Fantasy Game: Infinite City

"despair!"

Han Zu snapped his fingers next to Gloria's ear, but Gloria didn't react. She just sat on the ground blankly with a dazed look, as if she was observing something.

"Gloria?"

"Ok?"

I called her and she responded, but Gloria seemed to be focusing on other things, so her answer seemed perfunctory.

"A secondary device with the same serial number has been detected. Do you want to establish a data connection network?"

At this moment, a prompt suddenly appeared on Han Zu's contractor equipment. Although Han Zu could not be 100% sure what the equipment had discovered, through the sentences composed of those words, Han Zu could roughly guess what Gloria's current situation was.

The so-called secondary devices of the same sequence can actually be understood as the difference between the host and the extension. Since the underlying operating logic of the devices is the same, and the host has higher authority, when necessary, the host can directly remotely control the extension to operate normally. Many devices within the Infinite Company use such a data network architecture. The fact that the contractor's device has this prompt means that Gloria currently has a contractor's device.

"Data connection network architecture completed, current number of secondary devices: 1"

Since he had nothing to do anyway, Han Zu followed the prompts of the contractor's equipment and authorized it. Soon, a new device connection appeared on the contractor's equipment UI. Han Zu opened the connection and saw a large amount of information being reviewed. This should be what Gloria was doing, which was why she looked like she was sitting on the ground in a daze.

"Overwrite operation in progress... completed."

"Oi! What are you doing? Let's go!"

Gloria was searching for a large number of files, and her attention was highly focused. At this moment, the file search operation was suddenly forced to stop, and a picture suddenly covered most of the UI in her eyes, and Han Zu's face suddenly appeared on it.

"Han Zu?"

Gloria was stunned for a moment, then she turned her attention away from the contractor's equipment and looked up at Han Zu. He had a half-burned cigarette in his mouth, and she didn't know where he got it from.

"The 169th floor has been cleared. According to my previous experience, there will be an extra floor between the 169th and 170th floors. There is nothing there and it is safe. If you have anything to say, you can go upstairs and talk. But if you feel comfortable on the 169th floor, you can talk here. Anyway, I have cleared this floor."

Gloria nodded subconsciously, stood up, and prepared to walk towards the stairs leading to the upper floor. However, after taking two steps, she suddenly remembered something and immediately started communicating with Han Zu.

"Just now when you were clearing the 169th floor, the contractor showed up again. He gave me something similar to the one in the briefcase he gave you. It was a..."

"Stop, stop, stop, Gloria, why are you in such a hurry? I know what it is, and you have it on you now. Slow down."

As they walked towards the stairs and onto the safe extra floor, Gloria and Han Zu exchanged their experiences when Han Zu cleared the 169th floor. After entering the safe floor, there was actually a broken sofa. Although it looked like an old antique, it was better than the concrete floor. Han Zu threw the storage belt on his waist onto the armrest of the sofa and then lay directly on the sofa.

"So, these two things the contractor gave us are powerful intelligent auxiliary devices? Similar to the system in Infinite City?"

"It should be about the same. However, I think that in terms of performance alone, the equipment of this contractor is much stronger than the system of Infinite City. Not to mention that there are basically no unknown entries in the database at present, just from the point of view that it will not be interfered with by me, it is stronger than the system of Infinite City."

"If the contractor's equipment is of this level, I think their strength should have surpassed the Unlimited Company and the Ferdinand family, or even the sum of the two. If this is the case, why did they contact us? What is the reason?"

"I'm not sure about that, but I have some bad news. Do you want to hear it?"

"What bad news?"

Han Zu told Gloria about his detailed combat experience on the 169th floor. Based on his assessment of the combat situation, Han Zu told Gloria some completely bad news, that is, if he could not use his abilities freely, he might not be able to successfully climb to the top floor of the skyscraper.

"And there are some points that can be extended. Contractors can come and go freely in this building and go to any floor they want. Our experience in the building, including the information you searched in Alra's base before arriving here, all implicitly lead the makers of the building to those contractors. If this is true, I can tell you clearly that if I don't know more, based on what I know now, I can't deal with those contractors at all."

"What if you can use all your abilities freely?"

"The chances are probably somewhere between 'not losing so badly' and 'not being able to lose but also not being able to win', but generally speaking, no. If I can absorb the Gift of Death again and evolve again, then maybe I can, but it's definitely not possible now."

"But if they are so powerful, why would they want to contact us? Why not just kill us or capture us for research? Why would they give us these other devices that look like they are hiding a conspiracy?"

Due to her own experience, Gloria completely distrusted these contractors and their equipment. While thinking about the reasons for their actions, she tried to find a way to shut down the contractors' equipment. However, releasing radiation pulses several times had no effect, so Gloria could only pace back and forth in front of the sofa.

Han Zu's attitude is completely different. Although he has a serious crisis of trust in many things, in general, he just doesn't trust "people". Those guys who call themselves contractors have nothing to do with people except for having a human-like body. Even their equipment, when describing situations and things, is presented in a sequence that normal people would never arrange in that way. It has a unique flavor, but this way of description is very different from mechanical programs or AI. Han Zu believes that they seem to have nothing to do with humans.

Because of this, Han Zu was able to calm down and think, instead of pacing back and forth like Gloria. Through the connection of these things and what Gloria said about the two encounters with contractors, Han Zu had a general idea.

"I have an idea. I, or we climbing the stairs, may be a test given to us by the contractor."

"Test? What do you mean?"

"It's not clear what it means exactly, but they appeared in front of us because we met some difficult requirements of this test that we were not aware of. The first time the shorter contractor appeared in front of me, he might have noticed me, and the second time another contractor appeared in front of you, I must have met some deeper conditions of this test."

"But why did he go through me instead of coming to you directly?"

"Do you think you would rather chat with me or approach someone like you when you don't know me at all?"

"I don't think the guys who can make a device like this would judge a person by appearance."

"That's not necessarily the case, but even if it's not, the reason should be similar."

"But why did he show up the second time and give me this device?"

"I don't know the exact situation, but if I had to guess, he probably considered you as a backup plan, because theoretically, you and I are the only beings of the same species."

"So, essentially, they need our help? But if what you said is true, and they can't do it with their strength, can we succeed?"

"When the contractor contacted you for the second time, he said that we don't have many materials. This sentence may not only express the high cost of making these devices, but also implicitly express that they are experiencing a serious shortage of materials. Based on the fact that they can come and go freely in this space, I think the materials they want are not because they are trapped here and can't get out and can't find them, but that the materials are scarce, or at least difficult to obtain. But judging from the fact that they came to us, I think there may be another situation."

According to Han Zu's speculation, the contractors should know the exact location of the materials or supplies they are lacking, but for some reason, it is difficult for them to obtain what they need. Han Zu and Gloria should be able to get those things effortlessly, or at least more easily. Han Zu believes that it is probably related to the physical composition of both parties.

"But even so, it's not easy to get them. It may require strong physical fitness, or at least the ability to resist damage. I think the degree of difficulty required should be on par with the battle on the roof. Injuries of that degree may even be commonplace. If we can, mainly me, clear the roof, I think they should appear directly in front of us and explain the situation to us."

"So, the equipment he gave us is actually used to spy on us?"

"Yes, but I think it's more than that. They should have seen the feasibility of me and thought that I have a good chance of completing their plan. So this device is not just a monitoring device, but also a way for them to help us. From this perspective, they do take their plan very seriously, and their situation must not be optimistic."

"But why don't they just use the people on the top floor to complete the plan? Theoretically, aren't they more powerful? At least stronger than you are now."

"I think all the enemies in this building are artificial humans or clones created by them, not intelligent life in the strict sense. I can guess that they are almost certain, judging from their rich combat experience, high degree of cooperation, and almost no dialogue. I know what you want to say. You want to say that you saw someone disappear after death in Alra's files, and then found again. But you didn't see that incident with your own eyes, and what Alra's people saw may not be what really happened. Even Infinite Company can modify people's memories. Do you think an existence that surpasses them can't do it?"

"You have a point."

"Also, how do you know that they haven't used the enemies on the roof? It's possible that they were the last group of people who climbed to the roof, but their plan failed, so they were left on the roof."

"You always say that it's troublesome and you don't want to think about complicated things, but in fact you think more than anyone else."

"It depends. I am actually very interested in these contractors, and their equipment is really very useful."

"That's right. So what should we do now? Didn't you say that it would be difficult for you to reach the top floor?"

"It doesn't cost anything to try. Anyway, we can't leave this space for the time being. And my energy seems to be recovering slowly. Maybe after I climb a few more floors, it will get easier and easier."

"Then let's go. I can't help anyway. Let me study the detailed functions of this contractor's equipment."

After the break, the two continued to climb. Han Zu cleared the enemies inside the building layer by layer, while Gloria studied the contractor's equipment bit by bit and in detail.

With the help of the contractor's equipment, although Han Zu's ability was still not available whenever he wanted, the intervals between each use were getting shorter and shorter, and the duration of the ability was getting longer and longer. Except for the high-energy rays, which could not be used continuously, Han Zu's other energies were almost restored to their peak. After dozens of hours of overcoming all the difficulties, Han Zu climbed to the 271st floor, where there were windows. Looking out the window, Han Zu observed that there were things like clouds below, and he had reached a very high position. Looking up, he found that the roof was estimated to be no more than five floors away from this position.

"Calculating the time, if you clear the 272 floors from now on, we will reach the top of the building in about five or six hours. To be honest, although the enemies on each floor are getting more and more perverted, I think you are the more outrageous one."

Gloria stared at Han Zu, looking at him carefully with a look that seemed to want to say something but hesitated. Ever since she figured out how to use the contractor's system on the 231st floor, and started to observe his battle through Han Zu's perspective when Gloria was blocked outside the entrance, the scene she saw was too exaggerated, causing Gloria's heart to feel like it was thrown into a roller coaster at a lethal speed, and it basically never slowed down. Even though the same thrilling scene had passed forty floors, Gloria still had some lingering fears. She remembered that Han Zu had said that he was not sure he could defeat the enemy on the roof.

"How do you feel now? I see that most of your abilities have reached their peak. Are you sure?"

"My chances are even lower. Based on the strength of the enemies on the 271st floor, I should be the one fighting myself on the next floor. I think you have watched for so long, you should know how bad the situation is."

"So are you still planning to go up? Actually... it doesn't matter if the two of us can't leave this space. There is everything here, and the people of the Feidenan family probably can't get in."

Based on the battle scene Gloria had seen before, she had the idea of ​​retreating, because she didn't believe that Han Zu could reach the roof and clear out the enemies inside. Rather than dying on the roof, it would be better to stop here. Even if they could never leave this space, they would not be unable to survive.

However, seeing Han Zu's eager expression and the indifferent madness in his eyes, Gloria knew that Han Zu would not stop. Now reaching the top of the tower and clearing the entire building was no longer out of Han Zu's curiosity. In fact, what was the reason now? God knows what it was.

"ha..."

Gloria sighed and followed Han Zu who had already started to move upstairs. It can be seen that Gloria was not very willing.