Fantasy Game: Infinite City

"Tell me first, how did you know where I was, and then what about the teleportation you mentioned?"

"Well, a few hours ago, I woke up from the ground..."

"Just focus on the main points! Don't start from the beginning! Besides, isn't this starting too far from the beginning?!"

"Oh, when I was clearing the 100th floor of the building, I met a guy who called himself a contractor. He showed me a terminal and said there was information I was interested in. I looked at it and saw that it showed you scouting the base. You were like me, you couldn't use your abilities, but you performed well. Later, the guy told me that as long as I climbed to the rooftop, I could teleport you directly there. That's it."

"So you believe it? Aren't you usually... Wait, contractor? You said contractor, right?!"

"You know this guy who calls himself a contractor?"

"That's right, I used to..."

Gloria told Han Zu the key points of her previous experience in this strange space, but even after simplifying it and omitting unimportant information, it still took half an hour.

"So, these guys who call themselves contractors do have a way to get out of here. And it turns out that those guys I killed were not from the same force."

"Plus, the guy you met, who claimed to be a contractor, was able to keep track of our information at any time. I am more inclined to believe that they approached you on purpose, and they may have some purpose, so I don't think they can be trusted. And Han Zu, you usually don't show any trust in strangers, but why do you think what he said is true this time?"

"You were wearing this hooded sweatshirt when you took down a scavenger stronghold, right?"

"That's true, but I've been wearing this outfit since I woke up. That doesn't mean anything, does it?"

"Of course I know that. I don't believe that the guy who calls himself a contractor is just kind-hearted, but I have other ways to confirm your location. The terminal screen he showed me only confirmed that it was you I found."

"Your perception ability works again?"

"That's not the case, but it can't be said to be completely useless. I don't know how to accurately describe how I confirmed your location. If I have to say it, it's like the main body can sense the location of the clone. This ability to determine your location not only consumes no energy at all (at least I didn't find it), but also seems to be independent of my perception ability, because so far, my perception ability has not been restored."

"If that's the case, then why did you have to wait until you saw me on the terminal of that guy who claimed to be a contractor before you confirmed it was me?"

"Because I find this ability very strange. It can find your location, but it doesn't lock onto your energy fluctuations or life signals. In fact, I don't know how this ability works, but one thing is certain, that is, the stronger I am, the clearer the effect of this ability will be. But for now, it only works on you."

"You mean, not only have your abilities been restored, but they've also been enhanced? How did you do that? Why can't I sense any energy?"

"I'm actually confused by this as well. As usual, I can't sense the energy in my body, but I can use all kinds of powers as usual. I discovered this after I subconsciously released a chest cannon when I cleared more than 90 floors. But these abilities are sometimes effective and sometimes not. At first I thought it was the surplus energy after clearing a floor and the enemy died, but then I tried a few more times and it had nothing to do with that."

"I'm almost the same as you, can I do it too?"

"Why don't you try? I said before that you can't handle the battle here because you can't deal with the enemies inside with your physical strength alone, but if you can use energy, maybe you can try to go up with me."

Gloria first tried to sense her own energy, but could not sense anything, as if she was an empty shell. However, when she tried to release a radiation pulse, she succeeded. Not only that, Gloria also found that her radiation pulse actually slowed down Han Zu's movements by one second.

"What's going on? Stasis field? I didn't know this before?!"

However, Han Zu seemed to have some understanding of this situation.

"Although the use of various abilities sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, in the process of using the abilities, in addition to the effects that the abilities can originally achieve, there will be some additional effects. I think this has something to do with the fact that this ability cannot be used at any time, but I'm not sure what this connection is at the moment."

However, Gloria is not in a hurry to study these things. She has other more important things to do.

"So what about the teleportation you mentioned? Those guys who call themselves contractors don't sound credible."

"I did sense residual energy fluctuations from the energy anchor point after the teleportation from the guy who claimed to be a contractor. So there is no doubt that they can use teleportation technology. I have studied various teleportation devices and usage techniques in my base. As long as I can find their teleportation equipment and make some minor changes, I can lock your position and teleport you to me."

"But even if you reach the roof, there may not be a transmission device there? If that's the case, what are you going to do?"

"All the enemies in this skyscraper have residual energy from energy anchor points after they appear, and they either appear at the deepest part of each floor or rush out from the stairwell. To achieve this, we must use a teleportation device, and if we can accurately teleport these people to the same position with almost no changes, that is, the stairs leading to the next floor, then there must be at least one energy anchor point here. As long as I can find the energy anchor point and use the parts of the weapons and equipment dropped by the enemies of these industrial groups, I can build a teleportation device by hand."

"But what if the contractors are not using teleportation devices, but their own abilities? In that case, there would be no fixed teleportation anchor points in this building, right?"

"That's impossible."

"Why? How can you be sure..."

"Because the contractor is a cyborg, at least the one I saw was."

"What?! Cyborg? Wait, how much did he transform? If it's only a small part, then it's possible..."

"Not much different than when I met you. Probably more radical than you."

"Oh."

When Gloria first met Han Zu, everything except her brain had been mechanically modified. If she was more radical than Gloria at that time, then she would be no different from a complete mechanical life. Mechanical life itself is just a device, except that they can move and think.

"Okay, that's all the information I have so far. Shall we continue upwards? Or will you wait for me here for a while?"

"Let's go up together. If it really doesn't work and I'm holding you back, I'll just run away."

"Let's go then."

"Wait a minute! There's one more thing. Alra has sent a large climbing team, and their support is already on the way. Should we deal with this first?"

"No need. They can't come up anyway."

"Although climbing the stairs takes a long time, it's not that long... ah, I see."

Gloria followed Han Zu all the way forward, but after Han Zu stopped, Gloria found that this was not a stairwell at all. It should be said that there was no stairwell between the 167th and 168th floors. The place where the two of them were now stopped was a huge gap that appeared for unknown reasons, and could lead to the elevator room on the 168th floor.

After following Han Zu to climb up, the huge gap disappeared immediately, and the place became a normal concrete floor without any trace left.

"This is not the only situation. There are many similar situations. Maybe a ladder suddenly appears on the wall, or a vine suddenly appears on the ceiling of the upper floor. In short, there are all kinds of strange things. But when I use them to reach the upper floor, these things will disappear, and then a stairwell will appear, but it seems that only I can see it."

Han Zu pointed to the side, and Gloria only saw a concrete wall, but according to Han Zu, there was a staircase leading to the 167th floor below.

Han Zu even demonstrated it to Gloria, but Gloria only saw Han Zu inexplicably passing through the wall.

“This is really…”

"If you can't see it either, then I don't think you'll be able to get in where the fight is going to start, but it doesn't hurt to try."

Soon, the two left the stairwell and through the porch in front, they could see a group of enemies wandering on the 168th floor, but they seemed to have not noticed Han Zu and Gloria at all.

Han Zu walked directly into the 168th floor, and Gloria really stopped at the door as Han Zu said. It was not that she didn't want to go in, but that she couldn't. Gloria didn't encounter any air wall, but it was like she stepped into some high-intensity stasis force field and couldn't get in no matter what.

There was no other way. Gloria could only wait outside for the time being. She wanted to be a spectator and watch how Han Zu fought. However, as soon as Han Zu made a move, the entire 168th floor suddenly disappeared. To be precise, the huge room in front of her disappeared.

The sudden change made Gloria's hair stand on end, but she didn't know what happened and could only do nothing for the time being. But even so, Gloria took out her weapon, leaned against the wall, and prepared for battle. After all, this skyscraper seemed even more abnormal than the space outside.

"Hello."

At this moment, a mechanical sound with its own reverberation appeared beside Gloria. Gloria rolled over like a frightened bird, shot the explosive arrow in her hand, and then immediately switched weapons and prepared to fire.

However, when Gloria regained her balance, she found that the explosive arrow that had flown over was just hovering in front of a person wearing a robe and looking like a mechanical life form, motionless. As the mechanical life form waved its hand, the explosive arrow was particleized in an instant and disappeared.

"You are...what?!"

“You can call me a contractor.”

"Contractor?! Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

The contractor did not answer Gloria's question, but handed her a suitcase. This suitcase also appeared out of thin air. After it appeared next to the contractor, the contractor placed it on the ground between the two of them.

Taking this opportunity, Gloria observed the mechanical life in front of her, who called himself a contractor. Its body structure was very strange, like a nano-muscle without skin. Through its exposed arms, Gloria could see that the solid metal was rotating and moving in all directions in a liquid-like manner. It was a bit like a human meat grinder, except that the metal teeth fit perfectly without any gaps.

"Please give this suitcase to the man inside."

Although the contractor's voice was mechanical and reverberant, it seemed to have human-like emotions. Gloria could even hear the difference in tone. This phenomenon made Gloria speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.

The contractor remained where he was, seemingly waiting for Gloria's reply.

"What is your intention in looking for Han Zu? And if you want to look for him, why don't you talk to him directly? Why do you have to go through me?"

The contractor did not respond.

"Do you know how to leave this space?"

"The clue is in the suitcase."

"Why should I believe you?"

The contractor still did not respond.

Gloria asked a lot of questions, but the contractor still didn't answer. Gloria gradually realized that it seemed to be waiting for Gloria's reply.

But Gloria was not ready to agree to it and hand over such a briefcase full of questions to Han Zu. Who knows what is inside. It might be a bomb that can kill Han Zu, or something similar.

The stalemate lasted for a long time, and the contractor suddenly looked at the original entrance to the 168th floor that had suddenly disappeared.

"Please give this suitcase to the man inside."

After repeating its request, the contractor disappeared in front of Gloria out of thin air. This time, Gloria did not sense any residual energy left after the transmission.

"Om~~"

After a short buzzing sound, the 168th floor appeared in front of Gloria again. Han Zu had some more wounds on his body, but he was recovering quickly. He was searching for usable equipment inside.

"What's that look on your face? Where did this suitcase come from?"

Gloria, who was digesting the information just now, was brought back to her senses by Han Zu's voice. When she turned around, she found that Han Zu had walked to the suitcase and squatted down, preparing to open the suitcase.

"Click."

"Click."

"Don't!!!"

"Ah, what did you say Gloria?"

Gloria said it a few seconds late. Han Zu, who was quick with his hands, had already opened the suitcase, but it seemed that nothing had happened.