You said you were going to make games, how did you become the richest man without doing anything?

The night remained silent, and a rift slowly shrank in the distance, like a closing door, swallowing Mr. William's ghost into an unknown void. A strange fluctuation permeated the air, as if some program were quietly running, adjusting the rules of this world.

However, at this moment, the narrator's voice sounded faintly, breaking the silence——

"What's the plan?"

There was a hint of caution in his voice, as if he was questioning Mr. William's ghost, or as if he was talking to himself.

Mr. William's ghost laughed softly, his voice low and mysterious: "One who can make me..."

However, before he finished speaking, the screen suddenly froze, and then an abrupt interface popped up with a "bang", blocking the entire screen.

【Copy protection system, please enter the number attached to each image.】

Wang Laoju was startled, then frowned and tried to control the mouse to click on the interface, but no matter how he clicked, the interface did not respond, as if it was an insurmountable barrier, completely blocking the game world behind.

The narrator's voice was filled with surprise, even a hint of disdain: "A copy protection system appears in the middle of the game? How barbaric!"

The barrage in the live broadcast room exploded instantly——

[Holy crap?! Anti-piracy system?!]

[A copy protection system? This game actually has something like this?!]

What on earth was the planning team thinking? A verification code popped up at a critical moment?!

Wang Laoju narrowed his eyes and manipulated the mouse to carefully study the content on the interface, but no matter how he looked at it, it looked like a standard anti-cheating verification code input box. There was no prompt, only a string of blurry pictures with some strange symbols and numbers printed on them.

He tried a few random numbers, and the result was—

【Input error, please try again.】

Wang Laoju: "..."

The narrator's voice sounded faintly, with a hint of contemplation in his tone: "I wonder if it has something to do with that strange disc on the monitor."

Wang Laoju was slightly stunned, and quickly switched the perspective by controlling the mouse, turning the screen to a strange machine he had seen before.

It was an old mechanical device, similar in appearance to the control terminal of some early computer. Its surface was covered with mottled rust, and a metal disc was embedded in the center. Various strange patterns were engraved on the disc, like the design of a combination lock.

The narrator's voice murmured, a hint of doubt in his tone: "Do you think there really is such a copy protection system?"

"I doubt it really works..."

"But it's definitely good for those copier businesses."

The live broadcast room's barrage instantly filled the screen——

[Narrator: Are you still human?!]

[Everyone else is solving puzzles, but you're concerned about the copy machine business?!]

[The logic of this game has completely collapsed...]

Wang Laoju ignored the narrator's complaints. He stared at the disc and slowly rotated the disc with the mouse, trying to find some pattern.

Soon, he discovered a pattern -

The patterns on the disc will change as it rotates, and these patterns are exactly the patterns in the verification code pictures on the game interface!

"...I see." Wang Laoju's eyes lit up slightly, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Then he quickly controlled the mouse and adjusted the disc to a pattern that matched the verification code picture.

The patterns on the interface are a cane and a bomb.

Wang Laoju thought secretly and continued to rotate the disc with the mouse, trying to find more connections.

However, as he was constantly adjusting, he suddenly noticed something strange -

The number "2" turned upside down is "5".

A flash of inspiration struck him, and he suddenly realized something: "...If 2 can become 5, then can 4 become 6?"

He quickly manipulated the mouse and carefully observed the arrangement of numbers on the disc, trying to find some logic for the conversion.

Sure enough, at a certain rotation angle——

4, became 6.

The barrage in the live broadcast room scrolled instantly——

[Holy crap!!! This is the key to cracking the password?!]

[Wow, what on earth were the planning team thinking? Using reflections as verification codes?!]

[The puzzles in this game are truly inhumane...]

Wang Laoju took a deep breath, manipulated the mouse to adjust the disc, and adjusted all the patterns and numbers to the correct position.

Finally, when the last number was in place, the verification code input box on the interface suddenly flashed, and then -

【Verification passed, copy protection system released.】

The interface on the screen disappeared instantly, and the game world reappeared.

The narrator's voice was filled with excitement: "Ha! We did it!"

Wang Laoju smiled slightly, manipulated the mouse to slowly move forward, staring intently at the road that gradually appeared ahead, and whispered:

"...So, Mr. William, what are you planning?"

The world on screen remained distorted, and data streams flickered in the air, like the afterimage of something not yet fully loaded. Wang Laoju's perspective shifted slowly, his gaze once again resting on the ancient turntable.

The metal surface is mottled with scratches, and the central disc slowly rotates like a decoding machine, waiting for the player to find the correct password.

He controlled the mouse and turned the dial patiently, and the pattern on the screen kept changing - from keys to locks, to bombs, and even a strange rabbit pattern.

The audience in the live broadcast room has begun to get restless——

[When will Lao Ju be transferred this time? ]

[What on earth were you thinking when you were making the puzzles, planning team?!]

[To be honest, the patterns that appear on the turntable are always so outrageous...]

However, just as everyone was waiting anxiously, the turntable suddenly stopped.

Wang Laoju's eyes lit up slightly, and the final pattern appeared on the screen - a skull and a gun.

The narrator's voice murmured, revealing a hint of foreboding: "This doesn't look like a good sign..."

However, Wang Laoju did not hesitate. He quickly controlled the mouse and entered the numbers corresponding to red, green and blue - 315.

The interface on the screen flashed slightly, and then a low laugh echoed in the air.

Mr. William's ghost slowly emerged, his figure translucent and distorted, as if it would be blown away by the wind at any moment. However, his laughter was remarkably clear, with an indescribable frenzy.

"...the whole world...plan, hahahahahahaha."

His voice seemed to have been cut by a data stream, intermittent, but filled with an indescribable fanaticism.

Holmes stood aside, his arms folded across his chest, his brows slightly furrowed. His eyes were sharp, as if he was trying to read more information from Mr. William's expression.

"What an evil plan!" His tone was tinged with sarcasm, and it was obvious that he no longer had any expectations for Mr. William's madness.

However, just as everyone held their breath, waiting for Mr. William to reveal more details——

——The screen froze for a moment.

The narrator's voice suddenly sounded, with a hint of annoyance: "Can you say it again? We just got disconnected."

The live broadcast room exploded instantly——

[Damn! Disconnected at a critical moment?!]

[Game: You know too much! ]

[Lao Ju, quickly find a way to make him say it again!]

However, Mr. William's ghost just laughed coldly and shook his head.

"Do not."

His tone was decisive and without hesitation, as if he deliberately didn't want them to know more.

Then, his gaze changed slightly, and he turned his head to look into the distance, a relaxed smile on his face: "There... I just happened to see the exit."

His figure began to rise slowly, like a feather free from gravity.

"That is to say, it's time for us to say goodbye here."

There was a hint of relief in his voice, even a hint of contempt. "Goodbye, Yugi! I hope you enjoy your new cardboard house!"

The barrage in the live broadcast room scrolled instantly——

[??? New cardboard house?!] [Wait, what is he hinting at?!]

[The conspiracy of this game is getting deeper and deeper...]

Watson stood aside, watching the ghost of Mr. William disappear. He sighed softly, with a hint of inexplicable regret in his tone: "Goodbye, Rainbow Butterfly."

The narrator's voice suddenly rose, revealing a hint of astonishment: "He disappeared from the ground!"

However, before they even had time to think about the meaning of all this, the narrator's voice sounded again hurriedly -

"How can we track him?"

"Let's take a look around this street scene."

Wang Laoju didn't hesitate and quickly manipulated the mouse to switch the scene to the street.

The streets at night are quiet and empty. The dim street lights cast long shadows, and the light draws distorted textures on the ground, as if the whole world has been folded.

The buildings in the distance had a strange sense of distortion, like some unstable data blocks, which occasionally underwent brief deformation as Wang Laoju's perspective moved.

However, Mr. William's ghost had completely disappeared, leaving them with only the silent night.

The narrator's voice sounded faintly: "We may need a more direct approach..."

Wang Laoju frowned slightly and controlled the mouse to search around. Finally, his eyes fell on the back of a stage.

At the back of the stage, a huge piece of floor was suspended in mid-air, like a relic of some game mechanism, floating there quietly, as if waiting for some trigger condition.

Wang Laoju blinked, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and revealed a meaningful smile.

He controlled the mouse, slowly opened the prop bar, and took out the familiar "tongue" icon.

The audience in the live broadcast room instantly understood his intention——

[Wait, Lao Ju, you are not...]

[Lick again?!]

[Planning Team: Please stop licking bugs! ]

However, Wang Laoju did not hesitate and directly clicked on the tongue icon and dragged it to the connection point of the hanging floor.

"Paji!"

An exaggerated licking animation appeared on the screen, as if some extremely sticky substance dissolved instantly, and the system locking point connecting to the floor suddenly collapsed.

Then--

——The floor collapsed instantly!
A huge crack appeared in the center of the stage, revealing a dark passage leading to the unknown.

The narrator's voice was filled with a hint of surprise: "Ha! This trick really works!"

The audience in the live broadcast room completely exploded——

【??? Is this even possible?!】

[Lao Ju's tongue has become a bug terminator...]

[If the planning team saw this scene, they would probably collapse, right? ]

Wang Laoju licked his lips, narrowed his eyes slightly, and slowly moved the mouse towards the crack, whispering:

"...Then let's see where this road leads."

The narrator's voice was filled with obvious astonishment, even a hint of anxiety: "Oh my God, the entire stage floor is gone."

Even more disturbing, however, is this – what about the characters? Where on earth have they gone?
Wang Laoju didn't hesitate. He quickly manipulated the mouse to adjust the viewing angle. The angle of the screen slowly moved downward, passing through the wood chips suspended in the air, through the torn void, and finally -

——He saw Holmes and Watson.

Holmes's body was rigid, his hands clinging to a telegraph pole hanging in mid-air, his face unusually solemn. The wind howled out from the cracks, ripping up the hem of his coat, making him look like a fallen leaf caught on the edge of a storm.

What's even worse is that Watson was holding Holmes' ankle tightly, his face pale, and his legs dangling in the air, as if he would be swallowed by the twisted vortex of time and space at any time.

Below is endless chaos.

Deep in the vortex, data streams were rolling wildly, and those code fragments sometimes turned into London streets, and sometimes turned into distorted characters, as if the foundation of the entire world was being broken, reorganized, and broken again.

The narrator's voice murmured, a hint of hope in its tone: "The exit is right there!"

But the question is - how are they going to get through?

Watson's mental breakdown

Watson's fingers turned white from the exertion, his breathing became rapid, and beads of cold sweat oozed from his forehead.

"Sherlock..." His voice trembled slightly, filled with deep fear, "I...I'm going to fall."

Holmes's eyes remained sharp, and although he was also in danger, his voice remained calm and firm: "Hold on, Watson!"

However, Watson's eyes had begun to blur. He glanced down at the chaotic void below, his lips trembling slightly, and his voice murmured with an almost desperate tone: "The world is ending... Everything is fake... I am fake too..."

His words were like a thunderclap, exploding in the live studio—

[What the hell?! Watson is starting to philosophize?!]

[No, his spirit has collapsed! ]

[The character in the game realizes that he is fake. This setting is too scary...]

Holmes frowned slightly, his eyes lingered on Watson's face for a moment, and then he whispered, "London may be on a geological fault. I have to find a way to get us out."

The narrator sighed quietly, a hint of helplessness in his tone: "Really, we can't just leave them there like that."

"We should try to get them to safety before we leave."

Wang Laoju didn't hesitate and quickly manipulated the mouse to switch the scene back to the space where the props were stacked.

In the dim warehouse, dusty wooden boxes are quietly stacked together, and the air is filled with the smell of old data files.

His eyes quickly scanned the environment, and finally - locked onto a wooden board.

There was a small hole in the wooden board, and faint light leaked out from the hole.

Wang Laoju licked his lips, controlled the mouse to open the prop bar, and selected the fist prop without hesitation.

The audience in the live broadcast room was instantly excited——

【Here it comes! Time for physics puzzles! 】

【Lao Ju's fist is finally going to come in handy! 】

[This game really can break anything...]

He aimed at the glass blocking the hole—

--"boom!"

Fragments flew everywhere, and light instantly splashed out, like a broken ray of morning light, illuminating the bathtub in front.

The narrator's voice suddenly rose, a hint of urgency in his tone: "Swing over, Mr. Holmes, jump over. There's a place you can land on the other side."

Holmes raised his head slightly, his eyes quickly scanning the environment. Then, he took a deep breath and a barely perceptible smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Watson—let go, as I say."

Watson was stunned and his face turned pale instantly: "Are you crazy?!"

Holmes's eyes were remarkably firm, and his voice was as steady as iron: "Trust me."

Watson's breathing was rapid and his eyes were full of struggle.

Below is an endless abyss.

Above is the only chance of escape.

After a brief silence, Watson suddenly closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and loosened his hand.

Holmes jumped up with all his might in an instant, grabbing the edge of the bathtub with both hands accurately, and Watson successfully landed in a safe place under his pull.

The barrage in the live broadcast room exploded instantly——

[Holy crap! They succeeded!]

[Holmes's calmness and judgment are amazing...]

Watson: I really thought I was going to die...

The narrator's voice murmured, a tone of disbelief and wonder in it: "Jump!" (End of this chapter)