Weird Game: I brought an old version bug

Jiang Chen coughed violently, spitting out several mouthfuls of blood with a strong rusty smell.

Hissing and crackling sounds came from his chest, as if a bellows were being pulled.

He struggled to his feet, his body feeling like it was about to fall apart.

All around were endless barren plains, and the air was filled with a nauseating stench of decay.

There was no sun in the sky, only a huge, cracked, red moon.

It hung silently overhead, casting a blood-red light.

Ignoring the excruciating pain in his body, Jiang Chen immediately turned to look at his side.

Shiyu remained unconscious on the ground.

Her face was as pale as paper, and her breathing was weak and rapid, as if her heart might stop beating at any moment.

But what truly made Jiang Chen's pupils shrink was the dense array of old-version golden runes that were emerging on the surface of her skin.

These runes, as if alive, moved and flickered across her skin.

It exudes an aura that is out of place in this new version of the world.

Jiang Chen immediately knelt on the ground and took out the tattered parchment letter that he had desperately snatched from the study.

Zhong Yuan's hasty and desperate handwriting on the letter was strikingly clear:

Don't trust Shigure; she's not a survivor from the old version...

The writing behind it was obscured by charred marks, but combined with the golden runes erupting from Shigure's body at this moment, the truth was about to be revealed.

She was no ordinary survivor of the old version.

She herself is a fragment of the core rules left over from the old version!

The system wanted to eliminate her not because she was a bug, but because she represented the last underlying logic of the old version.

Jiang Chen took a deep breath and slowly brought the scalding hot "decompilation core" in his palm closer to Shi Yu's arm—the energy was still 16%.

The moment the pale golden light touched the golden runes, it produced a piercing friction sound.

It's as if two mutually exclusive codes are colliding.

[WARNING: Unauthorized parsing behavior detected]

[Target data encryption level: EX]

The cold system notification sound rang in his ears, but Jiang Chen did not back down. Instead, he pushed his mental power to the limit.

He must find out what secret Shigure is hiding.

As the core of the decompilation was analyzed more deeply, the golden runes on Shigure's body began to tremble violently, and the light grew brighter and brighter.

Jiang Chen's retina frantically scanned strings of ancient code, the lowest-level architecture language of the old version.

Suddenly, the ground of the gray plain began to tremble violently.

Deep, bottomless cracks spread out beneath their feet.

The red moon in the sky seemed to be stimulated by something, and a viscous black liquid seeped from the cracks on its surface, dripping onto the ground.

After the black liquid landed, it quickly twisted and expanded, transforming into humanoid monsters without facial features.

[Warning: The Old Cleaner has been refreshed]

[Current area danger level: Deadly]

Jiang Chen suddenly stood up and shielded Shi Yu behind him.

The decompilation core in his hand transformed into a pale golden long blade—12% energy remaining.

He gritted his teeth and activated the ultimate mode of his reconnaissance skill without hesitation—even though there were still 43 seconds left on the cooldown, he had no other choice at the moment.

The pale golden vision instantly captured the data flow of these monsters.

These monsters have no physical form; they are cleaners formed from the waste data seeping out of the red moon.

Their sole instruction is to erase all "abnormal data" within this area that does not belong to the new version.

The golden runes erupting from Shigure's body acted like a lighthouse in the night, attracting them all.

"If you want to touch her, you'll have to step over my dead body first!"

Jiang Chen's lips curled into a cold smile, his eyes filled with unwavering resolve.

He deliberately relaxed his mental defenses and used the trace of old version access he had gained while analyzing the Shiyu rune to forcibly tamper with his own coordinates.

A flash of pale golden light, and his body instantly shifted ten meters, avoiding the monsters' deadly attack.

The decompiled blade drew a dazzling arc in the air.

It precisely targeted a monster's core data node, triggering a violent explosion.

There was no gruesome scene of flesh and blood flying everywhere, only the piercing scream of data being forcibly torn apart.

But more monsters crawled out of the crack, densely surrounding Jiang Chen and Shi Yu.

Jiang Chen's physical strength was being consumed at an alarming rate, and the energy of the decompilation core was also rapidly decreasing—only 9% remained.

Several bloody marks soon appeared on his body.

Just as he was about to use his last trump card to forcibly detonate the surrounding spatial coordinates and perish together with them, an unexpected change occurred.

Shigure suddenly stopped her unconscious murmuring.

The golden runes on her body suddenly burst forth with dazzling light, shooting straight towards the red moon.

An extremely terrifying pressure swept out from Shigure's body, instantly forcing all the monsters within a hundred meters to their knees.

She slowly opened her eyes.

Those once clear eyes had now turned into a pure dark gold, devoid of any emotion.

"Permissions confirmed. Article 0 of the old version agreement: Any form of low-level erasure is prohibited."

Shiyu's voice was no longer its usual cool and clear tone, but rather carried a high-handed, emotionless, mechanical synthesized sound.

She simply raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

Those once-arrogant old cleansers instantly crumbled into the most primitive code.

A shower of golden light fell from the sky, smoothing out the cracks in the gray plain.

Jiang Chen stared in shock at Shi Yu before him.

This is not a power that a player could possess; this is administrator-level privilege!

But before he could even ask, the dark gold in Shi Yu's eyes quickly faded, returning to its original clarity and bewilderment.

She staggered and almost fell, but Jiang Chen caught her with lightning speed.

"What...what happened just now? My head hurts so much, it feels like I had a very, very long dream."

Shiyu rubbed her temples, her voice weak.

Jiang Chen stared intently into her eyes, trying to find even the slightest hint of pretense, but the confusion in her eyes was genuine.

"You just released the highest privileges of the old version, instantly killing all the monsters," Jiang Chen said truthfully.

Shi Yu was stunned.

She looked down at her hands as if they were completely unfamiliar objects:

"Impossible... I'm just an ordinary level six player, how could I possibly have that kind of power?"

She instinctively retorted, a hint of fear flashing in her eyes, as if she was deeply wary of her "abnormality".

Jiang Chen sighed inwardly, as Zhong Yuanxin's warning echoed once again.

Shi Yu herself had no idea of ​​her true identity; her memories had been tampered with by the system.

"You didn't see it wrong, and neither did I."

Shigure, the secrets you hold are far greater than we imagined.

Jiang Chen handed her the tattered letter, pointing to the charred words obscured by the charred ink, his tone becoming extremely grave:

"Zhong Yuan said you're not a survivor of the old version, and considering your performance just now..."

I suspect you are actually the old version of the 'Living Core'.

Shi Yu looked at the handwriting on the letter, her body trembling slightly. She seemed to be trying hard to recall, but her mind was blank.

"Living core..."

If that's really the case, then why would the system let me live as a player in the new version?

Shi Yu muttered to herself; her logical thinking was exceptional, and she quickly grasped the point of contradiction:

"unless……

The new version needs me, this 'living core,' to maintain some kind of balance, or as a last resort power source.

Jiang Chen gave her an appreciative look; this was exactly the conclusion he had deduced.

The system didn't eliminate her directly, but instead used her.

"That's why the system keeps pushing you, trying to make you reveal more features of the old version, so as to completely drain your value."

"We are in a dangerous situation right now. Once the system deems you no longer useful, it will immediately initiate the final cleanup."

Shi Yu took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

She looked at the eerie red moon in the sky, her gaze gradually hardening:

"Red Moon is the physical projection of the old version of the data tower."

If I am a living core, then there must be a backup of my memories in the data tower.

"We must go there. Only by regaining my complete memories can I fully master this power and break the system's control."

Jiang Chen nodded, retracted the decompilation core into his body, and checked his status—his energy was only 9%, and his health had dropped below 20%.

"Let's go then, let's go and meet this so-called old version of the data tower."

He stretched out his hand.

Shi Yu hesitated for a moment, then finally took his hand.

The two walked side by side toward the direction where the red moon was.

The wind on the gray plains seemed to have softened, no longer so biting.

However, when they had walked less than a kilometer, Shiyu suddenly stopped, her body stiff as a stone.

She stared intently at the direction behind Jiang Chen, and a chilling dark gold flashed once again in her eyes, which had just regained their clarity.

"Jiang Chen..."

Shiyu's voice became extremely unfamiliar, carrying a chilling mockery and coldness:

"Did you really think you got me out of there?"

Jiang Chen turned around abruptly, only to find nothing behind him.

However, a hidden, blood-red notification popped up on the system panel:

[Hidden Hint: Article 0 of the old version agreement has been triggered]

[The cleanup process starts from within.]

Jiang Chen's pupils contracted sharply, and he turned his head abruptly to look at Shi Yu.

But then they noticed a strange smile playing on her lips:

"Now, it's my turn to take over this body."