Universe Infinite Canteen

Chapter 510 News

The dark figure by the wall, to his surprise, was even darker than elsewhere and had stood there, unmoving, as if frozen in time.

This was clearly not a pose that a normal person would have. Realizing that something was off, Ma Lu turned and ran, taking out the protection of fate as he did so, tossing it and catching it again.

The blank space on the token now displayed the number 9.

Ma Lu pocketed the protection of fate and kept running without stopping, glancing back as he fled. Fortunately, the dark shadow on the other side of the street didn't follow.

Could it be... a misunderstanding? Was it just a statue?

However, to be cautious, Ma Lu didn't go back; instead, he decided to look around elsewhere. But the further he walked, the stronger that odd feeling in his heart became.

The street he was on now reminded him a bit of Shanghai Beach from the last century, in a bustling district.

The street was lined with small buildings made of green and red bricks, above which hung all kinds of neon signs, yet without exception, none were lit.

On his previous Plane, Ma Lu had unlocked over 600 entries in the Illustrated Handbook, earning himself a new title—Scholar.

After donning this title, he finally shed the identity of an illiterate and could understand the text of other Planes. However, the cost was that he could no longer use his former title, Ingredient Collector, and the maximum carrying capacity of the Collection Bag had decreased by 100 pounds.

Experience tales with My Virtual Library Empire

But it wasn't much of a problem since Ma Lu had money now. He spent some and upgraded the Collection Bag to Level 1, maintaining its maximum capacity.

After walking in the dark for a while, his eyes gradually adapted to the dim environment.

He barely made out the words on the neon sign in front of him—Yangyang Dance Hall, with several vintage cars and bicycles parked outside its main entrance.

In addition, the street Ma Lu was walking on had tram tracks laid down its center, and above his head hung dense tangles of wires, enveloping the entire city like a cobweb.

Next to the Yangyang Dance Hall was Zheng's Pen Store, and diagonally across from it was a newsstand.

This confirmed Ma Lu's earlier guess; this area should be one of the city's bustling regions, with many shops.

But what was strange was that there wasn't a single person on the street besides him; in fact, not just on the streets, there was no one inside the buildings either.

Huh, she's a real person, an actress?

Ma Lu continued to flip through the pages and, on the third page, he stumbled upon a disaster warning. It said that the Jiulong Instrument had detected a possibility of a minor disaster occurring soon in Xindu and advised residents to avoid entering the disaster area.

By now, Ma Lu had some guesses, but he wondered if it really was okay to place such important news behind entertainment news on the third page.

Following the disaster warning was another piece of news about the closing admissions of talisman master schools, reminding new students to enroll in time.

Having read this far, Ma Lu roughly understood what was going on here, but he still patiently read through the rest of the newspaper.

He mainly wanted to gather more intel on the imminent minor disaster.

Unfortunately, apart from the tofu-sized warning, there was no other relevant news in the newspaper. Instead, the gossip about the police chief of Xindu marrying his ninth concubine had been sensationally reported over two full pages.

The articles vividly described the concubine's beauty and youthful charm.

Seeing no valuable clues, Ma Lu put the newspaper down.

From the lackadaisical manner of the Xindu News, maybe the disaster wasn't so severe? But where had all the people in the city gone?

As Ma Lu walked and pondered, he suddenly bumped into something.

He rubbed his nose, only to find nothing in front of him.

He tried to take another step, and his left foot felt as though he had kicked a cotton puff, only to be bounced back once more.

An Air Wall? That meant this area was sealed off, no wonder he hadn't seen anyone for so long.

Ma Lu wasn't too panicked because, according to the newspaper, the locals seemed to be quite familiar with such situations and likely had corresponding solutions.

He looked around, spotted the tallest building, a bank, and climbed to the top to get a better view. Looking down from three streets away, he saw a faint light.

Though dim, the light was quite conspicuous in the pitch-dark city.

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