Chapter 77 Zero Power Supplier
The man in front of her looked exactly like Situ Linchen.
But this is not him.
The location for their next date was an agreement known only to the two of them—he would find a special place.
The man in front of her gave a completely wrong answer.
As soon as she asked "Who are you?", Situ Linchen paused for a moment and then suddenly disappeared.
The lingering warmth in my hand vanished into nothingness.
What she had been clutching tightly the whole way was actually a simulated virtual image!
Suddenly, the malicious AI voice reappeared.
[Audience member Ning Shuyin has been successfully separated.]
[Audience member Situ Linchen is now alone.]
Thank you for your cooperation.
The last sentence was delivered with a distinctly mocking tone.
Ning Shuyin turned around abruptly, wanting to go back to the mirror maze to find him.
But there was no mirror maze left behind.
The entire space was now empty except for this solitary control panel in front of me.
She was stripped away?
Is he alone?
"System! Are you there?" she instinctively called out in her mind.
...
The playful electronic voice that used to reply instantly is now completely unresponsive.
A strong sense of unease washed over me.
Even the system has been blocked?
What kind of weird place is this?
Her mind raced.
Throughout her journey, the verbal attacks she faced in this virtual world were merely superficial provocations.
However, the attacks on Situ Linchen involved his background, past, and mental state, and deliberately left him alone.
The mastermind's target is Situ Linchen!
The enemy's entire plan revolved around him.
This means that as long as he remains trapped here, the crisis outside will not be resolved.
Without hesitation, Ning Shuyin reached out and pressed the button.
She didn't know what lay ahead; she had only one thought in her mind.
Find him.
"Buzz—"
The next instant, a blinding white light.
Ning Shuyin felt as if the world had turned upside down, and her body was thrown into the unknown.
When she landed heavily, she found herself in a dilapidated alley.
A burnt smell filled the air, and the ground beneath our feet was cracked.
Situ Linchen is still not here.
She strode out of the alley and onto the street.
Suddenly, a crackling sound came from inside her ears.
Immediately afterwards, a familiar voice entered her ears.
“…Yin…Ning Shuyin! Can you hear me? Answer me.”
It was Zhou Zhiheng.
Ning Shuyin blurted out, "Zhou Zhiheng, I'm here."
She responded several times.
However, Zhou Zhiheng's shouts continued to echo in his ears.
Clearly, he couldn't hear her.
This was a one-way communication.
“Ning Shuyin, whether you can hear me or not, listen up. I now suspect that the You family is behind this.”
"Muze has already begun his operation, and we...we are currently unable to detect Situ's signal."
The static noise grew louder, and Zhou Zhiheng's voice gradually became distorted.
He spoke very quickly, as if racing against time.
"The structure of the Ultimate World is strange. My people are working hard to decipher it, but it will take time. Ning Shuyin, don't be afraid. Find a place to hide and conceal yourself until we rescue you."
Zhou Zhiheng repeated his words twice.
"Sizzle—"
The call was dropped.
Ning Shuyin concentrated all her attention on analyzing the limited information available from the outside world.
She originally thought that the malicious AI was just trying to separate the two of them.
But now, Situ Linchen's signal has disappeared.
The situation might be worse than she imagined.
Hide? Wait for rescue?
No.
She can't.
Whether foreign aid will be effective remains to be seen.
She had already penetrated deep into enemy territory; she couldn't just hide and stay put.
The shattered city before me is shrouded in a gray sky.
In the distance, a black spire, like the fangs of a ferocious beast, pierced the sky.
She uses her senses to explore the guidance of energy.
The energy supplement she drank from Loran earlier contained enough pure energy to keep her feeling strong until now.
The city was bigger than she had imagined.
The buildings lining the street are distorted, defying the laws of physics.
Suddenly, three humanoid mechanical bodies appeared out of thin air in front of her.
The next second, the mechanical arm transformed into a bayonet and stabbed at her.
Ning Shuyin was prepared and quickly retreated, trying to run to the other end of the alley.
Suddenly, her wrist was grabbed by a strong force.
"Come with me."
A dark figure suddenly appeared beside her.
The shadowy figure possessed immense strength and easily carried her onto the roof.
With a "whoosh".
The shadowy figure threw a flying knife, which accurately pierced the single eye of a robot.
The robot crashed to the ground.
The shadowy figure moved with a fluidity that seemed inhuman.
Before the other two robots could react, he threw out two more throwing knives with a "whoosh".
The battle ended in just two seconds.
The three machines became three piles of scrap metal.
The dark figure helped Ning Shuyin land easily back on the ground.
Only then did Ning Shuyin get a clear look at him.
He was a boy of fifteen or sixteen years old.
The hood's shadow covered most of his face, revealing only a sharp chin and pale lips.
"Are you... also trapped here?" the hooded boy asked, his voice hoarse and crackling with static.
Ning Shuyin looked wary.
The boy didn't care; he pointed at the pile of mechanical corpses and spoke.
“These things can’t be killed off. They are the city’s purifiers, connected to the energy and the city itself.”
"The only way to get out of here is to find the zero power donor."
After the boy finished speaking, he looked up at Ning Shuyin.
His hood slipped back, revealing his entire appearance.
His skin was so white it was almost transparent, and half of his face was metallic.
His eyes were a chaotic, deep purple.
Unlike Zhou Zhiheng's crystal-clear light purple, his eyes were like ink settled in the night.
“Power Supplier Zero?” she repeated the unfamiliar term.
“Yes.” The boy nodded, pointing to the black spire in the very center of the city.
"That's the Tower of Oblivion, the heart of the city. Zero is on the top floor of the tower, the city's only switch."
switch?
Ning Shuyin's eyes flashed when she heard those two words.
Could it be that... this zero-power donor is the switch for this virtual world?
The tower in the distance exuded an extremely unsettling aura.
But she wanted to go up.
The boy seemed to see through her thoughts, and a smile curved his lips: "That tower is not so easy to climb."
The hooded boy looked at her with his deep purple eyes.
“I’ve tried many times. But every time, I’ve failed.”
The boy's voice, crackling with static, lowered a few decibels, as if he had recalled something terrifying.
Ning Shuyin had just witnessed his skills. If even he couldn't get up there...
She frowned and asked, "What kind of formidable enemy is inside?"
The boy shook his head: "There's nothing inside."
His eyes became very complicated.
"Although there are no enemies, one person cannot reach the top of this tower."
"Can't a person reach the top alone?"
"Yes. Because this tower devours people's memories."
"The higher you go, the more you forget. I've tried countless times. Every time I get halfway up, I forget why I even went up there in the first place."
"I tried the dumbest method. I wrote words all over my hands and arms to remind myself that I had to reach the summit, but it didn't work."
The boy looked helpless.
"As soon as I step onto the stairs, all words vanish. I still forget who I am and what my purpose is."
“When I got tired, I instinctively went down. But once I got back to the lower level, I remembered that I was supposed to go up. But as soon as I started to go up, I forgot again.”
“The most recent time, I spent a whole month wandering on the stairs.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
