24: Chapter 24 The NPC Rebellion, Nightclub Crisis

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the horizon a decaying orange-red. The wind on the wasteland carried the dust and smoke from the collapsed military base, stinging one's cheeks. Lin Fan, Ghost, and Michael sat slumped on the scorched earth, their heavy breathing exceptionally clear in the dead silence of the wilderness. The laptop in his arms still glowed with a faint blue light, the Core Code icon hanging over their heads like a lifeline, but Franklin's sacrifice already weighed on their hearts like a heavy boulder.

"We... go back to the nightclub first." Michael's voice was terribly raspy. He struggled to stand up, staggering for a few steps before steadying himself, the despair in his eyes almost overflowing. "That's our only foothold left."

Ghost nodded in silence. He raised a hand to wipe the dust and blood from his face, revealing scars that looked exceptionally hideous in the sunset. Lin Fan held the laptop tightly, as if clutching the last shred of hope. He followed the other two, walking step by step toward the city. Their shadows were stretched long in the afterglow, like three swaying silhouettes that could be swallowed by the boundless darkness at any moment.

The nightclub's neon lights still flickered, but looking at them now, those bizarre colors held an indescribable eeriness. The bodyguards at the door were nowhere to be seen, and the usually boisterous music had vanished without a trace. The entire building was like a dormant beast, so quiet it made one's scalp tingle.

"Something's not right." Ghost stopped abruptly, gripping his gun tightly as his eyes warily scanned the surroundings. "It's too quiet."

Michael also sensed the abnormality. He drew his pistol and cautiously pushed open the nightclub's main doors.

The sight inside the door froze the three of them in place instantly.

The once-glitzy dance floor was now a total mess. Tables and chairs were overturned, glass shards were scattered everywhere, and crimson wine pooled on the floor into winding little streams. And those NPCs, who were supposed to be programmed to sway and laugh on the dance floor, were now acting as if they were mad, clutching all sorts of weapons—wine bottles, chair legs, and even a few guns obtained from who-knows-where.

Their eyes were hollow and crazed, as if their souls had been sucked out or as if they had been injected with some kind of destructive command.

"W-what's going on?" Lin Fan's heart constricted sharply. Looking at the scene before him, a chill surged up from the soles of his feet.

Just then, an aged voice suddenly rang out.

"Kill them! Kill them!"

A gray-haired old woman, clutching a submachine gun, emerged from behind the bar. Her face was covered in wrinkles, but her eyes held a ferocity that didn't match her age. She raised the gun toward the three people at the door and pulled the trigger without hesitation!

"Rat-tat-tat—"

The bullets whizzed past Lin Fan's ears with a sharp whistle, striking the door frame and sending wood chips flying.

"Get down!" Ghost roared, lunging to tackle Lin Fan and Michael to the ground. The three of them rolled clumsily behind a nearby sofa as bullets rained down on it like raindrops, making dull thudding sounds.

"Fuck! What the hell is going on!" Franklin's voice suddenly rang out. Lin Fan snapped his head up to see Franklin covered in blood, the wound on his shoulder still seeping. He was hiding behind an overturned table, firing at the crazed NPCs. "Why did these NPCs suddenly turn on us? This game designer must be a fucking psychopath! They didn't even spare the old lady!"

"Franklin! You're alive!" Michael shouted in pleasant surprise.

"I'm a tough bastard! I don't die that easily!" Franklin grinned, the blood on his face making his smile look particularly gruesome. "Those robots didn't kill me; I crawled out of the ruins!"

Ghost's eyes sharpened as he looked at the crazed NPCs, suddenly understanding something: "It's Victor! He must have discovered that we stole the Core Code, so he activated the NPC Rebellion Program to trap us here!"

These words were like a thunderclap in Lin Fan's mind. He watched the hollow-eyed NPCs, saw them numbly pull their triggers, and saw their bodies turn into a string of junk code and vanish after being hit by bullets, only to respawn nearby and continue their frenzied attacks. A sense of absurdity welled up in his heart; these NPCs, like him, were all pawns manipulated by Victor. The only difference was that they didn't even have the consciousness to resist.

"No! At this rate, we'll be worn down sooner or later!" Lin Fan gritted his teeth and suddenly pulled the laptop from his backpack. "I'll try to hack into Victor's system and restore these NPCs' consciousness!"

He placed the computer on the floor, his fingers flying across the keyboard. Data streams scrolled frantically on the screen as lines of code were continuously generated and cracked under his fingertips. His forehead was covered in fine beads of cold sweat that slid down his cheeks and dripped onto the keyboard, forming tiny wet spots. His eyes were fixed on the screen, filled with determination.

"Victor! You think you can trap us like this?" Lin Fan roared, his fingers moving faster and faster. "I'm going to let you know that not everyone is willing to be manipulated by you!"

Just as his program was about to breach Victor's system core, a line of red warning characters suddenly popped up on the screen. The piercing red light reflected on his face with a cold sense of mockery.

[Insufficient permissions. Unable to execute operation.]

"Insufficient permissions..." Lin Fan muttered to himself, staring at the warning characters on the screen as if he couldn't believe his eyes. He pounded the keyboard desperately, trying to bypass the permission restrictions, but no matter how hard he tried, the warning characters remained like an insurmountable chasm.

"By what right!" Lin Fan suddenly looked up and let out a hysterical roar at the ceiling. "By what right do you get to decide their life and death! By what right do you get to treat everyone like pawns!"

As if driven mad, he slammed his fist hard onto the keyboard. The keyboard let out a crisp cracking sound, several keys flew off, and the screen went black instantly.

"Lin Fan! Don't be impulsive!" Ghost quickly pressed down on his shoulder, his eyes full of concern.

Lin Fan struggled to shake off his hand, and tears flowed uncontrollably. He looked at the crazed NPCs, at Franklin and Michael struggling to hold on amidst the hail of bullets, and at the exhaustion and resolve on Ghost's face. A sense of powerlessness washed over him. He thought that by stealing the Core Code, he had the capital to resist, but before Victor, he was still so small, so vulnerable.

At that moment, a massive crack suddenly split the nightclub's ceiling. A piercing white light shot down from the gap, illuminating the entire dance floor. As if receiving some kind of summons, the crazed NPCs stopped their attacks one after another and knelt toward the white light, letting out bursts of eerie roars.

"Not good! It's a Data Beam!" Ghost's expression changed drastically. He looked at the white light, his eyes filled with terror. "Victor is going to completely delete everything here! Including us!"

The Data Beam was the most terrifying weapon in the virtual world. It could completely decompose any object, whether human or building, into data fragments, making them vanish from this world entirely without leaving a single trace.

"Go! Now!" Ghost roared, grabbing Lin Fan's arm and sprinting toward the back door. Franklin and Michael followed close behind, their footsteps making a chaotic noise on the messy floor.

But the Data Beam was too fast. It was like a soul-reaping sword, following closely behind them. Everywhere it passed, tables, chairs, walls, and floors all turned into strings of junk code and vanished into the air.

"It's chasing us!" Michael cried out in terror. He glanced back at the approaching white light, his face as pale as paper.

"Run in different directions!" Ghost shouted, suddenly pushing Lin Fan away. "You take the Core Code and go! You must survive! Tell Victor that he's afraid! He's afraid we'll defeat him!"

Lin Fan stumbled back a few steps. He watched Ghost's back, saw Ghost suddenly turn around toward the Data Beam, and saw him reveal a smile of liberation.

"Ghost! No!" Lin Fan screamed, trying to rush over to save him.

But it was already too late.

The Data Beam instantly swallowed Ghost's body. His body turned into a string of golden junk code, flickering a few times in the white light before vanishing completely.

Only those tragic words remained, echoing in the empty nightclub.

"Tell Victor... he's afraid."

"Ghost—!"

Lin Fan let out a heart-wrenching scream, his voice as raspy as a broken gong. Tears surged out like a flood from a burst dam. He watched the white light that had swallowed Ghost, saw it continue to close in on him, and saw Franklin and Michael fall in pools of blood, their bodies turning into code and vanishing.

An extreme sense of rage and sorrow surged in his heart.

He slowly fell to his knees, his knees hitting the cold floor with a heavy thud. His fists were clenched tight, his nails digging deep into his palms until fresh red blood seeped out.

He looked up at the blinding white light, at the high-and-mighty Victor, and let out a deafening roar.

"Victor! I'm going to kill you!"

The roar echoed through the empty nightclub, carrying endless hatred and resolve.

The Data Beam drew closer, the blinding white light almost burning his eyes. Lin Fan held the laptop in his arms tightly, clutching the USB drive that stored the Core Code. There was no more fear in his eyes, only a cold madness.

He knew this wasn't the end.

This was only the beginning.

From this moment on, he was no longer a player controlled by the system.

He was Lin Fan.

He was a man seeking revenge against the "God" of this world.

The white light finally swallowed his body.

In the final moment before his consciousness faded, a blood-tinged smile appeared at the corner of Lin Fan's mouth.