Interactive Fiction: The Right Choice After Unemployment

Chapter 109 Little Fire Enters the City
Option 5.6 11.1%, Option 83.3 [-]%, Option [-] [-]%.

……

【Option [-]】

【Territorial Awareness】

Specific instructions: It can detect the approximate location of prey and powerful enemies within a radius of several kilometers.

……

Zheng Zhuo chose [Territorial Awareness].This is the only evolutionary direction among the three items that improves the ability to explore.

Points are paid.He has acquired new skills.

……

【Zheng Zhuo】

[Race: Shadow Fire (Kumquat)]

[Ability: identification, evolution]

[Evolved: Ignition, Venom, Dexterity, Territorial Awareness]

【Points: 0】

[Optional evolution: none]

……

This time, Zheng Zhuo didn't feel anything special.His body didn't deform, and he didn't feel like he could do anything special.

However, the scene in his eyes has changed a little.

"Vision has become stronger...not necessarily."

Zheng Zhuo noticed that the color of the scene that the eyes could see had darkened.The vision seems to have been toned, the gray of the sky and the ground darkened.

Opposite them is the gray color of withered grass on the ground.They became lighter, slightly yellowish in gray.

Zheng Zhuo turned his gaze to the back of himself.

rustle.

There was the sound of small rodents running across the hills.Originally, their gray-black fur was the same as the ground, and it was extremely difficult to distinguish with the eyes alone.But now, Zheng Zhuo saw that the bodies of these groundhogs and hares emitted yellow and orange lights that were much stronger than that of withered grass.

This allows Zheng Zhuo to see them at a glance even at a very long distance.

Moreover, it does not seem to be seen with "eyes" in the traditional sense.

The groundhog burrowed into the ground, but Zheng Zhuo could still see the light emitting from its body.The hare jumped to the back of the mountain, but the light it emitted did not dissipate.Those lights just become more blurred, but they can still be seen by Zheng Zhuo through the stone and soil.

"Heat."

Zheng Zhuo thought, what he saw was the heat emitted by living things.

He also understood what he was preying on.

He preys on the heat in living things and uses them to drive himself through evolution.

Zheng Zhuo looked in the direction of the city.

"……Wow."

This time, the city was not as depressed as he had seen just now.

Scattered yellows, oranges, and reds form one piece.

The city is both quiet and lively.Many heat-emitting creatures wandered inside and outside the abandoned city, and the heat they emitted slowly gathered and then separated.

The distance is quite far, and Zheng Zhuo can't see very clearly.But obviously, these creatures are much bigger than groundhogs and rabbits.

Zheng Zhuo was a little numb.

He thought of the humans he saw in the golden space, transformed into monsters due to changes in the world.

"...All of them are people? Don't..."

He doesn't like meeting people very much.

At least not right now.

……

Zheng Zhuo left with his back to the mountains.He walked slowly towards the abandoned city along the deserted path.

Now, the cold wind on the mountains no longer interferes with his flight, but he has not taken off for a while.

The fire did not spread to the north of the mountain.Here, his saffron-orange body stands out against a dark gray sky.

He wasn't sure if the heat-emitting enemies had a way to attack him.He couldn't expect every enemy to be a mountain giant.

"Chu Huairen. Hello, are you there?"

Zheng Zhuo called out to Chu Huairen through the [Collective Subconscious] software while flowing through the gap between the stone slabs.

"……exist……"

There is a benefit to the huge time difference between the inside and outside of the subconscious mind.When you call, there is always someone answering—because it doesn't take long.

"...you lit the fire again?...wait for me...I didn't see..."

"I didn't light the fire." Zheng Zhuo said, "I have come to the north of the mountain. There is a city in front of me."

"Can you see the structure of the city? How big is the city? In what direction is it built? Where is the closest to the tower?"

He asks many questions.

[Territorial Awareness] can help Zheng Zhuo identify prey and enemies, but it cannot help him determine the location.Zheng Zhuo is still unable to see the tower.He guessed that he was still far away from the tower - he had to rely on Chu Huairen's high-altitude perspective.

"(I wanted to confirm the direction at the top of the mountain.)"

The plan was disrupted by the mountain giant.

However, the other party sent a core as an apology.The tolerant Zheng Zhuo decided not to worry about this trivial matter.

"...The city is a structure in the shape of 'back'. The overall shape is square."

Chu Huairen's words brought Zheng Zhuo back from distraction to reality.

"It's about... 1.5 times the length and width of a mountain range. Wait, the north-south direction will be slightly longer, and it's not a perfect square. On the northeast corner, there are two white pointed buildings."

"Start between the two white pointed buildings and go straight ahead. The tower is at the end of this extension."

"it is good."

The city is bigger than Zheng Zhuo imagined. 1.5 widths of mountains?Although the mountain is narrow, this area is obviously not the size of a small town.

Zheng Zhuo thought of the white seaside city-state in [Magic Academy World].

It sounds like the size of the capital city.

Thinking of this, he asked:

"Chu Huairen, can you still see other cities?"

"...I can't see farther away... this place... only here..."

It turned out to be the case.

At worst, it is also a cultural center or a transportation hub.Zheng Zhuo had a rough estimate in his heart.

"Thank you. I'll get back to you later."

He said simply, and was about to cut off the communication.

"...be careful...in that city..."

However, Chu Huairen said one more thing that caught his attention.

"Ok?"

"...Be careful, there are large objects moving in that city. Like buildings."

"Building? Moving?"

"...I can't see clearly..."

"I understand."

Zheng Zhuo wrote down the information.

He erased the interface and moved on.

"A moving building."

Zheng Zhuo is not very worried about whether it will be some kind of "building giant".After all, being a Shadowfire, he's not afraid of large enemies.

What he thinks more about now is efficiency.

"Can I get a ride?"

Zheng Zhuo talked to himself, and walked away along the path.

……

The ground became more and more flat, and the steps made of rock became more and more obvious.Zheng Zhuo passed under one stone arch after another, and the abandoned city gradually appeared in front of him.

There are ruins everywhere.Zheng Zhuo was worried that he would not be able to enter the city just now, but now he realizes that he need not worry: all the city walls are dilapidated.Most of them were smashed by some kind of huge force, and not even a quarter of the original ones survived.

And the shining buildings that Zheng Zhuo saw in the golden world have long since ceased to shine.They become as gray as the sky.

And beside the city wall...

"Oh... ah..."

The humanoid monsters uttered deep cries and wandered around.

The city wall is broken.But the monster is still there.Zheng Zhuo carefully observed his surroundings and climbed up a stone pillar beside the city wall.

Jump off the stone pillar to enter the city.

Zheng Zhuo looked into the city again, and there were four buildings in front of him, and next to these four buildings, [Territorial Awareness] did not mark monsters for the time being.

……

【problem】

【Which kind of building do you want to jump into? 】

【Option [-]】

[A building whose roof was blown up like a residential building]

【Option [-]】

[It looks like a public place, half of which collapsed, and there are many long tables and benches inside the building]

【Option [-]】

[I can't tell what the place is, a big hole was punched through the wall, and a lot of books fell out of the big hole]

【Option [-]】

[Like a temple, it is a fully open building]

　After [Option 1], [Option 1], [Option [-]] and [Option [-]], you can leave a message in the form of [this chapter says]. A message under [-] id counts as [-] vote.

　　票数统计截至至2022/12/26日中午12：00.
　　Finally, please recommend tickets~
　　
　　


(End of this chapter)