The air in Zone 404 felt wrong.
Ethan had been in dangerous places before—the ruins of fallen cities, the wastelands overrun by rogue AI, even the depths of corrupted dungeons.
But this was different.
This place wasn't just abandoned.
It was forgotten.
Aya's boots crunched against the cracked pavement as she scanned their surroundings. The cityscape around them was a mix of half-rendered buildings and broken neon signs, flickering between different designs like the System couldn't decide what this place was supposed to be.
Glitched structures loomed overhead, suspended in mid-air.
> [SYSTEM ERROR: ENVIRONMENT UNDEFINED]
Ethan swallowed. "This place… it's barely holding together."
Player_0001 nodded. "That's what happens when data gets erased, but not fully deleted. It lingers."
Aya exhaled sharply. "Yeah? Well, I'd rather not 'linger' with it."
Ethan's grip tightened on his blade as shadows stirred in the distance.
The corrupted NPCs twitched unnaturally, their forms distorting between different models—some human, some monstrous. Their voices were a mix of distorted whispers and garbled code.
Then—one of them screamed.
And the others charged.
---
The Fight for Survival
Ethan reacted instantly. His blade flashed, slicing through the nearest entity.
It didn't bleed.
Instead, its body shattered into fragments of broken data, vanishing into the void.
But the others kept coming.
Aya fired point-blank into the head of another, only for it to keep moving as if the bullet had never existed.
> [WARNING: ENTITY DOES NOT FOLLOW NORMAL SYSTEM RULES]
"Great," Aya muttered. "They don't die like normal enemies."
Ethan gritted his teeth. "Then we find another way!"
Player_0001 stepped forward, holding up a glowing sigil. A wave of energy pulsed outward, pushing back the creatures.
> [FORCE DATA RESTRUCTURE: ERROR CLEANSING]
Several of the NPCs froze mid-motion—their corrupted forms distorting before they collapsed into static.
Ethan glanced at him. "That works?"
Player_0001 lowered his hand. "Only on the weaker ones."
Aya's eyes flicked around. "Then we need to move before something worse shows up."
Ethan turned toward the city's core.
There, in the distance, a tower loomed.
Unlike the rest of the environment, it wasn't glitching. It stood tall, untouched—almost as if it didn't belong to this place.
And at the top of it—
A light was glowing.
Ethan's instincts screamed.
> Something—or someone—is up there.
He took a breath.
> "We head for that tower."
Aya gave him a skeptical look. "You sure? Could be a trap."
Ethan nodded. "Yeah. But if this place is supposed to be deleted… and that thing isn't? Then it might have the answers we need."
Player_0001 adjusted his mask. "Then we move."
Without another word, they ran.
Behind them, the corrupted NPCs screeched, but the group didn't look back.
Because now—it wasn't just about escaping Zone 404.
It was about finding out why it still existed.
And more importantly…
Who was waiting for them at the top of that tower?
The Tower of Forgotten Code
The ruined city blurred around them as Ethan, Aya, and Player_0001 sprinted toward the mysterious tower.
Behind them, the corrupt NPCs howled, their malformed bodies flickering between shapes as they chased relentlessly.
Ethan's breath was sharp, his mind racing.
> Something about this place feels… different.
Like it wasn't just deleted—it was hidden.
Aya fired over her shoulder. "We need to pick up the pace!"
Player_0001 barely turned. "We're almost there."
The tower loomed ahead, standing tall in the center of Zone 404.
It was different from the glitching buildings around it. Its structure was flawless, stable—almost too perfect.
As they reached the entrance, Ethan noticed something etched into the massive steel doors.
> [ACCESS RESTRICTED: LEVEL UNDEFINED]
Aya skidded to a stop. "You've got to be kidding me."
Ethan didn't hesitate—he placed his palm against the door.
The System shouldn't have allowed it. He didn't have clearance.
But—
> [ACCESS GRANTED]
The doors shuddered open.
Aya blinked. "Well, that's not ominous at all."
Player_0001 tilted his head. "Someone… wants us inside."
Ethan exhaled, stepping forward. "Then let's see who's waiting for us."
They crossed the threshold.
And as soon as they did—
The doors slammed shut behind them.
---
Inside the Tower
The air inside was silent.
Ethan's footsteps echoed against the polished black floors. Strange golden veins pulsed faintly through the walls, like circuitry running through a living machine.
Aya frowned. "This place looks… untouched."
Player_0001 nodded. "It's not decaying like the rest of Zone 404."
Ethan's gaze landed on something ahead.
A terminal.
Unlike the rest of the room, the console looked ancient, its screen flickering with unstable data. Lines of code scrolled endlessly, written in a language that didn't quite match the rest of the System.
> [SYSTEM LOG: LAST ENTRY—ERROR. DATA CORRUPTED.]
Ethan moved closer. "This might tell us what happened here."
Aya crossed her arms. "If it still works."
Ethan hesitated—then pressed a key.
The screen flashed.
> [RESTRICTED FILE UNLOCKED]
A voice—glitchy, broken—echoed from the speakers.
> "If you're seeing this… then the System has failed."
Ethan's pulse spiked.
> "Zone 404 wasn't deleted by accident."
> "It was erased to keep something out."
The message glitched, skipping forward.
> "The Administrator will come for you. But he isn't the worst thing lurking in the System."
> "The true enemy… is already inside."
The console crashed.
A deep, distorted laugh echoed from the darkness above.
Ethan's hand tightened around his weapon.
Aya whispered, "We're not alone."
> [SYSTEM WARNING: UNIDENTIFIED ENTITY DETECTED]
The air shifted.
And from the shadows—
Something watched them.