“Okay, I’ll buy the tickets then.”

Wang Congshan tapped on her phone a few times. “Got them. 3:30, IMAX.”

“Alright.”

Li Ang took another sip of his iced cola and complained, “Didn't they say the Prometheus Laboratory developed new technology that could significantly reduce the cost of special effects production and improve their visual impact?

Why are there so few new movies lately?”

“Maybe it's because of the previous Doorway Contention?”

Wang Congshan said casually, “Back then, all information channels were reporting the Doorway Contention. Even if movies were released, no one was in the mood to watch them.

Plus, there was the news from the Mayotte Islands.

That’s how it is.”

“Tsk.”

Li Ang clicked his tongue. Sure enough, as the Killing Game progressed, the peaceful daily life he was familiar with was about to disappear forever...

How annoying.

Speaking of this, Wang Congshan’s mood also turned somewhat somber. She sighed, took a sip of her iced cola, and looked out the window.

The city streets, once bustling with traffic and shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrians,

were now slightly deserted.

Beyond the high-rise buildings across the street, she could vaguely see the top of the towering City Spire in the distance.

From this angle, the City Spire looked like a square box, standing tall on the earth.

The towering buildings that Yin City was once proud of

all became insignificant in its presence.

“So tall.”

Wang Congshan exclaimed, “That Spire could probably empty out Yin City.”

“What are you thinking?”

Li Ang said casually, “Haven't you seen the latest version of the City Spire Project's promotional booklet?

That Spire isn’t just for people to live in; it's also going to house nuclear power plants, chemical factories, steel mills, soilless farms, and the like.

They all take up a lot of space.

It could probably empty out 45 Yin Cities.

There’s no choice. Yin City’s permanent population, plus the floating population, is just too large. Some people will be diverted to the City Spire in Suhang. It depends on the automated decision system and the lottery results.”

As he spoke, Li Ang gave Wang Congshan a disdainful look. “You don’t even know this news. You obviously don’t pay attention to the Special Affairs Bureau’s official website. And you’re supposed to be a Mobile Task Force operative’s family member.”

“You think everyone is like you, sleeping and playing on your phone in class all day, with so much free time. I need to study, okay?”

Wang Congshan snorted, “Besides, family members don’t get much inside information.

My older cousin has been extremely busy lately.

The Mayotte Islands incident seems to be having a particularly serious impact. They’ve been working overtime for days.”

Wang Congshan paused, then sighed listlessly, “Ugh...

Our family is moving into the City Spire too. It’s only a matter of months.

In another half a year or a year, my school will probably be torn down…”

“You guys are moving again?”

Li Ang raised his eyebrows slightly. The City Spire Project, first announced by the Special Affairs Bureau, planned to gradually build the Spire over two to three years, dividing Yin City residents into several waves,

progressively relocating them to the City Spire.

But plans never keep up with changes. The Doorway Contention, plus the alien stargate that appeared in the ocean west of the Mayotte Islands, greatly stimulated official organizations around the world.

The City Spire Project also actively accelerated, relocating many factories before the top floors of the Spire were fully completed, and speeding up the construction of infrastructure in the city—the entire process involved player participation, helping ordinary construction teams shorten the time required for the project.

Although players' spiritual energy automatically recovers, and can be fully replenished ahead of time by drinking magic potions,

if they trigger a scenario mission during the recovery process,

and die in the scenario mission because their spiritual energy wasn’t fully replenished, resulting in weakened combat power,

that would be an absolute net loss.

The resources required to cultivate a player (especially a support-type player) are far greater than training an ordinary construction team.

Therefore, official organizations in various regions rarely used players for large-scale production labor before.

For the Special Affairs Bureau to dare to do this...

proves that they obtained more benefits in the last Doorway Contention than they imagined.

Or, they received intelligence that if they didn’t build the City Spire in time and move more ordinary people into it,

the subsequent outbreak of abnormal events (such as alien invasions) could have a very serious impact.

Li Ang’s expression was calm, his mind thinking coolly.

Around the time of the Mayotte Islands Stargate incident,

a large number of warships, submarines, and underwater exploration tools were patrolling the oceans around the world, screening the coastal areas several times, searching for possible stargates.

The Zerg Swarm fleet is large in scale and diverse in species,

but when faced with pervasive technological devices, a little carelessness can still reveal its traces.

Therefore, the two Zerg Swarm fleets have now returned to the Pacific trenches, hibernating again,

splitting off sporadic reconnaissance zerg,

using the form of ordinary fish schools, following ocean currents to search for stargate traces around the world, in order to supplement the intelligence Li Ang needs.

In order to prevent the reconnaissance zerg in the shape of ordinary fish schools from being captured by humans,

all zerg have self-destruction programs.

Once entangled in fishing nets, they can dissolve themselves before rising to the surface.

If there isn’t enough time to dissolve, the zerg will also spit out a leaf vein-shaped Zerg Swarm biological organ, pretending to be an ordinary fish—the flesh and the fish it imitates are completely identical.

It is estimated that it won't be long before the dispatched zerg can complete the task of circumnavigating the earth, finding some stargates besides the Mayotte Islands—some other stargates may be on land.

“Hey, the food’s here.”

Wang Congshan snapped her fingers in front of Li Ang’s face, bringing him back from his thoughts. “What are you thinking about?”

“I was thinking that 70% of humans is water,”

Li Ang pushed up the glasses on his nose and said with a serious expression, “So out of every ten people, seven are water disguised as humans.”

“Oh, that’s so logical. I suggest you send this research result to the Nobel Prize committee.”

Wang Congshan casually quipped.

“Soon. After my other research result—the demonstration of the feasibility of Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation) —is published, I can have Nobel personally award me the prize.”

Li Ang casually chatted with Wang Congshan.

Suddenly, Wang Congshan’s phone, placed on the table, vibrated.

Buzz buzz—

She tilted her head and glanced at the unread QQ message, her expression slightly surprised.

Li Ang glanced out of the corner of his eye. The unread message was from “Older Cousin”—that is, Wei Linglan.

Wang Congshan picked up her phone and tapped a few times. Her expression changed from slightly surprised to astonished.

“What’s wrong?”

Li Ang ate his food without looking up.

“My older cousin, representing the Mobile Task Force, is looking for you.”

Wang Congshan’s expression became serious. “Ang, you’re in trouble.”

Li Ang’s heartbeat paused imperceptibly.