Chen Xiaolian's first reaction was, this is definitely not a system prompt!
Firstly, this is Zero City.
Zero City is a completely shielded space, completely cut off from the main system of the world. Here, no messages from the main system can be received.
As for the second point, it's naturally the strange string of symbols as the message prefix "????"
Chen Xiaolian's heartbeat began to accelerate.
After hesitating for a moment, he made up his mind and chose "YES"!
"????: Connection request accepted, initial module retrieval in progress... Retrieval complete, match value 99.86%, match level [perfect], permission granted."
Sitting on the bed in the darkness, Chen Xiaolian's eyes sparkled.
"????: Safe mode activated! Automatic shielding enabled! Automatic concealment enabled! Automatic identification enabled! Environment scan, hazard elimination in progress... Elimination complete, current environment safety level 100%, entering connection mode."
"????: Permission granted, system allows access."
"????: Access mode: Free."
"????: Unlocking in progress..."
...
At the same time, in the Elders Council, within the monitoring hall of Zero City's main control system, several rotating personnel, both from the fire and sword team and the Angel Corps, were equally stunned as they gazed at the display on the virtual projection screen!
On the virtual projection, all the surveillance scenes within Zero City were cleared, and all monitoring screens in public areas turned black!
All real-time detections of the Zero City main control system were completely disabled!
"Anomaly!"
"Anomaly!"
"Anomaly!!"
The personnel sitting at the monitoring stations trembled as they reported the indices of their respective areas.
The door of the hall swung open, and a middle-aged man in the uniform of the Angel Corps rushed in like a whirlwind. His collar was undone, and his hair was disheveled, clearly awakened in the middle of the night and hastily arrived.
"What in the world is happening?"
This middle-aged man was evidently a high-ranking member within the Angel Corps, his face filled with urgency and anger. "Can someone tell me what exactly is going on? Report! I need a report on the current situation! Reports from every post!!"
After a few seconds of silence, someone finally spoke up.
"Post One, real-time monitoring of all public areas in the city is completely offline."
"Post Three, control system of the Love Sea artificial marine area shut down and reset to zero, wind speed zero, hydraulic power zero... Love Sea circulation pump system shut down."
"Post Six, main program of Zero City's ecological recycling system entered sleep mode."
"Post Nine, security system forcibly activated, security level raised to maximum, all temporary passages forcibly closed..."
"Post Two, resources space belonging to the permanent team closed off... reopening time unknown."
"Post Eleven: Industrial energy supply cut off, all energy furnaces halted, all workshop instruments switched automatically to manual operation... damn!"
"Post Eight..."
"Post Seven..."
"Post Thirteen..."
Trembling voices, filled with either confusion, tension, urgency, or fear, one by one reported their findings.
In the hall, such reports echoed incessantly, each report from every station making everyone's hearts wrench painfully.
As they listened further, each person's heart sank deeper!
The face of the middle-aged man from the Angel Corps was now incredibly pale, his gaze as lifeless as ash!
His throat felt dry, mouth bitter, and with a voice strained and difficult, he managed to force out a sentence from between clenched teeth.
"So... what you're saying is... Zero City's system... is on strike?!"
His gaze seemed murderous as it swept fiercely across the room, but no one could withstand such a look. Each person's face displayed sheer dread.
There was no way not to be afraid!!
This was Zero City! This was the Zero City upon which everyone present relied for survival!
It was the Zero City that provided them with all hope, all living space, all resources!
And now... Zero City's system was on strike! It had halted!!
Silence.
A deathly silence filled the hall!
After a full ten seconds passed, a voice, tinged with fear and hesitation, finally spoke up.
"That... sir, it's not a complete strike. The external defense program has been automatically activated, and the security level has been raised to the highest."
The middle-aged man turned to the speaker, a member of the fire and sword team. He licked his parched lips and spoke hoarsely, "So... you mean to say... Zero City's system, it's...?"
"It's self-sealing." The fire and sword team's monitoring personnel looked even more grim. "It... it seems to have awakened, then deprived us of all control, ceased all internal operations, and elevated the external security system to the highest level. It..."
The middle-aged man took a deep breath. "Like a city, where everything within comes to a halt, but the gates are closed. Is that it?"
"Yes."
Everything halted, yet the defense system and security level automatically raised to the highest?!
No one could comprehend what was happening.
Throughout its existence, although Zero City possessed self-awareness, it had never done anything like this. It had always allowed the Elders Council's few permanent teams and the Angel Corps to manage it as they pleased.
Yet tonight, Zero City suddenly... reclaimed all control!
"So, you mean to say, as members of the Zero City's permanent team, we now... are just like those outsiders, the visitors on open days? We have no control over Zero City anymore?!"
"...That's one way to put it."
Just then, the doors of the hall were pushed open again.
A figure in uniform, exuding a fierce aura, strode in. It was a muscular War Angel, accompanied by three others dressed similarly in the Angel Corps's uniform.
The arrival of the War Angel lifted everyone's spirits, and the middle-aged man immediately stepped forward, bowing respectfully. "Sir, the situation..."
"Wait a moment." The War Angel's voice was deep and powerful, brimming with vitality. His hair was disheveled, giving him the appearance of a lion about to roar. "Mr. Bluesea will be here shortly. We'll wait for him to arrive before hearing your report together."
Mr. Bluesea arrived just half a minute after the War Angel. He was accompanied by only Guan Shan. As they entered the hall, Mr. Bluesea's expression seemed complex. After exchanging a glance with the War Angel, both men discerned a long-lost emotion in each other's eyes.
A hint of trepidation!
Yes, it was indeed trepidation.
Even before stepping into the blood refining arena, Bluesea's eyes had never shown such trepidation!
Even during the life-and-death battles leading teams against Thorn Flower and facing near-death situations, the War Angel's eyes had never displayed such trepidation!
"Report," the War Angel said, taking a deep breath.
A few minutes later, after hearing the reports from the two titans, they exchanged a glance, both incredulous at what they heard.
"...Has something like this ever happened before?" Bluesea asked the War Angel.
After all, the fire and sword team was considered "new" among Zero City's seven permanent teams.
The War Angel's expression was grim. "No... as far as the history of Zero City that I know, something like this has never happened before."
Bluesea fell silent for a moment before asking, "Have you notified everyone?"
Although he didn't explicitly state it, everyone understood who Bluesea meant by "everyone" — undoubtedly referring to the leaders of the other permanent teams of the Elders Council! The titans of the Elders Council.
"We have, we have notified them," a member of the fire and sword team replied nervously. "But because of the system shutdown in Zero City, normal communication channels have been closed. We can only notify them through other means. So far, four teams have been informed, and the leaders are on their way. But..."
"But what?"
"The Lord of the Knights of Darkness Guild is currently trapped in his assigned resource space. With Zero City's shutdown, he's sealed inside the resource space and unable to come out," the fire and sword team member's voice trembled. "And... there's another report from the Rodria team. Their leader is not in Zero City; he's out on business. With all external channels of Zero City closed, they've lost contact."
Boom!
The War Angel slammed his fist onto the table, leaving a deep dent in the metal surface. This burly middle-aged man, like an enraged lion, paced back and forth in the room. "All channels are cut off? So, you're saying we're now sealed inside Zero City? Unable to come in or out?"
"Yes, Lord War Angel. Even the emergency backup channels have been cut off."
Bluesea's gaze flickered, and suddenly he blurted out, "Can I understand this as... Zero City is now like a computer, entering... safe mode??"
The people in the room were stunned, but then one brave soul tentatively responded, "Yes, sir... Your analogy is quite apt. Indeed, it seems like it's entered safe mode."
"And the assessment? What are the best and worst-case scenarios now?" the War Angel grunted.
The room fell silent, everyone looking pale, but soon, a bespectacled individual stood up.
Clearly, this person was of the "tech geek" type, taking a deep breath before speaking. "The best outcome would be... this shutdown automatically resolves itself, and everything returns to normal. However, during the shutdown, there will undoubtedly be losses suffered within Zero City. The pause in operations of workshops, instruments, and production lines will result in losses for the affiliated teams. At present, the data is still unavailable for calculation."
"Speak of the worst-case scenario!" Bluesea interrupted the person's words.
"The worst-case scenario..." The tech geek's forehead broke out in a cold sweat. "Both of you know that Zero City is the central control system. It's omnipresent, and our reliance on it is very severe. Almost 80% of the equipment in Zero City is connected to the main system and controlled by its computational power. Only a small amount of machinery is manual and unaffected by this shutdown. But our energy comes from the Zero City main system. So...
Now, all automatic systems in Zero City have been shut down. Even... many guests in hotels are trapped in their rooms and unable to leave. Besides those still wandering the streets at this late hour, my estimation is that over 80% of the people in Zero City are confined to their rooms."
"So, you're saying that Zero City has now become a massive prison, and each room has turned into a cell?" Bluesea's tone bordered on absurdity.
"You could interpret it that way, but as far as I know, the headquarters of the permanent teams are mostly manually controlled and unaffected. So..."
"So, we're not quite at our wit's end yet," Bluesea sighed. "Otherwise, if there were riots in the streets, we, the permanent teams, would be stuck in our headquarters, unable to intervene?"
The tech geek adjusted his glasses. Wearing the uniform of the Angel Corps, he wasn't under Bluesea's command, so he didn't seem nervous facing Bluesea's questioning. After taking a deep breath, he spoke up, "Sir, the worst-case scenario isn't that simple. It's much worse than we anticipated!"
"Go on," Bluesea urged.
The man with glasses sounded puzzled, "Here, all our energy sources come from the Zero City main system. Whether it's the oxygen we breathe, the water we drink, or the sunlight we receive, everything is provided by the ecological recycling system. And this recycling system has always been powered by the energy from the Zero City main system. This includes everything in Zero City, from each permanent team's production factories, instruments, production lines, maintenance equipment—all rely on the energy supplied by the Zero City main system. Even the electricity for every street lamp and coffee machine in taverns comes from Zero City's main system!
Of course, we've built backup energy supply devices, but..."
"But what?" The War Angel sensed a hint of despair in his subordinate's tone and emphasized his question.
The man with glasses flinched, his voice quickening, "But, as I was saying, we've been overly reliant and trusting of the Zero City main program! It has never let us down, never shut down, never encountered any problems! So, when it came to preparing backup energy devices, everyone wasn't too diligent. Because the energy provided by Zero City's main system has been almost inexhaustible. So..."
"So, our backup energy efforts were lackluster," the War Angel sneered.
"Yes..." The man with glasses's voice began to hoarsen.
"We possess the most advanced technology, surpassing the outside world by a hundred years! We've even mastered miniaturized nuclear reactors... And now you're telling me we don't have backup energy devices?!" the War Angel demanded.
"...Not that we don't have them, we do," the man with glasses chuckled bitterly. "But the preparations aren't as abundant as the lords anticipated."
His voice began to tremble!
"But the backup energy devices... the energy they can supply is extremely limited. We only have four sets of backup energy devices, and the energy they provide is insufficient to sustain Zero City's daily full-power consumption! If we forcibly maintain it, the backup units can only last for a maximum of 48 hours... or even shorter, before entering an energy shortage."
The man with glasses became increasingly agitated. "The lords may not realize one thing... the energy required to sustain Zero City's daily expenses isn't just the water and electricity we use, nor is it the beautiful Love Sea, the lights in our rooms, or the production lines in the factories... Most of the energy consumption is spent on space technology!
That is, the 'Zero City resources' owned by each permanent team, such as the resource spaces and minerals each permanent team possesses—those spaces opened up by Zero City, similar to instances in a game world. These spaces are created by the Zero City main program, like small worlds created by space technology! To maintain these worlds, to allow everyone to continue mining resources in the resource world and obtaining resources... the energy required to sustain these small worlds, these small spaces, is enormous!
Of course, previously, this energy was all supplied by the Zero City main system, and we didn't need to worry... and even if we did worry, it wouldn't help, because we were powerless to create energy sources to sustain such a massive amount of energy.
But now, with Zero City shut down, with all energy supply cut off, then..."
"So, the resource spaces owned by our permanent teams, these 'benefits' from Zero City, and the mineral worlds, will all..."
"Those small spaces, like mini-worlds, deprived of energy maintenance, will completely collapse and then disappear!" the man with glasses shook his head. "Our backup energy units can sustain for a maximum of 48 hours, or even shorter."
Bluesea and the War Angel exchanged a glance, and the War Angel whispered, "The Dark Knight's leader is in their team's small space!"
"...," Bluesea's face twitched. "If the small world collapses and disappears, the people inside..."
This question was directed at the man with glasses, but he remained pale, silent, offering no response.
Yet the answer was clear to everyone!
In the room, everyone took a sharp breath.
A fallen titan!
This was undoubtedly a huge loss for Zero City!
But...
"Sir, I haven't finished," the man with glasses spoke up again.
This time, the look in everyone's eyes as they turned to him was tinged with... despair.
"Is there any more bad news? Just lay it all out at once," the War Angel shook his head.
"The ecological cycle system," the man with glasses said, sweat dripping down his forehead. "The oxygen we breathe, the fresh water we drink, the sunlight we receive, the day and night cycles in Zero City... all come from this ecological cycle system."
"You're not telling me we only have one set of ecological cycle systems!" Bluesea frowned. "Even though Knife Mountain Fire Sea is a new team, I refuse to believe that the Elders Council, in the past, would not have thought to set up backup systems. How could something so simple not have been done?!"
"We do have backup systems," the man with glasses said, his mouth dry. "The one we're using now is the backup ecological cycle system."
"...Backup? The one we're using now is the backup?" Bluesea widened his eyes.
Beside him, Guan Shan immediately added in a low voice, "Yes, sir. The one we're currently using is indeed the backup. It was noted in the memorandum when the team took over the duty rotation a few days ago."
"What about the original ecological system?" Bluesea inquired.
"It's broken, undergoing repairs," the man with glasses said, hesitating for a moment, seeming unsure of how to continue.
"Speak plainly! No need to hold back!" Bluesea shouted loudly.
The man with glasses sighed deeply. "Because... the matter of repairing the ecological cycle system was submitted to the Elders Council a long time ago. However, due to the recent busyness of the Elders Council's affairs, the approval and review process has been repeatedly delayed. It was only a few days ago that it was finally approved for maintenance. So now, we are already using the backup ecological system, while the original system is currently undergoing repairs."
Though these words were somewhat vague and ambiguous, everyone present understood them clearly.
"What the Elders Council has been busy with recently, repeatedly delaying the approval process..."
In truth, it was crystal clear to everyone!
What was the Elders Council busy with during that time?
They were preoccupied with how to strip the Knife Mountain Fire Sea's permanent team of their qualifications!!
The Elders Council was embroiled in internal strife! And as a result, there were significant delays in approving important routine matters!
Bluesea naturally knew that discussing these matters now was pointless. He went straight to the point and asked, "Just tell us straight, we only have one set of ecological cycle systems now. So, what's the situation currently?"
"The ecological cycle system has been shut down by Zero City," the man with glasses said, his voice trembling.
"Shut down?" Bluesea frowned. "Can't we manually restart it?"
"No, we can't. Once it's shut down by Zero City, it's completely locked down. The ecological cycle system consumes massive amounts of energy and has always been directly linked to Zero City. It requires tremendous computing power to calculate real-time ecological values, such as oxygen levels, temperature, population, and ecological consumption due to changes in production, and so on. So, this system has always been connected to the main Zero City system. And now... Zero City has shut it down and locked it!" The man with glasses sounded almost despairing. "Normally, if an ecological system is locked down, we could choose to manually activate the backup ecological system to maintain it. But now..."
"Now we only have one functional set," Bluesea waved his hand. "You've explained it quite clearly, I understand your point. So... just tell us the outcome!"
"The outcome is... after the ecological cycle system was locked down, we've entered a time without ecological circulation," the man with glasses said with a bitter smile. "Zero City is a space. The sun's rotation, day and night cycles here, are all created by the ecological cycle system. During shutdown periods, it's all darkness outside. And... our oxygen, fresh water... it's all..."
At this revelation, everyone's complexion turned ashen!
The issue with fresh water is manageable since every Awakener has the habit of storing large amounts of food and water in their respective storage equipment, so there won't be an immediate shortage.
But oxygen is a different story!
No one would ever think to stockpile a bunch of oxygen tanks in their storage equipment!
"I need specific numbers," declared the commanding voice of the War Angel, overshadowing the commotion in the hall.
The man with glasses picked up a small calculator-like device and swiftly inputted several sets of numbers. "Currently, our oxygen levels are still relatively abundant, and although the circulation system has lost its energy supply, it's still operating slowly due to inertia. It can run for a while. However, based on the values consumed by Zero City at present, the system will completely stop producing oxygen in about nine hours. Then, starting from now, approximately sixteen hours later, low oxygen conditions will gradually appear in Zero City.
At most, within 24 hours, we will begin to experience suffocation!"
The man with glasses concluded with one final sentence:
"And the current situation is that each and every one of us is unable to leave Zero City! We're trapped here."
The War Angel murmured, "Can't we manufacture oxygen? Create new equipment?"
"We can, we have the technology for it," the man with glasses responded, but then uttered the most despairing words, "But our factories, production lines, have all shut down due to lack of energy. The equipment you mentioned for oxygen production, the miniature ones for one or two people's use, can be made.
But to supply the kind of large-scale equipment needed for Zero City, only the workshops can manage."
Blue Ocean remained silent, then swiftly moved to the control panel, inputting several numbers.
Soon, a countdown appeared on the screen.
"23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds."
The time was ticking away second by second.
"Gentlemen!" Blue Ocean shouted loudly, "This might be our only time left! Now, everyone, start using your brains and think of a solution!! Any idea, any method, any approach!! If you don't want to die here!"