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墨書 Inktalez
Three people, Rek, walked through the retreating life of Metal City. They noticed that the elderly on the streets mostly had pleasant expressions, while the children appeared troubled.
In this Metal City, there were not only humans but also other races, yet life was quantified and displayed as values on the metal rings they held.
"Let's check out the center of Metal City; maybe we can find information on how to get out," Alice suggested.
Rek nodded, and the three of them boarded a Metal Railcar, with Victorious Monkey, a wealthy individual in terms of life value, paying for their ride by tapping his metal ring.
The Metal Railcar quickly brought them to the central building of the city, a towering metal skyscraper with one hundred and eight floors.
Upon entering the building, they found a robot at the front desk on the first floor—a metallic robot receptionist.
"Welcome to Dream Metal Building. How may I assist you today?" the robot said in a gentle voice, addressing Rek and his companions.
"We want to leave this Metal City. Is there any way to exit this city?" Rek asked the robot.
"Metal City boasts a peaceful and well-ordered environment with numerous living guarantees. It is a sanctuary dreamed of by many races. Why do you wish to leave?" the robot inquired.
"We have important matters to attend to. This Metal City should be a level within the Ancient Temporal Sanctuary, and I want to move on to the next level. My two friends, a Red-Haired Girl and a middle-aged man, arrived here in the Ancient Temporal Sanctuary before us. Do you have any information about them? Have they already left?" Rek continued questioning the receptionist.
"In Dream Metal Building, not only can your wishes be fulfilled, but you can also inquire about information you seek. However, all inquiries require consumption of life value. To inquire about the Red-Haired Girl and the middle-aged man will cost five hundred years of life value. To find out how to leave this Metal City will cost one hundred thousand years of life value. Would you like to proceed with an inquiry?
If so, please submit your life value first," the robot replied, and then an electronic display screen appeared before Rek and his companions. One screen showed an option for five hundred years of life value with a confirmation button, while another displayed one hundred thousand years of life value with its own confirmation button.
Rek looked speechless at the button options for life value of one hundred thousand years. Even with Victorious Monkey, a creature from the previous era with over thirty thousand years of life, it was still not enough to pay.
"We choose to pay five hundred years of life value to inquire about Redhead and the middle-aged man," Victorious Monkey said, placing a hand on the electronic display and pressing the confirm button.
Soon, five hundred years of lifespan disappeared from Victorious Monkey, but there was no significant change; five hundred years meant nothing to him.
"Please describe in detail the information you need to inquire about Red-Haired Girl and the middle-aged man. You can connect to the inquiry device and think about the appearance of Red-Haired Girl and the middle-aged man as much as possible," said the electronic robot at the front desk.
Rek stepped forward, stood in front of the electronic screen, put on a Metal Helmet, and began to visualize Red-Haired Girl and that Hua Tuo Liquid Robot.
A few minutes later, an image appeared on the electronic screen: a girl around ten years old with red hair was working in a Metal Processing Plant alongside a middle-aged man, both dressed in work uniforms.
"Information on Red-Haired Girl and the middle-aged man has been retrieved. They are working at Metal City Third Machinery Factory, earning life value," announced the front desk robot, displaying a route map from Dream Metal Building to Third Machinery Factory on the electronic screen.
Rek chuckled lightly as he looked at the image of Red-Haired Girl working alongside that liquid-controlled Hua Tuo. It seemed they had entered this Metal City before him and had not found a way out; in order to survive, they had started working to earn life value.
"Let's go find Redhead and that general first. We can discuss how to get out once we locate them," Rek said.
After recording their route, the three of them left the metal building and took a Metal Railcar to a massive Third Machinery Factory on the edge of town.
Initially, the Guard Personnel did not allow Rek and his companions to enter freely. However, after Alice offered a year’s worth of life value as a benefit to the Guard Supervisor, the guard's attitude changed immediately.
"I'll help you contact the two people you're looking for. The entry procedures are quite cumbersome, but having them meet you at the entrance will make things much easier," said the Guard Supervisor to Alice, directing Rek and his companions to wait in a small metal Reception Room.
Half an hour later, the Red-Haired Girl, covered in dust and wearing work clothes, arrived at the Reception Room with a middle-aged man.
The teenage Red-Haired Girl and the seemingly unchanged Liquid Robot looked at Rek, Alice, and Victorious Monkey with expressions of surprise.
"How did you get in here? Did you also get your hands on the Time Beast's eye?" Liquid Robot exclaimed in Hua Tuo's surprised voice.
"It's not just the Time-Space Beast Eye that can bring you to the Time-Space Sanctuary. We came in through another method, Hua Tuo. I didn't expect that crossing space would allow me to control this Liquid Robot," Rek replied.
"What good is control? My consciousness is now bound to this Liquid Robot. Here, time is not equal to reality. Fortunately, I am a mechanical life form; otherwise, if I were a normal human being, my brain would have been burned out by the chaotic information long ago. Time here is almost one day corresponding to one year outside.
I have been in this world for twenty years, and the curse has not been lifted. In another sixty years, I will die.
Look at my Wrist Communicator. Although it shows hundreds of years of lifespan remaining, the curse is still active," Hua Tuo said to Rek and the others.
Upon hearing this, Rek thought about his own curse. Hua Tuo implied that time here is equivalent to reality at a one-to-one ratio; over twenty days had already passed.
Calculating his curse time in the real world, Rek realized he had only about a month left. In terms of time here, that equated to thirty years. If he didn't find a way to lift the curse by then, even if his metallic Wrist Communicator still showed life value in reality, he would still die.
"You all entered this city; have you discovered anything? Why are you working in this factory?" Rek asked.
The ten-year-old Red-Haired Girl replied, "There's no choice, Rek. This Metal City continuously drains life from me, making me younger. At first, there wasn't much reaction for a year or two, but after staying for several years, I had to find a job to earn life value and slow down my transformation into an infant. Although the life value earned from this factory job doesn't match what I consume, at least it can delay my death. During this time, both Hua Tuo and I have been trying to think of ways to escape."
"You've been in this Metal City for so many years and haven't come up with any solutions? Or have you discovered any suspicious locations?" Rek asked.
The Hua Tuo Liquid Robot pondered for a moment and then spoke, "As for a way to leave, we don't have one, but we have identified a suspicious location. You must have gone to the enormous building on the 180th floor at the center of Metal City, known as the Dream Metal Building. It exists independently from Metal City.
I discovered that deep within the Dream Metal Building, the consumption rate of life energy for the Metal Ring is not equal to that of the outside world.
Although the difference in consumption is minimal and can be ignored, both Redhead and I entered the Dream Metal Building twice. During both visits, I recorded the ratio of Metal Ring consumption to actual time and found that they were different.
On our first visit, we stayed in the Dream Metal Building for one hour, six minutes, and fifty-seven seconds. During that time, Redhead and I consumed life energy slightly slower than we did outside by one second.
On our second visit, we stayed for thirty-six minutes and five seconds. This time, Redhead and I consumed life energy slightly faster than outside by 0.3 seconds.
The Dream Metal Building should be the location where time is distorted in this Metal City."
After hearing this, Rek thought that only this Hua Tuo Liquid Robot could calculate such a tiny time difference; other normal beings would hardly notice a difference of mere tenths of a second.
Rek spoke up, "The Dream Metal Building, although it is within this Metal City, seems to be an independent part. While it tries to disguise its differences, the method of leaving is definitely related to this Dream Metal Building."
"We also considered this point. However, the combat power of the Dream Metal Building and this Metal City exceeds your imagination. Do not attempt to use force; the mechanical weapons in this Metal City have a high defense level, and their firepower covers the entire area. In just a few seconds, they can lock onto you. Even with my strength, facing the firepower system of this Metal City would not allow me to withstand more than ten seconds," said the liquid Hua Tuo Robot.
"Understood. You all come with me to leave this factory; we will head to the Dream Metal Building to assess the situation," Rek said.
Redhead nodded, "Alright, Rek. Hua Tuo and I will handle our resignation procedures now. Initially, I brought you all here to this Ancient Temporal Sanctuary.
Several classmates from before have already died."
"You all need to wait for about an hour. The procedures for leaving this Mechanical Factory are a bit complicated, and we are still registered here, so we can't just leave recklessly," said the teenage Red-Haired Girl.
"Go ahead. Alice, Victorious Monkey, and I will wait for you in the Reception Room for an hour," Rek nodded in response.
An hour later, the teenage Redhead and Liquid Robot Hua Tuo changed out of their work uniforms and put on their original military uniforms from the Glorious Empire and Star Alliance. They returned to the Reception Room and handed a departure certificate to the guard.
The guard allowed them to pass, and Rek and the others also exited the Reception Room.
The five of them boarded the Metal Railcar again. At first, Redhead hesitated about spending money on the ticket for the Metal Railcar and suggested walking instead. However, upon seeing Victorious Monkey's over thirty thousand life points and that Victorious Monkey had paid for all five tickets, the Red-Haired Girl fell silent.
"Living long is great!" Redhead thought to herself, wondering how Rek and Alice managed to get such a three-thousand-year-old big monkey.
Rek and the others entered the Dream Metal Building again, the tallest structure in Metal City.
At the front desk, the same robot spoke up, "Welcome to Dream Metal Building. What services do you five need?"
Rek glanced at Liquid Robot Hua Tuo beside him and said, "Hua Tuo, this is your kind. Why don't you go talk to it and see if you can find a way out?"
Liquid Robot Hua Tuo hesitated for a moment before responding, "I can go talk to it. I have already purchased two inquiry opportunities from this front desk before. However, I need more information to estimate a way out.
But directly asking for a way out requires one hundred thousand years of life points, which I cannot afford. Even indirect inquiries followed by my calculations would likely require nearly ten thousand years of life points," Hua Tuo said as he looked at Victorious Monkey standing next to Rek.
"I'll cover a lifespan of about ten thousand years. After all, for me, thirty thousand years and ten thousand years make no difference. You can rest assured and go ask. I can pay up to twenty thousand years of my lifespan for your inquiries, but any more than that will affect my strength," Victorious Monkey said.
With Victorious Monkey's assurance and over ten thousand years of lifespan available for inquiries, Hua Tuo stepped forward and began to converse rapidly with the robot at the front desk.
Hua Tuo continuously asked various questions, while Victorious Monkey extended his arm and kept pressing the confirmation button as Hua Tuo inquired, surrendering his life force.
Rek initially listened from the side, but when he heard Hua Tuo asking about the weather in Metal City, changes in time, and sources of food, he felt he couldn't understand Hua Tuo's questions anymore.
Hua Tuo managed to ask questions for over an hour, spending eight hundred and five years of Victorious Monkey's lifespan before finally stopping.
Looking at how nearly ten thousand years of lifespan had been consumed in just one hour, the others turned to Hua Tuo, waiting for him to provide answers.
"Is there a way to leave? Hua Tuo, you can't just run off; this is Victorious Monkey's life force we're talking about," Rek asked with some concern.
"I'm analyzing the data; we should be able to leave. I've found a location to exit Metal City, but this connection point keeps changing. I'm calculating where the most accurate connection point is right now," Hua Tuo replied.
The others waited for Hua Tuo without interrupting him.
A few minutes later, Hua Tuo's eyes lit up. "Let's go! Quickly follow me to the ninety-eighth floor of this Dream Metal Building, at the southwest staircase," Hua Tuo urged as he ran toward the elevator.
The others followed him to the elevator.
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