Chapter 227 Collapse of the City (25)

Su Yue stood on the ground.

The sense of illusion just now had disappeared completely. On both sides were ruins that had fallen down in all directions. The museum had almost collapsed in a very artistic way, so standing on the underground floor he could even see the dark red sky outside.

Su Yue thought, this gambler is the real big bug.

If you don't meet him with a skill like [Cheating], you can basically say that you have no rival in the game.

Of course, judging from this, [Cheating] is also ineffective against NPCs, but gamblers have blood patterns on their bodies, so it is basically impossible for them to be forced to use [Cheating] by NPCs.

Of course, the gambler is gone now, swallowed up by the space created by his own skills.

There was an amethyst dice on the ground just now, but it soon shattered with a "crash" because it could not withstand the overly strong force. The dice fragments and the glass shards on the ground quickly mixed together, as if they had never existed.

The ground shook again.

Su Yue then remembered that the museum was about to collapse and he had to get out quickly. There had just been a huge explosion outside and now this dilapidated building could turn into a pile of ruins at any time.

However, he was not worried about the situation outside. With Cang Zhi there, Zhao Shuo would not be in danger.

Su Yue walked towards the stairs he had come down from. The stairs were now broken, with only half of the platform hanging there precariously. Su Yue stood on tiptoe and jumped slightly, trying to figure out how much strength he would need to use to jump there, and whether his weight would collapse the shaky platform after jumping over.

As a result, when I jumped, I saw a black shadow jumping out of the collapsed cave.

"Are you not hurt?" Cang Zhi asked as soon as he landed.

Although everything seemed thrilling and he narrowly escaped death several times, from Su Yue's actual experience, it was nothing serious.

Even though it was nothing serious, Su Yue's face still felt a little hot as he stood in the ruins and looked into Cang Zhi's eyes.

"No." Su Yue said.

Cang Zhi hummed, then frowned quickly. Su Yue followed his gaze and saw blood on the ground. This was the blood that had flowed down from the gambler's body when the blood veins burst out. The pools of blood looked quite impactful.

"This isn't mine." Su Yue explained immediately, "It belongs to that person."

Cang Zhi's expression relaxed a little, and he asked again, "Where are the others?"

"It's hard to explain." Su Yue quickly organized his words in his mind and gave up. "I'll tell you when we get out."

"Okay." Cangzhi quickly glanced at the crumbling beams and naturally grabbed Suyue's hand, "Let's go."

.

Su Yue's face was still a little hot until Cang Zhi dragged him out of the museum. He gently pinched Cang Zhi's hand to confirm that this was not an illusion left behind by being trapped in space by the amethyst dice.

In the past, there would never be such natural and intimate interactions between them.

I don’t understand how Cang Zhi became more and more capable.

As soon as he got outside, he found Zhao Shuo lying on the ground. Su Yue was shocked and was about to rush over when Cang Zhi whispered, "I pinched him."

A pinch on the back of the neck, with the right amount of force, can painlessly make someone faint. Su Yue was relieved, but still a little puzzled: "Why did you have to pinch him to faint?"

"The situation just now was a bit complicated," Cang Zhi said. With mechanical beasts running around and clowns throwing explosives like crazy, Cang Zhi would have to use his divine power to deal with it. It wouldn't matter if Xiao Zhao saw them, but if Xiao Zhao asked them if they were gods, with the system's strange detection mechanism, they might be kicked out of the game.

"It's better to take precautions before they happen." Cangzhi shrugged and said.

"Yeah." Su Yue expressed his understanding.

Then he noticed the expression on Cangzhi's face when he looked at him. It wasn't exaggerated, but it did look like "I pinched someone you care about and hope you forgive me."

Su Yue: "..."

"I don't blame you." Su Yue avoided Cangzhi's gaze and kept looking at him. He felt a little embarrassed.

What's more, Su Yue knew that Cang Zhi also cared about Zhao Shuo very much.

"That's good." Cangzhi said with relief.

So when Xiao Zhao Youyou woke up, he saw Su Yue and Cang Zhi holding hands and talking sweetly. Of course, the sweetness was just his imagination.

Xiao Zhao: So sweet.

He even wondered if he was drunk.

.

Although I have left the museum and will no longer be affected by its collapse, the danger still exists.

Accompanied by bursts of loud noises, the museum's buildings collapsed one section after another, first the iron-gray columns on the side, then half of the roof, then the remaining half of the roof, and other columns. Such a huge building collapsed completely, and the mechanical beasts rushed out of the exhibition hall, bringing earthquake-like vibrations. This degree of vibration quickly alarmed the real residents.

All the lights on both sides of the road lit up, warning red lights, accompanied by high-pitched and sharp sirens that echoed throughout the street.

New messages from the chat room kept popping up on Su Yue's LCD screen.

What's going on at the museum? Why are there sirens going off all the time?

-【Did you feel the earthquake?】

-[Ah... Has the end of the world finally arrived? Life like this is not as good as the end of the world...]

He didn't have time to pay attention to the citizens' comments. On both sides of the street, heavy figures appeared. They were patrolmen, with robotic dogs, coming to deal with the sudden commotion. Su Yue also saw a police car. Someone got out and was quickly setting up a cordon.

The sound of broadcasting echoed in the street.

"Attention, fellow residents! There are rioters fleeing through Night City. Please stay indoors, keep your doors and windows closed, and do not allow anyone suspicious to remain. The Night City Guard will deploy all its forces to eliminate the rioters as quickly as possible."

Boom.

The heavy sound made the earth shake.

Su Yue turned around. Night had not yet fallen, but a huge mechanical rabbit had already appeared at the end of the street. The dazzling red light penetrated the night fog and staggered towards the street.

.

In the current situation, it is certainly feasible to retreat to the pedestrian street. Their position has not been exposed yet, and now the guards of Night City are out in full force. It seems too dangerous to continue the mission.

But the museum is right across from the scientific research laboratory. After this commotion, the area around the museum will definitely become a restricted area again, and security in the entire city will become tighter.

After thinking about it, this is actually the only chance.

"Let's go to the laboratory." Su Yue made a quick decision.

They have collected the three-color heart keys and have the ability to open the laboratory.

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The scientific research laboratory was located on the street opposite the museum. When the three of them passed through the alley, they found that there were not as many guards as they had imagined. Perhaps most of them were pulled over to deal with the collapse of the museum.

But the police force is not that small. At least there are still many patrolmen standing around the perimeter of the laboratory. Although Su Yue and the others have obtained the key to enter the laboratory, they should not be able to enter so openly.

The patrolmen outside the street had already formed a circle, and with the help of the destructive mechanical rabbit, the alarms and scanning sounds were connected into a network. They had no time to delay.

Seeing the critical situation, Zhao Shuo did not hesitate: "I will go to attract fire, you take the opportunity to sneak in."

Su Yue was a little surprised, and his first reaction was to object, but then he and Zhao Shuo's eyes met, and Zhao Shuo nodded firmly: "Believe me, Boss, I'm no longer the rookie I used to be."

Zhao Shuo had grown rapidly during these dungeons, and even survived high-scoring dungeons without Su Yue. Su Yue was still a little worried, but ultimately handed the bag of small weapons the landlady had given him to Zhao Shuo, instructing him, "Be careful."

"Don't worry, I will." Zhao Shuo smiled, "Just pull the trigger, I'll attract attention and run away."

"What gun line?" Su Yue was stunned.

Zhao Shuo touched his hair and forgot that although the boss seemed to be very good in many aspects, he was indeed a rookie when it came to video games.

"It's the person who draws fire in a shooting game," Zhao Shuo explained simply. "Don't worry, I've thought of it all."

He showed his LCD screen to Su Yue, and Su Yue realized that this guy had actually been chatting privately with the boss lady and Yuna, asking them to drive over to pick him up.

Thinking about it carefully, in the previous amusement park copy, the racing game level was also a place where Zhao Shuo fully utilized the experience he had accumulated from playing racing games.

Su Yue patted Zhao Shuo's shoulder and put the amulet of divine power on Zhao Shuo's shoulder. "I'm counting on you."

Zhao Shuo grinned and gave Su Yue a thumbs up.

.

In the next few dozen seconds, Zhao Shuo quickly drank the physical strength medicine, life medicine, endurance medicine... in short, all kinds of external strengthening medicines he brought from the proprietress. Then, before the patrolmen came up, he took out a smoke/mist bomb from the pocket given by the proprietress and swung it out with force.

The moment the smoke exploded, Zhao Shuo rushed out with a dramatic roar. Instantly, the sound of electronic barking filled the air, and nearly all the mechanical dogs and patrolmen locked onto him. Su Yue took one last look, confirming that Zhao Shuo was heading in a safe direction, and then averted his gaze.

The amulet will help Zhao Shuo block a fatal injury, and he will know it by then, so he doesn't have to worry for the time being and can focus all his attention on himself.

Zhao Shuo's appearance indeed caused a commotion, and at least half of the guards at the laboratory door went to chase him.

Half was enough for Su Yue and Cang Zhi. They quickly found the most suitable route, walked quickly across the street, and reached the corner of the laboratory. They knocked out the two guards in front of them as quickly as possible, and then took off the guards' hats and coats and put them on themselves while no one noticed.

A rough disguise was enough to fool the chaotic guards, and Su Yue and Cang Zhi successfully slipped into the scientific research laboratory.

The laboratory door was locked with a red lock. Su Yue took out the Red Heart Key and opened it easily. After entering, he was surprised to find the laboratory empty. The clean corridor was flanked by even cleaner walls. The view was a tranquil expanse of pure white, giving Su Yue the illusion of being in a divine realm.

There is only one road in the laboratory, which is good news. Su Yue doesn't have to worry about getting lost. He goes straight along the main road, passes by some offices with different names but locked doors, and comes to the second door.

Su Yue took out the yellow heart key and opened the door.

After opening the door, there was an elevator. It was very high and seemed to go directly from the bottom floor of the laboratory to the top floor. The inside of the elevator was also clean and bright.

Su Yue and Cang Zhi got in together, closed the door, and the elevator made a "ding" sound and started automatically.

When the elevator door opened again, Su Yue and the others were already on the platform on the top floor of the laboratory. There were some people in white work clothes busy coming and going. Surprisingly, when these staff saw Su Yue and Cang Zhi, two strangers, their attitude did not change at all, and they continued to handle the matters at hand very calmly.

"It seems that everyone here has been dealt with by the optical computer project." Su Yue whispered to Cang Zhi.

Cang Zhi nodded in agreement.

They walked through the floor unnoticed until they reached the front door, which had a green lock and a sign above it:

[Top secret, do not enter]

Su Yue took out the green key and, as expected, opened the last door easily.

Even the opening of the door labeled "top secret" did not cause any emotional fluctuations among the staff outside. After the door opened, the elevator went down again. The difference was that this time the elevator was playing content related to the "Optical Brain Project" in a loop.

The elevator took even longer to go down than to go up. They arrived at the basement again. When the elevator door opened, there was still a corridor with no end in sight, and a sign in front of them.

Control Room

Unlike other rooms, the control room's doorplate is lit, so even though the door is also closed, it gives people a very different feeling.

Su Yue pushed the door open, as expected. There was no light in the room, only a huge screen facing them. It was like the giant screens everyone imagined high-tech control consoles would have. To the right of the screen were various buttons with different logos and colors. Rows of meaningless colored characters flowed across the screen. Directly above the screen, a rounded rectangular sign with black text on a red background kept flashing. The word "Warning!"

There was a chair with a high back in front of the screen. When Su Yue walked over, the chair turned around.

Su Yue was stunned.

Because the person sitting on the chair was actually a toy rabbit half the height of a person.

The toy rabbit is a beautiful pink. Its left eye is a wooden button, and its right eye is an "X" sewn with navy blue fabric. It is a bit like the giant mechanical rabbit, but a little cuter.

While Su Yue was still confused, the toy rabbit suddenly spoke.

"Good evening—oh, I don't know if it's evening now, but anyway, welcome to the control room!"

If you look closely, you will find that it is not the toy rabbit that is speaking, but the sound is indeed coming from its belly. It may be a small tape recorder or something else.

Toy Rabbit: "Now that you're all here, and I have no ability to fight back, it looks like the game is over."

Toy Rabbit: "The switch for all the machinery in Night City is right here. Press the switch and everything will be over."

The toy rabbit let out a soft hiss that was hard to tell whether it was a sigh or a mockery: "It's right here, come on."

As the toy rabbit spoke, the swivel chair automatically moved a little to the side, and the entire view of the control console was exposed to Su Yue and Cang Zhi without any defense.

The bright yellow, very conspicuous switch is in the lower right corner of the console and is now in the "on" position.

.

It looks simple, but it shouldn't be that simple.

It comes too easily, which makes people feel that there is something fishy going on.

"I'll go and take a look." Cang Zhi said.

In terms of physique alone, Cangzhi is stronger than Suyue. Even in his weakened state, Cangzhi is more resistant to attacks than Suyue. In addition, with the protection of divine power, it is most reliable to let Cangzhi observe the switch.

But Su Yue didn't seem to agree.

"I'll go." Su Yue said, "It'll be easy to handle any emergencies."

"You seem to be implying that I'm stupid." Cang Zhi suggested.

"..." Su Yue was speechless, "I didn't."

Although they seemed to be arguing, Su Yue was actually in a good mood. The atmosphere between them was more like flirting before some crisis.

But this kind of flirting didn't even last more than three seconds.

As if dissatisfied with the overly sweet atmosphere between them, the toy rabbit suddenly made a series of beeping noises.

Just as Su Yue looked over, there was a loud "bang", accompanied by a huge air wave and shock wave, and the toy rabbit, along with the armchair and the console, all exploded.