Chapter 166: Crisis

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his own living room.

"I'm going to take a shower."

Li Cheng told Huiyu to play a game for a while, then walked into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and washed up.

The script world with a near-Earth setting had physical constants, historical development, and cultural customs highly similar to those of the real universe.

However, to prevent players from accidentally bringing back obscure pathogens or lethal viruses, forums typically advise transcenders to undergo full-body disinfection immediately after returning from a script world.

Some strictly managed large organizations, like European Heavy Industry, even set up a giant pool filled with disinfectant, requiring employees to lie in it before being teleported into the script—should they die, their corpses would be returned into the pool, preventing secondary contamination.

In online games, those bizarre teammates who suddenly say they're quitting to go shower are most likely just rage-quitting, but occasionally they're real transcenders who've just completed a script mission and need to rush to wash up.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, Huiyu was sitting cross-legged on the sofa playing a PS5 game, both hands manipulating the controller, while two additional arms growing from his shoulder blades continuously stuffed snacks into his mouth.

Huiyu consumes 20 to 40 human portions of high-calorie food daily, yet his weight barely increases. Perhaps there's something like an atomic reactor inside his liquid metal body.

"Move over."

Li Cheng sat beside Huiyu with his laptop, skillfully logging into a proxy, then searched the internet for Seoul maps from 2014, the Mind Sect, and information on Jiang Wanyong and others.

The 2014 Seoul map showed no changes; the Mind Sect, Jiang Wanyong, Jiang Zhihui, and others could not be found at all—not even vaguely similar references.

This further proved it was a semi-fictitious otherworld, not a reflection of real Earth.

"You're looking up Jiang Wanyong's family?"

Huiyu glanced at Li Cheng's laptop screen and asked curiously, "By the way, you put them in that place to hide—sure that's safe?"

"We had only ten minutes left before teleportation; there wasn't enough time to reach the port or the airport, so we had to leave them there."

Li Cheng said casually, "It should be fine. First, no one noticed their escape. Second, I gave them a reward—technology twenty to thirty years ahead of that world's level."

——————

At the same moment, in the script world, No. 27, 2nd Street, Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul Special City, Chinese Embassy in Korea.

In an office thoroughly screened and confirmed free of surveillance devices, a senior embassy official wore a complex expression.

The television before him was broadcasting a news program.

A fox monster nearly three stories tall, capable of spitting gravity spheres; a middle-aged cartoonist who could release mist with a wave of his hand, disabling modern weapons; the Seoul National Assembly building crushed by five thousand tons of reinforced concrete dropped from three hundred meters.

It made people seriously doubt whether this was a cruel April Fools' Day prank.

But the towering smoke column to the southwest outside the window, the sirens of emergency vehicles on the streets, and the frantic activity downstairs as embassy staff repeatedly checked for Chinese citizen casualties all proved this was no joke.

More crucially,

On the desk lay a battle-scarred mechanical exoskeleton.

Civilian exoskeletons of the current era generally aim to enhance strength, reduce perceived load, and provide protection, primarily used in industrial and medical fields—such as automobile assembly, logistics transport, large ship manufacturing, and mobility rehabilitation training.

Military exoskeletons are not significantly different from civilian ones, mainly applied in military logistics, far from meeting the standard of "combat mechs."

This one on the desk, however, was entirely different.

Unknown lightweight high-strength alloy, ultra-compact smart fire-control system, high-energy polymer battery, central chip that reads muscle bioelectricity to predict the user's next movement, a minimally invasive brain-machine interface installed at the back of the neck.

Unlike those incomprehensible and unreplicable transcendent powers, this exoskeleton—thirty years ahead of the current era—could immediately be converted into tangible scientific achievements, dramatically advancing technological levels.

Heaven offers, yet if you do not take, you will suffer the consequence.

As the official holding his phone to make a call, this phrase flashed through his mind—he recalled the scene again:

The middle-aged cartoonist entered the embassy with his wife and two daughters, first demanded the surrounding area be sealed off, negotiated terms with the official, and handed over the exoskeleton as payment—then suddenly collapsed, as if transformed into another person, completely losing all memory of the past few hours.

Dum—

The call connected, interrupting the official's recollection. He cleared his throat and made a detailed report to his superior back home, arranging the secret evacuation of Jiang Wanyong's family from Korea.

————

"Our world's technology level has been 'accelerated' by the Killing Ground, and the Hammerhead-type single soldier exoskeleton is a mature product of the Special Affairs Bureau—they won't resist the temptation."

Li Cheng said without looking up.

"Oh."

Huiyu thought for a moment, then asked, "Hey, didn't the player forum say that drastically altering a script world's original course with clever tricks triggers punishment from the Killing Ground and causes plot runaway?"

"There is indeed such a claim, and there are many classic cases."

Li Cheng smirked dismissively, "A group of new players went on a script mission during World War II and feared dying on the Eastern Front."

The only new player who survived and returned to the real world died of nuclear radiation after recounting what happened.

That wasn't even the weirdest—another player tried to control Qin Shi Huang with a mind flayer larva, only to be captured by Qin himself. The result? Qin Shi Huang formed an army of mind flayers, swept through the Six States, crushed the Xiongnu, and unified the entire globe in half a year.

That player was castrated and given the name Zhao Gao.

Li Cheng paused slightly, "But this situation is different. First, I've already completed the script mission. Second, the Hammerhead exoskeleton contains no transcendent elements, and its technological lead is only thirty years.

Moreover, in terms of disrupting the world's trajectory, Jiang Zhihui went far beyond me."

Huiyu blinked in confusion, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"According to her original plan, she intended to become the sole law, using her player status to stir up chaos everywhere, making billions worship her."

From a level-ten player, she aimed to ascend to godhood through worship, leaping into a transcender above level thirty.

That likely exceeded the Killing Ground's tolerance limit, triggering punishment—sending me to hunt her down."

But this punishment also carried a hint of danger and opportunity—a one-time trial.

If Jiang Zhihui survived, killed me in return, she'd gain another player qualification to give to her most loyal subordinate."

Li Cheng finished his casual explanation, shut off the laptop screen, and began to formally assess the rewards from this mission.