Chapter 180: The Four Women First Display Their Divine Skills

Shen Yan slumped on the ground, his phone screen cracked like a spiderweb, but the code continued to scroll. He gasped for breath, his fingers digging fiercely into the earth, blood seeping from beneath his fingernails. The bloody patterns on the stone wall suddenly stopped spreading, and the surroundings grew so quiet that the sound of breathing could be heard.

Something was wrong.

He abruptly looked up: “Don’t relax! The System isn’t shut down!”

Ye Zhao immediately stood up, her sword held horizontally before her. Pei Yue grabbed a handful of medicinal powder from her Medicine Pouch, her hand trembling slightly. Luo Li’s tail stiffened, her purple-red hair stirring without any wind. Yu Xiaotang chewed the last bite of her Candied Hawthorn, stabbed the bamboo skewer into the ground, and pulled out Talisman Paper, pressing it against her palm.

“Execute Phase One according to the training procedure!” Shen Yan ordered hoarsely.

All four shuddered simultaneously. This was the tactical code name they had secretly practiced in Chapter 175, never even spoken aloud to outsiders. Now, it had become their only way out.

As soon as the words fell, three Puppets suddenly convulsed, the blue light in their eyes flickering on and off like beasts being reawakened. Their movements were faster than before, charging in a triangular formation, their blades aimed directly at Shen Yan’s throat.

Ye Zhao moved.

She stepped forward, her sword still sheathed, yet Sword Qi condensed into a frosty net, sweeping outward. Three beams of cold light precisely sliced through the Runes on the Puppets’ legs, emitting a piercing sound of metal breaking. The Puppets’ movements instantly slowed, as if their Program had Lagged.

“Interrupt Function effective,” Shen Yan stared at his phone. “Pei Yue, follow up!”

Three Silver Needles shot from Pei Yue’s fingertips, piercing into the spinal Nodes of the Puppets. The needle tips glowed with faint green Spiritual Energy, channeling specially prepared medicinal potency along the meridians. This was her modified “Spirit Pivot Meridian Sealing Technique,” originally designed to treat Qi Deviation, now repurposed to target mechanical hearts.

The core operation speed of the Puppets visibly slowed.

“My turn,” Luo Li growled.

A mass of Purple Flame erupted from her palm, coiling like a snake, instantly engulfing the three Puppets in fire. The flames were intensely hot, even causing the ground to redden and crack. Seconds later, the remains turned to ash, leaving only a few charred pieces of metal.

“Beautiful!” Yu Xiaotang leaped forward, tapping the debris with her toes as yellow light ignited the Talisman Paper in her hand. She swiftly inscribed three sealing Runes, placing them over the cracks in the ground. The Talisman Paper glowed with golden edges, forming a circular Barrier that blocked the hidden openings.

The four withdrew their stances, breathing slightly heavier, but their eyes were bright.

Shen Yan leaned against the stone wall, a faint smile curling his lips: “Collaboration success rate… 87.6%, twelve percentage points higher than the simulation.”

No one laughed.

Because everyone could feel—that last wave was just a test.

Pei Yue suddenly frowned, pressing a hand to her chest: “The Spiritual Energy flow in my body isn’t circulating smoothly.”

Luo Li looked down at the tip of her tail and noticed the edges of her fur turning black, tingling slightly at the touch. Yu Xiaotang felt her Talisman pouch and found the fabric scorching hot, as if burned by fire. Ye Zhao glanced down at her sword hilt, where a ring of fine black spots had appeared, slowly spreading.

“Demonic Energy,” Shen Yan pulled up the detection Program, his expression darkening. “Not ordinary contamination—it’s a living Program with Encoding. These Puppets… were written with Code from refined souls.”

His voice was soft, but everyone heard it clearly.

What we fought wasn’t machinery at all.

It was people.

People transformed into weapons.

The bloody patterns on the stone wall no longer moved, and the ground no longer shook. Yet this calm was even more suffocating. Like the dead silence before a storm.

Shen Yan forced himself up, fingers sliding across his phone screen. The cracked display flashed a line of text: 【Detected residual deep-level commands, source unknown】.

“The master control is still active,” he said. “And… it’s observing us.”

Yu Xiaotang crouched on the ground, sketching new rune designs with a charcoal pencil. She muttered as she drew, “Bro, do you think we can compress the firewall algorithm another layer? If there had been two more puppets in that last wave, my runes wouldn’t have been enough.”

“Possible,” Shen Yan nodded. “But you need to solve the response latency issue first.”

“I know!” Her eyes lit up. “Just add a cache preload module! Like that accelerator you installed on my phone last time!”

Luo Li stared at the charred puppet fragments and suddenly spoke up, “The rhythm of these runes… it resembles the Ancient Demon Clan Language. But not entirely—it’s as if someone forcibly spliced them together.”

“Someone is replicating bloodline code,” Shen Yan sneered. “Using living people as compilation material—truly the work of a madman.”

Ye Zhao sat cross-legged, eyes closed as she regulated her breathing. She didn’t speak, but Sword Qi continuously circled her body, forming a thin barrier. Burn marks were visible on her shoulder, the skin flushed red, yet she endured without a sound.

Pei Yue rummaged through her medicine pouch, her face pale. Medicinal supplies were severely depleted, some key herbs already running low. Silently, she took out a mortar and began mixing an antidote.

“Don’t move yet,” she said. “Wait until I finish preparing the medicine.”

Shen Yan walked over to her and handed her his phone. “Use this to check the concentration—don’t exceed the limit.”

Pei Yue took the phone, her fingertip pausing briefly as it brushed against his palm. Their eyes met for a moment before quickly looking away.

“Thanks,” she said.

“No need for formalities,” Shen Yan grinned. “You’re our healing accessory, after all.”

Luo Li snorted, “And what are you? A programmer NPC?”

“I’m the main carry,” Shen Yan patted his chest. “Without my scripts, you wouldn’t even be able to cast your skills.”

Yu Xiaotang chimed in, “Then hurry up and write an ‘entire party invincible for five seconds’ script now!”

“Can’t,” Shen Yan sighed. “Mental Power is almost depleted. Forcing a high-level program load now could lead to unconsciousness at best, or turning into a vegetable at worst.”

“Then conserve it,” Ye Zhao opened her eyes. “From now on, follow my command.”

Shen Yan raised an eyebrow. “Your command?”

“You handle technical support,” Ye Zhao stood up, her sword tip touching the ground. “We handle the output. Don’t forget—you’ve survived this long because of us.”

“Why does that sound so sour?” Shen Yan laughed. “Are you jealous?”

“Shut up,” Ye Zhao glared at him before turning and walking toward the center of the pit.

Shen Yan rubbed his nose, muttering quietly, “She’s clearly the one who cares about me the most…”

Before he could finish, his phone suddenly vibrated.

Warning: Detected remote signal access

Shen Yan’s pupils contracted. This wasn’t the System’s notification tone—it was the underlying alarm he had written himself.

Someone was attempting to connect to the residual frequency of the Star-Shattering Token.

He abruptly looked up, staring deep into the stone wall. There was a crack there he had never noticed before—extremely thin, almost invisible. But from within it, a faint blue light seeped out.

“Over there!” He pointed at the crack. “The master control node isn’t outside—it’s underground!”

The four immediately went on alert.

Yu Xiaotang applied runes, Luo Li ignited flames, Pei Yue gripped her needles, Ye Zhao drew her sword.

Shen Yan took a deep breath and opened the offline cache. “Prepare to initiate the v2.0 Collaboration Agreement. This time, it’s not defense—it’s a counterattack.”

“You still have the strength?” Pei Yue looked at him with concern.

“I’ll push through even if it kills me.” Shen Yan grinned. “After all… I’m the core of your Program.”

He raised his hand, the phone screen reflecting the images of the four of them.

“Come on, sisters. Let’s blow up the Background together.”

(End of Chapter)