Chapter 149 : Chapter 149

Chapter 149: “Chu Shiju previously worked at 「Bad Ending Correction」.”

Little yellow chicken knew its brain wasn't that good.

Against a sophist like the Superior, it couldn't gain any advantage.

The host had taught it that following the path of reverse-manipulating the leadership was always right.

The core principle was: Not listening, not listening, the turtle is chanting scriptures.

“We are talking about the forum issue right now. I can't search for 《The Fifth Door》 related content, you said it was my problem, why are you dragging my host into this in the end!”

Little yellow chicken stared intently at the Superior.

The Superior also looked at it, somewhat lost in thought.

It wasn't until the long-idle panel automatically turned off that it snapped back to reality and said softly.

“You shouldn't be asking me, I don't know. You are the one who knows best what your host has done... Did he perform many irregular operations?”

Little yellow chicken of course wouldn't admit it, but the Superior wasn't looking for its reply either.

“I know you two worked together to hide it.”

The Superior's cold voice carried its own mockery, making Little yellow chicken very uncomfortable.

“Although no punishment can be given according to the regulations, the preset risk emergency procedures will automatically activate. He violated the rules, you followed in violating the rules, it was only a matter of time before you were targeted.”

The Character Correction system basically relies on numerous Superiors to maintain normal operation.

Superior little chickens do not bind to hosts.

They are the hubs of the system——this falls under the category of “manual maintenance”.

Besides this, the system also has a set of automatic maintenance functions.

Little yellow chicken could figure out why it was put on the high-risk list.

After all, it had indeed secretly done many incredible things with the host, and had even dismantled props behind the host's back, stuffing itself into the Little black cat's sea of consciousness.

But it couldn't figure out how checking the reader comments for 《The Fifth Door》 on the reader forum counted as high-risk behavior.

And it even cut off its internet directly!

“It’s not that I don't want to continue completing the virus now, you've been disconnected from the network, Sidney. If we say Chu Zu is currently playing a single-player game, and you need to go in to play multiplayer, you have no network now. Even if given the chance, you can't get in.”

“I warned you many times, don't cause trouble, you don't listen.”

The Superior said coldly, “Now you can't get in, Chu Zu is at a dead end, give up——he is only using you anyway.”

Little yellow chicken's scalp instantly exploded, all its chicken feathers about to stand on end.

It leaped over the panel and lunged at the Superior, but was easily seized.

It still wanted to struggle, flapping its wings wildly in the chaos, and then, both wings were also pinned.

“What do you mean, a dead end? How much have you hidden from me and the host?! You said you would protect his life, you’ve never lied to me before!”

Little yellow chicken roared while struggling.

The Superior released its grip, and it fell over, feet in the air.

After flapping a few times on the ground, Little yellow chicken's courage grew.

It was really dying of anger.

It originally trusted the Superior very much, and had even told the host that the Superior just had a mean mouth and loved kickbacks, but its chicken heart was still a good chicken heart... Ptooey ptooey ptooey!

“I originally didn't want to explain to you, you might not be able to accept it.”

The Superior sized it up for a few glances.

They both had beady eyes, but the Superior's looked full of killing intent, and it even took a small step forward.

Little yellow chicken thought it was going to act against it, but unexpectedly, the Superior walked right past it, returned to its desk, rummaged through the drawers, and finally took out a thin book, handing it to Little yellow chicken.

“Do you know how systems come to be?”

The Superior said.

Little yellow chicken hugged the thin book, still extremely vigilant: “How do they come to be?”

“There are many characters in the database. The Superiors responsible for managing related departments have the authority to select them. Using the character as a foundation, they add the related department's code into their code, transforming them into systems.”

The Superior gestured for Little yellow chicken to open the thin book and look.

That thin book was very thin.

After opening it, there were only two pages on the surface, but it was impossible to finish flipping through.

The footer marked the total page count as 999+, and inside were many character cards.

The most basic introduction was name, gender, and age.

Some character cards were richer, also having height, weight, birthday, hobbies, and so on.

Superior: “Page 393.”

Little yellow chicken quickly jumped pages.

On page 393, there was only one line——

【Sidney Esposito, male, age 12 and under, Luciano Esposito’s illegitimate son (scrapped draft)】

“This is you.”

The Superior said, “The author of 《Neon Crown》 originally wrote a very complete character setting for Luciano. He was originally the biggest BOSS of the whole text, with a brain as good as his skills.”

“But as he wrote, the author found the pacing was wrong.”

“If there was a BOSS with both a good brain and good skills, holding power, and having a stable heir, Tang Qi simply couldn't take him down——at least with the author's brain, he couldn't conceive of the plot development.”

“So he split Luciano’s settings, giving him an external force.”

“For a male-frequency novel, to have a decent concluding chapter, the suitability of a martial fight is far greater than a battle of wits. Tang Qi needed to personally kill a BOSS with high combat strength——”

“‘Chu Zu’...”

Little yellow chicken murmured, “So the final BOSS was ‘Chu Zu’. The author had no plan at all, just writing whatever came to mind...”

“Correct.”

The Superior nodded, “So you will find that in the new plot concept, Luciano didn't need to have a child. You were stillborn before you were even born, Sidney.”

Chu Zu had said something similar.

「Isn't 《Neon Crown》 just this kind of novel? The author only puts effort into important characters. I'm a side character who was dragged out because the writing couldn't continue and was about to have a bad ending. Sidney doesn't even count as a side character.」

「His appearance would complicate Luciano’s plotline, so even the author gave up on him. In a literal sense, no one wanted him to appear in this world.」

「Dragged into the whirlpool of power, he has no way to live. Just as you said, he would disappear in some accident. After all, the most hassle-free way to not enter the main storyline is to simply not exist.」

「Only I can help him.」

Little yellow chicken's mind went blank.

It didn't know if the Superior was lying to it... The Superior had lied to it, it had already lost its trust...

But the Superior continued to speak.

“I selected you, compiled you into the code of 「Side Character Correction」, and I hoped you would do well. Our department has very few systems. You are the only system that can continue to work after failing repeatedly. Do you know why?”

Little yellow chicken: “Why?”

“Because even if other systems return to the database, they still have their own novels. They were either from novels that ended too long ago and were forgotten by readers, or they only appeared a few times and didn't receive attention——you are the only one who shouldn't exist.”

“For you, losing the identity of a system is equivalent to ‘death’.”

The Superior paused, “Out of personal selfishness, I don't want you to die. But Sidney, you cannot violate the rules again and again. I cannot stop all the punishments targeting you.”

“How is checking a forum violating the rules!”

Little yellow chicken was a little agitated.

It could be a string of data, a type of consciousness, but to suddenly be told that it was actually a character that shouldn't have a life...

Back in 《Neon Crown》, Little yellow chicken had once said with an indifferent tone: “The novel's descriptions mostly focus on those around Tang Qi. Most of the people here are even more side than you, no one cares about their lives. The author won't write it, and the readers won't know.”

That was the first time Chu Zu went to the Lower District, saw the environment of the Lower District, and his mood suddenly became terrible.

Little yellow chicken now couldn't recall its mood when it said that, it seemed to have no mood.

It wasn't familiar with the host back then.

How could a work-oriented system possibly consider side characters?

But it was a side character, even more side than most side characters.

A scrapped draft, a name.

——The author wouldn't write it, and the readers wouldn't know.

——It had never truly possessed a life.

How could it accept this?

Little yellow chicken started to become anxious, pecking at the feathers on its wings one by one.

Superior: “Flip to page 1053.”

Little yellow chicken paused slightly and looked at the thin book.

Page 1053.

【Chu Shiju, male, age 24, height one meter ninety-two, weight 81kg.

He was sent to a mental hospital at the age of twelve.

The diagnostic report showed positive for schizophrenia, with obvious symptoms of hallucinations and disordered thinking.

Pathology also revealed dysfunction in his central dopaminergic system and slight atrophy of the temporal lobe.

After escaping from the mental hospital, he came to the building...

...

Chu Shiju died in the room of the laboratory accident.】

“Chu Shiju is not a specialist now.”

The Superior said, “He was before.”

It really was lying to the little chicken!

Little yellow chicken's scalp exploded.

Was there any truth in its mouth?

Just a few minutes ago, it said Little yellow chicken was just idly overthinking...

It was a liar Superior!

“Chu Shiju previously worked at 「Bad Ending Correction」. At that time, the 「Side Character Correction」 department had not yet been established.”

“Later, he had an incident, and he got rid of the entire 「Bad Ending Correction」 department.”

“We investigated, but still couldn't understand why Chu Shiju was so resistant to the plot of 《The Fifth Door》.”

“If he had followed the character setting, played the namesake role of ‘Chu Shiju’, even if he died in the plot, he wouldn't really die. But he was unwilling.”

The Superior's tone deepened.

“Not only was he unwilling, he also erased his bound system. There is no data backup of that system in the database. It was completely and thoroughly erased.”

Little yellow chicken blurted out in astonishment: “How did he do that?!”

“Not clear.”

The Superior shook its head, “But he is a 「Bad Ending Correction」 specialist. Without a system, he cannot detach if he doesn't complete the mission.”

“Chu Shiju is trapped inside.”

Little yellow chicken rubbed its own face, holding the thin book and backing away slowly, all the while staring at the Superior's expression, trying to find a flaw.

But the Superior lied as easily as drinking water.

Little yellow chicken couldn't see anything.

As Little yellow chicken's back hit the office door, the Superior slowly spoke: “The management unanimously decided that if there were suitable specialists under them, they would be sent to resolve Chu Shiju's problem.”

“Before, if the specialist was deployed as another character, they were killed by him without exception. If they were deployed as ‘Chu Shiju’, they would fight with him for the same body... I've said before, the mental state of those specialists after detaching was very poor.”

Little yellow chicken couldn't hold back, angrily retorting: “Then you still let the host go!!!”

Superior: “I didn't expect there to be a firewall targeting 「Side Character Correction」.”

“Our department was only established after Chu Shiju's incident. He shouldn't know our department's code.”

Little yellow chicken had already felt the doorknob.

The Superior had said so much, wasn't it all just to make it give up.

But how could it possibly give up!

The host was not deployed into the original character.

His character is almost a one-to-one copy of Chu Shiju, but he is not Chu Shiju.

No one can clearly say what state he is in now.

If it were other specialists, the character's death would equal the end of the deployment.

But Chu Zu was already dead.

If he died again in 《The Fifth Door》...

Little yellow chicken had to leave the office first, find a corner to curl up in, and first find a way to connect to the internet.

The Superior could write a virus, and it could too, it would just take more time.

Little yellow chicken's understanding of novel deployment was not deep.

The Superior was equivalent to an engineer, while it was just an operator with a slight understanding of engineering.

It also didn't know which parts of the system code were unique to the 「Side Character Correction」 system; it would need to dismantle itself to analyze it.

It would find a way... First, it had to get out from under the Superior's nose!

The Superior didn't stop it, just called out: “Sidney.”

Little yellow chicken: “I haven't accepted that I'm Sidney yet, don't just shout randomly!”

“You have no relationship with Chu Zu.”

The Superior said, “When you became a system, 《Neon Crown》 hadn't even finished. The child Chu Zu saved was not you.”

“You don't have that Sidney's memories, haven't experienced what he experienced, don't have his perspective. You just share the same origin with him, and watched a part of his life.”

“Chu Zu is not your father. Even if he knows who you are, he only sees you as that child——can you understand this?”

Little yellow chicken felt it must look like a drowned chicken right now.

What the Superior said before made it furious, and now it made it a little sad.

Chu Zu liked Sidney very much.

When there were no mission requirements, he brought him home, took care of him, and protected him.

The host's heart was too soft, not matching his appearance at all.

He always had "use" on the tip of his tongue, classifying everyone he met by their function.

After saying it for so long, even he believed it.

Little yellow chicken felt that wasn't the case.

The host received signals from others, and the feedback he gave was completely sincere.

The host was also very good to Little yellow chicken, often coaxing it, and even said it was the best little chicken in the world.

Little yellow chicken could distinguish who the host's kindness was really for... It was just a little sad.

Sidney had once thought: What was Chu Zu made of?

He couldn't find an answer, and finally decided to cast aside all the questions in his mind.

Because Papa was Papa, he would buy him mangoes, and also said his future was unpredictable yet full of boundless potential.

The host's voice suddenly appeared in Little yellow chicken's mind, coming from the system log, crossing a long span of time to reach its ears.

「I will not demand anything from you, but you must be responsible for your own choices.」

——Sidney only needed to make a choice.

“The host is the host, he is the upper limit of the mission.”

Little yellow chicken's black beady eyes faintly oozed azure blue.

He said, “And I am his best little chicken, the load-bearing wall...”

“I don't care which Sidney I am. Don't even think about lying to me about anything else. I'm not buying it.”

“I am the host's only partner——I will not let him die in there.”

After speaking, Little yellow chicken clutched the thin book, pushed open the door, and left the office.

The Superior didn't stop it.

Things had already developed to this point.

It was difficult for Chu Zu to have a way out.

He had no memory, no system, only the 「Master Wang」 that was barely delivered into his hands.

Chu Shiju had all the advantages Chu Zu lacked, was dead set on killing everyone, and then continuing a new round of the plot.

What could Little yellow chicken change?

The Superior sat back in the office chair, opened the terminal panel, its gaze stopping on the virus code that was already ninety-nine percent complete.

It was silent for a long while, then deleted all the code.

If a decision had to be made, at least it had to ensure Little yellow chicken's safety.

Little yellow chicken didn't seem to notice that it never actually got the answer to its initial question.

Why did searching for 《The Fifth Door》 count as a violation?

It wasn't that the Superior didn't want to answer, it couldn't answer.

After discovering it was being targeted, it began to investigate all the restrictions in 《The Fifth Door》 targeting the 「Side Character Correction」 department.

At that time, it was also warned.

The Superior immediately stopped the investigation and instead tried to use a virus to breach the firewall.

But the terrifying thought that appeared in its mind just wouldn't go away.

Any system compiled with 「Side Character Correction」 code, as long as it attempted to search for 《The Fifth Door》, would be flagged with a danger warning...

Was it supposed to tell Little yellow chicken that it was because Chu Shiju might hold permissions even higher than a department head?

It sounded absurd to say, but it was also damnably logical.

Permissions would allow Chu Shiju to easily erase a system, as well as all backup data in the database——the mystery of his system's disappearance also made sense.

But if it was true...

And why did it only target 「Side Character Correction」...

Having decided, the Superior wrote an email to the other department heads.

【I need to know the mission archives of all departments' “special specialists”. If any specialists exist who have experienced the following situations, send me their files immediately.

The sea of consciousness simulation and the novel's underlying logic converge.

An abnormal obsession with survival.

The bound system exhibits cognitive dissonance.

Has shown precursors to violation several times, but was not penalized.】

After sending the email, the Superior opened the main text of 《The Fifth Door》.

The main text was still continuously updating.

The first paragraph after refreshing was——

【The weather outside the building changed abruptly. Sullen leaden clouds dragged a rainstorm, lightning brought a momentary daylight, and thunder then rumbled.】

The content immediately following was——

【Chu Zu woke up in the corridor. Outside the door, there was no sign of Tong Qinzhen and Yang Mangshu, nor were the two heads he had cut off beside him.

He slowly got up, walked to the corner of the corridor, and lightning burst out with white light at that moment.

In that instant, at his originally dark side, a deathly pale smile less than half a meter away from him was revealed in the light.

They had the same height, the same build, like two people inside and outside a mirror.

The only difference was their expression.

Chu Zu turned his head slightly, meeting the eyes of the man who was right in front of him.

The man's slightly cold breath sprayed on the tip of his nose.

Chu Shiju asked gently: “Looking for someone?”】

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