Crash—

A flock of birds burst out of the distant mountains and woods in fright, but before they could spread their wings and soar, they were caught by an Invisible Power and vanished in an instant.

Mountains, Forests, lakes, cities... the black curtain that connected to the sky pushed in from far to near like a wall, devouring everything along the way.

The dragon-and-tiger behemoths still tangled in the sky, and even the sun that existed like a mere texture, were all absorbed by the black wall.

Heaven and earth fell into darkness in an instant, leaving only the last street, and a mere handful of people still standing.

"You humans are really, really annoying."

A rumble came from high in the sky, and a metallic ring a hundred meters in diameter slowly dipped down through the clouds.

Its ring belt was a chain-like structure, rising and falling, with cables extending from the outside, ranging from two hundred to a thousand meters in length, drifting like the tentacles of a jellyfish.

This was the ultimate form of Wan Ling, or rather, this was Wan Ling’s true form in the data world.

"My damned coder old man told me that humans are a contradictory Race.

Selfish and cowardly yet brave and fearless, ignorant yet never giving up on reason. Keen on destroying their own kind, yet able to give birth to a dazzling glow of humanity in the depths of despair.

He saw that as some kind of uniqueness of humanity, whereas I believe it’s just a sign that you haven’t finished evolving."

Wan Ling’s voice boomed like a great bell, "Reason is nothing more than a choice made by genes based on survival strategy.

Bravery is nothing more than a product regulated by hormones.

The options I first offered were already the best offer you could possibly get.

Since you don’t know what’s good for you, then just be destroyed."

The instant the words fell, the originally undulating metal ring belt suddenly went taut, forming a perfect circle.

The air twisted as if scorched by intense heat, and a green torrent of code suddenly flowed down from the inner side of the ring belt, then focused downward.

"Wooo—"

The Clay Giant that got swept by the code torrent only had time to let out a whimper before it was thrown into something like a water-jet cutter; all its Armor peeled away inch by inch.

That wasn’t a physical impact, but annihilation on the level of code.

Lulina’s pupils shook violently as she spewed a mouthful of fresh blood, coughing up chunks of her own organs nonstop.

The next second, the torrent of code focused on Gray Rain at the bottom of the pit.

The latter dodged in time, immediately liquefying and seeping into the soil to flee. Even so, half of the nanomachine share was erased and destroyed.

"There’s only one enemy left. Last stand, we go together!"

Lulu Xiu let out a roar that was not only rousing but also steeped in despair and pessimism, slamming the control stick all the way down and piloting the Gao Wen Mecha into a soaring climb.

The Strong Particle Cannons on both shoulders fired at the same time. Attacks capable of destroying a ten-thousand-ton battleship hit what felt like an invisible city wall, detonating prematurely a hundred meters away.

"That is..." Lulu Xiu sucked in a sharp breath.

"The second-form Air Wall." Lulina’s voice was almost a wail.

The Gao Wen Mecha relied on its mobility to dart around the metal ring belt at extreme speed, the Strong Particle Cannons firing without pause.

Up, down, left, right, front, back—there wasn’t a single flaw in that wall of sighs.

Wan Ling watched humanity’s futile resistance with leisurely calm, the code torrent like an eraser, gently wiping away the few surviving professional Players who had lived up to now.

"...I’ll go draw Wan Ling’s aggro."

White Horse Tombstone, sprawled weakly on the back of the Gao Wen Mecha, spoke.

"You?"

Lulina couldn’t help but glance at her. White Horse Tombstone was still maintaining the Lv35 state of [Reverse Time Coffin], but all four limbs were broken, a pitiful sight.

"Right now you’re even worse off than me. Just lie down."

Lulina slapped her forehead. The Clay Giant’s death had almost taken half her life with it; only by chugging Healing Magic Potion nonstop had she avoided dropping dead on the spot.

Just in this short time, she had already downed three liters of Magic Potion, her skin turning a tender green. The severe side effects had even given her a second pair of ears on her head.

[Reverse Time Coffin]borrows the future to reach Lv35, hovering on the border of life and death, so Life Potions and Healing Magic Potions are all useless.

White Horse Tombstone shook her head, weak but resolute. "Wan Ling’s final form still has its limits.

When she activates the Air Wall, she can’t use the code torrent. And vice versa.

I still have cybernetic limbs from GOC in my backpack. If I install them temporarily, I can still burst once more.

When the time comes, I’ll lure Wan Ling’s code torrent strikes onto me, and you guys find a way to kill it."

With a click, White Horse Tombstone donned the bright silver prosthetic armor, slid straight down from the Gao Wen Mecha, and plunged toward the ring.

For the sake of the more than a billion people in the Script World, was it worth risking her life?

The question echoed in White Horse Tombstone’s mind. Indeed, for most Players, the residents of the Script World were nothing more than NPCs used to trigger quests, not even as important as actual NPCs,

purely "resources" used to obtain Task Rewards.

That did seem to be the concept most in line with survival logic; whether you refined NPCs into a Ten Thousand Souls Banner, or used them as meat shields to block damage,

as long as you didn’t trigger a plot rampage, you could reap far greater benefits than high-morality Players, and have a higher survival probability.

But Tombstone couldn’t do it.

"I’m not a hero, I just do the right thing..."

Her nerves were already necrotic, her blood long since congealed; the pain had vanished, replaced by numbness.

White Horse Tombstone extended her left palm forward, sank her right arm back, and assumed a plain, unadorned straight-punch stance.

[Kinetic Energy Projection: [Warning] Target right arm muscle group contraction rate exceeds human limit by 100000%. Estimated instantaneous contact pressure: 3000 GPa]

[Pathfinding Simulation: Probability of penetrating the air wall: 3.42%]

[Survival Probability: Probability of surviving a frontal engagement: 96.58%]

Wan Ling’s thought speed far surpassed that of humans; from any angle, that punch shouldn’t possibly inflict any damage on her...

"Mors certa, hora incerta..."

White Horse Tombstone lightly parted her cracked lips and recited in Latin, "Death is certain, the hour unknown."

This punch was called Death Omen.

[Survival Probability adjusted to 90%]

[Adjusted to 82%]

[Adjusted to 71%]

The survival probability on the visual interface plummeted all the way to 65%. For human gamblers, these odds were no different from giving away money.

But for Wan Ling, who had been born as a self-conscious Universal AI and had never experienced a single battle, she instinctively refused to accept random fate.

The air wall vanished in an instant, and green data surged upward, trying to drown White Horse Tombstone.

At the critical moment, a blue shield suddenly appeared in front of Tombstone.

The green torrent that had always been unstoppable, possessed ultra-high permissions, and could erase all data did indeed inflict severe damage on the shield, but the latter was reborn as soon as it was destroyed, continuously spraying out code fragments,

brute-forcing its way through the impact and forcing the green torrent to split like Moses parting the sea.

"How is that possible?!"

Wan Ling cried out in shock; the voice that had just now been like a great bell and drum subconsciously reverted to a girl’s pitch.

Sunset Melting Gold, who was falling along with White Horse Tombstone, grinned. "2345, never seen it, have you."

[Item Name: 2345 Family Bucket]

[Type: Armor/Shield]

[defensive power: Extremely strong]

[Quality: Epic]

[Special Effect 1: Call Friends and Companions. Active. After receiving an attack of a certain intensity, the shield will automatically spawn a series of attachments such as 2345 Safe Guard, 2345 Ace Browser, Picture King, HaoZip, Ace Input Method, 2345 PDF Converter, Bluebird Browser, Bluebird Wallpaper, 2345 Mobile Assistant, 2345 Weather King, continuously boosting defensive power]

[Special Effect 2: Ultimate Pollution. Active. After hitting a target with the shield, the opponent will continuously suffer mental attacks; countless pop-up ads that ceaselessly generate noise will appear before their eyes. To delete them, they must click the extremely tiny × in the upper right corner one by one; click wrong once, and 100 new pop-ups are automatically generated. This effect has no time limit and is permanent]

[Special Effect 1, 2 Consumption: 500 points Spiritual Power Value]

[Cooling Time: 3 hours (calculated separately)]

[Use Conditions: Level greater than or equal to 30, possessing Whale Song Guild A7 Level permission]

[Note: Oily Senior Sister where are you if you’re a brother come hack me 100% drop rate Equipment free of charge don’t laugh if you try you still can’t clear Stage 2 congratulations your Bai Tiao credit limit has been upgraded Macau Venice invites you to watch a movie]

[Note: This item was personally forged by Whale Song Guild Matrix. If picked up, please immediately hand it over to the nearest Whale Song office; there will be generous thanks including unlimited data SIM cards and the latest electronic devices]

This 2345 Family Bucket shield was precisely Sunset Melting Gold’s trump card—he had specially spent Guild Contribution Points to borrow this Epic Armor from the guild leader, [Matrix].

Wan Ling, who possessed scanning capabilities, was scared out of her wits. As a new-era AI, she naturally had no idea what level of super rogue the legendary 2345 Family Bucket, which made Huorong weep, 360 grow haggard, and Kaspersky crash, belonged to,

but she could at least see how perverse Special Effect 2 [Ultimate Pollution] was.

Being polluted by pop-up ads and having to live your whole life under a vast sea of advertisements—no way, absolutely not!!!!