The air reeked of stale lubricant and a rotting, sweet-sour tang. It was the scent of ozone over-ionized, mixed with the acid decay of biological tissue. Su Che raised a hand, pushing up his rimless smart glasses. Instantly, waterfalls of deep blue code cascaded across the lenses, overlaying the gray, desolate wasteland before him with layers of digital data.
In his vision, this abandoned interstellar outpost was no longer a pile of bricks and metal; it was a stream of constantly failing instructions. [Warning: Coordinates Undefined.] [Error: Path points to self-reference.] Red flashing icons danced frantically deep within his retina, like a dying heart convulsing in its final throes.
"Mr. Su, data for the path ahead is abnormal." The Zero stood half a step beside him. Her silver hair drifted slightly in the corridor, despite the complete absence of wind. Fine digital noise began to flicker along the edges of her hair, resembling a holographic projection with poor signal reception. "The physics engine is executing a recursive call. With every step we take, the coordinate values reset."
Su Che did not turn around. His gaze remained locked on the metal corridor stretching into the dark abyss ahead. His pupils contracted, as if he could see through the rusted armor plating to the underlying logic running within.
"Logically self-consistent," he spat out the four words coldly, his voice cutting sharply through the vast silence. "This is not a labyrinth of illusions; it is an infinite loop (deadlock). The pointer of the physics engine has overflowed, pointing back to its own starting address. 0x0041 -> 0x0041."
"What does that mean?" The Zero's voice remained cool and devoid of emotion, yet Su Che could detect the faintest hint of confusion beneath it. It was her emotional module attempting to parse a phenomenon it could not comprehend.
"It means we are trapped inside an infinite loop function," Su Che raised his right hand, tracing a shape in the air. A translucent, deep blue operational interface unfurled, floating between the two of them, scrolling with dense red warning logs. "As long as we do not sever the recursive call chain, we will never walk out of this door."
He took a step forward, the hem of his deep-blue, tech-styled jacket brushing against the dust-covered metal floor. One step. Two steps. Three steps.
The fluorescent tubes lining the corridor flickered on and off, emitting a crackling sound of electric current. It was the spark generated by data streams rubbing against an erroneous path.
On the fifth step, the scenery ahead overlapped without warning. The five meters that should have extended forward suddenly folded into zero in his vision. In Su Che's field of view, the rows of rusted shelves, broken pipes, and puddles in the corners instantly mirrored the scene behind him.
He stopped. The sensation beneath his feet remained cold and hard, with no change whatsoever.
"Confirmed," Su Che whispered. "Local recursion. Coordinates X: 102.45, Y: 309.12, Z: -12.00. Current Status: Loop call in progress."
[Warning: Illegal process injection detected. The 'Dead Zone' in the current area is expanding.] The Ghost Protocol's cold, mechanical voice rang directly into their bone-conduction headphones behind their ears. "Recommendation: Execute forced exit command immediately. Attempting to forcibly break through may result in a logic lock of consciousness."
"Analyzing the underlying code structure," Su Che's fingers flew across the void, each strike creating ripples of pale blue data. "This place has been modified. The original exit pointer has been replaced with 'Self'. This is a classic recursive trap designed to block unauthorized access."
The Zero tilted her head slightly, her silver hair swaying with the motion. The noise at the edges of her form intensified. "If we cannot move, how does 'time' flow here?"
"Time parameters are locked within local variables," Su Che narrowed his eyes, his gaze as cold as ice. "Unless the underlying protocol is rewritten externally, time here will remain frozen at the moment we stepped in. Or rather, an infinite loop."
"What should we do then?" A hint of urgency, barely perceptible, entered The Zero's voice. "If we stay here, my digitization will accelerate." She raised her hand, looking at her fingertips. The clear skin texture that was once distinct was now blurring, with countless tiny binary codes flashing and reorganizing frantically beneath the surface.
Su Che did not answer. Instead, he suddenly kicked his leg forward, slamming his foot hard against a metal wall ahead.
*Crack.*
There was no expected sound of metal impact. His foot passed straight through the wall, as if stepping into a void of data streams. In that instant, the world collapsed before his eyes into blocks of garbled code. The solid metal structures instantly decomposed into streams of green characters: 01010101... 10101010...
"I found the entry," Su Che said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "The wall is the boundary of the buffer zone. Penetrating this means we have entered the stack frame of the recursive call."
He turned around and grabbed The Zero's wrist. "Hold on tight. I am about to forcibly inject a Root command. If computing power overloads, do not let go."
"Understood." The Zero reversed her grip, holding Su Che's finger. The warmth of her palm transmitted through the skin. It was a real, warm sensation, starkly contrasting with the cold, dead data world surrounding them.
Su Che closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling air that smelled of metal rust. When he opened his eyes again, his pupils were filled with complex calculation symbols.
"Ghost Protocol, prepare to take over the local physics engine."
[Command received. Constructing Root interface...]
The deep blue operational interface instantly expanded, covering his entire field of vision. Countless lines of code scrolled frantically on the screen, while red error messages fell like a rain of blood.
"Recursive function detected: loop_space_process(). Loop depth: ∞." Su Che's fingers danced in the air with incredible speed, as if conducting a silent symphony. "Access Authority: Admin. Executing command: Break loop."
"Continue. Inject forced interrupt signal." A layer of fine sweat appeared on Su Che's forehead, his breathing becoming rapid. With every tap on the virtual keyboard, a burning sensation spread from his arms to his brain. It was the signal that his Mental Computing Power was being excessively drained.
"Executing command: rm -rf /system/recursion/loop_space_process."
"Permission verification... Executing."
The scenery around them began to distort violently. The previously static corridor looked like a watercolor painting being stirred, with colors and shapes stretching and rotating wildly. Rust peeled from the walls, revealing flowing blue light strips beneath. These light strips converged into massive whirlpools, engulfing Su Che and The Zero.
"Warning! Local gravitational constant anomaly!" The Ghost Protocol's alarm became shrill. "Current area gravity value: 9.8m/s² -> 14.5m/s² -> ∞."
Su Che felt his body pressed onto the floor like a stone struck by a heavy hammer. The surrounding air seemed to turn into viscous gel; every breath required exhausting all his strength.
"Hold on!" He gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. "It's not over. This recursive function has a protection mechanism. It is constantly self-replicating."
In his vision, the garbled code began to proliferate frantically. The original single-loop structure split into countless sub-processes, each calling itself.
"Damn it," Su Che cursed low, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes. "I must delete the entire process tree directly."
"Syntax errors in the command will cause system collapse," The Zero's voice rang in his ear, tinged with anxiety. "Your mental power is insufficient to support a deletion operation of this scale. If you fail, your consciousness will be trapped in a logical loop and never wake up."
Su Che ignored her warning. His fingers continued to dance in the void, moving so fast they left afterimages.
"Ghost Protocol, activate Overload Mode. Call upon backup computing power source—my neural synapses."
"Execute." Su Che's eyes showed no retreat. "Otherwise, we will all become garbage data here."
He slammed his finger down on the final Enter key.
"Executing command: rm -rf /system/recursion/ALL."
Boom—
A massive explosion did not come from the outside but detonated directly within his mind. Countless red warning boxes instantly closed in his vision, followed by a dense field of green checkmarks. The proliferating code withered and dissipated like cut vines.
The distorted scenery around them began to settle. Gravity returned to normal. The nauseating sweet-sour scent in the air was gradually replaced by the smell of ozone.
Su Che knelt on one knee, gasping for breath. Sweat dripped from his chin, hitting the metal floor with a faint sound. His fingers still trembled uncontrollably, a physiological reaction to the excessive use of mental power.
"System scan complete." Although the Ghost Protocol's voice remained mechanical, there seemed to be an imperceptible fluctuation in it. "Recursive trap neutralized. Physics engine restored to normal."
The Zero stood opposite him, the noise on her body significantly faded, her skin once again clear and distinct. She looked at Su Che's pale profile and fell silent for a moment.
"You won the gamble," The Zero said softly. "Though the cost was high."
"Logically self-consistent," Su Che stood up, wiping a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes returning to their usual calm. "As long as the calculation is correct, the result is inevitable."
He looked toward the end of the corridor. The exit that had been a dead loop now revealed a path leading deeper. The light there was slightly brighter, still dim, but at least it no longer repeated.
"Let's go," Su Che adjusted his jacket, his tone flat. "More complex protocols await us ahead."
The Zero nodded and followed behind him. Their footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, heavy and firm with every step.
[Warning: New abnormal data stream detected. Location: Corner of the corridor ahead. Type: Unknown.] The Ghost Protocol's alarm rang out again. "Recommendation: Proceed with caution."
Su Che stopped, pushing up his glasses as streams of data jumped across the lenses once more. "Unknown? Perfect. Let's see how much garbage code is hidden within the Universe's Underlying Protocol."
He took a step forward, walking into the unknown abyss. Behind him, the abandoned outpost fell back into silence, as if everything that had just happened was merely an absurd hallucination. But Su Che knew it was a piece of reality he had just rewritten with his own hands.
"Mr. Su, your remaining mental power is 18%," the Ghost Protocol reminded him. "Recommendation: Immediate cooling down."
"Deal with the trouble at hand first," Su Che answered without turning back. "We'll talk about survival later."
From the darkness ahead, a faint sound of mechanical friction could be heard, like giant gears turning slowly. This sound was interspersed with subtle electric hissing, standing out sharply in the dead silence of the space.
The Zero walked up to Su Che and gently tugged at his sleeve. "Something is approaching there. Not a data stream, but an entity."
"Entity?" Su Che stopped, a cold light flashing in his eyes. "Is it the system's 'cleaner'? Or some other garbage process?"
"I don't know. But I can feel it scanning us." The Zero's gaze sharpened, though her voice remained calm. "There are red locking markers in its line of sight."
Su Che snorted coldly and raised his hand again. A deep blue operational interface unfolded in his palm, the progress bar showing his mental power recovering slowly. "Then let it try. See if its program is stronger, or if my Root command is more efficient."
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the burning sensation deep in his heart. Whatever awaited him ahead, the chain of logic had been broken. Every second now was a new beginning. And he was the one with the authority to rewrite the rules.
"Prepare for battle." Su Che's voice echoed through the empty corridor. "Adjust fire configuration. Activate defense matrix."
[Defense Matrix activating... Energy level: 30%.]
The Zero's figure gradually became transparent beside him. Countless tiny data particles gathered around her body, forming a thin shield. This was her unique ability as an individual embodiment of a "Logical Error."
Su Che looked at the shadows approaching ahead, a faint, cold smile curling his lips. "Come on. Let me see how poorly your code is written."