The police car ultimately didn't capture Wen Xishu.
With the enhancement of the Tri-Phase Force, Wen Xishu's parkour seemed to defy the constraints of gravity.
He kept jumping between the towering buildings.
Sometimes he would suddenly hide under a huge neon sign, sometimes cling to a piece of glass like a spider.
The Power of Hidden Dragon made him difficult to detect.
From high above, Wen Xishu could finally see the vast multitude of beings in the city.
Everything was so orderly and uniform.
All the people walking their dogs had the same breed, the same size, and turned in the same direction at the same time.
Even the dogs in this city were regimented. If any dog moved irregularly, it would be immediately shot by security, who then contacted the factory to arrange for a new, identical-looking dog to be delivered.
To be the same is honored; to be different is shameful.
Wen Xishu undoubtedly was the outlier. His willpower was strong; even when injected with a massive dose of "happy serum", he didn't become addicted to that exaggerated sense of euphoria.
Especially after removing the implant device from his body... Wen Xishu was even more certain that there were major issues with this city.
It was also at this time that he saw the prompts.
[Current World Incongruity Rate: 66.]
[Current Character Synchronization Rate: 34.]
The Scorpio Knife finally began to work properly, which caught Wen Xishu's keen attention.
The efficiency of the Madness Dice wasn't affected at all, but the Scorpio Knife seemed to be suppressed by something.
From the moment he climbed the tower until now, the presence of the Scorpio Knife had been faint.
Wen Xishu navigated through the buildings, moving either vertically or horizontally toward the tallest office building in Zone 14 where Horn was located.
He had to admit... this city did have a kind of pleasing beauty.
On the overpasses, the spacing of all the pedestrians and the speed and distance of all the vehicles were so uniform.
Every road resembled a production line in a factory.
Even in the rest areas, the positions of people reading newspapers and drinking coffee were lined up neatly.
Not even when playing games like Empire Age 4 or Skyline had Wen Xishu seen such orderliness.
In the school, all the children were lined up in long queues, like industrial products about to receive a "quality approved" label.
They entered the campus one by one in an orderly fashion.
Too beautiful.
Wen Xishu truly felt that this kind of orderliness was very visually striking.
Everyone behaved like machines.
But he knew that this kind of beauty shouldn't exist.
Because this beauty was something he found appealing after seeing a lot of chaos.
If he had grown up in such an environment... perhaps he would find disorder to be shocking and beautiful.
The traffic lights appeared.
Logically, such a city shouldn't need traffic lights. But soon Wen Xishu discovered that the traffic lights weren't just for vehicles; they were for both people and vehicles.
When the pedestrian light turned green, an initial-level Law Enforcer soon appeared, and everyone stopped in their tracks neatly and uniformly.
Among the crowd, one person was quickly pulled out.
Wen Xishu couldn't hear what was said, but his excellent eyesight allowed him to discern the clue.
A smile.
Among all the people, there was one whose smile was different in degree from the others.
So this person had to smile again.
After smiling three more times to meet the standard, this person was questioned about his documents and other things.
Soon, the person seemed to feel immense happiness and finally smiled like everyone else around him, rejoining the crowd.
The world restored its order, and everything became as beautiful as it was in the beginning.
With just a hurried glance, Wen Xishu felt a profound sense of incongruity in this world.
"Everyone here is different in height, weight, and even lifespan."
"That person's smile might not have met the standard because they experienced some kind of life-and-death event?"
This was just Wen Xishu's thought, but it made him feel inexplicably fearful.
[Current World Incongruity Rate: 67.]
[Current Character Synchronization Rate: 33.]
Zone 15 was a living area.
There were various leisure facilities, parks, amusement parks, cinemas, and all sorts of novel places.
Disguised as a pedestrian, Wen Xishu, with a standard smile, crossed a road.
Along this road, he saw a particularly sarcastic architectural feature—the Controlled Chaos Experience Performance.
But it wasn't for people to experience chaos, but to make them realize the risks of life being out of control by watching chaos.
Wen Xishu ultimately didn't watch the performance, thinking... even the chaos was controlled.
Yes, everything in this world was controlled.
Everyone also accepted this control.
The disappeared concept was a very complicated one; it was a fusion of many concepts.
Wen Xishu already felt that the answer was on the verge of revealing itself. When the World's Incongruity Rate reached 72, he could feel—he was close to the target.
But he just couldn't remember.
On the park bench in Zone 15's scenic area, a couple was quickly interrupted by a man dressed in a junior Law Enforcer uniform.
They had been kissing.
But because the thermometer on the bench showed the man's body temperature was abnormal, they were interrupted.
Fortunately, the man quickly regained his composure, and with immense pleasure, became part of the park again.
Wen Xishu quickened his pace.
His adaptability was strong, so he decided not to watch these irregularities anymore.
...
...
Zone 14.
In the restroom of an office building, Wen Xishu changed his clothes again.