"The Invisible Me"

"Yiguan, I must also tell you a secret this time..."

Beep.

The call with the Gluttonous Clam automatically hung up.

Immediately after, the communicator beeped again.

The void screen lit up, with large blue fonts floating in the air.

[Insufficient metaverse data, please recharge.]

The young man looked up, blinking gently, and sighed softly.

Then he lightly swiped his tech watch over the communicator.

"Recharge successful."

"-2000"

"Balance: 8654"

The young man wiped his tech watch on his wrist, "Without taking cases from the police, there will be a significant loss of income, this won't last long."

Qin Yiguan glanced over a corner of the room.

There, many consumable energy blocks were piled up. After all, it was the year 2122, and even for the abandoned, the government would not neglect them completely, still providing the most basic life support.

That thing, like white butter, condensed with biotechnology, eating one could supply an adult with the energy needed for one day.

However.

That thing tasted unique, even dogs would shake their heads at it.

"Let's go out and get something to eat first."

The young man ignored those energy blocks, turned, and went downstairs to the street outside the apartment.

The street had a pure wasteland punk style.

The houses were old, but oddly flickering void screens were everywhere.

Though it was rundown, it still revealed a hint of futuristic technology.

The area where Qin Yiguan lived was called Rust City.

The residents here, like Qin Yiguan, were humans who couldn't fully enter the metaverse for various reasons.

In other words, this was the lower district in the technological era.

There was no one on the streets at this time.

Because most of the abandoned had their 'basic maintenance' time, whether long or short.

It was evening from 8 pm to 12 am, precisely the moment when the residents of Rust City, with not much login time at their disposal, concentrated on logging into the metaverse.

There were no decent businesses left in reality, they had to enter the metaverse to make money and live.

The young man walked through the streets, walking a full 5 kilometers, finally coming to the edge of Rust City.

He looked up into the distance.

The wilderness was in full view.

A brightly lit city stood ten kilometers away.

There.

It was called the Central City District.

Those humans who were immersed in the metaverse 24 hours a day lived there.

Also known as—City of the Half.

The lower-class people forever looked up.

The young man's expression was calm, walking straight toward the Central City District. A faintly visible path seemed to have been walked upon many times on the flat lawn ahead.

The one who stepped out on this path was none other than Qin Yiguan.

At this moment, he walked slowly, unhurriedly.

The metaverse had become the main world.

And reality, had subtly become the secondary world.

Thus, the time one couldn't log into the metaverse was utterly useless, not worth squandering, no need to hurry.

Half an hour later.

The young man stood before the central city.

Its enormous walls, made of white alloy, stretched endlessly to the left, right, and even skyward, seemingly without end.

Hum...

Hum...

The sound of air trembling echoed through the sky.

A dozen white robots flew out from the top of the wall, diving down swiftly to surround Qin Yiguan.

These robots stood about 3 meters tall.

Their upper bodies were comprised of broad chests and mechanical arms as thick as an adult's waist. One arm was equipped with a beam weapon emitting blue electrical arcs, while the other arm featured a rapidly spinning grappling hook.

Their lower halves were replaced by magnetic levitation systems, allowing them to hover in mid-air.

Altogether, they appeared extremely formidable.

Qin Yiguan's eyes flickered slightly.

Any central city is populated by tens of millions of people, all of whose consciousnesses have entered the metaverse.

In such a scenario, it's as if the entire city's population is 'asleep' and never wakes up.

How could there not be any guards?

Regardless of how powerful you are in the metaverse, if your home is stolen, what then?

If anyone from the Rust City dared to approach, they would be arrested immediately, deported, and in severe cases, sentenced by electronic judges.

At this moment.

These robots must have detected an unknown object approaching the wall and swiftly mobilized.

The robots' huge heads, each with a red mechanical eye as large as a basketball, all turned towards Qin Yiguan, flashing layers of scanning beams in the void.

Zzz...

The beam weapons in the robots' hands were charging up, igniting the air.

The young man pursed his lips and slightly bowed his head.

Then, he looked up again, staring at one of the robots, "What are you looking at? As if you can see me?"

The massive guard robot tilted its head slightly.

Despite detecting biological and sound wave fluctuations, from the robots' electronic perspective, there was nothing in the space in front of them except grass swaying gently in the breeze.

With various locking windows and data indicators running wild, the guard robots still couldn't see the young man's body.

But Qin Yiguan didn't employ any mysterious techniques, abilities, or protective illusions; he just stood there quietly.

"???"

The dozen guard robots were collectively baffled.

And Qin Yiguan was used to it.

Three years ago, he was surprised to find that no detection equipment in the massive central city area No. 003 could detect his presence.

It was as if someone had erased his data from the defense system controlled by artificial intelligence.

Perhaps, it was the work of his parents.

Because his parents were no ordinary people.

"See you, bunch of rookies."

The young man tightened the straps of his backpack, turned his head, and grabbed a protrusion on the wall, which was actually a high-precision optical sensor, now firmly in his grasp.

Then, stepping on another high-precision sonar sensor, he began to climb up the wall in a manner similar to rock climbing.

The massive alloy wall was covered in sensors, serving as holds for climbing.

Enough for the young man to climb to the top.

Some sensors were even covered in mud from the young man's shoes.

Behind him.

A group of guard robots, confused, stared at each other.

Like a nimble cheetah, the young man climbed the wall and disappeared.

And in Huaxia, as a fortified city, the entire alarm system of central city area No. 003 remained utterly quiet.