CHAPTER 74 – The Hacker's True Identity
Just as Xiao Xi raised her hands, preparing to unleash the World Rewrite power…
The hacker surged forward, moving with impossible speed, and grabbed her wrist.
His touch burned like agonizing fire, attempting to corrupt her access code.
Xiao Xi screamed in pain.
Gu lunged—but the hacker slammed him back with a savage wave of dark code, pinning him against the wall of the void.
"YOU WANT THE TRUTH, LITTLE ANOMALY?" the hacker roared, his voice trembling with years of suppressed rage and sorrow.
His monstrous, corrupted form began collapsing inward violently.
Bits of raw, black static fell away, purging the corruption from the core of his form.
And underneath—
A human silhouette appeared.
Young.
Male.
His eyes were no longer red code, but filled with overwhelming grief, desperation, and blinding resentment.
Shen Yichen froze, recognition dawning in his eyes.
"…Who are you?" Shen whispered, shocked.
The hacker hissed:
"I am the ORIGINAL villain.
The one the author scrapped."
Everyone stared.
The hacker continued, his voice thick with rage and sorrow.
"The author removed me.
CUT me out of the initial draft.
Deleted my entire existence from the published version."
He looked at Xiao Xi with burning, possessive hate.
"And then they wrote HIM—" He pointed at Shen.
"—and HER—"
Ling stepped back, startled, a sudden understanding washing over her.
"—and YOU replaced me in the plot, little savior."
Xiao Xi's breath caught, realizing the depth of the hacker's pain.
"You were… erased entirely?"
The hacker laughed bitterly, tears mixing with digital static on his cheeks.
"I was meant to be the male lead.
The story was MINE.
Then I became nothing but corrupted, residual code in the system.
A ghost."
He stepped closer, his face inches from hers.
"And you? You're just like me—a piece that doesn't belong.
A piece of external code that hijacked the narrative."
Xiao Xi shook her head fiercely.
"No. I didn't steal anyone's place.
I was chosen to fill a void."
Gu forced himself to his feet, ignoring the collapsing code of his own body.
"You could have asked for help to reform your existence.
Instead, you chose destruction and murder."
The hacker screamed, his sorrow turning to ultimate fury:
"I WANT WHAT WAS STOLEN FROM ME!"
And he launched at Xiao Xi with final, pure killing intent.