Chapter 81: The First Cross-Platform Interface

Shen Yan’s phone screen was still stuck on the half-line of text reading “Loading… Countermeasure Program,” looking exactly like the desperate moment when the network lags during a midnight limited-edition sneaker drop. His finger pressed hard on the power button, wishing he could force a restart on this broken system.

But the Source Code Spiritual Root was nearly stalled, his Consciousness Sea was filled with garbled code, and he couldn’t even compile the most basic Fireball Spell.

Twelve demonized puppets closed in step by step, their blade tips shimmering with the residual glow of Data Streams, like remotely controlled bug robots moving with a synchronized precision that sent chills down one’s spine.

“If we don’t act now, we’ll become the Cultivation Realm’s first case of ‘code lovers’ suicide,’” he gritted his teeth, frantically searching through the fragments in the cache area of his Consciousness Sea—thankfully, that Sword Flight automation script hadn’t completely crashed yet.

With a trembling fingertip, he traced a line of Command in the void: “Invoke the underlying protocol of the maze, take over local control.”

As soon as the command was issued, the Terminal Interface flickered violently, popping up a few crooked characters: 【Insufficient Permission. Suggest trying again with a different posture】.

“Shut up!” Shen Yan growled, veins throbbing on his forehead. “This is no time for jokes!”

Luo Li stood with her back against him, her Nine Tails spread out in a ring, blazing fox fire forming a barrier around them. Her breathing was rapid, her Demon Power fluctuations clearly unstable, yet she remained steadfastly in front of him, not retreating a single step.

“If you dare collapse, I’ll carve you into a plaza floor tile,” she said coldly, but her tails secretly tightened around his wrist.

Shen Yan twitched the corner of his mouth, suddenly noticing something—though the puppets’ movements were synchronized, each one had a slight Latency, like a live stream with poor signal.

“Remote control?” he narrowed his eyes. “Ye Shi’er, are you too stingy to pay for a high-speed channel?”

Before his words faded, a ghostly green blade light tore through the air, slashing straight toward them.

Luo Li roared in anger, her fox fire surging violently, forcibly incinerating the blade energy. But the impact shook her, causing her figure to sway, and her Demon Power briefly faltered.

Now!

Shen Yan abruptly closed his eyes, forcibly awakening the shared bond deep within his Consciousness Sea and connecting to the underlying protocol of the recently activated Demon Clan killing array. He was about to do something unprecedented—treating the fox fire spell as an external module and inserting it into his own spell system.

“Cross-platform Interface call, Initiate.”

His fingers trembled as he constructed an encapsulation framework in the void. The language structure of the Demon Clan’s ancient arts was completely incompatible with the Source Code System; directly importing it would be like stuffing a Python script into C++, blowing up the furnace in minutes.

“Need to translate… and add a shell…” he muttered to himself, cold sweat trickling down his temples. “Encapsulate it as a dynamic link library, name it… ‘FoxFire.dll.’”

Luo Li sensed his intention and suddenly bit the Tip of her Tongue, spraying a mouthful of essence blood onto the flames before her.

“Catch it!”

Crimson flames churned, transforming into a Data Stream that surged into Shen Yan’s Consciousness Sea. Seizing that momentary Demon Power fluctuation, he used it as a carrier wave, steadily embedding it into the Sword Flight main program.

【Warning: Unknown spell module injection Detected】

【Logic conflict risk: High】

【Force Compile?】

“Force it! Go!”

Boom—!

Silver Sword Qi erupted from his palm, entwined with crimson fox fire, sweeping out like nine tails coiling through the air. Where the sword light passed, three puppets exploded on the spot, fragments scattering, while the remaining puppets were overturned by the chain reaction of explosions, their formation instantly collapsing.

“It worked!” Shen Yan gasped for breath, nearly falling to his knees. “Who said cross-species co-op isn’t possible? This is what you call technology without borders!”

Luo Li retracted two of her tails, the remaining eight slowly gathering back. The firelight reflected in her pupils like a sunset burning everything away.

“Warn me next time,” she whispered in warning. “Don’t use my life as a testing environment.”

“That wasn’t testing—that was production-level deployment.” Shen Yan grinned, a crack running across his glasses, making him look like a burnt-out programmer fresh from an all-night gaming session at an internet café.

But before his laughter faded, a cold wind swept through the depths of the maze.

The ground silently split open, and a figure stepped out.

Black-gold combat attire, half a bronze mask, right hand gripping a blood-colored scythe flowing with fragmented Data.

Ye Shi’er.

He stood ten paces away, lightly raising his scythe, its tip pointing at Shen Yan, his voice as cold as a server warning at three in the morning:

“You used my move.”

Shen Yan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and sneered. “Yours? That’s called open-source sharing, got it? It’s been all over GitHub for ages.”

Ye Shi’er didn’t move, only slowly swung his scythe.

With a single slash, the space was torn open into a pitch-black rift, its edges distorted like garbled code, as if a key frame had been deleted from reality.

“404 Rift.” Shen Yan’s pupils contracted. “You really think you’re the admin now?”

The Sword Qi collided with the rift and was instantly swallowed, without even an echo.

“Your System shouldn’t exist.” Ye Shi’er’s tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable verdict. “It should have been destroyed along with the original.”

Shen Yan’s heart shook, but his expression remained unchanged. “Oh? So you’re a pirated copy? No wonder there are so many bugs.”

As he spoke, he secretly scanned the residual Code Structure of the scythe. A Terminal Interface quietly popped up with an analysis report:

【Core Architecture Match: 92%】

【Discrepancy: Missing Emotional Variable Module】

【System Identifier: Reverse-Engineered Imitation】

【Recommendation: Initiate Decompilation Program, Implement Technical Suppression】

“Just as I thought…” Shen Yan narrowed his eyes. “You’re not the original—you copied my Code.”

As the words fell, he abruptly pressed the Enter Key.

【Decompilation Program Initiated】

【Target Locked: Ye Shi’er System】

【Progress: 37%】

In that instant, Ye Shi’er’s movements slightly faltered. The Data Stream on his scythe experienced a brief Lag, as if the Program had suddenly been injected with a Virus.

“What did you do?” His voice wavered for the first time.

“What do you think?” Shen Yan propped himself up against the spiritual barrier, Code Flow once again flickering at his fingertips. “I gave you a Patch—specialized for curing all kinds of defiance.”

Luo Li seized the opportunity to step forward, fox fire blazing once more, all nine tails fully extended, shielding the two of them at the center.

“Your System has flaws.” Shen Yan stared at him, his tone cool. “Without an Emotion Module, it can’t handle complex Variables. Every line of Code you Run is a prelude to an Infinite Loop.”

Ye Shi’er fell silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

“And what about you? Do you think you can escape the Cycle of Reincarnation?”

He raised his left hand, revealing a fragmented Star-Shattering Token pattern in his palm. It resonated with the Source Code Spiritual Root within Shen Yan, causing a sharp, stabbing pain.

“We are two sides of the same coin,” he said. “You can’t escape.”

Shen Yan didn’t respond, silently watching the progress bar on the Terminal continue to climb.

37%… 38%…

Just a little more time, and he could completely freeze the other’s core Command flow.

Ye Shi’er seemed to realize this as well. He retracted his Scythe and slowly retreated.

“This time, you win,” he said, turning to walk into the shadows. “But next time, I’ll return with the complete System.”

As his words faded, the twelve Puppet remains turned into black smoke, vanishing with the wind.

The maze fell silent once more, leaving only ruins smoldering with faint smoke and the air thick with the scorched scent of Spiritual Energy.

Shen Yan finally couldn’t hold on any longer, dropping to one knee. His phone screen flickered a few times before freezing on a green progress bar:

【Decompilation Progress: 37%】

“Just a little more… just a little more,” he gasped, his fingers still trembling.

Luo Li retracted her Nine Tails, leaving only one to gently wrap around his wrist while her other hand steadied his shoulder.

“You’re still alive—that’s already a win,” she said.

Shen Yan looked up at her through his shattered glasses. “Next time… could you not always make me the protagonist? This dungeon’s difficulty is too high.”

“If you’re not the protagonist, who will take the hits for me?” she replied calmly, though the tips of her ears grew slightly warm.

He smiled, trying to stand, only to find his legs too weak to obey.

Just then, the Terminal suddenly displayed a new Notice:

【Detected Hidden Protocol awakening Request】

【Source: Unknown】

【Content: Brother, it’s time to come home】

Shen Yan’s pupils contracted sharply, his fingers clenching tightly around his phone.

(End of Chapter)