Yuan Lin arrived at the office panting, his hair a mess. He was met by the face of his manager, Mr. Zhao, which was red with anger.
"Finally! You've graced us with your presence, Master Lin!" Mr. Zhao yelled, his voice echoing through the quiet office. "Do you have any idea that the entire marketing department is at a standstill? The main server isn't responding! All their plans, all their data, is stuck!"
He found Su Ling standing next to the manager, looking like she was about to cry. "Lin, please, we have an important presentation for investors tomorrow, and all our files are on that server."
Yuan Lin felt a pang of guilt. He was the reason for this delay. "I'm sorry, I'll take a look right away," he said in a voice he tried to make confident.
As he walked toward the server room at the back of the office, Mr. Zhao followed him like an ominous shadow, muttering veiled threats about salary deductions and poor performance reviews.
"The server room is very cold," Yuan Lin said as he stood at the door. "And the noise is loud. I need complete concentration. Please, wait outside. I'll do what I can."
It was a partial lie. He really did need to concentrate, but not to fix the server with conventional methods. After closing the door behind him, he found himself in a small, cold room, lit only by the flashing green and orange lights of dozens of machines. The roar of the fans was deafening.
"Alright, Lord of Chaos," he whispered to himself sarcastically. "Let's see if your demonic power can handle a Linux kernel panic."
He tried the normal methods first. He rebooted the machine from the control panel, checked the cables, and looked at the error log. Nothing. The server was completely dead, unresponsive to any command.
"The hard way it is, then," he sighed.
He closed his eyes and summoned his mental interface. He activated his [Perception] and [Chaos Grip]` skills. He looked at the massive server tower in front of him not as a piece of metal, but as a living being of energy.
The scene was chaotic. Much worse than his personal computer. The blue and white energy threads representing normal operation were dim and suffocated.
But there was something else. Something he hadn't seen before.
It wasn't a spiky red thread like normal viruses. This was a black, oily, and sticky thread. It was wrapped around the "heart" of the server—the main energy thread of the processor—like a cosmic leech, slowly sucking its energy. It felt... hungry. And malicious.
"What the hell is that?" Lin thought, a chill running through his body that had nothing to do with the room's air conditioning.
As he focused on the black thread, a system notification appeared.
[First-Degree Demonic Energy Trace Detected. Classification: Scrying Leech.]
"A... scrying leech?" This wasn't a computer virus. This was something from the "other world." How did it get here?
Then the idea hit him like a lightning bolt. "The Dark Web Trojan Horse." His noodle recipe. He had ordered Wu Tian to meditate on it, but what about the others? What about the ever-so-diligent Treasurer Mo? Had he tried to analyze this "threat" and sent a probe or a curse... and it had somehow latched onto the nearest "network" Lin knew, his company's network?
"You idiot," he muttered. "I caused this myself."
There was no time for regret. He had to remove this leech before it killed the server completely.
He extended his mental "hand" using [Chaos Grip] and grabbed the sticky black thread. The moment he touched it, he felt a violent resistance. A wave of cold, malicious energy shot back through his mental arm, and he felt a sharp, sudden headache, as if someone had hit him over the head with a hammer.
"Ah!" he cried out in pain, leaning against the server rack.
The thing was fighting back. It wasn't just code; it had its own primitive will.
"Alright, you asked for this," he said through gritted teeth, anger replacing the shock.
He focused all his energy. He grabbed the black thread with both his mental "hands" and began to pull. It was a spiritual tug-of-war. He felt the pressure in his head building. The server lights in the room began to flicker violently, affected by the energy struggle. He felt something warm and wet trickle from his nose. Blood.
"Get out!" he screamed in his mind, pouring all his strength and frustration into one last, desperate pull.
He felt something "snap." The black thread screamed a silent, high-frequency shriek in his mind, then evaporated into a cloud of black smoke.
At the same instant, the server fans suddenly kicked into high gear, and all the lights shone a steady green. Yuan Lin was thrown backward by the energy discharge, falling to the floor, his back hitting the wall.
He was panting, his head pounding violently, the taste of blood in his mouth. But he had done it.
He slowly opened the door, leaning on the wall to look normal. Mr. Zhao and Su Ling were waiting anxiously.
"What happened? We heard a noise!" the manager said.
Yuan Lin wiped the blood from under his nose with the back of his hand, trying to look nonchalant. "Oh, nothing. Just... a stubborn feedback loop. Had to reset the kernel manually."
Su Ling noticed his state. "Lin! Your nose is bleeding! Are you okay?"
"Really?" He touched his nose. "Ah, the air in the server room must be too dry. It happens sometimes." It was the lamest lie he had ever told.
Luckily, Mr. Zhao was more interested in the server than his health. He rushed to the nearest computer, made a few clicks, and his face lit up. "It's working! It's back! Fantastic work, Lin!"
Later, as Yuan Lin sat at his desk, holding a tissue to his nose and feeling like he had just been through a war, a series of notifications appeared in his vision.
[Successfully repelled a First-Degree Scrying Leech +100 Chaos Points.]
[Host's assets have been protected. Crisis resolution ability demonstrated. Lord Authority Level +1. Current Level: 2.]
A hundred points? And his authority level went up? This was the best performance review he had ever received.
Then, a new message appeared in the chat group. It was from Treasurer Mo.
[Grand Treasurer Mo]: @Lord of Eternal Chaos" Sire, your wisdom is boundless! I attempted to use a simple scrying ritual to understand the nature of the Dark Web Trojan Horse you mentioned. This plague is more ferocious than I imagined! My scrying probe was instantly destroyed by a terrifying energy signature! It seems the nest of the Trojan is protected by immense power. Your humble servant was reckless, I beg your forgiveness"
Yuan Lin stared at the message, a cold horror creeping up his skin. The immense power that destroyed the probe... was him. He had just accidentally fought one of his own followers.
And now, they thought he was personally guarding the nest of a demonic plague.
The misunderstanding had just escalated from a joke to an interdimensional diplomatic crisis.