There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

As Nemo launched his attack on Duan Fei, the duration of Duan Fei’s Skill ended, and his consciousness returned to his body.

No longer in the monitoring system, Duan Fei was finally free from Nemo’s Curse attacks for a while, allowing him to catch his breath.

Duan Fei sent the screenshot he had taken in the monitoring room to Bald Qiang and quickly received a reply.

"Ah, so it’s the Nail-Head Seven Arrows Scripture."

"The thing Lu Ya used to take out Zhao Gongming?"

"You’ve read *Divine Enthronement*? Not many people are into that stuff these days. But this is different from that kind of Immortal-grade Magical Artifact. Most of the time, the Nail-Head Seven Arrows Scripture refers to a specific cursing Magic. You take a piece of the target’s body tissue, put it in a doll to place the Curse, and then attack with a bow-and-arrow-style Magical Artifact. The entire process takes seven arrows, each more vicious than the last. The final one is guaranteed to be fatal."

"That’s so powerful! Wouldn’t that make you invincible?"

"No way. If Curses were that effective, who would bother learning the proper Magic in the game? Listen, Curses are just a minor path. If you want to walk the Great Dao, you have to honestly accumulate merit. That is the path of an Immortal, the one true orthodox way."

"You’re really making a science out of this game!"

"This game, *Abyss*, is no joke. The dev team must have at least a few orthodox Daoism experts, otherwise the vibe wouldn’t be this authentic. I even found several Daoist Scriptures. The old men at my Daoist Temple took a look and said they were the real deal, so now I’m spending even more time in-game. Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked. Back to the Nail-Head Seven Arrows Scripture. The reason it’s a lesser path is because it’s super easy to break as long as you know the method."

"So what’s the method?"

"The next time a wound appears on you, just say, ’I am not...’ followed by your own name. That’s it. Then you’ll feel something fly out. After that, follow up with ’The caster is...’ and say their name. The Curse will then be reflected back at them."

Duan Fei could hardly believe it. "That’s all it takes?" he asked.

"What do you think I meant when I called it a lesser path? An orthodox Magical Artifact isn’t this easy to counter. It’s just something a few unorthodox Daoists tinkered with until they came up with this weird thing. That method I just mentioned works on most Curses. You got all that?"

’The method really is simple,’ Duan Fei thought. ’I’m not an idiot, so there’s no way I can’t learn it.’

Still, he asked doubtfully, "Aren’t you worried about someone stealing your business, telling me this so easily?"

"It would be for the best if they did. Then they wouldn’t disturb my quiet cultivation. Besides, the more people who know how to break these evil, unorthodox methods, the better. It stops those deviants from running around harming people."

Duan Fei nodded. He reflected that while Bald Qiang looked like a total criminal, his moral compass was truly second to none.

After thanking him and saying his goodbyes, Duan Fei closed the chat and pressed onward.

With Nemo no longer interfering, the group moved according to Duan Fei’s plan, finally arriving at the 111th floor.

Before arriving, Duan Fei had assumed this place would be a high-security vault for important items, or a warehouse at the very least.

But to his complete surprise, the place was actually a cemetery.

Countless palm-sized safes were packed densely together. The pure white room should have been solemn and dignified, but the piercing wail of the alarm made it feel somewhat terrifying.

"Why put a cemetery here?" Duan Fei asked in confusion.

Lear frowned and looked at Duan Fei. "Boss, you knew we were coming here, but you didn’t know it was a cemetery?"

"Is the fact that it’s a cemetery relevant to my plan?"

"I suppose not, but it just feels weird. Allow me to explain, Boss. Because our consciousness can be uploaded and downloaded, we are, in a sense, immortal. As long as our data exists within the archives, we can be downloaded repeatedly, achieving eternal life."

Duan Fei nodded in understanding, but gestured to their surroundings and asked, still confused, "Then why have a cemetery?"

"They ran out of money for the download service. Some people simply grew tired of living and voluntarily deactivated their download service. Their physical bodies are disposed of, but their consciousness is preserved on a chip the size of a fingernail and stored here."

A look of realization dawned on Duan Fei. He looked around and said, "So that’s how it is. Then the number 3187 must refer to one of the deceased stored here?"

"Exactly. But the question is, where is 3187?"

"Over there."

Duan Fei turned toward the voice and saw Hyena pointing in one direction.

"The figure on my back is pointing that way. Let’s head over together."

The corridor was lined on both sides with palm-sized urns. But instead of ashes, they held memory chips.

Some had decided never to awaken again and had their epitaphs carved on the boxes.

"You never saw my birth, but you witnessed my death."

"See? Nukes are beautiful."

"I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a full life, but at least I can leave you a name."

"No matter what, I succeeded at one thing at least: dying."

In this cold city, the silent cemetery was ironically the most human place of all.

Those who left epitaphs had all chosen death willingly. Though their reasons were unknown, they had grown weary of this life and voluntarily chose to die.

After about ten minutes of walking, Hyena finally stopped and pointed to one of the safes. "This should be it."

He entered the password, RX-3324, into the urn’s safe. The door popped open instantly. Inside the compartment, which resembled a delivery locker, wasn’t a memory chip, but a roll of some unknown substance.

It looked like a tightly wound, extremely thin bandage. But strangely, the thing was quietly breathing, as if it were alive.

But when Lear saw it, the color drained from his face.

"That’s mecha muscle! It’s a special kind of muscle that only someone who has mastered the Mecha Technique can have. Why is it here?!"

Hyena’s expression changed as well.

He watched as the shadowy figure from behind him stepped forward, picked up the roll of muscle, and unhesitatingly pressed it onto his body.

"What are you doing!" Hyena yelled.

"What are *you* doing?" Anna demanded of Hyena.

Snapping out of it, Hyena realized the muscle was now in his hand, and it had begun to wind itself around his arm.

The muscle, as thin as a cicada’s wing, unfurled and began to crawl up Hyena’s body, replacing the musculature of his current cybernetic frame.

Although it was just a small roll, its extreme thinness meant that it unspooled to a length of about three thousand meters—enough to construct an entire muscle network within his body.

From the moment of contact until the muscle vanished, the entire process took only a few seconds. A complete mecha network was now fully constructed inside Hyena’s body.

Looking at his hands, he felt as if his entire body were breathing. The muscles throughout his frame were now linked as one, making him feel preternaturally nimble.

Then, the figure behind him pulled off one of its own fingers and plunged it deep into Hyena’s forehead.

A wave of intense pain washed over him. Countless memories bloomed like fireworks in his mind, and in an instant, Hyena recalled how to use the Mecha Technique, along with other fragmented memories.

Clutching his throbbing head, he looked over at Lear and couldn’t help but ask, "Mr. Li, have we met before?"