Chapter 1437: Rumors
Translator: CKtalon
There weren’t many pedestrians on the streets. The mortality rate on Earth had been terrifyingly high in recent years, but the birth rate was pitifully low. Most human cities didn’t have many people now.
However, the population of this city was clearly abnormally low. Only one or two people would occasionally rush by such a large city.
Li Xuan was very disappointed. “I originally thought that with the Federation Freedom Investigation Bureau’s headquarters here in New De City, it should be a rather lively and prosperous city. I never expected it to be so desolate.”
“It’s indeed a little abnormal. Before coming, I read the news on the Internet. There are still three to four million people in New De City. It’s impossible for there to be so few people. I wonder what happened.” Zhou Wen was somewhat puzzled.
“Just ask.” Li Xuan saw pedestrians pa.s.sing by on the street in front of him. He flashed to a person and took out a large bill. He extended his hand and waved it in front of the person. “Why are there so few people in New De City? Tell me what happened here and this is yours.”
The person was immediately delighted as he reached out to grab the money in Li Xuan’s hand.
“Tell me first.” Li Xuan retracted his hand, causing the person to miss.
“Most people have moved to New Horse City. The remaining population in New De City isn’t even a tenth of what it originally was,” the person said as he stared at the money in Li Xuan’s hand.
“Why are people moving?” Li Xuan continued asking.
“It’s all because of the rumors.” The person said something that left Zhou Wen and Li Xuan somewhat surprised. This matter was related to Pandora’s Magic Palace.
In the myths and legends of the West District, Pandora was a beautiful woman created by G.o.d and was given to humans as a gift.
At the same time, the G.o.ds gave a magic box to her. Every G.o.d left a gift in the magic box.
After she arrived in the human world, Pandora was driven by curiosity and opened the magic box. However, the magic box didn’t have any real gifts. Instead, disasters, plagues, wars, and other curses flew out.
Terrified, Pandora hurriedly closed the magic box, but she locked up “hope” that G.o.ddess Athena had left in the box.
From then on, the human world was filled with all sorts of calamities. Disasters, plagues, and illnesses ran rampant. War constantly broke out, and there was no peace.
It was said that Pandora’s Magic Palace was the residence of Pandora. However, no one had seen her before.
Someone had recently spread the news that Pandora had already appeared and would soon open the magic box. The nearby area would probably become a dead zone.
Therefore, many people from New De City moved to other human cities if they could do so. Most of them went to the nearby New Horse City and chose to watch the development from there.
After saying that, the person reached out and s.n.a.t.c.hed the money. He turned around and ran. As he ran, he said, “You guys should leave quickly. There are only a few days left before Pandora opens the magic box.”
“I want to see what that woman looks like. I heard that the mythical version of Pandora is an extremely beautiful woman,” Li Xuan said with a smile.
However, Zhou Wen said with a bitter smile, “Don’t do anything rash. From the myths and legends, it’s very likely that she’s a Calamity-grade existence. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be legends of all sorts of disasters.”
Zhou Wen was rather cautious in reality. Even if he already had the strength to fight a Calamity, a Calamity still had the possibility of killing him. It wasn’t worth risking his life.
He originally wanted to enter Pandora’s Magic Palace to take a look, but since there was such a development, Zhou Wen gave up on entering. After all, something would happen nine times out of ten he entered a dimensional zone in reality.
The circ.u.mstances made Zhou Wen even more afraid of entering.
Now, Zhou Wen planned on heading to the periphery of Pandora’s Magic Palace to take a look. If he could find the tiny palm symbol, he would download the dungeon. If not, he didn’t plan on entering. After all, there were dimensional creatures suspected to be of the Misfortune attribute elsewhere. There was no need to be inflexible and stubborn.
Li Xuan was just saying. If Zhou Wen wasn’t entering, he didn’t really plan on taking the risk.
Zhou Wen held Ya’er’s hand. When the three of them arrived near Magic Palace, they saw a program team filming at the entrance.
“It’s Su Yi!” Li Xuan’s eyes lit up when he saw the host.
Zhou Wen traced his gaze and indeed, he saw the female host he often saw on television and on the Internet. Zhou Wen recognized her, but he didn’t know her name.
She looked even more beautiful in real life than on television. She had long brown hair and fair skin. Her facial features were well-defined and she looked charming. She had a femme fatale style and one could in no way describe her as quiet and demure.
As the program team was at the entrance, Zhou Wen and company stood far away without heading over. They wanted to wait for them to leave before heading over to prevent any trouble.
Free media like the Federation Freedom Investigation Bureau was very well-informed. Zhou Wen had previously been in the limelight on the Cube’s rankings. If they saw him, they would definitely come over to take pictures.
“It’s not convenient for you to go over. I’ll go take a look first. After all, I’m not a famous person.” Li Xuan informed Zhou Wen before walking towards the program team.
Zhou Wen looked around and saw that Magic Palace was built between two mountains. Only one side of the door was exposed. The other part was in the valley.
After observing from afar for a while, he discovered the tiny palm symbol on the stone wall beside the door.
There really is one. Zhou Wen was delighted. He planned on downloading the dungeon after the program team left. Then, he would figure out the situation in Magic Palace in-game before deciding if he should enter.
Zhou Wen turned to look at Li Xuan and saw that he was having a good chat with Su Yi. It was unknown how he managed to hit on her.
After a while, Li Xuan walked over with Su Yi.
“Old Zhou, let me do the introductions. This is the most popular female host in the Federation, Su Yi… Su Yi… This is my best friend…”
Before Li Xuan could finish his sentence, Su Yi took the initiative to say, “There’s probably no one in the Federation who doesn’t know you, am I right, Mr. Zhou? What’s more, we work in news. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Mr. Zhou, you are the pride of humanity.”
“Just call me Zhou Wen.” Zhou Wen glanced at Li Xuan and blamed him for this. Why did he bring Su Yi over for no reason?
“Old Zhou, here’s the situation. I heard from Su Yi that it’s just a rumor that Pandora wants to open the magic box. They are now doing a program to dispel the rumors,” Li Xuan said.
“Rumors? Are you sure?” Zhou Wen was somewhat surprised. If it was just a rumor, it was way too potent to make nearly the entire population in New De City leave.
Su Yi said, “Although we can’t be a hundred percent sure, nor do we know who spread the rumors, there are clearly traces of a mastermind and hype. It’s not news that came from the normal channels. Furthermore, we haven’t found the source of the news yet. Previously, we had companions enter Magic Palace to film the area, but we didn’t discover any abnormalities.”
“That’s odd.. What’s the benefit of creating such a rumor?” Zhou Wen frowned in thought.