Chapter 149
Chapter 149
The System space, already battered to pieces, slowly crumbled away like fragments of data. In the end, heaven and earth became a single color, and everyone stood in an endless expanse of white.
Apuleer turned to run, but a voice suddenly blanketed the entire area. “Run, my ass. Finally got you.”
A man dressed in a slovenly, carefree way, stained with some unidentified liquid that looked suspiciously like soup, with a “1” printed at the corner of his eye, came over in oversized flip-flops and tied Apuleer up tightly in just a few moves. “Do you have any idea how excited I was when I suddenly detected the aura of the World-Descent Rule and you right in the middle of my meal? I jumped up so fast I knocked over my food and didn’t even care! I’m deducting it from your labor pay when we get back.”
After trussing him up and tossing him into a pocket space, Flip-Flop Bro finally turned to the others and gave them a deep bow. “Ladies and gentlemen, due to the World Management Bureau’s negligence in supervising its artifacts…”
Actually, that wasn’t quite it. The truth was that while locked up, Apuleer had stolen some laxatives during yard time. Then, while the System guarding him was eating, he slipped the stuff into the meal and sent them running. On his way out, he used the same trick on the person in charge of the artifacts. Somehow, he also got hold of a System fingerprint and quietly stole quite a few things.
Heaven bear witness, even though they were all System entities, medicine specially made to target Systems still worked perfectly on them.
That part was also 002’s fault. The kid was a genius at making medicine, and being young sure was nice-he’d pass out the moment he lay down, and he’d left his concoctions strewn all over the place. Well, now someone had taken advantage of that, hadn’t they?
“…I will use the World Management Bureau’s connections to ensure that everyone who entered the World-Descent Rule, or died because of the World-Descent Rule, returns safely to their hometown.”
Hometown.
Rao Lin’s eyes suddenly burned.
There had once been a very popular saying in the System.
“The Script is the NPCs’ world; the Rest Area is the Player home.”
What bullshit home.
The Player had destroyed that “home” with their own hands, and now they were about to return to their real hometown.
Rao Lin couldn’t help asking, “Will they keep their memories?”
Flip-Flop Bro smiled. “Of course. Ironclad rule of the World Management Bureau: humanity first, memory second.”
Unless absolutely necessary, they did not tamper with other people’s memories.
Song Zhu looked at Rao Lin’s profile, his lips pressed into a tight line, fingers curling slightly.
He wanted to say something, but when the words reached his mouth, he still couldn’t get them out.
While he was hesitating, someone suddenly threw their arms around him. “Teacher Song! Come to my house and see my cat!”
Song Zhu froze, and the commotion drew Flip-Flop Bro’s attention as well.
When he saw the Z on Song Zhu’s wrist, Flip-Flop Bro gave an amused “Oh?” Then he asked, “What’s your code number?”
Song Zhu hesitated for a moment. “001.”
Flip-Flop Bro’s expression immediately turned strange. “…So Apuleer has that kind of kink. Don’t tell me your Systems also have all sorts of numbers going down from 001 too.”
When Song Zhu nodded, Flip-Flop Bro gave a short laugh. “Good, very good. That bastard actually fantasized about ruling the entire World Management Bureau.”
Though no one fully understood what he meant, everyone present shared the same thought: Well said.
Especially Ning Shuo, who was particularly enthusiastic in his support. “Well said! That’s deeply to this… ahem, to my liking!!”
Flip-Flop Bro shot him a half-smiling glance. His lips moved soundlessly, but anyone who could read lips would have seen: You’re interesting. Come find me later.
Then, facing the crowd, Flip-Flop Bro made a gentlemanly bow. “Hello, everyone. I’m the System team leader from the World Management Bureau, code name 001.”
He looked at Song Zhu, tilted his head, and smiled. “Of course, you can call me Big One-and you, Little One.”
…
The World Management Bureau was a data-based institution independent of the myriad worlds. Its daily work involved adjusting collapsed worldlines and, every now and then, catching an interstellar fugitive.
That “every now and then” was enough to show just how bad this organization’s ability to catch criminals really was.
But even at its weakest, it was still enough to make interstellar fugitives tremble at the mere mention of it.
Its “eyes” might not work very well, but its “fists” worked exceptionally well.
Of course, the Players were pretty much traumatized by the System at this point. The moment they heard the word “System,” their expressions turned ugly.
001’s smile looked welded onto his face. “No need to get angry. I know Apuleer caused you a great deal of harm. Don’t worry. The World Management Bureau follows a humanitarian-first policy, but Apuleer doesn’t count as human.”
“The people from the Living Zone can go back, and those who were originally alive but died within the World-Descent Rule can also go back. That’s the first point.”
001 walked over to Song Zhu, then suddenly reached out and tapped a fingertip against the center of his forehead. “Let me see…”
Rao Lin instinctively moved to block him, but Song Zhu grabbed his hand. “It’s fine.”
Blue light glowed from 001’s fingertip. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes, blue streams of data flashing through his pupils. “You made a lot of Script content, but most of it was thrown together on the fly. You deliberately left plenty of loopholes, keeping it within a threshold Players could clear. And you played a major role in helping the World Management Bureau find Apuleer… let’s call it merits and faults canceling each other out. Since you count as a Player now, of course you can leave with your boyfriend.”
After hearing 001 say that, most of the people present realized what Song Zhu’s original identity had been, and their looks immediately turned hostile. 001 gave a light little “ah” and waved a hand, pulling out countless strands of data. “What you don’t need to know, you don’t need to know.”
When he saw Rao Lin and Song Zhu’s tightly clasped hands, 001 gave a cheeky grin. “Take good care of this guy, all right?”
The world was vast, and full of wonders.
His Gaydar had never once been wrong.
As if he had noticed something else, 001 suddenly yanked a man out from the crowd. He leaned in and sniffed at the man’s collarbone, then sighed. “How strange, how strange! That piece of trash Apuleer cobbled together can actually produce this many weird situations.”
The issue of two identical souls still hadn’t been resolved, and now one person actually had two different auras on him at the same time.
Unfortunately, the second aura’s soul was so weak it could hardly be called one at all. It was more like a strand of divine sense attached to something, and that thing had then ended up on this man.
But if that lord took action, maybe there was still hope. After all, that lord was a god who had single-handedly torn open the World Management Bureau’s transit channel…
The man with the Y-shaped scar on his wrist suddenly grabbed him, and only then did 001 realize that, while thinking too deeply again, he’d accidentally spoken his thoughts out loud.
Bad habit. Had to fix that.
The man’s eyes were red-rimmed, and his grip was painfully tight, but his voice came out soft. “…It can be saved?”
“Mm… don’t get your hopes up too high. There’s only a strand of divine sense left. Even if that one is a god, there’s no guarantee they can bring it back…”
“Please!” Shu Yan suddenly bent both knees, but before he could fully kneel, he was yanked back upright.
001 grabbed Ning Shuo and Ning Wang and bolted at the speed of a hundred-meter sprinter. “Don’t kneel to me!! It’ll shorten my lifespan!!! I’ll come find you after I finish dealing with this guy!!”
—
This blank expanse of heaven and earth looked small, but the farther 001 ran, the farther away he got, until the huge crowd behind them had shrunk down to mere sesame-seed specks.
Ning Shuo’s voice shook so hard in the wind it turned robotic. “Fri…end… what… ex…actly… are… you… try…ing… to… do…”
001 smiled without really smiling. “Inside the World-Descent Rule, the two of you can naturally coexist. But if you want to leave, two identical souls can’t coexist in the same world. Don’t you want to solve that problem?”
The two Nings instantly caved.
Ning Shuo: “Bro!”
Ning Wang: “Grandpa!”
Ning Shuo: “Help, help!”
Ning Wang: “Save us, save us!”