Chapter 2: Shadows in the Alley: Code Fantasia in the Abandoned Taoist Temple

Shen Yan trudged through the muddy water, his trouser cuffs stained with broken grass, slipping and sliding with each step as he moved toward the ruins. The rain had just stopped, and the air was still damp. He shivered all over from the cold, but the broken phone in his hand was as hot as a branding iron.

The Terminal Interface on the screen was still flashing: 【600 meters ahead, residual Anomaly in Spiritual Energy】.

“Alright, I’ve come this far—can’t just turn back and order takeout now,” he muttered, adjusting his cracked glasses. “Besides, if that heal.py could run, why can’t the Fireball Spell?”

Before he finished speaking, his foot caught on a collapsed blue brick, and he tumbled onto a pile of rubble. His palm was scraped, blood seeping out, but he ignored the pain, pushing himself up with one hand while his eyes remained fixed ahead—

A half-collapsed Taoist temple, hidden among the overgrown weeds.

At the base of the wall were broken Talisman Patterns, as if torn apart by something. Cracks radiated across the ground, with a faint shimmer of light at the center, like the static snow on an old TV with no Signal.

“Is this… an ancient Formation?” Gasping for breath, he crawled over and crouched down. The moment his Tip of the Finger touched the crack, a “ding” sounded in his mind, and a new Window popped up:

【Spiritual Energy Spectrum Analysis Module loaded】

【Scanning…】

Instantly, a series of waveform graphs appeared before his eyes, fluctuating wildly, like an EKG gone to a disco. The Data Stream scrolled: 【Detected traces of residual Spirit Gathering Formation. Estimated Energy peak level: Golden Core stage or above. Destruction time: approximately 973 years ago】.

“Wow, older than Python,” he grinned, then frowned. “But this waveform is as chaotic as a product manager changing requirements—no way to replicate it directly.”

He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and focused his mind, creating a new file in his consciousness:

fireball.py

First line of Code typed: import Spiritual Energy

Second line: def cast(): return Energy condensation + high-temperature activation

“Simple and crude, but effective,” he muttered. “It’s not like I’m building a high-Concurrency System—who needs a rigorous architecture?”

But the moment he pressed Enter, the Terminal suddenly flashed a Warning:

【Variable name spelling error: fierball → fireball】

He froze. “Huh? Did I type it wrong?”

It was too late.

The warm current inside him suddenly stalled, then, like a lagging Program forced to Restart, erupted with a violent force!

“Shit! Interrupt the Thread—”

Before he could finish, the crack in the ground lit up with a red glow and exploded with a deafening “BOOM!”

Rubble shot out like bullets, half of the remaining wall was blown away, and dust billowed into the sky. Shen Yan was thrown back by the shockwave, his back slamming hard against a broken pillar. His ears rang, and his mouth was full of dust.

“Damn! This isn’t a Fireball Spell—it’s a self-destruct Script!” Coughing up dust, he struggled to his feet, his shirt singed at the corner and his hair standing on end like a bird’s nest. “Who said beginner quests were supposed to be this intense?”

He looked down at his phone, where a line of green text slowly appeared:

【Spell execution failed, triggered Formation Eye resonance】

【Mental Power consumption: 42%】

【Current stamina: 21%】

“21%? Am I about to reach the shutdown Interface?” He chuckled bitterly. “Next time, I should buy accident insurance before writing Code.”

As he spoke, a sharp whistling sound echoed from the distance.

Three dark shadows sped across the broken tiles, their speed alarmingly fast. The leader wore a black Daoist robe, his expression stern and cold. In his hands, he held a bronze plate, its surface shimmering with an eerie glow, aimed directly at Shen Yan’s location.

“The Spirit-Detection Plate has locked on,” the man spoke, his voice as cold as a freezer. “The fluctuation just now was definitely not something an ordinary cultivator could produce.”

Shen Yan immediately ducked behind a broken wall, holding his breath. Through the cracked lens of his glasses, he saw the light on the bronze plate slowly closing in on his hiding spot.

“Damn, isn’t this like antivirus software detecting a virus?” Sweat beaded on his forehead. “If only I could run an invisibility script right now… Wait, isn’t there a ‘Decompilation’ module in the background processes?”

He quickly pulled up the terminal interface. Sure enough, a red label flashed in the corner:

【Reverse Decompilation Module Activated】

【External scanning protocol detected. Initiate defensive data purge? Y/N】

“Purge? That’s just clearing the cache, right?” Without a second thought, he tapped the screen. “Confirm.”

The next moment, an invisible wave erupted from him as the center.

Crack!

The jade talisman in the hands of the Mystic Gate disciple ahead shattered into dust without warning.

Buzz—!

The Flying Sword on another’s back trembled violently, its surface rapidly rusting and peeling away like a twenty-year-old iron nail.

The worst off was the one holding the bronze plate—the Spirit-Detection Plate exploded with a bang, shards splattering across his face. Staggering backward, his pupils contracted sharply.

“What… what kind of technique is this?!”

Shen Yan himself was stunned. “I just clicked ‘Confirm’! How did it end up like formatting a hard drive?”

He looked down at his phone. The terminal lay silent, as if nothing had happened.

But the wreckage of the three magical artifacts on the ground clearly stated: You just deleted someone else’s treasure trove.

“The Celestial Clan’s Forbidden Technique, ‘Forced Format’?” The man wiped the blood from his face, his voice trembling. “A method lost for a thousand years—how could it appear on a mortal?”

Hearing the word “mortal,” Shen Yan actually felt relieved. “Oh, so you can’t tell I have a Spiritual Root? Might as well play the part to the end.”

He quietly edged backward, using the dust and smoke as cover, climbed over the broken wall, and plunged into the wild forest.

Behind him, the Mystic Gate disciple named Li Muyun stared intently at the direction Shen Yan had disappeared, gritting his teeth as he ordered, “Seal the scene, collect the fragments, and report to the Sect. This person possesses lost Celestial Clan techniques—he must be captured alive.”

Unaware that he had already been placed on a wanted list, Shen Yan was now hunched over, sprinting through the bushes. His stamina was dropping rapidly, every step feeling like climbing stairs, but he didn’t dare stop.

“I really need to add comments when writing code from now on,” he reflected as he ran. “Otherwise, a single typo almost sent me straight to the ancestral grave.”

Finally, he scrambled over the last low slope, and his view opened up—on the edge of the city, a dilapidated water tower stood alone in the night, its rusted iron ladder leading straight to the top.

Gasping for breath, he glanced up, then looked back at the distant ruins.

“Should I go back now and explain, ‘I’m just an ordinary programmer’?” He laughed self-deprecatingly. “They’d probably give me the ‘Bug Creator of the Year’ award on the spot.”

He pulled out his phone, its screen casting a faint glow on his soot-stained face.

The terminal interface suddenly flickered:

【Hidden Module Progress: 1.3%】

【Notice: High-frequency spiritual energy signal detected in city center, suspected modern formation node】

“City center?” He narrowed his eyes. “That area is full of tall buildings. Could some company secretly installed a cultivation-grade server?”

He tugged at his burnt clothes and chuckled softly: “Alright, let’s go meet your operations team.”

He grabbed the iron ladder and climbed up step by step.

The rusty iron creaked, the wind swayed him, but he didn’t let go.

Near the top of the tower, he stopped, pulling out a crumpled talisman paper from his pocket—it had fallen out from the passenger seat storage compartment during the previous car accident, and he never threw it away.

He stared at it for two seconds, suddenly typing a line of code in his mind:

if talisman.is_magic(): print(this could be big)

The phone screen flashed:

【Output: Spiritual energy fluctuation +0.05】

【Recommendation: Unknown rune structure detected, further analysis recommended】

He curled his lips: “Interesting.”

The last step, he flipped onto the platform.

Night wind swept over him, the entire city’s lights spread before him like a galaxy of stars. At the top of the tallest building in the city center, a faint purple light flickered intermittently.

“That’s the place.”

He pulled out his phone, creating a new file:

sky_bridge_hack.py

Just after typing the first line, a dark shadow suddenly streaked across the distant sky.

He looked up, seeing a sword light tearing through the night sky, heading straight toward that tall building.

“Someone arrived before me?”

He squinted at that light shadow, fingers tapping rapidly on the screen.

“Whether you’re here to fix bugs or to blow up the server—”

“As programmers, we never fear big trouble.”

(End of Chapter)