Chapter 486: 474: Cage

Chapter 486: Chapter 474: Cage

In the night sky, brilliant fireworks formed by Magic Runes burst one after another. Showers of light cascaded down, illuminating the entire Floating City as brightly as day.

Today was the fourth-anniversary celebration of Sword Art Online’s launch. Even the system shop was offering promotional discounts.

In Aincrad, the Central Square of the Town of Origin was boiling with voices. Players hoisted mugs of ale, laughing and chatting loudly in a vibrant, lively atmosphere.

“Did you hear? The Blood Alliance Knight Order and the Holy Dragon Alliance teamed up. Yesterday, they finally took down the ninety-first-floor boss, the Skeletal Tyrant!”

“Of course! The forums exploded! Rumor has it that the battle was earth-shattering! We’re only nine floors away from the legendary 100th floor!”

“At this rate, I think we’ll clear the whole thing in another half year, tops!”

“An Eternal Body… do you guys think the clear reward is real?”

“Nonsense! Are you questioning Lord Wesren’s credibility?”

“Heh, I’m actually looking forward to the real-world rewards more. I heard everyone in the frontline clearing group will get a property in Golden Stone City.”

Laughter, cheers, and toasts intertwined.

The Town of Origin had never been this lively. Over the past four years, it had transformed from a beginner’s village into the most prosperous commercial hub in the entire virtual world. Taverns, auction houses, and guild halls lined the streets in neat rows. NPC merchants and player stalls mingled together, creating a thick, vibrant atmosphere of everyday life.

Every face beamed with hope and anticipation for the future. This world carried so many of their dreams and joys.

But right at that moment, things took a drastic turn.

Without warning, all the magical fireworks in the sky instantly froze. Even the entire sky began to flash with an eerie red light.

The clamor in the square came to a screeching halt. Everyone looked up in astonishment at the ominous, blood-red canopy above. A chill ran down their spines.

“What’s going on? A special anniversary event?” one player muttered instinctively, trying to open his system menu. He reached out his right hand and swiped lightly through the air.

The pale blue light screen popped up as usual, but in its bottom right corner, the [Logout] button—something everyone was intimately familiar with—was now flickering incessantly, scrambling into a mass of distorted code.

“Is my logout button… broken?” His voice carried a trace of a tremble.

Hearing this, his companion quickly swiped open his own menu. In the next second, gasps of alarm completely replaced the joyous laughter of the celebration.

“Mine too!”

“What’s happening? I can’t get out!”

Under the horrified gazes of millions of players, that mass of gray, corrupted code flickered to its absolute limit before being wiped away entirely, as if erased by an invisible hand.

The [Logout] button was gone.

Panic spread like a plague, rippling outward from the Town of Origin. The 1st floor, 7th floor, 22nd floor, 50th floor… the entirety of Aincrad’s one hundred floors plunged into simultaneous chaos.

Right then, at the center of the blood-red sky, a massive humanoid phantom slowly coalesced. Draped in starlight and bearing a blurred face, he exuded a majesty that made every soul tremble in fear. It was the creator of this world, Allen Wesren.

A voice, entirely devoid of emotion, echoed directly into every corner of Aincrad.

“Players, I am Allen Wesren.

“As you can see, an unknown storm originating from the depths of the Magic Sea recently breached the underlying game engine firewall of Aincrad and caused partial damage to the game servers.

“The core code of the logout function has suffered irreversible damage. Even after exhausting all my efforts, I have not found a way to repair it.

“There is only one way to leave this place.”

The phantom raised a hand, pointing toward the unreachable summit of the Floating City.

“Clear the game.

“Defeat the final boss on the 100th floor. When that happens, the logout channel will reopen for everyone.

“During this time, your physical bodies in the real world will receive minimum life support provided by the sustenance systems of your hibernation pods. The absolute limit of this support is one month.

“Thirty days from now, if the logout function is still not restored… your bodies will die of energy depletion.

“Those of us on the outside will do everything in our power to rescue you, but the initiative lies in your hands.

“For the sake of your own lives, please clear the game as quickly as possible.”

As his words faded, the phantom dispersed, and the blood-red canopy receded with it. The sky returned to normal, but the entire world had already fallen into dead silence.

Then came the eruption.

“Impossible!”

“Let me out!”

“What the hell is this!”

Wails, curses, and hysterical screams instantly exploded. Some people continuously opened their system menus. Others tried shouting the voice command “Forced Logout” into the void. Some simply collapsed to the ground in despair.

Meanwhile, in the real world, within the Aiselan Royal Capital.

Inside the royal palace’s council hall, King William’s eyes were bloodshot. He stared fixedly at the specially made Spirit Communication Terminal in front of him, nearly roaring as he asked, “Lord Allen! What in the world is going on?! Across the country… over five million hibernation pods have all flashed red!”

On the light screen of the Spirit Communication Terminal, Allen’s figure appeared somewhat exhausted, and his voice carried a heavy tone.

“Your Majesty, please calm down. This is an accident, a chain reaction triggered by a super-massive tide in the Magic Sea that hasn’t been seen in centuries.

“The magic tide interfered with the underlying logic runes of the hibernation pods, resulting in a safety lockdown. Right now, everyone’s consciousness is firmly locked inside the virtual world.”

William slumped back onto his throne, murmuring, “Then… what should we do?”

“I have temporarily stabilized the framework of the virtual world,” Allen’s voice left no room for doubt. “Right now, the most critical issue is reality. Your Majesty, please immediately issue a nationwide proclamation in the name of the royal family.

“Strictly forbid anyone from using any external force to pry open the hibernation pods or cut off their Magic Power supply!

“Otherwise, the consequences will be unpredictable!”

Using the information gap, Allen perfectly disguised a meticulously planned experiment as a natural disaster.

The royal family’s proclamation spread across the country at maximum speed. However, there were always those who let panic go to their heads.

In Golden Stone City, at the Marquis’s estate in the west of the city.

A richly dressed nobleman was staring with bloodshot eyes at the hibernation pod in the center of the room, which was incessantly flashing red. Lying inside was his only heir.

“I don’t care about some bullshit proclamation! My son has a family estate to inherit; he can’t just lie here!” He ignored the bitter pleas of the physician and the butler, issuing an order to the two High-tier Knights behind him. “Smash it open! Now!”

The knights exchanged a glance and drew their longswords.

CLANG! CLANG!

Under their furious hacking, the hibernation pod’s sturdy alchemy shell let out a series of agonizing, ear-piercing screeches before finally shattering with a loud crash. The pod cover popped open.

The nobleman rushed forward impatiently. Looking at his son’s peaceful face inside the pod, he reached out a trembling hand to check his breathing.

His breathing was steady. His heartbeat was strong.

“Wake up! Hurry up and wake up!” The nobleman frantically shook his son’s body.

But the young heir kept his eyes tightly shut, completely unresponsive.

The family physician, his face deathly pale, immediately stepped forward and used various Alchemy Instruments to conduct an examination. After a long while, he set down his instruments and swayed unsteadily. In a terrified tone, as if he had seen a ghost, he announced the diagnosis to the Marquis.

“My Lord Marquis… your son’s body, all his physical functions… are perfectly normal.

“But…

“His consciousness… has completely vanished.

“He has become… a soulless, empty shell.”

The physician didn’t dare say the word “vegetable,” but everyone present understood.

The exact same tragedy played out simultaneously in hundreds of locations across the kingdom over the next hour. When these bloody facts spread throughout the country via the spirit communication network, they thoroughly deterred all family members who had harbored any wishful thinking.

Terror overwhelmed their worry.

Millions of citizens were plunged into unprecedented despair. They could only watch helplessly as their loved ones lay in freezing-cold hibernation pods, no longer daring to touch them even slightly. Their only remaining hope was that the players trapped in the game could somehow create a miracle and clear it within a month.

In Cybertron, inside the main control room.

Allen’s gaze was profound as he calmly observed it all.

[Countdown: Thirty days—The full-scale consciousness upload experiment has officially commenced.]