Chapter 1 System Limit 30%

【System Limit 30%】 is a state that most players have never experienced.

This level of limit has already broken through the restrictions players face within the scripts. If anyone remembers the situation when Feng Bujue and Li Ruoyu entered the reverse world together, they should know… 30% is precisely the limit level for players in the reverse world.

In this state, the game menu summoned by players will no longer appear “before their eyes,” but directly in their “consciousness.”

The “interface” they observe is also completely new…

The status bar in the new menu has completely disappeared. The player's survival, stamina, spirit, and abnormal statuses will not be displayed as data—all of these things now require the player to feel and measure them through their own physical sensations.

In addition, the players’ perception of pain will also be enhanced. Considering that the “forced disconnection” mechanism is now malfunctioning, this is… quite terrifying.

Of course, this state has its advantages and disadvantages.

Although the auxiliary functions provided by the system are reduced, the restrictions are also reduced accordingly. The player’s perception becomes more detailed and… real.

Raising the system limit undoubtedly allows some of the more advanced players to display stronger combat power than in the usual state, but… they must also bear the corresponding risks.

…

Two minutes after the invasion began, in Shiva’s conference room.

“How is it? Can you guys do it?” Brahma asked anxiously, looking at the four teammates around the conference table.

“You can see for yourself…” Vishnu shrugged in response. “If we could, the successful ones would have already turned into white light and disconnected.”

“Damn…” Brahma couldn’t help but slam the table and curse.

“Eh?” Ashura was stunned for a second after hearing this, and asked suspiciously, “Why wasn’t the word ‘damn’ censored?”

“Hey, hey… what time is it? Why are you still worried about whether the system is censoring swear words?” Brahma retorted.

“No, this might be important.” Among them, Yama, the female player, seemed to be the calmest. She said in a deep voice, “You all heard the system voice just now… I think the fact that swear words aren’t being censored, and the changes in the game menu… are all related to that ‘30% limit.’”

“Hmm…” At this time, the fifth person sitting at the head of the conference table—Shiva—finally spoke. “I didn’t expect… what ‘he’ said was true.”

“‘He’?” Vishnu heard this and keenly noticed something. “Who? What did he say?”

Shiva replied thoughtfully, “Three days ago, on the morning I forfeited, Feng Bujue infiltrated my home and told me… that on the day of the finals, there would be an army of derivatives invading the game space.”

“Wow~wow~” Brahma was shocked. He widened his eyes and said, “Boss… the amount of information in that statement is a bit alarming…”

“I wouldn’t have believed a word of that before,” Shiva didn’t respond to the quip, but continued, “But… due to ‘some recent experiences,’ I now… don’t know what to believe anymore.” He took a breath and smiled wryly. “Heh… if I really had to choose, I’d rather believe Feng Bujue…”

“Big Brother, what exactly did you experience?” Ashura was a chuunibyou (delusional teenager), and one of the characteristics of chuunibyou is—accurate intuition. “Did you see a ghost or something?”

Before he could finish speaking, Shiva turned to look at his seventeen-year-old cousin. “Not a ghost… an angel.”

“Huh? An angel? What is all this?” Brahma frankly expressed his opinion.

Shiva was about to reply when…

Bang—

Suddenly, a violent impact sound came from the wall on one side of the conference room.

Bang, bang, bang—

Immediately afterward, there were three more urgent and violent consecutive sounds… The wall bulged out in response to the impacts.

“Holy crap?” This time, even Vishnu cursed. “There’s something outside this wall?”

“Logically speaking… there shouldn’t be anything. Because outside the wall is the data layer, and the ‘space’ there is completely different from the ‘space’ we’re in,” Shiva’s demeanor was surprisingly calm. As he stood up, he explained, “According to Feng Bujue… Link and Aid joined forces to create a mass-produced type of creature called ‘Redundants.’ These creatures can move at high speed in data form within the ‘data layer,’ and instantly materialize when approaching the ‘physical space’ to invade it.”

Bang! Crack—

As he spoke, the metal wall of the conference room was broken and torn apart.

The next second, a Redundant with a purplish-black skin poked its narrow head in, letting out a terrifying low growl.

“However, these guys shouldn’t be very strong,” Shiva said, unhurriedly stepping forward and raising his hand to perform [Sharp Fang Divine Force], directly piercing the Redundant’s forehead.

Immediately afterward, there was a “puka” sound, as if the shell of a crustacean had been broken… The Redundant’s forehead was penetrated by Shiva’s fingertip and burst apart in response. The fatally wounded Redundant didn’t even let out a scream before suddenly losing strength and turning into a stream of data light… disappearing into the air.

“If you hit a vital spot, a skill of this level is enough to instantly kill one,” Shiva added in an explanatory tone, retracting his right hand in the process.

However, before he could finish speaking, several more arms and heads suddenly protruded from the crack in the wall.

Seeing this, Shiva took two steps back and continued, “In any case… this is the main type of soldier you’ll be facing next.” Saying that, he glanced at the exit of the conference room. “While the exit hasn’t been destroyed yet, let’s get out of here and transfer to the mall through the landing space to meet up.”

“Aang—”

“Aah—”

Shiva was only halfway through his words when the Redundants, as if they understood him, let out low roars and quickened their movements to squeeze out of the crack.

“Remember, don’t stay in narrow spaces,” Shiva’s reaction was still quite calm. He reminded his teammates what to pay attention to while raising his fists, using pure physical skills to force back the Redundants’ advance. “Whether it’s the landing space, personal warehouse, or Scare Box… as long as the Redundants sense a data response in a certain ‘phase layer,’ they’ll invade it. Even if you can withstand their siege in a small space, once the surrounding walls are torn down, you’ll still be dragged into the data layer… and only heaven knows where you’ll be teleported next.”

“Understood.” At this time, Yama had already walked to the door of the conference room. Before leaving, she turned back and said, “Then, as usual… see you in Area 101.”

Here’s a digression… Because Jue-ge (Lord Jue) set the usual mall plane for Hell Front in Area 101, many high-level players who knew Feng Bujue also set their usual mall plane there, in order to occasionally run into Jue-ge. Over time, those players’ teammates and friends also changed their usual settings… Thus, Area 101 unconsciously became a gathering place for all sorts of celebrity players.

“Boss, we’ll wait for you,” Brahma said, leaving a sentence before walking into the door.

“Regarding the topic of ‘angels’…” Vishnu turned back as he retreated to the door and said, “…I look forward to the sequel.” After saying that, he also entered the door.

In the blink of an eye, only two people were left in the conference room.

“Big Brother, you should go too. Leave this to me,” Ashura said, entering chuunibyou mode and uttering lines similar to a death flag.

“By the way…” Shiva glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, “…with your abilities, you can move freely in the data layer, right…”

“That’s right,” Ashura replied with full momentum. “You retreat first. I’ll just go directly through the crack here in a bit…” As he spoke, a fanatical look appeared in his eyes. “I’ll be the one to defeat that pretentious Link!”

…

At the same moment, in Mall Area 4.

“Eh? What’s going on?” A middle-aged man stood blankly in a corner of the mall, scratching his head and looking confused.

This man’s surname is Li, his given name is Feng. He is the owner of Ruo Yun Studio in the eastern part of S City. Even Feng Bujue has to call him “Uncle Li.”

Viewers who have forgotten the previous text may think I am introducing the head of some dark organization, but… viewers with good memories should remember that Ruo Yun Studio deals in art auctions, appraisals, and exhibitions, and… is owned by Ruoyu’s family.

Everyone should understand by now. That’s right… Li Feng is Li Ruoyu’s father.

Speaking of Ruoyu’s father, he is definitely a standard life winner in reality.

First, let’s talk about family background… Among Li Feng’s grandparents, there was a very famous figure, the household name superstar of the early century—Li Hua. Even half a century later, in 2055, many people still regarded him as their male god.

Although Li Feng is not a direct descendant of Li Hua, and there is a saying that wealth does not last beyond three generations… a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse. Li Feng’s family background was quite good from a young age.

Looking at his growth experience… Li Feng received a good education throughout his life. Although he was a bit shy, he didn’t have social obstacles like his daughter. It can be said that before the age of twenty, his life basically didn’t encounter any setbacks.

Until… he met Shui Ruoyun, Ruoyu’s mother.

These two met while studying in Vienna. Their story of one being submissive and the other dominant progressed for three or four years. It wouldn’t be a problem to write a romance novel about it, so I won’t go into detail.

In short, the two entered the hall of marriage not long after returning to the country and created Ruo Yun Studio.

At the time, Li Feng didn’t know that Shui Ruoyun’s parents… were, as Gu Chen said, two of the ten strongest spiritual ability users on this planet; and Shui Ruoyun’s aunt was Gu Chen’s wife. Gu Chen and his wife… were obviously not easy to deal with either.

In short, Li Feng unknowingly joined a luxurious lunch… oh no… joined a family with a very dark background.

In fact, even today, Li Feng doesn’t know about the existence of the supernatural world (because he is too easily deceived, his wife and daughter hid it from him to protect him), and he himself is just an ordinary person.

But… this ordinary person has really good luck. Perhaps… he is the positive example of good people being rewarded, and fools having good fortune.

In this unprecedented crisis of the game space being invaded… Li Feng, whose level is only a mere ten (although he created his game character a long time ago, Li Feng rarely has time to go online, only occasionally playing in non-sleep mode), and who doesn’t understand what’s going on at all, is living longer than many high-level players…

Because he couldn’t squeeze past those young people, Li Feng was far away from the crowd near the big screen when the first wave of impact arrived, so he escaped the first round of the Redundant army’s charge.

Also, because the position he was standing in was against the system store, the fleeing crowds didn’t rush toward him when the invasion broke out.

A few minutes later, as more and more Redundants poured in, their rate of increase far exceeded the kill rate of the guard robots. At this point, a team of Redundants finally came to Li Feng.

But at the same moment, the NPCs in the store behind Uncle Li… took action.

On weekdays, those NPCs standing in the system shops have always been jokingly called “wooden stakes” by the players. These guys basically don’t speak or do anything; when players come to buy things, they only need to stand in front of the counter and summon a virtual menu to complete the transaction themselves. Those NPCs stand here just to create a “shop-like feeling.”

Originally… how could the stores in online games adopt a “talk and buy” mechanism? If they really adopted that kind of selling method… have you seen the lines at the bank to handle business? Have you seen the lines at the supermarket to check out? Not to mention a game with hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, even a game with tens of thousands of people online at the same time… you try turning the potion store into a “talk and buy” mechanism? You want to buy something without waiting for several days and nights?

However, today, those “wooden stakes” showed the players their true identities with their actions—enhanced guard robots.

Just as Li Feng was about to be killed by a Redundant, the owner of the equipment store behind him somersaulted out of the counter, raised his foot, and kicked the Redundant in half at the waist. Then, the equipment store owner put on a good show of grass-cutting musou (unrivaled) in front of Li Feng. He single-handedly took on the assault of seventy or eighty Redundants, killing soldiers like slaughtering pigs and dogs…

Unfortunately, this situation probably only lasted for two minutes…

There were only about sixty shop owners and guard robots in that area combined. Although the guard robots had the ability to teleport and possessed physical skills equivalent to a level 60 player (the player level cap is 50, but the guard robots can be set to 60. In addition, the original limit for players in the game space is 2%, making it impossible to initiate combat at all, so under normal circumstances, the guard robots are more than enough to manage the players), they also have their limits. When the number of Redundants reaches ten to one, or even twenty to one, the guard robots can’t hold on… Once they are damaged, it’s only a matter of time before they are destroyed.

As for the shop owners, they are capable of fighting against a hundred, and their upper limit is higher than that of ordinary guard robots. When “quality” reaches a certain level, “quantity” can no longer pose a threat to them.

However… the Redundant army created by Link and Aid is not just made up of the lowest-level “Redundants.” They also created some more advanced things—【rAid】 (redundant_Arrays_of_independent_disks).

According to the detailed explanation, these creatures are “redundant arrays of independent disks”; of course, there is also a simple name—【Marauders】.

The appearance of the Marauders is very similar to humans, except that their entire bodies are covered in the same black-purple “skin” as the Redundants. In terms of body size, they don’t seem as threatening as those tall Redundants, but the difference in combat power between the two… is simply worlds apart.

Although the intelligence of the Marauders is not very high, their strength has reached the level of a Tier 3 Derivative, and they all come with “tactical control modules.” The most critical point is… the Marauders are “mass-produced.” As long as there is enough time and resources, they can create as many as they want.

In the twelfth minute after the invasion began… the first Marauder appeared, followed by the second, the third…

It turned out that the massive number of “Redundants” were just the vanguard responsible for the charge… while the Marauders were the main force for completing the clearing.

Paang—

With a loud bang, the NPC in front of Li Feng exploded into data fragments under the joint attack of three Marauders.

Uncle Li, covered in cold sweat, took steps backward until his back touched the counter of the system store. He had to stop, “Uh… although I don’t understand what’s going on, with so many monsters surrounding me… I’m probably going to die, right…”

This time, it’s impossible for any guards to come and save him. The guards and shop owners in Area 4 have all fallen into a siege and are unable to protect themselves. The players who have survived so far are basically gathered together in groups of three or five, forming defensive formations to resist the attack.

“But… dying just means ‘returning’ to the landing space… right?” Uncle Li said to himself, a little unsure when he reached the last word.

At the same time, a Marauder had already walked up to him and raised its fist…

Boom—

A punch, hit!

This was a solid punch, a punch burning with scorching fighting energy.

But this punch was not thrown by the Marauder, but…

“Uncle, are you okay?”

In that instant, a back with incredibly clear muscle lines instantly appeared in front of Li Feng, while the Marauder who had raised its fist a second ago was nowhere to be seen…

Uncle Li rubbed his eyes and looked at the other party’s ID—【Seven Kills】.

“Uh… I’m okay,” Uncle Li replied. “Thank you, young man.”

“Hehe… you’re welcome,” Seven Kills tilted his head, raised two fingers, and gently waved them beside his brow, greeting Li Feng. As he made this gesture, Li Feng could clearly see that the knuckles on Seven Kills' right hand were still smoking…

“Uncle, don’t be afraid,” another voice sounded the next second, along with the appearance of a giant wielding a huge shield, with a physique comparable to Schwarzenegger. “We’ll protect you.”

Obviously, this time… it was Long Aotian who had come.

“Don’t let your guard down, Uncle Li is only level ten,” Commissar Greedy Wolf quickly appeared on top of the store. “If he’s touched by the enemy… I might not even have the chance to heal.”

“Eh?” Uncle Li was very strange. Why did they know his surname was Li? His in-game nickname was clearly 【Calm Clouds, Maple Leaves Oblique】,” How do you know…”

As a result, before he could even finish a sentence, the leader of Blade, Po Jun, appeared and interrupted, “Commissar is right… everyone, perk up! If anything happens to Uncle Li, we’ll all have to go to the Section Chief’s for tea…”

“Aww!”

“Let’s do this!”

“This place… we absolutely must defend it!”

At this moment, the members of Blade were impassioned, and their fighting spirit soared. Even during matches, they had never shown such momentum.