There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

As Duan Fei walked alone into the city hall lobby, before he could even speak, the young woman at the door in a pencil skirt nervously placed her finger on the alarm button.

When she realized he was the one with an appointment with the mayor, she heaved a sigh of relief, stood up with a smile, and then, with hearts practically popping out around her, led Duan Fei to the mayor’s office.

As they walked, she explained, "For certain reasons, we have to keep working at night. But there are too many monsters out then. The stress was too much for my predecessor, so she took early medical leave. The good news is she’s still getting paid, hahaha... ha."

After a couple of weary laughs, the young woman covered her face, on the verge of tears.

Although it was nighttime, the entire lobby was ablaze with light. The intense brightness prevented any anomalies from getting inside, keeping the area relatively safe.

The young woman pushed the door open, and Duan Fei stepped inside to see a woman in her forties sitting behind a desk.

Though in her early forties, she had aged gracefully. Her mature, refined bearing, complemented by her gray uniform, gave her a distinguished air.

She invited Duan Fei to sit across from her and said, "My name is Bai Hua, and I am the mayor of Love City."

Hearing the name, Duan Fei asked, "Bai? Is Bai Yang your..."

"My daughter. It seems fate has brought us together. When she came home yesterday, she announced that she wanted to become a Cowherd. It really gave me a fright."

Duan Fei awkwardly looked away and muttered, "Yeah."

"How wonderful. She’s finally being honest about her dream and is ready to pursue it."

Seeing Bai Hua dab at the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, Duan Fei felt like there was something a little off about this mother-daughter pair.

’Or maybe... my understanding of what a Cowherd is is the problem?’

After composing herself, Bai Hua continued, "I felt it when the contract changed hands. I won’t ask how you obtained the contract, I just want to explain some of its terms. We need you Descenders to provide Love City with Energy, and then push this city back to its original world. Upon success, we will, as stipulated in the contract, provide you with one year of service. The value of this service is roughly equivalent to thirty percent of the city’s annual output."

’Nearly thirty percent of a city’s annual output, and I can even take steps to increase that yield myself. This is a pretty sweet deal.’

Duan Fei nodded. "Alright. I’d like to ask, how are the keys distributed?"

"Keys? What keys? I’ve heard you people mention keys, but Love City has never issued anything like that."

Duan Fei was a bit surprised.

’I thought the keys were made by Love City, but I guess not.’

’In that case, the keys must be an ability of one of the players in Icefield Walker. That was an oversight on my part.’

’Still, it’s not a major problem.’

Duan Fei asked Bai Hua for Love City’s energy production charts. As he read through them, he asked curiously, "How did you end up signing the contract with Nemo in the first place?"

Bai Hua pondered for a moment, then said with a wry smile, "To be honest, I don’t fully understand it myself. At the time, I was agonizing over the future of Love City. We have no men, and our accumulated Romantic Energy was dwindling. Just when I was at my wit’s end, I heard a voice."

"A voice?"

"Yes. A voice that spoke directly in my mind, one that made you immediately understand it belonged to a transcendent being. It said it could solve Love City’s problems, on the condition that I sign a contract. Afterward, whoever’s name was on the contract would possess some of Love City’s functions. I had no other choice at the time, so I signed it."

Duan Fei nodded. ’My understanding of this world’s lore just keeps expanding,’ he thought.

’The world-building of *Abyss* has always been a bit vague, but the dev team must have a logical explanation for it.’

’After all, those guys are total lore freaks; they’d definitely have the world-building properly fleshed out.’

’Judging by Bai Hua’s description, that voice must belong to some kind of higher-dimensional being. The question is, is it a god or something else?’

"And then?" Duan Fei asked.

"Not long after, the first Descender appeared. He saw this place, yelled, ’There’s my down payment!’ and then promptly left via the high tower. The next person to arrive was Nemo."

’Mm, I get it,’ Duan Fei thought. ’Nemo must have paid a fortune for this place. When I think about it, I almost feel sorry for him.’

’But then I remember that Nemo probably squeezed that money out of his own guild members, and suddenly I don’t feel so sorry for him anymore.’

’Why feel sorry for a capitalist? The real victims are the workers.’

"Nemo obtained the contract and began his preparations. Then, large numbers of Descenders started arriving. To obtain enough Energy, we had to work harder and harder. Our population isn’t that large, after all. Because our Energy is so precious, we have to strictly control population growth."

Letting out a long breath, the mayor continued, "That voice spoke again recently. It told me we must hurry. The Lagrange Point is approaching. That point is the most suitable one, the optimal position from which Love City can leave this place."

"When?"

"In five days."

"That’s exactly how long the keys are valid for. That Nemo really calculated everything perfectly."

Duan Fei nodded, indicating that he understood.

The precious Energy needed to be conserved. It was the crucial resource for creating the energy bubble that would help Love City escape this place.

Therefore, everyone had to give it their all, as the very future of the city was at stake.

Looking at the energy logs, Duan Fei saw that the influx of players had led to a significant increase in Romantic Energy, but they were still a long way from their target.

’Now that Icefield Walker is disbanded, no one else can get in without a key, and it seems all the previous keys have expired too.’

’This is still a pretty big problem.’

Looking closely at the energy report, Duan Fei noticed three particularly conspicuous entries labeled "Bonus Energy."

"What are these?" Duan Fei asked.

"Oh, one is from last night; it coincided with a drop in Shadow Energy. Another was a burst of Energy from a certain Descender—more than double the previous one, even. The last one is internal Energy."

’The first one must be me,’ Duan Fei thought. ’I don’t even want to know the source of the second one. But this third one... this is interesting.’

"Wait, internal?" Duan Fei asked. "I thought that wasn’t possible between two girls?"

"It works as long as one of them plays the role of a man. That’s why we established a special organization of women who dress as men, codenamed Cowherd."

"So *that’s* what Cowherd means! No wonder you were so moved—it’s practically a world-saving organization! But couldn’t you have called it Takarazuka or Idols? Why did you have to go with Cowherd?!"

"From what I’ve seen, it seemed like Cowherds were professionals at pleasing women."

"You’re not wrong, but the name is just terrible!

"Alright, we’ll change it to ’Idols’ then. The Idols are our last hope. Unfortunately, we had never seen men before, and the Descenders... well, they haven’t exactly been great role models. My Bai Yang has some aptitude for it, but it seems she’s still not quite there."

After looking at a photo of Bai Yang that Bai Hua sent him, Duan Fei had to admit she looked quite handsome dressed as a man. Still, she couldn’t compare to his Qing Mei.

Stroking his chin, Duan Fei muttered to himself, "Five days... Hmm, I’ve got an idea."

He opened his messenger app and sent a message to Jinghong: "Jinghong, can you lend me five days?"

A few minutes later, a voice message came back from Jinghong. Her voice was shy, yet resolute.

"You can have a lifetime."

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