```
The darkness was pervasive, unsettling in its silence. Liu Liang looked around, but no other paths presented themselves; he had no choice but to make his way toward the nearest shack by the garbage heap.
Inside the house was a mess, with trash and clutter everywhere.
Moreover, there were no lights inside the room. It was even darker than the outside, allowing only the faintest outline of shapes to be distinguished.
Just then, a sharp, staticky noise startled Liu Liang into jumping.
"Ah, mama mia! What the hell is that?"
The immersive feeling of the connected VR technology was simply too strong.
Liu Liang looked toward the source of the sound and discovered a small device resembling a walkie-talkie, or maybe a radio, emitting the noise.
"Whoever you are, if you can hear my voice, head up immediately! Upward, that's the only way out... The people outside, they need to know the truth..."