Bai Lixin clicked on the data transmitted from the Love District, displaying an unfamiliar face.
“Something happened last night.” He didn’t bother reading further and closed the message, continuing to converse with Mr. Kayla. “An elderly gentleman around sixty years had to register again in the Love District after his lover passed away. But he never forgot about his beloved, refused to register halfway, and the robots took him away.”
Mr. Kayla’s eyes widened with sadness. “Heavens, poor guy, may the Dark City bless him.”
Bai Lixin: “What will happen to him?”
Mr. Kayla: “He should be sent to a psychiatric hospital for mental rehabilitation treatment. He will not return to society until he recovers. But his situation is difficult to recover from. Not everyone can accept the sudden departure of their significant other. Some people can never overcome their grief.”
Bai Lixin: “Sadness and pain are normal human emotions. Why label them as ‘illness’?”
Mr. Kayla explained, “But sadness and pain aren’t beneficial emotional experiences for humans. They can lead to despair, loss, and even suicide. Speaking of which, I heard that someone in the Love District wanted to jump off a rooftop yesterday. If a kind-hearted person hadn’t intervened in time, there would have been bloodshed in the registration area. Who knows who that poor soul was, he’s really pitiful.”
Bai Lixin’s body tensed slightly. “…”
‘The pitiful person could be miles away or right in front of you. Unexpected, right?’
At that moment, the elevator arrived at their floor. He quickly stepped inside and found a narrow corner to stand in.
Inside the cramped box, Bai Lixin and Mr. Kayla silently halted their previous conversation.
Over twenty people crammed into the elevator, none speaking a word.
In the confined space, only the quiet sound of breathing and rustling of fabric could be heard.
Everyone wore proper attire, exhibiting restraint, humility, politeness, and decorum.
As the number of the elevator jumped to “1,” the metal doors opened, and people stepped out of the elevator in an orderly manner.
Bai Lixin and Mr. Kayla walked at the back, intentionally keeping a distance from the others.
Mr. Kayla lowered his voice and leaned closer to Bai Lixin. “Xin, when you mentioned that elderly man in his sixties, were you merely curious, or do you have other intentions? You haven’t forgotten about S-001? Do you plan to defy the Love District’s arrangements?”
“Oh dear.” Seeing Bai Lixin’s silence, Mr. Kayla grabbed his arm. “Promise me, Xin, please don’t do this. It will harm you. Before registering in the Love District, you had the privilege to get some initial protection. Because you are young and ignorant, you were allowed to undergo psychological treatment without restrictions to your personal freedom. But now that you’ve registered in the Love District, if you back out, it won’t be so easy. You’ll be sent to a psychiatric hospital.”
“Few people ever come out from there.”
As Bai Lixin came into contact with more things, he began to glimpse into the darker side of this virtual Dark Steel City.
At first glance, it seemed free, peaceful, comfortable, and indulgent.
There was no excessive work exhaustion or mental strain.
There was fresh air to breathe, a beautiful night sky to admire, and entertainment activities to participate in.
But beneath the seemingly free and comfortable life, there were rules intertwined like the gnarled roots of an old tree, penetrating every corner of life.
What does it mean that “sadness and pain aren’t beneficial emotional experiences for humans”? As human emotional experiences, their existence is reasonable. Negative emotions don’t always have to be seen as ferocious beasts; some can actually help relieve overly suppressed and tense spirits.
They walked out of the apartment building one after the other.
Just as they were about to cross the road to the other side, a sudden incident occurred.
“Boom!”
A loud noise attracted the attention of passersby, including Mr. Kayla and Bai Lixin, who were about to cross the road.
The two of them followed the sound and saw that the hood of a car had been smashed in, and a person was lying on the hood.
The person was wearing a skirt, with one slipper still hanging from her foot. Covered in blood, her limbs were folded and she lay on the hood in a twisted manner.
Their brown seaweed-like curls covered half of their face and body. Bright red blood kept dripping from the hood and onto the ground.
The car owner was shocked. He stumbled out of the car with a pale face, frantically explaining to the crowd.
“I don’t know this person at all!”
“She suddenly fell from above!”
“Oh my god, how did this person end up on my car? Can someone help me? Is this person dead?”
A crowd quickly gathered around.
Bai Lixin looked at the person’s skirt, and felt like he had seen it before.
He remembered that when he went to Mr. Kayla’s house the other evening, Mrs. Kayla was wearing a similar skirt.
Mrs. Kayla also had long, brown, seaweed-like curls.
Bai Lixin instinctively looked at Mr. Kayla beside him.
Mr. Kayla stood still in shock, as if petrified.
It wasn’t until the driver shouted, “Does anyone here know this person?! What do I do about my car?!” that he seemed to suddenly wake up, pushing through the crowd and rushing to the scene, kneeling beside the woman.
Bai Lixin followed suit.
Trembling hands carefully moved the woman’s hair aside, revealing a face that, despite being bloodied, was still beautiful.
Bai Lixin: “…”
The beautiful woman who had been laughing and chatting at his home the day before was now like a withered rose, quickly withering and her life slipping away.
In that moment, it was as if Mr. Kayla was experiencing the end of the world. He cradled Mrs. Kayla and knelt on the ground, crying in despair.
The noisy voices around them suddenly quieted down, even the shouting driver kept quiet.
Bai Lixin watched Mr. Kayla in front of him, and subconsciously looked up at the building.
He quickly found Mr. Kayla’s apartment. Against the morning light, he saw a dark figure peering down from the window, their movements panicked.
Bai Lixin abruptly turned around and ran towards the apartment.
He arrived at the elevator and saw the display showing “2” with an upward arrow. The elevator was ascending, and had just reached the second floor.
He couldn’t wait for the elevator to come down. With a swift movement, he dashed to the staircase and took three or four steps at a time.
The dark figure was clearly not a robot.
If they appeared at Mr. Kayla’s house at this moment, they were likely the perpetrator who killed Mrs. Kayla!
He had to catch them before they escaped, and he must not let the culprit go unpunished!
He and Mr. Kayla were on a floor that wasn’t too high or too low, somewhere around the thirtieth floor.
Bai Lixin was extremely fast. By the time he reached the 30th floor, the elevator had only reached the 20th floor.
Only an old woman was waiting in front of the elevator on the 30th floor. Obviously, she wasn’t the culprit.
Without hesitation, Bai Lixin rushed towards Mr. Kayla’s residence.
The door to Mr. Kayla’s room was half open. When he pushed it open, it collided with something, making a dull, heavy sound. He glanced sideways and found a home robot lying on the ground.
It showed no signs of functioning, and lay paralyzed on the ground.
He stepped over it and entered Mr. Kayla’s house.
Everything in the house was arranged neatly, with no signs of any struggle.
He walked around the house carefully but found no trace of the person in black.
At this moment, besides the malfunctioning robot on the ground, he was the only one in the house.
Although Mr. Kayla’s house was on the same floor as his, the layout and size were different.
His house was only about 40 square meters, while Mr. Kayla’s was about 100 square meters.
Three bedrooms, two living rooms, one bathroom, and one kitchen, with a balcony connected to the living room.
At this time, one window on the balcony was open. The wind from the high altitude blew into the hall unimpeded, causing the curtains to flutter wildly. Below the window was a fallen chair.
The sound of an ambulance came in from outside the window. Bai Lixin walked to the balcony and looked down. A police car and an ambulance were already at the scene. Paramedics in white clothes lifted a person onto a stretcher and carried them into the ambulance. Mr. Kayla was clinging to them, unwilling to leave and insisting on getting into the ambulance.
As he looked down, he seemed to catch a glimpse of a dark shadow flashing past the doorway from the corner of his eye.
Bai Lixin immediately turned around and chased after it, seeing a tall figure disappearing into the staircase.
From the back, the person resembled the figure he had seen at the window earlier.
He hurried to catch up.
When he reached the staircase, he suddenly paused.
He heard two footsteps.
One set of footsteps was running upstairs, and the other set was running downstairs.
Bai Lixin frowned slightly.
Did the murderer have an accomplice?
Or was it just a coincidence?
There were two sets of footsteps, but he was alone.
He could only choose one direction to chase.
Reality didn’t give him much time to think. With just a slight pause, he chose to chase upstairs.
He ran fast, and the other person was equally fast.
The stairs were spiral, folding stairs, with every two floors overlapping into one platform.
Bai Lixin ran fast, and the other person wasn’t slow either.
Every time Bai Lixin thought he was about to catch up, the other person would skillfully accelerate, just avoiding his sight and rushing to a floor he couldn’t see.
In this way, the two of them chased each other up the stairs, with Bai Lixin chasing the person all the way to the rooftop.
After reaching the rooftop, Bai Lixin saw a figure standing on the edge.
He was tall and slender, and was wearing a beige shirt with his back to him.
Bai Lixin frowned even more.
Although this was not the back of the figure from earlier, he recognized this back.
“Pris Xingchen?” Bai Lixin shouted at the figure.
The other person turned around, revealing a very handsome face…
Bai Lixin frowned even more.
He had thought Pris Xingchen was on their side. It was with Pris Xingchen’s lyrics that he found the Trojan virus to leave the virtual world yesterday, but today he appeared at the scene of Mrs. Kayla’s murder.
Why would the elusive Pris Xingchen appear here?
The handsome man’s head tilted slightly. Unlike the vigilant Bai Lixin, he appeared very relaxed, even smiling at Bai Lixin, “Hello, we meet again, although I don’t want to meet you.”
Bai Lixin pursed his lips: “Why are you here? Are you with the person that appeared in Mrs. Kayla’s room just now? Who are you? What is the significance of creating the Sky Trilogy? Can you freely enter and exit this world?”
The handsome man just smiled. “Although I would love to answer your questions, for certain reasons, I cannot tell you anything. However, you will soon know the answers to these questions.”
“Actually, we shouldn’t have met today. I was planning to leave you halfway, but you’re Bai Lixin, after all.”
Bai Lixin’s eyes sharpened. “You know my real name? Are you also a player?”
But the handsome man remained silent. He just stood on the edge of the rooftop and took two steps back. At this point, half of his feet had left the rooftop, leaving only the front of his feet balanced on the rooftop.
Seeing this, Bai Lixin approached and said, “Did you lure me away to cover for that person? Why did that person want to kill Mrs. Kayla? Is he also a player?”
One of Pris Xingchen’s feet had completely stretched into the air, leaving only half of his foot’s sole balancing on the rooftop.
Bai Lixin clicked on the data transmitted from the Love District, displaying an unfamiliar face.
“Something happened last night.” He didn’t bother reading further and closed the message, continuing to converse with Mr. Kayla. “An elderly gentleman around sixty years had to register again in the Love District after his lover passed away. But he never forgot about his beloved, refused to register halfway, and the robots took him away.”
Mr. Kayla’s eyes widened with sadness. “Heavens, poor guy, may the Dark City bless him.”
Bai Lixin: “What will happen to him?”
Mr. Kayla: “He should be sent to a psychiatric hospital for mental rehabilitation treatment. He will not return to society until he recovers. But his situation is difficult to recover from. Not everyone can accept the sudden departure of their significant other. Some people can never overcome their grief.”
Bai Lixin: “Sadness and pain are normal human emotions. Why label them as ‘illness’?”
Mr. Kayla explained, “But sadness and pain aren’t beneficial emotional experiences for humans. They can lead to despair, loss, and even suicide. Speaking of which, I heard that someone in the Love District wanted to jump off a rooftop yesterday. If a kind-hearted person hadn’t intervened in time, there would have been bloodshed in the registration area. Who knows who that poor soul was, he’s really pitiful.”
Bai Lixin’s body tensed slightly. “…”
‘The pitiful person could be miles away or right in front of you. Unexpected, right?’
At that moment, the elevator arrived at their floor. He quickly stepped inside and found a narrow corner to stand in.
Inside the cramped box, Bai Lixin and Mr. Kayla silently halted their previous conversation.
Over twenty people crammed into the elevator, none speaking a word.
In the confined space, only the quiet sound of breathing and rustling of fabric could be heard.
Everyone wore proper attire, exhibiting restraint, humility, politeness, and decorum.
As the number of the elevator jumped to “1,” the metal doors opened, and people stepped out of the elevator in an orderly manner.
Bai Lixin and Mr. Kayla walked at the back, intentionally keeping a distance from the others.
Mr. Kayla lowered his voice and leaned closer to Bai Lixin. “Xin, when you mentioned that elderly man in his sixties, were you merely curious, or do you have other intentions? You haven’t forgotten about S-001? Do you plan to defy the Love District’s arrangements?”
“Oh dear.” Seeing Bai Lixin’s silence, Mr. Kayla grabbed his arm. “Promise me, Xin, please don’t do this. It will harm you. Before registering in the Love District, you had the privilege to get some initial protection. Because you are young and ignorant, you were allowed to undergo psychological treatment without restrictions to your personal freedom. But now that you’ve registered in the Love District, if you back out, it won’t be so easy. You’ll be sent to a psychiatric hospital.”
“Few people ever come out from there.”
As Bai Lixin came into contact with more things, he began to glimpse into the darker side of this virtual Dark Steel City.
At first glance, it seemed free, peaceful, comfortable, and indulgent.
There was no excessive work exhaustion or mental strain.
There was fresh air to breathe, a beautiful night sky to admire, and entertainment activities to participate in.
But beneath the seemingly free and comfortable life, there were rules intertwined like the gnarled roots of an old tree, penetrating every corner of life.
What does it mean that “sadness and pain aren’t beneficial emotional experiences for humans”? As human emotional experiences, their existence is reasonable. Negative emotions don’t always have to be seen as ferocious beasts; some can actually help relieve overly suppressed and tense spirits.
They walked out of the apartment building one after the other.
Just as they were about to cross the road to the other side, a sudden incident occurred.
“Boom!”
A loud noise attracted the attention of passersby, including Mr. Kayla and Bai Lixin, who were about to cross the road.
The two of them followed the sound and saw that the hood of a car had been smashed in, and a person was lying on the hood.
The person was wearing a skirt, with one slipper still hanging from her foot. Covered in blood, her limbs were folded and she lay on the hood in a twisted manner.
Their brown seaweed-like curls covered half of their face and body. Bright red blood kept dripping from the hood and onto the ground.
The car owner was shocked. He stumbled out of the car with a pale face, frantically explaining to the crowd.
“I don’t know this person at all!”
“She suddenly fell from above!”
“Oh my god, how did this person end up on my car? Can someone help me? Is this person dead?”
A crowd quickly gathered around.
Bai Lixin looked at the person’s skirt, and felt like he had seen it before.
He remembered that when he went to Mr. Kayla’s house the other evening, Mrs. Kayla was wearing a similar skirt.
Mrs. Kayla also had long, brown, seaweed-like curls.
Bai Lixin instinctively looked at Mr. Kayla beside him.
Mr. Kayla stood still in shock, as if petrified.
It wasn’t until the driver shouted, “Does anyone here know this person?! What do I do about my car?!” that he seemed to suddenly wake up, pushing through the crowd and rushing to the scene, kneeling beside the woman.
Bai Lixin followed suit.
Trembling hands carefully moved the woman’s hair aside, revealing a face that, despite being bloodied, was still beautiful.
Bai Lixin: “…”
The beautiful woman who had been laughing and chatting at his home the day before was now like a withered rose, quickly withering and her life slipping away.
In that moment, it was as if Mr. Kayla was experiencing the end of the world. He cradled Mrs. Kayla and knelt on the ground, crying in despair.
The noisy voices around them suddenly quieted down, even the shouting driver kept quiet.
Bai Lixin watched Mr. Kayla in front of him, and subconsciously looked up at the building.
He quickly found Mr. Kayla’s apartment. Against the morning light, he saw a dark figure peering down from the window, their movements panicked.
Bai Lixin abruptly turned around and ran towards the apartment.
He arrived at the elevator and saw the display showing “2” with an upward arrow. The elevator was ascending, and had just reached the second floor.
He couldn’t wait for the elevator to come down. With a swift movement, he dashed to the staircase and took three or four steps at a time.
The dark figure was clearly not a robot.
If they appeared at Mr. Kayla’s house at this moment, they were likely the perpetrator who killed Mrs. Kayla!
He had to catch them before they escaped, and he must not let the culprit go unpunished!
He and Mr. Kayla were on a floor that wasn’t too high or too low, somewhere around the thirtieth floor.
Bai Lixin was extremely fast. By the time he reached the 30th floor, the elevator had only reached the 20th floor.
Only an old woman was waiting in front of the elevator on the 30th floor. Obviously, she wasn’t the culprit.
Without hesitation, Bai Lixin rushed towards Mr. Kayla’s residence.
The door to Mr. Kayla’s room was half open. When he pushed it open, it collided with something, making a dull, heavy sound. He glanced sideways and found a home robot lying on the ground.
It showed no signs of functioning, and lay paralyzed on the ground.
He stepped over it and entered Mr. Kayla’s house.
Everything in the house was arranged neatly, with no signs of any struggle.
He walked around the house carefully but found no trace of the person in black.
At this moment, besides the malfunctioning robot on the ground, he was the only one in the house.
Although Mr. Kayla’s house was on the same floor as his, the layout and size were different.
His house was only about 40 square meters, while Mr. Kayla’s was about 100 square meters.
Three bedrooms, two living rooms, one bathroom, and one kitchen, with a balcony connected to the living room.
At this time, one window on the balcony was open. The wind from the high altitude blew into the hall unimpeded, causing the curtains to flutter wildly. Below the window was a fallen chair.
The sound of an ambulance came in from outside the window. Bai Lixin walked to the balcony and looked down. A police car and an ambulance were already at the scene. Paramedics in white clothes lifted a person onto a stretcher and carried them into the ambulance. Mr. Kayla was clinging to them, unwilling to leave and insisting on getting into the ambulance.
As he looked down, he seemed to catch a glimpse of a dark shadow flashing past the doorway from the corner of his eye.
Bai Lixin immediately turned around and chased after it, seeing a tall figure disappearing into the staircase.
From the back, the person resembled the figure he had seen at the window earlier.
He hurried to catch up.
When he reached the staircase, he suddenly paused.
He heard two footsteps.
One set of footsteps was running upstairs, and the other set was running downstairs.
Bai Lixin frowned slightly.
Did the murderer have an accomplice?
Or was it just a coincidence?
There were two sets of footsteps, but he was alone.
He could only choose one direction to chase.
Reality didn’t give him much time to think. With just a slight pause, he chose to chase upstairs.
He ran fast, and the other person was equally fast.
The stairs were spiral, folding stairs, with every two floors overlapping into one platform.
Bai Lixin ran fast, and the other person wasn’t slow either.
Every time Bai Lixin thought he was about to catch up, the other person would skillfully accelerate, just avoiding his sight and rushing to a floor he couldn’t see.
In this way, the two of them chased each other up the stairs, with Bai Lixin chasing the person all the way to the rooftop.
After reaching the rooftop, Bai Lixin saw a figure standing on the edge.
He was tall and slender, and was wearing a beige shirt with his back to him.
Bai Lixin frowned even more.
Although this was not the back of the figure from earlier, he recognized this back.
“Pris Xingchen?” Bai Lixin shouted at the figure.
The other person turned around, revealing a very handsome face…
Bai Lixin frowned even more.
He had thought Pris Xingchen was on their side. It was with Pris Xingchen’s lyrics that he found the Trojan virus to leave the virtual world yesterday, but today he appeared at the scene of Mrs. Kayla’s murder.
Why would the elusive Pris Xingchen appear here?
The handsome man’s head tilted slightly. Unlike the vigilant Bai Lixin, he appeared very relaxed, even smiling at Bai Lixin, “Hello, we meet again, although I don’t want to meet you.”
Bai Lixin pursed his lips: “Why are you here? Are you with the person that appeared in Mrs. Kayla’s room just now? Who are you? What is the significance of creating the Sky Trilogy? Can you freely enter and exit this world?”
The handsome man just smiled. “Although I would love to answer your questions, for certain reasons, I cannot tell you anything. However, you will soon know the answers to these questions.”
“Actually, we shouldn’t have met today. I was planning to leave you halfway, but you’re Bai Lixin, after all.”
Bai Lixin’s eyes sharpened. “You know my real name? Are you also a player?”
But the handsome man remained silent. He just stood on the edge of the rooftop and took two steps back. At this point, half of his feet had left the rooftop, leaving only the front of his feet balanced on the rooftop.
Seeing this, Bai Lixin approached and said, “Did you lure me away to cover for that person? Why did that person want to kill Mrs. Kayla? Is he also a player?”
One of Pris Xingchen’s feet had completely stretched into the air, leaving only half of his foot’s sole balancing on the rooftop.
