Chapter 546: Veteran (4K)

A member of the Mobile Task Force in a black suit pulled out a thick, long pen from his chest pocket, removed the cap, and revealed a hidden micro-light inside.

He pressed the button; the bulb instantly blazed with a deep blue light, illuminating the entire internet cafe.

The customers illuminated by the light—including the network administrator and netizens sleeping on the sofas—all removed their headphones with dazed expressions, stood up, and gathered around the Mobile Task Force member to listen to his words.

"Now, you suddenly remember something important—like leaving the gas on at home, failing to finish homework, or forgetting to water your houseplants."

This flash lamp is standard equipment of the Mobile Task Force, similar to the memory eraser from the movie *Men in Black*, combining memory deletion with false memory implantation.

Paired with a timed detonation device, it can mask most anomalies as natural gas explosions or biogas pond blasts.

The internet cafe was completely cleared; Fu Ding Hua Long gestured, and the remaining agents immediately took over the computers, putting on headphones. He himself sat in Jia Wei's seat—the screen share with the streamer had been cut, and the streaming platform had tagged the streamer's video as AI-generated.

Moreover, AI programs for online public opinion monitoring had been deployed to patrol all platforms; if they detected related images or text, they would perform cold deletion—meaning only the original poster could see the content, while everyone else on the platform could not.

"Hey, Master Pi Fu, this is Fu Ding Hua Long."

"Oh, Brother Long, where've you been making money lately?"

"You'd better just call me Xiao Fu."

Fu Ding Hua Long's eye twitched; thank goodness this guy hadn't joined the Mobile Task Force—otherwise, working alongside him would surely cause neurasthenia.

At this moment, in the game screen, the Imperial Guard tank's bombardment continued; the phase demon shaped like an old woman was suspended in midair by a gravity field, repeatedly destroyed and reborn, reborn and destroyed.

Yet the black smoke continuously spewing from its body accumulated, coalescing into a black sphere that subtly weakened the power of the incoming shells.

"So what exactly is this thing?"

Li Cheng rubbed his chin, watching the rolling black smoke struggle incessantly, trying to break through the gravity field and touch the game's environmental structures.

"It exists between a conceptual entity and an energy-based being. It may even lack self-awareness, merely following preprogrammed routines."

Since everyone present was trusted, Fu Ding Hua Long, having just received detailed intelligence from his superiors, spoke frankly:

"The phase demon's ability is to erode and assimilate any matter, along with the consciousness, thoughts, personality, and soul attached to it."

According to our strategists' simulations, if a Level 10 phase demon landed on a modern Earth devoid of any supernatural power, it would first possess a living human, then assimilate an entire village or small town by contaminating its water supply.

Next, it would control all residents, using vehicles to spread toward surrounding cities, using key figures like mayors and governors as stepping stones to seize secular power, manipulate public opinion to create an illusion of peace, and finally, via ferries and airplanes, expand globally.

The entire process would take roughly three to four months.

A Level 20 phase demon could assimilate a modern planet without supernatural power in as little as one month.

Such a being could hardly evolve naturally—unless…"

"Artificially created."

Li Cheng, himself an expert in weapons of mass destruction, instantly understood: "It would require at least a Level 40 top-tier transcendent to engineer something this advanced."

"The phase demon is artificial?"

Hui Yu blinked in confusion. "That doesn't make sense—what's the point of making such a thing? It's only a threat to low- and mid-tier players; any powerful transcendent could just crush it outright.

And how did it even survive to Level 33? Wouldn't the scripted tasks alone kill a being without self-awareness?"

Li Cheng shook his head. "The question of its purpose and the question of its longevity are fundamentally the same."

"The creator of the phase demon—or the faction behind it—never intended to raise it to great strength. Quite the opposite: their plan was likely this—

First, a Level 10 transcendent carries the phase demon's source material into a Death Duel mission to fight a player of equal level from another world.

If lucky, the Level 10 defeats and knocks out the opponent without killing them, then injects the source material into the opponent's body. Afterwards, the team uses an emergency escape item to forcibly withdraw from the match.

Since the Death Duel ends and the opponent isn't killed by the phase demon, the opponent returns to their home world carrying the source material, triggering the infection process.

If unlucky, the phase demon is quickly detected and purged by a powerful transcendent in that world; the loss is merely one emergency escape item.

If lucky, the world is in its early stage and utterly incapable of suppressing the phase demon's spread, allowing it to wipe out all transcendent beings on an entire planet."

Li Cheng's tone carried no small measure of admiration; Fu Ding Hua Long's eyelids twitched violently—he knew this theory had been deduced and debated by dozens of experts in the General Bureau's think tank, yet Master Pi Fu had guessed nearly all of it in mere moments from a few hints.

If this were an anime, he'd have to say, "This kid is terrifying—destined for greatness."

"As for its survival, there's no need to worry."

Li Cheng paused. The mighty Level 33 phase demon seemed utterly powerless against the anti-gravity field, passively enduring bombardment. "If I'm not mistaken, the phase demon resembles the philosophical 'Chinese Room' thought experiment—it possesses no self-awareness, yet can simulate the intelligence level required to solve problems based on environmental changes.

When a puzzle arises, it solves puzzles. When combat arises, it fights.

Just as now, since I haven't deployed higher-tier methods, it continues to resist pressure, releasing black smoke to approach the Frog God's ability ceiling."

As he spoke, the black smoke surrounding the phase demon had expanded to over a hundred meters in diameter, extending spiky tendrils in every direction, attempting to touch the game's environmental materials.

Meanwhile, the gravity field maintained by the Frog God grew increasingly unstable.

"All these factors make the phase demon a near-perfect invasion weapon—one entity capable of infecting an entire planet, assimilating all its population and low-tier transcendent beings.

It can even drive these transcendent beings to keep leveling up, spreading the 'plague' further through Death Duel missions against players from other worlds."

Li Cheng mused: "The entire process is somewhat like…"

"Something like Dr. Noah's original method."

In the communication channel, Bai Ze of the Special Affairs Bureau's General Bureau spoke gravely: "Dr. Noah managed to 'smuggle' himself to Earth because he previously used the player from the Whale Song Guild and later countless ordinary people and transcendent beings as anchors, continuously strengthening his connection to Earth,

until finally arriving via a spatial jump device.

If a mere mortal like Noah could cross worlds, the faction behind the phase demon might well be capable of the same.

They are likely using the phase demon as a pioneer and lockpick to open doors to other worlds teeming with player slots."

Bai Ze's tone was calm; in contrast, the faces of the Mobile Task Force agents in the internet cafe were taut with tension.

A Level 34 transcendent being—merely an artificially created, insignificant lockpick.

Worse, we don't even know where the phase demon came from—between killing fields, time has no meaning; this phase demon could be a relic from thousands or tens of thousands of years ago, crafted by players from the previous, or the one before that, or even the one before that.

If our killing field's game version far surpasses Earth's, we might soon face entire armies of Level 30, 40, even 50 phase demons…

If we don't want to one day abandon Earth entirely and flee as exiles into the killing field's reality, we must intercept and kill it here and now.

Li Cheng nodded: "I'll do my best to hold the phase demon, but I can't guarantee it won't self-destruct and escape."

In the previous *Shanghai Fortress* scene, he'd shattered the environment with a light-speed elbow strike, triggering teleportation. There's no guarantee the enemy won't copy the tactic.

"That's enough,"

Fu Ding Hualong said in a low voice: "The special nature of the battlefield mission isolates this computer from external control, equivalent to adding a read-only attribute."

But, the network interconnection among all the computers in the internet cafe means data can be transmitted and shared. Everyone, AMD reverse plug-in!"

At his command, the Mobile Task Force operatives seated at the cafe's computers each pulled out the DMA plugins issued by the bureau and inserted them into the computer slots.

The DMA devices could violently read memory, and when combined with cables infused with transcendent power, all the computers in the cafe formed a local network.

"Host 001 is in good condition, data transmission in progress. 3, 2, 1."

In the corner, an operative raised his hand and shouted, "Joined the battle!"

In the instant his words fell, a faint light sparkled above Space City, and a angular figure composed of colored blocks descended from the sky—it was Steve, the protagonist of the video game Minecraft.

To ensure smooth data intrusion, the Special Affairs Bureau did not alter the state of any computer; they used the resources of whichever game was already open.

Fortunately, a large proportion of the Sichuan Special Affairs Bureau's personnel played games, so they could all find matching machines.

The blocky Steve plummeted rapidly; before the Frog God could spare attention to lift him, he himself pulled a bucket of water from his rear end in 0.1 seconds and poured it downward.

A shallow layer of water provided immense buoyancy, firmly supporting Steve and sparing him any injury.

"Water landing, kid."

The young operative seated before Host 001's computer stared with wide eyes, controlling his character to nod remotely toward Li Cheng, then swung his rectangular arms to start chopping trees and collecting blocks.

"Host 002 has joined the battle."

The second computer ran War Thunder; as a sonic boom echoed across the horizon, an SU-39 fighter jet streaked in and fired a wind-powered anti-tank missile, codenamed 【Giant Vortex】, from afar at the black smoke mass of the Phase Demon.

Boom!

The pilot inside the SU-39 gave Li Cheng a thumbs-up.

"Host 003 has joined the battle. Those who invade the great Wu territory shall be struck and shattered."

From the shadows stepped a tall warrior clad in a green cloak, his smile bright and radiant, wielding a long saber, who slashed a remote blade of light toward the Phase Demon.

"Host 004 has joined the battle. Double energy, echo form, cognitive deviation, electrodynamics."

Behind the warrior, a seemingly outdated robot trudged forward, its head bristling with lightning orbs, firing bolts of electricity at the Phase Demon.

Hui Yu couldn't help but whistle: "Even a broken robot? Your internet cafe is packed with talent—you came here to play single-player games?"

"This is nothing yet."

Li Cheng rubbed his temples, gripping Hui Yu's head, and looked toward the corner—where a blocky, cartoonish figure with a mullet hairstyle was dancing to Korean pop music, accompanied by ↑↓←→ symbols.

Audition Team 2005 was older than Li Cheng.

Wait, this game has no damage effect at all—what are you doing here, just for atmosphere?

Under Li Cheng's exasperated gaze, one game character after another descended from the sky:

Gold Miner, Troll Warlord, Katana Hero, Girl Band, Horse Girl, Harlan Superman, V-Tian.

"I'm not sure if this is a gathering of heroes or a meeting of radishes."

Hui Yu hesitated: "These characters aren't strong—few can actually fight. Don't you have any computers running strategy games like Red Alert or StarCraft?"

"We do, but we can't bring them in."

Fu Ding Hualong was equally helpless: a Yamato battleship in StarCraft is larger than the entire Space City map; transmitting its data would instantly burst the map.

Good news: a pile of game characters each used their own methods, leaving the Phase Demon with no chance to retaliate.

Bad news: the black smoke continued to accumulate, its diameter now reaching two hundred meters, nearing the boundary of the game map.

Bombs, blade slashes, laser-guided bombs, thunderstorms—all methods could only slow the black mass's expansion, not halt it.

Fu Ding Hualong and his colleagues wanted to keep fighting, but Bai Ze, watching via remote video link, clenched his teeth: "Everyone, prepare to withdraw."

With no higher-tier forces available, they could never trap the Phase Demon—only implement the backup plan: destroy the map and trigger teleportation again,

hoping to exploit the Phase Demon's trait—"stronger when faced with strength, weaker when faced with weakness"—to randomly arrive at a scenario where it couldn't unleash its power, then strike for a killing blow.

". Received."

Fu Ding Hualong felt boundless frustration, but obeyed the order and prepared to withdraw.

But—

"My game character can't withdraw?!"

"Mine neither!"

In the internet cafe, the Mobile Task Force operatives were stunned—the top of the black smoke mass had already begun to exceed the map's boundary, and wisps of black smoke spread like a lid over Space City.

If game characters couldn't withdraw, it meant the Phase Demon could invade and assimilate them.

The broken robot from Slay the Spire was the first to suffer—smoke billowed from its mechanical joints, and correspondingly, the real-world computer in the cafe's screen froze into a blue screen of death.

The frozen death screen, like Sadako crawling from the television, surfaced with black lines.

The operative seated before the computer acted instantly: instead of teleporting to the battlefield to save himself, he reached out and placed the computer into his own backpack slot,

then drew the strange pistol called the Viper and pulled the trigger to his own neck.

【Medusa's Gun】—its effect: temporarily petrify the target, freezing all buffs and debuffs on its body.

The operative dared not gamble whether he had touched the Phase Demon during that brief contact—he chose to petrify himself, freezing any potential corruption.

Steve was just the beginning; one by one, the computers in the cafe froze. In the digital world, the Phase Demon, being neither alive nor dead nor mortal, held a natural advantage.

Li Cheng took a deep breath and exhaled a demonic dragon's breath, incinerating a group of frozen game characters—but even so, he could not stop the Phase Demon's slow, insidious corruption.

The entire Space City was silent except for the rustling of spreading black smoke.

Until—

Ding, ding-ding-ding, ding, ding-ding-ding—

A stirring melody blared, and a mysterious man wearing a crude helmet and mask, clad in camouflage, descended from the sky.

His graphics were terrible, far inferior to modern game characters.

The smiley face badge on his chest looked childish and humorous.

Yet his aura caused the Phase Demon to abruptly pause.

Grey Rain hesitated and said, "That's—"

"The highest mountain, the longest river, in the global game-cheat world."

Li Cheng said in a low voice, "Three Hundred Million Mouse-Click Gun-Battle Dream, CrossFire's Smiling Veteran."

Before the words faded, behind that veteran, hundreds upon thousands of firearms, magnified countless times over, rose up, returning to the Earthly Immortal realm.