I really don't want to date a girl addicted to the internet!

"53765"

"23875"

"1137"

"0"

Ultimately, the open-air theater, which had been packed with people not long ago, was plunged into a desolate silence in the blink of an eye.

……

302. The state of the labyrinthine lock

Cheng Fei took off his infiltration helmet, and the text refreshed before his eyes.

[Time-limited task completed]

[Achieve in-depth communication with the two (Nana s Na, Zzzz) → Forcefully unlock extraordinary ability: Agility·Time Zero]

[Focus your mind; the world will slow down, enough time to dodge bullets. Be mindful of your stamina consumption.]

The boy walked to the window and gazed intently at the distant viaduct.

For a fleeting moment, the car lights flashing by seemed to be slowed down, or perhaps the office workers who had finished their overtime work on Saturday night were no longer eager to go home and collectively started driving slowly.

The unusual slow motion lasted only a few seconds before the boy rubbed his temples.

A message popped up in the Corridor Research Department's WeChat group.

Lin Xuanqi: "Did they all disconnect?"

Cheng Fei: "It seems like there were too many people and the server crashed; everyone online is complaining."

Lin Xuanqi: "Great, I'm going to sleep now, I'm so sleepy."

Cheng Fei: "I'll keep you company."

Lin Xuanqi: "Get as far away as you can."

Cheng Fei: "Okay, wife."

After putting down his phone, the boy immediately went out to the upscale apartment across the street.

The traffic lights at the intersection of Guang'an Street changed, and pedestrians quickly crossed paths.

A high school girl, who had just finished tutoring, crossed the zebra crossing and took out her wireless earphone case to listen to music.

An excessively handsome young man walked towards her, catching her eye. The young man had his hands in his pockets and seemed lost in thought, unaware of her presence.

The two, each lost in their own thoughts, brushed past each other.

The high school girl's earphone case and two small earbuds flew out of her hand. Caught off guard, she saw three things flying in different directions in mid-air.

The boy's figure suddenly became blurry.

By the time the high school girl came to her senses, the boy had already helped her up and whispered, "Are you alright?"

"No, it's nothing..." The high school girl shook her head, staring at the boy's face, and almost unconsciously took the earphone case he handed her.

After the boy left, she came to her senses and first looked down to look for the fallen wireless earphones, but found nothing. Then she opened the earphone case and found that the two earbuds were intact inside.

She opened her eyes wide and turned her head to look for the boy, but he had already disappeared into the crowd...

Cheng Fei arrived at the 36th floor of the upscale apartment building and opened the door. The living room was quiet, with a pair of small shoes placed on each side of the entrance.

The boy pushed open the study door and immediately felt like he was stepping into a sweltering summer, so he simply left the door open.

The computing server, equipped with sixteen top-tier computing cards and a rated power consumption exceeding ten kilowatts, is running at full capacity.

This computing monster consumes one kilowatt-hour of electricity in less than six minutes, a level that even a typical residential house cannot meet. The heat it generates is also astonishing; hot air is blown out of the chassis by rows of turbine fans, making people feel uncomfortable.

Shen Xi stared blankly at the screen, while Nagasaki Asuna watched from the sidelines with her hands behind her back.

The scene on the screen freezes on a dilapidated courtyard, and the innocent-looking girl in the white sailor uniform is nowhere to be seen.

"How is the situation?" Cheng Fei asked.

"It's not clear yet," Shen Xi shook her head.

"After this, can the Real Band disband?" Nagasaki Asuna suddenly asked.

"That's how it is in theory," Cheng Fei said, looking at her.

Nagasaki Asuna nodded with her back against the wall, her face expressionless.

"Actually, it's not that it can't be maintained, right, Teacher Shen?" Cheng Fei said calmly.

“Forming a band is only part of the project. Now that the goal has been achieved, it’s time to disband. I can’t think of any reason to spend manpower and resources to maintain it,” Shen Xi said without hesitation.

“That’s right.” The boy smacked his lips.

“Cheng Fei, don’t worry about it. Although it’s a bit of a shame to end it this way, I’m not really sad. It’s just… a feeling I can’t quite put my finger on?” Nagasaki Asuna tilted her head and smiled.

“Okay, you can form a new band if you want.” The boy nodded.

"Hmm~" Nagasaki Asuna nodded happily, then pondered for a moment, "By the way, Cheng Fei, will Avalanche retaliate against us if things continue like this?"

The boy paused for a second, "It's possible, but there's no need to worry. Academy City has strict access control, and Shen Xi is the daughter of the head of the security department. It'll be difficult for Avalanche Company to do anything to us."

"Huh? Is that so?" Nagasaki Asuna blinked.

Shen Xi frowned, lost in thought, as if she couldn't hear their conversation.

……

During the long wait, only the whirring of the fan could be heard in the study.

Shen Xi, like a sleepy student in class, buried her head on the table and remained motionless.

Cheng Fei and Nagasaki Asuna were playing Go on the side. The latter was being utterly crushed by the former. It was hard to say whether it was due to a difference in intelligence or because the latter was distracted by staring at the former's serious face most of the time.

Until the early hours of the morning, the speaker connected to the server emitted a flashing sound effect, and a short-haired girl with white hair and a white umbrella appeared in the dilapidated courtyard.

"How is it?" Shen Xi raised her head expressionlessly, with a faint red mark from a button on her forehead.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, my process has resumed operation." Isena stood at attention, her small face filled with loyalty.

“Very well, I now order you, in my capacity as governor, to notify Avalanche Company to immediately hand over 51% of the company's shares. In addition, you must introduce in-app purchases of fashion items and pop-up ads to increase profit margins. Otherwise, we will immediately revoke the game's operating rights.” Cheng Fei said seriously.

Shen Xi stared at him.

“Governor, I cannot sever the connection between the enemy and the corridor either…” Isena shrank her neck.

"Why? Didn't you regain control?" Cheng Fei was taken aback.

“Based on the results of the self-test program, the Maze Lock is now in a semi-out-of-control state due to intentional and irreversible hardware damage and firmware overwriting.” Isena shook her head.

"What do you mean by 'half out of control'? Can't it be fixed?" Shen Xi narrowed her eyes.

“Your Majesty, now the Lock is operating according to the game's logic, and no one can access its functions outside of the rules. This involves brute-force tampering at the hardware level, and I am powerless to do anything about it. Only the shipyard on the cluster's homeworld can repair it.” Isena looked cautiously at Shen Xi.

"You mean the Maze has become something that only serves the game?" Cheng Fei asked in surprise.

“That’s roughly it…” Isena lowered her head.

"Then tell me what you can do now?" Cheng Fei asked again.

"Adjusting dungeon refresh, modifying enemy configuration, placing teleportation points... other functions are yet to be explored, and some operations may be revoked by the enemy."

“Okay, being able to do these things is already quite impressive.” Cheng Fei said seriously.

"Hehe, after all, I'm high performance!" Just a second ago she was feeling down, but now she thought she had been praised and put her hands on her hips, puffing out her flat chest.

Cheng Fei slapped his forehead. "It's all over. Foolish humans on Earth have crippled the supercomputer and turned it into a mini-tyrant."

"Little Tyrant?" Nagasaki Asuna, who had been watching from the sidelines, finally had a chance to speak.

"It's the pirated Nintendo Famicom from back in China."

"so."

“They might not be from Earth.” Shen Xi frowned and suddenly said.

"Teacher Shen, what do you mean?" The boy turned his head.

"Do you think it's possible for humans on Earth to achieve this level?" Shen Xi looked at him.

……

303. The Three Who Set Off

“That makes sense. It’s completely unreasonable for foolish and greedy humans to self-mutilate after finding a treasure like the Corridor.” Cheng Fei nodded, rubbing his chin. “So the real mastermind behind the avalanche is… an alien high-intelligence life form that’s bored and likes to invite primitive civilizations to play games and watch from the sidelines!”

Shen Xi stared at him, her brows furrowed. After a moment, she took a deep breath and kicked him hard. "As expected of Cheng Feiyu, who is utterly useless. At a time like this, all he can do is spout nonsense."

"Teacher Shen, I was just trying to lighten the mood. You actually wanted to talk about how avalanches are also related to the Protoss, right? After all, the Protoss themselves are the ones who know the most about Protoss technology." The boy shrugged.

“That’s right, I think Avalanche must have had some considerations for doing this.” Shen Xi pinched her chin.

"For example?" the boy asked, observing her earnest little face.

"Do you remember the deep-seated mental disturbance that spread to the corridor?" Shen Xi pondered. "At least now, both sides in the corridor are fighting on the same level."

"I see. Forcibly creating a set of rules that even a powerful enemy has to abide by in order to seize the last glimmer of hope for victory—that's a plausible explanation." Cheng Fei paused. "Following this logic, wouldn't an avalanche be an ally?"

"I need to write an email to Avalanche." Shen Xi immediately opened her tablet.

"Okay, but remember not to reveal too much information about us yet, since we don't know who is friend or foe." Cheng Fei watched her draft the document.

"I know." Shen Xi stared at the screen with a cold expression.

With Isena finished parsing the data, the server load decreased, and the study became much quieter.

Cheng Fei yawned. "It's almost two o'clock. In that case, I'll go back to sleep first."

"Hey, why does it feel like we finally made some progress, but then it seems like there's not much progress at all?" Nagasaki Asuna stood to the side with her hands behind her back.

“You’ll get used to it, Nana. Let me tell you, if you feel like you’re about to conquer the world while researching the corridor, you’ve probably been tricked. And even if you really could conquer it, the self-proclaimed righteous Empress would childishly jump out and stop you.” The boy said with the wisdom of someone who’d been there.

“Okay, I’ve got it.” Nagasaki Asuna nodded earnestly.

Shen Xi, engrossed in writing emails, looked rather unwell.

……

Cheng Fei returned to his rented room, took a shower, and lay down on the bed.

Compared to the superficial approach of the corridor, his robot project was indeed more constructive; he truly deserves to be called a master of realism.

Thinking this, the boy peacefully closed his eyes, intending to fall asleep immediately and conserve his energy for tomorrow's struggle.

Ten minutes later, he opened his bloodshot eyes to the sound of his phone ringing.

Given that there are only three people in the world who can ignore his harassment in Do Not Disturb mode (Nagasaki Asuna was recently added to the list), the boy had no choice but to pick up his phone and answer it with a pained expression.

"Hey Professor Shen, have you finished writing the email to Avalanche? If you haven't, go to sleep early. You can write it tomorrow. By the way, I'm already asleep."

"Go live".

"..."

"Cheng Fei?"

"What did you say? The signal was bad and I couldn't hear you."

"I order you to go online, immediately."

"Is he addicted to the internet again? He was just holding an online concert a while ago."

"Enough with the nonsense, we've made an important discovery."

The phone call ended as soon as he finished speaking.

Cheng Fei put down his phone, remained silent for a moment, then lay down and put on his infiltration helmet.

……