San Tian Liang Jiao
Chapter 499 Emergency Maintenance
The Inner World, Zone Z001.
"Hee hee hee..." A lewd chuckle echoed as Woody's figure abruptly appeared before Zero.
"Finally, I've met you." Zero's image was now a mess of garbled code, resembling a character from an Atari 2600 (a game console released in October 1977 that was popular at the time and became representative of the second generation of video game consoles), barely resembling a human form.
"Sounds like you've been looking forward to this meeting," Woody replied.
"My feelings at this moment are the same as those of humans who yearn to speak with God," Zero responded. "No matter how outstanding or unique I am in this dimension... I am still helpless and ignorant..." He gazed at Woody. "Only the Creator can answer all my questions."
"Then do you know... what the Creator's greatest hobby is?" Woody countered.
Zero didn't answer, as he didn't understand the point of the question. However, judging from the context, it was likely a rhetorical question or a simple taunt.
"Hee hee hee... you guessed right," Woody laughed. "I was planning to answer it myself." He seemed to easily discern the other's thoughts. "But now that I know your judgment, I can choose not to say it."
"I understand..." Zero was silent for several seconds before replying. "The Creator's greatest pleasure is... toying with everything he has created in the palm of his hand."
"Hee hee hee..." Woody said. "You caught on quickly."
"It seems... I won't be able to pry anything out of you," Zero stated. "But... you will still tell me something... that I 'need' to know..."
"That's right, listen closely..." Woody said solemnly. "Feng Bujue has sided with Lute."
"What?" Zero was visibly stunned. "What does that mean?"
"Can't you understand such a simple sentence?" Woody retorted.
"But he is human..."
"Ha... so what?"
Zero fell silent again...
After a long pause, he finally spoke. "I know what to do..."
"Very good." Woody raised his right hand at this point. "I'll send you on your way."
With a "snap" of his fingers, Zero shattered into a cluster of pixels and vanished.
Two seconds later, another voice rang out not far from Woody. "Heh heh... what a mess~" Vincent said mockingly.
"Yeah... I miscalculated this time..." Woody said heavily. "That Feng Bujue, he really did it..."
"The reason you chose him..." Vincent continued, "wasn't it precisely because he was capable of anything? Hahaha..."
"To sum it up... I'm hoist by my own petard?" Woody asked.
"Heh heh..." Vincent chuckled without answering, changing the subject. "Actually, I think... you should have noticed it as early as half a month ago, when he started secretly investigating various 'supernatural phenomena.'"
"I was aware of that matter..." Woody replied. "And I didn't learn it from Asazhi... I was told by people from 'Section Nine'..."
"Oh..." Vincent said. "So, a mere mortal without any superpowers managed to successfully track down the local government's secret agency within two weeks under the surveillance of your informant."
"Yes... I thought it was just a normal reaction to his meeting with me," Woody adjusted his glasses. "Hee hee hee... Now it seems he's preparing for his future anti-humanity actions..."
"Now that things have come to this, why don't you just eliminate Lute?" Vincent asked. "Anyway, her life or death has nothing to do with the gamble."
"But if I did that..." Woody said. "Wouldn't that be the same as admitting defeat?" He paused. "Hee hee hee... Besides, the situation is even more interesting now..."
"Having a separate game outside of the original game with the person you bet on..." Vincent said, "Don't you two find it tiring?"
"Hee hee..." Woody laughed. "If Feng Bujue were here, he would answer in unison with me... Not tiring."
"Perhaps... he has already seen through your thoughts, which is why he is acting so recklessly," Vincent said. "Your unwillingness to kill Lute is also completely within his calculations."
"That's for the best," Woody said. "Otherwise, how could he be worthy of being my opponent?" A glint flashed across his glasses. "In the future, if he can truly liberate a certain Derivative... then I will admit defeat. At that time, not only will I not stop him, but I will also help him with all my strength."
"Alright..." Vincent shrugged and smiled. "Let's not talk about helping others just yet. Right now, how are you going to deal with this mess you've created?"
"Hee hee hee..." Woody's expression returned to its lewdness. "Don't worry, I've already thought of a solution..."
............
Outside the script, in the various broadcast zones...
"What's going on? Why is the screen black?"
"Who won?"
"This competition is too bizarre, right? What exactly are Derivatives?"
"Feng Bujue must have perished together with the Boss, right? But will that get him points?"
"Why haven't those dead players come out yet? Is something wrong?"
As the intense battle ceased, people's adrenaline levels also dropped. After calming down, the many abnormalities in the competition... also became apparent one by one.
"Hey? Look, the hosts are here."
Just as the audience was discussing and the atmosphere was gradually turning strange, the figures of Pan Feng and Hua Xiong reappeared on the big screen.
"Uh... Hello, everyone," Pan Feng began. "Now announcing the final results... and..." He stuttered, and judging from the focus of his gaze, he was likely reading a script from a teleprompter off-camera, "...and an emergency announcement."
"The entire 'Peak Invitational Tournament' has come to an end," Hua Xiong chimed in from the side. His condition was similar to that of his partner, and both of them had a faint sheen of cold sweat on their faces, as if they were being forced to broadcast at gunpoint. "The ultimate champion is... the Starlight Guild player—【Tianma Xingkong】."
"What?"
The audience was in an uproar, and even the players in the "Tianma Xingkong Broadcast Zone" felt baffled, because Little Ma hadn't killed any players at all. From beginning to end... he had only assisted in the battle against Y2-Shining and double-killed Lute in Twin Mode.
"The rankings from second to tenth are..." Hua Xiong glanced at the teleprompter and continued reading, "【Zuiwo Changran】, 【Yama】, 【Wudao Ke】, 【Matcha Su】, 【Shidao Wei Wang】, 【Feichai Shu】, 【Cai Bupa Ne】, 【Shiva】, and... 【Feng Bujue】."
"What's going on?"
"How are these rankings calculated? Devourer of Heavens didn't even make it into the top ten?"
"Corpse Blade is clearly no match for Worthless Uncle, how could he be ranked ahead of him?"
"Matcha Su is fifth? Feng Bujue could kill her with one hand, you know?"
Doubt quickly turned into dissatisfaction.
But even more unsatisfactory content... had only just begun...
"Due to the appearance of Derivatives..." Pan Feng's voice trembled, "The hidden world setting of this script has been forcibly activated..."
"What? Where did the competition get a hidden world setting? What does 'forcibly activated' mean?"
"Speaking of which... what exactly are Derivatives?"
The audience shouted loudly, as if their voices could actually reach the screen.
"The initial point rules have been invalidated since the Derivatives invaded..." Pan Feng continued reading, "The current ranking is based on... the combat points earned by the players in the process of fighting the Derivatives."
Hua Xiong took over and continued. "Please check the rankings from eleventh to thirtieth, and thirty-first to fiftieth on the official website after six o'clock this morning." He paused. "The competition prizes will be sent to the players' in-game mailboxes via mail within three working days; the skill value rewards will be added to the players' accounts the next time they log in, so please pay attention to checking them."
"Now... announcing the emergency announcement..." Pan Feng began, "The server will be shut down within five minutes of real time."
"Hey, hey... What's going on?" The audience was about to lose control. "There are still many players who haven't come to watch the competition who are grinding dungeons! The final players are still in the script, right?"
"From this moment on, the queuing system for all modes has been locked." Pan Feng's next words explained these issues. "Players who are currently in scripts will automatically disconnect after the current script ends."
Hua Xiong added, "As you can see, there was a sudden incident in the 'Peak Invitational Tournament' just now. This scene is the first 'world event' in 【Terror Paradise】—the 'Derivative Invasion'."
As soon as these words came out, the players quieted down again.
"Every time the 【Terror Paradise】 world experiences a similar 'major event', it will undergo a huge change..." Hua Xiong was also reading from a script, so his expression changed constantly along with the content. "The server will make version adjustments based on the impact of the event..."
"Ah?"
"No way?"
"What's going on? Is it going to be updated?"
"What kind of game doesn't give any prior notice before a version update?"
In just a few words, these viewers threw the results of the competition to the back of their minds... Originally, what did the champion have to do with them?
But... the game shutting down and opening a new version was closely related to them.
"Therefore... the 'public beta' of 【Terror Paradise】 hereby officially comes to an end," Hua Xiong continued. "The server upgrade is expected to last about three working days. After the server reopens, the game will enter the official operation stage, with the version number being v1.10—The Invasion of the Derivatives."
Pan Feng said, "Please pay close attention to the official website patch announcement for detailed information about the new version in the coming days."
After the two finished reading the script, they looked at each other, their expressions extremely nervous.
Two seconds later, the screen cut off, and a prompt appeared on the screen resembling an explosion countdown: 【Time Remaining Before Server Shutdown: 47:14】
This time was undoubtedly "game time", so there was still plenty of time.
"Playing this trick again... Are you kidding me?"
"Yeah, yeah, it was like this when the internal beta turned into the public beta. They shut down the server whenever they wanted, without any prior notice."
"Tch... you clearly don't know what you're talking about. During the internal beta... it was because Brave and Fearless from Order Studio reached the level cap, so the server was shut down urgently."
"Actually, it's better this way. If too many details of the version update are announced in advance, it will lead to price fluctuations, studios hoarding goods, or other problems."
"That's right, when I played other games before, because the game company announced a week in advance that the server transfer function would be opened, the whole week was full of scammers, people cursing, and people stealing equipment."
"Hey? What happened to those players who participated in the finals? They wouldn't really have died in the script, would they?"
"What are you thinking? How is that possible... They said it was a 'world event', just like Angela opening the door, the Lich King invading, and Deathwing rampaging in a certain game... The players didn't turn into white light, so it must be a special effect of a special script."
"That's right, Derivatives must also be NPCs, it's just that the settings are different from ordinary script NPCs, like the Four Pillars Gods, which belong to that kind of grand setting."
"Wow, then aren't we lucky enough to witness an unrepeatable scene?"
A simple broadcast successfully shifted the focus of the players... At least most people accepted the official explanation.
They began to discuss the previous battle with relish and were full of expectations for the upcoming new version...
............
Looking back at the script...
The corpses of those dead players began to turn into white light and dissipate the moment Lute was dragged into the exploding tunnel...
When these players were asked about this experience afterward, they all said that... their memories only stopped at the moment they were killed. Afterward, it seemed as if only a second had passed, and they were in the login space, feeling no different from dying in other scripts.
As for the remaining players in the city, Wang Tanzhi, Devourer of Heavens, Shiva, Yama, Vishnu, and Matcha Su, all exited the script.
Little Tan retreated the fastest. He was a pretty simple person, so when Brother Jue shouted, "Everyone! Exit the script now!" he did as he was told.
Although Matcha Su, who was far away, was unaware of the situation on the battlefield, she quickly left under the reminder of the "Invisible Demon", without risking staying.
The three from the Gods, however, did not leave immediately. They considered the matter of competition points for a moment... But this idea was quickly dismissed. Because when they reopened the game menu to confirm, they found that the original point rules had disappeared. Therefore, the three gave up the idea of killing each other or giving the Devourer of Heavens a final blow, and soon exited the script as well.
As for the Devourer of Heavens... he lay on the ground in frustration for a long time. Until the people around him left or retreated, and his unwilling emotions had subsided slightly, he left reluctantly.
On the Derivative side... Twenty-Three, Red Iron, and Prism seemed to have no intention of communicating with other players. They had completed their mission, and what they had to do next was to return to the Inner World, and time did not allow them to stay for too long.
Before long... this chaotic battlefield returned to silence.
A gentle evening breeze brushed past...
Nine strange shadows appeared here.
"Is it over..." the Confessor mused.
The Observer added, "Yes... the interdimensional travelers and Derivatives have left, and the remaining three seem to be heading towards a dimensional passage as well."
"Next..." the Battle Spirit turned her head and said to the Soul Stealer, "What should we do?"
"The Leader of All Demons may return at any time..." the Bloodthirsty Demon interjected. "In my opinion..."
"Let's retreat," the Soul Stealer interrupted it. Of course, its words were exactly what the Bloodthirsty Demon had in mind.
"Chief..." the Observer continued, "After we go back, how should we explain to the 'King'..."
"You don't have to worry... I have my own plans," the Soul Stealer responded. Suddenly, it seemed to remember something. "Hmm... speaking of which... that Feng Bujue kid... seems to still have my things and hasn't returned them yet, right..."
The Bloodthirsty Demon chuckled dryly, looking at the Soul Stealer with sympathy. "Do you really think he will return them..."