Chapter 118: Safe Zone
"What do you mean? Did you see the public dialogue box on the Jiansheng Forum? Are the Ghost City people our own?"
In the Rugui Forum, after the sky copy projection of Longjiang’s main city disappeared, another shocking event occurred.
[Original Poster]: I'd been waiting for an official announcement explaining the Anxi Technology mirage, so I kept the official [Jiansheng] forum open on my tablet and our forum on my computer. When I saw it, I was stunned. It was the first time I knew there was an administrator named 0, someone from Ghost City. I didn't know if it was an invasion or something else, but he contacted the authorities directly on the [Jiansheng] forum, saying they were sending a group of players back and had someone contact them. I was slow to react, so these are the screenshots and photos I took. [Screenshot][Screenshot][Screenshot]
[1st floor]: I don’t know, I’m stupid too.
[2nd Floor]: What? I haven't been checking the official forums. I've been checking the messages here and replying to all sorts of aunts and uncles.
【3rd Floor】: I am devastated. What exactly have we been fighting against all this time?
[9th Floor]: Save the picture immediately.
[14th floor]: I also took a photo, I'll upload it here to supplement the previous part for the original poster. [Photo][Photo]
[18th Floor]: Good news. The Ghost Realm shouldn't be invading. I saw the screenshot, and the "Administrator 0" clearly states that these projections appear sporadically daily due to the approaching world barrier. But they may become permanent in the future, and not just in our reality, but also in Ghost City.
[21st floor]: Urgent! Urgent! Did you notice that No. 0 mentioned the "mirror nature of both worlds"? What does this mean?
[30th Floor]: My hands are shaking as I type right now. Has anyone noticed? The administrator on the other side, number 0, used the title "comrade" in his first sentence.
[35th Floor]: Administrator No. 0 said that the situation was urgent. Does that mean they didn't expect the copy to be projected in the sky?
[44th Floor]: There is too much information. My brain has crashed. It feels like I am witnessing history at this moment.
[59th Floor]: Admin #0 said there was a problem with the underlying code of the [Jiansheng] forum. He even said, "There were definitely bugs back then." Were they the original forum founders?
[72nd Floor]: No, Admin #0 is clearly unfamiliar with the operation of this account. He even made a private chat with the official account public, allowing us all to see it. My personal guess is that this account was not originally owned by the person operating the chat.
[86th Floor]: I agree with the 72nd Floor's point. I personally believe that "Admin 0" is most likely a collective public account owned by the Ghost City team. Just like the familiar Admins 1-10, these are official accounts in the [See Life] forum, used by officials responsible for different roles and areas.
[90th Floor]: That's right. The person behind the scenes currently using "Admin 0" is definitely not the original Admin 0. Note that in the screenshot, he says, "I knew this forum code had bugs." He's an insider, or perhaps a latecomer, who currently controls access. Furthermore, the tone of Admin 0 we've seen him speak doesn't make him seem very mature or stable.
[121st Floor]: You've discussed so much, don't forget the first sentence. He said he hadn't logged into this account in ages. Was it because he couldn't log in? Or was there some other reason? If he logged in, would the real-life administrators of the [Jiansheng] forum discover him? Did he stay hidden to hide his identity? Even if the dialog box was made public by mistake, it means "Admin 0" entered directly through the backdoor.
[156th Floor]: I'm wondering, Administrator 0 should have had a detailed private chat with the authorities after this. I'd like to know what's going on! Please, officials, clear up the confusion for us.
[178th Floor]: Is no one paying attention to the repatriation policy admin #0 mentioned? I'm shocked. Ghost City actually has this system... People who kill or injure others in the dungeon will actually be arrested and put in solitary confinement. But from what I understand, there should be some who slipped through and are still alive and well.
[199th Floor]: Human nature is fragile in the face of life. There's no immunity for harming others in dungeons. @SparklingRedStar, is RedStarBrother there? Should the authorities also enact relevant laws regarding the handling of this wave of dismissed criminal players? Absolutely no immunity!
[247th Floor]: The previous post, 199th, mentioned criminal immunity. So, I have to ask, there's a distinction here between intentional injury and self-defense, right? Beyond that, what about the damage done to us by the Ghost City? What about the players who died? How do we calculate that?
[260th Floor]: Administrator 0, representing the forces behind Ghost City, clearly understands reality and has directly called the Special Affairs Bureau headquarters. There's so much information this time, everyone's focusing on different things. I noticed that Administrator 0 mentioned repatriating players, saying it would strip them of their abilities and identities. In other words, can the physical abilities we gain from dungeon after dungeon also be "stripped" of our abilities?
[288th Floor]: Damn, what 260th Floor means is that those players who harmed others, not only are they not dead, they will be sent back to Ghost City. They will no longer be players and will not have to enter dungeons anymore. Ghost City should just execute them, okay!
[303rd Floor]: I don’t know if the official has finished talking with Administrator No. 0. Let’s wait a while. For such a big thing, there should be an announcement.
[324th Floor]: I feel like an ant on a hot pan. All my energy and focus are now on the forum. I don’t have the mind to do anything else.
The replies to the post were constantly being refreshed at an explosive rate. The worried players who were still discussing the dungeon projection an hour ago had now shifted their focus to a new one.
The Weird World Language copy seems to be changing every moment, and as the chosen players, all their expectations and plans are not autonomous.
The forum homepage is busy refreshing posts one after another. All players in real life almost never put down their mobile phones or computers, always keeping an eye on the developments on the forum.
At exactly 12 noon that day, all players, whether inside or outside the dungeon, received a dungeon announcement.
Dear players, due to force majeure, for the next month, random projections of the Otherworld will appear irregularly between your reality and the Uncanny Realm sky. This is a normal phenomenon due to the interface, so please do not worry. As of now, the forum upgrade is complete. You can refresh the forum to view the live broadcast interface at the top of the forum homepage.
live streaming......?
When someone refreshed the page as quickly as possible, they saw a square banner area at the top of the homepage of the [Rugui] forum.
[Qian Jin Yinuo is live streaming——]
Qian Jin Yinu, this doesn’t look like a real name, nor a copy name, it’s more like a nickname that players register and use in the forum!
At the same time, someone discovered that an identical live broadcast interface also appeared at the top of the official [Jiansheng] forum.
What consensus did the authorities and the people behind Ghost City reach in these short two hours?
Or was it still the administrator No. 0 who directly entered the back door of the [Jiansheng] forum and launched the new live broadcast function simultaneously?
The players didn’t know, but at this moment, countless people clicked into the live broadcast interface.
Happy Amusement Park, Eye of the Ghost City Ferris Wheel.
This was the lunch break for the part-time staff of the amusement park. Because of what Li Ying and Mo Fei had discovered at the Ferris wheel the day before, Cui Xiangwan, Yue Ye, and Li Xiang did not even have lunch. Instead, they took advantage of the break to rush to the Ferris wheel area and prepared to enter the Ferris wheel with Xiang Tianyi to observe the reflection of the lake. Princess Head and Pigtail were left behind in the training area to be notified if anything happened.
However, when the dungeon announcement appeared at twelve o'clock, people working in Guicheng suddenly discovered that their dungeon phones still could not access the [Rugui] forum, but there was also a live broadcast column in the Rugui app.
They didn't know what was happening in the outside world, but apparently, everything seemed to be caused by a mirage appearing in the sky.
"Come in." The staff member in black uniform at the front looked at them and said.
It was their first time riding the Ferris wheel, so they didn't need to check in anything. They all walked quickly into the open Ferris wheel cabins in front of them.
Xiang Tianyi was the first to go up, and Yue Ye was the last. Just after he entered the box, another figure followed him in.
The four of them were stunned.
"If you don't mind, can I join you?" A cheerful female voice came.
Xiang Tianyi didn't recognize the person in front of him, but Cui Xiangwan and the other two knew him.
Qin Yinuo, the heroine who attended their wedding.
[A Promise of a Thousand Golds is live streaming——]
"This Ferris wheel is actually designed for 6-8 people. Don't worry, it can accommodate more than four people."
Qin Yinuo sat in the Ferris wheel box. She sat next to Li Xiang, which made the four players feel a little restrained.
She glanced at the three of them and joked, "You're so nervous, aren't you attending my wedding? Do you have to be so cautious?"
Xiang Tianyi's mouth moved slightly. Wedding, she knew that Cui Xiangwan and the others were the players of the [Wedding Banquet] copy.
"Sister Yinuo, are you here to play?" Cui Xiangwan spoke first.
"No." Qin Yinuo smiled.
She turned her head to look outside the glass and brushed her right hand against her ear.
"Let's live stream the view from above. It'll take a while for us to get on the Ferris wheel."
The four looked at her and said, "I was brought here temporarily to do the live broadcast."
Qin Yinuo's tone seemed to carry a hint of resentment. "Don't worry, this is an outdoor shoot, but I'm the anchor. If you want to watch the live broadcast, feel free to do so. The signal in the Ferris wheel is also very good."
Her overly frank attitude made the players feel a little at a loss.
But Xiang Tianyi directly opened the live broadcast on his mobile phone. At this moment, the picture showed the scenery from a high angle.
It is a panoramic view of the ghost city.
"How old are you this year?" Qin Yinuo looked at Li Xiang beside her.
"24." Li Xiang said weakly.
"You're so young! How long have you been here?" She said with a wistful tone.
Come in? Does that mean entering the dungeon? Li Xiang was stunned for a moment, then replied, "9 months and 7 days."
This answer was both round and zero, which made Qin Yinuo couldn't help but laugh again, "I remember it very clearly."
"I've been here for eleven years."
"Your landlord came later than me. When Luo Qing and the others came in, they were not yet adults. They were dragged in at the age of sixteen. I was better off. At least, I had already been in college for two years."
Li Xiang's voice trembled: "You, you are all players?"
"But isn't there an age limit for copies?"
The copy only starts recruiting people after they reach adulthood, that is, those over 18 and under 60. Doesn't it only recruit strong labor force?
Eleven years... Doesn't that mean Qin Yinuo was dragged here in 2029, instead of the strange copy appearing in 2035 as recorded in reality!
"At the beginning, at least back then, there was no such restriction. We had people of all ages, from toddlers to elderly people in their prime."
"As for you guys, these are the restrictions we imposed five years ago after we initially gained control of this world's underlying code."
"First, only those over 18 years old and adults under 60 years old will be dragged into the strange realm."
"Second, those who enter the strange domain should be remembered by the outside world."
"Third, within the Ghost Domain, starting in 2035, newcomers pulled in cannot truly die."
Qin Yinuo's voice was neither clear nor soft, his tone was firm.
But at this moment, everyone watching the live broadcast could hear a hint of tenderness.
She tilted her head and looked out the window. The Ferris wheel had risen to a high position without her noticing.
"Sister Yinuo, are you... dead now?" Xiang Tianyi looked at her.
It was a strange thing to ask, but she asked it anyway.
Qin Yinuo's eyes paused, and she looked at the young girl: "In a sense, it should be considered dead. But we are still alive here, half dead and half alive."
She laughed at herself, "You can treat us as ghosts, or as the living dead, or as me, a dead person."
"After all, all the survivors in the existing Ghost City and Ghost Territory are no longer considered native humans."
"Sister Yinuo, is this place what we call the underworld, the underworld? Or the ghost town?" Yue also spoke.
"Ghost City, is it a ghost city?"
Qin Yinuo took a deep breath and could be heard clearly in the live broadcast room.
She said, “Before I answer your question, we are going to ascend to the highest point.”
"Please don't be afraid, we will stay at the highest point for a while."
When the Ferris wheel box they were in rose to the highest point, the distant view of the haunted city in the live broadcast room switched back to the perspective of the Ferris wheel.
The Eye of the Ghost City overlooks the shores of Xiansheng Lake, and the weather is exceptionally clear.
The lake reflects the 24 cabins on the Ferris wheel and the sky without reservation.
"What kind of place is the strange domain? What kind of world is it?"
"You think Ghost City is a modern society, but long, long ago, what we saw was a world full of holes."
"It is vicious, ruthless, treacherous, full of malice, indescribable, without any rules, full of weirdness and pollution, dragging ordinary people like us in reality into this alien world, struggling for survival and struggling to survive."
"Everyone who enters this world will be contaminated. Lighter contamination will cause mutations in the body's organs, but those who can withstand it will also improve their physical fitness. Those with a stronger affinity with the pollutants will unleash their abilities to fight against the strangeness and pollution, and even devour them."
"Bad?" Cui Xiangwan asked.
"That's right. We call those places where the body is alienated bad."
"Those who gain abilities through pollution and alienation are called delinquents."
"Originally, it was just a casual nickname. Some people thought it sounded unpleasant and called themselves people with special abilities or special powers. Later, a teacher mentioned that during the Tang Dynasty, minor officials who were assigned to detect and arrest people with bad deeds were called "Buliangren." Reflecting on the past and the present, the term "Buliangren" is surprisingly appropriate."
"Everyone who fights against pollutants and weird things on the front lines is a bad person."
"Back then, we naturally viewed this world as another dimension. As generations passed, the number of bad guys grew, and our elders decided to lead us in launching a general offensive."
"We made a huge mistake." Qin Yinuo's voice was no longer steady.
"Irrefutable and irreparable."
The four people in the Ferris wheel box all looked at her, some clasping their hands tightly, or clutching the corners of their clothes.
In the live broadcast, the lake was calm.
The reflection on the water surface is like a mirror, reflecting the Ferris wheel and the numerous buildings.
“The world does not exist in isolation.”
“The sea reflects the sky, like reflections of each other.”
"Since we were pulled from reality into the strange realm, the two worlds have never been unrelated."
“It’s the outside and the inside, it’s the yin and the yang, it’s one side of the world and the other side.”
"And the Weird Territory is His isolated amusement park and experimental field."
"We severely damaged Him, but what is unchangeable is that the strange domain is even closer to the border of reality."
"Five years ago, the dungeon appeared in reality, and we were the biggest driving force behind it."
"This is an indisputable fact."
Her tone was frank, as if she was open to accepting the trial.
"What about the three rules? Players over 18 and under 60 will not die and will be remembered by the outside world. Is that your ability?" Cui Xiangwan said hurriedly.
"We have no right to judge what you did back then, or whether you were right or wrong. But, what kind of ability is needed to change the basic rules of this world?" His voice trembled.
"How many people are needed to be able to change the rules of the world, to be able to extend this power into reality?"
Qin Yinuo did not answer.
"From this devastated world to the strange domain where we now build our city, how many people have you sacrificed?" Xiang Tianyi said softly.
Qin Yinuo did not answer.
"All we have seen is the weirdness in the copy, and pollution we have never seen before. During the seven-day blockade period, you were so skilled in isolation, blockade, and screening. How many times and how many years have you experienced it?" Yue Ye asked in a hoarse voice.
Qin Yinuo did not answer.
"Sister Yinuo, I want to ask."
"At your wedding, we met the captain of the [Sea Cruise], the HR of [Anxi Technology], the homeroom teacher of [Seventh Middle School], and the doctor of [Qingshan Hospital]."
"And Sister Luo Qing, you... are all bad people, right?" Li Xiang looked at her sideways.
Qin Yinuo held her cheek and finally answered.
"Yes. We are the last remaining group of Delinquents."
“It will also be the last generation.”
"The elders said that danger is imminent."
“We cannot leave the problems that our generation can solve to the next generation.”
Her voice could no longer remain steady.
"They are the ones who have to fill in the gaps in the past. They say they are too incompetent and can only leave the mess to the younger generation to clean up."
"Everything in the strange domain is special. Many of the surviving bad guys are not good at fighting, so we use our abilities to build bridges, roads, buildings and cities on the land of blood and flesh."
“The initial construction has exceeded everyone’s imagination.”
“This land always responds to us.”
"The Ghost Domain is still recruiting people. We can't change the core source. We can only rely on the three patched rules to speed up the progress."
"The survivors were a huge, makeshift team. We racked our brains and, after taking suggestions from many sources, decided to build the Ghost Domain into a replica of the infinite dungeons in real life. We would artificially build dungeons in this shattered world and push them to the forum."
"So, during each dungeon, players can only see thick fog... The dungeon is established as a safe zone." Cui Xiangwan cried.
Every copy where players survive is a safe zone built by pioneers.
It was as if Sun Wukong had drawn a circle on the ground with his golden cudgel.
Hey, my compatriots, stay inside and don’t come out, you won’t die.
"It's never been an infinite flow here," she said.
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