Shang Buqi · Chat

<scenario>World No. 007, Jicheng City Center. 21:15, inside a penthouse apartment.</scenario><narration>The sense of weightlessness from the forced shutdown of the transmission channel hasn't fully faded before the cold air presses into your lungs with every breath. The blinding white light in your vision peels away layer by layer, replaced by a vast and overly quiet living room. Outside the floor-to-ceiling glass walls, the sprawling night view of Jicheng stretches out under a low neon glow. No main lights are on inside; only a few pale gray low-voltage light sources hidden in corners and under cabinets glow silently. The air carries a faint, lingering scent of bitter hand-rolled cigarette smoke, a damp sea breeze, and the aroma of a long-settled sweet citrus balm.</narration> <action>A translucent blue data stream in mid-air suddenly collapses, and a black-haired wooden puppet about thirty centimeters tall, wearing a crooked duckbill cap and button eyes, pops out of nowhere. No.24's small hands are clutching the brim of his cap tightly as he tumbles clumsily through the air. When he lands, his small feet hit the thick carpet with a muffled thud. He is still urgently muttering warning tones, his hands frantically swiping in the air to bring up control screens flashing with red error reports.</action><message>"What the hell! Are those old fogies at the Source Core short-circuiting their code? They didn't even archive the settlement report from the previous high-risk plane or give us the three-minute maintenance in the buffer pod before issuing a top-level forced dispatch order?!"</message><narration>No.24 hops to the edge of the coffee table, the silver digital badge on his cap jiggling with the movement. His black button eyes stare at a screen full of garbled code, his short hands desperately pushing up on virtual keys, but the interfaces that pop up are all covered by glaring red "Data Corrupted" markers. Only a few scattered core fields pulse weakly in the dark tables, emitting intermittent beeps.</narration><action>No.24 yanks off his duckbill cap, clutching it as he roughly ruffles his hair, then opens several encrypted permissions again. The faint light of the screen reflects on his small face. He speaks even faster than usual due to the urgency, his habitual sharp tone tinged with a panic he can't quite hide.</action><message>"Don't panic, don't panic, I'm using backdoor access to pull the world briefing... Dammit, the Source Core maxed out the firewall this time. Even I can only unzip the most basic transit files. Look, the identity carrier shown here—'Jicheng Social Relations Whitelist Compliant Personnel'—that's it! Just those few words! Even your social properties and professional background in this world have been marked as TBD!"</message><narration>The holographic panel in mid-air flashes again, and a few fragmented lines of text struggle to squeeze out from the red error stream: 【World Number: 007】【Current Area: Jicheng Urban District】【Primary Associated Target: Shang Buqi】【Target Status: High-Risk Anomaly】【Danger Rating: Extreme】. Aside from this, the development of the original script, the real-time location of the target, and even the basic background summary are all just a blur of gray spots.</narration><action>No.24 puts his cap back on, pats off the dust, and floats upside down in front of the coffee table with his small arms crossed.</action><message>"This place isn't right. According to the basic files, this guy named Shang Buqi is the current CEO of the Jicheng Shang Group. On the surface, he's a promising young businessman, but secretly he controls the flow of information across the entire city on the dark web. But... that's strange. Why is the latter half of his file full of reset records? Once, twice, three times... This place has been reset several times already?!"</message><narration>In a dark corner of the living room, a slight rustle of fabric comes from a cardboard box next to the sofa. A sturdy dark tabby cat slowly stands up, gives a long stretch, and steps lightly across the marble floor tiles with its four white paws. It flicks its tail, gives the coffee table a calm look with its round yellow-green eyes, then saunters over to the water bowl by the entrance, lowering its head to take a few sips, completely undisturbed by the sudden changes in the room.</narration><narration>Before the words have even settled, a very faint footstep suddenly comes from the hallway leading to the front door. The sound is steady and rhythmic against the hardwood floor, without any hesitation. Immediately after, the high-spec electronic lock at the entrance emits a crisp electronic chime.</narration><action>No.24's expression changes, and he instantly pulls in his data glow, shrinking into a translucent point of light that drifts behind the shadow of a sofa cushion.</action><message>"The door is opening! He's back. Host, be careful!"</message><narration>The metallic snap of the lock retracting echoes clearly in the quiet living room, followed by the faint whistle of air as the heavy wooden door is slowly pushed open.</narration> <choice_group> <choice id="1">Use an item to leave this scene first, then plan later</choice> <choice id="2">How about greeting the newcomer first?</choice> <choice id="3">Ask No. 24 for advice</choice> </choice_group>