Chapter 1 The Harem City

Jue-ge followed Lute at a brisk pace for more than ten minutes, and the distant, unreachable mountains were now right in front of them. It seemed that there were indeed some problems with this sandbox; at least in terms of "sense of distance," it clearly contradicted general physical laws.

"Are we going to the other side of the mountain?" Feng Bujue asked at an opportune moment, having arrived at the foot of the mountain.

"That's right, there's a city on the other side of the mountain," Lute replied.

"Oh…" Feng Bujue responded, and then asked, "Are my teammates all in that city?"

"They're all there," Lute replied, "However, I... can't scan their data at the moment."

"Oh? Why is that?" Feng Bujue continued.

"Can't you see for yourself?" Lute replied somewhat impatiently.

"Uh..." Feng Bujue fixed his gaze on Lute and muttered, "I can see it... but I don't understand why."

In fact, from the moment he saw Lute, Feng Bujue had noticed that the other party's data strength had become very low.

"In simple terms, it's a post-overload effect," Lute replied.

"Then... what's the more detailed explanation?" Jue-ge asked again.

"Sigh..." Lute sighed and explained, "It's very difficult to quickly create this kind of temporary sandbox; locking onto your data stream and guiding it over is also no easy task." She paused for a moment, "Of course, the most difficult step is... to set up this sandbox as a 'channel' between two data layers."

Speaking of this, Lute turned her head to look at Jue-ge: "To complete all of the above simultaneously requires a massive amount of calculation and output operations. Even for me, it's a bit overwhelming. So... I entered a state of weakness after the overload." She shook her head and added helplessly, "As you can see, my strength has been greatly reduced at this moment, almost to the level of a fourth-grade Derivative. So, at the moment the sandbox was formed, I could only focus on you alone to ensure that I could immediately appear near you after completing the data reconstruction. As for your teammates' data, I didn't have enough energy to pay attention to it... I didn't even have time to retrieve their IDs, I only know that their data has been transferred to the city."

"Oh... I see," Feng Bujue nodded in response.

The two walked and talked, and before long, a gorge appeared in front of them. Sunlight shone down from above the gorge, forming a broken band of light that illuminated their path.

"By the way, what's with this outfit of yours?" After entering the gorge, Feng Bujue quickly thought of another question.

"Of course, it was automatically generated according to the world view of this script," Lute replied, "In the eyes of the NPCs, you are also wearing similar clothing."

"Hmm... in other words, this is likely to be a Wuxia, Xianxia, or Xuanhuan themed world?" Feng Bujue pondered, stroking his chin, "But... it's also possible that it's just a simple 'ancient' background without any martial arts or immortal techniques settings."

"I don't know how to define those Xian, Xuan, and other things you mentioned," Lute replied, "I only know that the combat power of the creatures in this script is not low, and their ability system is very complex."

"Oh?" Feng Bujue became interested as soon as he heard this, "That's interesting... what else do you know? Tell me everything."

Lute directly began to explain, "The city on the other side of the mountain is called 'Harem City', and the city lord is called 'Ji Fenglong'."

"Hey, hey..." Feng Bujue put on a pained expression in two seconds, "What kind of setting is this... this is no longer a matter of novelty, are you sure we haven't entered some kind of H-world..."

Lute ignored Jue-ge's complaints and continued to explain, "It is said that the Harem City Lord has a beauty that can topple nations. Her face is peerlessly beautiful, her body is graceful and slender, her whole body is like ice and jade, and her temperament is ethereal like a fairy. Whether male or female, just one glance will make them fall in love with her, until death."

"I'll be damned... it's still a woman?" Feng Bujue was stunned for a moment, "Wait... why does this sound so out of place? These words don't sound like something a Derivative would..."

"I'm just reading the [Script Synopsis]," Lute replied calmly, "Although you (players) didn't get to see it, I have seen the 'original script' data. Since you're interested in knowing, I'll read it to you."

"Okay... you continue..." Feng Bujue said.

So, Lute imitated the tone of the system voice and slowly recited:

[Ji Fenglong was born into the Ji family, one of the four major families in the "Shengyuan World". Her brother, Ji Xuanzong, is now the 147th generation head of the family.]

[The Ji family is a Xuanmen Orthodox Sect, and Ji Xuanzong is regarded as one of the strongest family heads in the history of the Ji family. When he was young, he was already one of the top geniuses in the entire Shengyuan World.]

[Compared to her brother, Ji Fenglong is not to be outdone...]

[After only three hundred years of cultivation, Ji Fenglong has already entered the "Shengyuan Wuji Nine Revolutions" realm. Her progress is only ten years slower than her brother.]

"Heh... this setting is really awesome and explosive..." Feng Bujue commented with a sneer, squinting his eyes.

[In the 49th year of the Shengyuan Calendar Kirin, Ji Fenglong, at the young age of three hundred and sixteen, tore up her marriage contract, severely injured her fiancé who came to propose, and ran away from home.]

"Is three hundred and sixteen considered 'young'..." Feng Bujue's mouth twitched as he replied, "Then a twenty-four-year-old like me is equivalent to a puddle of liquid in this world."

[Three years later, a magnificent city appeared on the coast of Dongfang Manghai - Harem City. And that city lord is Ji Fenglong.]

[She calls herself a female overlord and openly proclaims to the world that she likes women.]

"Hey—" Feng Bujue could only use a roar to express his feelings when he heard this, "Hey!"

[This move caused a stir in the Shengyuan World. For a time, many women came from far and wide, wanting to meet this female hero.]

[As a result... many of them eventually became one of Ji Fenglong's harem.]

"Nice..." Feng Bujue opened his mouth with a dazed look and thoughtful expression...

[Since then, on the twelfth day of the Huang month every year, Ji Fenglong will go out for a tour. One is to step on flowers and enjoy the moon, and the other is to find a woman she likes in the city and include her in the harem.]

[Twenty years have passed in a hurry, and Harem City has become famous. Every year, countless men and women come from thousands of miles away, just to catch a glimpse of Ji Fenglong's peerless elegance.]

[But only a very few people can actually enter the city.]

[Even those who enter the city, many of them never come out again...]

At this point, Lute's tone returned to normal (in fact, her normal tone is not much different from the system voice, just slightly more emotional): "The above is the opening introduction of the original script."

"Heh... hehe..." Feng Bujue gave a dry laugh, "Can I ask, by the way, what the original main quest was?"

"That part of the data hasn't been generated by the system yet..." Lute replied.

As she said this, the two happened to walk to the exit of the gorge.

At this moment, a strange, fragrant sea breeze blew.

Feng Bujue stopped and looked into the distance, and what entered his sight was a peach-colored ocean... The color of the sea had nothing to do with the sun's rays, it was the color of cherry juice.

And on a huge rock less than two kilometers from the coast, stood a mirage-like, huge and magnificent city.

There... was their destination.

"...So, the current priority is to reunite you with your teammates," Lute continued from what she had said earlier, "That way, the system will re-identify the data here and give a quest. Then, I will help you quickly complete the main quest and then teleport them away." Her eyes changed slightly, "After they leave... we can get down to business."