"This story isn't anything special." Xu Huo replied as he surveyed the streets around them. "I have an enhanced version, though."
"A man entered an unreal space and thought everything he saw was real. He immersed himself in fine wine and food, eating and drinking unconsciously and endlessly until he literally stuffed himself to death."
He turned to look at Wang Ling. "You could replace the fine wine and food with demolishing buildings."
Wang Ling paused while weighing the demolition tool and said with amusement, "You think we'll be trapped here until we die?"
"Whether we'll be trapped until we die is hard to say, but even if we destroy the city, we might not be able to get out." Xu Huo gazed into the distance. "This space is probably much larger than we imagine. Can we really blow it all up?"
The fog did a good job of blocking their view, but it didn't feel as though it was there to obscure a small setting and create an illusion of vastness.
"Let's keep going," he said. "We might run into someone else."
"Being alone in a place this empty is pretty dull." Wang Ling didn't object. "I hope the next person we meet has some brains."
The two reached the time tower. It was nowhere near as grand as the famous time tower at the C9 wormhole point. At a little over fifty meters tall, it was noticeably out of place among the surrounding buildings and looked very old.
Four clocks hung on its four sides. The one above the main entrance showed 9:17. Going counterclockwise, the next three showed 12:03, 9:00, and 12:00.
The clocks used a twelve-hour format, and all their second hands were stopped at "12." None displayed the date.
"Want to go inside and take