Chapter 2086: Pumpkin City

"Your son is really impressive." A middle-aged woman carrying a small vegetable basket said, "Working at Little Star Company pays pretty well."

The middle-aged man looked proud but didn't forget to flatter her in return, "I heard your daughter is about to finish her mechanical engineering degree. She might become a famous designer in the future. If she joins a specialized research team, her prospects will be limitless."

The woman was also proud, "My daughter has never given me any trouble since she was little. Whatever she decides to do in the future is fine with me. The most important thing for parents is to respect their children's wishes."

The middle-aged man nodded repeatedly, "Life is so good now. No matter what you do, you can live well. There's not as much pressure as we had before."

As they chatted, a small robot moved over from the roadside. Its two round glass eyes flickered upon detecting some litter on the ground, then extended metal arms from both sides and made a sound:

"Everyone, please be careful! I'm going to pick up trash!"

The chatting crowd made way, watching as it clumsily tried to clamp a candy wrapper on the ground. After several failed attempts, the middle-aged woman laughed, picked it up, and tossed it inside. The cleaning robot retracted its arms, turned around, and started playing music:

"You are a good citizen, loving life and loving home. Small home is our home, big home is also our home. Together we join hands to create a bright future!"

The chatting crowd quickly dispersed. The children who had been circling near the Time Tower were called back for dinner. A restaurant server called out to Xu Huo's group, "It's almost mealtime! Want to try some local specialties?"

Who would dare to eat that?

Xu Huo replied, "We've already ordered at the hotel."

The server looked disappointed for a second but quickly smiled again, "The high-end cuisine at the big hotel is definitely better than what my boss makes."

The busy owner stuck his head out the window, "Shut up! Get the food out!"

"Enjoy your meal." The server waved and went back to work inside.

"Everything looks real." Feng Hui moved his hand, "When that kid bumped into me earlier, I could feel body temperature."

"If the whole city is just a dream, feeling temperature isn't that surprising." Wang Ling said.

The group then walked to a newsstand.

The small note Xu Huo had left earlier was no longer inside. They had already read the notice posted there. The notice was very simple, just telling citizens to lock their doors and windows and not to open doors for strangers easily, without any details about the case.

However, there were several old notices posted nearby, put up by residents of nearby streets and residential areas—at least three of them. In addition, there were advance notices about weddings and funerals in the neighborhood, small ads for store openings, and newspapers covering recent major events.

"The number of home invasion robberies is a bit high." After photographing the new newsstand, Meng Wenguang said, "Just in this area alone, there are three to five cases."

"Could this be a hint?" Yue Rui said, "I hear people around here talking about it."

"But the scope is too large." Long Jianfeng pointed to the map the patrol officer had given them, "Pumpkin City is not small."

"Why is this city called Pumpkin City?" Hong Chen looked puzzled, "I don't see any pumpkin decorations on the streets."

"It might be related to the terrain." Meng Wenguang took the map, "If you look at the city from above, it resembles the side profile of a pumpkin. The city is curved on both sides. Starting from 'First Street' on the left to the twenty-third street on the far right, these twenty-three main roads run from top to bottom. Except for the straight road in the middle, all the others have curves. The closer to the edge, the greater the curvature."

Their current location was on the twelfth street in the middle, near the top of the map. A little further out, they could almost see the city's edge.

"Could there be some special meaning?"

He looked up at the others.

"Hard to say." Wang Ling said, "What weird city structures haven't we seen in the game? Maybe this is just the city's basic layout. Let's focus on the home invasion robberies and Little Star Company."

Xu Huo nodded, "We can set the terrain aside for now."

"The citizens of Pumpkin City generally seem quite happy. Based on the mechanical devices in use, it might be in the early stages of an intelligent technology boom. At this stage, the city government or tech giants should have access to all the city's information data."

"Currently, the two most obvious clues are Little Star Company and the city government. We'd better split up."

Pumpkin City was quite large. Casting a wide net for possible clues would be too slow.

"Hong Chen and I are slower on foot," Yue Rui said, "We'll stay here and ask around with the locals."

Their communicators still didn't work, but there was a shop nearby selling them. Xu Huo and Wang Ling bought two to test.

"Hey! They actually work!" Wang Ling was amazed.

"Of course communicators work," the shop assistant gave him a strange look, then added, "But recently, Little Star Company has been installing signal towers, so the communicators might malfunction."

Whether they worked or not, everyone took one.

After confirming the contact method, they began to divide the team.

The city government was on Sixth Street, while Little Star's main company was on Sixteenth Street.

"They're so far apart. Splitting up will save time." Xu Huo said to Wang Ling, "Which side do you want?"

Only the two of them were carrying time items, so splitting up was best.

"I'm not good at sifting through information," Wang Ling said, "I'll go to the city government. Maybe I can get some ready-made files."

"I'll go with you." Long Jianfeng said.

"Then I'll go with Mr. Xu to Little Star Company." Meng Wenguang looked at Feng Hui, "Are you coming with us?"

"Maybe I'll stay here," Feng Hui said, "What if other players come in?"

The heavy fog made it inconvenient to move around. There were definitely other players in the city. They couldn't assume no one else could get in. Maybe the whole city had changed.

Meng Wenguang didn't agree. He stretched out his long arm and pulled Feng Hui over, "I told you to come along. You're a high-level player anyway. A company that big—how can two people search it all?"

Then he said to Yue Rui and the Hong Chen siblings, "Be careful. If you see other players, hide immediately."

Xu Huo checked the time again, "It's already past 12:03. That means the other three times on the Time Tower are all after 9:17 PM."

"Remember to record the process with the recorder. Whether we can contact each other or not, we must return here by seven at the latest."

"We don't have many recorders left," Yue Rui reminded.

Recorders weren't something players used often. Having two or three was usually enough. But after entering, several had been damaged, and they needed to preserve previous recordings, so at least two or three had to be set aside and not used. Considering future use, by 9:17 tonight, they could only leave one more recorder outside at most.

Xu Huo nodded slightly, "See if you can run into other players on the way. If you do, borrow a few from them."

(Chapter End)