Chapter 116: The Fatal Flaw of Reverse Decompilation

Shen Yan’s left arm was already half-crystallized, ice-crack-like code crawling up his skin. With a flick of his fingertip, the remnants of the programming pen traced an afterimage in the air.

He did not retreat.

Ye Shi’er’s Blood Scythe slashed toward him, the overwhelming pressure of peak Spirit Transformation making his bones creak, yet Shen Yan smiled instead.

“You’re cutting me,” he said, his voice hoarse. “But you can’t cut the program I wrote.”

As his words fell, he forcefully inserted the shattered remains of his phone into the control console interface. The screen flickered twice, and the terminal interface reloaded.

【Reverse Decompilation Initiated】—green characters flashed like a key sliding into a lock.

Luo Li was thrown back three steps by the energy field, her fox tail scorched and curled, yet she stubbornly maintained a protective barrier. Gritting her teeth, she growled, “Hurry! This damned place is about to collapse!”

Shen Yan did not respond, his full attention fixed on the data stream.

He used the crystallization in his left arm as a cache medium, forcibly connecting to the system, then pulled out the remnants of Yu Xiaotang’s melted talisman paper from his collar and stuffed it into the interface. Devil Blood runes flashed, unexpectedly becoming the decryption key.

“Success or failure depends on this one move.”

Code cascaded across the screen like a waterfall, finally exposing Ye Shi’er’s core command set.

But just as the analysis reached the seventh layer, Shen Yan’s pupils abruptly contracted.

“This formation logic… why does it look so familiar?”

He zoomed in on a segment of nested code, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

This was no ordinary puppet control protocol, but a variant of a Medical Cultivator formation—more precisely, the kind of Mountain-Protecting Array Pei Yue used, only distorted beyond recognition, as if forcibly crammed into a mechanical shell.

And the Spiritual Power signature was still there.

That crooked, habitually overextended finishing stroke—no one else wrote it like that except Pei Yue.

“When did she perform surgery on this guy?” Shen Yan’s heart jolted. “Or… was it not done by her initiative at all?”

The terminal automatically compared historical data, the progress bar racing forward.

【Match Successful】

【Time Anchor: Late Period of the Divine War, a Thousand Years Ago】

【Event Record: Source Code Spiritual Root Splitting Experiment】

【Target Individual: Serial Number Y-12】

【Identity Trace: Original Consciousness Fragment + Medicine Valley Formation Refactored Body】

Shen Yan’s breath hitched.

“Y-12? Ye Shi’er… is that the origin of your name?”

He abruptly looked up, his gaze fixed on the man opposite him, half-hidden behind a bronze mask.

The Blood Scythe hung in mid-air. Ye Shi’er did not attack further but stood quietly, as if waiting for something.

“You knew all along I’d find out,” Shen Yan’s voice was dry.

“I knew you’d investigate,” Ye Shi’er finally spoke, his voice low. “But I didn’t know you’d still believe.”

Before his words faded, the mask cracked with a sharp sound, then shattered completely, revealing a face almost identical to Shen Yan’s.

Even the dimple at the corner of the mouth was exactly the same.

A buzzing filled Shen Yan’s mind, as if a string had snapped.

Childhood memories surged—as children, they shared an old computer, fighting over the keyboard. His code was always criticized as terrible, yet every time Ye Shi’er’s program crashed, he quietly fixed it.

Later, that computer burned out, and the brothers were separated.

He had always thought it was an accident.

Now, it seemed it was nothing but a premeditated scheme.

Suddenly, the terminal popped up a sealed log, automatically playing:

“Experiment Number Y-12, Objective: Separate ‘Heavenly Dao Compatible Personality’ to prevent host collapse. Executor: Celestial Clan Supervisor.”

“The host… is me?” Shen Yan murmured.

“You are the original body,” Ye Shi’er sneered. “I am the piece cut away from you—carrying all the emotions that shouldn’t exist, thrown into a formation and reassembled into trash.”

Shen Yan’s fingers trembled.

He suddenly remembered a strange thing Pei Yue had once said: “The Spiritual Root within you doesn’t seem innate, more like… pieced together.”

So it wasn’t that he was awakening a Source Code Spiritual Root.

He was originally part of the Source Code Spiritual Root.

And Ye Shi’er was the Emotion Module he had voluntarily stripped away back then, taken by the Celestial Clan for experiments, and later transformed by the Demon Clan into a puppet weapon.

“So you altered Pei Yue’s formation?” Shen Yan’s voice was hoarse. “To resurrect whom?”

Ye Shi’er laughed, a laugh that was light and cold.

“No,” he said. “It was you who installed it into my heart back then, making me learn pain.”

The air froze for an instant.

Shen Yan’s mind went blank.

He wasn’t an enemy.

He was another version of himself.

One who had been discarded, transformed, forgotten, yet still remembered the warmth of his brother’s fingers fixing bugs on that old computer.

“Kill him!” Luo Li roared, her Fox Tail tightening sharply around Ye Shi’er’s neck as Purple Flames surged. “He’s a copy! Data trash!”

Ye Shi’er offered no resistance, allowing the Demon Power to corrode his throat, simply gazing quietly at Shen Yan.

Shen Yan’s finger hovered above the Programming Pen, unable to press down.

Deleting him would be like deleting a failed piece of Code.

But this Code had once cried, hurt, and hated for him.

“You won’t act?” Ye Shi’er asked softly. “Is it because you still see me as your younger brother?”

Shen Yan didn’t answer.

He glanced down at the Terminal.

The last line on the Screen flashed incessantly:

【Execute… Delete Command?】

The hum of electric current whispered in his ears, like the noise of an old computer’s cooling fan.

Suddenly remembering something, he looked up sharply. “You said you’re the Emotion Module… then do you remember what Mom looked like?”

Ye Shi’er froze.

“She had a mole on her left ear,” Shen Yan’s voice trembled slightly. “Wore a blue cloth skirt, always humming a Children’s Rhyme off-key.”

Ye Shi’er’s lips moved, but no sound came out.

Yet his eyes reddened.

Shen Yan’s heart wrenched violently.

Luo Li sensed something amiss, her Fox Tail loosening slightly by half an inch.

In that instant, Ye Shi’er raised his hand, lifting the Blood Scythe not to attack, but to point at his own chest.

“Here,” he said. “There’s a piece of Code you wrote ten years ago.”

“You said, as long as this Code keeps running, I’m not fake.”

Shen Yan’s breath caught.

He remembered now.

It was the last night they shared the computer. He had secretly hidden an easter egg Code in his younger brother’s game save:

“If one day you disappear, this Program will keep waiting for you to return.”

Ten years.

It was still running.

“Brother,” Ye Shi’er whispered. “I didn’t come to kill you.”

“I came to bring you home.”

Shen Yan’s hand finally descended.

Not to press delete.

But to press the Programming Pen against the edge of the console and begin rewriting the Protocol.

【New Instruction: Data Fusion Protocol】

【Target: Individual Y-12】

【Permission Request: Accept Emotion Module Return?】

The Terminal’s Popup Window flashed.

Luo Li widened her eyes. “Are you insane? He could turn on you at any moment!”

Shen Yan ignored her, his gaze fixed on Ye Shi’er.

“If you dare lie to me,” he said, “I’ll personally Format you into recycle bin trash.”

Ye Shi’er smiled.

That smile was exactly the same as when they were children.

Slowly, he raised his hand, and a rusted copper fragment appeared in his palm—the very piece of the old computer’s motherboard from back then.

“I kept it,” he said. “You said it could last ten thousand years.”

Shen Yan’s nose stung.

Just then, the Terminal suddenly blared with alarms.

【Warning: External intrusion Detected】

【Source: Unknown Bloodline Signal】

【Intensity: Beyond Spirit Transformation】

Both of their expressions changed simultaneously.

Shen Yan whipped around and saw Yu Xiaotang’s body convulsing violently atop the Energy pillar, purple patterns spreading across her entire form. The half-eaten lollipop in her hand suddenly burst into flames, transforming into a talisman fire that shot straight into the sky.

Ye Shi’er’s face paled. “Damn it! The Tracking Talisman inside her isn’t mine at all—it’s a third-party Backdoor!”

Shen Yan’s pupils contracted.

“Someone is using our conflict to activate higher Permissions…”

Before he could finish speaking, the entire power plant shook violently. Steel beams at the top snapped with a deafening crash, and a crimson light pillar descended from the sky, precisely enveloping Yu Xiaotang.

The Terminal flashed one final line:

【System takeover Countdown: Ten】

Shen Yan grabbed the Programming Pen and charged toward the Energy pillar.

(End of Chapter)