Chapter 104: Seven Days of Detention, Players Return, Dungeon...

[Business is Business] There has been no response.

In the past, there have been attempts in the prop transactions between officials and businessmen.

However, once it involves testing [Business is Business]'s identity or information about the strange world, the other party will disappear directly and no longer reply.

Until the next item transaction, both parties acted as if nothing had happened and were just indifferent copy item traders.

It can even be said that all the time, the contacts between the two sides have required "poking and moving". Every time the behind-the-scenes Guicheng party represented by [In Business, Business] pokes, it is like a snail or a turtle retreating into its shell.

They don't seem annoyed, but simply refuse to respond or engage in deeper communication.

As the largest "contractor" of props in [Business is Business], it can be almost certain that the other party is obviously aware of the official's background in reality and is not reluctant to sell a large number of props to them.

But all this is just one-way. I sell props to you, and you don’t need to worry about the details or ask.

This evasive attitude towards contact made the think tank, which had prepared many plans for establishing a joint alliance, almost vomit blood.

On the night of June 9th, most of the time, the college entrance examination candidates were celebrating, and the parents

The burden has been lifted.

For the players who have been waiting all the time, they are all extremely anxious.

Six o'clock, seven o'clock, eight o'clock in the afternoon... During the evening rush hour, there were still no new strategy posts or dungeon return posts released by any players.

Until midnight, all players in reality received an announcement from the dungeon system.

Dear players, hello. From June 9th to June 16th, all dungeons will be closed for maintenance. If you're in a dungeon cooldown during this period, don't worry; the closure period doesn't count towards your cooldown.

During the overhaul of the entire instance, online players within the instance have been relocated to a safe and secure scenic area for vacation. If your friends or family are currently within the instance, please do not worry.

All instances are expected to be completed by 3:00 PM on June 16th for maintenance. We will provide compensation and reopen the instance after this emergency closure. Thank you again for your understanding and cooperation.

You should know that this announcement not only appears in front of all players, but is also pinned to the top of the [Rugui] forum page.

As soon as this announcement came out, the players who were already anxious in the forum were even more "exploded"!

[What do you mean, family? Emergency closure. Something horrible must have happened in the dungeon! Holy crap, the entire dungeon is closed. What kind of grand event is this?!]

So, those of us who are about to hit our cooldown period within the next seven days can still survive for another seven days? But the more this happens, the more frightened I get. It's frustrating. Urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, what's going on? A full dungeon overhaul... This doesn't sound like a good thing.

[I'm scared. The announcement said all players were safely evacuated. But why do I doubt it? If something serious happened in the dungeon, something life-threatening, how could we possibly escape? Forgive my pessimism, but the dungeon announcement listed "online players." So, how many online players could have been safely evacuated?]

This dungeon announcement has a strong gaming vibe, complete with maintenance compensation... So, do the dungeon owners really treat all of this life-or-death struggle of ours as a game for fun? I laughed, seriously, I cried and laughed.

[The dungeons are screening, and the ultimate goal is to bring in cheap labor—referring to us, the emergency event for all dungeon maintenance, which is what we "outsiders" will be doing in the future.]

The announcement of the copy release calmed the restless hearts of some players, and some people have even posted a special analysis post, analyzing the meaning of every sentence in the copy announcement word by word.

As for the players who were supposed to enter the dungeon on the new day, they did not feel much joy.

The dungeon was closed for maintenance and would reopen in seven days. Would the original dungeon content be overhauled again? It was a source of deep sorrow. By then, they would be the first players to enter the dungeon after the maintenance. Wouldn't the death rate skyrocket?

At the same time as the dungeon announcement was released in reality, players stranded in different areas of the strange domain also received an announcement, which clearly stated the time for sending them back to Utopia and the direct settlement and compensation rewards after their return.

The players who were already unable to sleep because they were trapped in this strange world were now even more unable to sleep.

Familiar players gathered in groups of three or four in a room to discuss and research.

"It feels a bit hard to stay here for seven days," said Li Xiang.

"Oh, I suddenly began to envy them for being assigned to scenic tourist areas. There are some really nice tourist spots in this broken copy. We were assigned to the new city." Xiaobianer said.

Cui Xiangwan looked at him and said, "It's not bad here. This is a talent apartment, just like home. There's a gym, a cafeteria, and a sports field. And maybe it's prepared for future players. Now is the time to get used to it."

"That's what we said, but how anxious we are in reality. The dungeon will definitely issue an announcement, but even so, we will definitely be very worried. Suppose we are outside and others are stuck in the dungeon, it might be like the end of the world in our imagination." Xia Tian said.

"The copy announcement gave a time, which means that the so-called scope that needs maintenance is still under their control." Yue Ye said.

In another room, Murphy was sitting next to two teenagers, and he heard them sighing.

"Seven days, my parents must be worried."

"Yeah, they don't think we're dead, do they? You said we're still eating and drinking well here, I'm really afraid my grandparents will find out."

"The authorities will definitely contact your parents, and they will probably keep it a secret from the elderly and just say that you went out for a trip." Murphy comforted them.

"well!"

Murphy thought about more than just the two children. He didn't have any relatives in real life. He only knew other players in dungeons. He was familiar with many of them, but none of them could be said to be close friends.

Thinking of this, Murphy suddenly felt a little pathetic.

If one day he really died in the dungeon, would anyone mourn for him?

There should be, although there is no official record, but the players who have added him in the forum may contact him at some point and find that he is gone. At least, they will sigh a little.

"Brother, if we return to reality together after seven days, will you still rent a house?" Ge Huiru said weakly.

When she asked this question, Murphy was stunned.

"I don't know either." He was indeed confused and a little uncertain inside.

Murphy thought for a moment and said, "If possible, I want to go back to Guicheng and try renting a house."

If returning to "Utopia" was not mandatory and if he could have a car to return to Guicheng, Mo Fei would like to look for Luo Qing again.

He was going to return the sunglasses and also wanted to get some clarification.

The weird world is becoming more and more "open" to players.

Murphy believed that after these seven days, no matter whether they were the players assigned to the Anning New District or the players assigned to other locations, everyone would return to reality with a lot of gains.

This gain is the player's deeper exploration and understanding of the strange world.

After all, they are not in the dungeon now, and there is no white fog surrounding them all the time.

Just like the apartment in Anning New District where they are now, everything along the way is open to them.

Even though the information obtained by each player is one-sided and not coherent, the discoveries of so many people in different locations are enough to gather, organize and analyze part of the truth about the strange world.

Since the advent of the strange copy five years ago, it seems that for the first time, players have come into such close contact with the "reality" of this world.

After discussing the latest announcements, the players returned to their rooms to rest.

On the first day of staying in the strange world, all the players were nervous and scared.

By the next day after receiving the announcement, the first wave of players who got up early had already started exploring actively.

Although the players' activities are limited to the Anning New District and they can only connect to the local LAN here, they fully implement the principle of not missing out on places they can get to. Groups of players from different copies either act on their own or form teams to open up new maps.

The players who just started exploring walked and soon discovered that there were shared bicycles and electric vehicles here.

Although many functions are now disabled on players’ copy phones, scanning codes is no problem and you can ride your bikes!

This is great. With transportation available, players will look for nearby road signs and bus stops and start wandering around the streets. When they meet an unfamiliar player, they will say hello and ask where the other person lives.

For most players, this experience is very fresh.

When a person is in a strange world but there is no requirement for a copy mission, the land outside the copy is clear.

The cooling-off period after returning to reality is often spent exercising, spending time with family, and following forum trends.

But now, they can't access the forum or do anything else, and they really have to take a vacation in the dungeon.

Moreover, basically every one of them was meeting so many players face to face offline for the first time.

The communication in the forum is not as good as in reality. Even if you participate in official short-term training courses in reality, the people you come into contact with are very limited.

But this time it’s different. The talent apartments named after the 24 solar terms bring together a large number of players from different copies, making communication and exchange of information more convenient.

From the second to the fifth day of staying in the strange world, the players explored, communicated, ran around, and some even used the various facilities in the apartment to form teams to play ball, exercise, and workout.

Especially for the newcomers who were pulled in from various dungeons, the old players had nothing to do at this time, so they began to give instructions and teaching at their leisure, made training plans for them, and started training in the gym in the apartment.

For example, Ge Huiru, Li Gaoyuan, and several other newcomers were currently being watched by a group of people while training in the gym.

"Brother, sister, aunt, uncle...it's been a few minutes, can we take a break?"

"I hate that high school only has one PE class a week!"

Everyone looked at them with a smile, "It's less than a minute, keep going."

"That's right, this is just the beginning. Comrades, you need to work hard. Physical fitness is essential when escaping in a dungeon."

On June 15th, the sixth day that the players were stranded in the strange world, the "correspondents" selected from each talent apartment first walked around to collect messages. A large number of players either just wandered around or went to other apartments not too far away to exchange information.

By the afternoon, almost all the players had gone home. Some stayed in their rooms, while others, unable to suppress their wandering thoughts, went to stay with other people.

The apartment’s large cafeteria has become a gathering place for a large number of players. It is spacious and provides a variety of food at any time.

"You said that the closure period will end tomorrow. After these seven days, the copy will not let us go, right?" someone asked.

"I don't think so. Apart from anything else, with so many of us here, and the food and drink supplies, I think the indigenous people in charge of this apartment must be exhausted. If they keep us here, we'll be on vacation, but the indigenous people won't be able to handle working every day."

"That makes sense, but maybe the copy didn't leave us here for vacation, but to work here?"

"There's no one in Anning New District right now. We can't do much working here."

After spending an agonizing night like this, on June 16, the players basically gathered downstairs of the apartment building, and they couldn't wait to return to reality.

In the morning and at noon, the closer it got to the time, the more unbearable it became, for fear that the copy would suddenly change its mind.

It was not until the players saw the bus usually used in the dungeon appear that all stranded players received a new prompt at three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day.

"Dear players, thank you for your understanding, support, and patience. The passage back to Utopia is now open. Please board the bus in an orderly manner under the guidance of the staff at each residence and prepare for the return journey."

The stranded players cheered and prepared to go home. In front of Jingzhe Talent Apartment, Ge Huiru and others looked at Murphy.

"Brother, you really won't go with us."

"Yes, Xiao Mo, renting a house is possible next time."

Murphy shook his head firmly and waved at them, "You guys go now. If it's quick, I can go back tomorrow after renting a house."

Buses filled with players drove out of the apartment building. Beside Murphy, the apartment manager in professional attire also extended his hand to him.

"Mr. Mo, the car back to Guicheng is ready."

Murphy asked her, "Thank you, Manager Qiu. I wonder how long it will take to get back to Guicheng from Anning New District?"

"Take the highway, less than an hour."

At three o'clock in the afternoon on June 16, all the players who had been stranded in the ghost domain for seven days returned to reality one after another.

All the strange copies have been overhauled, the ghost city has been reopened, the network ban on Liu Yanran and others has been lifted, and everything has returned to normal.

At 4:10 in the afternoon, Mo Fei got out of a car. He stood in front of the gate of Ping An Real Estate and looked at Liu Yanran, who had just left the community. The two stared at each other.

"Comrade Liu?"

"Murphy?! Why are you here?"