15: Chapter 15 Background Warning, GM Testing the Waters

At the entrance of Luofeng Village, the mob farming area had completely taken shape.

Wild rabbits emerged one after another from the bushes.

Wild wolves roamed low near the edge of the woods, yet they did not take the initiative to pounce on anyone.

Players queued up to farm mobs, the patrol team maintained order, and the line of people giving gifts stretched from the earthen slope to the village entrance's wooden fence.

"Don't steal mobs! Follow the team order!"

"Gift-givers go left, mob farmers go right!"

"Anyone who dares to cause trouble, just think about how the Wild Wolf Gang disappeared!"

Xing Jianwan stood beside Lin Zhe, holding her cold light staff with a cold expression.

Lin Zhe, meanwhile, stood quietly in the center of the earthen slope.

Faint golden patterns of rules flashed beneath his feet and vanished.

No one knew that while this leveling paradise was operating smoothly, in the real world, the official backend of 'miracle' had already exploded.

...

miracle Operations Center.

In the massive circular monitoring hall, hundreds of light screens scrolled simultaneously.

Player online count.

Server load.

Monster spawn curves.

NPC behavior logs.

Everything was originally very stable.

Suddenly.

Beep, beep, beep!

An inconspicuous low-level warning screen lit up.

[Regional Anomaly Warning: Luofeng Village]

[Anomaly Type: NPC Permission Fluctuation]

[Target Unit: Refugee NPC · Lin Zhe]

[Current Identity: Ordinary Refugee]

[Detection Result: Permission level exceeds the ordinary refugee template]

[Anomaly Record: Multiple triggers of shockback damage]

[Total Affected Players: 127 people]

[Anomaly Record: Surrounding monster spawn rules have been fine-tuned]

[Risk Rating: Low-level]

The technician on duty, Zhang Qiang, was stunned for a moment.

"Luofeng Village?"

He enlarged the light screen and casually pulled up the logs.

The next second, his eyelid twitched.

The logs were densely packed with records of players receiving shockback damage after attacking Lin Zhe.

[Player 'Yellow Hair Slash' attacked NPC Lin Zhe, receiving 96 points of shockback damage]

[Player 'Wild Wolf' attacked NPC Lin Zhe, receiving 104 points of shockback damage]

[Twenty players from the Wild Wolf Gang collectively attacked NPC Lin Zhe, triggering a group shockback]

[Result: Twenty players died and returned to the city]

Zhang Qiang's lip twitched.

"A refugee NPC shocked twenty players to death?"

Another technician nearby leaned over, took a couple of looks, and was also dumbfounded.

"This isn't right; the refugee template doesn't have a combat module, let alone damage reflection skills."

"Was the monster template applied incorrectly?"

Zhang Qiang frowned and quickly typed in several lines of commands.

[Request to view NPC Lin Zhe's basic data]

The light screen flashed.

Then a line of gray text popped up.

[Access Failed]

[Unknown encrypted code exists in the data layer]

[Insufficient Permissions]

Zhang Qiang's expression changed.

"Insufficient permissions?"

"I'm using Level 3 technical group permissions."

The technician next to him stopped smiling too.

"Try modifying the template again."

Zhang Qiang immediately submitted a template verification request.

[Request Correction: Refugee NPC Basic Template]

[Target: Lin Zhe]

[Executing...]

[Execution Failed]

[Unknown Rule Override]

[Unable to Modify]

The monitoring hall fell silent for a second.

Zhang Qiang's throat moved.

"Get a GM alt account to go in and take a look."

"Don't alert the higher-ups yet."

"It might just be a local bug."

A few minutes later, a Level 1 player alt account lit up at the Luofeng Village spawn point.

The ID was very ordinary.

[Passing Alt]

The appearance was also that of an ordinary novice player.

Hemp clothes, wooden sword, Level 1.

But the one controlling it was the official GM on duty.

In the backend, Zhang Qiang stared at the synchronized screen.

"Don't use visible GM permissions."

"Disguise yourself as an ordinary player and head over."

"Observe first, then probe."

The GM alt nodded and walked toward the earthen slope at the village entrance.

Along the way, the further he walked, the more ridiculous he felt it was.

There were too many players in Luofeng Village.

Significantly more than in a normal novice village.

It was even more crowded toward the village entrance.

Some were queuing to farm mobs.

Some were queuing to give gifts.

There were even players forming patrol teams specifically to maintain order.

As soon as the GM alt approached, he was stopped by a solo warrior.

"New here?"

The GM alt feigned confusion: "Yeah, I heard you can farm mobs here."

The solo warrior pointed to the side.

"Queue on the right for farming, queue on the left for gifts."

"Don't get within three meters of Big Shot Lin, don't attack randomly, and don't be a nuisance."

"Twenty people from the Wild Wolf Gang just disappeared not long ago. If you don't believe it, you can go to the respawn point and ask them."

The GM alt's eyelid twitched.

Big Shot Lin?

A refugee NPC being called 'Big Shot' by players?

He looked through the gaps in the crowd.

In the center of the earthen slope, Lin Zhe stood there.

Coarse hemp clothes, ordinary appearance.

Yet all the surrounding players consciously avoided a three-meter radius around him.

Xing Jianwan stood right beside him, holding a blue-tier staff, her gaze as cold as ice.

The GM alt took a deep breath and slowly squeezed forward.

Xing Jianwan immediately looked over.

"Get in line."

The GM alt smiled.

"I just want to ask a question."

Xing Jianwan didn't budge.

"If you want to ask, get in line too."

The surrounding players also started jeering.

"Can't you understand human speech?"

"The rules are written right on our faces, yet you're still squeezing forward?"

"Don't get us involved in your trouble."

The GM alt's expression stiffened slightly.

He was a GM.

Usually, when players saw official personnel, who wasn't polite?

Now that he was disguised as an alt, he was actually being lectured on the rules by a group of solo players.

In the backend, Zhang Qiang whispered: "Continue, try an attack check."

The GM alt nodded.

He feigned an accident, gripping the wooden sword in his right hand and lifting it toward Lin Zhe.

The movement was very slow.

It hadn't actually slashed down yet.

Even the tip of the sword was still half a meter away from Lin Zhe.

Buzz—

An invisible force suddenly exploded!

Bang!

The GM alt was sent flying seven or eight meters as if hit by a sledgehammer, slamming heavily onto the ground.

His health bar plummeted instantly.

110!

62!

18!

Only a sliver of health remained.

The entire area fell silent.

The next second, the players burst into laughter.

"Another one being a nuisance!"

"We told you not to attack, but you just wouldn't listen!"

"Satisfied now?"

"Big Shot Lin didn't even move, and you went flying on your own."

Lying on the ground, the GM alt's expression completely changed.

He was not an ordinary player.

He had hidden GM permissions active.

Under normal circumstances, a low-level NPC's countermeasure logic shouldn't be able to hurt him at all.

But that hit just now, the damage landed solidly on him.

Even the GM immunity didn't take effect.

In the backend, Zhang Qiang also stood up.

"How is that possible?"

"The GM test account was shocked back?"

"Quick, pull up the data!"

The GM alt forced himself up and immediately opened the viewing commands in the hidden backend.

[Target Locked: NPC Lin Zhe]

[Request to view full data]

[Requested Permission: GM Temporary Inspection Permission]

The light screen flickered.

Lin Zhe's data column appeared for a split second.

But the next second, a large amount of golden garbled code covered it.

Like an airtight lock.

[Access Failed]

[Target data is protected by unknown rules]

[GM Permissions Invalid]

[Read Prohibited]

The GM alt's breath hitched.

Refusing to believe it, he clicked modify again.

[Request to roll back NPC basic template]

[Request to freeze anomalous permissions]

[Request to remove shockback effect]

Three consecutive commands were submitted.

The results all turned red.

[Execution Failed]

[Execution Failed]

[Execution Failed]

[Unknown rule priority is higher than current GM permissions]

In the backend hall, several technicians gathered around.

"GM permissions are invalid?"

"What is this?"

"The data of a refugee NPC, and we can't view or change it?"

Sweat had already broken out on Zhang Qiang's forehead.

He finally realized that this wasn't an ordinary bug at all.

On the earthen slope of Luofeng Village, Lin Zhe glanced indifferently at the GM alt.

He didn't know exactly who the other person was.

But from the strange permission fluctuations that flashed across the other person, he could feel that this was no ordinary player.

Someone from the official team?

They didn't take long to arrive.

Lin Zhe did not speak.

Nor did he move.

He just looked at the other person calmly.

The GM alt felt a chill down his spine from that glance.

He was clearly just an NPC.

He was clearly wearing the lowest-level coarse hemp clothes.

Yet he had a feeling of being seen through.

"Withdraw."

Zhang Qiang's lowered voice came from the backend.

"Return to the city immediately."

The GM alt didn't dare stay any longer, pulling out a Town Portal Scroll and tearing it.

With a flash of white light, he vanished from the spot.

The surrounding players were still laughing.

"He ran so fast."

"This kind of person just deserves to be shocked back."

"Luckily he didn't touch Big Shot Lin, or he'd probably have been sent straight back to the city."

Xing Jianwan frowned and asked in a low voice, "Was there something wrong with that person just now?"

Lin Zhe said indifferently, "Yes."

Xing Jianwan's eyes turned cold.

"Should we investigate?"

Lin Zhe shook his head.

"No need."

Since the officials have already seen it, they will definitely come again.

What's the rush?

...

Operations Center.

After the GM alt returned to the safe zone, the backend feed was cut off immediately.

Zhang Qiang organized all the logs from just now and sent them to the technical supervisor channel.

The title was just one line.

[Urgent: NPC Lin Zhe of Luofeng Village Suspected of Unknown Super Bug]

Soon, the supervisor replied.

[Risk Rating Upgraded]

[Temporary Suspension of Mandatory Action]

[Low-permission personnel are prohibited from further contacting this NPC's data]

[Compile report and escalate to upper management]

Looking at the string of failure records on the screen, Zhang Qiang's fingers felt a bit stiff.

View failed.

Modification failed.

GM probe failed.

shockback effective.

Data encryption unknown.

This was no longer a minor issue they could just fix on a whim.

He looked up at the main screen.

On the screen, the earthen slope of Luofeng Village was still bustling.

Lin Zhe stood in the center of the crowd, his expression indifferent.

As if nothing had happened.

And that line of red marking had already been quietly attached to his backend profile.

[Special Anomaly Unit: Lin Zhe]

[Handling Protocol: None]