Ch.75[Chapter 75] ■os■ ■■ ■■em ■■■ B■■s

The data in Gacha Land is extremely delicate and sensitive, so even slight changes can completely alter the results.

A single mistake could lead to the destruction of an entire world.

That’s why Gacha Land has a separate profession called coders, and legally, anyone other than coders who manipulates data receives severe punishment.

However, there was one exception clause in the data manipulation laws.

That was when someone became isolated due to a bug.

“Haah…”

Dr. Phantom manipulated the console window, taking every measure he knew.

His actions seemed to work as the stage’s collapse slowed significantly, but the collapse still continued.

All that remained was to hope that administrators, namely coders, would come and solve this problem.

Dr. Phantom irritably scratched his head, which had become as complicated as the spaghetti-like code before him.

…

“Starting recovery immediately! Need support!”

“Let’s begin right away! I’ll first check if we can connect with the people inside!”

The two coders entered the event stage and opened the messy console window.

Thanks to the commands someone had temporarily blocked, they had bought some time, but the code was already corrupted or jumbled.

“Damn it! Why does this happen on our first attempt?”

The Bunny Girl coder continuously sent messages to the people inside through the console window.

Since the Mad Hatter coder was working on code recovery, all the Bunny Girl coder could do was anxiously wait for contact with the people.

“I’ve restored the mission code! I’ve also set it to end immediately when the mission is completed!”

The Mad Hatter coder fixed parts that Dr. Phantom couldn’t, as if to prove he was indeed a coder.

“But something’s strange.”

After working on the code for a while, the Mad Hatter coder discovered something odd between the lines of code.

“There’s… no bug.”

Although the code was a mess and corrupted, overall, there were no errors.

This sometimes happens in the coding world, but it shouldn’t be possible with the current code.

…

In fact, one needed to understand the characteristics of slimes to comprehend this.

Slimes have excellent adaptability, able to survive anywhere, and possess survival abilities that allow them to recover as long as their core remains intact.

Above all, slime mucus has strong adhesive properties, making it sticky and clingy.

The system thought the slime was a bug, but the reality was slightly different.

A crack had formed due to anti-aliasing issues and compatibility problems between library versions 9 and 11.

The problem occurred when the slime was sucked into this crack.

As the slime’s core mixed with the stage, it recognized the stage’s cracks as “wounded” areas.

As mentioned earlier, slimes can regenerate indefinitely as long as their core remains intact.

The slime’s mucus covered the cracks to repair these wounds.

Another problem arose here.

Normally, the slime’s code should not be compatible with the newly revamped stage code.

However, the misaligned code gradually fused with the stage code due to the slime’s adaptability, beginning to serve as a bridge connecting the messy codes.

The slime, thought to be a bug, had simply resolved the stage’s errors in its own way.

“…is that so?”

Sir Dominica sighed in the sticky black space, conversing with the slime’s core.

Though their conversation was brief, the slime, which had lived a solitary life, clung to her like an excited puppy at the appearance of a new life form.

It was the slime’s instinct to happily rush toward any living being it encountered.

Although it possessed intelligence, a slime was still a slime.

The slime moved its core as if nodding.

The intelligent slime never imagined things would turn out this way.

It had merely struggled instinctively to survive, but coincidence upon coincidence created a butterfly effect.

Although it was just an Easter egg symbolizing old data, the slime was still part of this stage.

If the stage disappeared, it would disappear too.

Sir Dominica sighed as she looked at this gentle troublemaker.

“Fine. Let’s say you had no intention of causing trouble. Then why am I here, and what was that eye I saw?”

Sir Dominica clearly remembered.

The black liquid that engulfed her in the sewer.

And the bloodshot eye that appeared with broken sprites.

A situation where anyone would question the intent.

The slime had intelligence but lacked oral structure data, so it couldn’t speak.

Instead, it desperately moved its mucus to defend itself.

A sewer shape, dotted lines and arrows drawn on the floor, someone presumed to be a coder. And something outside those dotted lines.

A split sewer. Someone standing above it. And the sewer filling with black liquid.

Sir Dominica carefully examined these drawings and then put forward a hypothesis.

“So, that eye was an Easter egg inserted by a coder as a prank? And there was a crack along the sewer, and the Easter egg got swept up as you were filling that crack?”

The slime vigorously shook its core as if nodding.

Sir Dominica thought the slime resembled a puppy caught doing something wrong.

Despite looking completely different.

Just then, Sir Dominica heard someone’s voice from above.

Looking up toward the sound, she saw Sir Dominic fall to the ground as cracks formed in the black liquid.

Having fallen for quite some time, Sir Dominic couldn’t get up immediately due to the impact, but thanks to the soft floor, he wasn’t injured.

“Where is…?”

“Welcome to hell, my parallel self.”

As Sir Dominic rubbed his still dizzy head and looked around, Sir Dominica, her mischievous side activated, greeted him with a joke that didn’t sound like one.

“Hell? Did we die again?”

Sir Dominic, unable to make proper judgments due to the impact of the fall, believed Sir Dominica’s words at face value.

Sir Dominica sighed at his naive reaction.

“It’s a joke. Did you really believe that innocently?”

Sir Dominic heard Sir Dominica’s rebuke, but since recovering his senses was the priority, he let it slide.

The slime, startled by the appearance of a new person, quickly hid its core.

It then extended just a tiny bit through the liquid to check out the newcomer.

Similar to Sir Dominica but with a slightly different aura.

The slime moved closer to get a better look at Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic, surprised by the slime’s sudden approach, drew his sword, but soon realized it had no hostile intent and sheathed it again.

Besides, a sword was too inefficient a weapon to fight a slime.

“A slime. Wasn’t this stage supposed to be steampunk or something? Do slimes appear in that?”

Sir Dominic looked past the slime examining him from various angles to Sir Dominica.

“Easter egg. Apparently some old data remained.”

The moment the slime sensed Sir Dominic had no intention to attack, it instinctively began to cling to him.

In a way, it was like a dog that simply loved people, but when the black, sticky liquid rushed toward him, Sir Dominic flinched in surprise.

Sir Dominica, having already experienced this, smirked at Sir Dominic’s reaction.

“Anyway, we need to find a way out of here.”

Sir Dominic pushed away the approaching tentacles, thinking of the people who might be above.

“Well. At least this slime doesn’t seem to want to let us go?”

Sir Dominica pointed to the slime’s core.

The slime just wobbled happily, showing no intention of letting Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica leave.

However, Sir Dominic was a knight, and since the other party had no hostile intent, he thought dialogue would surely work.

Of course, considering that Sir Dominic was still recovering from the shock, it was quite an impressive attempt.

“Please let us go.”

The slime’s body wriggled.

“I understand your disappointment, but we have a mission. If we can’t complete it, you’re committing a sin against us.”

The slime’s core trembled.

“Yes. I’m sure you had no such intention with the current situation, but this is how it turned out. Are you planning to avoid responsibility again by saying you had no intention? Even though I warned you this would cause problems?”

For some reason, Sir Dominic seemed to be having a conversation with the slime.

Whether it was a proper conversation or not, Sir Dominic and the slime appeared to understand each other.

“Is he completely insane?”

Sir Dominica muttered, looking at Sir Dominic in disbelief.

She knew she wasn’t entirely sane herself, but at least she understood the slime through its actions, not through slight wriggles that somehow constituted fluent conversation.

He’s not just any madman.

Sir Dominica shook her head.

Then.

[“Hello, can you hear me? If you can hear me, please press [Yes] next to you. If you cannot move your body, just say ‘yes’.”]

A sound echoed through the stage via the system.

A system window appeared before their eyes.

It was a coder.