Chapter 187

Chapter 187

The inner world.

After successfully passing through the hacker's mental barrier into the outer world, the hacker lost consciousness along with her.

The intertwined hands of the two, upon the departure of their consciousness and the onset of slumber, slowly came apart.

Seeing this, Fang Xunjiang cautiously placed Ark's hand into a hibernation pod, closed the pod's door, and set their hibernation pods to operational mode.

After completing these tasks, he moved a chair next to Ark's hibernation pod and sat down, lost in thought, abiding by Ark's request to "watch over her."

Time ticked away, and he patiently awaited Ark's awakening.

The flow of time in the inner world and the outer world was different, especially after the servers of "Old Ruined Capital" in the outer world were shut down. With no storyline output, the time difference between the two worlds became even more pronounced.

Ark's journey to the outer world took only an hour or two, but in that time, the inner world advanced by a whole seven days.

The shrinking of the safe zone intensified with each passing day, and in one week, the overall area had shrunk by a fifth.

With Ark's earlier warning, those in the shelters located on the outskirts of the desolate zone confirmed the accuracy of the information and began moving towards Shelter 004, closer to the paradise.

In just a few days, the world outside the paradise seemed to have entered a new apocalypse. A massive migration was underway, a race against time with the desolation zone that relentlessly followed, as if human extinction were imminent.

Shelter 004, which had previously ceased to accept new residents, now opened its doors to those arriving from the outskirts of the desolation zone, not turning them away.

However, they implemented a new policy: they would only accept people who were relocating from the smaller shelters on the outskirts of the desolation zone. Those from shelters not far from Shelter 004, with a considerable distance from the outer safe zone, were not accepted.

As for why those from the outskirts of the desolation zone didn't seek refuge in shelters closer to the inner area?

Now that Shelter 001 had fallen, Shelters 002 and 003 lacked the land area and resources to accommodate so many people, leaving Shelter 004 as the only one capable of accepting them.

At this critical moment for humanity, the Order Bureau was acutely aware of the potential chaos that could ensue if they refused to admit outsiders. Unlike the paradise, they couldn't completely isolate these newcomers. Accepting and maintaining order was their only option at this point.

The rules of non-interference that the Order Bureau had originally adhered to were completely overturned by the newly appointed director in a matter of days. They boldly began aligning themselves with the "idealists" that had existed within the Order Bureau five years ago.

They expanded their recruitment of new Order Keepers, systematically controlled personnel, and purged those who could cause more chaos and threaten public safety among the anomalous beings.

They designated a new area between the White Whale Zone and the Black Lion Zone, naming it the "Bluebird Zone," signifying hope and paradise. They unified the residents who had sought refuge in the Bluebird Zone for management.

Currently, the advancing range of the desolation zone was not yet extensive, and Shelter 004 could barely accommodate the number of people seeking refuge.

However, even as people moved, the shrinking of the safe zone did not stop. The Order Bureau contacted the central authority, inquiring if they had any solutions, but the response was predictably helpless.

After all, it happened so suddenly. Every day in the Fourth Dimension was the same topic, carrying a sense of apocalyptic revelry. Many people took advantage of the chaos to unleash actions they had previously refrained from.

……

[Topic: At a time like this, do whatever you want while you still can. Who knows, the world might be completely destroyed tomorrow.]

[They say they're only moving the outskirts for now, and they haven't confirmed that there are no countermeasures. I think we shouldn't go too far, leaving ourselves a way out.]

[Forget about what's up there. I don't see any hope in this situation anymore. Let's not overexert ourselves in our final moments.]

[Agreed, I'm going to spend all my points. I'm exchanging everything I hesitated to exchange before!]

[I envy you guys. I still don't have enough points to enjoy in this situation.]

[If you don't have them, go steal them! At a time like this, can the Order Bureau really control us? I see they're overwhelmed too.]

[Don't be afraid of retaliation anymore; in the end, we'll all die.]

……

The once chaotic Liuli Street had become a veritable hell, with arson, murder, and robbery occurring constantly. Battles among the Transcendents were happening all the time, and the depths of human depravity were on full display at a time like this.

Even the Order Bureau found it difficult to intervene. Under these circumstances, the spread of this chaos to other areas was extremely rapid.

At this crucial moment, Ye Zhi took action.

While the Order Bureau might be unable to suppress chaos in Liuli Street, Ye Zhi could.

Ye Zhi's branch in Liuli Street had already established deep roots, thanks to the prior development by Reichi and Li Baizhi. The branch's influence extended in various directions, forming a formidable power base that the Order Bureau had never anticipated.

Most of the players temporarily brought under Ye Zhi's branch by Ark were also Transcendents. Besides the Order Bureau, the largest group of Transcendents within Shelter 004 was the Ye Zhi branch.

Since Ark had released news about the shrinking of the safe zone, she had some inkling of Shelter 004's current situation.

Before heading to the outside world, she had given instructions to Reichi and Li Baizhi, which included predictions and responses to the current situation. Li Baizhi had already gone to Shelter 004 to arrange for subsequent actions, cooperating secretly with the Order Bureau.

By recruiting personnel earlier, both Fang Xunjiang and Reichi had already exposed Ye Zhi's presence to the Order Bureau, making them aware of the existence of such an organization within Liuli Street.

However, the Order Bureau had yet to eliminate them when a greater crisis emerged.

Ye Zhi's intervention to assist was beyond the Order Bureau's expectations.

"The chaos in Liuli Street was completely suppressed overnight," Jiang Ke, who had been busy lately, reported to the newly appointed director during a meeting at the Order Bureau. "It's likely that it was done by the organization established here by Ark's group, whom we previously engaged with."

Among the Order Keepers present, there was a relatively short woman wearing the Order Bureau director's uniform. She had an ordinary appearance, short hair for ease of movement, and a relaxed expression on her face as she listened to Jiang Ke's report.

After the deaths of Meng Xien and Wei Siyuan, the reappointed director who took the reins was not directly promoted by an S-ranked Transcendent of no repute. Managing an official force required more than just power.

This individual was named Bian Ruyun and had previously served in the Order Bureau but left during the reassignment five years ago.

Following the deaths of Meng Xien and Wei Siyuan, the Order Bureau was in disarray, with no one able to take charge. It was then that Jiang Ke remembered this person and sought them out to conduct a thorough reorganization of the Order Bureau.

"This is a good thing. As long as they can stabilize the current situation, we should cooperate with them," Bian Ruyun said.

"But..." Jiang Ke wanted to say more.

The Order Bureau had suffered significant losses under Ark and her companions in the past, even though they knew it was due to their reliance on the central authority and their own actions. Jiang Ke had a hard time harboring positive feelings toward them, witnessing important colleagues die.

"Due to your previous management system, Liuli Street itself was not under the Order Bureau's control. Regardless of any conflicts you had with them before, it has no bearing on the current Order Bureau," Bian Ruyun interrupted her.

"Now, we should make the best use of the situation with the others. Why start a war during this critical time just because of past grievances? Jiang Ke, don't act too impulsively."

Jiang Ke had nothing to say, and he truly understood this principle.

Under the guidance of Bian Ruyun, the Order Bureau began to cooperate seamlessly with Ye Zhi, quickly suppressing the chaos and damage within Shelter 004.

As for the continuous approach of the safe zone, they could only try their best to find the reasons, hoping to leave a space for survival in the end.

On the other hand, inside the Sanctuary.

Ark released information to the outside, a decision that Central had wanted to keep secret, which ultimately failed.

For the outside world, the important source of this information was ambiguous, but Central was acutely aware of who had the ability to release such information. However, they were helpless.

They could ignore the people outside the Sanctuary, but the residents inside the Sanctuary couldn't be ignored. Wu Yuanbai took the opportunity to represent the populist faction, soothing the people everywhere and boosting her own popularity.

However, Wu Yuanbai also sensed that the reduction of the safe zone was not as simple as it appeared. Her abilities clearly told her that it was not the end yet.

Ark hadn't contacted her for several days, and Wu Yuanbai had a vague feeling that she might be dealing with the current crisis.

As for the players trapped in the internal world, like the people of this world, they fell into a different kind of fear.

For a day or two, they could deceive themselves, but after a week passed with no change, the players realized that they were truly trapped in this world.

Yet, even after confirming this, they had no means to solve the problem.

In recent days, Xu Yunshu's contact with Qi Island Xie Zheng became more frequent. Strangely, after that day, they were never able to reach Xunzhou again.

There were only two answers before them, and their previous speculation was true: either Xunzhou was Ark, or she was already dead.

As a member who had also joined Night's headquarters, Xu Yunshu didn't believe that Xunzhou would simply die like that; it could only be Ark.

Players who were already inside the game didn't know about Ark's perspective on the outside world; Xu Yunshu and the others could only guess.

Before Ark went to the outside world, she instructed members of the Rache faction to monitor her. She couldn't control the other players, but Xu Yunshu, who she had brought in, had to be kept under close watch.

Those covert surveillance activities were difficult for the inexperienced Xu Yunshu to detect.

Amidst the chaos from various directions, time moved forward another day, reaching the eighth day.

This past week had hardly been calm for Night.

When Ark was around, she could handle the work of a whole group of people with her alien creatures. Now that she was gone, Reche and the Doctor became the core members. However, Reche had to stay at headquarters with Tuck, and the plan to transport weapons from the central arsenal was temporarily put on hold.

"She's sleeping for quite a long time," Reche said to Tuck beside him.

"Well, what she has to do is quite challenging, not something she can easily accomplish," Tuck replied seriously with raised tentacles.

When Reche first saw Tuck and heard the sound of the tide when it spoke, he was startled. After learning more about Tuck, he understood what kind of being it was.

Reche didn't like alien creatures. He had never communicated with the one inside him, as doing so would only accelerate his assimilation. Besides, he was an S-level transcender, and he rarely needed its power.

However, with Tuck in front of him, he didn't mind having the memories of the tide. These past few days, he had even exchanged a few words with it, which was quite refreshing.

"I know," Reche sighed.

The longer Ark slept, the greater the unknown and danger it represented. Reche didn't want to think about the worst-case scenario. For now, all he could do for the organization was to follow Ark's previous orders and protect Night.

“——”

Just then, the door to the compartment suddenly opened.

For the past few days, Fang Xunjiang, who had almost lived inside, stumbled out. He held his head, with a hint of blood in his eyes. His originally fair skin had turned even paler, and he looked as if he had been dragged out of water, drenched in sweat.

"Hey, what's wrong with you..." Reche saw his condition and wanted to lend a hand, but Fang Xunjiang pushed him away with one hand.

He gritted his teeth, as if suppressing something with all his might, and said to Reche and Tuck, word by word, "Watch over my sister... don't let anyone in..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he quickly moved towards the outside and disappeared as if he were fleeing.

Reche frowned. Fang Xunjiang had hardly left here in the past few days. Knowing his strong attachment to his sister, he would never trust them to look after Ark.

This was too unusual. Reche couldn't ignore the fact that something was amiss.

But he couldn't pursue Fang Xunjiang right now. Instead, he contacted Number One and Scarlet Star and had them follow Fang Xunjiang, observing his next moves.

……

The air around him seemed to be filled with countless dizzying circles.

Fang Xunjiang felt like he was walking on clouds, his head tearing apart from the middle, and every inch of his body being broken and reassembled. Leaving the Night's headquarters had already consumed most of his strength.

Even though he had clearly moved far away from Ark's location, he dared not relax, enduring this pain to go even farther.

He needed to get further away from his sister... farther and farther away...

He was in so much pain that there was only one thought left in his hazy consciousness.

There was a force pressing upon him.

Fang Xunjiang knew this was not a simple mental intrusion, nor was it an attempt to suppress his consciousness. He could feel himself being "eliminated" and "restructured."

This was different from ordinary replacement and occupation; Fang Xunjiang was undergoing erasure, like a program being deleted and replaced with new code to form a new version of himself.

The place where the restructuring succeeded was beyond his control, operating independently from him.

Memories in his head were in chaos, his body moved aimlessly, and he began to recall more memories, remembering previous resets, being controlled by an unknown force after the death of Ark, walking towards an unwanted conclusion.

He even recalled his earlier self, the initial reset before Ark had any memories.

It was at this moment that Fang Xunjiang suddenly remembered.

When he was created, he was originally just an empty shell.

But soon after these memories emerged, they gradually disappeared. They were deleted piece by piece, getting closer to existing memories, and then filled with memories he had never experienced.

He felt like an empty puppet, someone had dug out what he had painstakingly filled inside, and filled it with things that didn't belong to him. This feeling was no less than watching himself being dismembered, making him shiver uncontrollably.

Fang Xunjiang knew who did this and whose unwanted memories were flooding in.

Indeed, Fang Xunjiang had hidden some things from Ark. Back when he was captured in the tower and saw the Commissioner, when the Commissioner attempted to use mental control and take over his body, he realized something was amiss.

Under the influence of mental control, between the boundary of two worlds, Fang Xunjiang saw Jiang Chudu.

The person who used abilities on him, wanting to replace him, had a face exactly like his.

Although the Commissioner didn't successfully replace him at the time, Fang Xunjiang felt that this body was created for him.

At this moment, this feeling was confirmed in the farthest memories.

He was originally just an empty shell, a being without thoughts, without a self, an empty vessel waiting for its rightful owner to come.

[Sister.]

[Sister.]

[Sister.]

[Sister...]

Fang Xunjiang felt lost and bewildered. He began to call for Ark in his mind, repeating her name as if only this could prove his existence. Eventually, it turned into a plea for help, over and over again.

[Sister, save me.]

[Sister, save me...]

Such cries for help remained futile. Fang Xunjiang's memories were on the verge of disappearing completely. A much larger consciousness finally invaded his mind, diminishing his own consciousness, and everything seemed hopeless.

Fang Xunjiang knew what the Commissioner, who would completely replace him, would do with this body. So, just before his consciousness vanished completely, he stopped, placed his hand on his own heart, activated his abilities, and attacked his own beating heart.

A sweet and metallic taste filled his throat. The power that had been slowly and steadily erasing him seemed to go mad at this point. Instead of continuing to erase his feeble remaining consciousness and memories, it directly invaded his body, halting the power he had prepared to explode his own heart.

When he raised his eyes again, he was someone else.

"Damn it." Feeling the intense pain in his chest and the still-beating heart, Jiang Chudu wiped the blood that had escaped from the corner of his mouth and couldn't help but curse.

Fang Xunjiang had even resorted to suicide to prevent his body from falling into Jiang Chudu's hands.

An consciousness that shouldn't have existed was so untimely in its departure, costing him quite an effort.

After taking a moment to adjust, Jiang Chudu released his palm, making a fist and then relaxing it, getting used to this new body.

It was healthy, powerful, brimming with mighty strength, and its senses were so sharp that it could detect any movement in its surroundings.

After a moment, Jiang Chudu looked back and said coldly, "Come out, what are you following me for?"

Under normal circumstances, anyone following Fang Xunjiang would definitely be detected, but the way he looked just now, it was impossible for him to stay conscious, let alone notice a little tail following him.

Just because Fang Xunjiang couldn't detect it, doesn't mean the current Jiang Chudu couldn't.

After a moment of hesitation, two figures emerged from behind the obstructing building.

The ones lurking behind and following were none other than Number One and Vermilion Star, sent by Reicher. They were familiar faces to Jiang Chudu.

Vermilion Star said, "You don't look normal. Although I don't like you, if something happens to you, the world won't be happy."

Fang Xunjiang left stumbling and in pain, and even Vermilion Star could see that something was off.

"You're safe now, let's go back." Jiang Chudu turned around and replied to him in Fang Xunjiang's tone.

Meeting Jiang Chudu's eyes, Vermilion Star couldn't help but shiver, feeling an inexplicable sense of familiarity wash over him. He couldn't make sense of it at the moment and thought it might be his imagination. He looked at Jiang Chudu with suspicion.

"Are you sure?"

Jiang Chudu didn't answer Vermilion Star's question but quickly retraced his steps. He had already seen Fang Xunjiang's memories and knew that Ark had gone to the outside world eight days ago.

He knew her, and her sole purpose in going to the outside world was to kill him and sever the connection between the two worlds.

Due to Fang Xunjiang's recent actions, Jiang Chudu hadn't completely erased his presence. The data was not fully loaded, and he wasn't afraid of Ark killing his external body. However, if the data wasn't loaded successfully, he would lose control over this world.

So he couldn't allow Ark to kill his external body just yet.

Faced with Vermilion Star's question, he remained silent.

Fang Xunjiang usually didn't bother with anyone other than Ark, so Vermilion Star didn't notice anything amiss. He and Number One had to rush back to the Nightreach headquarters with Jiang Chudu.

Along the way, Vermilion Star kept chattering, saying, "Hey, are you really okay? What exactly happened just now? If you have a problem, don't force yourself. You're the only family I have in this world."

Left behind was Jiang Chudu's cold back; he was too fast, and Vermilion Star and Number One couldn't keep up with him. Vermilion Star muttered angrily and used the communication device to inform Reicher of the situation.

Fang Xunjiang hadn't gone far in the state he left, and Jiang Chudu quickly returned to Nightreach headquarters without hesitation. He hurriedly made his way back to the entrance of the laboratory.

Reicher and Tuck stood outside, and when they saw him return as if nothing had happened, Reicher raised an eyebrow.

"Is everything okay now?" he asked, taking a step to the side, blocking Jiang Chudu's path without any intention of letting him in.

Jiang Chudu narrowed his eyes. "Let me in."

Reicher shrugged. "You said it yourself just now, 'Don't let anyone in.' Well, you're among 'anyone,' and if you want to protect our Boss, you can do that just as well by staying out here with me."

His words drew Jiang Chudu's icy gaze, and he looked at Reicher as if he were looking at a lifeless body, an inanimate object.

Tuck's tentacles were twitching, getting closer to Jiang Chudu. When they were about to make contact with him, Jiang Chudu quickly dodged. It was this evasion that signaled the beginning of a confrontation, confirming to Reicher that he was no longer Fang Xunjiang.

If others could be replaced, then Fang Xunjiang could also be replaced.

Reicher acted decisively, teleporting behind Jiang Chudu, and with a loaded gun in his hand, he aimed it at Jiang Chudu's head at close range and fired a bullet. Tuck also swung its tentacles rapidly towards him.

However, before the fired bullet could reach Jiang Chudu, it was crushed into thin pieces. Following that was another form of psychic control. The tentacles that were about to touch him stopped just inches away.

Reicher and Tuck's bodies stiffened, unable to move in that instant. Controlling an S-ranked transcendent and a double S-ranked alien creature was no easy task, especially considering Jiang Chudu's current mental state, which was far from optimal. Killing Reicher and the rapidly growing Tuck using psychic means would take time.

Jiang Chudu was racing against time with Ark. He couldn't afford to waste a single second and quickly accessed the identification system at the entrance, entering the interior of the laboratory.

Once inside, Jiang Chudu had a clear goal. He walked briskly to the two hibernation pods and confirmed through the visual glass that the one inside was Ark. She had her eyes closed, looking peaceful in her slumber, with no hint of threat.

Jiang Chudu stared at her for a few inexplicable seconds, and when he finally snapped out of it, his expression darkened. Fang Xunjiang's consciousness hadn't completely dissipated and was affecting him at this crucial moment.

Without hesitation, he redirected the power within him, preparing to crush the hibernation pod along with the person inside.

Just as Jiang Chudu's power was about to be unleashed, his movements suddenly froze.

……

In the outside world, at the sanatorium.

The current time is June 28th, 12:47 PM.

The entire space was incredibly quiet. As Ark looked at the faces of the people inside the capsule, all the clues about the Director and Fang Xunjiang rushed into her mind, piecing together an answer.

Her first reaction was: this is bad.

She had destroyed the Director's original vessel within the internal world, the light-brain that housed his consciousness and the controlled mechanical body. Since he couldn't enter someone else's body, who was the one inside the game he had entered?

The face identical to Fang Xunjiang's told Ark the answer. She immediately realized that Fang Xunjiang was likely to be replaced by the Director, and the internal world of her and the hacker had fallen into danger.

At present, she still had control over the hacker's body, which meant that the Director had not yet achieved his goal.

The top priority was to stop the Director's invasion and kill him as quickly as possible, cutting off the connection between the two worlds for his spirit.

Ark drew the dagger she carried, its sharp blade aimed at the Director's throat, and she thrust it down fiercely!

But just as she was about to pierce his neck, her movement suddenly stopped. The blade remained on his skin, sinking into a groove, and blood flowed.

No, this was wrong.

She remembered the progress bar she had just seen on the control panel, which had reached 90%. Killing the Director's body might not be enough to kick him out of the internal world.

Ark calmed down. She put down the dagger and pressed her hand against the helmet connecting to his brain, invading it in the closest state possible and maximizing her own power.

While the Director possessed a powerful S-level spirit within the internal world, the one connected to the game pod was incredibly weak.

Ark closed her eyes, using the same method she had used when examining her own memories to invade the Director's brain with her psychic power. She knew that only by looking into his memories could she make the most accurate response.

Just hold on a little longer, just a little longer.

She whispered in her heart to the other world's Fang Xunjiang, and then she was overwhelmed by the surging memories.

……

Jiang Chuduo had been sentenced to death since the day he was born. He had a rare congenital disease, and even with today's advanced medical technology, there was no way to cure him.

He couldn't stand sunlight because it would burn his skin. He couldn't run because his heart couldn't bear the load. He couldn't get injured because wounds would bleed uncontrollably. He was like a fragile porcelain doll, like a night-blooming cereus that withered quickly in the river of time.

Fortunately, he had a very capable brain. By worldly standards, calling him a genius was not an exaggeration.

Jiang Chuduo was not willing to accept his frail body and the limited lifespan. He wanted to live, by any means necessary.

The release of the first holographic game pod ten years ago gave him endless inspiration.

Separating a person's mind from their body and then immersing their mind in a digital world, could this extend life indefinitely?

This was somewhat different from what researchers were currently studying regarding digital life. Jiang Chuduo believed that the continuation of the mind was the true extension of life. What he needed was a more unconventional form of "digital life."

On this basis, besides researching game pods that could facilitate this transition, he also had to create a sufficiently realistic world to carry his consciousness.

He invested all his time into it, evolving a world using current intelligent means through the primary code.

Jiang Chuduo spent a lot of time here, but he still couldn't create a sufficiently real world. Even when the game pod was manufactured, it couldn't reach the highest state of integration. Smell was artificial, touch was artificial, everything was fake and couldn't be more fake.

It wasn't until one day that he wrote a set of source code, which, during the process of evolution, connected to a vast, unseen data world.

This was a world that had already existed within the data universe, or to put it more accurately, a "low-dimensional world."

Through this set of source code, Jiang Chuduo established a connection with it.

The invasion of the high-dimensional world brought catastrophic consequences to this data world, which later became known as the "Day of Collapse," when such a senseless catastrophe suddenly descended.

Witnessing the rapid decay of this world, Jiang Chuduo panicked. Fortunately, the connecting source code granted him the authority to modify this world, and he quickly built a secluded "paradise" within the game, providing a safe haven for the data life inside.

Thankfully, this decay did not completely engulf the world; it left behind a secure land.

After ensuring stability, Jiang Chuduo realized that he could use the source code to initiate a reset of this world. However, he could only reset it to the farthest point in time, which was always the day of the Collapse.

Although it was somewhat different from the ideal world Jiang Chuduo had envisioned, he had no other choice. The successful integration of the game pod with this world gave Jiang Chuduo an absolute sense of perfection.

He had succeeded, and the ability to continuously reset this world also meant he could attain "immortality" within it!

However, immersing his consciousness in the game was not enough to satisfy Jiang Chuduo.

In his eyes, the people in the internal world were nothing more than evolving data, devoid of any warmth. Only in the data world was there no hope of resurrection. Bringing people from reality into it was the key to awakening it.

Moreover, death in the data world was not true death. Those he brought in could live on as a different form of life forever. He believed this was the true value of life.

So, he planned to mass-produce game pods and attract countless players in the name of "gaming."

No matter where you went, there would always be people willing to gamble everything for the sake of "life." To influential figures, this idea was equally appealing. Jiang Chuduo selected suitable businessmen and officials who eagerly wanted to cooperate with him. They didn't care about what he did during this process, as long as there was a desired outcome.

These people formed a massive network of power behind Jiang Chuduo, safeguarding his interests.

It was during this process that he met Xi Hai'an, who had a fanatic interest in this research and would become an important partner in the future.

With a solid backing in place, Jiang Chuduo began to make extensive modifications to this data world. The game needed a plot and dramatic conflicts.

Initially, the game pod he developed couldn't naturally sever the connection between the mind and the body like the subsequent versions. He extracted his own data and used a portion of it to create a vessel "Fang Xunjian" within the internal world that could carry his consciousness.

However, he understood that this alone wouldn't make the game pod available to the public. Data extraction was a cumbersome process and couldn't support a large number of players. Moreover, his goal had always been to have real people from the physical world replace those data life forms.

He needed to develop an effect that would allow players to directly descend onto the indigenous inhabitants.

When this research was initially completed, Jiang Chuduo introduced a batch of testers into it. The new game pod allowed him perfect control; he could sever the connection between their minds and bodies. As long as their bodies died, they could remain forever in that world.

The results proved him right. These testers were the best examples; they assimilated into another world,

YH

Becoming immortal life forms.

The sacrifice of that batch of testers assured Jiang Chuduo that it was feasible. After further research over a period of time, the game pod's functionality became more refined.

However, Jiang Chuduo, who had once used data extraction to create bodies, couldn't use such means to enter the game anymore. But he disdained substituting for those data entities.

The vessel he created, "Fang Xunjian," naturally allowed him to act as the protagonist of this story.

This body was healthy and robust, the one he had longed for. However, its interior was empty. Jiang Chuduo hadn't given it any personality traits; it was a puppet entirely controlled by him.

On top of this, for some unknown psychological reason, he modified the data of one of the indigenous inhabitants, changing her into an extinct ancient human, making her a relative of Fang Xunjian.

That person was later known as Fangzhou.

In Jiang Chuduo's eyes, she was just as frail as he was in reality. She couldn't bask in the "sunlight," couldn't run, and couldn't be injured. Her fate was destined to be death. She lived in a hell of her own, unable to control her own life, much like him.

Jiang Chuduo felt that he had created a kindred spirit, someone who could empathize with him. Subsequently, he had his self-made data character show her mercy and save her. He relished the feeling of becoming a savior.

——The rudiments of the story were formed.

Even if left to its own devices, free evolution could lead to a sufficiently dramatic story. However, he continued to reboot this world repeatedly in pursuit of the most perfect outcome.

Without the vessel "Fang Xunjian" into which his consciousness was transferred, Jiang Chuduo would be a gray shell. He would enter Fang Xunjian's body through the game pod after the process of rebooted evolution progressed to the point of Fangzhou's death, experiencing a healthy adventurous life.

In subsequent internal tests, players believed that Fang Xunjian's personality changed drastically after Fangzhou's death, becoming terrifyingly cruel and ruthless, simply because what they saw was Jiang Chuduo.

Gradually, the course of this world began to deviate from his control.

His character was no longer entirely under his domination; it began to develop self-awareness, born from his sole setting of "saving" Fangzhou. He absorbed the emotions he obtained from Fangzhou, filling this empty shell.

From this point onward, Jiang Chuduo could no longer enter Fang Xunjian's body through conventional means. He had to fully enter the game, transmit his own spiritual data, and erase Fang Xunjian's existence.

However, in doing so, he would have to remain forever in that world. Jiang Chuduo's physical body in the external world had not yet reached its limit, and he was not prepared to lose control so soon.

This development was clearly not to his liking; it exceeded his expectations. He initially felt anger and began searching for the cause.

During this process, he discovered that certain characters were "awakening."

They broke free from the NPC roles he had assigned and started attempting to awaken those around them. Through investigation, Jiang Chuduo traced it back to its source—Fangzhou, who seemed to be observing him from another world.

Although Jiang Chuduo could modify the code, he couldn't delete. He could only perform reboots, resetting the world to the beginning of the story.

Yet shortly after each reboot, she awakened again. With each new beginning after a reset, her survival time grew longer, from dying shortly after her introduction initially to progressively longer periods, exceeding the death limit he had set for her.

This made Jiang Chuduo feel like things were spiraling out of control. He realized the danger: he had to "kill" Fangzhou.

However, after he had this idea, everything went off the rails. He couldn't reboot the world through the source code anymore, nor could he modify any programs. The continuously awakening "Fangzhou," resistant to any attempt to kill her, became the most stubborn virus, causing the underlying code to become a mess and resisting external intrusion.

Jiang Chuduo had no choice but to find another way to enter the internal world and eliminate the Fangzhou virus.

……

Fangzhou suddenly disconnected from these memories.

She felt nauseated, she felt angry, and the flames that once burned within her surged once more. She originally had a healthy body and shouldn't have accepted endless death. Her fate should be in her own hands.

Jiang Chuduo turned this world into a game in order to transform people into digital life, under his control in the world he created.

He believed he was a savior; the fragile and perishable human bodies limited the development of life, and he could grant them immortality.

But he was actually self-contradictory; the original characters in this world, like Fangzhou, whether awakened or not, were also living beings.

He "evolved" real-life humans into countless data and programs that were neither alive nor dead. Weren't the original inhabitants, composed of data, also living people?

However, Jiang Chuduo wanted to bring real-life humans into the mix, have them kill the natives, and then turn them into immortal data. Deep down, he had always envied those who truly lived.

The "Falling Day" brought about by the high-dimensional invasion had destroyed their homes, and he had set this world as a "game."

The concept of a game was unknown to the natives. In their known life, they found joy in rare good weather, wept with joy when a tender sprout grew on the wasteland, and mourned the departure of their comrades.

If they weren't human, then what were they?

By what right could he define what it meant to be alive and what constituted the value of life?

And why did those players choose to leave their family and friends to become undying puppets?

After viewing Jiang Chuduo's memories, Fangzhou understood many things and unraveled the puzzles that had baffled her.

At the initial release of "The Old Capital of Days," the original title of this work was "Elysium Park," a place of happiness in Greek mythology after death.

Those who accepted his arrangement as "players" would enter the blissful Elysium, a realm of eternal life. The natives, whose destinies he had determined, could only wander in the River of Pain, unable to find a home.

Fangzhou was now determined to shatter this illusion and bring back every person wandering in the River of Pain to the real land.

The 90% completion of the progress bar represented that Fang Xunjian had not been completely replaced by him, and he had not fully loaded his spiritual data into another world; otherwise, she would not have been able to access his memories here.

Fangzhou finally figured out how to extract Jiang Chuduo's consciousness. She dropped the dagger in her hand and completely invaded Jiang Chuduo's brain, connected to the game pod.

Dizziness surged suddenly. Through the crack left by Fang Xunjian, she forcibly pulled Jiang Chuduo back from the river of data. Her hands were tightly wrapped around Jiang Chuduo's neck, his slender throat vulnerable to her grip.

"Ah—"

Jiang Chuduo abruptly detached from the inner world. He opened his eyes, breathing rapidly. His bony hands tightly grasped the edge of the pod as he stared into Fangzhou's eyes.

Before him was an unfamiliar face, but he knew very well that the person attempting to end his life was Fangzhou.