I'm trapped in a block

Chapter 843: The City of Dreams (Additional chapter for the leader Zao Guangren)
As Li Luo turned to the end of the introduction to the "Disappearance Case at the Research Institute", Mo Ling, who had been staring at the screen, finally came back to his senses from the strange case.

"It seems that Mengdu is not as peaceful as imagined."

Although the isolation bubble completely separates the inside and outside of Dream City, as long as you are in the abyss, some incomprehensible things will inevitably happen.

Mo Ling looked at the city in the bubble, feeling a little dazed.

He hasn't looked at the city carefully yet...

The buildings in Mengdu are generally black, and the building materials are a bit similar to the metal armor of the Terror Forces, but the facades of the buildings are covered with shining neon lights, which are colorful and look extremely gorgeous.

This colorful "shell" conceals the messy appearance of Mengdu's buildings.

Under the colorful neon lights are countless randomly stacked buildings, like pieces of black bricks piled together in a mess.

From outside the bubble, the city seems extremely exquisite, but only when you are actually in it, you can see the ubiquitous "flaws".

The neon lights above the building are harmonious and soft, but the building itself is bloated and abrupt.

Layers of building blocks are piled up in a mess to form a mountain, with various small paths and secret passages interspersed among them. The neon lights make the road colorful, but it cannot conceal the chaotic nature.

"What did Dream City look like at the beginning?" Mo Ling couldn't help but think.

Perhaps the original Dream City was just a few small black houses, where humans who came here built a simple base.

As more and more people came here, they began to use the black material to "build blocks", connecting the original small houses together, and gradually forming this strange "architectural polymer".

Because there is no light in the eternal night, we can only use various neon lights to decorate it, one here and one there.

The buildings are piled up like building blocks, and the lights gradually turn into a colorful ocean. The accumulation of light does not appear messy, but countless lights mixed together become more coordinated.

Just like this, dream city gradually took shape into its current form.

An image of a bubble slowly growing larger emerged in Mo Ling's mind.

The light in the bubbles became more and more brilliant, and the bubbles became more and more delicate, but the city under the light became more and more bloated and more and more messy.

In this abyss, there is probably no such thing as "urban planning".

The functions of Mengdu are becoming more and more numerous and three-dimensional, relying on continuous accumulation.

The appearance of the city is becoming more and more "gorgeous" and more and more "practical".

Those unit buildings require little maintenance and no consideration of appearance. They continue to expand, creating this "dreamlike" city.

Dreams are gorgeous and messy.

When you are immersed in it, you will only feel endless splendor, but when you wake up, you will realize the mess in it.

Mengdu, just fits its name.

His vision continued to extend, sweeping across the piled-up buildings and back into the cube. Mo Ling rubbed his temples, freeing himself from the colorful and brilliant light, before looking out again...

After reading the introduction of the "Research Institute Disappearance Case", Li Luo switched back to the dialogue interface with "Bow and Kneel to Serve the Powerful".

Because Li Luo had disappeared for a while, the other party seemed very anxious and sent many messages asking where Li Luo had gone.

"Luo Shen, are you still there?"

"I really didn't lie to you. My uncle is really missing."

"Look, these are my uncle's research notes."

The other party even took a few photos of his research notes and sent them to me.

Li Luo enlarged one of the photos and could see the structural diagrams of the robots on it.

Seeing the structural diagram, Mo Ling quickly compared it with his memory and found that it was indeed very close. "This note is real."

Mo Ling quickly told Li Luo using the electronic screen.

"I think it's true too." Li Luo said, pointing to the research institute label on the notebook.

"Looking at the degree of damage to this notebook, it does look like it was left behind twenty years ago..."

After looking at it carefully for a while, Li Luo closed the photo and started editing the information in the dialog box.

"Is your uncle among the twenty-two people who disappeared?"

"Here!" Seeing that Li Luo finally replied, "Bow your head and serve the powerful" replied an anxious message.

"If the robot's instability is true, why don't you report it directly to the authorities? It involves Mengdu's safety, they should take it seriously, right?" Li Luo asked in confusion.

After asking this question, Li Luo waited for a long time but did not receive a reply from the other party.

After a while, the other party slowly sent a sentence, and this sentence immediately stunned Li Luo.

"You just arrived in Mengdu, right?"

How could it be discovered? Li Luo was a little confused, but she didn't intend to hide it.

“I just walked through the quarantine bubble and now I’m standing on the edge of the bubble.”

"No wonder, you trust the authorities too much. You don't look like someone who has been in Dream City for a long time."

"Why do you say that? Is there something wrong with Mengdu's officials?" Li Luo asked in confusion.

The next sentence the other party sent made Li Luo's eyes widen.

"The official website of Dream City...is Dream Network!"

Looking at the screen, Li Luo felt a huge shock.

Official, is it DreamNet?

The leader of a human city is a network?
Li Luo has always believed that for such a large city with so many residents, there should be a "human official".

It turned out that her thinking was still too "narrow".

"Using a data network to manage a city..."

Although shocked, Li Luo quickly figured out Mengdu's management style.

With the rapid development of science and technology today, the concept of data-managed cities is completely feasible. Some satellite cities of Dawn City have conducted similar pilot projects.

The operation of the city relies entirely on data control. Lighting, transportation, electricity, water supply, heating... the regular management of these things is more reliable when it comes to data than humans.

But those pilot projects also require human supervision. On top of the data network that manages everything, there must be human intervention. The real "officials" are still humans.

"Who is controlling the Dream Network?" Li Luo asked "Bow and Serve the Powerful". In her subconscious, she felt that there must be a higher-level "human organization" above the Dream Network.

But the other party's answer was very certain: "No one is controlling it. DreamNet is completely autonomous."

"Completely autonomous? Doesn't that mean data will rule over humans?"

"Yeah." The other party answered indifferently, not seeming to find it strange at all.

"Has it always been like this?" Li Luo asked quickly.

"Of course not. Mengdu used to be managed by someone, but later the Dream Network gradually replaced the official system, just like the Terror Force replaced the Guard..."

(End of this chapter)