"Warning: Data overflow detected at the Netherworld Yin Mountain Defense Line. Defense Array integrity has dropped to 4.3%. Immediate execution of 'Formatting' protocol is recommended."

  Li Wei (Daoist Name: Singularity) stared dead-eyed at the "Heavenly Dao Tablet" in his hand—a device reforged from the fragmented pages of the Book of Life and Death. The frantic flashing red light on the screen reflected onto his pale face, making him look even more bloodless.

  His Daoist robe, printed with the Eight Trigrams, had long been blackened by smoke and gunpowder. His sleeves were rolled up high, revealing not prayer beads, but a string of clinking USB drives hanging from his wrist. The hairpin holding his bun together wasn't wood, but a stylus pen glowing with a faint blue light.

  "Formatting? You make it sound so easy!" Daoist Singularity gritted his teeth and violently waved his whisk (fuchen). The three thousand silver threads of the whisk instantly transformed into countless streams of glowing code, stabbing viciously into the crumbling golden light barrier in front of him.

  "I am a System Administrator, not a demolition crew! If we format this place, where are we supposed to migrate the data of hundreds of millions of ghosts? Did the Celestial Court approve the budget for the cloud servers?!"

  BOOM—!

  A deafening explosion rang out. The final line of defense for the Netherworld—the "Nine Nethers Soul-Locking Grand Array" outside the Ghost Gate—shattered under the impact of tens of thousands of demons, ripping open a massive breach.

  Unlike the wandering ghosts and lost souls usually found in the Underworld, these invading enemies were pure "Bugs."

  Their skin was crimson, they sported twisted horns, and magma-like saliva dripped from their maws. They spoke of no karma, feared no retribution; they were like malicious programs written solely for the purpose of destruction.

  An "Abyssal Maw Demon," the size of a small hill, squeezed through the breach. It opened its mouth and instantly devoured a squad of Yin Soldiers in the front row. Before the soldiers could even scream, they dissolved into scattered streams of spirit-particle data.

  "It's over."

  Singularity watched this scene, the calculations in his heart crashing instantly.

  According to his "Spiritual Consciousness Network" calculations, the total collapse of the Underworld's defense line would occur in exactly 3.14159 seconds.

  He fumbled at his waist and pulled out an "Instant Cardio-Relief Pill" (actually just scraps from a Nine-Turn Resurrection Elixir) and dry-swallowed it. As the Celestial Court's Special Commissioner for Underworld Crisis Management, his only remaining duty was to prevent the Core Database (The Palace of Yama) from being physically destroyed.

  "I have to initiate the self-destruct program..." Singularity's finger hovered tremblingly over the red button on the tablet. "Although they'll deduct five hundred years of Merit Points from my bonus, it's better than having the servers literally smashed to pieces."

  Just as his finger was about to drop.

  In that second, time seemed to freeze.

  Not because Singularity cast a time-stopping spell, but because a sound—extremely dissonant, extremely violent, and absolutely not belonging to this dimension—suddenly resonated through the entire Netherworld.

  Thud—Thud—Thud—

  Those weren't war drums. The frequency was too fast, too heavy. It was the bass-heavy heartbeat of some metallic colossus, accompanied by the soul-tearing distortion of an electric guitar.

  BGM: Mick Gordon - The Only Thing They Fear Is You.

  "What is that sound?" Singularity froze. "Where is this noise attack coming from?"

  The sky—the eternally grey dome of the Underworld—suddenly cracked open.

  It wasn't blasted open by a spell; it was torn apart like a fragile piece of paper by a pair of invisible, rough hands. A bolt of crimson lightning, accompanied by that deafening heavy metal music, plummeted vertically from the rift.

  Target: That "Abyssal Maw Demon" that had just charged through the defense line.

  KA-BOOM!!!

  An impact sound, duller and heavier than any explosion before it, rang out. Dust and smoke billowed, and the ground around the Ghost Gate sank three feet.

  The aggressive heavy metal music didn't stop; instead, it grew even more manic with the impact, as if in this moment, the BGM had synchronized with reality.

  The smoke cleared.

  Daoist Singularity's eyes went wide, code frantically scrolling across the lenses of his "Analysis Glasses."

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  That arrogant Abyssal Maw Demon... its head was gone.

  Replacing it was a figure standing atop its corpse.

  It was a humanoid shape.

  But he wore no Daoist robes, nor traditional armor. Instead, he was clad in a suit of dark green battle armor that screamed industrial aesthetics. It was a style of artifact crafting Singularity had never seen—rugged, heavy, and filled with the violent beauty of machinery. His helmet was completely sealed, obscuring his face, with only a cold, killing intent radiating from the visor.

  The figure held no flying swords, no magical treasures. Instead, he carried a strange tubular object (a double-barreled shotgun).

  "This..." Singularity instinctively raised his Heavenly Dao Tablet and performed a deep scan on this unidentified organism.

  Data streams scrolled madly across the screen, finally settling on a row of bold red text:

  [System Alert: Unknown Entity Detected.]

  [Race: Human (Questionable)]

  [Threat Level: DOOM Class]

  [Current Status: Extremely Angry]

  "Human?" Singularity couldn't believe it. "With this kind of oppressive aura, you're telling me that's a human?"

  The green figure moved.

  He paid no attention to the terrified Yin Soldiers around him, nor did he spare a glance for the dumbfounded Singularity. He simply turned his head slightly, looking toward the army of demons surging like a tide outside the defense line.

  Click-clack.

  The crisp sound of a mechanical loading mechanism rang out, sounding incredibly clear amidst the noisy battlefield.

  In the next second, Singularity witnessed the most unreasonable scene he had ever seen in his life (and he had lived for three hundred years).

  The man chanted no incantations, formed no hand seals, and didn't even mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. He simply raised that "tube" and pulled the trigger.

  BANG!

  There was no magical glow as expected, only a pure venting of kinetic energy. A demon in front of him exploded directly into a mist of blood, denied even the chance for "Data Recovery."

  Immediately after, the man charged out.

  It wasn't so much a charge as it was a human cannonball.

  He rushed into the pile of monsters, grabbed a demon by the horns, and tore its head off with his bare hands; a backhand punch punched through another demon's chest; a stomp shattered the spine of a third.

  Accompanied by the increasingly high-pitched heavy metal BGM, this wasn't a battle.

  This was a unilateral massacre. It was an art exhibition of violence.

  Those "Terror Bugs" that had left the Underworld soldiers helpless and Singularity burnt out were, in front of this man, as fragile as props made of styrofoam.

  "This isn't scientific..." Singularity muttered to himself, forgetting that he needed to repair the array. "And it's completely un-metaphysical either..."

  He watched the green back carve a bloody path through the demon tide. Wherever he passed, limbs flew, and blood flowed like a river.

  "This is simply... a Dimensional Strike."

  The man seemed to be enjoying the slaughter. He suddenly pulled a roaring chainsaw from behind his back and sawed a high-level demon's body directly in half.

  Vrrrrm-Vrrrrm—!

  Blood splattered onto the green armor. The man didn't pause for a moment, but in that instant, he glanced back at Singularity, who was still standing there in a daze.

  Although separated by a helmet, Singularity felt like he understood the meaning in that gaze:

  Don't block the way.

  Singularity shuddered violently. Years of corporate survival instincts made him react instantly. He quickly operated the tablet, turning the breach in the destroyed defense line into a temporary "One-Way Channel."

  "Big Boss, please! Feel free!" Singularity shouted, his voice cracking from excitement. "There are more mobs over there! I'll turn on the streetlights for you!"

  Watching the green figure go deeper into the enemy formation, drifting away with the blood-pumping heavy metal music, Singularity took a deep breath and looked at the data displayed on the tablet.

  [Current Region Demon Count: Decreasing at a rate of 50 per second.]

  Singularity wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, fished out the bottle of Instant Cardio-Relief Pills from his waist, poured one out, and stuffed it into his mouth.

  "I don't know which deity he is..." Singularity adjusted his crooked Daoist crown, a glint of madness flashing in his eyes. "But he seems like... an Anti-Virus Software specifically designed to kill Bugs?"

  If that was the case.

  This mess of an Underworld might actually be salvageable.