Chapter 25: New Journey Begins: The Prelude of the Source Code Celestial

The bell still rang, Shen Yan’s fingertip finally touched the phone screen.

On the spiderweb-cracked glass, the bloodstains hadn’t dried yet. He wiped a clean area with his thumb and gently typed a line: “Reset All.”

The terminal suddenly trembled, green text cascading across the screen like a waterfall: 【System restarting… Memory overflow】【Permissions lost, main control chain broken】. The edges of the light barrier began flickering, like a faulty fluorescent tube. The energy output from the four women became intermittent—Pei Yue’s hands were already trembling slightly, Yu Xiaotang slumped on the ground, still holding that bamboo stick in her mouth, smiling weakly.

“Don’t break…” Shen Yan gritted his teeth, steeled his heart, and directly scratched his palm with his fingernail. Blood flowed from between his fingers into the phone interface. This thing was originally a charging port, but now it had become a spiritual energy bus.

The code flow instantly surged back, his heartbeat became a metronome, each pulse synchronizing with a frequency refresh. He closed his eyes and muttered: “I’m not cache, I’m the host machine.”

The Frost Soul Sword suddenly emitted a soft hum. Ye Zhao stood at the corner of the formation, her sword tip slightly raised, silver light like threads winding around the phone frame. At that moment, the terminal interface finally stabilized, black background with green text slowly appearing:

【Welcome, Host—Source Code Celestial】

“Oh, upgraded?” Shen Yan grinned, his voice raspy like sandpaper scraping metal. “This ID sounds pretty chuuni.”

Ye Zhao didn’t respond, but her eyes twitched slightly, as if relieved.

But just as the system stabilized, a new notice popped up: 【Detected emotional anchor fluctuations, bond link unstable, recommend injecting persistent data packet】

Shen Yan frowned, scanning around: Luo Li unconscious, but her tail still wrapped around his wrist, warm; a wisp of blue smoke drifted from Pei Yue’s medicine pouch, mingling with herbal scent toward the light gate; Yu Xiaotang’s half-eaten lollipop spun a circle in her palm, then suddenly flew up by itself.

“Huh?” He was stunned. “Your personal belongings have autonomous driving functions?”

Before he finished speaking, Ye Zhao’s sword tassel swayed without wind, a tiny silver light shooting into the air. Immediately, the rune at the mouth of Pei Yue’s medicine pouch flashed, a wisp of blue smoke condensed into a small smiling face; Yu Xiaotang’s lollipop spiraled upward; Luo Li’s tail flicked lightly, a silver bell actually detached from her hair, dangling midair with a tinkling sound.

These scattered items all gathered toward the center of the light gate, like puzzle pieces assembled by invisible hands. Shen Yan’s mind jolted, quickly pulling up the history log—

Ye Zhao secretly copied the sword flight patch, Pei Yue’s little sun drawn on the back of her prescription, Yu Xiaotang’s strawberry talisman paper stuck on his backpack, Luo Li’s rescue code carved on the stone wall… all archived by the system.

“So you all left backdoors in my system long ago?” He chuckled softly. “Alright, this time I’ll write you a permanent pass.”

His fingers flew, typing a new program in the terminal: “Origin Cache Packet·Four-Dimensional Binding,” pressing enter.

Bang!

The four items exploded into light points in the air, spiraling and intertwining, finally condensing into a rotating rune embedded into the core of the light gate. The passage instantly stabilized, blue-white light no longer flickering, instead pulsing rhythmically like breathing.

“Done.” Shen Yan exhaled deeply, legs weakening almost kneeling, caught by Ye Zhao’s support.

Her palm was cold, yet steady like steel plate. “Can you still walk?”

“Leave? Right now I just want to lie down and give up.” He smiled bitterly, “But the System won’t let me.”

The Terminal popped up with a new window: 【Establish permanent link? Target coordinates: Sword Sect Forbidden Land · Abyss Abyss】

Two options below: Confirm/Cancel.

Shen Yan stared at the line of text, silent for a few seconds. He looked down at Luo Li; the little girl’s face was pale, her breathing faint, but her tail was still tightly wrapped around him, as if afraid she’d lose the Signal if she let go.

“You said the Star Map points to the Sword Sect…” he said softly, “Then let’s go see what kind of broken Code is hidden there.”

After speaking, he turned to Ye Zhao, reaching out to take her hand. Neither of them spoke, but the moment their fingertips touched, the Terminal vibrated again. The Frost Soul Sword hummed incessantly, Sword Qi and Code Flow merging to form a silver chain that wrapped around the pillars of the light gate.

“In the past, you protected me.” Shen Yan’s voice wasn’t loud, but each word was clear, “This time, it’s my turn to take the lead.”

He raised his phone, thumb hovering over “Confirm,” paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed: “Worst case, we all blow up together, right?”

As the words fell, his thumb pressed down.

The light gate expanded with a roar, blue-white light swallowing the figures of the five like a tidal wave. The Teleportation Array hummed ceaselessly, the ground Runes lighting up layer by layer, space beginning to twist and stretch, as if torn open by an invisible hand.

But just then, the Terminal suddenly displayed a line of red text: 【Warning: External synchronization Request Detected, source unknown】

Shen Yan froze: “Who’s connecting to my hotspot again?”

Ye Zhao’s eyes tightened: “Ignore it, let’s go first!”

He nodded, about to urge the Program to run at full speed, when he suddenly felt a warmth at his wrist—Luo Li’s tail tightened sharply, Pei Yue’s Medicine Pouch spontaneously ignited without wind, Yu Xiaotang’s bamboo stick snapped with a “crack,” and a fissure burst open on Ye Zhao’s sword tassel.

“Something’s wrong!” Shen Yan quickly pulled up a spectrum analysis, discovering that the Energy Flow was mixed with an alien frequency, as if someone was hijacking the channel remotely.

“Trying to freeload?” he sneered, fingers tapping rapidly, “My Wi-Fi has a password!”

Immediately, he wrote a countermeasure Script and injected it into the light gate’s core. In an instant, a string of electric sparks burst open within the channel, the external force was forcibly kicked out of the link, and the Terminal returned to quiet.

“Done?” Yu Xiaotang weakly looked up.

“For now.” Shen Yan stared at the Screen, “But the other party could locate us, meaning… they’re also using Source Code-level operations.”

No one replied. The air froze for a moment.

Then, Pei Yue suddenly spoke: “Just now… what did you call us?”

“Huh?”

“You said ‘we.'” She looked at him, her gaze wavering slightly, “Before, you always said ‘I’ve got to run, you all take care.'”

Shen Yan was taken aback, then scratched his head: “Oh, force of habit. Now though… teamwork, understand? One person messes up, the whole team loses points.”

“Then you’d better be reliable.” Ye Zhao said calmly, “Don’t write another Bug that teleports us all into lava.”

“Don’t worry, I wrote a disaster recovery mechanism this time.” He blinked, “If we really fall into lava, I’ll teleport you all out first and cover the rear myself.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Teleportation Array shook violently, the light gate fully opening. At its end was a gray, hazy sky, with faint mountain shadows floating in the distance, like the backs of giant beasts obscured by fog.

“The Sword Sect Realm… we’re here?” Yu Xiaotang struggled to stand, squinting as she looked ahead.

“Not yet.” Shen Yan shook his head. “This is the buffer zone. The real entrance is deeper inside. And…” He paused. “The System Notice indicates that the Permission ahead is under Encryption and requires four-dimensional authentication to unlock.”

“Need our help again?” Pei Yue smiled bitterly.

“Not help.” Shen Yan looked at them seriously. “It’s cooperation. Without you, this door simply cannot be opened.”

The four women fell silent for a moment. Ye Zhao was the first to step forward. “Then let’s go.”

Luo Li was still unconscious. Shen Yan carried her on his back, her tail hanging naturally against his chest, its warmth pressed close to his heart. Pei Yue supported his shoulder, while Yu Xiaotang held onto the hem of his clothes with one hand and used a half-broken bamboo stick as a walking stick with the other.

The five of them stepped into the light gate, their figures gradually swallowed by the radiance.

At the last moment, Shen Yan glanced back at the path they had come from.

The ruins remained, the wind swirling with fragments of Code like an unfinished snowfall.

He smiled faintly and turned to step forward.

Deep within the light gate, the Terminal once again displayed a message: 【New Signal source Detected approaching, distance: three kilometers, Energy signature: same origin as Host】

Shen Yan’s brow twitched.

At the same time, in the distant mist, a Dark Shadow slowly raised a hand. Beneath the Bronze Mask, the corner of its mouth curled upward.

(End of Chapter)