Npc 140

"Boom—!!"

A bolt of lightning tore open a crack in the pitch-black sky, revealing dense streams of blue code flowing within.

"Teacher Jian! Hurry!"

Through the torrential rain, Tao Shi saw the rift in the sky and shouted toward Jian Hou.

"But… Yan Yan…."

Before Jian Hou could finish speaking, the ground shook violently.

With a loud, thunderous crack, the earth beneath them split apart, forming a web of fractures. Dark red blood-like liquid churned within the fissures, resembling a sea of molten blood.

The rain, carrying rose petals, poured into the depths below.

The countless severed heads of black-haired boys that had been flying toward Jiang Yan failed to reach his tree of heads in time.

Instead, they were swept up by the storm, dragged into the scarlet rift, and dissolved into pixels, disappearing amidst their screams.

The middle-aged man, who had remained motionless like a lifeless corpse, suddenly snapped out of his daze.

Seeing the shattered ground, he scrambled backward in terror, dodging as he screamed:

"Save me!! Save me!!"

Bang!

A flying head struck his abdomen.

His foot slipped, and he fell into the fissure behind him.

The next second, his agonized screams were swallowed by the deafening cries of the countless heads being dragged underground.

Seeing this, the remaining players and NPCs were shocked.

They rushed toward the sky, toward the rift filled with flowing blue code.

During this, Lu Sha couldn't resist glancing back at Jiang Yan.

Yu Jia yanked him hard.

"Don't look! Our mission is complete!"

"Damn it, we couldn't even kill him ourselves."

Lu Sha gritted his teeth, but in the end, he turned away, following the others as they fled toward the sky.

Only Jian Hou remained, still staring at Jiang Yan, refusing to leave.

Jiang Yan did not understand what was happening, but with his body in extreme danger, perhaps… running away was the only instinct left.

However, just as he tried to move his feet, the ground beneath him rapidly caved in, yet the white brain-matter tree’s roots remained deeply anchored into the void, as if they had nailed him in place, making him completely unable to move.

"Yan Yan!!"

He heard Jian Hou's voice, it sounded both very close and yet very far away.

His personal system seemed to have rebooted, but the panel that popped up was not the familiar blue data interface instead, it was a deep red.

And the voice ringing in his ears was not the familiar, annoying tone of 663, but a completely unfamiliar mechanical female voice.

"Ding!"

【Dungeon: "The Bloody Bride of the Giants"】

【Dungeon Level: S, Dungeon Progress: 98%】

【Reset countdown in progress, scanning NPC Jiang Yan's data integrity—】

【Scanning Progress: 10%, 15%, 20%...】

Jiang Yan’s mind was in complete chaos.

Something slithered into his body through his temples. It felt like flowing water, yet at the same time, like delicate strands of spider silk.

Instinctively, he wanted to resist, but he had no way to fight back.

All he could do was passively endure the invasion.

What... is this?

"Yan Yan...!!"

Jian Hou shouted at Jiang Yan, desperately struggling to break free from Cao Youfeng and Tao Shi’s grip.

Cao Youfeng and Tao Shi, one on each side, firmly held his arms down, stopping his reckless attempts to throw himself into the fire.

"Teacher Jian, calm down!!" Tao Shi yelled, "He's already dead! He’s been dead since the first time he died after entering the secondary dungeon!"

Jian Hou froze.

Tao Shi looked at him with a grave expression and said: "A real NPC is still a real person, just a different kind of player in this game. Once their HP reaches zero, it’s impossible for them to revive again."

"You saw Jiang Yan die with your own eyes, didn’t you?"

"The only reason he’s still standing here right now… is because he’s nothing more than a string of data in the main system."

[Yeah! He’s died so many times in the secondary dungeon. Even if Jiang Yan were the 'favorite child' of the main system, he should’ve been completely dead by now! Forget it! Just run!!]

[Exactly! Otherwise, how could there be so many Jiang Yans appearing in the same dungeon at the same time?]

[The reality is, whenever multiple identical NPCs appear in a dungeon, it only means that the original real NPC has already died, and the system has "recycled" them into system NPCs. The only reason the personal system wasn’t alerting us until now is because, in a secondary dungeon, both the main system and personal systems are isolated and blocked.]

[So, Jiang Yan actually died the moment he first entered the secondary dungeon, back when he was being bullied by his classmates on the school field?]

[That should be correct.]

[But… before entering the secondary dungeon, the players inside the dungeon and even we ourselves also saw Jiang Yan existing in the dungeon! How do you explain that??]

[There’s no explanation… I feel like this is a sign that the dungeon is collapsing.]

[Wuwuwu… Is Jiang Yan really gone just like that?!]

[Maybe we should just leave Jian Hou behind. If he wants to stay with Jiang Yan, then let him. He’s not of much significance to the Dawn Guild anyway, just a burden dragging everyone down!]

【Reset progress: 98%, 99%...】

"Teacher Jian!!"

Cao Youfeng shouted. If Jian Hou still refused to come to his senses, he would have no choice but to let go.

The torrential rain, mixed with rose petals, slapped against his face. Jian Hou stared blankly at the solemn expressions of Cao Youfeng and Tao Shi beside him, then turned to look at his trapped friend one last time until finally, he broke down and burst into tears.

"Ding!"

The sound of an item being activated echoed through the air.

"Go!!"

Seeing that he had finally understood, Tao Shi grabbed his hand without hesitation and rushed toward the rapidly shrinking blue rift.

The moment they turned around, a tearing sound like leather being ripped apart echoed through the rain.

No one looked back.

Only Jiang Yan, trapped in place and having inexplicably regained his vision, stared at his own right arm. His once jade-like skin suddenly burst apart in layers!

Beneath his skin, there were no blood vessels or fat, only a flood of glowing blue digital code.

Those characters crawled along his veins toward his heart, causing his flesh to flicker like static on an old television screen wherever they passed.

This… What is this?

Jiang Yan stared in confusion at the changes happening to his body, as the system voice continued ringing in his ears.

【Scanning progress: 50%, 55%, 60%...】

At that moment, Jiang Yan’s live-streamed perspective was completely cut off. The only thing the players in the forum could see was a screen full of static.

However, before they could even lament, their view was forcibly shifted to the players desperately fleeing the collapsing dungeon.

In the torrential rain of roses, under the massive blue data rift in the sky, the players looked incomparably small.

The cold, emotionless voice of the main system echoed through the crumbling dungeon space.

【Reset progress: 99.4%, 99.5%, 99.6%...】

“Not good!! Get back!!”

Suddenly, at the front of the group, Cang Rou who had flown to the rift using her dungeon character’s wings shouted. A buzzing sound, like an electric saw, followed immediately after.

When Jian Hou turned back, he saw Cang Rou stumbling backward through the rain, clutching an 【item】 in her left hand while her right forearm was completely gone.

Bright red blood gushed wildly from the severed stump, flowing down in streams with the rain.

And the missing forearm? It was still hanging inside the rift, before rapidly dissolving into a stream of blue data chains and merging into it.

"W-What’s happening?"

Lu Sha hovered midair, staring at everything in shock.

[What the hell?! What’s going on?!]

[What just happened?!]

[Cang Rou’s arm… got swallowed by the exit?!]

[How is that possible?! Isn’t that supposed to be the exit?!]

At that moment, the massive rift in the sky, swirling with blue data streams, suddenly unleashed a hurricane-like suction force, competing with the cracks on the ground to snatch the airborne roses and severed heads!

Cang Rou let out a scream, she was too close to the rift. Her wings could no longer move, and her entire body was being dragged inward by the raging winds.

“Not good!!”

Yu Jia wiped the rain from his face, his fingertips cutting through the downpour as he reached out, grabbed Cang Rou’s waist, and yanked her back.

Cang Rou fell into Yu Jia’s arms, her face pale.

[That scared me to death! That scared me to death!]

[Thank god for Yu Da!!]

[What the hell is happening?!]

“Quick! Fall back!!”

Yu Jia, holding onto Cang Rou, flew backward while shouting toward Lu Sha and Ding Wanyu, who were still frozen in place nearby.

The two of them finally snapped out of it and hurriedly changed direction.

“What’s going on? Why are they flying back?!”

Through the curtain of rain, Jian Hou watched Yu Jia’s group in confusion.

Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng exchanged glances, equally perplexed.

At that moment, Yu Jia’s urgent shout rang out.

“Fall back! This isn’t the exit!!”

“What?!”

Just as Tao Shi finished speaking, a massive blue data block plummeted from above, barely grazing his back as it crashed down.

“Boss, watch out!!” Cao Youfeng shouted.

Tao Shi instinctively dodged, and the enormous blue data block landed in the crack below, which was surging with red data streams, emitting a harsh “zzzt zzzt” electric noise.

But before he could regain his footing, more massive blue data blocks began raining down from the collapsing sky.

The sky itself was caving in.

“Dodge!!”

Tao Shi shouted.

"Ding!"

【Item: Divine Staff】

The golden light of the Divine Staff formed a glowing dome over the players, causing the falling blue data blocks to dissolve upon contact, breaking apart and flowing outward before reassembling into whole blocks again—only to plunge into the crimson rift below.

[Holy shit! Tao Da never disappoints!]

[This… is the Divine Staff at full power? It can even hold back a dungeon collapse?!]

“I can’t hold this for long,” Tao Shi gritted his teeth. “Hurry! Find the exit!!”

“But… where the hell is the exit?!”

For once, even Cao Youfeng’s voice carried a genuine sense of panic.

Above them, the sky of blue data streams was crumbling.

Below them, the land of red data was breaking apart.

The storm of roses still howled, and the piercing screams of the severed heads made everything feel like a scene straight out of hell.

They were stuck in place.

It was over.

A cold drop of sweat slid from Tao Shi’s collar, dripping along with the rain-soaked strands of his hair.

“Our game... is about to end.” Tao Shi said.

[Shit!! No no no no!!]

[Tao Da!!!]

[It’s over! It’s over! This time it’s really over! The four major guilds are going to be reshuffled!]

[What the hell is going on?? The dungeon is suddenly collapsing, but there’s no exit? Is this a deliberate system-wide massacre?!]

[What do we do?! What do we do now?!]

[Where’s the guild?? Aren’t they going to rescue us?! This is a system BUG!]

[Rescue? How? You just said it’s a system BUG, how do we even save them??]

[Our 【Dawn Guild】’s team leader has just been called to a meeting...]

“We... are really going to die.” Cao Youfeng stared blankly at the collapsing sky.

Yu Jia reached into his pants pocket, regretting, “Damn! If I had known, I would’ve brought another pack of cigarettes.”

The others didn’t speak, just silently watched everything unfold, as if they had already accepted this as the final ending of the game.

“Sorry...” Jian Hou lowered his eyes. “I wasted time just now.”

“What are you saying? Even without you, we wouldn’t have been able to get out.” Lu Sha idly swung his flaming sword, raising an eyebrow.

“He’s right. We can’t escape.” Tao Shi looked at the horizon, then glanced at Jiang Yan’s direction before sighing. “We failed.”

Jian Hou thought he meant they had failed the game and lowered his head without speaking.

It was strange.

In the game, when facing dangers or terrifying NPCs, he would feel an instinctive biological fear of threats and death.

But now, with death truly approaching, there was no fear.

Only emptiness.

A void swelling from deep within, as if his chest had been hollowed out like a glass bottle drained of every last drop of water.

The game was over.

He had never intended to participate in this game. He had been dragged into it inexplicably, and now, just as inexplicably, it was ending.

【Reset Progress: 99.7%, 99.8%, 99.9%.....】

It was over... This time, it was really over...

[Wait... Why did the dungeon suddenly collapse?? No explanation??]

[Agreed! Jian Hou was just unwilling to leave Jiang Yan behind, and now, well, he can go join him.]

[Where’s Jiang Yan?]

[Jiang Yan? He’s long dead! By now, he’s probably nothing more than a string of code inside that red data stream below...]

"Boom—"

A massive collapse echoed through the sky. The entire sky turned into a blue data-stream dome, pressing downward. The players, floating amidst the torrential rain, looked so tiny like they were about to be swallowed whole by the cascading data at any second.

[It’s over it’s over it’s over it’s over...]

[Where’s the guild?! The guild leaders, can’t you do something?!]

[Sigh... The game is over.]

【Reset Progress: 99.9%...99.9%...99.9%】

"Ding!"

【Warning: Data anomaly detected!】

【Warning: Data anomaly detected!】

【Warning: Data anomaly detected!】

—

The blue data-stream sky continued to collapse, while the red warning lights and alarm sounds echoed throughout the entire dungeon.

[Wait, what’s happening again??]

[I don’t know… What’s going on?]

[Data anomaly?? Did the system get a virus or something?!]

"Ding!"

【Anomaly detection: Successful】

As soon as the main system’s voice fell, golden threads suddenly pierced through the crimson data stream. Like embroidery threads, they threaded through the scattered rose petals in the torrential rain, weaving and intertwining rapidly in midair. They formed a massive net, trying to catch the collapsing sky, but the effect was barely noticeable.

[What is that?]

[What the hell? What kind of trick is this?]

Jian Hou’s pupils shrank sharply, he recognized those golden threads.

"That’s… that’s Yan Yan’s!!"

"Impossible!!" Lu Sha immediately cut him off. "Jiang Yan is already dead!"

The moment he spoke, the golden spider silk in the hands of Jian Hou, Cao Youfeng, Tao Shi, Cang Rou, and Ding Wanyu all began to glow…