154: Chapter 154 Scrapped Draft: When the Protagonist of the Annulled Engagement Stories Encounters the Fourth Calamity
Inside the Third Heavens · Hidden Dungeon [Echoes of the Forgotten].
When the first wave of explorers, including "Long Aotian" and the "Civil Engineering Department top student," stepped through that dark blue rift, they had imagined countless possible openings: perhaps a sinister Ancient Tomb, perhaps a treasure chest-filled secret chamber. But the scene before them caused even these battle-hardened veteran players to collectively freeze for a full three seconds.
There was no sky, nor was there any earth. The surroundings were a gray expanse of the Void Realm, with countless fragments of broken text floating in the air. Phrases like "Terrifying indeed...", "Do not bully the youth for his poverty...", "Abandoned fiancee..." These words danced chaotically through the air like living bullet comments, occasionally colliding with each other and emitting sizzling static noises.
Beneath their feet was a magnificent plaza, half-constructed, suspended in the Void Realm. The plaza's architectural style was jarringly inconsistent: the left side was a resplendent, golden-hued grand hall of a cultivation Sect, while the right side abruptly transformed into untextured, gray-white building blocks (Missing Texture), with even a few giant **"?"**-marked boxes piled in the corner.
"Holy shit! This dungeon... did the graphics card explode?" Long Aotian kicked a gray-white block on the ground; it felt soft and spongy, like stepping on cotton. "No, this is **'corrupted data flow'**." The Civil Engineering Department top student pushed his novice glasses up his nose (though they had no prescription), analyzing with visible excitement: "Look at this texture, look at the tearing in the lighting... the devs are geniuses! They actually created this kind of 'world collapse' fragmented aesthetic! They've absolutely nailed the concept of the 'metaverse'!"
Just then, a choppy, garbled noise suddenly emanated from the center of the plaza. "Na... Nalan... lan..." "Ab... abandon... abandoned fiancee..."
The players followed the sound. In the center of the grand hall, a classic "abandoned fiancee trope" scene was playing out. A youth in white robes knelt on the ground, his face a mask of grief and indignation. Before him stood a haughty young woman and an elder. Except... the visuals were a bit sanity-draining.
The white-robed youth's face was blurred, his features resembling a lump of kneaded, misshapen clay, constantly shifting and morphing. The haughty young woman maintained an eerie **"T-pose"** (unloaded animation), sliding laterally across the ground. As for the elder, he only had an upper body; his lower half was a string of garbled code.
"Is... is this a bug that gained sentience?" one player gulped, "This monster looks even scarier than the Tentacle Monsters from the Abyss!"
[System Prompt: Triggered Story Event — The Endless Abandoned Fiancee Loop.] [Background: This is a scrapped draft world abandoned by the Author. The protagonist "Xiao Something" has been trapped in this day of his abandonment for thirty thousand years due to conflicting settings. His resentment has transformed into a logic virus, corroding this space.] [Objective: Break the cycle, recover the 'Protagonist Halo fragment.']
"Got it! Boss fight!" Long Aotian's eyes lit up as he hefted his Titanium-Alloy steel pipe. "Doesn't matter if it's a bug or not, does it have a health bar?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the kneeling white-robed youth suddenly turned its head. A dark, gaping crack split open on that blurred face, from which issued a piercing roar: "Thirty years east of the river! Thirty years west of the river! Do not bully... do not bully the youth for his poverty aaaaah!!!"
BOOM! Along with the roar, countless massive, solidified Chinese characters — "Poverty," "Bully," "Hate" — rained down on the players like bricks. Each character was imbued with a dual debuff of [Mental Corruption] and [Logic Disruption].
"Holy shit! Text-based attacks? That works?" The "Civil Engineering Department top student" couldn't dodge in time and took a giant "Poverty" character right to the forehead. [System Prompt: You have been struck by 'Poverty Strike.' Your Spirit Stone reserves -100 (though you had none to begin with), Your Self-Confidence -50.] "Damn it! That attack is vicious! It went straight for my wallet!"
"Brothers! Don't listen to his nonsense! Charge together!" The players were incensed. "It's just getting your engagement called off! Was it worth obsessing over for thirty thousand years?" "Exactly! Poor *and* long-winded! No wonder she dumped you!"
A group of players, braving the storm of flying characters, roared and charged forward. They had no Spells, no Divine Abilities, only the most basic form of **"Physical Interruption."**
Long Aotian rushed up to the white-robed youth and shoved his steel pipe directly into the mouth that was still roaring. "Shut up already! You broken record!" CLANG! A crisp sound rang out. The youth's roar abruptly ceased, and a red damage number popped up over its head: "-1 (Physical Critical Hit)."
"Damage is so low! This guy's defense and HP are insane!" "No kidding! He's still a scrapped-draft protagonist, he's got a halo protecting him!" "A Halo? Then I'll rip his halo off!"
Several players specializing in underhanded tactics circled behind the youth, reaching their sinful hands towards the faintly visible, moldy-looking **[Protagonist Halo]** hovering above his head. "Pull it off! We'll take it back for T-9 to melt down into a lightbulb!" "And that girl! Stop T-posing! Hand over the sword in your hand! Even without textures, that's a purple-tier equipment base!"
In an instant, the originally tragic and solemn scene of abandonment transformed into a large-scale robbery. The white-robed youth was utterly bewildered. According to the script, shouldn't these people be mocking and humiliating him, only to get their faces slapped by him later? Why weren't these people following the script? They weren't mocking him... they were... robbing him?
"You... have no martial integrity..." The youth's body began to tremble violently, and the surrounding space, succumbing to logic collapse, developed large patches of pixelation. "I want... I want to defy the heavens..."
"Defy your ass!" A player picked up a nearby unloaded box marked with a "?" and smashed it hard onto the youth's head. BANG! The box shattered, spilling out a pile of **[Garbled Code Fragments]**. "Loot! Brothers! This thing drops code!"
...
pangu-003, Thirty-Third Heavens · Tianhe Academy.
Li Mo looked at the chaotic, yet inexplicably satisfying battle footage on the light screen and couldn't help but chuckle. "These players... are natural-born **'logic crushers'.**" "The best way to deal with a scrapped-draft character trapped in a death spiral by its own obsession isn't reasoning with it... it's dismantling its entire stage."
"Dean, the recovered data is being analyzed." Star Spirit Navigator stood nearby, watching the continuous data stream transmitted from the dungeon with surprise in her eyes. "After purification, these 'garbled codes' turn out to be... extremely high-purity 'World Origin'?" "Although incomplete, they genuinely contain the power of creation's rules."
"Naturally." Li Mo took a sip of tea, his gaze profound. "Every scrapped draft is a world into which the Author once poured their heart and soul." "Though abandoned for various reasons (like the plot collapsing, or the story being dropped), their core essence remains real." "The players' destruction is actually... liberating these worlds."
He watched as the white-robed youth, under the players' group beating, grew fainter and fainter, that towering resentment gradually dissipating. In its place emerged a sense of liberated peace. Just before vanishing completely, the youth seemed to bow towards the 'camera' (Li Mo's direction). "Thank you... I finally don't have to shout that line anymore..."
WHOOSH— As the boss dissipated, the entire dungeon space began to collapse, transforming into countless streams of radiant fragments that surged into the core of the ship. [System Prompt: Recovered Scrapped Draft World Fragment ×1.] [ship Worldview Completion Progress: +0.1%.] [Acquired Special Building Blueprint: Dou Qi Horse Transformation Ranch (Can Be Modified).]
"Dou Qi Horse Transformation?" The corner of Li Mo's mouth twitched. "Alright then, adding some new species to the livestock industry isn't bad either."
...
Outside the dungeon, Third Heavens valley.
With the dungeon cleared, several beams of white light flashed. Long Aotian and the others, laden with spoils, were teleported out. Each carried a large pile of loot: glowing code blocks, untextured weapons, and someone had even hauled out the T-posing girl's model (though it dissolved into a data stream as soon as it appeared).
"Awesome! That dungeon was a blast!" "Did the first-clear rewards drop? I want to exchange for that advanced version of the 'Qi Guidance Art'!" "Quick, check the forums! The devs posted a new announcement!"
[Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations to players for successfully purifying "Abandoned Data Zone 001."] [In light of the players' enthusiasm, Tianhe Academy has decided to open more "historically unresolved issue" areas.] [New Event Launch: Multiverse Garbage Collection Initiative.] [Details]: Deep within the ship's space, countless similar "scrapped draft bubbles" remain folded. Some are abandoned Wuxia worlds, some are collapsed apocalypse worlds, some are illogical Mary Sue worlds. Players, pick up your shovels and bricks, and go explore, destroy, and recover! For the construction of the new world, let these remnants of the old era... become our bricks and tiles!
"Garbage collection? I like it!" "Is this the legendary 'junk scavenger' playstyle?" "Brothers! That dungeon just dropped a 'Thirty Years East of the River' title with stats! Adds critical hit!" "I want to go too! I want to be a protagonist killer!"
Instantly, the entire server erupted. The "scrapped draft worlds" that once seemed eerie and terrifying were now, in the players' eyes, transformed into coveted prizes. Countless exploration squads formed, grabbing Luoyang shovels (entrenching tools) and scouring the world for spatial rifts.
Meanwhile, in the Nether Heavy Industry layer. General Gu watched the players swarming like locusts, piling the recovered "scrapped draft fragments" until the warehouse overflowed, and couldn't help but sigh: "Brother T-9, I reckon... these folks are scarier than us undead." "We eat people to survive." "They... they'll dismantle entire worlds just for 'fun'."
T-9's electronic eye flickered: "According to my calculations, this behavioral pattern is termed... 'hardcore grinder'." "It is an extremely efficient and tireless form of biological energy." "The Dean... is a truly terrifying capitalist."
...
Thirty-Third Heavens · Star Observation Platform.
Li Mo watched theIn full swing "Great Recycling Movement" with great satisfaction. These scrapped draft fragments were precisely the raw Materials he needed for his "reforging of earth, fire, water, and wind." Relying on himself alone to clean them up would take who knows how many years. But with these players... "This progress is faster than me outlining a plot."
Just then, a faint yet exceptionally distinct signal suddenly pierced through the ship's layered defenses, resonating directly in his mind. It didn't come from the Star Alliance, nor from the Author. It came from... the real world (Earth).
"Zzzzt... Li Mo... can you hear me?" "This is... the National Anomaly Affairs Bureau..." "Um... about that... the server for 'pangu online'... is it with you?" "Things over here... are getting a bit chaotic."
Li Mo was momentarily stunned. Then, a meaningful smile spread across his face. "Oh? Finally noticed, have they?" "The boundary between reality and the game... is beginning to blur."
He picked up the spring and autumn brush and wrote a reply in the Void Realm: "Don't panic." "This is just... the closed beta." "The real 'open beta'... is still to come."