Breaking the Game with a Bug!
[Alert! Unregistered superhero entity detected...]
[Anomaly defense mechanism activated, initiating the highest level of causality erasure...]
The cold, mechanical synthesized voice echoed through the New York sky.
The world before Jiang Li's eyes had been completely compressed into a two-dimensional plane with no thickness, and the edges of his body began to blur and pixelate. This supercomputer, named "ERROR-404 Universe," was preparing to treat him as a virus and directly delete him into the recycle bin.
In the final 0.01 seconds of this seemingly hopeless situation.
Swish!
A blinding green light suddenly burst forth from the two-dimensional piece of paper that was about to be deleted!
The green light collapsed instantly.
The [Ultimate Humungousaur], which was sixty meters tall just a second ago and radiating terrifying kinetic energy capable of shattering galaxies, vanished into thin air.
Having lost its target, the overwhelming sense of dimensional compression that enveloped the entire city of New York experienced a very brief pause.
[Target locked...]
[Rescan of physical entities... no high-energy reactions detected.]
[No superhero characteristics found.]
[Threat cleared. Defense mechanisms enter dormancy.]
The piercing air raid siren stopped abruptly.
The pale green sky stopped flashing, and the retro NPC pedestrians on the street, who had been bowing their heads and covering their eyes, began to move stiffly again, like fully wound-up machines.
Everything returned to that deathly and eerily calm.
In the very center of the street, in a crack in the asphalt road that had been crushed by the Humungousaur Rex.
An alien creature, less than fifteen centimeters tall, with grayish-white skin and enormous, frog-like eyes, stood with its hands behind its back, looking old-fashioned, on a pebble.
Grey Matter!
The native inhabitants of the Galvan System are universally recognized as the pinnacle of intelligence. They created the Omnitrix and possess the fundamental science of the universe, which even the gods cannot comprehend.
"Rude. Extremely rude."
In his Grey Matter form, Jiang Li's voice became high-pitched, but his tone conveyed an absolute rationality that allowed him to control everything.
"Using physical kinetic energy to fight against underlying logic code is like using a sledgehammer to repair a computer motherboard that has crashed. It won't solve any software problems except smash the motherboard to pieces."
He raised his tiny hand with only three fingers and pushed up glasses that weren't actually there.
Because it is only the size of a mouse and has no violent physical energy inside, "Grey Matter" is not even considered a "living being" in the firewall of this universe; at most, it is just a harmless background insect.
Therefore, the universe's rules of annihilation completely ignored him.
"Since the problem lies with the software, we have to resort to hacking methods."
The Grey Matter raised its head, and in its enormous toad-like eyes, the original tyranny and fanaticism of Jiang Li was gone. In its place was an extreme calmness with a computing speed ten thousand times faster than that of a quantum computer.
After merging with the [Multiversal Energy Core], Grey Matter's brain was fully developed to its limit.
The world before his eyes had changed.
No longer the retro streets of the 1950s, no longer the pale green sky and the rusty Iron Man.
The world shed its physical disguise. All the buildings, pedestrians, and even the air, in the Grey Matter's vision, transformed into lines of green and red code flowing rapidly like a waterfall!
"Let me see what kind of utter nonsense is written in the source code of this crappy computer of yours."
The Grey Matter looked at the rusty Mark Armor that was still patrolling in mid-air.
In his vision, it was no longer a physical entity, but a [trigger program] emitting a red glow.
[If the target visual element captures this entity]
[Then (forcefully change the target's physical code to: rust_01. exe)]
The Causality Code extremely simple and straightforward, and no physical defense can stop it.
He looked up again at the black sun in the sky.
Countless thick data cables extend from the black sun, connecting every corner of this universe. That sun is the central CPU of this bizarre universe; all the abnormal rules are calculated and issued by it.
"I see."
A cold, superior smirk appeared on Grey Matter's ashen face.
"No firewall, no antivirus software. The rules of this universe are absolute, but the code is written like a third-rate programmer's internship project. It's full of bugs!"
The Grey Matter looked down at his chest.
The Omnitrix that was originally worn on his wrist has now become a dark matter breastplate wrapped around his chest due to his shrunken size. The central Phoenix Galaxy vortex is still slowly rotating, providing endless energy.
"Although I can't even lift a water glass with my current strength, I possess the most advanced router in the entire universe."
The Grey Matter's hands flew across the edge of the watch face.
His fingertips transformed into phantoms, and green holographic screens unfolded before him.
"Since you've determined that I'm an unauthorized intruder, then I'll add a patch to myself."
"Forcibly hacking into the local causality network."
"Intercept the data stream of the <Citizen Survival Rules>."
"Modify user permissions. Set ' Jiang Li's' physical collision volume to [False]."
Set the causality selection state of ' Jiang Li ' to [Null."
Grey Matter frantically typed on the holographic keyboard, forcibly injecting lines of green code containing the Phoenix Essence into the underlying logic of this space.
This is a form of dimensional reduction attack. Not a reduction in strength, but an absolute crushing of intelligence!
"Done. Submit changes. Overwrite the original file."
Snap!
The Grey Matter pressed the Enter key heavily on the holographic screen.
Buzz--!
A faint yet powerful fluctuation, capable of penetrating the underlying logic of dimensions, spread out from Jiang Li.
[Ding! The underlying firewall for the watch face has been updated!]
[The "Ghost) " protocol patch has been added for the host!]
In this universe, the host will be immune to all punishments based on anomalous rules of "causal locking"!
"The game has only just begun."
The Grey Matter pressed the watch face on his chest.
The green light came on again.
The next second, a black-haired young man, 1.88 meters tall, wearing a black trench coat and with a cold look, reappeared in the middle of the street.
Jiang Li has reverted to human form!
He twisted his neck, a wild smile playing on his lips. He didn't lower his head or hide, but swaggered straight to the middle of the street.
He even took out a cigarette from his pocket, bent down, and lit it.
In mid-air.
The rusty Iron Man armor, with its two deep black holes on the mask, stared intently at Jiang Li once again.
[Rule 3 has been triggered.]
[The target has been identified as an abnormal entity.]
[Punishment mechanism activated. Initiating the injection of the Rust Concept...]
However.
The gears inside the rusty armor whirred wildly, but nothing happened.
In its judgment logic, there was clearly a living person standing in front of it, but the "causality locking code" it emitted was like a mud ox entering the sea, completely penetrating Jiang Li's body and hitting the air.
[Error!]
[Error 404: Target does not exist.]
[Unable to lock onto target. Abandon execution of penalty.]
The rusty Iron Man armor circled above Jiang Li's head twice before finally returning to its original patrol route like a headless fly, completely ignoring Jiang Li smoking below.
Jiang Li exhaled a puff of smoke, looked up at the rusty steel armor, and sneered.
"How satisfying is it to exploit bugs?"
Jiang Li the cigarette butt in his hand, his gaze passing over the rusty armor and looking towards the very center of the city.
There stands a towering, bizarre building, its surface covered in mechanical tumors— Stark Tower.
"Since physics can't destroy you..."
Jiang Li strode towards Stark Tower, the watch on his left wrist flashing with a cold, eerie green light.
"Then we'll pack you all up and take you in!"