Initial Model

After getting up from the bed, Chen Xiaolian quickly noticed something unusual in the room.

All the power sources had been cut off!

The lights in the room couldn’t be turned on anymore. When he pulled back the curtains, instead of the simulated scenery projected outside the window, there was now just a cold screen.

He walked to the corner of the room and reached out to feel the air vent of the air conditioner, but there was no air coming out anymore.

A few minutes later, a faint smell of stuffiness started to fill the room.

Chen Xiaolian frowned.

He sensed that something might be wrong.

But just as he was about to try opening the door to go out and check… he found that the room’s door had been locked!

In Zero City’s hotels, each room had an electronic lock. This was the convenience brought about by technology. As long as the guest, upon entering the room for the first time, grasped the doorknob with their palm, the doorknob would automatically read the guest’s palm print, heart rate, temperature range changes, and so on, forming an automatic recognition standard. After that, only the guest themselves could enter and exit the room. There was no need for keys at all.

This technology was advanced and convenient.

But… once the power went out, things became really screwed up!

Chen Xiaolian found himself locked inside the room.

He really wanted to take out his sword and chop the door open, but after hesitating for a moment, he decided to wait and see what would happen.

The room had excellent soundproofing. Even with his ears pressed against the walls and the door panels, he couldn’t hear any sounds from outside or from the neighboring rooms.

As for the peephole on the door… sorry, this hotel didn’t have such a device on any of its doors. However, guests in the rooms could open the television and see the situation outside their room door in the corridor at any time, which was undoubtedly much more useful than a peephole.

Unfortunately, now… it was all useless.

He picked up the phone in the room, trying to contact the hotel’s customer service center, but the phone had been cut off.

Chen Xiaolian glanced at his wristwatch.

It had been seven or eight minutes already.

His heart began to race.

Vaguely, he felt that the change in this situation might be related to those strange messages in his personal system.

“???? : Unlocking in progress…”

The message in his personal system still lingered on this one.

However, in the last symbol, that “.” was still pulsating.

Chen Xiaolian guessed that this probably indicated that the unlocking process was underway.

He calmed himself down and checked his storage wristwatch. The supplies inside gave him a lot of confidence.

There were plenty of provisions and fresh water. The reserves were enough to sustain Chen Xiaolian alone in here for a month without starving or thirsting to death.

Even in emergencies, Chen Xiaolian’s storage wristwatch also contained four mini oxygen devices, which could provide him with over six hours of oxygen supply in times of crisis.

With a calm mind, Chen Xiaolian began to search for a way to leave the room.

After inspecting the air vent and giving up… the ventilation duct in the room was only about the size of a fist. Chen Xiaolian couldn’t use shapeshifting magic to turn himself into a mouse.

Just as Chen Xiaolian stood on the table, took out a dagger, and attempted to pry open the air conditioning duct, suddenly…

The screen of the TV in the room flickered abruptly, and then lit up!

In the originally pitch-black room, Chen Xiaolian held a mini flashlight in his mouth, the only source of light in the room. Suddenly, the wall-mounted TV screen behind him lit up, startling Chen Xiaolian.

He quickly turned around and saw a green light appearing on the screen.

This green light sent a shiver down Chen Xiaolian’s spine!

Initially, he thought the power had been restored, but then he realized something was amiss.

This green light… seemed… very much like the scanning green light when entering a dungeon!

Stunned for a moment, Chen Xiaolian quickly noticed a line of text appearing on the screen.

At the same time, the same line of text appeared in his personal system, with both displays being identical.

“???? : Unlocking complete, entry permitted.”

Entry… permitted?

Entry?

Into where?

Chen Xiaolian jumped off the table and stood in front of the screen, pondering and tentatively reaching out to touch the green light on the screen.

“???? : Identity verified, template match, entry approved.”

The next moment, Chen Xiaolian, who was originally standing in the room, suddenly, in a flash, his body transformed into a streak of green light and disappeared from where he stood, as if being sucked into the screen!

This all happened in just a split second, and immediately after, the light on the screen went out again, and the room returned to pitch-black darkness, as if nothing had ever happened.

…

“Activate all backup power units.” Wu Tianshi quickly issued a series of instructions: “Notify all active members of the Angel Legion in Zero City to cancel all leaves and assemble urgently. All sentinels, move to high alert! Zero City’s all areas are to enter emergency control mode! I’m giving you one hour. After one hour, no one is allowed to roam in public areas! Everyone is to gather at the Elders Council Hall!

Find a way to contact all individuals detained and sealed in rooms indoors. If contact is established, instruct them to await rescue on the spot and not to act arbitrarily! Zero City is in a state of emergency!”

After a moment of thought, Wu Tianshi glanced at Bluesea. “Do you have any suggestions? Bluesea, after all, you are currently the acting elder of the Elders Council.”

“I have no objection to activating all backup power units, but I believe we need to conduct a screening process to manually shut down some unnecessary areas that consume energy, as more equipment will deplete our limited oxygen supply.”

“We also have the Sentinel Mechs,” Bluesea added after some thought. “The use of thrusters by the Sentinel Mechs will deplete the oxygen here. I suggest that all armed personnel abandon patrols with mechs in the streets.”

“Agreed,” Wu Tianshi immediately nodded.

“In an emergency situation, everyone must obey orders. If anyone takes advantage of the situation to cause trouble…”

“Deal with them ruthlessly!” A hint of ferocity flashed in Wu Tianshi’s eyes.

“Continue trying to communicate with the main program of Zero City, find a way to regain access! We cannot afford to sit idly by!” Bluesea sighed. “All technical personnel must return to their posts! Every second counts now.”

…

Chen Xiaolian stood in an unfamiliar environment, surrounded by darkness, but he could vaguely see some outlines.

This was because there were faint glimmers dancing in front of him, like fireflies.

With the dim light, Chen Xiaolian could roughly discern that he seemed to be in a circular room.

He attempted to take a step and immediately felt a sluggish sensation under his feet. Squatting down and feeling with his hand, he sensed a slippery and soft texture.

He found his feet sinking into a semi-liquid, semi-solid substance—like jelly.

But after touching it with his hand, it felt dry.

The substance reached up to Chen Xiaolian’s shins, making it somewhat difficult for him to walk steadily. Taking more than ten steps, Chen Xiaolian attempted to reach the edge of the circular room.

Suddenly, he noticed that as he moved, all the faint glimmers in the air, like fireflies, converged towards him. Eventually, they densely attached to his body.

His arms, chest, thighs…

Soon, his entire body became like a giant glow stick.

Once the light sources concentrated, his vision improved slightly.

Chen Xiaolian looked down and saw the semi-liquid substance beneath him emitting a faint green glow.

This substance… Chen Xiaolian’s heart sank suddenly!

He remembered seeing something similar to this jelly-like substance today in the underground of the Elders Council, the soft metal-like substance controlling Zero City’s main program.

Finally, the fireflies enveloped Chen Xiaolian completely, densely covering him. If he didn’t wipe the substance from his eyes, they would have been covered too.

He couldn’t feel the weight of these substances at all, as if they had no mass.

Suddenly, the surrounding circle in this circular room lit up!

At this sudden brightness, Chen Xiaolian’s body trembled! He was awestruck by the sight before him!

It was so beautiful…

The stars!

…

No, to be precise, it wasn’t just stars; it was… the universe!

Amidst the chaos, there were nebulae, celestial bodies, asteroid belts, irregular flashes of light in the distance… everything was like a scene from a sci-fi movie set in space.

Chen Xiaolian realized that the room had disappeared, and he felt as though he was standing in the void of space, surrounded by the vastness of the cosmos, gazing at the surrounding nebulae!

“What in the world is this?”

Chen Xiaolian muttered instinctively.

Surprisingly, this self-talk was met with a response!

A voice echoed from within, as well as from all directions, and then settled in Chen Xiaolian’s consciousness.

The voice was neutral, genderless, ethereal yet calm.

“This is… the original state of this world… or more accurately, it’s what the Creator thought the world’s original state should be.”

Chen Xiaolian trembled!

He abruptly turned around and looked around: “Who? Who’s speaking?! Who?”

“It’s me,” the voice resounded once again.

Chen Xiaolian’s heart raced. He took a deep breath… but this action made him feel very eerie! Because after taking a deep breath, he realized that he couldn’t inhale any air.

However, his body seemed to have no abnormalities.

“You don’t need to breathe because your body is not here. What exists here is only your consciousness,” the voice said calmly.

“But…” Chen Xiaolian raised his hands, looking at his fingers, palms, and the firefly-like lights on his body, which had disappeared at some point.

“The outline of your current body is just imagined by your consciousness. According to your habits, your consciousness automatically recreates your appearance, but it’s just an illusion.”

“…,” Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a moment. “Then, where am I?”

“You are in my world.”

“And… who are you?”

“I am Zero City,” the voice replied calmly. “More accurately, I am a part of the initial template of this world, a part that has been cut off.”