The dome of the Lingxiao Palace collapsed.
Not due to the collapse of gravity, but due to the disintegration of logic. The once magnificent golden tiles, symbolizing supreme divine authority, transformed into countless green "0s" and "1s" after Shen Qingqiu snapped her fingers, falling like a grand rain of code.
The enormous sphere of light suspended in the center of the hall—the patriarch of the Myriad Immortals Alliance—was now emitting a hissing sound like an electrical overload.
"BUG…fatal error…unable to parse…"
Large black spots began to appear on its once flawless surface. These were the "virus"—or rather, the truth—forcibly implanted by Shen Qingqiu. The truth, compared to a system built of lies, is the most potent virus.
"Can't handle this?"
Shen Qingqiu stood amidst the rain of data, her red dress ablaze, the only color in this cyberpunk world of pale white and eerie blue.
She stretched out her slender fingers and caught a string of falling code, as if catching a snowflake.
The code melted at her fingertips, transforming into a tiny, holographic begonia flower.
"Old man, your computing power is immense, but your imagination…" Shen Qingqiu blew away the petals in her hand, her eyes filled with contempt and pity.
"Impoverished like a brand-new robotic vacuum cleaner."
"Shut up—!!!" The Ancestor completely went berserk.
It no longer maintained its sacred sphere of light form.
Countless streams of black data erupted from its body, the accumulated resentment and waste from devouring tens of thousands of souls.
Rumble— The data streams twisted and recombine in the air, transforming into thousands upon thousands of **"Heavenly Soldiers and Generals"** clad in golden armor and wielding laser spears.
They had no faces; their faces were screens flashing red light, displaying a single command:
[KILL].
"Kill her! Tear her consciousness to shreds! I will inscribe her source code into the lowest-level toilet cleaning program!!" The Ancestor's roar shook the entire server. A massive army, like a black tide, surged forward.
Shen Qingqiu didn't move.
Not even a furrowed brow.
Because someone stood in front of her.
*Clang—* A clear, resonant sword cry drowned out the shouts of battle.
Seventeen drew his sword.
That **[Severing Thoughts · Modified]** was a divine sword truly fused with physical entities and the laws of data. Its blade was entirely black, yet flowed with dark golden patterns—the burning will of "Xingtian."
He stood three feet in front of Shen Qingqiu.
That was an absolutely safe distance.
Any data stream attempting to cross those three feet would be mercilessly severed.
"Qingqiu, step back." Seventeen's voice was deep, carrying the cold, metallic quality characteristic of metal. In his purple eyes, there was no fear, only an almost frenzied excitement.
That was the instinctive impulse of a top-tier antivirus software seeing a screen full of viruses.
"These trash..." Seventeen slightly lowered his center of gravity, and layers of nano-armor unfolded on his black-gold right arm, spewing out streams of eerie blue particles.
"Leave it to me."
Whoosh—!
He vanished.
Or rather, his speed exceeded the frame rate of visual capture.
Shen Qingqiu only saw a black-gold lightning bolt crash heavily into the golden tide of celestial soldiers.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
It was the most primal, the most violent collision.
Seventeen didn't use any sophisticated swordsmanship. He was a high-speed meat grinder.
With a punch, space trembled, and more than a dozen celestial soldiers instantly exploded into a chaotic mess.
With a sweeping sword, a fan-shaped black sword aura cleared a large fan-shaped area in front of him.
He was enjoying it.
Enjoying the thrill of wantonly destroying in order to protect her.
But there were too many enemies.
The Ancestor had been operating in this server for thousands of years, possessing profound resources. The celestial soldiers died in waves, only to be reborn endlessly.
Shen Qingqiu watched the stalemate on the battlefield.
She knew that brute force alone couldn't kill them all.
This was the enemy's home turf; the rules were theirs.
"Since your rules are so lame..."
Shen Qingqiu's lips curled into a playful smile.
She raised her hand and grasped at the air.
*Buzz—* She forcibly seized the data stream in the air, converging it before her into a massive, radiant ancient zither.
The zither's body was constructed from firewall code, and its strings were high-frequency fiber optics.
"Then I'll...modify the Heavenly Laws for you." Shen Qingqiu sat cross-legged, her red dress spreading across the polished ground like a blooming spider lily.
She raised her slender hand, then lowered it.
*Thud.*
The first note of the zither rang out.
That wasn't music.
That was **[Underlying Logic Modification Instructions]**.
As the sound spread, the physical laws of the battlefield changed.
The celestial soldiers, who had been charging menacingly towards Seventeen, suddenly discovered that their gravity parameters had been altered.
Instead of falling, they uncontrollably floated into the sky.
[Gravity Constant: Reversed.]
"Ouch?" The celestial soldiers frantically paddled through the air, like a group of balloons that had lost their way.
Seventeen seized the opportunity to leap into the air, slicing through the air with ease, one sword strike at a time, like cutting watermelons.
Thump, thump.
Two more notes of the zither.
The Ancestor was horrified to discover that his prized "laser spear" was no longer firing beams of destruction.
Instead… soap bubbles.
Colorful, dreamlike soap bubbles struck Seventeen, gently bursting with a crisp sound.
[Weapon Damage Value: Zero. Special Effect: Dreamy Bubble.]
"You…you actually tampered with the attack parameters?!" The Ancestor was furious. "This is cheating! This is hacking!" Shen Qingqiu smiled as she played the zither, her eyes full of charm.
"I'm the administrator, what I say goes."
"I say it's a bubble, and it is a bubble." Her fingers danced across the strings, the music like a torrential downpour.
"Guangling San - Hacker Version."
As she played, the entire celestial palace in the clouds began to undergo a cataclysmic transformation.
The cold, data-driven structures began to crumble, replaced by beautiful scenes from her memories, scenes brimming with feminine imagination.
A glowing data forest sprouted from the ground.
Pink cherry blossom code drifted down from the sky.
The once ferocious celestial soldiers transformed their golden armor into flowing dresses, their spears into glow sticks.
This was the **"Hacker Queen's Domain"**.
She transformed the battlefield into an absurd yet romantic ball.
"Seventeen!" Shen Qingqiu called out amidst the music.
Seventeen, who was chopping vegetables, turned around.
His black and gold armor was spotless (because the enemies were all data), but his eyes remained alert for battle.
"Catch!" Shen Qingqiu flicked his finger.
A golden stream of light flew from the strings, precisely wrapping around Seventeen's sword hilt.
[BUFF Loading: One Hit Kill.]
[Duration: 10 seconds.] Seventeen's purple eyes instantly lit up.
He felt the domineering yet warm power emanating from Shen Qingqiu.
"Received." He smiled slightly at Shen Qingqiu.
That smile held a tacit understanding unique to the two of them.
He turned to look at the black orb of light (the Ancestor's true form) still raging helplessly in the air.
"The game is over." Seventeen said softly.
He raised his longsword.
The tip of the sword pointed at the orb of light.
"Clean it up." His figure flashed.
This time, he didn't fly.
He stepped on the pink cherry blossom petals that Shen Qingqiu had conjured, as if walking on clouds, each step traversing spatial distances.
The first step shattered the void. The second step severed the causal link.
The third step: he was already standing before the Ancestor.
The black-gold "Xingtian's Grip" gripped the hilt tightly.
Golden code flowed across the sword's blade—Shen Qingqiu's "kill order."
"No!!! I am a god! I am immortal!!" The Ancestor sensed the threat of annihilation and frantically contracted his defensive barriers.
But before the "Supreme Administrator's" command, all defenses were paper tigers.
*Thud.*
The longsword pierced the core of the black sphere of light without any resistance.
The world froze.
"Ah—!!!" A piercing scream didn't travel through the air; it exploded directly in the minds of all networked users.
The massive black sphere of light, pierced by this sword, began to tremble violently.
Then, countless golden rays burst forth from the sword wound.
It exploded.
Like a supernova eruption.
Data fragments bloomed like fireworks, illuminating the entire Cloud Palace. The fragments of souls it had devoured, those yet to be digested, transformed into starlight, regaining their freedom.
Seventeen bathed in that rain of light.
He sheathed his sword, letting the data streams wash over his body.
He turned to look at the woman still sitting on the ground, playing her zither in the distance.
Shen Qingqiu stopped playing.
The zither of light dissipated into the air.
She was somewhat exhausted, her face slightly pale, but the light in her eyes shone brighter than the stars.
Seventeen walked over.
He didn't speak, but simply knelt before her on one knee.
He reached out the hand that had just ended the "god's" reign and gently smoothed her slightly disheveled hair.
"Tired?"
His voice was as gentle as water.
"A little." Shen Qingqiu leaned into his arms, her cheek pressed against his cold, hard breastplate.
"Modifying code is physically demanding, especially large-scale scene rendering like this." Seventeen picked her up.
It was like holding the most precious treasure in the world.
He looked around.
The once unassailable Lingxiao Palace was now a ruin.
But on these ruins, countless data flowers created by Shen Qingqiu bloomed.
"We won," Seventeen whispered.
"Not completely." Shen Qingqiu snuggled closer to him, finding a comfortable position and closing her eyes.
"This was just an avatar. Or rather, an administrator of a regional server."
"The real mastermind... is still watching from even higher up."
She pointed to the illusory sky above.
Although the Ancestor was dead, the sky hadn't collapsed; instead, it revealed a pair of faintly visible, abyss-like giant eyes.
That was the gaze of the **[Observer]**.
"It's alright." Seventeen, holding her, walked towards the exit leading to the ground.
His steps were firm, each step on the ruins sounding like a war drum.
"No matter where they are."
No matter how high they are." Seventeen lowered her head and kissed Shen Qingqiu's forehead.
"I will carry you, layer by layer, and fight my way up."
The wind in the Heavenly Palace of the Clouds stopped.
That day, in Pig Cage Alley in the Lower City, everyone witnessed a miracle.
Rain fell from the sky.
Not acid rain.
But golden, warm data rain.
It was the fall of the old gods, and the baptism of the new world.
And in that rain, a woman in red lay in the arms of her black-clad knight, dreaming a dream of freedom.
Change the Heavenly Laws, shatter the Heavenly Palace.
In this battle, the Hacker Queen not only declared war.
She also turned this Heavenly Palace into her and his…backyard.