1: Chapter 1: The Bug at the Annulment Banquet

When Lin Xu opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a line of text floating in mid-air.

[System initialization complete. Source Text Vision activated. Current permission level: Guest (Qi Refining Stage). Warning: Host consciousness conflict with native data detected; immediate synchronization or... is recommended.]

He blinked. The text didn't disappear; instead, it moved with his gaze like a pop-up ad stuck to his retina. The font of the pop-up was in a style he had never seen before—not Songti, not Heiti, but something... flowing, constantly micro-adjusting, as if it were a living typeface.

"What... is this?"

He tried to raise his hand to rub his eyes, only to find his arm felt as heavy as lead, as if it weren't his own. Looking down, he saw a green robe with frayed cuffs, the fabric possessing a texture he had only seen in period drama sets before his transmigration. His hands were pale and thin, with several unfamiliar calluses on the knuckles.

Memories flooded in like a tide, but they weren't his.

Zhenbei Marquis Mansion. Concubine-born son. Lin Xu. Innate Spirit Root uncompiled. Engagement annulled. Humiliation. Death.

That last word was exceptionally clear. Death. Half an hour ago, after being publicly humiliated by his fiancée, the original host's blood boiled with rage, and he died on this... He looked around and confirmed it was a cold stone bed.

"So," he muttered to himself, his voice hoarse and unfamiliar, "I've transmigrated. Transmigrated into a... cultivation world. And the previous owner of this body was just humiliated to death over an annulled engagement."

He tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness hit him. The floating text immediately updated:

[Warning: Host physical state: Near death (recovering). Suggestion: Immediately seek a spiritual energy source or...]

"Shut up."

The text flickered and actually... went still. It didn't disappear; it hung there as if the pause button had been pressed, waiting for his next command.

Lin Xu was stunned. This wasn't an ordinary system prompt; it was... interactive? He focused his attention and tried to "click" the text, just as he would have operated an IDE debug interface in his past life. The text immediately expanded like a drop-down menu, revealing more layers:

[Host Status Details]

Vital Signs: 37% (Rising)

Spiritual Energy Reserve: 0% (Depleted)

Spirit Root Status: Commented out (Critical Error)

Spiritual Sense Strength: Abnormal (High-dimensional consciousness residue detected)

Current Task: None (Original task chain interrupted)

"Commented out?"

Lin Xu's pupils contracted. This term... was all too familiar. As a senior Architect at a major firm in his past life, he knew exactly what "commented out" meant. It wasn't deleted; it was... hidden, temporarily shielded, left for later processing, it was...

He abruptly looked up at a bronze mirror in the center of the room. The youth in the mirror was pale, with a sharp edge in his eyes that he had never possessed in his past life—a sharpness belonging to youth, yet dimmed by long-term suppression. Above the youth's head floated another, larger "panel":

[Object: Lin Xu (Current Host)] [Type: NPC (Experimental Field 9527—Native Data)] [Status: Abnormal (High-dimensional consciousness override)] [Attribute Panel]:

Strength: 3 (Mortal average 5)

Agility: 4

Spirit Root: True (Commented out, currently displaying: False)

Comprehension: 9 (Abnormally high, suspected calculation error)

Charm: 5

Luck: -3 (Negative value, system intervention suggested)

"Experimental Field 9527? NPC?"

Lin Xu felt a chill, not from his body, but from his... cognition. This wasn't an ordinary cultivation world; this was a... system, an experiment, the kind of thing he was most familiar with in his past life: a massively multiplayer online... no, wait, the "NPC" tag on the panel meant that most residents of this world, including his current body, were... Non-Player Characters? They were all... data?

A commotion came from outside the door.

"Has that Lin family trash still not come out? Could he... be dead?"

"It's better if he's dead; it saves him from offending Miss Yanran's eyes."

"Hahaha, innate spirit root uncompiled—how does such trash even deserve an engagement contract?"

Lin Xu's gaze turned cold. It wasn't anger, but... analysis. His professional habits from his past life made him immediately begin evaluating the situation: current status near death, external hostility, insufficient information, need... more data.

He focused his attention, trying to expand the range of his "Source Text Vision." The panel responded:

[Source Text Vision expanding... Warning: Current permissions only support local scanning; wide-range scanning will trigger a system alarm.]

"Local is fine."

He cast his gaze toward the door, penetrating the wooden surface to see... code. Not metaphorically, but literally—flowing, layered, structured... source code. The door was no longer just a door; it was the... encapsulation of a certain function, the... entry point for permission checks, it was...

[Object: Door (Wooden structure + Basic defense formation)] [Function: Physical isolation + Spiritual energy filtering] [Status: Normal] [Vulnerability: Logic short circuit in line 7 permission check (Can be bypassed by Golden Core Stage or above)]

"Logic short circuit?"

Lin Xu almost laughed out loud. This was too absurd, and yet too... familiar. He had spent ten years in his past life dealing with various "logic short circuits." SQL injection, buffer overflows, privilege escalation... in this cultivation world, these had become... formation vulnerabilities? Spiritual energy interference?

The noise outside drew closer.

"The hour has come! Lin family Concubine-born son, come out and receive your humiliation!"

Lin Xu took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He needed more information about this body and the... underlying architecture of this world. He looked at himself in the mirror again, at that spirit root attribute labeled as "commented out."

"If this is code," he murmured, "then... can I modify it?"

He tried to focus his attention, "clicking" the "Spirit Root: False" attribute as if operating a debugger. The panel responded, popping up an... editing interface? It was as crude as a text Editor from the last century, but it was indeed... editable.

[Attribute Edit (Trial Version Permissions)] Current Value: Spirit Root = False (Commented state) Original Value: Spirit Root = True (Maliciously commented) Modification Suggestion: Uncomment (Risk: May trigger system alarm) Confirm modification? Y/N

"Maliciously commented?"

Lin Xu's expression changed. It wasn't surprise, but... anger. In his past life, he had seen too many of these "malicious comments"—they weren't technical requirements, but... power struggles, suppression, a way to make others "not exist." The original host's "innate spirit root uncompiled" wasn't natural; it was... artificially hidden?

"Confirm."

He didn't hesitate. It wasn't recklessness, but calculation—his current state was near death, and external hostility was clear. Not modifying it meant death; modifying it... might lead to a faster death, but it could also...

[Modification in progress...] [Warning: Unauthorized attribute change detected; system alarm triggered] [Defense Mechanism Activated: Heavenly Tribulation warning (Delay: Unknown)] [Modification Complete: Spirit Root = True]

A surge of heat rose from his Dantian, like something... being awakened from a deep slumber. Lin Xu felt his perception expanding, not through his eyes, but through... another way. He could "see" the spiritual energy flowing in the room now—thin, but definitely there, like an invisible web, and now... he could touch it.

The door was slammed open.

"Yo, not dead yet?" A young woman in a pink dress strode in, followed by a group of servants. She had a pretty face, yet it bore an expression... Lin Xu had seen in the workplaces of his past life. Superiority, contempt, and... a kind of inflated confidence rewarded by the system.

His Source Text Vision automatically locked onto her. It wasn't under his control; it was... a kind of instinctive response, like a Debugger hitting a breakpoint.

[Object: Lin Yanran (Generals Mansion's Di Daughter)] [Type: NPC (Task Trigger)] [Current Task: Humiliate Lin Xu, Reward: foundation establishment pill × 1] [Task Status: In Progress] [Related Event: Engagement Annulment Ceremony (Main Quest Chain: Road to Rise)]

"Task Trigger?"

Lin Xu felt a wave of dizziness, not from physical changes, but from the... cognitive impact. This young woman, this living person, was simultaneously... a function, a called object, a... program executing a specific task in his eyes? And above her head floated a panel only he could see, which clearly read:

[Task: Humiliate Lin Xu, Reward: foundation establishment pill × 1]

"You..." Lin Yanran frowned, seemingly sensing his abnormality, "What are you looking at? A piece of trash like you thinks he's worthy of looking directly at this lady?"

Lin Xu didn't answer. He was doing something—something he had done countless times in his past life but never expected to do in this world: taking a screenshot.

Not with a device, but with his consciousness, using the... recording function of his Source Text Vision. He "saved" the current scene: Lin Yanran, the task panel, the reward content, and the timestamp. Then, he tried to... add a comment.

[Comment] // Time: Experimental Field 9527—Current Era—Annulment Banquet Day // Object: Lin Yanran (Generals Mansion's Di Daughter) // Event: Task [Humiliate Lin Xu] in progress // Note: Task reward is foundation establishment pill × 1, allocated by... (Querying)... allocated automatically by 'Road to Rise' quest chain // Attachment: Suggest saving evidence for future... debug

"What are you dazed for?" Lin Yanran grew impatient. "I am here today to officially annul the engagement. A piece of trash with an uncompiled spirit root like you doesn't deserve..."

"Wait."

Lin Xu spoke. His voice was still hoarse, but it had gained a certain... sharpness belonging to this young body that he never had in his past life. He raised his hand, not to attack, but to... demonstrate. He "projected" the image he had just saved into the air—not for Lin Yanran to see, but for... himself, and for... all possible Observers in this room.

"Miss Lin Yanran," he said, his voice as calm as if he were reporting code review results, "this task above your head, [Humiliate Lin Xu, Reward: foundation establishment pill × 1]... who issued it?"

The room went silent.

Lin Yanran's expression froze. It wasn't fear, but... confusion. She couldn't see what Lin Xu saw, but she could see Lin Xu's... change. His eyes, those originally dull eyes belonging to a piece of trash, were now glowing with a... faint light, like... like the spiritual sense she had only seen in her father—that Golden Core Stage general.

"You... what nonsense are you talking?"

"Nonsense?" Lin Xu smiled, a smile carrying the... exhaustion of his past life and the... sharpness of his present one. "Perhaps. But I must remind you, the reward for this task, foundation establishment pill × 1, is automatically allocated by the 'Road to Rise' quest chain. And the... ultimate beneficiary of this quest chain," he queried the deep information of the Source Text Vision, "is it your future... master? Or... some higher-level existence?"

He wasn't actually sure. This information exceeded his current permissions, and the query result was [Access Denied]. But he didn't need to be sure; he only needed to... ask the question. He only needed to let everyone in this room, including those Observers hidden in the shadows, know one thing: he, Lin Xu, was no longer an NPC who could be humiliated at will.

"You... you're crazy!" Lin Yanran took a step back. "Someone, this trash has gone mad! Give him..."

"Give me what?" Lin Xu stood up, his movements fluid, unlike those of a dying man. The recovery of his spirit root brought about a... reconstruction of his body. It wasn't a strengthening, but a... realignment, allowing him to become the... version of himself he was meant to be. He walked toward Lin Yanran, not to attack, but to... demonstrate, to... be present.

"Give me a beating? Give me death? Or..." He lowered his voice so only she could hear, "give that task above your head even more... rewards?"

Lin Yanran's face changed. It wasn't anger, but... fear. Not fear of Lin Xu, but fear of the... unknown. She didn't understand what was happening, but she could feel that something she had never been aware of... something she had always thought was... destiny, was being... questioned.

"The annulment," Lin Xu stepped back, his voice returning to a calm that everyone could hear, "I agree. Not because I'm not worthy of you, but because..." He looked around at the servants, at the crowd from the Marquis Mansion gathering outside the door to watch the show, "because I've discovered a more interesting problem. About this world, about ourselves, about..."

He paused, letting the attention solidify.

"...about who is writing our story, and... whether we can write our own comments."

He didn't wait for a response. He turned and walked into the inner chamber, leaving behind a room full of... confusion and a certain system alarm that was flashing frantically, visible only to him.

[Warning: Anomaly Data #9527-001 behavior exceeds prediction model] [Suggestion: Immediately clear or... observe] [Observer marked: Mu Bai (GM Test Account)]

Lin Xu ignored it. He found the original host's belongings, and among them, he discovered a... yellowed jade slip. There was only one line of text on it, yet it made his breath hitch:

"If you are seeing this text, it means you have found out too. I am Gu Yuan; I am here, waiting for you."