"Why are you so late?"
In front of a company, a departnt supervisor was impatiently pacing back and forth.
It should be working hours by now, but today, three people haven't shown up.
They haven't just been late—they haven't co at all.
Calls aren't going through. What on earth are they doing?
And it's already been two days since anyone has seen them.
Looking at the timing, it's not like it's the World Cup, and there's still a year to go before the Olympics. There haven't been any major events recently, and no global holidays either. What could possibly cause these three people to all be absent at the sa ti?
These three people had no prior connections, and they weren't even close friends. So it's clear they didn't plan this together. What exactly is going on?
"Sorry, sorry, boss! I'm late!"
...
...
A person ca running toward him, wearing a smile.
The supervisor was surprised to see this person.
"Curtis? How are you late too? And what's up with your eyes?"
"Ah, I've been having so troubles in life, couldn't sleep well lately, so I'm late today. Really sorry."
"Alright, alright, just get to work."
The supervisor waved his hand, signaling him to go to work. Curtis quickly thanked him. Normally, the supervisor was hard to approach, but today he was being unusually lenient. This made Curtis glance at him with a bit of curiosity.
It wasn't that the supervisor was being kind, nor that he didn't mind being late. It was just that Curtis was usually a reliable employee, and his rare tardiness was acceptable. Plus, there were still three people unaccounted for.
Suddenly, the supervisor thought of sothing terrible.
What if they were robbed, beaten up, and seriously injured, and if no one reported it, they might be gone?
Could all three of them be in such danger?
The probability was probably low, but still, if sothing like that really happened and he didn't act, he'd feel bad when he finally found out what happened to them.
After all, these three were core mbers of his small team. Losing even one of them would be hard to accept.
Thinking this, he quickly grabbed the phone and dialed the ergency number.
"Hello, 911."
"Hello, I need to report sothing. Three of my employees haven't shown up for work for three days, and I can't reach them by phone. I'm worried sothing bad might have happened to them. Should I report it?"
The operator on the other end asked, "Are you their supervisor?"
"Yes."
"Have you contacted their families?"
"I don't really have any contact with their families, so I don't know how to reach them."
"Alright, we'll make a note of this and dispatch officers. Please give us the nas and basic information of these three people."
"Their nas are..."
After the operator recorded the nas, there was a slight hesitation before they said, "By the way, sir, have you heard of a ga called Civilization?"
"Huh? What?" The supervisor was confused. He didn't understand why the operator suddenly brought up a ga.
"Actually, since yesterday, we've received many similar reports. Our officers went to the hos of these people and found each of them sitting in front of their computers, unwilling to leave. They were all playing a ga called Civilization, and they kept saying things like 'Just one more round and then I'll sleep, please don't disturb them.'"
It took the supervisor a mont to understand what was going on.
Apparently, the operator was talking about a video ga, and it seed that many people had gone missing recently because of this ga.
"Well... I'm not really sure. It's just a ga. Is it really causing people to disappear for days?"
The supervisor still found it hard to believe.
He had played video gas before—sure, they were fun, but they wouldn't make him lose track of ti for days.
"Uh, I'm not entirely sure. Our officers will look into it, but we're trying to gather information on how many people have gone missing because of this ga."
The supervisor was feeling a bit bewildered, then hung up the phone.
Seeing that no one else had entered the office by now, he reluctantly returned to finish his work for the day.
But as he walked, he started to recall sothing.
He suddenly rembered hearing the term Civilization recently.
At the ti, he hadn't paid much attention because he wasn't really interested in video gas.
But now that the operator had ntioned it, he started to care.
If people were missing for a few days because of a ga, while it seed a bit far-fetched, it also seed sowhat reasonable.
Wait, he suddenly thought about Curtis, who had never been late before, yet had shown up late today, looking exhausted with dark circles under his eyes.
It seed like if Curtis wasn't a responsible worker, he wouldn't have co in today at all.
With this thought, he imdiately turned and headed straight for Curtis's workstation.
When he reached Curtis's desk, he found Curtis sneaking a nap.
It was clear that Curtis had stayed up all night and was now trying to catch up on sleep.
"Ahem."
The supervisor cleared his throat lightly, waking Curtis up imdiately.
"Ah, boss."
"It's okay, if you're really tired, resting for a bit is good for your work."
Curtis, looking embarrassed, said, "Boss, I haven't slept well these past couple of days, but I'll definitely work hard to complete the tasks you gave ."
"Mm, I believe in your ability," the supervisor nodded. "But before that, I have a question for you."
"Go ahead, boss."
"Have you heard of a ga called Civilization?"
When the supervisor ntioned the na Civilization, he saw Curtis's eyes light up. That imdiately made him understand what was going on.
Clearly, Curtis knew sothing about it.
Curtis quickly composed himself and tentatively asked, "Boss, why are you asking about this?"
The supervisor didn't hide it and said straightforwardly, "Three people haven't shown up for two days, and I can't reach them at all. I'm wondering if they're playing this ga and forgot about work."
"Uh..."
The supervisor continued, "What do you know about Civilization?"
"Uh... I know a little bit."
"Co over here, show what this ga is all about."
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