Inverted City?

Looking at the activity panel, Gu Mian immediately recalled the conversation between the two salesmen earlier.

The headquarters of the Toy Goose Food Processing Factory, located in Goose Village, is upside down. A few days ago, when talking to the Game City Gold Store Manager, he mentioned something similar, that the City of Pleasure in the Paradise World is also upside down.

The name of the activity "Inverted City" feels somewhat similar to the situation mentioned by the Gold Store Manager.

Gu Mian continued to look at the activity panel on the homepage.

[Special Activity 'Inverted City' is about to descend upon Earth]

[Start Date: December 1st]

It is now November 21st, so there are only ten days left before this activity arrives.

But Gu Mian keenly noticed that this activity does not specify an end date.

This is somewhat strange; previous large-scale events all had a definite beginning and end, but this event has only a start date and no end date.

The event preview below is also quite strange.

[Preview: This is a storm-free harbor, the last sanctuary for humanity. After December 1st, the first batch of 'Inverted City' will descend upon Earth, and 'Inverted City' will exist permanently. Everyone is welcome to move in.]

Gu Mian grasped a few key points.

"The first batch," "permanent existence"

This means there will be a second batch, a third batch, and those "Inverted Cities" will remain forever and will not disappear.

"Doctor, this Inverted City event seems to resemble... resembles that situation mentioned by the Gold Store Manager during our call." Fatty hurriedly came running from the beauty section.

It indeed seems similar.

But the Gold Store Manager said it was a curse from Earth.

Gu Mian originally thought Earth was determined to fiercely curse the game world.

Unexpectedly, this curse ended up descending upon the real world.

However, looking at the event preview, this Inverted City doesn't seem like a curse; instead, it seems very appealing.

The Fatty nearby was already being drawn: "A storm-free harbor, the last sanctuary for humanity. It sounds quite nice, can't see where the danger lies."

Indeed, it sounds quite nice.

"But if the Inverted City is truly a utopia, why would Earth deploy so many inverted cities in the game world? Is it using a sugar-coated cannonball to confuse the enemy?" Fatty found it hard to understand, but he quickly decided not to challenge his limited intelligence and shifted his focus to the problem at hand.

"Doctor, do you think these are false chin implants?" Fatty showed the items in his hand, which he had arduously found in the beauty section.

Gu Mian looked at the hair pads and eye masks in Fatty's hand, and remained silent.

Fatty then went to the stationery section, though he didn't understand the connection between stationery and implants, his actions undoubtedly had a reason.

Until the three left the supermarket, Fatty didn't find the chin implants he was looking for in the stationery section.

Instead, he found a stack of unopened red envelopes.

"Last year, Doctor, your red envelopes were too plain. So this year, I specially bought a stack with patterns drawn with gold powder..." Fatty happily flaunted the envelope covers he had bought to Gu Mian.

Fatty was the only one who would spend Game Coins on such miscellaneous things; last time, Xiao Hong's simple game console was also bought by Fatty.

Now, in this big environment, other players probably struggle to eat, yet Fatty happily buys this and that.

How does that saying go?

It seems like "the smell of wine and meat at wealthy gates contrasts with the frozen bones on the streets."

There, not far from the supermarket door, was a frozen soul wandering—a soul not yet dead.

It was a man in his thirties or forties, whose beard hadn't been shaved for who knows how long, his head wrapped with several layers of what seemed to be plastic serving as a hat, his neck wrapped in a dirty scarf, his clothes not much cleaner, probably hadn't been changed for a long time.

Chu Changge also noticed this man, his gaze lingering on him for several seconds.

Since the death protection mechanism closed, the live people they saw in the real world have been decreasing.

When the game first started, quite a few lights illuminated the city at night.

As time passed, those lights went out one by one.

By now, almost only their apartment lights up in the evening.

At this moment, Fatty also noticed that side, he stopped his hand that was waving the red envelope: "Doctor, don't you think that person looks familiar?"

Familiar?

Gu Mian seriously looked at the middle-aged man again; he wasn't Renle Mountain nor Old Liu from Victory Hardware.

But as Fatty said, he indeed felt this person looked familiar.

Gu Mian quickly found a corresponding face in his memories: "Mingliang?"

"Yes, yes," Fatty quickly said, "I've always had trouble remembering his name, but Doctor, now that you mentioned it, I remember he's supposedly called Mingliang the Non-glare man."

Additionally, he had a girlfriend nicknamed "Charming but Not Showy Woman"

The two were acquaintances from the Terror Manor instance. Gu Mian affectionately called them "Mingliang" and "Xiao Zhang"

Now Xiao Zhang was nowhere to be found, Mingliang had completely changed, Gu Mian could hardly recognize him.

Noticing someone was watching him, Mingliang cautiously turned his head towards the direction of the gaze, then saw the three figures standing at the supermarket entrance.

He was stunned for several seconds before hesitantly opening his mouth: "Are you... the three from the Terror Manor?"

He recognized Gu Mian and the other two but wasn't sure.

"Yes." Fatty stepped forward, wanting to ask why he was there but seeing Fatty approach, Mingliang immediately jumped back a few steps with heightened vigilance, and fled without responding.

Fatty was somewhat puzzled: "What happened, am I so frightening?"

Moreover, he remembered Mingliang wasn't like this before; in the Terror Manor instance, Mingliang was flamboyant and liked to show off, you could guess his personality from his nickname.

Now, however, he had completely changed, akin to a startled bird.

Beside him, Chu Changge slowly spoke: "People change."

After a pause, he continued: "He became more suited to this world."

Being cautious and vigilant is the basic rule for survival in today's world.

Fatty seemed to understand somewhat, silently watching the direction Mingliang fled.

It was about to rain; the gloomy weather weighed down on his chest.

"Doctor, let's hurry back." Fatty headed to the apartment, clutching the bought items, saying little along the way.

Gu Mian noticed that Fatty had been rather sentimental these days.

From time to time, he hovered around Gu Mian asking, "Doctor, do you think this Global game will ever end?" "If the game world disappeared, where would Brother Chu and the others go?"

When not asking questions, he mostly sat frowning in the yard downstairs, unsure what he was pondering, even when the big goose seized the moment to defecate on his clothes without any reaction.

This period, busy for a month, 007 seemed to accept reality and finally stopped searching for Renle Mountain.

The mood of 007, who gave up the search for Renle Mountain, was low, and he also would zone out in the yard from time to time.

Thus, Gu Mian often saw two somber-faced people sitting side by side below, feeling that if this continued, the place would turn into a depression shelter.

He discussed with Chu Changge about doing something to stop these two from being so depressed, Chu Changge thought at length, ultimately digging out the Black Cat Sheriff DVD from the bottom of the box and inviting the two to watch.

Gu Mian looked at Chu Changge, expressionless, playing the DVD, feeling somewhat depressed himself.

December 1st soon arrived, the day the "Inverted City" event descended upon Earth.

The homepage event page also showed new changes.

[Special Activity 'Inverted City' is now open]

[Introduction: Still anxious about food shortages? Still worried about the upcoming cold winter? The first batch of Inverted City has been randomly deployed in the real world. Move into the Inverted City, and you'll no longer have to struggle for a livelihood or be sleepless from the cold. A happy life awaits in the Inverted City!]

Wait a minute.

Who wrote this copy? Why does it read like a real estate advertisement?

"It really does seem like a refuge harbor." From the side came Fatty's voice, Gu Mian turned to look at him, he was absorbed by the event, temporarily forgetting to be depressed.

"There's no mention of danger, just like in the preview," Fatty carefully examined the event page, "Could this really be the save haven Earth created for humanity?"

The first batch of Inverted City is randomly deployed into the real world.

Gu Mian went to the window to take a look outside.

The surroundings hadn't changed; no trace of an Inverted City.

It seems this thing hasn't been deployed to their area yet.

Although the event description praises the Inverted City extensively, Gu Mian's instinct tells him there won't be such good things.

A melon seller at least knows to boast, how much of this self-promotion is in the description, Gu Mian isn't sure.

He turned to look at Chu Changge.

Chu Changge also looked at Gu Mian: "If there's a chance, we could visit the upside-down city in the Paradise World."