Chapter 81 I know I've arrived in Dawn City, I'm about to complete the game...

[Damn, I've finally reached Dawn City! I'm about to beat the game! Haha!]

So fast?

[I'm still looking for my admission ticket, how come someone's already in Dawn City? I feel like I'm going to never get through!]

[I'm curious, what's Dawn City like?]

It's nothing special, just an ordinary city.

【[picture]】

In the picture, the streets of Dawn City are clean and tidy, lined with crystal chandeliers. The streets are filled with flowers and balloons, and pedestrians have cheerful smiles. Children are running around, holding crystal balls and stumbling along. Upon closer inspection, the crystal balls contain a miniature version of Dawn City.

[Does reaching Dawn City mean you've completed the game?]

I can't even play this lousy game for a day anymore, I want to beat it too!!!

I'm so envious!

I don't know either, I'll go in and take a look now.

The chat session ended abruptly there, leaving only speculation from other players.

Where are they?

Why aren't you saying anything?

[What are you saying? You've obviously already beat the game!]

[Exactly, you've already beat the game and you're still whining here?]

Will I be able to pass the level once I arrive in Dawn City?

Fang Zhiyi was also thinking about this problem. The requirement to pass the road survival challenge was to upgrade and modify the vehicle and reach the end of the road. Dawn City was at the end of the road, so literally speaking, as long as you reached Dawn City, you could pass the challenge.

Fang Zhiyi looked at Dawn City, which was so close at hand, and took out his Dawn City admission ticket and stretched it out the window.

bite!

The admission ticket transformed into a ball of white light and flew into Dawn City. Invisible ripples spread out, and a transparent barrier surrounded the entire city, like an inverted crystal ball.

At that moment, the barrier cracked open, revealing a path through which one could pass.

Without hesitation, Fang Zhiyi plunged into the path.

He drove along the path and finally entered Dawn City. The moment he entered, he heard a burst of laughter in his ear.

The old man's laughter was low and hoarse, the woman's laughter was sharp and shrill, and the child's laughter was unrestrained... The various laughter overlapped together, creating an eerie feeling.

Fang Zhiyi frowned, turning to look for the source of the laughter, only to find that after the white light faded, a clean and spacious street appeared before him, along with dazzling crystal chandeliers and a Christmas tree adorned with ribbons and balloons...

Sizzle—

The brake pads rubbed together, and the car suddenly slowed down.

Chu Zhao asked, "What's wrong?"

Fang Zhiyi shook her head: "It's nothing, I probably misheard."

Upon arriving in Dawn City, there was still no indication that the game was completed.

It seems it's not that simple after all.

The car continued along the road, and there were no other pedestrians along the way. Moreover, the whole city was unusually quiet, as if all sounds had disappeared, with only the sound of the wheels rolling echoing in the streets.

Fang Zhiyi frowned.

Where are they?

Not only were the people in Dawn City gone, but there wasn't a trace of any other players either. He remembered that Brother Ca and the others had entered around the same time.

Fang Zhiyi opened the channel and found Brother Cai through private chat.

[fzy: Are you guys in Dawn City?]

The message was sent, but no response was received for a long time. A notification popped up: "[This message was rejected by the player]".

This was the first time Fang Zhiyi had encountered a situation where a message was rejected.

Private messages in the channel allow you to contact players in the same survival world. A failed message only means the player has been eliminated. However, judging from Cai Ge's status, his avatar is lit up, indicating he hasn't been eliminated. Since he hasn't been eliminated or completed the game, why can't he be contacted?

A thought flashed through Fang Zhiyi's mind, and he touched the tail, only to have it slip through his fingers again.

He couldn't figure it out no matter what, so he simply stopped thinking about it. He figured there was always a way out, and whatever was going on in Shuguang City, he would find out once he went in.

Fang said, "Let's go deliver the goods first."

Previously at Camp 3, they had taken on delivery jobs from mechanics.

The repairman's daughter lost contact after arriving in Dawn City. The repairman asked them to send a box of local specialties from his hometown to his daughter and to ask them to check on her.

Clicking on the mission details reveals a cursor on the windshield pointing to the residential area of ​​Dawn City.

The repairman's daughter lives at 101 Dawn City 2nd Avenue.

The RV was parked at the door. Fang Zhiyi looked inside through the crack in the iron gate and pressed the doorbell. The ringing sound echoed in the empty garden. The villa's gate was tightly closed, but the curtains were drawn, revealing an empty living room.

Fang Zhiyi turned around and said, "Nobody's here."

Chu Zhao first put down the express delivery box and pulled on the iron gate.

The iron gate was locked. He opened it a crack, reached his hand in, and turned to the side to fiddle with the brass lock hanging inside. He didn't know how he did it, but with a click, the lock opened.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Chu Zhao picked up the delivery box from the ground and went inside first.

Fang Zhiyi followed behind.

The garden was very well maintained, with a cobblestone path leading directly to the gate. Fang Zhiyi looked around and noticed a small dog house in the garden, but there was only a lonely dog ​​leash, and the dog was nowhere to be seen. He quickened his pace to catch up with the figure ahead and found that Chu Zhao was already unlocking the gate. He leaned against the gate and used the same trick as before, fiddling with it for a couple of seconds before opening the lock.

Squeak—

The door opened to them.

Fang Zhiyi hesitated before stepping onto the carpet and asked, "Is anyone home?"

The sound echoed in the lobby on the first floor, but received no response.

Chu Zhao placed the delivery box on the dining table and looked around. "I'll go upstairs and take a look."

Fang Zhiyi hummed in agreement, strolled around the lobby on the first floor, and picked up a magazine from the coffee table. The repairman's daughter had a habit of subscribing to magazines; a thick stack of books was placed under the coffee table. He flipped through it and found that the most recent magazine was from last week, and no new magazines had been delivered since.

He put down the magazine in his hand, walked to the dining table, and looked at the tableware on it. His gaze then shifted to the kitchen, where there was a mixed salad and fried eggs... All of this suggested that the owner of the house had disappeared without warning at some point.

Chu Zhao came down from the second floor: "There's no one upstairs either."

Fang Zhiyi thought for a moment and said, "Leave the package here and let's go look around elsewhere."

Besides the repairman's daughter, there is another person connected to Dawn City—the one who was in a car accident on the highway and whose identity was then impersonated by a conman.

[Identity Card]

Name: Mira

Address: No. 103, 3rd Avenue, Shuguang City

[ID: 75135]

Everyone in Dawn City has disappeared, and only this person has successfully left Dawn City, so he is very likely the breakthrough point.

Fang Zhiyi twirled the ID card between his fingers. "Go take a look."

No. 3 Avenue isn't far from here; it's just a short drive, and you'll reach No. 103 in just a few minutes.

This time, no door-opening tricks were needed; a simple swipe of the ID card opened the door. The room was a complete mess, with clothes and books scattered everywhere, as if a disaster had occurred and the people inside had left caught off guard.

Fang Zhiyi picked up the clothes that had fallen on the ground and put them on the sofa. The pocket of the clothes felt heavy, and something fell out of it.

Looking down, I saw a small leather notebook, about the size of my palm. Opening to the first page, I saw the name of its owner, "Mira," written on it. This was Mira's memo, a list of things to do each day.

Mira is a researcher at the Dawn City Research Institute. Her daily routine is monotonous and tedious, usually consisting of going to work, conducting experiments, and leaving get off work, with occasional trivial tasks such as washing clothes and picking up packages.

Fang Zhiyi scanned the pages quickly, and when she got to the middle, she finally noticed some unusual words.

A strange person came to the station.

[...His idea is absurd]

Why do they all agree? Unbelievable, I would never support that.

I'm leaving here, right now—

The writing abruptly ends here, followed by a messy black line, which is enough to show how urgent and uneasy Mira was when she wrote this line.

Fang Zhiyi closed the notebook: "No need to look anymore, let's go to the research institute."

Something must have happened at the research institute that caused Mira to flee Dawn City after learning the truth.

Setting off again.

Shuguang Avenue remained quiet, with smiling mannequins displayed in shop windows, and shopping bags and half-eaten cotton candies scattered among them.

The signs outside the window kept flashing by. Fang Zhiyi opened the small leather notebook and placed it on his lap. Inside was Mira's employee ID card, which had the research institute's address on it.

No. 123, 1st Avenue, Shuguang City

Dawn City wasn't large; it took some time to circle around, but we finally arrived at our destination before noon. The research institute was located in a towering skyscraper, its interior futuristic and its glass walls reflecting sunlight, giving off an air of unapproachability.

Fang Zhiyi swiped Mira's employee ID and identity card to open the building's access control system and entered without any hindrance.

The research institute was deserted, which greatly facilitated their search for any information that could help them pass the test.

But after searching around, I couldn't find any useful information.

During this time, Fang Zhiyi continued to try to contact Brother Cai, but his messages were still rejected. The channel also stopped receiving messages before they entered Dawn City; they were trapped in the city, completely isolated in every way.

Time passed slowly, the sky darkened, and the light and shadow reflected on the outskirts of Dawn City, as if the entire city was shrouded in a crystal ball.

Fang Zhiyi suddenly remembered the laughter he heard when he entered Dawn City, and a thought struck him: "Let's leave Dawn City."

Chu Zhao didn't ask why, and immediately got up and set off.

It was already afternoon when I left the research institute. The sun was slowly setting, and the clouds were burning half the sky.

The RV drove around in Shuguang City, but couldn't find the road it came in on. After driving for a long time, it seemed like it was going in circles, still circling around the city.

really.

Fang Zhiyi wasn't too surprised and breathed a sigh of relief: "It seems we're not going to get out."

Chu Zhao placed one hand on the window and pulled over. As soon as the car was turned off and the engine stopped, the surroundings became completely quiet, so quiet that they could hear each other breathing.

Fang Zhiyi closed her eyes, relaxed, and leaned back against the cushion: "Let me think..."

He fell into deep thought, his brows furrowed. All the details of what he had encountered since entering Dawn City flashed through his mind, and a thought vaguely arose, but he couldn't quite grasp it.

His brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and his temples throbbed.

Just then, a hand pressed on his temple, gently massaging it.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself," Chu Zhao said.

Fang Zhiyi pressed her hand to her forehead, opened her eyes, and a strange light flickered in her amber pupils: "I understand—"