My slow journey to infinity

Chapter 146 But the world is always...

Looking at the listless crowds of people passing by, the word "torture of life" suddenly popped into Wang Shui's mind.

These walking residents of Zhongcheng District are filled with immeasurable negative energy of aqua regia.

And this group of people are not all helpless ordinary people.

Among them are extraordinary beings with second- and third-level energy reactions, and humanoid races born with special physiques. They clearly possess power.

But at this moment, they are all suppressed by life in the middle city and outer city. According to Wang Shui's knowledge, there are few voices of resistance in this city.

What makes them unable to fight back or retaliate?

family? Self-desire? Or is it the survival instinct?

Wang Shui couldn't draw a conclusion. The formation of a "stable" society is inherently very complicated, and the "stability" of some societies is also very fragile.

According to general experience, the more developed and convenient a society is, the weaker the concepts of family and family ties become.

In order to make up for these emotional vacancies, people will have a strong pursuit of, and even excessive dependence on, fast emotions such as love and friendship.

In the inner city, Wang Shui rarely hears his classmates discussing family and family. They all seem to be living the life they want. Even if they want to make some achievements, they are not willing to rely on the strength of the family, let alone give back to the family.

They will only show strong and blind trust in love and friendship.

In Zhongcheng District, people here care more about family and relatives, because most of the billboards on the roadside have slogans about buying something for the family - Wang Shui believes in the sensitivity of capital.

It's just that the concept of family here seems to be distorted and interpreted into various gangs and organizations.

They can easily buy hot lives by using words like "family" and "relatives".

Every society that operates according to a certain logic is a complex sociological and psychological experiment.

Wang Shui's psychological knowledge system is still at a half-baked level. It is a large amount of social observation that gives him a clearer understanding of those cold words.

This kind of knowledge may not necessarily improve extraordinary abilities, but it can help Wang Shui understand himself better and maintain himself.

For example, under a shallow self-interpretation, Wang Shui would think that he is a guy who "cannot fight back when hit or scolded".

In the fantasy world, Wang Shui is obviously much more courageous. Even when facing some high-power natives, he can maintain his foresight and calmness.

Even if you really can't beat him, you won't show any cowardice.

But if he encounters people and things related to reality, he will become overly cautious.

[The Master of Self-Devotion: Shield Barbot], the bold killer of [Wasteland Area], and the attack by cloudburst rockets today, he chose to endure and escape.

Aqua regia is not without the power to resist.

When the extraordinary beings in the middle city were killing the survivors, Wang Shui had roughly read their energy levels, and the highest was only around level three.

If he makes a mental calculation but doesn't care, and secretly strikes first, Wang Shui has many ways to deal with them, and he can deal with them all without leaving any trace.

After all, Wang Shui is still an overly cautious unknown person, and it is difficult for locals to find out his information.

For less than a second, Wang Shui was indeed murderous.

But in the end, he chose to escape and chose the easiest and least troublesome solution.

Whether he was timid or afraid of trouble, Wang Shui, like the residents of Zhongcheng District, chose to endure it.

It's just that many things seemed to be avoided through patience, but in fact they left a lot of loopholes. At least Wang Shui himself could foresee those loopholes.

Aqua regia hates unplanned things and hates the ordinary life being disrupted.

A touch of irritability always breeds in his spare time. Now it seems that he doesn't need to wait for all kinds of troubles to come to his door before his own psychological abnormality will appear.

Aqua Regia needed a more direct way of catharsis - so he specially activated the [Sapphire] alchemy clone.

Lost in thought, Wang Shui raised his head subconsciously, and sure enough, not far away was the block controlled by the system.

The [spiritual perception] of extraordinary beings can sometimes be more sensitive and accurate than professional fire control systems.

Phew—Wang Shui breathed out a breath of turbidity. He would never regret every choice he made.

After a while, Aqua Regia, who had changed into the [Primary Color·Sapphire] body, took out the silver-gray metal mask and put it on, then jumped off the self-service double-decker bus.

The long safari windbreaker with a hood, coupled with lightweight tactical gloves, and a full-coverage outfit made Wang Shui feel a different kind of security. He needed this sense of security to change the way he thinks and behaves.

When his attention returned to his eyes, the block under the control of the system was still full of the smell of steel.

But this block now is not the [ST1001·Dream Street] that Shui Wang went to directly after landing at the space port.

The number here is [ST1004].

The Dream System has dozens of small blocks in this city to meet the supply and living needs of the awakened people.

This small block called [Fourth Floor] on the Internet is a typical supply point.

In the narrow short street, various shops grew wantonly up and down the road, but the overall environment was quite tidy. Wang Shui liked the wild beauty of this metallic style.

Different from the old neighborhood numbered 1, although the area here is small, the overall active population is much larger. Of course, the vast majority are awakened people.

After casually glancing at the various [Holy Seals] that were undisguised on the surrounding buildings, Wang Shui didn't pay too much attention to them and didn't stay too long on the street.

He went straight to the comprehensive club with the same name as the street, where the system mission center was located.

In a similar deep structure building, Wang Shui was much more familiar with it this time.

After casually ordering a drink and sitting on the sofa near the window, Wang Shui began to browse through the recent backlog of tasks.

It has been more than two months since Wang Shui last came to the site to look for tasks. Many old tasks have been cleared, but more tasks have been backlogged.

The tasks that will be backlogged are either because the risk is too high or there are too few clues.

If the rewards are rich enough, the awakened people will naturally not waste time to solve them slowly, so the tasks that can be accumulated in the backlog must have their disgusting aspects.

Sure enough, I quickly went through the new tasks and found that most of them were mosquito legs with extremely high risks. The publishers were all locals in Zhongcheng District. The task rewards were similar to the local salary levels, which made people grit their teeth.

Naturally, tasks will be released in the inner city, but those tasks are not yet done by a lone wolf like Wang Shui. The large hunting group of local awakened people has already digested them internally.

However, Wang Shui is not here to pick rewards, as long as he can complete the task.

So on the second browse, Wang Shui added the filter conditions below the danger scale "2", and then turned off the reward sorting.

A mission with a danger scale of "2" means that it requires a complete second-level seven-man hunting team to complete it relatively safely.

In fact, this configuration requirement is not too high.

At least in the blocks controlled by the system, Wang Shui can easily pull up a temporary team of awakeners. These lone wolves who will form a wild team are basically at the third level or even higher.

But the wild team will not accompany Wang Shui to play backlog tasks. If he does not spend some money to hire someone to play with him, Wang Shui must rely on himself.

Wang Shui thought that he was not yet down and out, or that he was so extravagant that he spent money to hire people to complete tasks.

If he really needs manpower, he is too high to dare to say it. He still has a lot of second and third level sisters. Wang Shui is not an ordinary lone wolf.

Let’s look at the mission first...

Hmm - Assassinate a small street leader of a gang, the reward is good, and there are all the clues. Oh, it's a fifth-level extraordinary, no wonder no one takes it.

The mission initiator suppressed the danger scale to "2" on the grounds that the fifth-level leader was old and seriously injured... Isn't this really a deliberate attempt to trick people?

The Awakeners are not stupid. The target of the assassination is a spell caster. The older he gets, the smarter and more powerful he will become. Even if the whole body is paralyzed, if you ask an entire fourth-level team to go there, at least a few of them will be killed.

The old spellcaster's death struggle is no joke...

Next!

Looking for the students missing in [Area F19·A8]? This mission description is also strange, isn’t it?

A group of students were doing an internship in Zhongcheng District. After they separated for activities, only four of them returned to the meeting point. Two of them were the teachers who led the group?

Gee, what kind of pheasant school is this? Even senior students can't wander into Zhongcheng so casually, right? Why don't you just make a nest here?

Wang Shui quickly ran through many possible scenarios in his mind.

He didn't think that these students who had been missing for more than ten days could still be alive intact, so he turned the page without even looking at the rewards.

Next is...

After browsing for more than half an hour, Wang Shui finally put down his second drink, put on his mask, and left.

To be honest, Wang Shui is indeed a little optimistic, and the subsequent tasks are more abstract and magical than the last.

In the end, the task of finding students was put in his task bar. Counting the unlimited roll call assassination mission he accepted two months ago, he now has two backlogged missions.

Different from the clueless assassination mission, the mission of finding students turned out to be a benefit that Wang Shui did not expect.

The Midtown [F19·A8] zoning does not refer to a certain neighborhood. It is the construction zoning at the beginning of the establishment of the city.

Now this area has "grown" many complex terrains that were not designed, and a large number of small and medium-sized forces are entrenched here. Even the [Midtown Administration Bureau] is not willing to come here to scrape money.

Wang Shui accepted this task because he bought relevant information.

To be precise, this task was recommended to him by the intelligence dealer in the Awakened Ones, and after Wang Shui listened carefully to the information, he felt that this task was very suitable for him.

Intelligence is not complicated.

Different from Wang Shui's subjective guess, the one that lost students this time was not a pheasant school, but the [Tree of Origins High School], the fifth-ranked behemoth of Qianyuan.

Therefore, the rescue force this time was also powerful that Wang Shui did not understand.

Under the [City Council], the [Midtown Administration Bureau], which is responsible for various affairs in the Zhongcheng District, directly mobilized 40% of its armed forces to help with the search. This is already quite a face.

In addition, [Origin Tree Academy] also hired a large number of private organizations to help with search and rescue. The results of more than ten days of busy work were remarkable. The status of the vast majority of students was determined, and all those who could be saved were saved.

Now there are only three students left unaccounted for, so the mission is almost over.

There are actually several awakened people working on the backlog tasks hanging here in the system, but this kind of ongoing task will only be settled when the employer confirms it, so it will enter the backlog state.

Aqua regia is now added, and with just a little help, one can complete the task.

Naturally, Shui Wang added this kind of good thing that could come by chance only after confirming it again and again.

After leaving the club-like mission center, Wang Shui, who had long been prepared, went directly to the edge of the [F19·A8] Division.

There is no way, this area is too big. As a new search and rescue personnel, Wang Shui wants to find new clues by himself, but he looks down on the thousands of people who were busy before.

Now he needs to show his face, go to his employer to establish his presence, and see if he can help anyone. As long as the system boss and employer see him actively working.

By the time Shui Wang arrived at the "temporary command center" marked on the mission, the sky had already darkened. Shui Wang did spend a lot of time on transportation today.

The so-called "temporary command center" is just an old building along the street with the signboard of "Red Gun Hotel" hanging on it. It seems to be temporarily rented or directly recruited for use.

There is just a four-story hotel outside, with many buildings providing rooms connected behind it. However, the current hotel seems to have become a temporary residence for search and rescue personnel.

Wang Shui walked directly through the small hall on the first floor and pushed open the half-open door with the sign "Intelligence Integration Room". As a result, he heard a hoarse but violent shout——

"Even if they are burned to ashes! I will take them back to school! You can leave if you want!"

Wang Shui, who had just opened the door and entered, had just locked onto the speaker when he was pushed gently.

Wang Shui was forced to give way, and a figure slightly shorter than him walked out quickly with a decisive temperament and a clear smell of sweat.

It is different from the smell of ordinary people's sweat after physical labor. It is the smell of extraordinary people who have difficulty controlling their own metabolism after overloading exercise.

Wang Shui looked at the only other person left in the room, which was a young man. Judging from his clothes, he seemed to be a teacher at [Origin Tree Academy].

"Do you have any information at this time?"

The young teacher didn't seem to care about the person who just rushed out, and there was no expectation in his tone when he asked Wang Shui. He even said that his attitude was a bit perfunctory.

"I am a private armed force newly added to the search and rescue mission. I need items for identification and intranet permission."

"At this time? Are you alone? Hmm - okay, show me the mission panel and mission number, and leave your affiliation and soul code."

Although the other party was a little impatient, the confirmation process did not embarrass Wang Shui. He did not even ask Wang Shui to take off his mask.

"Is that all the information? It turns out to be the Awakened One... I'm just joining the search and rescue mission now, so don't think about getting the previous rewards.

Take it, this is the [Rescuer ID Card] that contains the public channel. If you have any clues, come back here and tell us... Oh, let me know if you have any information..."

While flying out the card to Aqua Regia, the young teacher had already sat in the thick high-backed chair. His voice became more and more casual, and finally turned into a mumbling.

Wang Shui took the crystal card that the other party flew over, and then inserted it into the safety slot on his waist.

It is common sense that no matter who gives a card with unknown contents, it cannot be directly connected to a private computing device.

There are twelve shortcut boxes on Wang Shui's belt, four on the left, middle and right. As two sides of the interval, two holster positions are left, and the second green-edged box on the right is the dedicated [Sandbox Oasis] security data slot.

After confirming the content of the card, Wang Shui nodded politely to the young teacher before leaving the "temporary command center".

If the sky had gotten darker before, the streets were now much brighter.

Zhongcheng, which has always been under the lead clouds, has only two kinds of weather: cloudy days and rainy days, and no matter what kind of weather, it is accompanied by complex fog.

So the daytime here is always dark and scary.

When the time comes at night, those old street lamps give this place far more light than during the day.

After the street lights came on, there were more pedestrians on the road.

There are also all kinds of shops on the streets of Zhongcheng District. Even people struggling at the bottom have various life demands.

They also need restaurants, taverns, and all kinds of things that can relieve their physical fatigue and pain.

It is when the street lights come on that the residents of Midtown feel alive.