Chapter 154: The Ad-Blocker War and the Pop-Up Apocalypse
"Okay, good news: Marcus is in the digital trash can," Aki shouted, kicking a stray pixelated marshmallow. "Bad news: The moon-server is currently uninstalling itself because I deleted its only administrator!"
The ground—which was actually just a low-resolution texture of gray rock—began to vanish. Beneath it wasn't magma, but a terrifying void of neon-green "Error 404" messages.
"Aki! How do we get back?" Rena yelled, still trying to shake off the digital duck that had grown a tiny mustache and was now refusing to leave her shoulder.
"We have to jump through the 'Outbox' portal!" Aki pointed toward a swirling vortex of light. "But the system is trying to monetize our escape! Look!"
Suddenly, a giant, 50-foot tall holographic billboard slammed down in front of them. It featured a very buff goblin in a tuxedo.
[STOP! BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE MOON, WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUY 'SHINY SKIN CREAM' FOR ONLY 999 COINS? CLICK HERE TO SKIP IN 30 YEARS.]
"Thirty years?!" Sai roared, his pink apron flapping in the digital wind. "I don't have that kind of patience! I have a steak waiting for me in the real world!"
The Battle of the Pop-Ups
As they ran toward the portal, more ads began to spawn. A giant floating shoe tried to crush Von. A singing bottle of detergent started a dance battle with Sai.
"Von! Use the Reaper!" Aki yelled.
Von drew the Twilight Reaper, but as he swung it, a small window popped up on the blade.
[YOUR SWORD IS RUNNING 'TRIAL VERSION 2.0'. TO UNLOCK 'SHARP EDGE' AND 'VIOLET FIRE', PLEASE WATCH THIS 2-MINUTE VIDEO ABOUT ANTS.]
"You have got to be kidding me," Von muttered, staring at his sword, which was now made of soft, wobbly rubber. He hit the singing detergent bottle with it, and it just made a BOING sound.
"Everyone! Connect to me!" Aki grabbed a giant glowing cable that looked like a long piece of spaghetti. "I'm going to use a 'Legendary Hack'! I'm going to install... AD-BLOCKER PLUS!"
The Final Sprint
Aki's eyes turned a brilliant, blinding gold. He didn't just type code; he started screaming it.
Command: Close_All_Tabs
Command: Clear_Browser_History
Command: Delete_System_32 (Wait, no, not that one!)
Command: Skip_All_Ads
A massive wave of blue light erupted from Aki. The buff goblin vanished. The singing detergent bottle evaporated. The rubber sword in Von's hand turned back into a terrifying weapon of destruction.
"The portal is closing! Jump!" Leo's voice crackled through the sky, sounding like it was coming from a very old radio.
They all leaped into the vortex. But as they flew through the data-stream, things got weird. Because the server was so old, they started passing through "Legacy Data."
"Wait, is that a Flappy Bird?" Sai yelled as a small, pixelated bird crashed into his helmet.
"And look! It's an old PUBG lobby!" Aki pointed at a group of 100 people in underwear punching each other in a field of low-quality grass. "Stay away from them! They're glitchy!"
The Crash Landing
With a sound like a thousand computers shutting down at once, the group slammed back into their physical bodies in the desert dome.
Aki gasped, his lungs filling with hot, dry air. He looked at his hands—real skin, real dirt, no pixels.
"Is... is everyone... okay?" Rena asked, coughing up a small bit of digital mustache that had somehow followed her back.
Sai sat up, immediately ripping off his invisible pink apron. "If I ever see a detergent bottle again, I'm going back to the simulation."
Von looked up at the moon. It was just a normal, quiet rock in the sky again. "The Afterlife server is gone. The Architects are finally... uninstalled."
"We did it," Aki said, lying back in the sand and laughing. "We really did it. But guys... I think I accidentally subscribed us all to a 'Shiny Skin Cream' newsletter. My phone is already buzzing."