed a surprised expression and began to digest this information.

Jiang Chudu began to review the reasons for his failure in his mind. His eyes narrowed slightly as he finally identified the key figure in this situation. "The hacker from the Fourth Dimension is very likely one of the testers from the first wave who got trapped in the inner world. Go investigate what happened with the aftermath of that incident..."

"Alright, I understand."

With a positive response, Jiang Chudu pressed the confirmation key.

After the reading, a line of text appeared: [Program execution successful. Instructions have been sent to all gaming pods.]

……

Inside the inner world.

The line of text projected by the communicator slowly disappeared. Fang Zhou closed her eyes and whispered, "I'm back, thank you."

A few seconds later, Fang Zhou got up from Tucker. In a very short time frame, she received a large amount of memories. Fang Zhou showed no confusion; she quickly reestablished her identity.

She was "Fang Zhou," an NPC trapped in a predetermined fate, destined only for death. The so-called "transcendence" was merely a tool she used to combat unknown forces.

This was not the first time she had discovered the truth about the world. In previous program reboots, she had experienced many different lifetimes and deaths. No matter how she struggled, she couldn't change her predetermined fate.

Initially, she didn't have memories from before each reboot. She struggled purely on instinct, repeatedly discovering her imprisoned destiny until the connection between the two worlds strengthened—someone was sent into the inner world, replacing the original inhabitants.

She began to possess memories from each reboot, and due to the enhanced connection between the two worlds, she could access information from the outside world through data exchange, learning a lot about the plot.

It was this capability that attracted the hacker who could roam between the two world boundaries through data and became her initial companion.

Soon, the initial group of people who were sent into the game were completely trapped within the game, losing their original memories and becoming the people they had replaced.

The hacker later told her that this group of people was the original "testers" of the gaming pods.

[They are already dead, but I still remember these things. I'm not fully controlled by this world because I haven't completely become a part of this world. My other-world body hasn't died yet; someone is waiting for me to return.]

If the hacker hadn't appeared, Fang Zhou could have convinced herself that this was just a controlled game world. However, with the hacker's appearance, she realized that it wasn't as simple as she had thought. She couldn't see through their purpose in sending people from the outside world into the inner world to replace the original inhabitants.

But she knew she couldn't let them continue like this.

She didn't want to experience death again! She didn't want to disappear completely one day!

Her anger accumulated with each repeated death, becoming her weapon and courage in forgetting herself.

Fortunately, she made the right bet. This was the closest Fang Zhou had ever been to "life," and it was the time when she completely broke free from control.

Her gaze rested on the "Prime Minister's" shell. She understood that the person controlling this shell had returned to his own world. She hadn't truly killed her enemy.

Alongside her, Tucker, who had experienced the mental intrusion with her, raised one of its tendrils. Its tone was cheerful. "Do you remember me and Tidegazer?"

"Long time no see, 0626, Tucker."

Its massive tendrils trembled with excitement. It said, "I'm so happy that I've got goosebumps all over!"

Fang Zhou's expression was subtle. "You still have those?"

Tucker replied, "It's just a figure of speech; don't think too much about it. Unfortunately, Tidegazer isn't here; otherwise, he would be happy too."

Fang Zhou didn't respond.

What Tucker was referring to, the person who truly helped it and Tidegazer escape, was Fang Zhou. She knew they would later escape from the Tower and establish a small faction. She wanted them to become her future allies, so she devised a plan to help them escape from the Tower in advance.

Whether it was Lu Fei Lan, Tidegazer, or the hacker, they were all indispensable members of her journey to this point.

Sizzle.

The communication device was being invaded, and the hacker's cheerful voice came through it, reflecting her joyful mood. "What's your plan next? He'll definitely react when he returns to the outside world."

Fang Zhou had finally come this far, and this was the closest she had been to success. She couldn't let them destroy everything she had accomplished.

Fang Zhou: "Release some of the alien creatures from level 157."

The hacker asked in confusion, "Is that okay? What are you planning to do? Are you going to contain them all?"

Fang Zhou: "Clearing a path for one person. This world has to keep running; we can't let it continue to deteriorate like this. I promise this will be the last cycle."

The hacker: "You're getting me all fired up with your words, my friend. Let's meet up after this is over."

Fang Zhou: "Of course."

As Fang Zhou finished speaking, the hacker began to release half of the alien creatures from level 157. These creatures couldn't go down, so they shattered the glass on the top floor and fell down one by one like dumplings.

Things had completely exceeded the expectations of Zhen Pei Ling and Jiang Dong. Bai Cheng looked at the alien creatures falling from the floors above, almost at a loss for words.

"It's over," Jiang Dong slumped in his chair, and Zhen Pei Ling closed her eyes.

The Prime Minister was dead, and for the first time, they were hoping for victory as the Prime Minister had.

Fang Zhou leaped out of the window and landed on the ground along with these alien creatures. She then released some of the alien creatures she had just contained inside her, mixing among the uncontained ones, becoming a chaotic conductor.

In a short amount of time, Fang Zhou received many containment messages. She temporarily did not contain all of these creatures at once.

The guards who were originally meant to deal with Fang Zhou now had more important things to do. They were busy dealing with the large number of alien creatures. Even if someone saw Fang Zhou, no one dared to approach her.

Among this group of people, Fang Zhou found her target for this time - Wu Yuanbai.

From a distance, Wu Yuanbai seemed to sense something and looked towards her. Fang Zhou blinked at her, made a gesture, and pointed to the sky.

What she said was: "[Seize the opportunity, Wu Bureau]."

Wu Yuanbai looked in the direction Fang Zhou had pointed, and it turned out to be some drones that had infiltrated the Central Eye.

Such a commotion caused by Fang Zhou naturally attracted the attention of the public. People from afar could see something was happening here, and live broadcasts were initiated using drones.

Hackers tried to intervene, but the central authority could no longer control public opinion. The internet was flooded with headlines portraying the central rulers as incompetent, accompanied by images of numerous alien creatures escaping.

Wu Yuanbai immediately understood Fang Zhou's intention. She smiled in Fang Zhou's direction, her light brown eyes filled with a sense of inevitability. She commanded her subordinates, becoming the biggest beneficiary of this chaos.

A new revolution was about to begin.