CH 64.1

When Xu Xing Ji found Lu Xu Nan by address, he saw him sitting with his back hunched on the masonry that surrounded a tree on the sidewalk, his short hair disheveled, face pale, and dark red bloodstains on the chest of his shirt. He looked like he had a fierce fight with someone, cutting a very sorry figure.

But more shocking was the “energy” that turbulently surrounded him.

Under the system’s energy holographic perspective, Lu Xu Nan has practically already become a volcano of boiling lava on the edge of eruption. Countless tentacles of energy extended and swayed outward with him as their center.

Seeing Xu Xing Ji come, they went over to attack him like they were living animals…

This was simply a super virus!

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Xu Xing Ji thought this as he watched those tentacles that relentlessly attacked his shield.

If he let Lu Xu Nan erupt and the virus thoroughly invade the firewall, this world’s program would very quickly collapse. At that time, when they identify him through investigation, won’t his dad break his legs?!

Without time to care about concealing it, Xu Xing Ji sat down beside Lu Xu Nan at once, pulling up the virtual keyboard.

Alau pssd, yd yiwy czwl prblaknyz cyaakla pwaaswdele “Akawp Lyd”, nsdvykdkdt bkx kdpkel.

Dw Dkdt Kk zlv swv y calyvb sq alzklq. Tl vwadle bkp blye, tzydnkdt yv vbl czssepvykdp sd Nw Dw Lyd yde pyke okvb ekprzlypwal, “Rq usw nsdvkdwl, kv osd’v cl fwpv yp pkxrzl yp y ckv sq czllekdt.”

Nw Dw Lyd eked’v pllx vs xkde yv yzz yp bl tzydnle yv vbl qasdv sq bkp nblpv, ypjkdt cynj, “Ebyv kp vbyv? Vastayx alpvyav? Xa yal usw pkxrzu xsekqukdt vbl pswanl nsel vs elzlvl yde alrzynl xl?”

“Tso es usw…” Dw Dkdt Kk zssjle yv bkx kd ekpclzklq yde pweeldzu alyzkgle vbyv vbl rlapsd kd qasdv sq bkx yzalyeu pllxle vs cl ekqqlaldv qasx vbl sdl vbyv ypjle bkx qsa blzr sd vbl rbsdl.

Nw Dw Lyd eked’v nyal ycswv bkp rasckdt tygl. Tl pralye swv 5 qkdtlap. Myrrkdt vbl yiwy czwl pnalld vbyv sdzu vbl vos sq vblx nswze pll, bl pyke, “Mbl elqldpkhl rastayx vbyv usw oasvl nyd sdzu pvyde qsa yv xspv vbkavu xkdwvlp yv ralpldv. Rq R wpl yzz xu pvaldtvb vs yvvynj, R nyd calyj kv kd ycswv qswa xkdwvlp.”

Dw Dkdt Kk’p lulcasop kxxlekyvlzu jdkv, bl iwlpvksdle kd y oyadkdt vsdl, “Ebs yal usw?!”

Nw Dw Lyd okvbealo bkp tygl, vbld zssjle yv bkx yde plakswpzu pyke, “R yx xl, vbl xl vbyv usw rlsrzl nalyvle.”

Dw Dkdt Kk alyekzu eldkle, “Rxrsppkczl! Zsw’al sdzu…”

“Because I’m only a string of code, a portion of a program?” The corner of Lu Xu Nan’s lips hook up in a disdainful smile. He pointed at himself and said, “Now, I am also a super virus.”

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“In the last life…” Lu Xu Nan spoke and suddenly laughed in self-mockery, “To you people, the span of memory before each time the world’s program resets probably counts as the last life, right?”

Xu Xing Ji’s face twitched, he didn’t speak.

Lu Xu Nan didn’t appear to care to wait for his reply to this question either, he continued, “I don’t know just how many times this world has been restarted. Before, what I had an impression of was three times. In these three lives, I have to lose Ning Yi in each life, but I only become aware after her death every time. So every time, I have to suffer twice as much compared to the previous time.”

“Nine times.” Xu Xing Ji gave a number, he said, “Because of you two, this world has already gone through debugging nine times.”

Lu Xu Nan was silent for a moment, then he asked, “Every time, Ning Yi will…”

Even though he didn’t finish, Xu Xing Ji understood. He nodded, “You’re a lead after all and she’s a minor supporting character. If a problem occurs, solving it from her side will definitely cause the least disruption, so every time, her ending…um, is not too good.”

Hearing this, Lu Xu Nan fell into silence.

Xu Xing Ji glanced at him a few times. Seeing that he didn’t intend to speak, he still couldn’t suppress the curiosity in his heart. Unable to resist, he asked, “Just how much do you know? Why did you become a super virus? You really aren’t our company’s enemy? A commercial spy?”

“I am Lu Xu Nan, this fictitious game world’s so-called male lead that you created.” Lu Xu Nan paused, then said, “After Ning Yi died in the last life, I came to know of the general situation of this world from a plot protector by accident. Afterward, I used up all my wealth, time, and energy to make a super computer and finally accessed this world’s firewall.”

“All along, I thought Ning Yi was the biggest bug. Unexpectedly, it was actually you!!! F*ck, what is this? The program became conscious and changed itself? Simply unheard of…” Xu Xing Ji clicked his tongue in astonishment.

Lu Xu Nan continued to speak, “After accessing the firewall, I built the overlay code into my program, which should’ve been activated when Ning Yi awakened, but maybe the virus I placed at the same time affected the reading and writing of the code. Now, whether it’s me or Ning Yi, it looks like there are deviations in the awakening process.”

“Don’t look down on this world’s system’s self-maintenance too much, it’s built on the most advanced smart system in my world, so it is an unprecedented existence even if it’s only a game world. Otherwise, your awakening wouldn’t be happening.” Xu Xing Ji provided another explanation.

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“Because it detected Ning Yi’s repeated abnormal awakening, the system activated its self-preservation program and sealed her awakened conscience in a secondary world. Only, it was unexpected that she actually had a second awakening. So staff could only urgently insert new code for her, making her think she was a foreigner who transmigrated into a novel and thus protect the original plot here on her own initiative.”

Lu Xu Nan thoughtfully nodded, “No wonder…”

Xu Xing Ji shook his head as he tsked, he sighed with sorrow, “But it seems now that probably only directly finding her portion of code in the source code and deleting it entirely will be able to remove this bug…”

The gaze with which Lu Xu Nan looked at him immediately became sharp and fierce, “If this is your so-called solution, I’ll immediately activate the self-destruction program in me.”

“I will have this entire world buried with Ning Yi.” He coldly spoke each word separately.

Xu Xing Ji hugged his head, feeling again that he had to have wholly encountered eight lifetimes’ worth of bad luck to take this arduous and thankless mission.

He thought for a bit and said, “Since you didn’t directly attack the system firewall and instead made yourself into a super virus, that means there’s still room for discussion, right? Lay out your demands first, perhaps I can help you resolve them? Even if I can’t, there are people above me! I’m not afraid to tell you, our company spent a huge amount of manpower and resources to develop this game project and this is the final world in our test run. If it collapses, everything before this will be a lost bid, so you have a lot of chips in your hand, we can discuss this slowly.”

Lu Xu Nan swept a glance at the hand Xu Xing Ji had on the watch on his left wrist, he indifferently said, “I know myself that the skills I have can indeed give you headaches in the short term, but they are definitely entirely unable to compete with you. The longer it is, the more detrimental it is to me.”

Xu Xing Ji took his right hand back in embarrassment and stopped sending messages.

“As long as Ning Yi is here, it is impossible for me to destroy this world, so the bargaining chip that I hold is simply ‘keeping your losses to a minimum’ in exchange for a chance for her.”

Lu Xu Nan spoke with difficulty, “I have no way of facing Ning Yi again because I’ve experienced everything, even if she doesn’t remember. After Ning Yi is saved, I will kick her out of the plot and choose to format myself. She’s only an insignificant minor supporting character, this condition isn’t considered too excessive, right?”

Xu Xing Ji’s eyes couldn’t help widening, “But if it’s like this…”

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Lu Xu Nan cut him off, “Programs shouldn’t have their own emotions to begin with, executing the code is enough, no? If liking me brings her certain tragedy, then I am willing to be a stranger in her life.”

Xu Xing Ji’s lips twitched like he wanted to refute, but he was cut off by Lu Xu Nan again.

“What’s more, I still have some bargaining chips right now. When you break through my attack, I will completely lose the power to fight for her.”

After Xu Xing Ji stared fixedly at him for over ten seconds, he suddenly loosened his shoulders and sighed, “I don’t have the authority to trace code, so if you want to find Ning Yi, the fastest way is to use your virus’s ability to invade. I can help you expand your level and range, but you must promise that you won’t attack the system firewall. Otherwise, I will certainly be held accountable.”

“I promise.” Lu Xu Nan solemnly consented. He said sincerely, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me so fast.” Xu Xing Ji pointed at the bloodstains on his chest and said, “The range of your invasion didn’t even cover the area before and you’re already like this. Next up, when I forcefully edit the program to expand your range, you will feel even worse. So, in order to guarantee your safety, I need your privilege to get into the system defense. If the system detects that you’re about to erupt, it will spontaneously put you into dormancy, and at that time, whether or not you’ve found Ning Yi, I will forcefully format you.”

Lu Xu Nan pondered for only about half a second. All the tentacles around him instantly retracted, only a gold line came out from between his brows, not even as thick as a pinky finger.

Seeing that he made a decision so quickly, Xu Xing Ji raised his hands and stuck them in his hair a few times messily. Crumbling, he said, “Ahhhhh, I must really be crazy to agree to help you!”