The Quantum Network world is still as dazzling and fantastical as ever. No matter how much chaos goes on outside, this place is always as peaceful as a hidden paradise. The shut-ins in District Six seem like they could hang out online forever, with zero sense of urgency.
But today, even the Quantum Network isn't immune to trouble.
"Super Saiyan 2—Transform!" A cold shout echoed across the city from high above, like a god's decree. The next moment, it was as if a nuke exploded in the sky, blasting out a torrent of light in all directions. The thick black clouds that always loomed overhead were rattled by this massive force, splitting open with crackling thunder. But all that lightning could do was swirl around the golden figure—never touching her at all.
"What's going on?!" Players in the city looked up, staring at the figure in the sky. Not long ago, Lucas and Jill Young's fight here leveled half the city, and most players still remember it—mainly because it took forever to get back online. But today, that familiar figure is back in the clouds, packing even more power and an even crazier presence.
And she looks like she's itching to take on the whole world.
What is this troublemaker up to this time?
"Owen, get out here!!" Jill Young roared from the void. Her shout practically turned into a real shockwave, blasting a huge hole in the clouds above. Thunder rolled, her voice shook the heavens, and every player in the Quantum Network heard Jill Young loud and clear. Those who were close by or not strong enough got blasted into white light—forced to log out of the Quantum World.
The players were in an uproar—she's actually looking for Owen? Owen's one of the two supreme madmen in the Quantum Network, practically a god in the virtual world, and he’s as elusive as a dragon. If Owen doesn’t want to show up, what can Jill Young do about it?
But clearly, the players underestimated Jill Young’s resolve and power. "Not coming out? Then I'll force you out—Kamehameha!" A two-meter-wide energy beam blasted down from the sky, smashing straight into the mega-city below. For a moment, the world went silent. Then, in a flash of blinding white light, destructive energy swept through everything. The Quantum Network’s ground trembled and cracked, groaning in agony before finally settling down.
With that single shot, a whole mega-city was wiped off the map. Other than the archive building protected by the system, not a trace was left. At the same time, a bunch of District Six shut-ins cursed as they got booted from their pods, but when they got up, the explosions outside finally made them realize just how dangerous Steelbull City had become. If they kept zoning out in their pods, they might end up dead without even knowing why.
"Still not coming out? Then I'll just keep going!" BOOM—amid the explosive sonic booms, the golden figure broke the sound barrier and shot toward another mega-city. "What other moves are there... Oh, right! Tien’s secret technique—Ki Cannon!" With another crash from above, a second mega-city was wiped out.
In the virtual world, news travels everywhere in a flash. The golden destroyer demolished two cities in a row, forcing countless people offline. That got every player in the Quantum World fired up. If this was real life, these shut-ins would be running for their lives. But online? Death isn’t real, so everyone got hyped and swore to fight back—screw it, let’s go!
But nobody could stop the destroyer. "Hao Yugen! Hadouken! Pegasus Meteor Fist! Lushan Rising Dragon! Doomsday Bomb!" Move after move—some nobody’s ever seen before—blasted from her hands, turning every player in her sights into white light. "You shut-ins, Steelbull City’s about to go down and you’re still online? Log off already!"
Christianity has the whole apocalypse thing. When the angel of the end blows the trumpet, four destroyers come out and end the world. Today in the Quantum Network, it was the apocalypse online. Jill Young unleashed everything she had, bulldozing every area she could see in the Quantum World. Fortresses, mega-cities, metropolises—nothing could stand against destruction. After everything was wiped out, the virtual world was left barren and empty.
Only a few special buildings protected by the system were still standing, silently declaring the madman’s existence.
"Still not coming out?" Jill Young snorted, cupping her hands like she was holding a ball. Wind and clouds swirled, gathering in her palms and forming a glowing sphere. Even in the Quantum World, things aren’t totally limitless—everything has its cap. As the energy compressed, every step took more effort. Jill Young frowned, gritted her teeth, and focused, compressing her power as much as she could. The light grew brighter until, at some threshold, the energy ball turned pitch black.
It was the deepest black, and the whole world seemed to tremble, pulled toward it. Jill Young held the black sphere in one hand, wiped her sweat with the other, and sighed—making this thing was exhausting. But what could it actually do? Time to test it out.
She looked around—hmm, that archive building looked good. She pulled back, raised her left leg, and was just about to pitch the black ball like a baseball when a voice suddenly rang out: "Alright, that’s enough."
"Hmph, finally decided to show up." Jill Young sneered, then shouted, "Still not going to show yourself?"
The next moment, the black clouds in the sky twisted into a massive vortex. Beams of electronic light shot down from the center, weaving into a staircase made of pure light. Jill Young, holding the black sphere, stepped onto the stairs. Instantly, the world spun, time and space shifted, and Jill Young vanished into the clouds above.
When Jill Young's surroundings finally stabilized, she saw a person. Just one glance and Jill was sure—whether this guy was Owen or not, he was definitely a madman. His behavior was just way too madman-esque—he was dancing.
It seems like every madman she’s met so far loves to dance: Mr. Reliable does tap, Ghost Player does Bollywood breakdance, and this guy in front of her? He’s doing ballet. Yep, on a virtual stage made of glowing wires, a short, chubby dude was twirling around in a white swan tutu.
With classical music playing, he tiptoed across the stage.
Lost in the moment, he spun with his arms raised high, twirling like a top.
And even though the guy didn’t have ice skates, he could glide across the stage like a figure skater, leaving behind glowing wire trails—a weirdly graceful sight.
"Hey, you’re Owen, right? Finally decided to show up."
The short, chubby guy stretched out his arms, sliding through a perfect curve.
"I need to talk to you. Come over and listen."
The short, chubby guy spun three and a half times in the air, landed on his left foot, and slid his right leg back—graceful and nimble.
"You..." Jill Young narrowed her eyes and hurled the black ball. With a buzz, the ball exploded with gravity like a black hole, shredding the virtual wires and sucking them in. The short, chubby guy shrieked and tried to run, but on the icy stage there was nowhere to get traction. In the end, he was sucked into the black ball with a wail—smashed to pieces.
The next moment, a door made of light appeared out of nowhere. It opened, and the short, chubby guy walked out, wiping cold sweat from his forehead and patting his chest. "That was close... almost got taken out..."
Jill Young wasn’t surprised. Owen—a madman, a god in the Quantum Network—if he could be taken out that easily, that’d be a miracle. She waved her hand, and the black ball stopped pulling, floating quietly back into her palm. Jill glanced at the short guy. "Wanna try that again?"
"No thanks." The short guy sat down in midair, and a fancy chair made of light appeared beneath him. He looked Jill up and down, clearly surprised. "Your mental power is way stronger than I expected. This world has limits—no matter how much players train, they can’t reach them. But you don’t know a thing about programming, yet you broke the cap and created..." He pointed at the black ball. "Created something like that. If you let it loose, it could cause real trouble."
Jill Young knew the Quantum Network had limits. She’d tried tons of times, but she could never turn into a Super Saiyan 3 or a Gold Saint. Those, in her mind, meant "absolute strength," but she couldn’t pull them off—like there was some invisible lock.
"Enough with the small talk." Jill conjured a sofa, sat down, and slapped the armrest. "Steelbull City’s in huge trouble right now. Elsie Nightwater sent me to find you. She said you could..."
"I know why you’re here. I know what you want. I know the whole story." Owen cut her off and shook his head. "But I always stay neutral. Whether it’s your side or the other, I’m not helping. Steelbull City’s war has nothing to do with me."
"Sigh..." Jill Young sighed, then glared at Owen. "Have you been stuck in here so long your brain’s gone soft? This isn’t the time to do whatever you want. The cooler you are online, the more useless you are in real life. You’re a madman, a god here, but in Steelbull City you’re just another shut-in lying in a pod. Maybe you’ve been cooped up so long your muscles are falling apart. Any stray mutant or random bullet could kill you. And you’re seriously saying Steelbull’s chaos has nothing to do with you?"
"Hahahaha!" Owen burst out laughing, nearly out of breath. When he finished, he wagged a finger. "Little girl, you can’t threaten me no matter what. Let me tell you something—I’m not like Chuang. I’m not even human."
Jill Young stared in shock as Owen turned into white light. When it faded, the short guy was gone, replaced by a big Black dude in a Hawaiian shirt. In the Quantum Network, people can change their looks, but usually it’s just from human to Saiyan or angel—always based on the player’s real appearance. But from short guy to Black dude? That could only mean one thing: "You’re a computer program?!"
"Pretty much." The Black dude took a drag on his cigar and blew out smoke. "The Quantum Network is a treasure Victor Nightfall left for this world. At the very beginning, the first intelligent being born in this world was me. Owen—that name was given to me by Victor Nightfall. As long as this world exists, so do I. Oh, look, Chuang is cleaning up your mess."
Owen waved his hand, and the "floor" beneath them turned transparent. Below, the Quantum World’s aerial view appeared. Where Jill Young had just wiped everything out, skyscrapers sprang up and mega-cities popped back into existence. In just a moment, all the destruction Jill caused was completely restored. Except for the people who’d been forced offline, everything else was exactly the same as before.
Creation is harder than destruction, so everything Chuang did was even more incredible than the apocalypse Jill just unleashed.
"See, you just don’t get the rules of programming. You’ve got insane mental power, but most of it gets wasted fighting against the limits. We’re not limited at all, so we can use our full abilities. Jill Young, Steelbull City has nothing to do with me, and here in the network you can’t touch me. So, please leave." The Black dude grinned, totally smug. "You can’t lay a finger on me."
Owen looked a little cocky, but he wasn’t wrong. Jill Young was furious, but she really couldn’t do anything to a computer program. She wasn’t Neo, and this wasn’t the Matrix—she couldn’t dive into Owen and blow him up from the inside. So even though he was basically saying, "I know everything, but I’m not lifting a finger," Jill could only retreat.
Steelbull City’s chaos was at a breaking point. Jill Young might be a gang boss, but she wasn’t anti-human. She couldn’t just sit by and watch, so she had to step in. Whether it was for practical reasons, moral reasons, or just because she was pissed off, she had to stop the disaster and set things right.
Since this path was blocked, she’d have to find another way.
But just then, Jill Young felt something strange—a disturbance from the physical world, like a door between two worlds was slamming shut.
Her pod was forcibly powered down!
If she were a regular person, she wouldn’t have been able to react at all. But Jill Young’s mental power was off the charts—she managed to grab the last split-second and pull her mind back to her body. Like a charger’s light that glows for a second after you unplug it, Jill’s spirit snapped back from the Quantum World and she opened her eyes.
Right in front of her, a group of soldiers in full gear had her surrounded, all aiming their guns at her. The leader said, "People who get forcibly logged out are usually groggy for a while—she shouldn’t be able to fight back. But don’t let your guard down. She’s strong. If she makes a move, shoot to kill!"
Someone pulled out a pair of handcuffs and walked toward her. Jill Young glanced around and spotted Elsie Nightwater behind the soldiers. The little night queen wasn’t wearing any restraints and showed no emotion—just quietly watched her. Jill’s eyes flickered, but in the end she did nothing, letting them cuff her hands.