The real issue here—could he really blame the tech department for this?

Before the game’s launch, they tested it daily for an entire month. Every single member of the tech team took turns running internal tests. There were no bugs. Zero.

If there was anything unusual, it was just a feature, something built into the game. There was no way any kind of sentient monster could naturally form.

Old Wu had even reviewed the reports from customer service. He couldn’t deny it—this monster did exist. And it was definitely not part of the original game data.

Based on his years of experience, Old Wu suspected the culprit was likely a player. Someone had hacked into the game’s system and maliciously altered the program to create this thing.

Dealing with it wouldn’t be hard. All they needed to do was run a full scan and clean up the infected files.

With that in mind, Old Wu stepped out of his office. The tech department was bustling with activity, as usual, with everyone hard at work developing new game features. Scanning the room, his gaze fell on one employee who was—of all things—napping at his desk.

Suppressing his rising irritation, Old Wu strode over to the sleeping techie’s workstation. He glanced at the ID badge.

Employee ID: 303

Name: Mo Jiang (Mojang)

Old Wu was already in a foul mood after being chewed out by upper management. Catching someone slacking off was the final straw.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

He rapped on the desk loudly.

Mo Jiang jolted awake, looking like he was about to curse whoever dared to disturb him. But as soon as he saw Old Wu, he deflated like a popped balloon.

“Uh… M-Minister Wu…” Mo Jiang stammered. “What’s up?”

Caught red-handed, Mo Jiang could only scratch his head awkwardly.

“There’s been a breach,” Old Wu said curtly. “Someone—either a player or a rival company’s techie—hacked the game. I need you to fix it.”

“I’ll send you the relevant files in a bit.”

Most of ZeroPoint’s tech staff were former hackers—experts in their craft. Handling a breach like this? Child’s play.

“Got it.”

Stretching lazily, Mo Jiang prepared to dive into work. Shortly after, Old Wu sent him the necessary files.

When Mo Jiang opened the folder and saw it was over 20GB, he froze.

“Twenty gigs of data… Are you kidding me?!”

Mo Jiang couldn’t believe his eyes. How could a breach generate so much data? For a moment, he suspected Old Wu was messing with him, but he had no proof.

Reluctantly, he resigned himself to his fate. After all, he’d been caught slacking. With a sigh, he began sorting through the massive folder.

An hour later, he had a general understanding of what had happened.

“Looks like a case of dirty corporate competition,” he muttered. “Probably hired some hacker to mess with us…”

What stood out, though, was how HIM, the mysterious entity, behaved. Its actions were eerily human-like—logical, calculated, and precise. This wasn’t random behavior generated by code.

Mo Jiang noted that HIM initially used skills from the game’s monsters. Skills that could be copied and enhanced by tampering with game data.

All signs pointed to a classic case of hacking.

Determined, Mo Jiang requested access to the game’s database. From there, he dove headfirst into locating any signs of a breach. Normally, breaches leave traces—logs, IP addresses, something. Finding them just took time.

Four hours passed.

Mo Jiang stared blankly at the screen.

“…What the hell?”

Not a single trace. Nothing.

“What kind of hacker is this?!”

Mo Jiang was a former top-tier hacker himself. Even he couldn’t pull off a breach without leaving behind some kind of digital footprint. It was impossible.

Unwilling to accept defeat, he ran another detailed scan. Another four hours later, the results were the same—nothing.

“It can’t be…”

By now, Mo Jiang was breaking out in a cold sweat. If this wasn’t an external hack…

“Could it be… the game itself created HIM?!”

The mere thought sent shivers down his spine.

—

Just then, Old Wu’s voice snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts.

“Done yet?”

It had been over eight hours since Old Wu assigned the task, and he was growing impatient.

Mo Jiang hesitated but eventually explained the situation.

Hearing his explanation, Old Wu’s expression darkened.

“Are you serious right now?” he barked. “You’re telling me the game created a sentient entity? Do you even hear yourself?!”

“We’re a game company, not a lab for AI research! If we could create something like that, we wouldn’t be wasting our time making games!”

“Can’t find anything in the database? Then go into the game! That HIM thing has a physical presence, doesn’t it? Use your admin privileges to delete it directly!”

Faced with Old Wu’s scolding, Mo Jiang could only nod silently.

He had to admit—it was a solid plan. If HIM didn’t have a physical form, the issue would be much harder to resolve. But since it did, killing it in-game should wipe it out.

With no further complaints, Mo Jiang climbed into a gaming pod.

“By the way,” Old Wu added as Mo Jiang powered up the machine, “don’t forget to rescue those players trapped under Yonghui’s gang.”

Before Old Wu could say more, Mo Jiang closed the pod’s hatch. Seeing this, Old Wu didn’t press further.

Mo Jiang wasn’t a rookie—he knew how to handle the players’ emotional fallout.

—

Meanwhile, Peng Peng’s livestream had blown up.

Not only had he gained fame for openly defying the top guild, but his survival under HIM’s nose had become legendary.

Many players began speculating about his identity. Was he just lucky? Or was there more to him?

Add to that the fact Peng Peng now controlled all of the top guild’s assets, and it wasn’t hard to see why players flocked to him.

But the biggest draw? Peng Peng had connections—to HIM.

To most players, following Peng Peng was like an insurance policy. As long as they stuck with him, HIM wouldn’t target them.

It wasn’t long before the old Yonghui Guild base—now Peng Peng’s new headquarters—was bustling with activity.

Someone even joked, “Ding! Famous tourist spot unlocked!”

“Please look, but don’t touch. Break something, and it’s ten times the cost! (Just kidding… or am I?)”

“Alright, folks, after the tour, write an 800-word essay titled The Formation of the Terracotta Army. Totally reasonable, right?”

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep