Elegy from Another World

Inside the massive, brightly lit, futuristic control center, the air pressure was suffocatingly low. On the enormous circular main screen, a utterly humiliating scene was frozen: the "hero," hailed as a "rising star" and the subject of massive promotional resources, was completely overwhelmed by a barrage of incredibly dense firepower in a seemingly one-sided encounter. Ultimately, the signal disappeared, and the character's status bar went gray, clearly displaying "Dead."

At the bottom of the screen, the live chat box had completely exploded, filled with players' exclamations, taunts, doubts, and anger.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!!"

A furious roar shattered the silence of the control center. The project manager, dressed in an expensive bespoke suit and with his hair meticulously combed, slammed his tablet onto the console, shattering the screen instantly. His face was ashen, veins bulging on his forehead, and he pointed at the frozen screen, yelling at his trembling team of subordinates:

"Dead?! Just like that?! And during a live stream! Do you know how much the company invested in building this 'Hero' IP?! Marketing, endorsements, merchandise development! Now it's all ruined! It's become a huge joke! Tell me! What the hell was that thing that killed the Hero?!"

A technical supervisor wearing thick glasses stepped forward with a stiff upper lip, his hands trembling as he pulled up the data analysis panel: "According to the background combat logs and character identifiers, the one who delivered the final blow to the hero... was a player unit registered under the name 'Lysia'."

"A player?" The person in charge frowned, snatched the spare tablet from the technical director, and quickly scrolled through Liscia's data. "How could a player be this strong? This output, this skill combination... it's completely beyond the normal limits! Is it a bug? Or a cheat?!"

"Our initial analysis suggests it's not a typical cheat program," the technical lead's voice trailed off. "Some of her core data... the source code appears to be encrypted with an unknown, extremely high level of privilege. The encrypted blocks point to... no servers or databases we know of. We... we currently cannot locate the encryption source, nor can we directly modify or delete her character data."

"What?!" The person in charge couldn't believe his ears. He grabbed the technical director by the collar. "Encrypted? Can't find the source? Are you fucking kidding me?! This is our game! Our servers! How could there be data we can't control?!"

"It's true, Director!" The technical lead turned pale with fright. "The data is physically located within our server array, but it's logically locked, with abnormally high privileges. All our management commands are being denied access. It's like... it's like her very existence possesses higher-level privileges than ours..."

"Bullshit!" The person in charge shoved the technical supervisor aside, spinning around in anger. "Absurd! Utterly absurd!"

He was breathing heavily, his gaze sweeping over the unusually calm character model of Liscia on the screen, a ruthless glint in his eyes: "Fine! Fine! Can't solve it online, huh? Then let's solve it offline! Notify the 'Cleanup Squad' to activate the highest-level 'Internal Intervention' protocol! Find the life support pod where this 'Liscia' is logged in! Physically disconnect her! I want them to know who the real god of this world is!"

"Yes, Director!" Another subordinate in charge of security immediately accepted the order and began relaying instructions.

At this point, the manager in charge of live stream operations cautiously asked, "Director, what... what should we do with the live stream now? The audience is extremely agitated, and the number of online viewers is still soaring, but it's mostly people coming to laugh at us and criticize us..."

The person in charge stared at the glaring mocking comments on the screen, a sinister smile spreading across his face: "What to do? Keep the live stream going! Not only live, but also bring in footage of the 'Cleanup Squad' carrying out their mission! Let all the players witness firsthand how this 'bug,' which disrupts the game's balance and challenges the company's authority, is wiped from reality like an insect being crushed! This is the best crisis management! Let everyone remember what the consequences are for breaking the rules in this world!"

"Understood! I'll arrange the live stream switch right away!" The operations manager quickly ran off to take action.

The order was issued swiftly. A well-equipped "cleanup team" dressed in black special forces uniforms was urgently mobilized. They had the highest authority to locate and deal with "problem players" in the real world. The large screen in the control center was split in two; one half still displayed the image of the hero's death that had brought shame to the company, while the other half switched to the live footage transmitted from the cleanup team's helmet cameras.

"Report to command center, life support pod location signal received for target 'Lizia'. Coordinates confirmed: located in the 'Emerald Tomb' life support center, BF-17 floor, District 3007. The team is en route to the target location." The team leader's voice was cold and efficient.

"Excellent! Quick! I want to see the results in five minutes!" The director crossed his arms, staring intently at the screen, a vengeful smug look on his face. The chat in the live stream instantly shifted, from mockery to astonishment, fear, and a touch of morbid anticipation.

The cleanup team took the high-speed elevator and quickly arrived at the dark underground life support center. Their heavy footsteps and the scraping of equipment echoed through the corridor. Following the signal, they stopped in front of a life support pod numbered "734". A thin layer of dust covered the pod's surface, suggesting it hadn't been maintained for a long time.

"Target confirmed, life support pod number 734. Prepare for forced activation." The squad leader signaled his men to move forward.

However, when the technicians connected the hacking device to the life support capsule's interface, a series of garbled characters and error messages appeared on the screen.

"Report: The hull identification signal is abnormal... The internal system logs show that this hull... was marked as 'abandoned' three years ago due to a power supply failure, and theoretically, no users should be logged in."

"What?" The squad leader was taken aback and leaned closer to examine the cabin. Through the blurry observation window, he could see that the interior was empty, with only a few broken cables and accumulated condensation. "It's empty! The target isn't here!"

This message was instantly broadcast live to the entire control center and to countless players watching the live stream.

The director's smile froze. "Empty?! How is that possible! The signal was clearly coming from here! Search! Thoroughly search this life support center! Check every single pod!"

The cleanup team immediately dispersed, roughly opening life support pod after life support pod. But the results were devastating—either they were empty, or they contained ordinary users in hibernation who had no connection to "Lissa," causing panic and curses. The signal pointing to pod "734" was like a ghost, an elaborate trap.

The live stream chat went completely crazy:

"Hahaha! That's hilarious!"

"That was an amazing play!"

"Is this all the company's technological capability is?"

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!!" The director's roar nearly blew the roof off the control center. He felt as if his face was being slapped repeatedly by an invisible hand, burning with pain. The company had staged a complete farce in front of countless players, its prestige utterly destroyed.

Extreme rage drove him to the brink of madness. "Online won't work! Offline won't work either! Fine… then let's use the most drastic method!" His eyes bloodshot, he roared at the tech team, "Activate the 'Odin Protocol'! Connect me directly to the game world's main management program, 'Guardian,' and authorize the highest command: lock onto unit 'Lysia' and erase her data! I want her to disappear completely! Now! Immediately!"

When the technical lead heard about the "Odin Protocol," his face turned deathly pale. It was a dangerous operation that was almost equivalent to partially resetting the game world, but seeing the director's crazed eyes, he dared not disobey.

"...Yes, Director. Initiate the Odin Protocol, connect to the 'Guardian'...Authorization code confirmed...Command input: Target, 'Lysia'...Execute...Elimination procedure..."