1.4 We Were Frozen in Time

“Wu Chen, are you asleep?” The central control screen lit up with Baili Yan’s voice.

“Not yet.” Wu Chen lay flat in the driver’s seat, gazing up through the sunroof at the starry sky.

“How much do you remember about the Sanctuary?” Baili Yan asked softly.

“Not much.” Wu Chen pondered for a moment. “Perhaps, like my AE86, the memories related to the Sanctuary are locked away at some past point. They need to be unlocked before I can access them.”

“I thought so too,” Baili Yan replied gently. “That’s why we’re frozen in time.”

“Yes,” Wu Chen admitted. “This is my first time experiencing the shattered Sanctuary.”

“Same here.” Baili Yan felt a strange familiarity with Wu Chen. Unfortunately, memories of the Sanctuary had shattered along with it. Though the memories didn’t accompany them, the inexplicable sense of closeness, deep from the heart, was unmistakably genuine. It confirmed that they had crossed paths in the Sanctuary before. Though memory was gone, the fondness remained like a shadow. In truth, Baili Yan suspected Wu Chen and she were well acquainted.

“What’s at the Exile Lands?” Wu Chen asked about their destination.

“I’ve heard that at the end of the 404 Ring Expressway lies the ‘Broken City,’” Baili Yan said, relaying rumors frequently mentioned on the player channels during their journey.

“Exile Lands, Broken City,” Wu Chen memorized.

“Players also call it the ‘City That Never Sleeps,’” Baili Yan smiled. “Sounds very sci-fi.”

“Sounds like another no-man’s land,” Wu Chen mused. From just the name ‘City That Never Sleeps,’ the mix of players and chaos was already apparent.

“But I heard the City That Never Sleeps has a ruler,” Baili Yan added.

“That’s not surprising,” Wu Chen responded. Once, he himself had been a powerful demigod-level story lord.

“Who’s the ruler?” Wu Chen pressed.

“No one knows yet,” Baili Yan said. Like Wu Chen, she was a newcomer.

As the stars blurred through the fog, Wu Chen blinked reflexively. “It’s fogging up.”

“Annihilation is approaching,” Baili Yan said urgently, starting the car. “Let’s go.”

The player couple’s RV started up as well. “Hurry, let’s go.”

Leading the way, Baili Yan accelerated, followed closely by Wu Chen, then the RV trailing behind. The three vehicles sped off the viewing platform and onto the ring expressway.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Wu Chen saw the mist receding and suddenly said, “Wait.”

“What’s wrong?” Baili Yan asked softly.

“Running away only freezes us,” Wu Chen voiced his worry.

“Yeah... that’s true,” Baili Yan agreed.

“What do we do then?” the male player hurriedly asked.

“Return to the service area,” Wu Chen said decisively.

“Now?” the male player exclaimed.

“Now.” Wu Chen’s conviction deepened.

“Alright.” Baili Yan immediately turned around.

The three vehicles reversed course, driving back into the fog.

As they went against traffic, the fog thickened. The AE86’s body began to rustle. The paint was being corroded, turning into mist. Visibly, the car’s color faded, revealing its super-alloy shell beneath.

“Master, the body is undergoing unknown erosion,” the onboard AI, Ai Yi, detected the anomaly.

“Quantify the erosion data. Create an annihilation progress bar,” Wu Chen remained calm amid the crisis.

“Yes.” Before Wu Chen finished speaking, the annihilation progress bar appeared on the central control screen. Created by Cybertronian Transformers in Wu Chen’s exclusive main world of New Hong Kong, the onboard AI was powerful.

As they drove deeper against the flow, the mist rising from the car exceeded the surrounding environment, briefly obscuring the windows.

“Watch out!” Baili Yan swerved sharply to avoid oncoming vehicles.

Wu Chen and the player couple quickly dodged. When the two vehicles passed, their eyes met. The strangers’ expressions said it all—annihilation was coming, and there was no escape. Yet some still chose to walk into the trap. Why go back?!

The AE86’s super-alloy shell should have been more durable, yet the annihilation progress bar kept accelerating, no different from the cars ahead or behind. This suggested they were facing a different set of rules: physical disintegration and annihilation at the rule level, visible corrosion and vaporization, and the entire world’s accelerating collapse.

Though the situation seemed hopeless, Wu Chen and the others were frozen on Highway 404, unable to find a breakthrough or reach the Broken City at the expressway’s end.

“The hood is corroded through,” Ai Yi reported in real time.

Just glancing at Baili Yan’s rusted, pockmarked car ahead, one could guess that the AE86’s condition was no better. Thick smoke billowed visibly, rust patches spreading relentlessly. Once the shell disappeared, the players were doomed. Their bodies and minds exposed would be eroded without mercy—rule-level strangulation with no chance to fight back.

As the hood vanished in large chunks and the engine cover was about to fail, Baili Yan finally broke the silence. “We’ve arrived.”

The male player gasped, “Oh my god...”

Above the service area, a storm eye had taken hold. Buildings were crumbling from top to bottom, large sections falling away, forming colossal plumes of smoke. These twisted upwards into the storm eye, which swallowed them whole. The invisible force tearing apart the ruins reduced debris to dust, like embers of varying sizes scattered across the sky. Thick smoke swirled, accelerating vaporization and disintegration before the fragments could even touch the ground—they were all sucked into the storm eye.

Like a black hole tearing through space and devouring everything, it hung ominously overhead, threatening to annihilate the entire world.

“Don’t get out of the car,” the male player’s voice came through the speaker, accompanied by the heavy slam of a door. “Exposure causes your whole body to smolder.”

This was a harsh lesson learned from risking himself. Even VIP players from the Sanctuary could barely withstand the shattered story world.

“Crash it open.” Baili Yan made a snap decision.

The four of them in three cars rammed the door.

Though the service hall looked intact, inside it was riddled with holes. The walls were full of breaches that rapidly expanded. When the shattering came, players trapped inside without any clue to the storyline had no chance to escape. They dared not risk retrieving their vehicles and breaking out of the service area. The situation deteriorated rapidly, forcing them into a dead end.

Seeing Wu Chen and the others break in by car, stranded players surged forward, surrounding the three vehicles.

The couple’s RV was especially crowded. Players pounded on the doors, desperate to escape.

Some players banged on the AE86’s windows.

“Will you let them in?” Baili Yan asked first.

“Running only leads to freezing,” Wu Chen replied.

“But if we don’t run, we’ll be shattered,” the male player panicked. The service hall was crumbling and about to collapse. If not now, when?

“What’s behind the storm eye?” Wu Chen felt as if someone was watching from behind.

“No one knows,” Baili Yan spoke quickly. “No one survives.”

Seconds slipped by. The male player urgently said, “Someone’s willing to pay 1 coin to go to the parking lot and get their car.”

“That works,” Baili Yan responded.

“Good.” For one coin, they could gain an extra hand. The male player opened the door and let a dozen players inside. Then he turned and drove to the parking lot. Back and forth, earning ten coins. But there were pros and cons. Each trip worsened the car’s erosion. Before they could grieve, more than ten players squeezed into the RV. Wu Chen and Baili Yan also filled their vehicle to go to the parking lot.

After several such trips, only a few players remained in the hall. Whether penniless or with other motives, they lingered.

“Take them with us,” Wu Chen decided swiftly.

“Where to?” The male player was nervous but couldn’t hide his excitement.

“First to the repair station,” Wu Chen remained composed.

“Okay.” Baili Yan understood immediately.

One coin could unlock the next level.