"It's time to make contact with the major powers."

With his mind set, Chu Xiu immediately took action.

He put on his equipment, disguised his identity, and carefully avoided cameras on his way to a location near the school.

A Fierce Ghost silently slipped in and placed a rolled-up note on the desk of an Investigation Bureau office.

The message was simple, just one small line: [Abyss City No. 3, BD07483AH8S—Dark Night Monarch]

This was merely a temporary small office point, not heavily guarded, so the Fierce Ghost did it easily. However, Chu Xiu knew that as soon as he left, the Investigation Bureau would relentlessly search for him. Once the note was discovered, it would be immediately passed to the higher-ups.

After completing this task, Chu Xiu returned home and took out the Artifact "Informational Avatar" given to him by Song Lichuan.

He was quite intrigued by the mysterious Abyss City.

As the Artifact was activated, Chu Xiu felt a thread of his consciousness merge with the humanoid doll in his hand, establishing a strange connection with the doll.

Under his astonished gaze, the doll's body began to dissolve from the head, like an invisible stream of data, gradually fading away, while part of Chu Xiu's consciousness drifted into the void.

It was a peculiar sensation, feeling his consciousness enveloped by the doll's data, hurtling through a pre-set "pipeline."

Chu Xiu wasn't sure why "pipeline" seemed the right term to describe it. Maybe his consciousness was tightly confined, unable to move in any direction without hitting rigid barriers, forced to follow this predetermined route through a twisted, empty space.

"Am I turning into data transmitted through a network cable?" Chu Xiu mused with amusement.

Fortunately, that bizarre sensation didn't last long. In less than a minute, the distorted space around him stabilized, and Chu Xiu found himself in a space composed entirely of stacked data.

In this space, there were no physical entities. Everything was pure data, yet the data transformed into solid entities.

For instance, Chu Xiu sensed a building in front of him, but the walls weren't made of stone or any physical material; they were constructed from strings of code that told Chu Xiu about the wall's hardness, density, weight, and color.

Simply put, in this world, he no longer relied on "senses" to perceive the world; instead, he could directly acquire the attributes of any substance!

This made him uncomfortable because all his familiar senses were stripped away, leaving Chu Xiu feeling like a cold, rigid robot devoid of any emotions.

"What a strange feeling. No wonder Song Lichuan said Abyss City is hard to describe, only understood by entering it yourself."

Chu Xiu forced himself past the discomfort, carefully studying the environment.

Before long, he grasped the basics of the Informational Avatar's usage.

Here, his actual self was just a string of data; apart from his core identity, things like appearance, name, and gender could be freely set. He could change into a Walmart plastic bag if he wished.

Originally, his name was "Little Daoist of Dragon Tiger Mountain," presenting as a handsome young male.

Chu Xiu didn't know exactly what the original owner looked like; his appearance data included descriptions like handsome features, high nose bridge, phoenix eyes, height of 185 cm, eight-pack abs—bizarrely detailed.

This left Chu Xiu barely holding his composure, amusingly thinking that Song Lichuan seemed serious yet was surprisingly flamboyant inside.

Contemplating, he decided to delete all appearance data, now presenting to others as a genderless, faceless human-shaped black hole.

Regarding the name, after some hesitation, he chose "Dark Night Monarch."

Frankly, Chu Xiu disliked the name, reminiscent of a male protagonist's nickname in early 21st-century web fiction, but for ease of government contacts, he set it anyway.

Afterwards, Chu Xiu continued wandering the city, encountering many other data entities like him. These entities were mostly mysterious, swiftly coming and going without interacting. Chu Xiu greeted a few, but most only glanced at him before ignoring further.

Unbothered, Chu Xiu visited several main buildings within the city, quickly understanding Abyss City's purpose.

Just as Bian Guanyue said, it was a large anonymous forum.

Here, Chu Xiu could exchange information, contact friends, and more.

For instance, he soon received a friend request named "Cherish Life, Stay Away from Gambling," likely Song Lichuan.

Song Lichuan was swift; it didn't take him long to create another ID here.

Chu Xiu accepted the request, and quickly felt a connection established with an Informational Avatar on the other side of Abyss City, instantly receiving a message.

[Brother Chen, you finally came! I've waited so long for you!]

Subsequently, Song Lichuan added him to a group chat with eight people, presumably from influential upper-echelon families.

Chu Xiu casually responded, while Song Lichuan only seemed to want a friendly relationship. After adding Chu Xiu as a friend, he soon left Abyss City.

Chu Xiu, however, continued exploring the city.

He found many "information peddlers," some with individual stands, others large shops.

In this place, many peculiar items that couldn't be seen outside existed, including various prohibited transactions completely banned by law!

It was practically an Awakened-exclusive dark web!

Drugs, slaves, Evil God artifacts—Chu Xiu even saw a captured S-Class Talent Awakened, blatantly displayed for sale like livestock.

The more Chu Xiu saw, the deeper his frown grew, the shocking revelations making him realize the world of Awakened might be far darker than he imagined!

Kidnapping, poison, assassination, body refining...

"Seems like every era has no shortage of Demon Cultivators," Chu Xiu sighed.

But that was reasonable; after all, possessing Extraordinary Power could greatly amplify one's darker side.

While privately shocked, a friend request suddenly appeared.

It was from the government.

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