Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Just as the three were busy with their respective tasks, several rapid gunshots suddenly rang out in the distance, shattering the deathly silence of the city. Immediately afterward, screams and roars from the players filled with fear and despair could be heard, but they only lasted for a dozen seconds before abruptly stopping and disappearing completely into the howling wind. Su Ye immediately came down from the rooftop, his face grave as he walked into the living room: "The gunshots came from the southwest, about three kilometers away from us. They sounded like standard-issue rifles, accompanied by screams from players. It seems other players are in danger, and the attackers are very strong; those players didn't even have a chance to fight back." Wen Wan also put away the supplies in her hands, a faint white light swirling around her fingertips as her mental energy spread again: "My mental energy sensed a faint smell of blood spreading, mixed with the mental interference factor from before. Moreover, the concentration of the interference factor is much higher than before, indicating that 'they' may have begun to move on a large scale." She paused, a hint of tension in her voice, "In addition, I noticed that the surrounding temperature is slowly dropping. It's already five degrees lower than when we first entered the city. At this rate, the nighttime low temperature may exceed our expectations, possibly even reaching below zero. We need to find warm supplies as soon as possible and prepare for the cold."

Upon hearing this, Lin Mo sped up the reinforcement of the doors and windows. He took out several pieces of bulletproof glass from his backpack and quickly installed them on the windows. He also set up a trigger-activated alloy mesh trap at the door—once someone or an object stepped on the pressure sensor at the door, the alloy mesh would instantly unfold and firmly envelop the target. "The shelter's defenses are almost complete. The doors and windows have been double-reinforced, and there are alarms and alloy mesh traps at the door. For now, it can withstand small-scale attacks." He pointed to the corner of the living room near the power outlet. "Wen Wan, you set up the medical point here, organize the medicine box and first-aid supplies, and prepare some warm clothing; Su Ye, you're in charge of guard duty, rotating every hour, focusing on the southwest and plaza directions; I'll guard the door, and if anything happens, I'll sound the alarm immediately. The three of us will work together to protect this building."

Night gradually fell, like a giant black cloth shrouding the entire city. The light quickly vanished, leaving only the faint, warm yellow glow of the emergency lights in the three people's hands, barely illuminating a small area of ​​the living room. The temperature plummeted, and a thin layer of frost quickly condensed on the windowpanes, shutting out the darkness outside. The howling wind whistled through the gaps in the window frames, creating an even more mournful sound, like countless people wailing and weeping in the darkness, sending chills down one's spine. Wen Wan leaned against the wall, her mental energy remaining highly vigilant. A white light flickered slightly at her fingertips. Suddenly, her expression changed drastically, and her body trembled slightly: "Something's coming. There are many of them, densely packed, and they don't seem to have any life force. They're like…like ownerless puppets, approaching this building."

Lin Mo immediately gripped the alloy warhammer at his feet. The hammer, entirely made of alloy, had a heavy head with anti-slip grooves. His body tensed, his eyes fixed on the doorway. "Everyone, prepare for battle. Su Ye, guard the window. Wen Wan, stay at the medical station, ready to provide support at any time. Be careful to protect yourselves." Su Ye quickly raised her composite bow from her back; the arrows in her quiver were already loaded, their tips wreathed in faint green natural energy. She stood by the window, vigilantly observing the darkness outside through the bulletproof glass. Suddenly, the door alarm emitted a sharp, piercing sound, echoing in the silent living room. Immediately afterward, a heavy thud resounded, as if someone was frantically ramming the door. The reinforced security door shook violently, the alloy reinforcing bars creaking as if they might break at any moment.

"They're ramming the door! There are too many of them!" Lin Mo roared, decisively activating the alloy mesh trap at the door. The alloy mesh instantly spread from the ground, firmly covering the back of the door, forming a solid barrier. The ramming stopped for a moment, but soon, the sound of fingernails scratching metal came again, a piercing and eerie "sizzle," as if countless hands were simultaneously clawing at the security door and the alloy mesh. The sound penetrated the doors and windows, drilling into the ears of the three people, making their scalps tingle. Su Ye walked to the window and looked out through the bulletproof glass. He saw countless blurry figures standing in the darkness. These figures wore tattered civilian clothes, their clothes were ragged, their faces were as pale as paper, devoid of any color, their eyes were empty and pupil-less, and their faces were expressionless. Most strangely, they cast no shadows. Even when the emergency lights shone on them, only their silhouettes could be seen, without a trace of shadow. These were the "shadowless things" mentioned in the diary. Their movements were stiff, like manipulated puppets, mechanically approaching the residential building, scratching incessantly at the walls, windows and security doors, emitting low and eerie roars, the sounds converging into a wail like that from hell.

"Are they mutated residents? Or corpses controlled by some dark force?" Wen Wan's voice trembled uncontrollably as her mental energy locked onto the figures. "There is no life fluctuation or soul aura within them. Only a chilling energy drives them. Their target is clear: this building we are in. And their numbers are constantly increasing. More and more figures are emerging from the darkness and surrounding the building."

Lin Mo tried slamming his alloy warhammer into the ground. The heavy impact echoed through the walls, and the figures seemed startled by the sound, pausing for a moment and trembling slightly. But after only a few seconds, they resumed their actions, their attacks and scratches becoming even more violent. The security door shook more violently, and the alloy reinforcement bars creaked louder, revealing fine cracks. "Ordinary sound attacks can only temporarily intimidate them; they can't cause any real damage," Lin Mo thought, his brow furrowed as he quickly considered a solution. "Su Ye, try using your natural energy. Aim for their chests and see if you can destroy their energy cores. Natural energy usually has a restraining effect on dark creatures."

Su Ye nodded, took a deep breath, steadied herself, drew her bow, and nocked an arrow. Natural energy gathered at her fingertips, causing the arrowhead to glow with a rich green light, like a burning flame. She aimed at the chest of the figure at the farthest point outside the window, released the bowstring, and the arrow flew out with a whooshing sound, piercing the cracks in the bulletproof glass and striking the figure precisely in the chest. The green energy instantly erupted within the figure, wrapping around its internal organs and bones like vines. The figure stiffened instantly, its body twitching slightly before slowly collapsing. Upon hitting the ground, it quickly melted, turning into a pool of black, viscous liquid. The liquid emitted a faint, fishy odor, rapidly seeping into the cracks in the ground and disappearing. "It works! Natural energy can destroy their energy cores!" Su Ye was overjoyed. She quickly changed her arrows, drew her bow again, and fired several arrows in succession. Each arrow hit its target precisely. The fallen figures turned into black slime and seeped into the ground. However, the figures in the darkness kept surging in. As soon as one batch fell, a new batch immediately took its place, as if they could never be killed off. Her natural energy was also being consumed rapidly, and fine beads of sweat had already seeped from her forehead.

Wen Wan took out several bottles of blue incendiary potions from her medicine box. The bottles were covered with complex runes; she had specially concocted them to burn dark energy and corrosive substances. "These are my specially made incendiary potions. I added natural extracts and holy light powder to them. They can burn that black slime and temporarily block their attack." Lin Mo took the potions, unscrewed the caps, and threw them forcefully out the window. The incendiary potions exploded upon landing, and blue flames spread like a tide, engulfing the surrounding figures. The black slime sizzled violently in the flames, emitting a pungent stench. The figures screamed in pain in the flames, their movements becoming even more frantic as they struggled incessantly. However, the flames were extremely damaging to them, and soon large numbers of them were swallowed by the flames, turning into slime and disappearing.

“The flames can temporarily stop them, but the amount of incendiary potions is limited. I only have three bottles left, and they won’t last long,” Wen Wan said worriedly, her eyes fixed on the flames outside the window. The flames were gradually weakening, and once they went out, those figures would continue to attack. Moreover, stimulated by the flames, their aggression might be even stronger.

Lin Mo's gaze swept quickly across the living room, landing on the door to the hidden chamber. A thoughtful look flashed in his eyes: "Perhaps there's something inside that can deal with them, or maybe there's another way out. After all, this building is strangely eerie; the hidden chamber can't just be an ordinary storage room. We must open that door as soon as possible and find a way to deal with it, otherwise, once the incendiary agent runs out, we'll be left defenseless." The three of them immediately gathered in front of the chamber door. Lin Mo restarted the portable machine tool, setting the power to maximum, and the drill bit spun at high speed, relentlessly grinding the edge of the alloy door. Su Ye focused the remaining natural energy on the head of the geological hammer, forcefully striking the symbols on the alloy door, attempting to weaken their energy defense. Wen Wan condensed her mental energy into thin lines, carefully seeping into the patterns of the symbols, trying to interfere with the energy flow on the door and weaken its defensive capabilities.

Under the combined attack of the three, the alloy door made a dull "click," the glow of the symbols on the door gradually weakened and finally disappeared completely. The alloy door slowly opened inward, revealing a pitch-black space inside. The interior of the secret chamber was completely dark, without any light, but it exuded a faint fragrance, which contrasted sharply with the fishy and musty smell outside. Inhaling the fragrance invigorated the mind, and much of the previous fatigue and irritability dissipated. Lin Mo turned on the emergency light, and the warm yellow light illuminated the interior of the secret room—the room was small, about ten square meters. In the center was an ancient stone table, the surface of which was engraved with the same eerie symbols as those in the diary. On the stone table was an exquisite wooden box, made of dark wood, with intricate patterns carved on its surface. The lid of the box was also engraved with the same entwined snake and bird symbol. The surrounding walls were covered with murals, the colors of which were dim, but they clearly recorded an ancient legend: Long ago, this was a sacred land, inhabited by a bird spirit that protected this land. The spirit used its own power to create a plaza as a passage connecting heaven and earth and communicating with all living beings. But later, dark forces invaded, transforming into venomous snakes that entwined the spirits and sealed them underground. The plaza lost its sacred power and became the entrance to dark forces. Those who were devoured by dark forces would lose their souls and shadows, becoming mindless puppets guarding the dark entrance and preventing anyone from approaching the sealed place.

“So those puppets were ordinary residents who were devoured by the dark forces. They lost their self-awareness and could only be controlled by the dark forces, becoming tools to guard the entrance to darkness.” Su Ye frowned as he carefully observed the contents of the mural. The dark forces in the mural were consistent with the energy fluctuations on the puppets. “This strange symbol also appears repeatedly on the mural. It seems that this is the symbol of the dark forces. The snake represents darkness, and the bird represents the gods. The meaning of the symbol is that darkness devours the sacred.”

Lin Mo walked to the stone table and carefully picked up the wooden box. The box was heavy, its surface smooth and free of dust. He gently opened it, revealing a silver pendant inside. The pendant was exquisitely crafted, engraved with symbols opposite to those in the murals—a bird breaking free from the snake's restraints, soaring into the sky. The pendant emitted a faint, milky-white light, a soft and warm glow that easily dispelled the surrounding darkness. The fragrance in the secret room emanated from the pendant. "This should be what restrains those puppets; it's a sacred artifact left by the gods." Lin Mo picked up the pendant. It was warm to the touch, and a gentle energy spread from his fingertips throughout his body, instantly dispelling his fatigue. The surrounding mental interference was also instantly dispersed by the white light. "Wen Wan, try using the pendant's energy to strengthen your mental power. See if you can intimidate or even dispel those puppets over a wider area. Your mental power has a high compatibility with sacred energy."

Wen Wan took the pendant and carefully channeled her spiritual energy into it. The pendant's white light instantly surged, transforming into an invisible shockwave that rapidly spread from the secret room to the entire residential building, even extending outside. The puppets outside the window instantly froze, their bodies convulsing violently, emitting painful roars. The emptiness in their eyes seemed to flicker slightly, and they all retreated, moving away from the building, not daring to approach again. Even those puppets that tried to resist were enveloped by the white light and instantly turned into slime and disappeared. "It works! The pendant's sacred energy can suppress and even purify the dark power within them!" Wen Wan said with delight, but quickly frowned again. The white light at her fingertips gradually weakened. "However, the pendant's energy is limited, and my spiritual energy cannot support such a large-scale energy diffusion for long. It can only last for about an hour at most. After an hour, the energy will be exhausted, and they will return."

The three breathed a sigh of relief, temporarily out of danger, and leaned against the wall to rest, but their faces showed no sign of ease. Lin Mo looked at the mural on the wall and said in a solemn tone, "The design of this instance is too meticulous. From the geological structure and details of the residential buildings to the diary, murals, and pendants, every detail is interconnected, as if telling a complete story of a god being sealed and the invasion of dark forces. But the more meticulous it is, the more eerie it becomes—why do all the details point to dark forces and blank squares? What exactly are those blank squares? Are they the entrance to dark forces, or the key nodes for sealing gods?"

Su Ye nodded, his fingertips lightly touching the symbols on the mural, his eyes full of doubt: "Moreover, the puppets' behavior is also very strange. Their movements are stiff, as if they are programmed, mechanically executing attack commands, but they can also be suppressed and purified by the holy energy of the pendant, indicating that they are not simply mechanical puppets, but special life forms that have fused dark energy with human bodies. The algorithm of this instance is too advanced, able to perfectly combine mechanical programs, energy fluctuations and biological bodies to create such bizarre and powerful enemies, completely exceeding the design scope of normal instances."

Wen Wan returned the pendant to Lin Mo, the warmth of the pendant still lingering on her fingertips. She said softly, "And this secret room, its location is hidden, the alloy door is sturdy, the symbols on it can resist external and mental attacks, and the pendant inside can just counteract the puppet. It's as if someone foresaw that we would encounter such danger and deliberately left this life-saving item. All of this is too coincidental, so coincidental that it's chilling. It's as if every step we took was anticipated by someone else, and we were like puppets on strings, being guided here."

Just then, from outside the window of the room outside, some intermittent sounds suddenly came, mixed with the screams, cries, and desperate pleas for help from players: "Help! There are too many of those shadowless things! We're surrounded!" "My teammates have been devoured by them! They can melt people's bodies!" "Someone, please save me! I'm in a residential building to the northeast!" The voices grew weaker and weaker, accompanied by a few shrill screams, and soon disappeared completely. All three understood that the players who had made those cries for help had most likely met their demise and become part of the puppets. Further away, the faint glow of fireworks could be seen, accompanied by cheers and exclamations from players—some players were immersed in the detailed environment of the dungeon, attracted by the symmetrical layout of the city and the eerie architectural style, still exploring new areas and celebrating their discoveries, completely unaware of the eeriness and danger around them. Other players, although they sensed something was wrong and felt mental interference and the low temperature, took it as normal dungeon settings. After a brief moment of vigilance, they continued to explore deeper into the city, trying to find quest clues, unaware that a deadly crisis was rapidly approaching.