43: Chapter 43 The crown is not yet cold, but the base of the tower is already ablaze.

The dust from the shattered Bronze Puppet King had barely settled when the piercing system notification sound flooded Chen Fan's mind like a tide.

[Warning! Player HP below 1%, Near-Death Protection triggered, all attributes temporarily reduced by 50%!]

[Warning! Allied Unit Su Shuang's vital signs are weak, Bloodline Origin is about to be exhausted. Estimated remaining time: 14 minutes 38 seconds.]

[Congratulations Player for slaying the Ninth Floor Guardian BOSS 'Bronze Puppet King'. Due to the influence of 'Rule Critical Hit', the judgment has been changed, awarding 1,500,000 experience points!]

[Level Up! You have reached LV.15!]

[Level Up! You have reached LV.16!]

A string of leveling golden lights exploded around him, instantly pulling his health from the brink of death back to a safe level. However, Chen Fan's heart felt colder than when he took the double axe strike just now.

He didn't even glance at the rapidly rising experience bar, his gaze locked tightly onto the crimson countdown timer in the corner of the system panel.

14 minutes 37 seconds.

Time was the only enemy he could not conquer right now.

Su Shuang on his back had become as light as a feather. Those once lively and cunning fox ears were almost completely ethereal, and the last trace of color was fading from her pale face.

Her breathing was so faint it seemed she could stop at any moment.

"...It is learning."

The Tower Spirit's hollow voice echoed in the empty Ninth Floor. This time, it wasn't an emotionless declaration, but carried a hint of indescribable gravity.

It seemed to be speaking more to itself than to Chen Fan, recording something.

Learning?

Chen Fan's pupils suddenly contracted.

He abruptly looked up and surveyed his surroundings.

This Tower, this so-called 'Challenge,' had been filled with strangeness from the very beginning.

From the 'Shadow Figure Player' on the first floor that replicated his moves, to the 'Soul Locking Lamp' trap set by Xiao Ling's illusion on the seventh floor, and now the judgment change he mistook for a 'Tower Guardian BOSS'... every step seemed designed to test his limits, dissect his abilities, and record his reactions.

That hidden 'Shadow Crow'... and the forces behind him, what exactly did they want?

However, now was not the time to ponder these things.

"Tenth floor... no, where is the secret chamber at the base of the Tower?!" Chen Fan roared into the void, his voice hoarse with anxiety.

He could feel that the fragment of the Mysterious Candle Kasaya on his chest had not faded after shattering the Bronze Puppet King; instead, it was like an activated ember, resonating with some existence at the base of the Tower.

That pulse was hope!

The Tower Spirit's mask turned toward him, silent for a moment, seemingly processing some unforeseen directive.

"The path against the Tower is unguarded, leading straight to the base. But... the Scavenger has been activated."

"Scavenger?" Chen Fan's brow furrowed; the term made him sense a danger even greater than the Puppet King.

Before the words fully left his mouth, the internal structure of the entire Thousand Layered Pagoda emitted a grating metallic screech.

It was no longer reversing layer by layer. Instead, all the walls, floors, and ceilings began to reveal dense, golden lines resembling circuit board patterns.

The air filled with a cold, absolutely rational scent, as if an invisible hand was rewriting the underlying code of this world.

A voice even more mechanical and indifferent than the Tower Spirit's rang in Chen Fan's ears.

[System Integrity Self-Check Program Initiated... Anomaly Rule Perturbation Source Detected: Player [Chen Fan].]

[Unauthorized Skills Detected: 'Rule Critical Hit', 'Cooperative Critical Hit', 'Charm Critical Hit'.]

[Error Codes: #G-001, #S-003, #F-009.]

['Scavenger' Protocol Activated. Formatting and clearing of anomalous data commencing. Target: Correcting all critical hit judgment rule loopholes for Player [Chen Fan].]

In an instant, Chen Fan felt a barrier forming between himself and this world. His survival depended on those extraordinary critical hit abilities, which now felt as if an invisible giant had grabbed their throats.

He could feel his power remaining, but the 'key' to triggering it was being forcibly taken away.

[Correction commencing... 10%... 20%...]

The cold progress bar unfolded before his eyes. With every increment, the anxiety in his heart deepened.

Su Shuang's life countdown was now less than twelve minutes.

"No way!"

Chen Fan's eyes were wide with fury. He could not lose these abilities; they were not only his trump cards but also his only reliance for saving Su Shuang!

He suddenly looked down at his fist, stained red with fox blood.

The 'Slow' effect granted by Su Shuang's last trace of origin power had vanished, but the warm sensation seemed imprinted on his skin.

Emotion... Right, it was emotion!

Ever since he gave up his ranking for Su Shuang, every critical hit he landed was not just the release of a skill, but carried the weight of his extreme emotional fluctuations!

Anger, protection, resolve... these were the true levers that moved the rules!

The 'Scavenger' wanted to erase data, erase code, but could it erase my will?!

Chen Fan took a deep breath, ignoring the cold system voice. He steadied Su Shuang on his back, his leg muscles tensed, and he charged toward the staircase leading to the base of the Tower like a cannonball.

From the Ninth Floor to the First Floor, and then to the deeper secret chamber—it was a distance of despair, but also the track of survival!

[Correction Progress: 40%... 50%...]

He rushed down to the Eighth Floor, passed through the Seventh Floor. Xiao Ling's phantom had completely dissipated; only the remnants of the Soul Locking Lamp, torn by his fist wind, flickered with a final faint light in the corner.

[Correction Progress: 70%... 80%...]

His speed increased, but the feeling of being stripped away grew stronger.

He could clearly feel the connection between himself and the 'Rule Critical Hit' becoming tenuous.

It was like a razor-sharp blade being forcibly blunted.

When he stepped onto the ground of the First Floor, the familiar blood mist once again permeated the entrance.

But this time, there were no monsters in the mist, only the cold systemic power attempting to rewrite the rules of his body, reaching its peak concentration.

[Correction Progress: 99%...]

His steps faltered, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

The critical hit system within him felt shackled by a heavy chain, falling silent.

['Rule Critical Hit' Correction Complete.]

['Cooperative Critical Hit' Correction Complete.]

['Charm Critical Hit' Correction Complete.]

['Scavenger' Protocol Execution Successful. Thank you for your cooperation.]

The cold announcement sounded like the judgment of death.

It's over?

Chen Fan clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms, blood dripping through his fingers.

He raised his head, his blood-red eyes staring fixedly at the entrance ahead leading to the Tower's base, shrouded in an even denser blood mist.

Su Shuang's life countdown: 7 minutes 12 seconds.

No... It's not over yet!

Chen Fan violently hammered his own chest. There, the fragment of the Mysterious Candle Kasaya was emitting an unyielding heat.

That current of heat was not bound by any system rules, because it did not belong to this Tower's framework at all!

It came from an older, more mysterious inheritance.

"You can correct the rules, but can you correct my fate!" he let out a roar suppressed to the extreme.

He gave up thinking, gave up relying on skills, pouring all his will, all his anger, and all his obsession to save Su Shuang into that fragment on his chest.

Buzz—!

The red patterns on the Kasaya fragment were no longer flickering; they were boiling like magma!

A brute, domineering, and even somewhat sinister power surged upstream through his meridians, instantly penetrating his entire body!

That was not a skill granted by the system; it was something belonging to Chen Fan himself!

[Warning! Unknown high-risk energy source detected! Unidentifiable! Unable to analyze!]

['Scavenger' Program encountering logical conflict! Restarting... Restart failed!]

The system's eternally cold voice showed a hint of 'panic' and confusion for the first time.

Chen Fan ignored it. He could feel a brand new power coalescing on his fist.

It no longer needed to trigger through loopholes in the 'rules'; instead, it used his will to forcibly 'define' the result in reality!

"Open for me...!"

He threw this earth-shattering punch at the blood mist blocking the entrance, which was so dense it had almost turned solid!

There was no world-shattering explosion, nor any flashy light effects.

Chen Fan's fist seemed to strike an invisible curtain.

Where the fist passed, the blood mist composed of the 'Scavenger's' power was instantly pierced, dissolved, and evaporated, just like white paper burned by a branding iron!

A passage torn open by pure will appeared before him.

[Judgment change... Judgment... Error... Error...]

The system voice became intermittent, finally falling silent completely.

Chen Fan did not pause at all. Carrying Su Shuang, he flashed into the passage.

Time remaining: only the last three minutes!

At the end of the passage stood a massive bronze door.

It stood silently there, as if existing since antiquity.

The door was carved with intricate and ancient patterns, neither text nor pictures, yet emanating a heart-palpitating majesty.

That pulse of fire from the Tower's base was now intense, like a beating drum, achieving perfect resonance with the Kasaya fragment on Chen Fan's chest, and with his heartbeat.

He stretched out his trembling hand, using the last bit of strength in his body, and forcefully pushed the heavy door inward.

Creeeeak—

As if a giant sleeping for ten thousand years had been awakened, the bronze door slowly opened a crack with a grating sound that scraped the teeth.

There was no dazzling treasure light as imagined, nor any fatal traps.

What emerged from the gap in the door was a soft and warm glimmer.

In the light, Chen Fan's pupils contracted sharply, and his breathing stopped completely at that moment.

He saw it.

In the very center of the secret chamber, a massive and ancient iron scale hung suspended.

On one side of the scale, resting on the tray, a fist-sized heart glowing with a bronze halo was slowly beating—it was the 'bronze heart' he had longed for.

And on the other side of the scale, maintaining a precarious balance with the bronze heart, was not gold, silver, or any divine weapon.

It was a pile of... passes, shining with a cold luster, sharp-edged, seemingly condensed from countless memories and lives...

Silver, gold, and even a few fragments he had never seen before, emitting a purplish hue, lay there quietly, like a small mountain built from the epitaphs of countless failures.

At the end of hope lay an equivalent exchange.