Fantasy Game: Infinite City

A faint, cool scent lingered where the pointed ears had disappeared, clashing with the warm, fleshy aura emanating from the surrounding creation engine. Han Zu kicked the solidified flesh beneath his feet; it felt like hardened cartilage, producing only a dull "thud." The little mouse perched on his shoulder flinched at the sudden movement, its golden tail instinctively wrapping around Han Zu's neck. Its small head peeked out, its bright black eyes scanning the surroundings warily. It saw Han Zu frown, raise a hand to his brow, then slowly close his eyes, a faint grayish-white halo surrounding him, like a thin veil draped over his body.

Han Zu's senses spread along the fleshy veins of the Creation Engine. Inside this enormous life form, energy and life signals flowed through the veins like a rushing river. What he had previously thought was the "heart"—the enormous fleshy ball suspended in the center of the hall, constantly contracting and expanding—now only showed moderate energy fluctuations in his perception, and the frequency of these fluctuations was deliberately stable, like some kind of disguised signal source. The true source of the energy torrent was deeper, where the fluctuations were both turbulent and chaotic, like ripples spreading outwards from a lake where pebbles had been thrown in.

Han Zu opened his eyes and strode towards the direction where he sensed the most chaotic energy. The fleshy ground beneath his feet undulated slightly with each step, and countless tiny tendrils seemed to wriggle beneath the surface. With each step, he felt a subtle suction force, as if the ground was trying to drag him in. The little mouse climbed back onto his head, its four paws gripping his hair roots tightly, its sharp claws almost digging into his scalp—it had sensed the abnormality of the environment even before Han Zu. Looking ahead past Han Zu's shoulder, irregular cracks, like ruptured blood vessels, began to appear on the once smooth, skin-like fleshy wall. A viscous, pale pinkish fluorescent liquid seeped from the cracks, dripping onto the ground with a "drip-drip" sound, quickly congealing into translucent blood beads upon landing. The surface of the blood beads was still slightly contracting, as if pulsating with life. The bone structure at the top of the passage, originally milky white, was now covered with dark red markings, as if soaked in blood. Tiny bone spurs protruded from these markings, their tips adorned with thread-like flesh. The stench in the air grew stronger, mixed with a pungent, disinfectant-like odor. The two smells combined to create a uniquely nauseating stench that irritated the nasal mucosa, causing itching upon inhalation.

After traveling several hundred meters, the surrounding scenery became increasingly bizarre, as if stepping into the festering wound of the creation engine. The bony structures that had originally been neatly arranged on both sides of the passage, supporting the ceiling like ribs, were now nearly half broken. The broken sections were jagged, revealing honeycomb-like holes inside. Tiny, milky-white maggot-like creatures kept emerging from these holes. After landing, these creatures crawled quickly, immediately burrowing into any flesh they encountered, leaving behind tiny holes.

A thin layer of pale pink liquid accumulated on the tunnel floor, with tiny fragments of organs floating in it. Some resembled miniature hearts, still beating weakly; others looked like tangled nerve fibers, twitching gently in the liquid. A large number of bizarre, malfunctioning creations began to appear in the tunnel—the most numerous being giant, skinless worms, ranging in size from as thick as an arm to the size of a bucket. Their bodies were covered with protruding blood vessels and nerve bundles, from which flowed fluorescent pink blood. They rolled and twisted unconsciously on the ground, leaving pools of a viscous mixture of blood and internal organs where they had crushed them. When smaller worms were crushed by larger ones, they would burst into a cloud of pink mist, which would quickly condense into a thin membrane of flesh and blood upon landing.

Besides worms, there are many deformed humanoid creatures. They have only an upper body, with the lower body connected to a fleshy structure resembling octopus tentacles. Their heads lack facial features, consisting only of smooth flesh covered with compound eye-like lenses that constantly open and close, emitting a faint blue light. Even more chilling are some plant-like creations: their "stems" are composed of intertwined bones, with bud-like fleshy tissue growing at the top. These buds open periodically, releasing clusters of spiky spores. If the spores land on a wall, they quickly take root and grow into tiny bony spikes.

Deep within the passage came a series of muffled thuds, like the beating of a giant heart. With each beat, the entire passage trembled slightly, and the cracks in the walls widened, seeping out more pink liquid. Several deformed birds with multiple eyes fluttered their atrophied wings as they emerged from the depths of the passage. Their wings were reduced to two bare bony clubs with pieces of mangled flesh hanging from them. Their heads were adorned with seven or eight eyes of varying sizes, devoid of pupils, only a murky white. As they passed Han Zu, they emitted sharp, meaningless screeches, their voices filled with pain and confusion.

These creations had clearly malfunctioned; their core programs were completely disordered, losing their original functions and behavioral logic. A worm half a meter thick was the first to spot Han Zu. It stopped rolling, slightly raised its head, and the blood vessels on its surface throbbed violently a few times. Suddenly, it sprayed a stream of pink, viscous liquid towards Han Zu. Han Zu reacted extremely quickly, slamming his left foot into the ground and shifting his body to the right. The liquid grazed his left arm and landed on the bone wall behind him, making a sizzling, corroding sound. A fist-sized pit was corroded in the wall, and the bone around the pit quickly turned black, became brittle, and crumbled away.

The little mouse shrank back in fright, its golden tail tightly wrapped around Han Zu's neck, its eyes fixed curiously on the worm. Just as Han Zu landed, two deformed birds fluttered to his feet, frantically ramming his calves with the bony protuberances of their heads. Han Zu frowned slightly, lightly touching the ground with the toes of his right foot, his body slightly crouching. At the same time, his right hand shot out with lightning speed, grabbing the neck of one of the birds—the flesh there was exceptionally fragile, his fingers piercing through almost effortlessly, grasping the tiny bones inside. With a gentle squeeze, a crisp "crack" sounded, and the bird's struggle instantly ceased. Green sap dripped from between his fingers, falling into the pink liquid on the ground, creating a tiny ripple. Seeing this, the other bird rammed even more frantically at his ankle. Han Zu pulled his left foot back, bending his knee and slamming it down hard on the bird's head.

With a muffled "thud," the bird's head shattered, splattering green sap and tiny bone fragments everywhere. Having dealt with the two birds, the liquid-spraying worm attacked again. It wriggled its body, crawling rapidly towards Han Zu, its blood vessels bulging to their limit, clearly preparing to spray again. Han Zu didn't dodge. He thrust his right leg forward, his body shooting towards the worm like an arrow. At the instant he reached the worm's body, his left hand grabbed a protruding blood vessel in the middle of its body, while his right hand gathered grayish-white energy, slamming a powerful punch into the junction of the worm's head and body—the location of its nerve center. With a muffled "bang," the energy exploded instantly, shattering the worm's head. Pink blood and white brain matter gushed out, splattering Han Zu. The worm's body convulsed violently a few times, then stopped moving. The blood vessels on its surface rapidly dried up, and the fluorescence disappeared.

Han Zu didn't bother to clean the filth off his body; he simply wiped the liquid from his face and continued onward. He noticed that although these malfunctioning creations were numerous and behaved abnormally, they didn't exhibit any clear hostility. Their attacks seemed more like unconscious physical movements, manifestations of erroneous instructions transmitted to the end-user creations after the core program of the creation engine had malfunctioned. Like a precision machine out of control, the various parts were still operating frantically, but had lost their original coordination, merely repeating incorrect actions.

He began to adjust his strategy, no longer resorting to brute force. For large, slow-moving worms, he would circle around to their sides or rear and attack their relatively vulnerable nerve bundles. For small, agile humanoid creatures, he would use the bony structures on both sides of the passage as cover, luring them into crashing into the bones and then delivering a fatal blow while they were stunned. For plant-like creatures that sprayed spores, he would anticipate the trajectory of the spores and use the fleshy membranes on the ground as shields to block the spiky spores.

On one occasion, three humanoid creatures lunged at him from three directions simultaneously. He quickly retreated, leaning against a thick bone pillar. With his left hand, he grabbed one of the creatures' tentacles and swung it violently, slamming it into the other two. The three creatures collided, their bodies entangled in a ball. Han Zu seized the opportunity, grabbing the head of the creature at the top with both hands and twisting it forcefully, breaking its neck bones. He then kicked the other two creatures away, sending them crashing into cracks in the wall, where the pink liquid seeping from the cracks instantly corroded them into a pool of flesh. His movements were swift and decisive, without any unnecessary hesitation. Each attack precisely struck the creatures' vital points, conserving his energy and quickly clearing obstacles. New malfunctioning creatures continued to appear in the passage, but he dealt with them all in the most efficient way. Soon, a layer of creature debris piled up on the ground, with pink blood flowing among the remains, forming tiny "rivers."

After traveling nearly a kilometer, the passage suddenly widened, forming a small hall of about several tens of square meters. A fork in the road appeared directly in front of the hall. Three identical flesh-and-blood passages were arranged in a triangular pattern. Each passage's entrance emitted a dense pink mist, interspersed with tiny fluorescent particles, making the interior of the passage appear mysterious and eerie. Chaotic energy fluctuations emanated from the depths of all three passages, but the frequency and intensity of these fluctuations varied.

Han Zu stopped, closed his eyes, and maximized his perception. His consciousness spread out along the three channels like an invisible net. The energy fluctuations in the left channel were relatively calm, chaotic but without obvious peaks. He could only sense the presence of numerous small, malfunctioning creations, without any other anomalies. The energy fluctuations in the right channel were somewhat chaotic, with fluctuating frequencies, as if something was constantly interfering with the flow of energy. In addition to the aura of malfunctioning creations, he could also vaguely detect a metallic smell. The energy fluctuations in the middle channel were the most intense, with an extremely high frequency and a unique rhythm, subtly echoing the energy aura of the core area he had previously sensed. Amidst the chaotic fluctuations, he could also sense the aura of some large creations. Their life signals were exceptionally strong, clearly not the ordinary malfunctioning creations he had encountered before.

The little mouse, perched atop Han Zu's head, sensed the distinct auras of the three passages. It chirped softly twice towards the central passage, its head bobbing slightly, seemingly warning Han Zu of the danger. Han Zu opened his eyes, a resolute glint in them. He knew perfectly well that the central passage, with its most intense energy fluctuations, was undoubtedly the closest to the core area. He patted the little mouse's head, then strode towards the central passage. The moment he stepped inside, a powerful energy surge assaulted him, carrying a scorching heat that seemed to burn away his skin. Han Zu instinctively raised his hand to shield himself, and the grayish-white aura around him instantly intensified, forming a solid shield that blocked the energy attack. The aura collided with the energy surge, producing a hissing sound. Tiny sparks of energy flew from the aura's surface, landing on the ground and evaporating the pink liquid into puffs of white mist.

The malfunction in this passage was far more severe than in any of the areas encountered before, as if the core of the entire creation engine's failure was concentrated here. The fleshy walls on both sides of the passage had begun to collapse and melt in large areas, turning the once hard flesh into pools of viscous, bubbling flesh. From time to time, tiny limbs would extend out of the flesh and then quickly retract, like countless unformed creations struggling and writhing within. Some of these limbs were hands with sharp claws, some were feet covered with scales, and others were tentacles with spikes. Each extension was accompanied by a painful groan, and these sounds intertwined to form a chilling symphony.

The walls were riddled with a network of purple veins, resembling a neural network, from which flowed a fluorescent purple liquid. Some veins had ruptured, gushing the liquid and sizzling as it hit the ground, corroding deep pits. The bone structure at the top of the passage was even more appalling; most of it was completely broken, with only a few thick bone pillars barely holding it up, riddled with cracks and on the verge of collapse. Huge fragments continued to fall from the ceiling, some the size of millstones of bone, others hundreds of kilograms of congealed flesh, crashing onto the ground with deafening roars, creating massive craters, and splattering pink liquid and carrion everywhere.

The number of malfunctioning creations in the passage reached its peak. Creatures of all shapes and sizes rampaged and tore at each other. Large worms grappled with humanoid creatures, their bodies ripped apart by the tentacles of the humanoids, while the upper bodies of the humanoids were bitten off by the worms. Green sap and pink blood mixed together to form a bizarre brownish-red liquid that flowed across the ground. The flower buds of plant-like creations opened and closed wildly, releasing a large number of spiky spores. These spores floated in the air, and when they landed on creations or walls, they quickly took root and sprouted, growing into dense spiky spikes that enveloped everything around them.

The energy fluctuations in the air were abnormally chaotic, even forming small energy vortexes. These vortexes continuously absorbed the surrounding energy before suddenly erupting, tearing nearby malfunctioning creations to pieces. Han Zu walked through them as if traversing a mountain of knives and a sea of ​​fire, every step fraught with danger. He had to remain constantly vigilant, dodging falling debris and energy vortexes while dealing with the oncoming malfunctioning creations. The grayish-white aura surrounding him remained consistently strong, keeping all threats at bay.