Void Jigsaw Puzzle

Zhong Chenmu sneezed several times in succession.

"Who is this... I guess it's Brother Guo. It seems like he's been talking about me a lot over there."

After letting Guo Ling go to Kunlun City on Xumi Star to find his wife with peace of mind, he temporarily locked himself in the office and declined all visits.

There are too many things to deal with, and he needs to sort them out.

The first thing to consider is naturally how to work with the Hydrogen Clan to drive away the Turtle Clan. This is the immediate concern, because once the Turtle Clan really conquers the Hydrogen Clan, it will be difficult for Wuming City to remain unscathed. Even if the Turtle Clan is afraid of their physical form and will not repeat the same mistake, they can at least besiege Wuming City again and suffocate them to death.

However, the Hydrogen Clan and other more advanced clans are very likely to exploit Wuming City just as they exploited Kunlun City. Perhaps in the eyes of these clans, that's not exploitation at all, but rather a huge gap in their capabilities. A simple puff of wind from the enemy can trigger a violent storm here. Preventing Wuming City from following Kunlun City's path, or even uniting with Kunlun City to achieve greater benefits through cooperation with the Hydrogen Clan, is crucial to the entire shared human civilization.

Both of these matters are related to the cosmic race, while the rest are matters within human civilization. It is now known that Kunlun City and Wuming City share the same origins. Due to the effects of conjugation technology, the two sides are very complementary. Therefore, in reality, cooperation must be accelerated and solidified through closer means.

Are there other civilizations of the same origin in the universe? When will the entire puzzle be complete? This requires further exploration. Furthermore, every incomplete individual, including Guo Ling, Fan Ting, Old Man Liu, the Twelve Apostles, and everyone else, must find their lost loved ones.

Thinking of this, Zhong Chenmu felt a little depressed.

He once believed that he also had parents. At least in his memory, their voices, appearances and smiles were very specific and vivid. However, with the full launch of his system, he had to face up to his true identity: a patch.

Yes, he is just a patch in the entire Dandelion Project. He has no relatives, no father and no mother. Although he is unique, he is also lonely.

The parents he imagined existed, along with their occupations and experiences, were all illusions created by the system. The system had left him with the memory of his parents' employment at the Ciqikou factory, a reminder that there was a heavy weapons factory there. However, he realized it too late and acted too slowly, allowing Pierce and Pu Yue to get there first. Had he not made a desperate last-minute leap into the source of a great river, opening another rift on the border between Wuming City and Taibai Star and gaining the opportunity to speak directly with Hydrogen Memory, the consequences would have been disastrous.

"But even so, I still have the Jigsaw Team: Brother Guo, Sister Fan, Old Man Liu, Little Tong, and the others... I'm not alone. What exists in memory may not exist in reality, but reality shouldn't be constrained by memory. Let today's newly created reality become tomorrow's beautiful memory."

The haze in his heart was dispelled again, and a smile returned to his face. It was a smile that an 18-year-old boy should have.

In the next few days, despite the further participation of Old Man Liu and the Twelve Apostles, Zhong Chenmu did not leave Wuming City. He explored every corner of Wuming City again by bus, bicycle and even on foot.

Since the final stage of the "Return to One" game, he had a lot of contact with ordinary people in Wuming City and established a very solid alliance. In the past period of time, he has spent most of his time with the Jigsaw Team and has not been able to understand their situation for a while.

He didn't actually need to get to know them closely, as the system contained a basic database of almost every person, and he probably knew them better than they knew themselves. However, this data was static, and the true state of each person's life could not be defined by data alone; it required close observation.

He needed to confirm that, after such a long period of opening up, Wuming City was indeed getting better, or at least that was what most people thought. These feelings and attitudes couldn't be obtained through questionnaires or interviews. In other words, such formal methods weren't necessary. Simply sensing the expressions on people's faces, the light in their eyes, and the tone of their voices would allow him to draw more reliable conclusions.

The last time he went to find Pu Yue with Fan Ting, he drove past the riverside road and saw the newly opened shops on both sides of the road. This time, he chose to go further south to the Fule Palace and Xianghua Bridge areas, as well as his alma mater, Future University, to the east.

As one of the core commercial districts, the Fule Palace area has indeed become noticeably more prosperous. Traffic has become even more congested, with far more cars than before. Since the conclusion of the "Reunification" game, the southern Gu and Shen Groups have quickly taken over many of Mr. Liang's businesses in Wuming City, leveraging the factories in Ciqikou to aggressively develop automobile production. At one point, the Gu Group even considered building airplanes, a move that led to a falling out with the Jigsaw Team.

"No matter what time it is, those who possess resources and capital always have more opportunities and conditions... If such people value personal gain over public interest, it's probably not a good thing for Wuming City, especially if they develop into something like Sanjay to Kunlun City... That's what the book calls a comprador."

Zhong Chenmu knew that the Gu Group had abandoned its aircraft manufacturing plan due to the exorbitant training and coaching fees levied by the Hydrogen Clan. However, the rift between the Gu Group and the Jigsaw Team during this process was not so easily resolved. The Gu Group suspected that the Jigsaw Team was receiving improper kickbacks. This accusation naturally repelled him and the Jigsaw Team, as no such allegations had ever been made. However, could the Gu Group's speculation be linked to a deeper desire to pursue this path? If so, it's entirely possible that, after abandoning their own aircraft development, the Gu Group would instead seek to enlist the Hydrogen Clan to provide a replacement, enabling air transportation in Nameless City and profiting immensely from the process. Although the Hydrogen Clan had developed into a civilization possessing only virtual forms, this didn't prevent them from utilizing the city's resources to create something with a physical form within Nameless City.

Thinking of this, he felt that he needed to talk to the Shen Group. If he couldn't stop the Gu Group from sliding into that abyss, at least he had to make sure the other group wouldn't make the same mistake.