Within the suffocating, pitch-black confines of a workspace barely ten square meters, the eerie blue radiance of three large monitors was the only thing marking the existence of Lam Vu.
The rhythmic clack-clack-clack of the keyboard echoed steadily, mimicking the heartbeat of a machine. Lam Vu, twenty-seven, was known in the underworld as the "Ghost of Security." He didn't work for governments, nor did he serve financial conglomerates.
He hunted "Zero-days"—security vulnerabilities within global operating systems that had never been detected by the human eye.
His obsession started young. Since his school days, Lam Vu had been captivated by decrypting locks and hijacking data, treating numbers and variables like playmates.
Now, as a freelance hacker, he only accepted contracts that were exceptionally difficult or piqued his curiosity; after all, he had already amassed a staggering fortune that most could only dream of.
"Done."
Lam Vu exhaled sharply, his finger pressing the final Enter key. He had just finished bẻ khóa—decrypting—a bizarre data file sent from an untraceable IP address.
The moment the final string of code executed, the screen did not display data. Instead, it manifested a deep, abyssal black vortex, swallowing every scrap of light in the room.
Lam Vu's heart constricted. An excruciating pain surged through him. It wasn't a biological illness; it was his entire biological data being "compressed" by an invisible force.
The Choice of Providence
In the void, a cold stream of consciousness slithered into his brain.
[Target identified: Lam Vu.]
[Selection Analysis:]
Absolute Logic Index: 99.99% (Transcending standard biological limits).
Data Adaptation: Subject has successfully encountered and neutralized the "Void Cipher" (The test file used as a benchmark).
Social Status: Independent, unattached, possessing an extreme survival instinct under peak pressure.
[The Archive of Providence System officially initiating "Reality Extraction" protocol.]
"Why me?" Lam Vu struggled to project a thought through the agonizing pressure.
[Answer: The world of Aethelgard is entering a "Memory Overflow" state due to the avarice of the Gods. An 'Outlier Variable' with sufficient intellect is required to restructure the order without being assimilated by existing laws. You are not a savior; you are a malware sent to purge the system.]
It became clear: his death on Earth was no accident. It was a forced recruitment.
The system required a brain capable of thinking like a programmer to oppose entities that used divine power to blind the world.
His life's work was the very thing it sought, and that data file had been his final entrance exam.
The Galactic Descent
The pain vanished, replaced by a terrifying sense of weightlessness. Lam Vu found himself plummeting through thick layers of electric-purple clouds.
Below him, the continent of Aethelgard stretched out like a majestic yet distorted painting.
He saw towers so tall they pierced the heavens, emitting a brilliant golden glow—the domain of the God of Light.
He saw the gargantuan, shifting forests of the Forest God, and the desolate, dead lands choked in the black mists of the God of Darkness.
[Warning: You are falling into the detection range of the 'Heavenly Firewall'.]
[If detected, your soul will be formatted as 'Data Trash' and instantly erased.]
"How do I hide?!" Lam Vu screamed into the whistling wind. He hadn't crossed worlds just to be deleted upon arrival.
[Activating Passive Skill: Ghost Mode (Anonymity). Encrypting Soul ID as a grain of energy dust.]
A translucent veil of data enveloped him. It was composed of shimmering, familiar numbers—the very bug codes he used to input into his computer. These strings of "errors" wrapped around him like a digital cloak.
At that moment, a colossal divine sense, carrying the crushing pressure of a god from the highest peak of the sky, swept past. It paused at Lam Vu's position for a mere 0.001 seconds. His heart nearly stopped under the invisible weight. It was the gaze of a supreme ruler, an arrogance capable of pulverizing any will.
But thanks to the System's encryption and his own familiar bug codes, that divine sense bypassed him, continuing its sweep toward distant churches.
BOOM!
Lam Vu hit the ground. A shocking explosion kicked up dust in the middle of a desolate plain. He lay deep in a crater, his body shattered, his black business suit tattered and dusty. Fortunately, the protective veil had buffered the impact, or he would have been "logged out" by the fall alone.
[Welcome to Aethelgard.]
[Starter Quest: Locate the 'Reality Breach' within the Ruins of Wisdom, 5km to the West. Tonight, the Gods will conduct a 'Soul Harvest'. If you do not reach a sanctuary, you will be erased.]
Lam Vu crawled up, spitting out a mouthful of bruised blood. Hearing the system's prompt, he let out a short, sharp laugh. A quest already?
He looked at his hands, where faint blue lines of code pulsed beneath his skin like new veins.
"The Farm of the Creator... The Gods are administrators... and I am the malware?"
Lam Vu let out a cold, predatory smile, his eyes flashing with an unprecedented excitement.
In his old world, he was bored of hacking outdated websites. Here, his target was the very operating structure of the universe.
"Fine. Let's see which freezes first: your 'Heavenly Laws' or my 'Malware'."
Under the blood-colored sunset of Aethelgard, Lam Vu's shadow stretched across the earth, beginning the heaven-defying journey of a man with an intellect far beyond his time.