On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

"Lord Ash, you promised me."

"We want to realize our dream together with Zero in reality."

"zero"

"I want to be a mother again, a real mother, a mother with a child with Ash!"

The City of Dreams is destined to be anything but peaceful tonight.

On the surface, the focus of all the public and media is on the attack on the Kyle Technology Building this morning.

Meanwhile, in the shadows, many forces that managed to sneak into the Zero Dream discovered the abnormal riot within it to varying degrees. In the end, they even forcibly "exited" all of them from the dream. When they tried to "enter" the dream again, they found that the Zero Dream had vanished!

"Miss Yilin, you said Brother Liao is alright, is he okay now? I'm so worried."

Luo Xiaoji watched the various expert analyses playing on TV, and saw the crimson mech that had stormed into Kyle Technology. The young man's face was full of worry.

The girl sitting opposite her also had a bad expression, but it was a sullen one.

"Humph."

"You damn PhD, you stinky PhD, have you all forgotten about me?! And 86! You said you'd contact me, but who did you contact?! You didn't include me at all!"

Yilin had just finished grumbling when her phone suddenly lit up. Excitedly, she opened it and saw a message from 86.

The message was simple, just one sentence.

"Lin, the plan has been a complete success. We are now playing cards with our master, mechanical cards. If you have any other questions, please leave a message and do not disturb us."

At the end of the message was a wink emoji sent by 86 to Irene.

"86 you son of a bitch—!"

"What?" Luo Xiaoji, who was still gazing wistfully at the night sky, was startled by Yilin, who suddenly jumped up beside him.

Before Luo Xiaoji could ask what was wrong, another strange change suddenly occurred.

All I could see was the television he had just been watching, the light bulb above his head, not just in his conference room, but also in the neighboring building, the neon lights of the commercial street, and the electronic billboards lining the streets and alleys.

At that moment, all the electronic devices in Dream City seemed to start flashing.

If a single device is flickering, it's probably just broken; there's nothing to be alarmed about.

But when all the lights in the city flashed at the same time, no one in the City of Dreams had ever seen such a scene. It was enough to make everyone stop what they were doing and witness such a spectacle in a daze and with awe.

Luo Xiaoji was one of them.

The young man gaped, rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and excitedly patted Irene's shoulder.

"What...what is this?"

"Miss Yilin, you, you must look! What's wrong?!"

"The entire Dream City is sparkling!"

Chapter 280 The Greatest Art

The shimmering of Dream City continued until dawn.

It's not because it can't flash anymore, it's just because the night is so long.

Before the people of the city could recover from the spectacle of the previous night, another astonishing piece of news emerged early the next morning.

Information about Kyle Technology's many secret operations within Dream Zero was leaked by an anonymous hacker. This included, but was not limited to, illegal dream entry, a large number of human experiments conducted to adapt to Dream Zero, and personnel bribery to evade supervision.

What horrified many Dream City residents the most was that Kyle Technology even attempted to collect "Zero's" data in order to mass-produce androids. They planned to place these androids, who would only obey their orders, into important positions in various social institutions, or even replace others. By using this deceptive method, they aimed to gradually control both the military and political spheres, establish a complete monopoly, and ultimately take control of the entire Dream City.

Capitalizing on overwhelming public opinion, the government forces of Dream City were quickly assembled and, with lightning speed, completely took over and formally shut down Kyle Technology within a single day.

Meanwhile, the resentment and discontent of the people of Dream City towards the monopoly of everything by corporations and conglomerates, and the government being nothing more than a plaything and puppet of the enterprises, finally erupted at this moment, with streets and alleys filled with marches demanding sanctions against the corporations and the establishment of a truly effective government.

Many other major companies are trying to unite in this effort. While they would be happy to see their major competitor, Keltech, fall, they do not want the government to regain the ability to sanction the company.

However, several mega-corporations, including the emergency medical teams, only made a brief attempt before quickly retreating like frightened birds. They even went so far as to cooperate with the government and relinquish their corporate control.

Because of their probing, they discovered that behind the government forces, a terrifying entity had emerged—or rather, the original master of the Mechanical Alliance had awakened from his dream.

Indeed, only such an existence could, in a single day, render the massive Kyle Technology utterly powerless, like a toy being manipulated, as if it were merely a flip of the hand.

Those few conglomerates that failed to realize the situation, remained obstinate, and were unwilling to have their power revoked, ultimately met the same fate as Kyle Technology: they were quietly destroyed and disintegrated, leaving no trace.

It's conceivable that starting with Dream City, the revolution will expand to the entire Mechanical Alliance, triggering a massive upheaval that will reshape the power structure. The era of corporations and conglomerates will come to an end, and the federal government, with its new generation of super-intelligent AI "Ling," will step onto the stage of the Mechanical Alliance.

While such a major reshuffle in the political and business world is definitely headline-grabbing, it doesn't concern another segment of the population.

Compared to these intrigues and chaotic reforms, scholars who pursue knowledge and art are clearly more concerned about what exactly happened in the Dream City that day, now tentatively called "Twinkling Night".

"Brother Liao! You didn't even see the flickering of Dream City?!"

"What a pity! What a real pity!!!"

In the former Kyle Technology Building, now reclaimed by the federal government, Luo Xiaoji, with an expression of utter regret, cast a longing glance at a young man opposite him across the floor where he had rented out a floor to the Quess Group.

It feels like two fans, one of whom didn't watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show finale.

Liao Ji: "I fell asleep that day."

"What--!"

"Sleeping? Dream City is flashing like a multi-watt light bulb, how could you possibly sleep? How could you possibly sleep!"

"It's alright, I was just too tired that day," Liao Jicheng replied honestly.

But this seemed to annoy Luo Xiaoji a bit.

"Brother Liao, I think you completely misunderstand. You have no idea how incredible and awe-inspiring the entire Dream City was that night!"

"No other technology company can achieve this level of control. All the home appliances and devices flash simultaneously, almost as if they all share the same consciousness!"

"What's even more amazing is that all the firewalls in Dream City seemed to have been forcibly shut down that day, allowing such a massive amount of data current to flow freely in and out of Dream City. The entire Dream City was like a bottomless battery, absorbing all of this strong DC current. The high and low voltage fluctuations eventually created the flickering!"

"Furthermore, through my subsequent investigation, I discovered that the frequency and wavelength of the flickering actually follow a pattern. It starts out very slowly, but then gets faster and faster until it reaches a peak and then drops rapidly. I have never seen such troughs and peaks in my life!"

Luo Xiaoji gestured wildly, spitting as he spoke, not only enthusiastically explaining but also using various body language to try to make Liao Jin understand just how amazing the concept of Dream City Flashing really was.

Liao Ji was fine, but his female assistant in a suit suddenly interrupted.

"Dr. Luo Xiaoji, I believe that during the entire flickering process, there was not only direct current but also alternating current," 86 added, wanting to assert his presence.

"Hmm? Alternating current, that hypothesis is indeed interesting."

Luo Xiaoji, caught up in the excitement, didn't notice Liao Ji's strange way of speaking. Instead, he felt a bit enlightened by her words and quickly looked at the ripple pattern he had collected.

Behind Luo Xiaoji, a large group of researchers from the Quess Group also quickly began to calculate. Based on the new hypothesis, they rebuilt the model, conducted simulation experiments, and repeatedly pushed it to the point of verification. Finally, a series of exclamations broke out in the experimental team, as if they had discovered some major breakthrough. At first glance, the flickering did indeed have only one cycle of peaks and troughs, but if you studied it further, you would find that there was another accompanying ripple hidden in it.

"My goodness, I never imagined there were so many mysteries hidden in the flickering. This waveform, this flickering, it's beautiful, absolutely beautiful!"

"Who on earth could possibly be able to illuminate the entire Dream City? No, no, no, even the most skilled hacker couldn't do that, and what's the point of it anyway?"

"Brother Liao! I understand, I understand! This is a miracle. It's a miracle! It's the art of the City of Dreams! It's the greatest art ever presented to us!!"

"From this flash, I seemed to sense the source of all things, to feel the revival of life. Do you understand? Can you understand, Brother Liao?"

An excited Luo Xiaoji shook Liao Ji vigorously.

Although Luo Xiaoji got into the Shanghai Scholars Group through connections, he was still a legitimate PhD in "Ancient Studies." Every scholar, especially those specializing in ancient studies, has a yearning and desire for the mysterious.

Liao Ji was really struggling to keep up, especially with a large group of researchers studying the waveform.

He came to Luo Xiaoji's place mainly for Yilin, whom he had "managed".

After bringing the sullen, aggrieved girl, who seemed to be at odds with 86, back to his side, Liao Ji made up an excuse and hurriedly left.

Afterwards, Liao Ji took Yilin and 86 back to his room.

And here

There were also three people who had been waiting for a long time.

Styutia, Jiuyou, and Zero.

The reason Liao Ji was in such a hurry to bring Yilin back was for this important meeting that was about to begin.

The topic of the meeting, however, made everyone feel uneasy.

Seeing that all the forces around his master had arrived, Zero spoke seriously and earnestly:

"Lord Ashes"

"Lena and Anno are very likely already..."

"I have betrayed you."

Chapter 281 Reina's...betrayal?

After Zero said that, the most straightforward Dragon Girl couldn't help but speak up: "I don't know much about Anno, but it's absolutely impossible for Lena. She helped me and Lord Ash when she was in the Dragon Kingdom. I've had a few interactions with her before, and the feeling she gives me is the same as before, she hasn't changed. I trust my intuition."

As for Styutia, although she also frowned, the little nun was clearly thinking more deeply than the radical dragon girl.

“Sister Anno isn’t that kind of person, but Zero, you must have some evidence to say that, right?”

Ling nodded, and instead of explaining immediately, he showed a projection to everyone present.

As the projected image unfolded, Liao Ji could see that this image came from a zero-projection "observation body" used to find itself.

The location of this observation object is actually in the Forest Alliance, which is extremely rare in a country that eliminates all electrical and mechanical devices.

At first, everything was normal; it was just the life of natural species like elves within the Forest Alliance. But then the observer sensed a strange power and quickly drifted toward the source of that power: a colossal, towering ancient tree located prominently at the heart of the Forest Alliance.

World Tree.

As the observation body ventured deeper into the bottom of the World Tree, two figures appeared in what should have been an absolutely desolate and deserted place.

One of them is a pink-haired succubus, and the other is an elf with blonde hair, pointed ears, and emerald green eyes.

Even though it was just a back view, Liao Ji, who was very familiar with the character art, could recognize them at a glance and was very certain that these were Lena and Anno.

The video is still working normally up to this point.

It was nothing more than a clandestine meeting between Lena and Anno, but as the next scene appeared, both Jiuyou and Sishutia trembled at the same time, their eyes narrowed sharply, and their faces showed an expression of utter disbelief, even shock.