By the time we made it back to Dawn Station, the sun had fully claimed the sky. The mist had vanished, leaving the abandoned cars in the parking lot to reflect a blinding, harsh white light—like a graveyard of forgotten hard drives. The Core's hum was stable now, no longer the frantic, death-rattle click of before, but a low, rhythmic thrum, like a server running at low load, barely catching its breath.
I walked in the middle of the formation, still clutching that A4 sheet I'd torn from the Data Center. dev_Alpha7's comments were like a splinter in my mind—impossible to ignore, painful to touch.
Lin Xiao led the way, glancing back periodically to check on everyone, her frying pan still stained with grease from the earlier skirmish. She was already muttering about how to incorporate the "Garbage Collection Fragments" into our next meal.
Marcus hauled his axe over his shoulder. The wound on his arm had scabbed over, though he still walked with a slight, protective tilt to his posture.
Zhang Jing remained silent beside me, but her eyes were never still. She scanned the sky, the ground, and the flickering remnants of System prompts that drifted like ghosts along the roadside.
As we reached the perimeter, the light curtain parted at a touch. We filed in. Tyler leaned out from the watchtower, waving frantically. "You're back! Everyone okay?"
"Alive," I replied simply, heading straight for the Core Room.
The Core's glow had settled into a steady pale blue. The black smudge that had once threatened to consume it was now so faint it was nearly invisible, though a hairline fracture remained at the edge—like a microscopic scratch on a hard drive platter.
I pulled out the [Privilege Escalation Fragment] we'd retrieved from the Data Center and activated it.
[Privilege Escalation Fragment Active...] Temporary Permission: View full Audit Logs associated with the Core (Duration: 30 Minutes).
The System interface expanded. This wasn't a standard player panel; it was a scrolling stream of logs, resembling a debug window in an IDE.
Zhang Jing stepped forward, her eyes lighting up. "Let me," she whispered.
She extended her hand, palm toward the log interface, as if flipping through a physical ledger. The System responded—lines of logs began to be "pulled" out by her touch, categorized, filtered, and annotated.
[Audit Permission – Zhang Jing (Player) Active] Current Visible Log Level: Intermediate (Hidden entries unlocked).
She began to read aloud, her voice as detached as if she were reciting a quarterly tax report:
"Log ID: 2025-12-27 08:14:23. Event: Player #847291 (Alex Chen) completed Grey-Box Test. Debt conversion successful. Operator: Overseer-07. Comment: 'This one is smarter than the last. Debt wasn't cleared, but at least it didn't blow. Continue observation.'"
She scrolled to the next entry:
"Log ID: 2025-12-27 08:19:47. Event: Core bad sectors receded to 3%. Associated Debt Holders: Alex Chen (Rank 1 → Rank 3). Thorn (#00412) Debt Value +5 (Reason: Malicious recon of territory). Overseer-14 Comment: 'Another one who loves exploits. System says three more strikes and it's an account ban.'"
I frowned. "Account ban... does that mean permanent deletion?"
Zhang Jing nodded, her finger sliding further down. "There are hidden entries here. Only Audit permissions can see them."
She swiped, and the interface shifted to a dark crimson background:
[HIDDEN LOG – AUDIT ONLY] Event: Player #847291 used 'Privilege Escalation Fragment' to query backend. Trigger: Debt Value > 0 + Code Fragments held ≥ 3. System Response: Limited access granted, but flagged as 'High-Risk Behavior'. Potential Risk: Further reverse-engineering of the Core Reclamation Mechanism will trigger 'Reclamation Mode' alerts.
Below that was a line in a font size smaller than the rest:
dev_Alpha7 Legacy Comment (2023-05-12): "If someone managed to pull the audit logs this deep, it means the System is reaching its limit. Tell them: Soul Points aren't fuel; they're collateral. For every day a player survives, the System owes them another day. When the debt gets high enough... the System will break itself."
Zhang Jing's voice faltered. "Collateral..." she murmured. "Does that mean our survival is what keeps the System alive?"
I took a deep breath. "It's more than that. The System is using our 'Debt' to stabilize the servers. The more debt there is, the more stable the System feels. But if the debt hits zero... the System might not be able to sustain the load."
Lin Xiao asked softly, "So if we clear all our debt, what happens?"
"System crash," I said lowly. "The whole of The Veil might just shut down. And all of us... permanent deletion."
Marcus spat a curse. "Hell. So we have to stay in debt forever?"
Zhang Jing shook her head. "Not necessarily. There's one more entry." She scrolled to the very bottom.
[Hidden Log – 2025-12-27 09:02:11] Event: Player Zhang Jing activated Deep Audit. System Response: Access to 'Debt Transfer Protocol' granted. Protocol Details: Players may transfer personal debt to other players, territory cores, or system nodes. Success Rate: Dependent on Audit Depth and Fragments held. Risk: Failure results in Debt Backlash—holder immediately loses 50% of total Soul Points.
My eyes widened. "Transfer... we can dump our debt on Thorn?"
Zhang Jing pushed up her glasses. "Theoretically, yes. But we need his Core coordinates, a confirmation of his debt value, and an 'Audit Anchor'—basically, his System Signature."
"His signature..." I looked at the storage module we'd swiped from the control room. "There was real-time footage of Thorn in there. We might be able to extract it."
Tyler climbed down from the tower, still limping but with eyes shining with excitement. "I'm on it! I can mod the workbench to create a temporary scanner and snag his ID signature!"
We moved immediately.
Tyler tinkered at the workbench for twenty minutes, using frayed fiber-optic cables and code fragments to cobble together a crude "Signature Scanner"—a floating window the size of a smartphone that could remote-lock a player's ID.
I pointed the window at the residual image of Thorn on the main screen.
[Scanning...] [Success!]
Target Player: Thorn (#00412)
Current Debt Value: 33
Soul Points: Unknown (Hidden)
Territory Coordinates: Derelict Factory District (7.8km from Dawn Station)
Zhang Jing took a deep breath and placed her hand on our Core. "Initiating transfer."
The System interface flashed a confirmation:
[Debt Transfer Protocol Initiated] Target: Thorn (#00412) Transfer Amount: 50% of current held debt (1.5 Points). Success Rate: 67% (Boosted by Audit Depth). Failure Penalty: Backlash, Soul Points -50%.
I hesitated for exactly 0.1 seconds before hitting Confirm.
The interface blurred. Transferring... The Core's hum spiked, sounding like a CPU under 100% load. 10 seconds... 20 seconds...
[Transfer Successful!] The Core flared once, and the last of the black spots vanished entirely.
[Your Debt Value: 3 → 1.5] [Thorn's Debt Value: 33 → 34.5 (System Notification Sent)]
Far off, in the direction of the abandoned factory 7.8 kilometers away, a faint, muffled roar echoed across the wasteland—the sound of Thorn smashing something in a rage.
Zhang Jing wiped sweat from her forehead. "It worked. But he definitely knows it was us now."
I grinned. "Let him come and find us."
The Core was stable now, its hum reduced to a soothing "low-frequency white noise." Lin Xiao began preparing lunch, tossing in the new [Garbage Collection Fragments]. This time, the meal—a "Reclamation Potato Hash"—carried an effect that could directly purge minor debuffs.
We sat together, eating the hot meal. "What's next?" Marcus asked.
I looked at the image of Thorn on the screen—he was still screaming at the void, his debt value ticking up by another +0.5 from the stress.
"He'll come," I said. "And he'll bring everything he's got."
Zhang Jing pushed up her glasses. "But we have the audit logs. Next time he shows up, we'll see his debt-related weaknesses before he even swings."
Tyler raised his hand eagerly. "I can keep modding the scanner! Next time, I'll lock onto his Soul Point count directly!"
I nodded. "Good. Let's get ready."
In the Core Room, the blue light was steady. But in the corner of the screen, a line of small text quietly refreshed:
dev_Alpha7 Legacy Log (Auto-Append): "They've started transferring debt. Interesting. System, can you handle the load?"