Weird Game: I brought an old version bug

Chapter 67 Abyss Entrance

"What did you say?"

"The person in the middle of the passage... looks exactly like me."

Lin Bei's voice trembled, and his hand holding the knife also trembled slightly—not from fear, but from an indescribable sense of astonishment.

Jiang Chen pushed him aside and walked to the center of the passage.

Sure enough, there stood a person who looked exactly like Lin Bei.

But that person's state was very strange.

He was wearing an old version of a gray-blue uniform, with a huge, bleeding wound on his chest.

The blood was dark red, and when it dripped onto the ground, it hissed, like sulfuric acid corroding the ground.

His face was pale, his eyes were vacant, and his lips were slightly parted as if he were saying something, but no sound came out.

"Is this... the old version of me?"

"Impossible. You've never been here before."

"But my data remnant is here." Lin Bei stared at that "self," his pupils slightly contracting. "Damn... I get it."

"Know what?"

"The data layer of the Seventh Administrative District records the data of everyone who has entered this place. If someone dies deep inside, their data will be captured by the system, forming a residual image that will remain here forever."

"So, this afterimage... is you at some point in the future?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

Suddenly, "Lin Bei" spoke, his voice hoarse and low, as if coming from a very far place, with a hollow echo.

"You...shouldn't have come here."

Lin Bei gripped his short knife tightly: "Who are you?"

"I am you. Or rather, I am your future self."

"future?"

"Yes. The Seventh Administrative District... is a trap." The "Lin Bei" said, his voice soft but each word clear. "The system's defense mechanism is not designed to stop intruders, but to collect data."

"Collecting data?"

"Yes. With each intrusion, the system collects data on the intruder to improve its defenses. The deeper you go, the more data is collected. When you reach a point of no return, the system will 'archive' you."

"Archive?"

"Just like 07-02. We'll turn you into a sealed module, forever trapped in the data layer."

Lin Bei was silent for a few seconds: "Then what should I do?"

"Leave. Leave now."

"Impossible. We still have a mission."

"Task?"

"Find the core data to understand the truth behind the old version's crash."

Lin Bei was silent for a few seconds, then smiled—the corners of his mouth turned up, but there was no smile in his eyes, only a deep weariness and sorrow.

"The truth... do you think you're ready?"

No. But I still want to know.

"Then let's go."

Lin Bei stepped aside to make way.

"But remember, some truths will make you regret it for the rest of your life."

Lin Bei looked at that "self," remained silent for a few seconds, and then turned to look at Jiang Chen.

"Walk."

Are you sure?

"I'm sure. Whatever the truth is, I need to know."

Jiang Chen nodded and walked past "Lin Bei".

As he passed by, he glanced at the man's wound—it was deep, almost piercing through his chest cavity. He could see the flow of data within the wound, rather than flesh and blood.

Those are wounds created by data, not by reality.

But the blood that flowed out was real.

"Walk."

The three continued on their way.

At the end of the passage was a huge door.

The door is ten meters high and five meters wide, its surface covered with complex data streams that move around like living things. The door is made of metal, but its surface is covered with a layer of translucent crystals, within which flows a deep blue light.

"Is this the entry point to the core data layer?"

"right."

Jiang Chen walked to the door and reached out to touch its surface.

[Rule Chain - Reconnaissance Lv.1 Activated]

[Data Retrospective - Incomplete Documents Take Effect]

[Analyzing the gate's data structure...]

The data structure of the door became clear in my field of vision.

The door consists of three layers of data barriers, each requiring different permissions to unlock.

First level: Surface level permissions, which require "data hunter" certification.

Second level: Intermediate level permissions, requires a "Seventh Administrative Region Pass".

The third level: core permissions, which require "old version system administrator privileges".

"Leave the first floor to me." Lin Bei walked to the door, took out the decoder, and plugged it into the door lock.

[Decoding in progress...]

[First-level permission verification in progress...]

[Verification Successful]

The first layer unlocked. The door made a crisp sound, and the surface layer of crystal shattered into fragments, falling to the ground and dissipating as a stream of data.

"I'll handle the second layer." Jiang Chen took out the core data layer permission fragment and placed it on the door lock.

[Permission fragment identification in progress...]

[Recognition successful]

[Obtained: Temporary Pass for the Seventh Administrative Region]

[Second-level permission verification in progress...]

[Verification Successful]

The second layer unlocked. The second barrier on the door shattered like glass, making a piercing sound.

"What about the third floor?"

"The third level requires administrator privileges on an older version of the system. We don't have them."

Lin Bei frowned: "Then what should we do?"

"I have a way." Jiang Chen reached out and pressed his hand on the door.

[Rule Chain - Reconnaissance Lv.1 Activated]

[Data Retrospective - Incomplete Documents Take Effect]

[Impersonating administrator privileges in an older system version...]

[Mental Energy Consumption: 30/45]

[Warning: Insufficient mental strength]

"Damn... my mental energy is running low."

Don't be reckless!

"I still have a way."

Jiang Chen took out another fragment of the rules—Data Retrospection Fragment.

[Data Retrospection - Fragments]

[Effect: Briefly rewinds data changes in a specified area within 3 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Consumes 25 Spirit Points per use]

Jiang Chen pasted the shards onto the door.

[Tracing back the data changes of the gate...]

Backtracking successful

[Discovery: The third level of access to the door was activated 3 seconds ago]

[Replaying the permission activation sequence...]

[Replay successful]

[Simulating permission activation...]

[Warning: Insufficient mental strength, simulation failed]

Jiang Chen felt a sudden darkness engulf him, and he almost fell. Double images appeared in his vision, as if he were drunk.

Shi Yu helped him up: "That's enough! Don't use it anymore!"

"There's still one more chance..."

"There's no chance! Your mental energy is completely depleted!"

Jiang Chen shook his head: "I still have one fragment."

He pulled out the last fragment—the core data layer permission fragment.

[Core Data Layer - Permission Fragments]

[Effect: Unlocks access to the core data layer of the Seventh Administrative District]

[Note: This is a high-level privilege fragment left over from an older version, and it is extremely rare.]

"This fragment can unlock the third level of access."

Are you sure?

"I'm sure."

Jiang Chen pressed the shards onto the door lock.

[Permission fragment identification in progress...]

[Recognition successful]

[Obtained: Temporary administrator privileges for the old version of the system]

[Third-level permission verification in progress...]

[Verification Successful]

The door opened.

Behind the door is a huge space, about half the size of a football field.

In the center of the space, a massive data vortex slowly rotated like a living thing. The vortex was at least ten meters in diameter, its edges emitting a deep blue light, while its center was pure black, like a black hole, devouring everything around it.

"That's... the core data layer?"

"Yes. The core of the Seventh Administrative District, the data center of the old version of the system."

Jiang Chen entered the space and arrived at the vortex.

The surface of the vortex was covered with a dense stream of data, including code, text, images, and geometric symbols that he couldn't understand.

All the data is flowing rapidly, like a never-ending river, circulating in eddies.

The sound made when the vortex rotates is very soft.

It wasn't a mechanical sound, but a low-frequency hum, like a giant heart beating.

With each jump, the data stream in the air flashes once, as if responding to a certain rhythm.

"This data...is it all the records from the old version of the system during runtime?"

"Yes. All the data from system startup to crash is stored here," Lin Bei said, his voice unconsciously lowering. "The Seventh Administrative District is the brain of the old version of the system. What you see now is its last memory."

Jiang Chen reached out and touched the surface of the vortex.

The data stream instantly flooded his brain.

It wasn't a stinging sensation, but rather a cold feeling, like being submerged in ice water.

The images flashed before my eyes like a movie, not continuously, but fragmented, like flipping through a torn book, where you could only see a part of each page.

He saw a complete city.

Huge buildings stand tall, their surfaces covered with flowing data patterns.

The streets are wide and clean, with mechanical equipment patrolling, maintaining, and cleaning the roads.

Data projections float in the air, displaying the city's operational status.

Energy allocation, traffic flow, data throughput—all indicators are green.

He saw a huge control center.

The control center was full of people, about several dozen people in gray-blue uniforms.

They stare at their screens, type on their keyboards, communicate with each other, and manage every corner of the city.

Some people were laughing, some were drinking coffee, and some were discussing optimization strategies for a certain data module.

It looks ordinary. Just like any normal, well-functioning city.

Then, everything changed.

A large red warning box suddenly popped up on the main screen in the center of the control center. The warning box was huge, taking up a third of the entire screen, and its red light flashed in the room, as glaring as a police siren.

[WARNING: Unauthorized data write operation detected]

[Source: Module 07-02]

Current status: Writing...

The people in gray-blue uniforms all stood up. Some were shouting, some were typing on keyboards, and some were making phone calls. But there was no sound on the screen; Jiang Chen could only see their opening and closing mouths, their panicked expressions, and their desperate eyes.

Then, a second warning box popped up.

[WARNING: Core system data integrity compromised]

【损坏模块：07-02、07-03、06-11】

Current status: Attempting to fix...

Then, the third one.

[WARNING: Repair failed]

[System core data integrity: 78%...65%...52%...]

Recommendation: Perform system archiving immediately.

The video started to speed up.

The city collapsed. Buildings crumbled, data lights went out, machinery stopped operating, and data streams went berserk.

The people in gray-blue uniforms began to disappear, not by running away, but by shattering like glass, breaking apart from the edges, piece by piece, turning into data fragments, and dissipating into the air.

Someone tried to grab his colleague's hand, but the hand shattered in front of him.

Someone rushed toward the door, but the door turned into a stream of data before he could even touch it.

Some people sat back down in their chairs, closed their eyes, as if waiting for the end.

The entire city was reduced to ruins in ten seconds.

Then, everything returned to darkness.

Jiang Chen withdrew his hand, staggered back two steps, and gasped for breath.

His forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his hands were trembling.

"What's wrong?" Shi Yu helped him up.

"The old version... wasn't destroyed by an attack," Jiang Chen said, his voice hoarse. "The system crashed on its own."

"Break down on your own?"

"Yes. An error. A seemingly small data write error, starting from module 07-02, spread like a virus and eventually caused the entire system to crash."

"What was the mistake?"

"I don't know. The data stream doesn't show the specific content written, but I know it came from 07-02." Jiang Chen wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Moreover, that write operation... wasn't automatically generated by the system; someone manually entered it."

"Manually entered?" Lin Bei frowned. "You mean, someone deliberately wrote that data?"

"I don't know. But that write operation wasn't performed by the system; it was manually triggered by an administrator."

Lin Bei was silent for a few seconds: "So, after all this effort, we still haven't found the truth?"

"No. We've found the most important clue—the old version crashed because it was caused by someone. Once we can find the source of that write, we'll know who did it and why."

"How do I find it?"

"Let's delve deeper." Jiang Chen looked at the vortex. "Below the core data layer, there are even deeper areas. The original log of that write operation should be stored in a more fundamental location."

"Are you going down?"

"right."

Jiang Chen stared at the vortex with a determined look in his eyes.

"I want to get off."

"Are you crazy? What are we doing down there?"

"I don't know. But I do know the truth lies below."

Shi Yu was silent for a few seconds, then said, "I'll go with you."

Are you sure?

"I'm sure. I owe you my life, and now it's time to repay it."

Lin Bei sighed: "You two... are really crazy."

"And you?"

"I'll go too." Lin Bei walked to the whirlpool, stretched out his hand, "but I have one condition."

"explain."

"If you encounter danger, you go first, don't worry about me."

"no."

"No, that won't do. I'm a data hunter; I know how to escape. You're mission takers; you must survive the mission."

Jiang Chen was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

"it is good."

The three of them reached out at the same time and touched the vortex.

The data stream instantly swallowed them up.

The vortex began to spin faster, emitting a piercing buzzing sound that grew louder and louder, as if it were tearing space itself apart.

Then, everything disappeared.

The three of them stood in an unfamiliar place.

There is no light, no sound, no temperature here.

There was only endless darkness.

"Where...am I?"

"I don't know. But I do know this isn't the Seventh Administrative District," Lin Bei said. "The air here is different; there's no rusty smell, no ozone smell, nothing at all."

Jiang Chen activated the Rule Chain - Reconnaissance.

[Rule Chain - Reconnaissance Lv.1 Activated]

[Data Retrospective - Incomplete Documents Take Effect]

[Analyzing environmental data...]

There was no data flow in sight.

No code.

There is no information.

"This... is a data blank area."

"Data gaps?"

"Yes. No data, no code, nothing at all."

"So, we've arrived at a place where there's absolutely no data?"

"right."