I'm trapped in a block

Chapter 1218 High-rise Building
"Hey beautiful, do you work at Dawn Tower?"

Like all drivers soliciting passengers, the middle-aged man started chatting away, completely ignoring whether the passenger wanted to talk. He didn't change his way of addressing Mo Ling, and even though the voice coming from Mo Ling's bracelet was clearly male, the man acted as if he hadn't heard it and remained firm in his judgment.

“No,” Mo Ling replied.

"Then what will you do there? Isn't that where 'immortals' work?"

"Immortal?" Mo Ling was curious about this strange title.

"Of course they are immortals. They are smarter and richer than ordinary people, and their social status is extremely high. We can't even look up to them. All we can see are white clouds. Aren't they all immortals?"

“You’re right… but I’m really not going there to work, I’m going to find someone.”

Do you have friends there?

"Maybe it's a friend." Mo Ling couldn't answer that question either, and he didn't know who he was looking for.

"Maybe? Is it because you consider him a friend, but he doesn't consider you one? Sure enough, people become ungrateful and indifferent when they rise in status... You're still going to see him? Is he really that important to you? Young lady, let me give you some advice: don't put all your eggs in one basket. Sincerity begets sincerity. If you can't get sincerity in return, then keep it for yourself..."

The older man had already imagined a whole scenario and began to incessantly impart his ideas to Mo Ling.

"That's really not how it is..." Mo Ling didn't know how to explain.

His hesitant demeanor only deepened the uncle's sense of justice.

"Beautiful lady, he betrayed you? He started something and then abandoned you?"

The uncle had already sketched out a modern-day Chen Shimei story in his mind: the two were originally from poor families and cherished each other, but one of them entered the Dawn Tower and became a person of high status. He gradually distanced himself from his former lover and even climbed up to the noble lady of the Dawn Tower, completely forgetting the beautiful past...

"Sigh, how did society become like this? People's hearts have turned to dust! It was better when the abyss was still there than it is now."

The middle-aged man slapped the handrail of the chariot with a look of utter disappointment and frustration, his face showing a pained expression.

Just as Mo Ling was about to explain, the uncle suddenly slumped onto the steering wheel and began to sob, as if he had been stimulated by something.

"What kind of bullshit Abyss Iron is this! Why did you seal off the Abyss? If the Abyss hadn't been sealed off, she wouldn't have left me! We could still be living happily in the monitoring station... I would drive my transport truck, and she would be her registrar, things wouldn't be like this now..."

From the uncle's few words, Mo Ling seemed to hear a story, but he didn't know how to comfort him, so he could only pat the uncle on the shoulder.

Fortunately, the uncle recovered quickly. He continued to control the chariot, his expression gradually becoming "numb," but he was still muttering some incoherent things, as if he was confiding in Mo Ling, or as if he was talking to himself.

"After we came back together, I couldn't find a job, but she was transferred to the Abyss Archives Department because of her experience..."

“She was thriving in her career, while I became unemployed. After the abyss closed, jobs became scarce. My abilities were outstanding enough in the abyss, but they seemed so ordinary in this city.”

"The Abyss has given many people a position they don't deserve. I know my abilities don't match that position. I'm just a driver. This city doesn't need drivers. Robots drive better than me, and the database for autonomous driving is smarter than my brain. I know everything."

"She climbed higher and higher, while I remained stuck in the same place..."

"I got a beat-up car and hauled goods for people, sometimes even picking up people celebrating their victory and wanting to go home." "When I passed her workplace, I thought that building was so tall, and the people inside looked like immortals, completely out of reach..."

“There was no betrayal between us, we just weren’t compatible anymore. I couldn’t understand any of the important events and policies she liked to talk about, and she wasn’t interested in the funny stories I told her about my experiences soliciting customers. We were at different levels and had different interests. Rather than torturing each other like this, it would be better to break up sooner rather than later.”

"On the day we parted, I drove her to the foot of that tall building in my beat-up car. She looked back at me many times, but I didn't dare to meet her gaze and slunk away..."

"After that, I never looked for her again, and she never looked for me either. Whenever I passed by the building where she worked, I would go around it, but from a distance, it still looked so tall."

“I have changed many cars, each one more advanced and more luxurious than the last, just like this city. People’s lives are getting better and better. I have no worries about food or clothing, and I even have the leisure to study the configuration and decoration of my car. It’s as if all the pressure is getting away from me.”

"But that building is still so tall..."

The magnificent bronze chariot moved between the buildings like a nimble mouse, but the light reflected from the metal made every mouse in every corner impossible to hide from. Everyone was radiant under the light, and "dawn" always seemed to hang over everyone's heads. Yet, even so, the uncle's face remained empty, unlike his colorful attire.

The buildings in Dawn City are indeed very tall. They pierce straight into the clouds and intertwine above them. People on the ground who look up can only see intersecting metal "lines" and nothing else, except for the reflected light.

Without the backdrop of physical stores, those roads that were planned exactly the same became somewhat monotonous. Although everyone was dressed in bright colors and flamboyant outfits, they could only be submerged in a sea of ​​metallic colors, becoming pixels without any distinctive features.

No matter how elaborate the decorations or how magnificent the "mounts," nothing can shake the sea of ​​metal. The city remains monotonous, the buildings remain tall, and the distance between people's hearts remains vast...

"arrive."

The tank slowly came to a stop in front of a square.

Mo Ling checked the time and was surprised to find that it had indeed only taken less than 20 minutes.

"so fast."

"It's fast, isn't it? Trust me, you won't regret it." A hint of pride appeared on the uncle's face.

He adjusted his emotions very quickly; he was just venting a moment ago, and now he's acting like nothing happened.

After Mo Ling paid the fare using the electronic screen, the uncle pointed to the front of the square.

"Go inside, cross a small park, and you'll see the entrance to Dawn Tower..."

"Thank you."

The hoverboard slowly landed, and Mo Ling returned to the ground.

He turned around and waved to the man in sunglasses. The man struck a cool pose before driving his imposing bronze chariot toward the next passenger, stopping in front of a passerby who was standing by the roadside looking at a map.

His gaze followed the direction the old man pointed, passing through the square, through the park, and arriving at a high wall...

"Is this the Dawn Tower?"

(End of this chapter)