The apocalypse begins with a dungeon game.

"Doesn't that mean we're the first people to see what the old city lord actually looks like?" she asked excitedly.

Li Can shook his head. "This is just speculation. It's highly likely, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's true."

"Even if it's a done deal and he is the old city lord, we won't be the first people to see him, hahaha. Think about what he did when he was hiding his identity in the lower city—a casino owner."

"That's true." Shen Yuan glanced at the surrounding clutter, her thoughts drifting.

"Wait a minute, putting everything else aside, if this is the old city lord, then Yang Mo and Feng Tian's plan in the upper city has failed, hasn't it? The target isn't even in the city lord's mansion, he, he, he, he's in the lower city..."

So surprised that Shen Yuan stammered as she spoke.

Li Lan stepped forward and took her hands, which were trembling with anxiety.

"Don't worry, is it possible that the old city lord just received news that the city lord's mansion in the upper city had been breached, and that's why he moved away without a care in the world?"

"They didn't even bother acting anymore, completely disregarding whether the rest of us would realize the flaw."

"Oh right, he's not actually worried. He doesn't care if we find out anything. If I were him, I would find an excuse to get rid of us after we've resolved the matter."

When Li Lan gets sarcastic, no one can be more venomous than her.

I wonder if she'll poison herself if she licks her lower lip.

She herself was completely unaware of the analysis, not realizing that saying such things might be inappropriate and too much of a blow to Shen Yuan, who was already worried.

After listening to Li Lan's analysis, Shen Yuan's hands stopped trembling and gradually clenched into a fist, with the tip of her pale skin stretching taut.

"Thank you for your comforting words, I feel much better now." She said she felt much better, but she looked like she was about to break down.

"If that's the case, doesn't that also mean that Yang Mo and his group succeeded? The only unexpected thing is that the city lord's location was not what we expected."

"When we were in the upper city, all the residents believed that the city lord would live out his days in the city lord's mansion, make decisions, and never show his face to maintain a sense of mystery."

"It's really surprising and shocking that after all this commotion, he was hiding in the lower town all along."

Li Can watched as Shen Yuan began to analyze this nameless old man as if he were the city lord, and gradually became somewhat obsessed.

He sighed helplessly.

Only he himself knows that this person has an outward disguise. Although everyone calls him "Old City Lord," he may not be old at all, but rather very young.

It's all just an act for others to see.

He recalled when he first entered the Mysterious City instance, and how he and Qian Shi went to the mass grave to buy goods.

At that time, the mysterious casino that Qian Shi had mentioned was already in his mind.

Unfortunately, he later met Shen Yuan, and then a series of other things came his way, causing him to lose this lead. Otherwise, he would have gotten in touch with this person much earlier.

Judging from the details of the people and things in the dungeon, Li Can now believes that what each NPC says and does may be a clue to clearing the dungeon.

To achieve complete analysis, planning, and summarizing, one must not be distracted by anything.

A feeling of exhaustion washed over me.

He pressed his temples a few times to perk himself up. Although he hadn't slept in a long time, thanks to the recovery from absorbing the crystal core's energy, he still had enough physical strength, but his brain was still overloaded.

If he manages to exit this instance successfully, Li Can plans to return to Blue Star, finish his current tasks, and then set aside a specific time to get some sleep.

Thinking of this, he secretly glanced at Li Lan, the younger sister beside him who was comforting Shen Yuan.

That's wonderful, they are living, breathing family members right beside him.

Ten years away on Earth, my parents are still alive and well.

He thought about it and felt a surge of motivation to live, which fueled his drive to take action.

"Speaking of which, didn't Yang Mo previously say that if anything happened, he would leave a few people from the organization around us to control the supernatural and communicate with us at any time?"

"Why has it been so long? We haven't seen a single one of our own people. We don't know if they've received our reports, and we have no idea about their progress either."

"If only we could get in touch with them, we need to inform them while things can still be salvaged. The old city lord might still be in the lower city..." Shen Yuan's voice grew softer as she spoke, pressing the petals of a bionic flower against the base of the ruins.

Then, the square passageway that had formed at their feet slowly opened, and the surrounding dust and debris remained on the side, not falling into it as the passageway opened.

Looking down through the pitch-black passage, where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, there was no casino furniture or facilities there.

It was just an empty, dark room.

Forget about the enormous underground casino environment they had previously imagined; this place was practically deserted and bare.

"Wait a minute, where have we ended up? Something down there looks weird, it doesn't look like a casino." Shen Yuan withdrew her hand from the artificial flower petals she had just touched.

She did it unintentionally; no one could have guessed that it was a trap.

Shen Yuan simply thought that this little flower looked special and beautiful amidst the ruins, especially one of its petals, which appeared exceptionally clean.

"I'll go down and take a look. You guys stay up here and keep watch," Li Lan said without much hesitation, rubbing his hands together and stretching his limbs.

Just as she was about to jump down into the tunnel, Li Can grabbed her.

"No, I'll go check it out myself. It's not safe; there might be traps or dangers." Li Can's tone was serious, and her words were full of worry.

Li Lan frowned. "You know that your safety is my top priority."

Seeing the two of them refusing to give in, Shen Yuan said, "Why don't I go? After all, I was the one who opened the mechanism..."

"No," Li Can said again, trying to stop him.

My sister Li Lan can't be harmed, and Shen Yuan, whose cooperation with the Upper City rebels is at stake, can't be allowed to have any accidents either.

In the end, Li Can directly selected a puppet gacha he had assembled from his consciousness space and placed the humanoid spider monster puppet he had collected in the [Mental Hospital Mystery] dungeon into it.

This was something that neither Li Lan nor Shen Yuan had ever seen before.

The two exclaimed in surprise and asked in hushed tones.

"Brother Xing, what is this?"

Li Can switched the main perspective to the puppet, exploring and inspecting the empty space below.

One's own body's perspective then becomes a secondary window for observation.

He responded casually, with a perfunctory tone, "It's also an ability that comes about after awakening."

"It's amazing! Brother Xing, you people from the lower city are really powerful after you awaken. You have all sorts of abilities, like natural-born strongmen. Why don't we people from the upper city awaken? Sigh."

Now is not the time to dwell on this.

They're called "downtown people," but they're actually just players who cheated to get into the instance.

There has never been a truly awakened "downtown person".

As Shen Yuan sighed, a streak of crimson suddenly appeared out of nowhere in Li Can's humanoid spider puppet's perspective, drifting towards his puppet body.

Burning, scorching, as if it could melt a person instantly.

His hair stood on end, and alarm bells rang instantly.