Following the location indicated on the map, Ji Le came to the so-called "late night bar".
On one side of the bustling high-rise building and busy street, a building about three stories high was isolated in another world by a first-floor blockade.
Because no one took care of it, weeds grew on the ground near it, and the door was locked. It was the only shop in the nearby street that was not open for business.
Without the Internet and without any projection activated, the building presents its most primitive appearance. White-gray brick walls, dull neon lights, and a dilapidated signboard that reads: Black Cat Bar.
The blockade was set up directly by the Ministry of Public Security. Although it was just a yellow light strip that said "No Entry", as long as citizens with brain terminals installed would trigger the alarm if they walked in.
Of course, Ji Le, who does not have a brain terminal installed, can indeed take advantage of the loopholes.
It's not that the Ministry of Public Security didn't take this into consideration, but that the blockade itself has a stronger warning effect. If someone insists on entering without listening to the advice and encounters danger, it is their own fault.
Ji Le did not immediately enter to investigate. On the one hand, it was daytime and people around him would definitely see him if he entered, and on the other hand, he did not know the basic situation of the bar yet.
Leaning against the streetlight not far in front of the blockade, Ji Lezhao found some information about this bar.
"The Black Cat Bar opened two years ago and business has been very good. Their ale is their signature beer. Nowadays, there are no bars that actually make their own wine. The owner of this shop still has his own pursuits."
“On Citizen Dianping, this bar has a five-star rating and was selected as a special merchant.”
"But a month ago, something suddenly happened to this bar. The news said that there was a virus in the networks of these bars, which would cause customers who entered to be infected with the virus, so they were closed."
If there is a virus, just ask an expert to kill it directly, instead of closing the entire bar.
Nowadays, every public area in the city is connected to the Utopia network and is uniformly monitored by the Utopia system. It is difficult to catch a virus.
Ji Le knew that there must be something abnormal here. It was probably someone who had a mental breakdown and created the box scene.
However, the official cannot tell the truth directly to the public.
Therefore, the latest news about this black cat bar is as of more than a month ago, and no details of any case have been disclosed.
"Are you here to find someone too?" Just when Ji Le was thinking about whether to go directly into the investigation next, someone patted him.
Ji Le instinctively retreated and distanced himself from the opponent.
Standing in front of her was a girl who was about twenty years old. She was wearing the uniform of a certain university and had short ear-length hair. She looked very good-looking, but she wore black earrings that did not suit her temperament, which added to her personality. Quite a bit of punk style.
"Who are you?"
"Sorry, I'm too familiar with myself." The girl bowed politely. "I saw you wandering around here, so I thought you were also looking for someone."
Ji Le keenly realized that this girl might know something inside.
"Looking for someone? Is someone missing around here?"
"It's okay." After the girl understood that Ji Le was just an unrelated passerby, she started to walk away.
Of course, Ji Le couldn't let go of this clue. He stopped in front of the girl and said, "Wait a minute."
The girl's eyes suddenly lit up: "Are you interested in this matter?"
"Wouldn't ordinary people be wary if they were stopped like this?" Ji Le felt that this girl was even more suspicious, as if she was a bait to lure him into a trap.
"No, no, I see that you are still very friendly and have shown great interest in this matter." The girl smiled. "I have asked people around here for help, but no one is interested in such a fictitious thing. In the end, I was the only one to investigate."
Ji Le put down his blocking hand and pointed to a cafe opposite: "Let's go there and have a chat."
Compared to the abandoned Black Cat Bar, the Bird's Poetry Cafe that was currently open seemed much more lively.
After connecting to the Utopia network, those decorative lights and signs become projections that directly act on the retina. Although the real appearance of the cafe may be just a gray and white embryonic house with no decoration, after being projected, what is displayed in the eyes of customers is a small and stylish building.
When people walk into the cafe, they will automatically connect to the cafe's LAN and obtain the background music in this area. Customers can choose to play or pause, and even switch music according to their preferences.
The background music is only played in the customer's mind through the brain terminal (or virtual glasses) and will not disturb other people.
If you don't know that all of this is virtual, all these experiences will be like being in a real environment, and you won't be able to tell whether they are illusory or real.
To a certain extent, virtual networks have invaded every aspect of people’s lives and are indistinguishable from the real world.
Ji Le and the girl randomly found a seat near the bar.
"What do you want to drink? I'll treat you."
"This is not good." The girl seemed not to have expected that someone would invite her here for coffee so seriously just because of her words.
"Then I'll just order it." Ji Le didn't want to chat with her and just ordered two cups of espresso. "My name is Ji Le, and I am an author. I heard that something seems to have happened here, so I came here to find a subject."
Of course it was impossible for Ji Le to tell all his information. He casually talked about the identity of an author.
The girl was convinced, mainly because she didn't expect that the other party would have any reason to conceal his identity.
"You can call me Lixiang. I'm a student at the Intercity University of Electronic Science and Technology. I'm here to find my missing brother. He said he came here to drink a week ago, and I haven't heard from him since."
"Did you report the crime?"
Li Xiang nodded: "I reported it, but there is no news yet. The Sheriff is very nice. He once told me mysteriously not to have too much hope. I think they should know some inside stories, but no Willing to tell me."
"So I looked for someone myself. I looked for a lot of people and asked people who lived nearby, but no one was willing to help me, and they were very taboo about this place."
Li Xiang was not depressed at all, and even had excitement in her eyes: "There must be a secret here. My brother is probably involved in something terrible. I have...never encountered such an exciting thing!"
"This is good material for my writing. I want to investigate this matter in depth. Do you have any clues?"
"Great, I finally found a teammate." Rika lowered her voice. "Actually, not only my brother, there have been no less than 10 disappearance cases nearby in the past month, but they were all suppressed by the Ministry of Public Security."
