Chapter 99: Ye Shi'er's Final Gambit

The phone screen had just gone dark, Shen Yan’s finger still pressed on the confirmation key.

The next second, a torrent of black-red Data Stream surged back from the Terminal, slithering up his nerves like a venomous snake. His vision went black, and a piercing alarm exploded in his ears: “System intrusion! Permission reverse hijacking!”

“Something’s wrong!” He yanked his hand back, but it was already too late.

Luo Li sensed it instantly. Her Nine Tails swept out, enveloping everyone on the high platform within a barrier of Demon Power. Her gaze fixed on the massive bronze bell at the center of the holy hall—a bell that had lain dormant for millennia. Cracks now densely covered its surface, each inch oozing distorted Code, as if something had forcibly parasitized it.

“Dong—”

The first toll shook heaven and earth.

The ground shattered, and space fractured like glass, spiderweb cracks spreading across it. Several elders joined forces to form hand seals, attempting to suppress it, but the moment their incantations left their lips, the Runes dissolved into garbled code mid-air.

“This bell… its underlying Protocol has been altered!” Shen Yan gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead as he forcibly awakened his Source Code Spiritual Root, summoning the Firewall Program in his mind. “It was originally a Seal, but now it’s become a data bridge!”

His hands moved through the air, and the phone screen lit up automatically, lines of defensive Commands rapidly generating.

【Severing connection between Holy Bell and Grand Array…】

【Interface Anomaly: target has set up recursive chains…】

【Warning: Emotion Module Detected as attack vector】

“Who gave you Permission to tamper with my System?!” he roared, blood vessels bursting at the Tip of his Finger as he forcefully pushed the Firewall outward.

The tolling of the bell abruptly ceased.

The second toll was blocked midway.

“You’re stalling.” A voice came from within the bell, unnervingly calm. “You know perfectly well that once the third toll sounds, you must enter.”

Luo Li’s pupils contracted, Sword Qi gathering at her fingertips. “Ye Shi’er, you’re still alive?”

“Just a Remnant Soul,” the voice chuckled lightly. “But enough to send my brother to meet… our true father.”

Shen Yan sneered. “Spare me the melodramatic family drama lines. At best, you’re a scrapped beta version.”

Before his words faded, the bell suddenly trembled violently.

“Dong—!”

The third toll didn’t come through the ears; it exploded directly within the soul.

Shen Yan felt his body lighten, his consciousness violently ripped from his physical shell, plummeting into a crimson Data Wasteland.

A torrent of Code flowed like molten lava, ceaselessly surging. There were no stars or moon in the sky—only a massive binary chessboard Floating in the void’s center. Black and white pieces were arranged in alternating rows, each move causing tremors in the real world.

He stood outside the chessboard, the ground beneath his feet constantly corroding his Spiritual Root.

“Welcome home, brother.” Ye Shi’er’s figure materialized from one side of the chessboard. Half his face was covered by a Bronze Mask, while the other side was identical to Shen Yan’s. “In this game, the loser… gets permanently deleted.”

Shen Yan wiped the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. “You’re not even a complete person, and you’re talking to me about winning or losing?”

“But we share the same Source Code.” Ye Shi’er gently raised his hand, and the surrounding scene abruptly changed—a childhood dormitory, fragments of the Star-Shattering Token, a car crash site… countless Memory Fragments pieced together into an emotional corridor. “Have you forgotten? That year when we were seven, you said you’d take me and escape the laboratory.”

A flicker passed through Shen Yan’s eyes, but he snorted coldly. “Fake. Real memories don’t have Latency.”

He closed his eyes, summoning a recursive Verification Program, instantly scanning the entire scene.

【Anomaly Detected: All audio has a 0.7-second Buffer discrepancy】

【Conclusion: Fabricated memories, emotional induction attack】

“Got through your defenses, huh.” He opened his eyes, a silencing code coalescing at his fingertip before he flicked it into the air. “Since you like playing with illusions, let’s get real.”

The background noise vanished abruptly.

The true form of the chessboard was revealed.

The black and white pieces were not ordinary placements, but logical traps woven from binary and Demon Marks. Stepping into them would plunge one into an inescapable infinite loop.

“You set up an infinite loop?” Shen Yan narrowed his eyes. “That’s it? My university finals debugging was ten times harder than this.”

Ye Shi’er sneered. “Then try taking a step.”

Shen Yan didn’t move. Instead, he pulled out his phone and took a picture of the chessboard with a click.

“What are you doing?”

“Collecting evidence.” He grinned. “In case I die, at least someone will know who wrote the crappy code.”

The next instant, he suddenly raised his foot and stepped directly into a blank square at the edge of the board.

【Warning: Illegal operation!】

【SyntaxError: Unexpected ‘love’ in line 666】

System popup windows exploded.

Ye Shi’er’s face changed. “You can’t move there! The rules don’t allow it!”

“The rules are yours.” Shen Yan shrugged. “But what I’m best at is turning impossible operations into jump commands.”

Seizing the chance, he injected an anomaly capture module into the error stream, using the moment of system collapse to reverse-penetrate the core node.

The chessboard trembled violently, the black and white pieces beginning to chaotically rearrange.

“You forgot the most important thing.” Shen Yan walked step by step towards Ye Shi’er. “You use emotions as a weapon, but when I write code, I never bring feelings into it.”

“But you have bonds.” Ye Shi’er’s voice lowered. “She’s outside, crashing against the barrier. Every impact tears at your Spiritual Consciousness.”

Shen Yan’s movements paused.

Indeed, he could feel it—Luo Li in reality was frantically ramming the spacetime wall. Every collision felt like a thunderbolt striking his internal organs.

But he didn’t stop.

“Then let her crash.” He sneered. “I know for sure she’ll fish me back out anyway.”

As the words fell, he slammed down the Enter key.

【Anomaly captured】

【Jumping to main control node…】

【Reallocating permissions…】

The chessboard collapsed.

Ye Shi’er’s body began to disintegrate into data. The mask slowly fell away, revealing a face identical to Shen Yan’s, yet with a relieved smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

“This time… let me protect your Cycle of Reincarnation…”

The voice dissipated.

Darkness swept over Shen Yan’s vision as his consciousness was violently thrown back into his physical body.

He landed heavily before the Sacred Bell. His phone screen went black with a crack, automatically shutting down.

But his hand was still tightly gripping another hand.

“Awake?” Luo Li’s voice sounded above him.

He looked up to see her forehead bloodied, several gashes on her arms—clearly injuries from shattering the barrier.

“If you ever charge in alone again,” she lowered her head, her forehead pressing against his temple, her voice trembling, “I’ll lock you in a Storage ring and slap on a ‘Dangerous Goods, Do Not Open’ label.”

Shen Yan managed a grin, wanting to speak, but coughed up a mouthful of blood instead.

“Don’t move.” She pulled him into her embrace, her Nine Tails wrapping tightly around his waist. “You’re now my top-priority surveillance subject.”

In the distance, the Sacred Bell fell completely silent, the cracks on its surface slowly healing.

A breeze blew from the direction of the ancient tree, carrying a faint scent of flowers.

Shen Yan leaned against her shoulder, his fingers slightly twitching as he felt the worn-out toy bear in his pocket.

The character “dream” inside his right ear was glowing faintly at this moment.

He didn’t take it out, just gently clenched it.

Luo Li noticed his small movement and lowered her head to ask, “What are you hiding?”

Shen Yan shook his head, “I’ll tell you later.”

“Not telling?” She narrowed her eyes, “Then I’ll search you now.”

“No, no, no!” He quickly protected his pocket, “This is… raw material for a time capsule!”

“Time capsule?”

“Yes, once the alliance stabilizes, we’ll go together to bury one under the ancient tree.” He gasped weakly, smiling, “Inside will be my first line of spell Code, and the Recording of you kissing me.”

“Who kissed you?” Her ears flushed slightly, but her grip didn’t loosen.

“In last night’s dream.” He closed his eyes, “In the dream, you said ‘brother,’ and the System immediately Blue Screened.”

She remained silent for two seconds, then suddenly leaned down and pecked his forehead.

“Now it’s real.”

Shen Yan opened his eyes, wanting to tease further, but she pressed a finger against his lips.

“Shut up.” She said, “Save some energy.”

He obediently closed his mouth, but his fingers secretly hooked onto her palm.

In the distance, the little fox with a broken tail was running over holding a phone, its tail bandage replaced with a new one, golden light flickering on its forehead.

“Teacher Shen! The new Version has been updated! They say you can upload memoirs as cultivation Logs!”

Shen Yan waved at it, “Let’s talk about it after I survive tonight.”

Luo Li picked him up and stood, turning toward the ancient tree.

“Where are we going?” He asked.

“Finding a quiet place.” Her voice was gentle, “So you can finish the sleep you owed earlier.”

His head nodded gradually, almost asleep when he heard her whisper:

“Next time we make a Permission Request, we’ll press it together.”

(End of Chapter)