Weird Game: I brought an old version bug

Jiang Chen stepped onto the first step of the spiral staircase, and the metal plate under his feet made a dull thud.

It wasn't a loose sound, but the natural sound of solid, heavy metal bearing weight.

He squatted down and tapped the surface of the steps with his fingers. The echo was solid, without any hollow sound, indicating that the steps had a solid structure underneath, not a thin steel plate.

This entire spiral staircase is a solid metal casting, not a temporary engineering structure.

He glanced back at Shi Yu: "Don't come down yet. I'll check it's safe down here before you come."

Shi Yu didn't argue; she simply handed him the flashlight and then leaned against the pipe outlet.

Jiang Chen walked down the steps.

The first ring of walls is made of the same material as the entrance—a dark gray metallic coating, clean and free of rust, but also without any signs of polishing, as if it had never been touched since it was cast.

Every few steps, a small circular mark appears on the wall—not a number, nor an arrow, but a gear pattern, the same as the octagonal gear on the metal plate, but smaller, only the size of a fingernail.

It looks like the signatures left by watchmakers along the way.

At the end of the first lap, a closed metal door appeared in front of him.

The door is about 2.2 meters high and just wide enough for one person to pass through.

The door has no keyhole, verification slot, or control panel on its surface—there is only one thing: a semi-transparent panel embedded in the center of the door, on which a line of glowing text floats.

It wasn't the white, cold light font of the system prompts; it was a warm yellow light with faint pulses.

It looks like someone used some kind of custom tool to write it in the old version, and the font style is exactly the same as the operation flowchart in the 07 team archives.

The panel displayed only one sentence: "Are you wearing a watch?"

Jiang Chen stared at the line of text and remained silent for two seconds.

It's not a riddle, it's not a code, it's a question.

But watchmakers wouldn't write a pointless sentence on the first door leading to the core data layer for no reason.

He quickly went through everything about himself in his mind. Old Shen's notebook didn't have a watch, the watchmaker's notebook didn't have a watch, the decompiled core wasn't a watch, and the rule fragments weren't either.

He glanced down at the game system panel. The time was displayed in the upper right corner of the panel and updated in real time, but that was the system time of the Abyss game, not a real "clock".

The system's time is inaccurate, but our time is accurate. This is a quote from the watchmaker, relayed by Shiyu.

He reconsidered the question: "Are you wearing a watch?"

No, "表" is not a timer in the literal sense.

The watchmaker's use of the word "watch" is a metaphor—referring to a time reference that is independent of the system's time.

His gaze fell on the faint fragment mark on the web of his right hand.

The data carried by the rule fragments are products of the old version era. Their timestamps are from the old version and are not on the same timeline as the system time of the new version.

If the "watch" the clockmaker refers to is the old version of time data, then he does indeed carry those three rule fragments, which are themselves time markers from the old version.

He summoned the energy of the pale gold fragments from the back of his hand—residual energy from the skill modification he had just injected.

He pressed his right hand, still carrying residual energy, onto the translucent panel of the door.

The language has changed.

The warm yellow text flickered and then disappeared, replaced by a new line of text:

"The timing is right. Come in."

The door slid open silently a crack.

Jiang Chen pushed open the door and went inside.

The space inside the door was larger than he had imagined—it wasn't a passageway or a room, but a square space of about fifty square meters, with a height similar to a spiral staircase, about five meters.

The four walls of the space were all dark gray metal panels. There were no windows, no pipes, no furniture—it was empty, like a waiting room that had not yet been assigned a purpose.

But the ground is not empty.

Nine pits are evenly distributed on the ground.

Each pit is about 20 centimeters in diameter and about 5 centimeters deep, and the bottom of the pit is a different color—red, yellow, blue, green, purple, white, black, silver, and gold.

Nine colors, nine pits.

At the other end of the space is another door, leading to the entrance to the second circle.

But the door was also closed, and it also had a semi-transparent panel embedded in it.

Jiang Chen walked to the panel, which read: "Nine pitfalls, only one is correct. If you choose the wrong one, the door will be locked forever."

He glanced back at the nine dents; this wasn't a matter of random selection.

People with the work style of watchmakers wouldn't set up a hurdle on the path to the core data layer that relies purely on luck.

There must be some kind of pattern to the nine dents, and this pattern must be related to the information he already has.

Nine colors, nine attributes.

He possessed three fragments of regularity—pale gold, silver-gray, and dark red. The colors of the fragments overlapped with the colors of the pits, but did not match perfectly.

It contains both silver-gray and dark red pits, as well as some light gold ones.

But he only has one chance.

He reviewed the core principle of the rules lab flowchart: the order of stacking affects the final result.

The order he chose when binding the rule fragments was light gold → silver gray → dark red.

This order is not random; it is the result of deduction: first, obtain environmental information, then share it with teammates, and finally, ensure safety.

If the "order" itself is the answer—then the correct indentation should be consistent with the first link of its rule chain.

Pale gold.

He walked to the golden pit, squatted down, and placed his right hand on the bottom of the pit.

No immediate reaction was triggered.

He paused for a few seconds and felt the metal material under his palm begin to heat up slightly—not hot, but a comfortable warmth.

Immediately afterwards, the bottom of the pale golden pit lit up, and light spilled out from his palm through his fingers, illuminating the entire space.

The sound of mechanical movement came from the wall, and the second door opened.

Jiang Chen stood up and withdrew his hand.

Of the nine indentations, only the pale gold one was lit up; the other eight remained unchanged.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked towards the door.

"Did you bring your watch?" doesn't refer to the physical clock—it refers to whether you have an older version of the time data. And his rule fragments are his watch.

He didn't turn around and call out to Shiyu, but walked straight through the second circle of doors.

Shiyu had already heard the commotion and climbed down from the pipe opening, following a dozen steps behind him.

She didn't ask what had just happened, but glanced at the glowing golden crater on the ground, and then quickly followed.

The space in the second ring is half the size of the first ring, about 25 square meters.

But the layout is completely different. This space is divided into several parallel corridors by semi-transparent light curtains, and the end of each corridor leads in the same direction—the entrance to the third circle.

However, each corridor has a different length, and the colors of the light curtains are also different, from left to right: silver-gray, dark red, semi-transparent, dark blue, and amber.

Five corridors, five colors. Silver-gray and dark red are among them.

Jiang Chen stood in front of the entrance to the five corridors, not in a hurry to move.

He was waiting—waiting to see if any prompts would pop up on the system panel, or if there would be any similar text on the wall.

No.

This space is empty except for five light curtain corridors and the third entrance in the distance.

Shi Yu walked to his side, glanced at him, and asked, "Choose one?"

What happens if you choose the wrong option?

"I don't know. But the clockmaker wrote on the door—if you choose the wrong one, you'll be locked out forever."

Jiang Chen didn't hesitate for long.

He stretched out his right hand and flexed his fingers. When he was modifying his skills, the silver-gray vision-sharing rule was ranked second.

The silver-gray corridor is the second row from the left, and the dark red one is the third row.

He walked into the silver-gray corridor.

The instant he passed through the light curtain, he felt a slight electric current.

It's like static electricity, but over a much wider area, going from head to toe.

The silver-gray light curtain dimmed slightly as he passed through, but quickly regained its brightness.

The corridor was longer than he had expected.

After walking about ten steps down the corridor, he suddenly heard Shi Yu's voice behind him—but she didn't follow him in; the voice came from outside the light screen: "Jiang Chen, how are you?"

"It's nothing. Did you see where I went?"

"After you went in, you disappeared, and a silver-gray light curtain enveloped your entire body. It was as if you had stepped into another space."

Jiang Chen looked back.

Behind him was not a light screen, but a complete, unobstructed metal corridor.

He could clearly see Shigure standing in place, and he could also see the dark red, deep blue, and amber-colored entrance to the corridor.

But from Shigure's perspective, the silver-gray light curtain he passed through became an opaque barrier.

He continued walking forward.

The corridor is about fifteen meters long, and at the end is also a semi-transparent panel door.

The inscription on the door this time consisted of only four characters:

Did you see that?

"I saw it," Jiang Chen replied, though he didn't know who he was talking to.

The door opened. He stepped out and found himself standing in front of the entrance to the third lap—skipping halfway through the second lap.

His right hand felt slightly warm on the back, and the silver-gray fragments flashed briefly under his skin before returning to normal.

The challenge of the second lap is not "choosing the right corridor" at all - all five corridors can lead to the finish line, but only the corridor whose color matches your rule chain order will directly connect the exit to the entrance of the third lap.

Choosing the wrong option means taking an extra detour, wasting time and energy.

And he made the right choice.

Shigure emerged from the dark red corridor, about two minutes later than him.

Her expression didn't change much when she came out, but she was already gripping the bow tightly in her hand.

"Is there something wrong with the dark red corridor?" Jiang Chen asked.

"There's a monster. Not a living one—it's a holographic projection, but the damage is real."

Shi Yu said, "I killed two before I reached the exit. If my level wasn't high enough, it would have taken an average player at least ten minutes to walk that path."

After listening, Jiang Chen gained a deeper understanding of the watchmaker's design philosophy.

The Nine-Colored Pit tests "judgment"—determining which piece of information is crucial.

The Five-Colored Corridor tests "choice"—choosing a path that matches one's own abilities.

Every level has a cost, but making the right choices can significantly reduce those costs.

And the entrance to the third lap is right in front of us.

A larger metal door than the previous two floors. There is no panel, no text, no groove in the center of the door, only an octagonal gear pattern embedded in the door panel. In the very center of the gear is a standard circular groove—the size is just right to accommodate the decompilation core.

No need to find your way on the third floor.

The third floor is the final destination.

Jiang Chen took out the decompilation core from his backpack, held it in his hand, and felt the cool touch of the metal surface.

He glanced back at Shiyu, and she nodded.

He placed the core into the groove.

Perfect fit.

There was no lag or looseness.

It's as if this core was originally taken from this groove.

The door opened.