Seeing Xu Yuan's body in the livestream slowly disappearing, along with the people desperately rushing toward him, Old Wu's mind went completely blank for a moment.
"Th… what's going on?!" After a short while, Old Wu finally snapped out of his brief daze.
Panicking, he grabbed his phone, quickly found Rookie's number, and pressed call.
[Beep beep beep beep… beep beep beep beep…]
What came from the other end was only a rapid, monotonous ringing tone. Seconds passed, but no one answered.
"Hello, the number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable, please try again later… sorry, the subscriber you dialed…" When this cold automated message came through the receiver, even the usually calm Old Wu couldn't sit still anymore.
He became like an ant trapped on a hot pan, pacing back and forth anxiously.
"Pick up the phone!!!" Old Wu muttered as he kept dialing Rookie's number again and again.
But no matter how many times he tried, the result was always the same. The call simply wouldn't go through.
At this very moment, somewhere far away, someone else was doing the exact same thing as Old Wu.
That person was Steve.
He had the same anxious expression, shouting into his phone the same way.
"Pick up, Rookie!!!! It's already too late!!!!"
Seeing Xu Yuan's body about to disappear, tears kept falling from Steve's eyes, yet he didn't even notice.
At this moment, his mind was completely blank. He had no idea what he should do.
He wanted to stop all of this, but there was nothing he could do.
So out of pure instinct, he kept calling Rookie over and over, hoping Rookie could turn the situation around.
———
[Inside Notch's Office]
Rookie was staring intently at the livestream screen.
His eyes were wide open, his gaze locked tightly onto the screen, not even daring to blink.
Both his hands had unconsciously clenched into fists. Because he was gripping so tightly, his fingernails had sunk deep into the flesh of his palms, yet he didn't feel the pain at all.
Rookie's breathing was unusually rapid. Every inhale and exhale felt heavy and difficult, as if an invisible weight was crushing his chest.
Not only that, but his whole body was trembling slightly.
The phone on the desk kept making a buzzing vibration sound, which felt especially harsh in the unusually quiet room.
Yet Rookie, completely focused on the livestream, didn't notice it at all, as if the phone didn't even exist.
On the screen, Xu Yuan's body was becoming more and more transparent. Watching this happen right before his eyes, the pressure in Rookie's heart kept building, getting heavier and heavier until it almost suffocated him.
Although Xu Yuan's body gradually dissipating after handing over Notch's power had long been part of Rookie's planned scenario, and so far, the first step of the entire plan was indeed progressing as expected, Rookie knew very well that there were far too many unpredictable variables and unknown factors in this plan.
There was simply no way for him to guarantee that every next step would unfold exactly as he had originally envisioned.
He couldn't be sure whether the plan would succeed instantly, nor could he predict what kind of ending Xu Yuan would ultimately face.
But Rookie understood one thing very clearly. Now that things had reached this point, there was already no turning back.
No matter whether the final outcome would be good or bad, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep going.
Rookie kept staring at the changes in Xu Yuan's condition without daring to relax for even a moment.
Finally, when he saw Xu Yuan's figure completely disappear, the heart he had been holding up finally dropped heavily.
He slowly raised his right hand, which had already been trembling nonstop, and shakily reached toward the phone on the desk.
Seeing Old Wu's incoming call on the screen, Rookie took a deep breath. After forcing himself to calm down a little, he quickly pressed answer and, before Old Wu could say anything, spoke in a slightly hoarse yet extremely firm voice, "Do it."
Seeing that Rookie had finally answered, Old Wu had been holding back a stomach full of questions he wanted to ask.
But hearing Rookie's firm yet exhausted voice, he swallowed all those questions back down.
Although Rookie hadn't explained anything, just from his tone it was clear that everything happening now was within Rookie's plan.
Nothing unexpected had just happened. This moment was the exact time Rookie had already chosen in advance to intervene.
Old Wu also understood that whether before making this decision or right now, Rookie had been under enormous pressure.
He had taken all the burdens onto himself. He had chosen to carry everything alone.
Thinking of this, Old Wu let out a long sigh. He didn't say anything more or ask anything further. He simply nodded silently and said, "Alright."
As he spoke, he poured the water from his thermos onto the running main server.
Along with a sizzling sound, after a burst of sparks, several wisps of black smoke along with a burnt smell came out from the server.
As those wisps of smoke rose, the livestream screen instantly went completely black.
Seeing this, Old Wu let out a long breath. Without any hesitation, he grabbed the thermos and ran toward the server room exit.
Fortunately, the security personnel's attention was all focused on the other physical hackers, which allowed Old Wu to leave safely.
Not long after Old Wu left, the programming department erupted into chaos.
"What the hell?! What happened? Which one of you failed to hold the line?!!"
"It's over, it's over. Did they really hack the server?!!! Are we still going to have jobs after this?!!"
"That shouldn't be possible! Did security fail to stop the physical hackers?!!!"
For a time, the entire department was filled with panicked shouting, complaints, and mutual accusations. The scene was a complete mess.
And at this moment, Old Wu, who should have stepped forward to stabilize the situation, instead quietly slipped into Notch's office during the chaos.
After gently closing the office door behind him, he finally relaxed a little, though he still wasn't completely at ease.
He hurried over with quick strides to Rookie's side. Just as he was about to speak and ask questions, Rookie suddenly cut him off without any politeness.
Without even turning his head, Rookie said coldly, "Go sit over there. Don't talk."
After saying that, Rookie walked straight toward Notch, who had just woken up from the game pod and was currently sitting there looking confused and lost.
Notch clearly hadn't recovered from everything that had just happened. His eyes were wide as he blankly stared at Rookie walking toward him.
Just as he was about to ask what exactly had happened, Rookie spoke first in a commanding tone.
"Don't come out."
"Try hard to recall the state you were in when you created the Blade of the God of War."
"Use your heart to feel the game world you created!"