Chapter 12 School Days

“I was thinking… should we consider getting a vehicle or something?” Feng Bujue spoke as he followed behind R2, sprinting down a ravaged street.

They had left the shopping center some time ago, and after returning to the town's main road, R2 had led Feng Bujue northwards.

"I know you want to conserve some energy, but…" R2 replied, "there are so many corpses of people and monsters on the street, along with building debris, overturned cars, and miscellaneous items. Driving would actually be less efficient. Besides, if you were in a vehicle, you'd be more likely to be killed by an attack like that."

"Huh? What do you mean, an attack lik—" Feng Bujue was about to ask what he meant when suddenly, a white beam as thick as a bowl came whistling from his left front.

While running, Feng Bujue moved with the momentum, his right leg forward, left leg stepping up, upper body lowered, leaning back, and with an incredibly sharp swallow flip, he barely dodged this sudden ranged sneak attack.

The beam missed him and struck a building dozens of meters away, exploding in mid-air and blooming into a ball of fire with a radius of about three meters.

"See, if you were in a car right now, you wouldn't have been able to avoid that attack, and you would have suffered the subsequent damage from the car exploding," R2 calmly continued. The reason he didn't offer assistance was that, according to his analysis, Jue-ge was fully capable of dodging the beam on his own.

"Okay, I understand what you mean…" Feng Bujue replied.

In fact, it wasn't easy for Jue-ge to dodge; quick reactions were secondary, the key was the assistance of Soul Sense, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to make such an extreme evasive maneuver.

"So many more have popped up without me noticing…" R2 said, scanning his surroundings. From his perspective, he could observe a different scene—among the countless flowing data codes, there were many uniquely colored fragments moving around, and these were the other derivatives.

Feng Bujue couldn't see any of this; currently, he was still at the "mountains are mountains, water is water" stage in the game. Therefore, unless the enemy's figure appeared in his field of vision, he couldn't determine their location.

"I don't see anything…" Feng Bujue replied.

"Stick close, we need to speed up, or we'll be surrounded." Before he finished speaking, R2 suddenly accelerated like an arrow released from a bow.

Seeing this, Feng Bujue had no choice but to stride forward and try to catch up.

The current speed was the limit Feng Bujue could reach without activating Spirit Gathering Art. R2, however, seemed unusually relaxed, even able to talk while running: "At this speed, we won't be subjected to ranged sneak attacks like that again."

Feng Bujue didn't respond because he simply didn't have the energy to speak.

"While we're at it, let me explain what the 'backdoor' is." R2 knew Feng Bujue's condition, so he didn't wait for the other party to chime in and continued directly, "According to the normal process, before the Mirror Shield is broken, the Level 3 Derivatives should have completed their 'mission'. When the shield fails, they will leave the Sandbox, which is like your players' 'teleport' after clearing a script.

"After that, the Level 4 Derivatives remaining in the Sandbox can begin to freely destroy the data in the script. This process usually lasts eight to nine hours, and then the Level 4 Derivatives must also leave. However, leaving is different from entering; the Sandbox doesn't have a dedicated channel for them to teleport out… Therefore, there must be a 'backdoor program'."

R2 paused, then continued, "The designer of the Sandbox is Root, one of the three leaders of the Source Organization. The original 'backdoor' he designed had only one gate per Sandbox, to prevent high-level Derivatives from being trapped in the Sandbox for various reasons. But later, with the continuous improvement of Sandbox technology, in order to allow the Sandbox to be used by more Derivatives… he created a 'worm-style' backdoor that can rapidly self-replicate and randomly appear in any corner of the script world."

"Haa… haa… So, at this moment, I have countless ways to escape." Feng Bujue gasped for breath, barely managing to reply.

"No, it's not that simple." R2 immediately poured cold water on him, "Those doors are made for Derivatives, and you are a player; your data composition cannot pass through those 'backdoors'." He changed the subject, "However, there is one door that should allow you to pass."

"The original one…" Feng Bujue said.

"Yes, that's the original data of the backdoor program," R2 replied, "It usually generates in the place where the original script data is most concentrated."

"Which is the center of the plot development…" Feng Bujue said, and the two slowed down.

Because they had reached their destination—South Park Elementary School.

"Damned capitalism, a public elementary school stands firm in the face of such a catastrophe." Feng Bujue looked up at the school building and complained, "When I passed the town government building just now, it was already in ruins, you know."

"That's not what you should be concerned about right now…" R2's tone became somewhat tense, and his expression was quite serious.

At the same moment that Feng Bujue and R2 arrived, a heavy shadow emerged from nowhere on the school's playground. The Derivatives lying in ambush here numbered over a hundred.

They had been waiting for a long time…

Feng Bujue gave a dry laugh, "That's why… I hate schools."

"Enough with the jokes." A rather tall female Derivative stepped forward a few steps and said, "R2-Ling Feng, you entered our Sandbox and killed so many of our compatriots. I hope you can give us a reasonable explanation."

"Pay attention, the one speaking is L2-Xuelan, she's also a Level 2 Derivative," R2 whispered to Feng Bujue beside him.

"Didn't you say the Sandbox was for Level 3 and 4…"

Before Jue-ge could finish speaking, R2 interrupted, "I'm afraid they discovered what I was doing and specially entered the Sandbox to deal with me."

"Oh…" Feng Bujue was outwardly calm, but he knew very well that the situation in front of him was almost extremely bad. He thought, "In terms of level, they are both Level 2 Derivatives. Even if R2 is stronger, it's impossible for him to instantly kill the other party in a short time… So, the remaining hundred or so Level 4 Derivatives, am I supposed to take care of them alone…"

Just as the battle was about to break out, a sudden change occurred.

A boomerang flew from mid-air…

This boomerang was made of ordinary wood, and its flying speed wasn't very alarming, but when L2 saw this thing, her face showed horror.

"How is that possible…" L2 didn't dare to be careless and hastily flipped back in surprise.

The Level 4 Derivatives, however, didn't seem to see the horror of this attack and just stood there indifferently. The next second, they were mowed down like grass by this seemingly ordinary "weapon"...

Flesh and blood flew, bones and skin shattered, and with one big swing, the boomerang killed more than twenty Derivatives.

With the sound of the wind, the boomerang flew back to its owner's hand.

Everyone present turned to look.

Standing in the middle of the road outside the school gate was a middle-aged man. He was a white man, wearing sunglasses, a classic white robe, and a crown of thorns. He had long brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard around his mouth.

"I've come to save you, my child." Jesus caught the boomerang with one hand, took off his sunglasses, "May God bless you."