“Boom—”

  Li Qingya stood tall and firm on the Protocol Challenge Platform, as if an immovable mountain. The winds around him howled like fierce beasts breaking free from their cages, carrying a chaotic stream of random errors that tore through the air. The shrill screeching was deafening, as though the very fabric of the world was shattering, sending everything into a void of desolation and ruin.

  Inside him, the TX-1086 spiritual root vibrated violently, like a volatile bomb ready to explode. Beneath his seemingly calm skin, the recursive function patterns, glowing blue like hidden serpents, slithered beneath the surface. Each pattern radiated a mysterious, powerful aura, as if hinting at an imminent storm.

  This was his thirty-seventh attempt at challenging the Zixiao Formatting Protocol. Looking back, his previous thirty-six attempts had all ended in failure, each at the crucial final validation phase. It was like a brave soul, climbing a great peak, only to slip at the last step, leaving behind nothing but regret and unfulfilled ambition.

  “Warning! Pointer Split!” A sharp electronic tone sliced through the tension. The once sturdy bronze compass in Li Qingya’s hand suddenly underwent an unexpected quantum transformation. The solid material of the compass softened and shimmered like melting wax, emitting an enigmatic glow.

  Then, something even more bizarre happened—the compass needle split into three. Each needle seemed to come from a different dimension, leaving behind faint afterimages, like a perfect blend of illusion and reality, casting a mysterious halo in the dim light.

  One needle pointed steadily to the Bagua(Eight Trigrams) direction. The Bagua, a core part of ancient Chinese wisdom, held the secrets of the universe’s operating principles. As the needle pointed there, it felt like time was bending, reaching into the depths of ancient knowledge to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos.

  Another needle pointed precisely at geographic coordinates. Under its guidance, the vast universe seemed condensed into this small compass, each scale and number representing a unique position in space, hinting at the hidden paths leading deep into the universe.

  But the most astonishing of all was the third needle. It traced slow, rhythmic geometric patterns, drawing fractals in the air. These intricate and beautiful patterns twisted and expanded, every detail bursting with hidden secrets.

  Fractal geometry, a key theory in modern science that reveals the self-similar structures of the universe, now manifested on this needle, showcasing the ultimate mysteries of the cosmos. Li Qingya couldn’t help but marvel at the profound beauty of the universe.

  As the three needles intertwined in an indescribable, almost eerie manner, the compass suddenly flared with a bright red light.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  A glaring error window appeared on the compass as if conjured by a ghost, displaying Error 0x7F in bright red text. The sharp characters seemed like a sword piercing through darkness, stabbing into Li Qingya’s eyes and filling him with a sense of unease and impending doom, as though this simple message heralded a grave crisis.

  The memories of his past life as a programmer surged through his mind like a flood of data.

  In the shrinking of his pupils, the thunderclouds above revealed their true form—each storm was intricately formed by an endless series of “if-else” conditional statements, like a massive, precise web, trapping him in its grasp.

  In the densest part of the cloud, a red warning flashed:

  [Permission Verification Failed]

  [Reason: Memory Fragment Integrity Below 67%]

  [Recommendation: Abort Protocol Challenge Immediately]

  “This is a login verification!” Li Qingya exclaimed, his eyes wide with disbelief. His words were instantly transformed into glowing, fragmented characters, floating and flickering like shattered stars in the air, responding to his words in a mysterious and eerie way.

  At that moment, a piercing light streaked across the sky. A dark figure, trailing a golden data streak like a meteor, fell rapidly from the sky. As it drew near, Li Qingya recognized it as Xingxiu, an ancient figure.

  The figure was in a wretched state, wrapped in fine, fiber-optic-like data cables. These cables intertwined, forming an invisible yet dense net that held him tight, making it impossible for him to move.

  Even more bizarre, his left leg had turned into a constantly refreshing 404 Not Found error page, with characters flashing like a silent cry of failure and despair.

  “Catch this key!” Xingxiu screamed, his voice distorted with a sharp electronic noise, as if it were transmitted from an alien dimension, filled with an unsettling sense of distortion.

  He threw the turtle shell into the air, and as it flew, it underwent a strange transformation. It began to self-replicate like a living organism, each replica shrinking in size as the energy fluctuated with every division.

  Finally, a fragment the size of one-eighth of the original shell emerged, shooting toward Li Qingya like a meteor imbued with mysterious power. With a soft thud, it embedded into his palm.

  The moment the fragment touched his blood, it seemed to trigger an ancient mechanism, and his retina instantly displayed a series of glowing blue prompts:

  [New Task: Retrieve Core Logs (1/9)]

  [Temporary Permission Granted: Level 3]

  [Warning! Physical Quantumization: 5%]

  The **tribulation thunder** roared like an awakened ancient dragon, carrying the power to destroy the heavens. With a deafening roar, it crashed down with unstoppable force.

  In that life-or-death moment, Li Qingya watched in horror as his fingertips began to disintegrate. His once-normal fingertips transformed into small, glowing cubes, each imprisoning a tiny figure.

  Upon closer inspection, Li Qingya realized that the figures trapped within the cubes were versions of himself from the previous thirty-six failed attempts.

  At the critical moment, the turtle shell in his palm erupted in a brilliant blue light, like a supercharged energy source. It enveloped Li Qingya, pulling him rapidly toward the Transformation Pool.

  As he was pulled, his vision warped and twisted. The last thing he saw was a crack in the sky, revealing the outlines of a server rack. It was made of cold metal, radiating a chilling light, silently revealing the cold, technological truth behind this seemingly mystical world.

  What if immortality was just an infinite update cycle?

  Appreciate any feedback, and I reply to all comments!