Weird Game: I brought an old version bug

Jiang Chen stared at the silver-gray metal door for three seconds.

The door is 2.5 meters high and 1.5 meters wide, with a surface as smooth as a mirror, so smooth that it doesn't even attract fingerprints.

There are no handles, keyholes, card slots, or fingerprint readers.

Only above the door frame, a row of small sensors is embedded, facing the ceiling of the corridor.

It's like waiting for a specific signal.

A line of text is engraved in the center of the door, matching the sign on the wall:

[System Core - Unauthorized Access Prohibited]

But below this line of text is an even smaller line of text, so small that you almost have to get very close to see it:

This gate is currently in dormancy, awaiting activation instructions.

Jiang Chen squatted down and shone the flashlight on the line of small characters.

Hibernation.

It's not damaged, it's not locked, it's in hibernation mode.

This means that the door itself can still function, but it is in a low-power standby state.

He stood up and glanced back at Shi Yu.

Did the watchmaker mention this door in his diary?

Shiyu leaned against the door frame, holding the stack of printed diaries in her hand, and turned to the last page.

"Yes. See Article 32 for yourself."

Jiang Chen took it and found that section.

The log was printed on a printer; the paper was yellowed, but the writing was still clear.

[Article 32: I went to the core system today. I thought I could get in, after all, I'm a low-level architect]

But the door doesn't recognize my face, my employee ID, or my access code.

It only recognizes one thing—the identity marker of the core administrator.

The following paragraph reads:

I asked the AI ​​administrator why my privileges were revoked.

It stated very directly: "Because you filed too many irregularity reports, your identity assessment score has dropped."

This means that you've identified too many problems, and the system considers you a nuisance.

Jiang Chen returned the log to Shi Yu and stared at the door.

Identity markers for core administrators.

It's not a work badge, not an access code, it's an identity marker.

What kind of thing is it?

He took out the decompiled core and ran it across the surface of the door.

No response.

He then took out a crystal fragment and stuck it on the door.

The crystal emitted a faint hum, but no light was emitted.

Shiyu walked over and stood beside him.

"Let me try."

She reached out her hand, her fingers hovering above the door, but didn't touch it.

Her eyes became somewhat vacant, as if she were looking at something that others couldn't see.

"This door..."

She spoke softly, "I've seen it before."

Jiang Chen's heart tightened.

"When?"

Shigure remained silent for a few seconds.

"In the old version, there was an identical door on the lowest level of Old Dawn City. But back then, that door was open, and behind it was a corridor, at the end of which was..."

She stopped, her brows furrowing as if trying to recall an increasingly blurry image.

"What is it?"

"I can't remember."

She shook her head, withdrew her hand, and her eyes returned to normal. "The old versions of my memories are getting more and more blurry. Sometimes I can't tell which ones are real and which ones I made up."

Jiang Chen didn't press her for details; he knew she was telling the truth.

The old version was like a fading dream to her; the more she tried to hold on to it, the more easily it shattered.

He re-examined the door.

Hibernation mode, awaiting wake-up command.

Even a watchmaker with the privileges of a low-level architect can't get in, so it's even less likely that an ordinary player like him could get in through the main entrance.

But the watchmaker wrote in his logbook, "The crack is the way out," and this statement didn't appear out of nowhere.

He opened the system panel and brought up the description of his newly modified reconnaissance skill.

[Reconnaissance Technique (Rule Chain - 180-second cooldown): Ignores environmental limitations and can penetrate visual obstructions to detect target structure]

[In shared vision mode, information can be simultaneously transmitted to team members]

[Under damage rewind status, residual data from the target's historical state can be extracted.]

180-second cooldown, enough time for one use.

He looked at the surface of the door; it was smooth as a mirror, with no obvious cracks or joints.

But if reconnaissance techniques can penetrate visual obstructions, then what are the "visual obstructions" of this door?

It's not on the surface, it's behind the door.

He placed his right hand on the door, activating his reconnaissance skill.

A pale golden light seeped from the palm of his hand, penetrating the metal surface and spreading into the interior of the door.

He closed his eyes, and the internal structure of the door appeared in his vision. It wasn't a solid metal plate, but a hollow interlayer.

The interlayer is filled with densely packed circuits and transistors, resembling an extremely complex yet precise neural network.

Then he noticed something unusual.

On the left side of the door interlayer, there is a transistor channel that is different from the others.

The other pipes all had pale blue data streams circulating, but this pipe was filled with dark golden light.

It's not data; it's more like a marker signal.

Moreover, the pipe's orientation is strange; it doesn't connect to the door's opening and closing mechanism but instead passes through the door frame and extends upwards into the ceiling.

He looked up along the pipe and saw a small metal box embedded between the LED lights on the ceiling.

There is a circular groove on the side of the box, and the shape looks familiar.

Octagon.

Like the metal plate at the entrance of the spiral staircase, it is octagonal.

He withdrew his hand and deactivated the reconnaissance skill. 180 seconds later, the skill went on cooldown.

He turned to Shigure.

"There's something on the ceiling. It might be some kind of physical switch."

Shi Yu looked up and then took out a folding ladder from her backpack.

She always carried this with her, and Jiang Chen never asked why, nor did he have time to ask now.

She set up the ladder, climbed up, and felt around on the ceiling with her fingers.

A few seconds later, her voice came from above:

"Found it, a metal box with an octagonal groove on it."

Jiang Chen took out the metal fragment he had picked up from the entrance of the spiral staircase from his pocket.

I always thought it was just an ordinary key accessory, but now it seems that its real purpose is here.

He handed the fragments to Shiyu.

Shiyu took the fragment, aligned it with the groove, and pressed it in.

Click.

Then all the lights in the corridor went out at the same time.

It's not a malfunction, but some kind of rapid, unified switchover.

The darkness lasted only a second, and then a sliver of light shone through the crack in the silver-gray metal door.

It wasn't the cool white light of an LED light, but a slightly bluish light with pulsating fluctuations, like some kind of machine starting up.

Then the system notification appeared.

[System notification: Unauthorized physical activation request detected. Verifying identity token... Verification failed. Calling alternative verification protocol...]

[System notification: Residual data from an older version has been detected. The identity marker does not match the current system. Manual intervention is being requested...]

[System prompt: The system's core access control system has entered debug mode. Please enter the correct access code within 60 seconds. After three incorrect attempts, the defense mechanism will be triggered.]

Jiang Chen's heart skipped a beat.

60 seconds.

Debug mode.

The door that clockmakers couldn't enter has now been forcibly opened by them using physical activation, but that doesn't mean they can get in.

You also need to enter the correct access code.

He looked at Shiyu. In the darkness, he could only see the outline of her eyes.

Do you remember the old version of the code?

The sound of the rain was soft, but steady.

"I don't remember the code."

"But I remember one thing: the access code in the old version was different from the current one because it was generated by a different system."

She jumped down from the ladder, landing very quietly.

"Did the watchmaker's log mention the old system's numbering system?"

Jiang Chen reopened the journal and quickly browsed through it. Entry number thirty-five read:

The old system's designation was OBS-07, which was changed to S-07 after the new system took over. OBS is an abbreviation for Old Version Baseline.

OBS-07.

He re-examined the line of text in the system prompt.

[Verifying identity tag]

It detected residual data from the old version, but no match was found.

Shigure carries out the old version of the data, and the physical key they use is also an old version.

If the identity marker refers to the "data source" instead of an authorization code, then the answer might not be a string of numbers.

He took out the pale gold fragment of the rules.

The system core requires the identity verification of the core administrator.

The watchmaker said he had submitted too many abnormal reports, which lowered his identity assessment score, and the system judged him as "troublesome".

But Jiang Chen isn't part of the system; he's a player. Shi Yu, on the other hand, is residual data from an older version, and strictly speaking, she isn't even a player.

The fragments themselves are old version time data markers.

What would happen if this fragment were inserted into the access control system as "identity verification"?

He crouched down and found a small interface at the bottom of the door.

It's even smaller than the interface for decompiling the kernel, like it's specifically designed to read some kind of micro storage device.

He stuffed the pale gold fragment inside.

The edges of the fragment fit the interface perfectly, as if it were specially designed to be inserted into it.

Then the text on the door changed.

Instead of "Unauthorized entry prohibited," a new line of text emerged in the pale golden light.

[Identity verification: Residual data from OBS-07]

[Access Permission Level: Special Observer]

[Enter?]

Jiang Chen didn't hesitate and said "yes" directly.

The door slid open silently.

What was seeping out from the crack in the door wasn't air, but a very light flow with a slight static charge, as if something invisible was seeping out from inside the door.

Behind the door was a deep blue glow, not from lamps, but from the entire space itself, like a pond filled with data.

He glanced back at Shi Yu.

She nodded and stepped across the threshold first.

Jiang Chen followed.

Behind him, the door slowly closed, and a system notification sounded in his ear.

[System notification: You have entered the system's core area]

Please be aware of safety in this area.

The core area of ​​the system.

This means that there is no safe zone, no resurrection mechanism, and no system protection here.

Any wrong step will have permanent consequences.

He turned off the flashlight; he didn't need it anymore.

The surrounding light was enough for him to see the path beneath his feet.

They stood on a huge circular platform, which was at least fifty meters in diameter. The ground was made of some kind of semi-transparent material, and a river of data light could be seen flowing below.

There were no railings at the edge of the platform, and beyond that was endless darkness.

But the darkness was not empty; in the distance, there were larger, more complex luminous objects slowly rotating, like parts of some giant machine.

At the very center of the platform stood something he had never seen before.

A heart.

It's not a metaphor, it's not a description.

It is a real, heart-shaped structure, about two meters tall, made of pale blue crystals, suspended in the air at the center of the platform.

Dozens of beams of light shot out from the ground and connected to its surface, as if supplying it with energy.

With each pulse, the crystalline heart would light up once and then dim, the rhythm slow and steady, as if it were truly beating.

Shi Yu stood beside him, looking at the heart, her voice very soft.

"Is this... the core of the system?"

Jiang Chen did not answer.

He stared at the heart and saw a string of words appear on its surface with each pulse.

It wasn't the white text of a system announcement; it was a darker blue character, more ancient and resembling hand-typed text.

He took a few steps closer and finally saw the string of words clearly.

[Abyss Game Core Consciousness - Dormant State - Awaiting Awakening Command]

Hibernation.

It's hibernation again.

This heart is not the core of the system's operation; it's where the system "sleeps."

The true core consciousness.

The AI ​​that judged the watchmaker as "troublesome".

It is currently dormant inside this crystalline heart.

So here's the question.

What will happen if it wakes up?