Fantasy Game: Infinite City

"Rod? Rod!"

Rhodes was in a daze, but he seemed to hear someone calling him. He tried to open his eyes. He was surrounded by several people wearing the same clothes as him. The weapons and decorations they wore had the same marks in different positions. It was the logo of a rat removal company.

"Um... where am I?"

Rhode covered his buzzing head and, with the help of his companions, he sat up with great effort. He shook his head and looked around clearly.

One of his companions was bandaging his wounds, others were unloading some weapons and supplies from a carriage of a rat extermination company, and two companions were guarding Rhodes.

"This is Cemetery No. 9. After receiving the signal you sent, we received a call from the cemetery supervisor, who asked us to come here to find you."

"Cemetery No. 9? Wait, where's that damn rat monster? I was with..."

"That monster shouldn't be a problem. You should take a good rest first, Rod. We will need to... do some cleanup work later."

His companions stopped what they were doing and looked outside the cemetery, staring blankly.

"What's wrong? Help me up, Fa...?!"

Rhodes stood up with the help of his companions and looked outside the cemetery.

The old city outside Cemetery No. 9 turned into a sea of ​​fire. The pitch-black flames almost set the entire old city on fire. Even the strange blood-red fog did not dare to touch it, because it seemed that the pitch-black flames could burn everything.

The strong smell of corroded substances came into the cemetery from the sea of ​​fire outside. Rhodes and his companions couldn't help but cover their mouths and noses. No one knew where this strange fire came from.

"I don't know what happened in the city. It suddenly caught fire. When we first arrived here, the fire was not obvious. But during the time you were unconscious, the fire spread very quickly, as if someone had set the fire on purpose."

Rhodes shook his slowly recovering head, recalled what happened before, and told his companions what happened before he fainted.

"I was probably sent here by two... wild beasts. They look like spotted hyenas, but they are huge, even bigger than me. Didn't you see them when you came here?"

"I think you mean them."

One of his companions pointed to a place not far behind Rhodes. Rhodes turned around and saw the two giant beasts lying under a tree, looking in his direction. There was a strange red light in their eyes.

"When we arrived, they were lying next to you, seemingly protecting your safety. But after we came, they lay under the tree over there. Aren't they yours?"

"No, they should be someone else's pets. When I saw the red light in their eyes, I remembered that I used potions at the time, but I still couldn't kill the monster even after I overdrew my energy. Just when I was about to be eaten by the monster, a... now it seems to be a giant, fell from the sky, and then those two beasts saved me from the monster..."

"Giant? What do you mean, Rod? Tell me in detail!"

Rhodes took the canteen handed over by his companion, took a sip, and recalled the appearance of the giant.

"The giant fell from the sky and landed not far from me and the monster. Judging from the dust it raised and the deep pit it created, it must have been a huge monster."

"But how can you be sure that it is a giant and not something else?"

"Although my vision was obscured by the smoke and the bloody fog, after the giants walked out of the pit, I saw two circles emitting the same strange red light as their eyes. Now I can be sure that they must be the eyes of the giants."

Rhodes pointed at two beasts not far away and continued his recollections.

"And I also smelled a strong cigar smell, which I have never smelled in the old city or even in the company. I think it was some kind of custom-made high-end product. Judging from the position of the eyes, the giant must be at least four meters tall. I even suspect that the giant may be five meters tall."

"You mean to say that the fire in the city might be related to this giant?"

"No, I am sure that this fire was the work of the giant, because I saw flames coming from the direction of the giant. Although I did not see clearly how he used these horrible black flames, judging from the direction of the flames at that time, it must have been done by the giant."

With the help of his companions, Rhodes recovered a little. He sat on the empty carriage and asked some questions.

"You said that before receiving my signal, the director of Cemetery No. 9 called you? How did he know? As far as I know, the director of Cemetery No. 9 is not in the old city?"

"He said it was a new employee at Cemetery No. 9 who told him about you."

"A new employee at Cemetery No. 9?! This is impossible!"

"What do you mean Rod?"

"The new employee who was supposed to arrive today had an accident and is now in the hospital! By the way, did the supervisor tell me whether this new employee is a man or a woman?"

"The supervisor did say something. It was a man with a deep voice. What's wrong, Rhode? Is there anything wrong?"

"Of course not! Because the new employee who was supposed to go to Cemetery No. 9 is a woman!"

"What?! Are you saying that the real new employees never came to the Old City?!"

"Yes, whoever this new employee is, he must be a stranger we have never seen before, wait... a male... Then if my feeling is correct, this new employee is very likely the giant who saved my life!"

"From his behavior, it seems that this giant is not in the same group as the monsters in the old city. But what is his purpose? Why did he disguise himself as a new employee of Cemetery No. 9 and come to this damn place?"

After a period of discussion, Rhodes and his companions speculated on several possibilities based on the little information available and analyzed the authenticity of these possibilities.

"The first possibility, I tend to think, is that this giant is looking for something, or is completing something. But if that's the case, there's no need for him to disguise himself as a new employee of the cemetery, right?"

"The second possibility is that he came to kill the monster made of rats, but there is no need to burn down almost the entire old city. As long as the core is destroyed, the monster will be finished. Those rats are no problem to him at all."

"Is he a madman? Does he simply enjoy the feeling of killing? But if that's the case, why did he rescue Rhodes first? And why did he contact the cemetery supervisor?"

Rhodes thought for a while and put forward his own idea.

"I think the giants may have come for the altars under the old city, or for the house that cannot be entered."

"Those altars have lost their function. It is impossible to repair them. There is no need to spend time destroying them. That means... he came here for that house that cannot be entered?!"

"This is terrible... I hope that giant has a way... to do it..."

"What do you mean? What's in that room?"

An older companion took out a bottle of liquor, took a sip, handed it to the companion next to him, and told a story.

"That was before the old city became the hell it is today. It used to be the cemetery's office. At that time, there weren't that many monsters in the old city, and the rat removal company hadn't officially set up a base in the old city. Those monsters only appeared one or two every year. But if those monsters were placed now, even newcomers could easily deal with them. Until... this bloody fog poured in from that... entrance."

"You mean..."

"Yes, the director of Cemetery No. 9 at that time brought that thing from another city. It was that thing that caused the old city to become what it is now. That thing exuded a strange power. People at that time had no way to resist the bloody fog, and that house became the earliest outbreak point in the old city. Later, although the bloody fog had been attracted and no longer needed to be entered through that entrance, from then on, no matter who entered that house, they could not get out. No one knew what happened. At that time, the director of Cemetery No. 9, in order to make up for his mistake, stayed alone and sealed the house to prevent more terrifying things from coming out. Unfortunately, he was a step too late, and the old city fell."

"Did the giant come for that room?"

"It's very likely. We can only hope... Why are those two beasts gone?"

The two ferocious beasts that were originally lying under the tree left here at some point, and strangely, they did not make any sound.

The management office of the Old Town Pier.

"The music box has cooled down. It looks like daybreak will be here soon."

"Get ready and change your hiding place."

“The small woods outside the factory area were good before.”

"Let's go, be careful."

As soon as the four players walked out of the management room, the system suddenly issued a task.

"Main Mission: Leaving the Old City"

"Mission objective: Find a usable ship in the dock"

"Mission Description: The location of the ship is in the warehouse behind the management room"

"Time remaining: 5 minutes"

The four players were a little confused. They clearly didn't find any useful information and didn't even know the name of the dungeon, but suddenly they got the main quest that could help them pass the dungeon.

"How to say?"

"It's a bit weird here, so I suggest you play it safe."

"Me too. After all, this isn't the type of copy we're good at."

"Let's go then."

Following the system's prompts, the four quickly found a speedboat in the warehouse, but the speedboat's old motor seemed to have lost its function.

There was only this one boat in the warehouse, so the four men had to find some wooden boards, assemble them into oars, put the speedboat into the water, and then they boarded the speedboat and used simple, crude carpentry to slide the speedboat, gradually leaving the old city.

"Let's watch the dungeon video after we get out."

"The other player should have more information than us."

"The music box stand-in still has many limitations. I think we should find better equipment."

“I don’t know if we will still get rewarded for doing almost nothing.”

The boat sailed steadily on the sea, and the sky gradually brightened, but it was still gray and the visibility was not much higher than at night.

However, the blood-red fog has become much lighter, as if it is because they hate the sunlight.

"Why is there so much smoke in the old city?"

"It might be on fire."

"Judging from the range of the smoke, the fire should be quite large."

“It looks dangerous.”

After sailing for a while, it seemed that we were out of the old city. The sea suddenly became brighter, and the warm sunlight shone on the sea. The sky in the distance was cloudless, and there were many seabirds circling in the air.

The old city is like a huge monster shrouded in fog. The edge of the fog is like a sharp blade, cutting the old city from the outside world, standing abruptly in the distance. The fog is like a thick fortress, and the sun cannot shine in.

Continuing on the normal sea surface, the old city in the distance suddenly disappeared, even its outline was gone, and it was completely invisible.