Weird Game: I brought an old version bug

When Jiang Chen came down from the rooftop, it was already dawn.

The glass door on the first floor of that office building closed automatically after he walked out.

The metal parts of the door lock have been restored to normal.

The traces of corrosion disappeared, replaced by a thin layer of rust, as if it had been rained on for many years.

He stood at the doorway and looked up at the rooftop.

The black vortex has disappeared.

The sky had returned to its normal color, a pale blue, with a few clouds, and the sun was rising in the east. The entire building looked no different from an ordinary office building.

But Jiang Chen knew things were different now.

He took out the pages of the book and touched the inverted hourglass.

"I'm out."

"Yes," Shiyu replied quickly, "I saw it too—the data density of that building has returned to normal."

"The vortex has disappeared."

"Disappeared? You didn't lock it?"

"No," Jiang Chen wrote, "it disappeared on its own. That 'she' said the door was already open and couldn't be closed. The vortex was just a projection of the door, not the door itself."

Shi Yu remained silent for a while.

Do you think what she said is credible?

"I don't know," Jiang Chen wrote, "but she's right about one thing—I did do something I didn't know when I reset the system."

Do you regret it?

Jiang Chen thought for a moment and wrote: "No regrets."

Why?

"Because you have no other choice, you are still trapped in 138 cycles of reincarnation."

Instead of replying with text, Shi Yu drew a small symbol—a smiley face.

Jiang Chen looked at the smiling face and smiled back.

He put away the book and walked back towards the school.

On the streets in the early morning, there were already early risers: elderly men jogging, middle-aged women walking their dogs, and vendors pushing breakfast carts.

Everything looks exactly the same as yesterday, the day before yesterday, and every day three months ago.

But Jiang Chen knew things were different now.

As he passed a bus stop, he saw a GG poster on the sign, featuring a smiling young girl. His gaze swept over the poster and then stopped.

The girl's face on the poster just moved.

It wasn't the wind, it wasn't an illusion—it was the girl's lips that curved upwards, as if she were smiling at him.

Jiang Chen stared at the poster for five seconds.

The poster returned to normal, and the girl's face was frozen in a standard smiling expression, completely still.

He rubbed his eyes and continued walking.

He took a few steps, then stopped again.

On the trunk of a roadside tree, there was a crack—not the kind of crack that naturally splits the bark, but a straight slit, as if it had been cut by a knife, about twenty centimeters long, with a faint black tinge at the edges.

He reached out and touched it.

A faint vibration came from my fingertips, like something flowing under the bark.

He withdrew his hand, took a deep breath, and continued walking.

After walking a few more steps, he passed a breakfast stall. The stall owner was packing soy milk for a customer, and the two were chatting and laughing. But behind them, on the stall's awning, a black spot the size of a fist was slowly expanding.

Only Jiang Chen can see it.

He quickened his pace.

When I returned to school, the campus was already filled with people—students jogging, students reading aloud, and cleaning ladies. Everything seemed normal, nothing out of the ordinary.

But when he got to the dormitory building, he stopped.

A person was sitting on the steps at the entrance of the dormitory building.

Timely rain.

She was wearing a light gray sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers, her hair tied in a ponytail, and she was holding a cup of soy milk, which she was drinking. When she saw Jiang Chen walking over, she raised her hand and waved to him.

Good morning.

Jiang Chen stared at her, stunned.

"You—what brings you here?"

"I told you, if you want to go, I'll go with you," Shi Yu stood up, brushing the dust off her pants, "so here I am."

"But over there—"

"The system is stable now," Shi Yu said. "I've handed over the data recovery committee to Lin Xiaohe. She's better at managing people than I am. What I'm good at is—working with you to get things done."

Jiang Chen looked at her, unsure of what to say.

"You've been running around all night, haven't you had breakfast yet?" Shi Yu handed him the cup of soy milk. "Here you go."

Jiang Chen took the soy milk and took a sip.

Hot and sweet.

"How did you find this place?" he asked.

"You forgot? The book pages have a location function," Shi Yu said. "Besides, I remembered which dormitory building you were in last night."

Jiang Chen smiled.

"So," Shigure clapped his hands, "what's the situation now? What exactly did that 'she' you met on the rooftop last night say?"

Jiang Chen recounted the entire conversation that took place on the rooftop last night.

After listening, Shi Yu remained silent for a long time.

"So, what she means is—a part of the old system was sent out seven years ago and stored in a building. It was abandoned when the system was rebooted three years ago, and you woke it up three days ago. Now it's awake, and it says the door is open and can't be closed."

"right."

"She also said that there will be more and more doors, and not only can the old version of the data infiltrate the real world, but people in the real world can also enter the old version of the system."

"right."

Shi Yu was silent for a moment, then said, "Did she say what exactly was in the old version of the system?"

"no."

Did she say what she wanted?

"No, not at all."

Did she say whether she was friend or foe?

"no."

Shi Yu took a deep breath, then laughed: "So she didn't say anything useful, just left you with the riddle 'Come find me,' and then disappeared?"

"right."

"So, are you still planning to go see her?"

"right."

Why?

"Because," Jiang Chen said, "if what she said is true, there will be more and more doors, and the real world will gradually be covered by the old version of data. So instead of waiting for it to come, we might as well actively seek it out."

Shi Yu looked at him and remained silent for a few seconds.

Then she laughed: "You've changed."

"What has changed?"

"Before, you were a passive person—pulled into the game, forced to team up, forced to complete levels, forced to go to the system core. But now, you're taking the initiative."

Jiang Chen thought about it and realized she was right.

"I might have caught it from you," he said.

"That's good," Shi Yu said. "Proactive people live more interesting lives."

She finished the last sip of soy milk and threw the cup into the trash can.

"Okay, where do we go now?"

Jiang Chen looked at the distant sky.

The city skyline was clearly visible in the morning light: skyscrapers, TV towers, overpasses, and traffic. It looked exactly the same as yesterday, and exactly the same as the day before.

But right next to the spire of the TV tower, there is a tiny, almost invisible black spot suspended in the sky.

Another vortex is forming.

"Over there," Jiang Chen pointed in that direction, "the second door is opening."

Shi Yu followed his finger and squinted.

"I saw it."

"You can see it too?"

"Spending so much time around you has made me pick up a bit of your bugs," Shi Yu laughed. "Let's go, before it's fully opened, let's take a look."

Jiang Chen nodded.

The two walked side by side in that direction.

The morning sunlight shone on them, casting two long shadows.

But in the sky behind them, in a place Jiang Chen didn't notice.

On the opposite side of the TV tower, in another part of the sky, a third black spot has just appeared.

Like an eye that is opening.