Weird Game: I brought an old version bug

Jiang Chen's pupils contracted sharply as he stared intently at the faceless man's smooth, mirror-like face.

Without hesitation, he activated the ultimate mode of "reconnaissance".

Although there are still 67 seconds left on the cooldown, there is no other choice at this point.

The price of forced activation is that mental energy is lost at twice the rate.

A sharp, stabbing pain shot through my temple, as if someone had pierced my brain with a needle.

The pale golden gaze focused on the faceless man like a searchlight, attempting to penetrate the eerie disguise and point directly to its most primal data composition.

Each data stream is clearly visible in the field of vision, yet it is as elusive as a reflection in water.

He discovered that the Faceless Man's body was not a physical entity at all, but an aggregate woven from countless extremely subtle streams of dark red code, which were frantically replicating themselves.

What alarmed him even more was that the source of these code streams was connected to the area of ​​his own chest.

It was as if this faceless man was made up of a piece of data that had been peeled off from him.

The faceless man slowly stood up, and the quill in his hand transformed into a dark red data blade.

It tilted its smooth, mirror-like face, seemingly admiring Jiang Chen's shocked expression.

"Don't waste your energy, Jiang Chen."

The faceless man's voice echoed directly in Jiang Chen's mind, carrying a condescending pity:

"You think you're looking for the truth about the game? No, you're just looking for yourself."

It raised the data blade in its hand, and the surrounding retro study began to twist and peel away like melting wax figures, revealing a pitch-black void.

Shi Yu drew her weapon and stood in front of Jiang Chen, the blade gleaming with a silvery-gray light.

But the faceless man simply waved his hand, and Shigure froze on the spot as if a pause button had been pressed.

"Defective products from the old version are not eligible to participate in the final verification."

The faceless man coldly commented, then pointed his long blade at Jiang Chen.

"Now, give me back what belongs to me."

Jiang Chen did not back down.

Instead, he calmed down and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

His greatest skill is finding loopholes in the rules, and this faceless man is full of flaws.

He suddenly crushed the crystal fragments in his hand.

This is his last piece; the crack from the last one had already reached its limit.

A burst of pale golden light instantly severed the data connection between the faceless man and his chest.

The faceless man froze instantly.

"You think you're a copy of me? No."

Jiang Chen stared at its smooth face as the decompilation core quietly pressed against its chest—35% of its energy remained.

"You're just bait the system uses to test me."

The dark red gibberish on the faceless man's face began to flash violently, emitting a piercing electronic hiss.

On its smooth face, a fearful eye slowly emerged.

That eye was fixed on Jiang Chen, but what was reflected in its pupil was not Jiang Chen's face, but a string of red numbers that were counting down frantically.

The endpoint of numbers is time in the real world.

[WARNING: Core logic crash detected]

[Test subject 074 has triggered the final protocol]

[The game is coming soon...]

Before the system notification had even finished, the entire space began to shake violently.

The faceless man let out a piercing scream, and his body began to shatter into countless dark red specks of light.

Among those points of light, Jiang Chen saw an extremely familiar face.

That face was exactly the same as the face he saw in the mirror every morning in the real world.

But a strange smile lingered at the corner of that face's mouth.

Jiang Chen's heart clenched.

That intense sense of unease surged back into my heart.

He clearly remembered that he never had such a chilling expression in real life.

The face gradually magnified in the spotlight, eventually settling on Jiang Chen's retina.

A deep, hoarse voice, transcending the boundaries between virtual and reality, rang in his ears:

"So you finally figured it out, Jiang Chen?"

The voice carried endless exhaustion and madness:

"You think you're playing a game? Actually, you're trapped in your subconscious."

Jiang Chen suddenly opened his eyes.

But they discovered that the retro study, Shigure, and even the faceless man had all vanished.

He was lying in a cold chamber filled with nutrient solution.

A viscous liquid was slowly being poured into his mouth and nose.

Outside the cabin, countless thick pipes, like blood vessels, connected to his body, shimmering with a faint blue light.

Outside the transparent glass of the cabin stood a person in a white coat, who was writing something on a tablet.

The man seemed to sense Jiang Chen's awakening and slowly raised his head.

It revealed a face that made Jiang Chen's eyes widen in fury.

It was a face exactly like Jiang Chen's.

His eyes, however, revealed a haughty indifference.

He smiled slightly at Jiang Chen inside the cabin through the glass and mouthed a sentence:

"Welcome to the real world, number 074."