Weird Game: I brought an old version bug

The train traveled in the darkness for even longer.

There were no stage lights, no cold white light—only endless darkness, as if sailing into an abyss without end.

Jiang Chen sat in his seat, holding two flowers in his hand—a wildflower and a gardenia.

He placed them on his lap and looked out the window.

The lights in the carriage were still flickering, and the passengers' faces were still switching between fear and emptiness, but Jiang Chen no longer paid attention to them.

He was thinking of Shigure.

I wonder how she is now.

One person remained at the top of the tower, acting as a "lock" to wait for his return.

She said she would wait, no matter how long it took.

But Jiang Chen didn't know how long this trial would last.

He has passed the first two of the seven trials. There are five more to go.

The train began to slow down.

A faint, warm yellow light appeared in the darkness outside the window.

It's not a platform, not a building—it's a bookshelf floating in the darkness.

Thousands of bookshelves, like a giant library suspended in the void, stretch to the horizon.

The train has come to a complete stop.

But this time, there was no platform.

The car door opened, revealing only emptiness outside—a path paved with glowing book pages, suspended in the air, leading to that ocean of books.

Jiang Chen stood up, placed the two flowers on the seat, and then got off the train.

His feet trod on the glowing pages, feeling as if they were on solid ground—but beneath them was emptiness, and he could see endless darkness flowing between the pages.

He walked forward along the path of the book pages, and with each step he took, the pages behind him would disappear, as if this path existed only for him.

At the end of the road was a huge archway.

The archway is made up of two huge stone books, with the pages turned up and covered with dense text.

Jiang Chen approached and took a closer look—the words were constantly changing. They seemed to be alive, rewriting themselves every second.

He stepped through the archway and entered a world entirely made of books.

The ceiling is books, the floor is books, the walls are books.

The bookshelves stretched from the floor to the ceiling, so high that they seemed to go on forever. Each shelf was crammed with books, some with printed words on their spines, others blank.

The air was filled with the smell of old paper and ink, mixed with an indescribable scent that seemed to be time itself.

The library was quiet, but it wasn't complete silence—it was a quiet with sound.

It was as if countless people were turning pages at the same time, countless pages were being turned at the same time, and countless voices were whispering at the same time, but all so low that they were almost inaudible.

Then, Jiang Chen heard a sound—not from one direction, but from all directions at the same time, as if the entire library was talking.

Welcome to the Endless Library

[The final destination of all deleted old versions of knowledge]

Here, each book records an old version of the world that was deleted by the system.

[Novels, History, Biographies, Poetry]

These were once real worlds, created, explored by players, then deleted by the system, transformed into books, and forever sealed here.

Your trial is simple: find a book in the library titled "Abyss Game: Old Version Core Protocol".

That book documented all the underlying code of the old system version, including its weaknesses.

[And its real name.]

Find it, and you'll get the key to the next level.

After listening, Jiang Chen looked around—thousands upon thousands of bookshelves, millions of books. Finding a single book among so many was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Any hints?" he asked.

The library was silent for a few seconds, then the voice rang out again, tinged with amusement.

Hint: That book is not on any bookshelf.

Jiang Chen frowned. Not on any bookshelf—then where could it be?

He walked to the nearest bookshelf and randomly picked out a book.

The spine of the book is printed with "[Old Calendar 17 - Dawn City Travel Guide]".

He turned the pages—inside wasn't text, but a map. The map depicted a city, with crisscrossing streets and densely packed buildings.

As he stared at the map, the streets on it began to move—as if they were alive.

He saw a small figure in a trench coat walking along the street, then turning into an alley and disappearing.

Jiang Chen closed the book and put it back on the bookshelf.

He then pulled out a book—[History of the Construction of the Seventh Administrative District in the 23rd Year of the Lunar Calendar]

Opening the book reveals densely packed architectural drawings, each one meticulously detailed down to the location of every single screw.

He then pulled out another book—[Year 31 of the Lunar Calendar: Abyss Game NPC Behavior Guidelines Manual]

Opening it reveals lines of code, as if extracted directly from the very foundation of this world.

He flipped through more than a dozen books, each one a complete fragment of an old version of the world.

There are cities, characters, stories, and rules—they were once real, walked by players, lived by NPCs, and then deleted by the system, becoming books.

Jiang Chen put down his book and began to walk around the library.

He walked along the aisles between the bookshelves, observing as he went. The library was well-organized—the bookshelves were arranged by number, from A to Z, from 01 to 99. Above each row of bookshelves was a small sign indicating the category of the books in that row.

【A01-A99: Old Calendar City Archives】

【B01-B99: Old Version NPC Character Catalog】

[C01-C99: Abyss Game Dungeon Design Drafts]

【D01-D99: System Update Log】

He looked along the categories and walked to the last row of bookshelves—

【Z01-Z99】

The signs for Z01-Z99 only have one line of text:

【other】

Jiang Chen stood in front of the Z01 bookshelf, looking at the books.

The spines of these books were completely blank, with no words printed on them.

He pulled out a book and opened it—it was blank, there was nothing inside.

He pulled out another book and opened it—it was still blank.

The entire Z section was filled with blank books.

He paused for a moment, then realized—the books in Zone Z were [worlds that hadn't been deleted yet].

They are data that have been created but have not yet been put into use.

They are blank spaces, waiting to be filled in.

But the voice said that the book he was looking for was not on any bookshelf.

He reconsidered the clue.

Not on any bookshelf—that means the book is either in a special place in the library, or… the book itself is not an ordinary book.

He remembered the voice at the Gate of Choice.

I am the will of the system, and also the creator of this world.

There are also things Zhong Yuan said.

[The reason I was able to discover the system's secret in the first reincarnation was because of the backdoor left by Shigure.]

He closed his eyes and began to recall the fragments that Zhong Yuan had shown in the memory ladder.

In the first cycle of reincarnation, where did Zhong Yuan discover the system's secret?

It was in a server room buried deep underground—on the back of the server motherboard, an old version of the core code snippet that had been archived for version updates was found.

That fragment is the origin of all secrets.

Jiang Chen opened his eyes and looked at the blank books in Zone Z. A thought flashed through his mind.

He walked to the Z99 bookshelf, squatted down, and tapped the floor with his hand—it was empty.

The bottom is empty.

He groped along the edge of the bookshelf and found an almost invisible gap—like a hidden door in the floor.

He used his dagger to pry open the gap and lift up a section of floorboards. Beneath the floorboards was a narrow mezzanine.

Inside the compartment lay a thin booklet, its cover yellowed with age, on which was written in an old prophetic script—

[Abyss Game - Old Version Core Agreement - Appendix S]

Jiang Chen picked up the booklet and opened it to the first page.

On the first page, there is only one line of text:

Hidden within Article Zero of the old version's core protocol is an undocumented backdoor protocol. This protocol is triggered when the system detects that its presence has been discovered by a player, automatically initiating a "format and reset" process. However, this process has an unpatched vulnerability: during the formatting process, a piece of code is not deleted—that is, the signature segment of the old version's core protocol itself.

"The signature field is the system's real name."

Jiang Chen's finger stopped on that line of text, and his heart skipped a beat.

The system's real name—whoever knows the system's real name can control it at the core level, or even destroy it.

He continued scrolling down.

The second page contained a piece of code—a dense, old version of code, like some ancient language. He couldn't understand it, but he could sense that it contained some kind of power.

The third page is empty.

The fourth page is also empty.

The entire booklet contained only two pages of content—a hint on the first page and code on the second. But Jiang Chen noticed a tiny mark in the corner of the fourth page—an inverted hourglass.

The symbol of Shigure.

He reached out and touched the dark gold badge—the inverted hourglass on the badge was exactly the same as the markings on the pages of the book.

[Item Obtained: Old Version Core Protocol - Appendix S]

[Current dungeon progress: Key item found]

[Note: The code recorded in Appendix S is the last line of defense for the old version of the core protocol.]

But code alone isn't enough—you need to find a "decoder" to truly understand its meaning.

[Decoder Location: Basement Level 2, Old Version Data Archive]

[WARNING: The data stored in the archives is the last thing the system wants players to see.]

Jiang Chen carefully placed the booklet close to his body, then covered it back on the floor and stood up.

He needs to go to the second basement level—to find the decoder.

He looked around, searching for an entrance to the underground. The library was laid out in a very orderly fashion, but he hadn't seen any stairs leading underground during his exploration.

He activated his reconnaissance skill—a pale golden vision pierced through the floor, revealing the library's underground structure.

There are three more underground levels, each larger than the one below.

The first floor contained some old filing cabinets, while the second floor—the one he needed to go to—was filled with metal cabinets, resembling some kind of data storage device.

But on the third level, the feedback from the reconnaissance technique was blank—not empty, but his vision was blocked by something.

He withdrew his reconnaissance skill and found the staircase leading underground—a small door hidden behind the bookshelves in Zone Z.

He pushed open the door and went down the stairs. The stairs were narrow, the lighting was dim, and the walls were covered with cobwebs. He climbed about three floors and arrived at the second basement level.

The second basement level is a huge archive—rows of metal cabinets, each labeled with a number.

He walked along the passage between the cabinets, looking for the cabinet labeled "Decoder".

At the end of the passage, he saw a single metal table with a transparent box on it.

Inside the box was a palm-sized silver chip—its surface was covered with intricate circuit patterns, and in the center was an inverted hourglass symbol.

Decoder.

Jiang Chen walked over and reached for the box.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the box, a blinding white light shone down from the ceiling above the box, forming a holographic projection in front of him.

The projection showed a person in a white coat—not Zhong Yuan, but a woman he had never seen before.

She looked to be around forty years old, with her hair tied up at the back of her head, wearing silver-rimmed glasses, and her eyes were sharp and calm.

"Hello, Test Subject 074." Her voice was calm, with a scholarly restraint. "I am the writer of the old version of the core protocol—you can call me [Zero]."

"I know you found Appendix S, and I know what you want to do. You want to use the code in Appendix S to fight the system—but code alone is not enough; you need a decoder to read the true meaning of that code."

"I can give you the decoder—but on one condition."

Jiang Chen looked at Zero in the holographic projection without saying a word.

"Tell me—why are you going against the system? Is it for Shi Yu? For Zhong Yuan? Or for yourself?"

Jiang Chen was silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"At first, it was to survive. Later, it was for Shigure. And then—it was to prove that things judged as 'useless data' by the system also have value."

Zero looked at him, remained silent for a long time, and then smiled. That smile held a hint of relief and a sense of acceptance.

"I've waited 138 lifetimes for this answer, and I've finally received it."

Her body transformed into countless specks of light and dissipated into the air. The transparent box opened automatically.

Jiang Chen picked up the silver chip and held it in his hand—the chip felt warm, as if it were alive.

[Item Obtained: Old Version Decoder]

[Tip: By combining the decoder with Appendix S, you can read the last section of code in the old version of the core protocol.]

But Jiang Chen did not use the decoder immediately.

He kept it close to his body, together with Appendix S.

Then he turned around, went up the stairs, and returned to the main hall of the library.

He had just stepped onto the last step when he heard that voice again, tinged with surprise and admiration.

"You found Appendix S and the decoder—faster than I expected. But do you think that's enough to beat the game?"

The lights in the library began to flicker. The books on the shelves started turning pages automatically, making a rustling sound.

"In the Endless Library, there is a hidden rule—every book is a world. When you read a book, you enter that world. And once you enter that world—that world becomes reality."

"You have already read the books in Section Z—although they are blank, your reading has activated them."

"Now, those empty worlds are filling themselves with you as a foundation."

Jiang Chen's pupils suddenly contracted.

He looked down at his hands—tiny lines of text were appearing on his skin, as if someone was writing a book with his body.

[System notification: "Real-time write" rule detected]

[Current rule: Reading is creation—every book you read becomes a part of reality]

[Warning: You are being written into a book—a book titled "Jiang Chen: The Last Page of Test Subject No. 074"]

When this book is finished—you will no longer be yourself, but a character in the book.

[Remaining characters: Unknown]

[Countdown: Unknown]

[Suggestion: Find this book before it's finished writing and tear out the last page.]

Jiang Chen looked at the words that kept appearing on his arm and felt his consciousness being pulled away by some force.

He had to find the book that was writing him—and then tear out the last page.