I searched for corpses in the Wuding River to extract entries

Seeing that the death warrant in his mind still existed and was completely unaffected by the rules of this world,

Xie Que finally breathed a long sigh of relief: "Thank goodness, the foundation is still intact."

At that very moment, a small man wearing a flashy fluorescent jacket silently approached Xie Que.

His eyes gleamed with shrewdness, and his face wore a formulaic, enthusiastic smile, as if it had become his trademark.

"Hey, bro!" the man greeted him warmly, a hint of obsequiousness in his voice.
"You're new here, aren't you?" His gaze was fixed on Xie Que, as if trying to catch a glimpse of interest in his expression.

Xie Que remained expressionless, his eyes empty and cold, like a stagnant pool, completely unmoved by the man's passion.

His gaze merely swept over the man briefly before continuing to scan the surrounding environment.

The man was not discouraged by Xie Que's indifference. He quickly shook the seemingly cheap metal device in his hand and continued:

"Look at this 'sensory amplifier'! It's a great thing that can give you an unprecedented blissful experience!"

"Only 998 credits!" the man emphasized the price, as if it were already a very good deal.

Xie Que remained unresponsive, leaving the man somewhat puzzled by his silence.

Seeing this, the man's eyes darted around, and he suddenly lowered his voice, saying mysteriously:

"Hey bro, I think you might be a little short on cash? No problem, I have another great idea!"

He pulled a card from his pocket with the words "Dao Xiaoman Loans" printed on it. "This is an unsecured loan, instant disbursement! The interest rate is absolutely 'fair'!"

Xie Que remained silent, his gaze sweeping over the towering buildings, the flying vehicles, and the expressionless pedestrians.

He seemed completely uninterested in the man's sales pitch, or rather, he lacked the necessary enthusiasm for the world.

The flashy man's eyes darted around, and he suddenly reached out and quickly pressed on Xie Que's muscular chest, even gently pinching his arm muscles.

This series of actions happened so fast that Xie Que didn't even have time to react.

In that instant, a hint of surprise flashed in the flashy man's eyes.

He clearly hadn't expected Xie Que's body to be so strong, showing absolutely no signs of cybernetic modification.

"Wow! Dude, your physique..." the flashy guy exclaimed in admiration, "It's original, untouched! Not a single trace of cybernetics. This is truly top-notch!"

His voice revealed obvious excitement, as if he was very interested in Xie Que's physical condition.

Then, without hesitation, he asked, "Are you selling it or not?"

Xie Que finally turned his gaze away from other places and focused it on the flashy man.

His eyes were calm and serene, yet they carried an invisible pressure that stemmed from the depths of his being.

This pressure did not come from external forces, but rather from a quality deep within Xie Que's heart.

The flashy man felt a sudden jolt of fear as he was stared intently at by that gaze, as if he were being watched by a ferocious wild beast.

He instinctively took a half step back, forcing a smile, and said:

"Hey, why are you being so fierce? If you don't want to sell, then don't sell. Even if a deal falls through, we can still be friends..."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly turned around, trying to slip away.

However, the instant he turned around, Xie Que's deep voice boomed in his ears like thunder: "Wait."

Upon hearing Xie Que's question, the flashy man suddenly stopped and turned around with a suspicious look in his eyes, his gaze falling on Xie Que.

Xie Que looked at him calmly and asked again, "Can someone with a bad credit history get a loan?"

Xie Que knew very well that he urgently needed the world's currency to acquire various information and necessary tools to deal with the various situations that might arise next.

Therefore, he made no attempt to hide his needs and directly raised the question with the flashy man.

The flashy man was clearly surprised by Xie Que's question, but he quickly regained his composure and gave a professional "understanding" smile.

He rubbed his hands together and said with a smile, "Hehe, brother, you really know your stuff! Of course! We specialize in helping friends like you who are in 'difficult' situations."

Then, the flashy man patted his chest and assured him:
"Unregistered residents? That's no problem! We can handle that!"

Then he changed the subject and said, "However, we also have a few small requests."

Xie Que listened quietly without interrupting him.

The flashy man continued, "We need your body as collateral. But don't worry, it's just a simple electronic contract, mainly to lock your DNA information. As long as you repay the principal and interest on time, your body will still belong to you!"

Xie Que didn't seem too surprised by the flashy man's words; he seemed to have expected such a condition.

He simply nodded to indicate that he understood.

Seeing Xie Que's straightforwardness, the flashy man was secretly delighted. He quickly took out a worn-out tablet computer and started operating it.

A short while later, he presented Xie Que with an electronic contract.

The contract looks densely packed with various complex terms and conditions, but its core part is "physical collateral".

Xie Que glanced at it briefly and found that there were indeed many traps hidden inside, but he did not dwell on these details too much.

For him, time is the most important thing.

He desperately needed funds to launch his project, so he signed the contract without hesitation.

Xie Que glanced at the contract casually, without even looking at the specific terms and conditions. His attention was only focused on how many so-called "credit points" he could get.

After confirming the number, he did not hesitate to sign the contract using his fingerprint and iris scan.

Almost instantly, a pitifully small amount of credits was deposited into a temporary anonymous account provided by the flashy man.

Xie Que looked at the number and couldn't help but feel a little helpless.
But he also understood that, given his current situation, this was the best outcome he could achieve.

After completing the transaction, the flashy man seemed to think it wasn't enough, and "kindly" pointed Xie Que in the right direction, telling him to go to a nearby "scrap yard" to buy second-hand equipment.

Although Xie Que had doubts about the suggestion, he decided to follow the fancy man's guidance when he had no better alternatives.

Upon arriving at the recycling station, Xie Que found the environment to be quite rudimentary, with various discarded items piled up haphazardly.

After some searching, he used all his credits to buy a basic smartwatch with a worn-out casing and slightly sluggish response, along with the cheapest public Wi-Fi access.

Although both items were old and worn, they were Xie Que's first tools for understanding this world.

After leaving the junkyard, Xie Que found a relatively secluded underpass nearby and then activated the smartwatch.

He operated the interface clumsily but efficiently, like a true caveman encountering high technology.

He frantically browsed public information databases: news, historical profiles, social structures, technological products, laws and regulations, and general encyclopedias.

This is a highly developed cyberpunk world called "New Age"!
Despite highly advanced technology, social stratification is severe, with giant corporations controlling everything. A global super-network, "Tai Xu," exists as the core of society.

There is no record of "extraordinary power," "cultivation," or "the Great Dao" in the public information, as if these concepts have never existed in this world.

Historical records are also vague and seem to have been deliberately edited.

However, Xie Que, combining his own situation with his intuition, became even more convinced that this was definitely not a naturally formed world.

It should be the manifestation of the Dao of a Celestial Emperor-level creator who has entered the 'Transcendental Gate'.

Just like one's own blessed land of reincarnation.

This Immortal Emperor's "Dao" is very likely the very construct of this cold, efficient, and dehumanizing world of technological rules.

He needs to find the flaw or core of this "Tao" before he can leave this place.

Xie Que realized that to understand or even decipher this world evolved from the "Tao," he needed to start with the virtual network "Tai Xu" that covered the entire world.

Xie Que pondered for a moment, then used the public network to download a large number of free, basic programming textbooks.

Xie Que then squatted down under the bridge, absorbing the knowledge at an astonishing speed like a sponge.

He didn't just memorize by rote; instead, he used his powerful thinking to break down, reconstruct, and understand the essence of complex programming logic.

For example, when he sees binary, he immediately associates it with yin and yang!

Yin is 0, Yang is 1, stillness is 0, and movement is 1.

Based on his understanding of Yin-Yang binary code, Xie Que quickly began to try to write a very simple, self-learning, self-iterable, rudimentary artificial intelligence core code.

He attempted to incorporate his own understanding of the will of "life" into it.

The moment he ran the code on his old device, the screen flickered violently and emitted a piercing alarm!
Immediately afterwards, an invisible and powerful surge of data flow surged back through the network connection!

The old equipment simply could not withstand this force. Its internal components were instantly overloaded, smoked, emitted a burning smell, and the screen went completely black, resulting in complete burnout and scrap.

This attack, originating from an unknown source, was precise and efficient, targeting only devices running illegal code and not affecting Xie Que himself.

Xie Que's eyes sharpened instantly as he looked at the scrapped equipment:

"As expected, there is a protective barrier... or rather, it is the 'Heavenly Dao' of this world's defense mechanism against the exploration of the underlying rules."

"Trying to directly write code to touch the foundation of this world is probably not going to work!"

Xie Que calmed down.

He realized that directly coding the core would be vulnerable to attacks, and that more powerful computing power, a more isolated environment, and a more in-depth approach were needed.

This also means that he needs a lot of resources!

However, I don't have time to fool around here.

More importantly, the number of creators trapped in this illusion must be quite large.

While the creator hasn't noticed him yet, he should try to "clear the level" as quickly as possible, instead of slowly developing here.

If I act in this way, I'm afraid I'll be assimilated very quickly.

At that moment, Xie Que also thought about the "value" of his "original" physical body in this world.

That was just one loan shark; if several more came...

In any case, I didn't plan to stay in this world for long. In fact, if I wanted to leave this world, I would have to abandon even this physical body.
After all, Xie Que could sense that there were no real material laws in this world, and that his true physical body was outside.

Therefore, it's perfectly fine to use this body as collateral as many times as you want!

Xie Que found the flashy man again and, through him, made contact with several other loan sharking organizations.

He exploited the information gap and the lack of real-time online verification between these loan sharking institutions.

He used his own biometric information as collateral and repeatedly pledged it to multiple institutions, signing several usurious loan contracts.

Through repeated collateralization, Xie Que quickly acquired a large sum of credit points.
Although he was burdened with astronomical debts and faced the risk of being pursued by multiple forces,
But Xie Que still gritted his teeth and took out some more loans online.

With the help of the flashy man, Xie Que purchased two items on the black market.

The first option is a high-performance, isolated virtual server, but it's only a short-term rental.
It claims to be located in a physically isolated network dark zone and that it can bypass firewalls to directly connect to the network.

A military-grade brain-computer interface device could connect consciousness to the virtual world more efficiently and deeply, but that's an antique from hundreds of years ago.

Xie Que soon lay down under the bridge and connected to the virtual server through a brain-computer interface device.

First, Xie Que wrote a special "consciousness upload interface program".
Its core logic is still based on his understanding of Yin-Yang binary, but it is more ingenious, like a carefully designed "smuggling" channel.

After Xie Que started the program, he put on the brain-computer interface.

Suddenly, a strong sense of dizziness and detachment came over me, as if my soul had been ripped away.

Xie Que felt his connection with his physical body instantly severed, and his five senses replaced by virtual signals.

His "consciousness" appeared in a pure white, boundless initial virtual space.

This is the blank environment provided by the server he rented.

Xie Que immediately initiated a self-check of the program. Within this virtual consciousness composed of data, he discovered that he could still perceive the existence of the Death Talisman!
It seems to transcend the boundaries of matter and data, and is the thing that truly binds his "existence".

Xie Que felt much more at ease: "As expected... the level of this item far exceeds my expectations!"

"With it, this situation can be broken!"

Xie Que's consciousness also began to explore this initial space.

He sensed that the surroundings were not truly nothingness, but rather filled with the basic operational data streams provided by the server and the information torrents connecting to the external network.

Xie Que concentrated his mind, and instantly transformed himself into something resembling a gluttonous snake.
An invisible suction force emanated from him, targeting the surrounding, seemingly harmless, flowing basic data.

The basic data stream, like a trickle, was absorbed by Xie Que in an instant.

Xie Que clearly felt that his virtual consciousness was undergoing extremely subtle changes as it absorbed data.
The structure seemed slightly more stable, the range of perception expanded a little, and the ability to manipulate the virtual environment was also slightly improved.

Although the magnitude was extremely small, it validated his idea.

The entries in the Death Record are usable, and you can also strengthen your consciousness by absorbing information in the virtual world!

"Since that's the case... then let this ocean of information become the resources for me to break through the Great Dao of this world!"

He turned his gaze to the information flood interface connected to the "Heavenly Dao." The next step would be an even larger-scale, more covert absorption of information.
And they attempted to access the "deep rules" of this virtual world, searching for the core and flaws of the path created by that Immortal Emperor. (End of Chapter)