Chapter 131 A Shameful Situation, A Misfire, Friendly Reminder: "A Difficult Choice Between Two Options..."
Just as Lilith Lee completely closed the upstairs door, a bluish-white light, the kind that only appears when a meteor streaks across the deep sky, appeared in the very center of the Rotten Violin Bar.
Almost in the blink of an eye, Fu Ze emerged from the white light and quietly landed in front of the raven.
At the same time, a barely perceptible ripple spread out from where his toes touched the ground.
From the tablecloth swaying in the wind blowing in from the window, to the fish tank rippling as fish forage on the surface, everything in the bar swept by the ripples seemed to freeze instantly in a thick piece of amber, losing all sense of time and space.
Besides Raven, who also possesses the GM [Special Key], there are also Yuan Jianxing and Wells Lee, who are enveloped in some kind of light behind him, with their eyes closed and floating in mid-air.
"We meet again." He looked up, squinting at Fu Ze who was walking against the light. "You're a little slower than I expected."
Upon seeing the scene before him, Fu Ze's pupils dilated.
Even though he had regained all GM privileges, he wasn't necessarily confident in handling every detail of the duel against Raven, who possessed far more [keys] and [special keys] than originally designed.
Raven was clearly aware of this, which is why he boldly took Hara Mikihoshi hostage, preventing himself from making any rash moves.
Thinking of this, Fu Ze subconsciously clenched his fist.
Outside the world, the raven has "kidnapped" the player to blackmail him.
Within the world, he also "kidnapped" Hara Mikihoshi to blackmail him.
This is truly... an utter disgrace!
After repeatedly telling himself to act calmly, Fu Ze turned his gaze to Raven: "If you want to see me so badly, why did you have to resort to the initial sneak attack? Otherwise, we might have met much earlier."
"A sneak attack? That sounds so harsh." Raven rubbed his chin, seemingly a little hurt. "In your terminology, this is called 'world echo'."
The raven's explanation is also reasonable.
Holding the [key] from countless players, his wish will naturally be recognized by the [Center of All Things] as the common wish of thousands of players, thereby triggering the [Echo of the World] to create corresponding events to fulfill the wish.
Even if the nature of this wish is extremely evil, it will be fulfilled under an overwhelming number of judgments.
Fu Ze smiled insincerely and said, "Then I should thank you for helping me find these design flaws under extreme conditions."
"You're welcome, my friend," the raven actually replied.
Fu Ze finally understood what it meant to be "shameless and invincible".
With one hand resting on the back of the chair, Raven slowly stood up and looked at Fu Ze with an "equal" gaze for the first time.
"Having your special key taken away, I have to admit you're quite capable."
For him, only Fu Ze, who was the GM in front of him, was his opponent and his kind.
"You can even set up a 'death-for-life' scenario without knowing anything. Calling you a genius wouldn't be an exaggeration."
To him, everything else in this world was nothing more than data.
“Likewise, your ‘virus’ design is also quite ingenious.” Fu Ze subtly shifted his posture as he moved, ready to seize any opportunity to turn the tide. “If we had met at the developer conference instead of under these circumstances, I would have welcomed you to join our team.”
Raven scoffed, seemingly disdainful of Fu Ze's offer. "You mean that company that completely disregards development principles and forces you to rush the schedule? Only a dog would go there."
This is the truth, and Fu Ze cannot refute it.
As the architecture director, he was well aware of the various flaws that still existed in the game's underlying logic.
For example, the current response to player behavior in [Echo of the World] is too broad, which may cause the game to freeze or affect the experience of other players.
For example, the [key] has too many functions, and once it becomes disconnected from the corresponding player, it may cause incalculable consequences.
Based on this, he also raised his concerns with his superiors and requested that the launch of the first test be postponed.
However, in order to generate publicity and secure further funding from investors, the company forcefully rejected the strong objections raised by the development team several times and started the first test directly.
Clearly, the raven was fully aware of these inside stories.
That's why he decided to enter this game, boldly challenge the seemingly invincible [Center of All Things], and ultimately achieve his goal.
Standing in front of Fu Ze, Raven nodded with great sympathy. "In conclusion, I actually admire you quite a bit, in every sense of the word."
"Let's skip the pleasantries," Fu Ze interrupted. "Now I have a complete understanding of what you did to the [Center of All Things]."
As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Wells Lee, who was also suspended in mid-air.
Once I use my GM privileges to remove the core carrier of this virus, everything that is happening now will return to normal.
Then you can figure out how to clean up the mess yourself and everything will be fine.
With GM privileges, all of this is a piece of cake, a trivial matter.
Looking back at Raven, Fu Ze offered a half-hearted, half-warning advice: "Now that things have come to this, the best option for you and your companions outside is to turn yourselves in as soon as possible."
As if it had heard the funniest joke, Raven burst into laughter and charged forward, staring straight at Fu Ze. "Did I say I was going to admit defeat?"
After saying that, he leaped onto the table and stood between Hara Kenshin and Wells Lee.
Fu Ze's eyes narrowed, and he said sharply, "You want to use him to..."
“Hey, friendly reminder.” Raven held up a finger to his lips, “Don’t let his current ‘Sleeping Beauty’ appearance fool you, he can hear what we’re saying.”
Fu Ze was immediately speechless.
Turning his head to look at Yuan Jianxing, Raven sighed, "I have to admit, the immersion in this game is really well done. Otherwise, how could even you, the designer, be so immersed in it and unable to extricate yourself?"
As he spoke, a very thin, spider-like thing emerged from Wells Lee's body, groping and probing in mid-air.
That is clearly how the virus itself is represented in the game.
Meanwhile, Raven was extracting the "virus" from Wells Lee's body and transferring it to...
Without thinking twice, Fu Ze's pupils suddenly contracted.
An invisible giant blade instantly cleaved down from the top of the raven's head, cleaving it in two from head to toe, and tearing the fragile silk thread to shreds in the process.
In this world, the vast majority of death experiences are very real.
However, this obviously does not include the concept of "data erasure".
Without the computational support of the [Center of All Things], the Raven model, which had been split in two by Fu Ze and had a hollow center, scattered like tattered cloth.
Yuan Jianxing and Wells Lee, who had been held aloft by his [Key] ability, also plummeted to the ground.
Seeing this, Fu Ze immediately replaced Raven, raised his hand and gently lifted the two people as targets, restoring their floating state and slowly placing them flat on the ground.
After landing on the ground, Harami Hoshiya seemed to finally recover from his previous unconscious state.
Fu Ze immediately knelt down and hugged the other person tightly.
Just then, a raven's voice suddenly appeared: "Haha, did you enjoy my performance?"
Fu Ze naturally didn't think that Raven would be killed so easily by him.
"Did you think I'd be one of those classic performative villains? The kind who insists on going head-to-head with the protagonist at his peak?" Raven's voice drew much closer.
Especially after Fu Ze failed to retrieve the stripped [keys] from the opponent's shattered body, he knew that Raven must have a backup plan.
The raven said smugly, "I had already completed the transfer of the virus core before you even arrived."
In response, Fu Ze didn't even turn his head, but directly created a black hole where the sound came from.
The raven's originally loud voice suddenly became intermittent and finally disappeared without a trace.
But clearly, this is not the end.
Sure enough, the raven's persistent voice rang out again: "Friendly reminder."
Unlike before when there was only one voice, this time his voice sounded layered.
"Ravens are social creatures."
Although Fu Ze didn't turn around either, he could see from the reflection of the bottles on the bar counter that the Rotten Violin Bar was already packed with Ravens.
The raven, perched on the wine barrel used as a table by the window with its legs crossed, said, "You're so smart, you shouldn't be clueless about what to do next, right?"
In response to Fu Ze, the barrel on which the raven was sitting suddenly exploded.
The high-speed flying splinter instantly pierced the throats of several ravens nearby.
Completely disregarding the death of its companion, the raven hanging upside down from the chandelier said, "Show some of the determination and courage of an architecture manager."
In response to Fu Ze, the sturdy chandelier suddenly collapsed, smashing the raven hanging upside down onto the ground.
The flames ignited by the short circuit in the chandelier then spread to other ravens nearby, causing a chorus of screams.
Amidst the wailing and howling, a raven perched on the armrests of the sofa said, resting its chin on its hand, "A difficult choice between two options, hiss, it should be difficult, right?"
In response to Fu Ze, the once smooth ground suddenly cracked, and the raven, along with the ravens around it, all fell into the endless dark purple abyss.
However, no matter how ruthlessly Fu Ze eliminated the ravens, new ravens would always fill the void.
Like annoying weeds, they always take root and sprout in unexpected places.
Finally, the ravens in the now dilapidated bar seemed to have grown tired of this game, which, despite its many tricks, left them feeling unilaterally suppressed. They said in unison, "Goodbye, my friends."
Then they all disappeared.
Fu Ze didn't chase after them, because he knew that even if he caught up with all the ravens, it would be of no use.
The most important question... is here.
He looked down at Yuan Jianxing in his arms.
With shallow breaths, Yuan Jianxing's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she almost whispered, "I'm sorry."
The phone that his fingertips were about to touch had already been shattered into pieces under the previous pressure.
The insignia on his collar was also crushed into a shapeless lump of scrap metal.
Although he wasn't entirely clear on what exactly happened, Yuan Jianxing knew that it was his presence that caused Fu Ze to lose to Raven.
He tightened his arms, biting his lower lip slightly, trying to keep his tone steady so as not to let his sadness show: "What are you saying sorry for? You have nothing to apologize for."
I'm sorry.
Whether clinging to a last shred of hope or simply to put an end to everything, Fu Ze gently stroked the back of Yuan Jianxing's neck and began reading Yuan Jianxing's information.
In that space belonging to the original Starseeing, lay quietly an inactive but incomplete [key].
Therefore, Yuan Jianxing's ability to determine the truth or falsehood of words with 100% certainty is indeed his personal talent, a miracle unexpectedly generated by the [Center of All Things].
The reason he was able to approach the world border, which is accessible only to players, was because he possessed a [key] that was randomly given to him by the raven.
Moving his hand away, Fu Ze pulled Yuan Jianxing closer, as if this would allow him to forget the cruel reality of his current situation by sensing the other's presence and warmth.
Yuan Jianxing is an NPC.
One is an NPC infected with a virus, which is meant to drive players away from the game, and the other must be removed to ensure that the same accident does not happen again in the future.
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Author's Note: [Crying uncontrollably]
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