Traces of struggle remained indoors.

Open the window for ventilation, evaporate the moisture, and place the remaining white powder in a glass container.

Fresh air replaces the poisonous substances.

"So, your awakening method is too rough."

Xu Fang, in the second evolved form, spoke like a delicate black-haired little devil.

"I'm sorry..." Luo Xiaoming felt that he had deeply hurt Xu Fang. The reaction to cyanide poisoning was terrifying. If each awakening had to go through a death, the cost of awakening would be too great.

"At least the pain is short-lived." Xu Fang tore off the excess parts of his clothes and then froze the water into ice slices, which he placed on his eyeballs. "My memory is still stuck in the days when I defeated the Destruction Association. From your actions, it seems that a lot has happened during this time. Can you tell me about it?"

"You...don't remember what happened before the third replay?"

"The third replay? There is no relevant information in my memory... Tell me everything."

Xu Fang took out his phone and searched for "Horror Novel Web," but found nothing.

There was also no sign of the Night Voucher hidden in his body.

...

Because Xu Fang had no memories of the second replay, Luo Xiaoming had to explain again what happened after Xu Fang disappeared.

One hour later, Xu Fang understood all the information and incidentally saw the words on Xiao Ming's back.

"Bizarre event... Our situation is really troublesome now. No wonder I couldn't find the Night Voucher. It seems I used it during the second replay." Xu Fang crossed his arms and fell into deep thought, his long hair swaying slightly under the control of the energy shield.

During the first three replays, Luo Xiaoming had gathered a lot of key information.

First, this place is not the real world, but a copy within the bizarre event. The people here are not from the real world either.

Second, the starting point of each replay is October 15th, and the endpoint is October 22nd, lasting about a week. The time is around 17:00 for the endpoint, but the starting point is not fixed. In the third replay, Luo Xiaoming started at 2 PM on the 15th, but in this replay, it changed to 4 PM, while the location remained the same, always in the dormitory. As for the first two replays, Luo Xiaoming was in the hospital ward, where she also didn't record the replay time, only knowing it was the afternoon of the 15th.

Third, the size of the Earth during the first two replays was very small, with a diameter only one-tenth of the real world's. No celestial bodies were visible either. After Xu Fang used the Night Voucher, the Earth's diameter returned to normal, but it was still within the bizarre event.

In summary, several possible dead end settings have been discovered so far: First, as long as Luo Xiaoming makes the "strangers" aware of her existence, the "Death God" will soon visit. Second, as long as the humans in the bizarre event become aware of "this world is fake" or similar information, they will turn into monsters. Third, the "Dark Forest of the Internet," if the author exposes their coordinates, will be attacked by an unknown force. Fourth, the mysterious force known as the "Eternal Life Church" that can brainwash humans in a short period of time, with unknown objectives and brainwashing methods.

As for any other dead ends, Xu Fang didn't know.

This is the most difficult and challenging bizarre event he has encountered, without any clues. Even in the second playthrough, Xu Fang was forced into a dead end and had to use the Night Voucher, the only life-saving item.

It seems that the starting point of the reincarnation will move backwards. If the endpoint of the reincarnation remains unchanged, then it is a finite number of reincarnations. It is not possible to endlessly try and make mistakes, and the margin for error will greatly decrease. What Xu Fang is most wary of is the "Eternal Life Church". After all, the first three "dead ends" can be controlled, as long as he doesn't do anything reckless, there won't be any danger. However, the Eternal Life Church will actively come looking for him.

Hopefully, the "Eternal Life Church" only exists in the third playthrough.

The worst part is that a new type of monster will appear with each playthrough, and it will never disappear in subsequent reincarnations.

A glimpse of a clue has been revealed - as the reincarnations continue, the difficulty becomes increasingly harder.

"Xiao Ming, I have a plan," Xu Fang lept lightly and sat on Luo Xiaoming's bed.

"A plan?" Xiao Ming looked up at Xu Fang.

"If we can't find the enemy, then we should find companions first. In the first playthrough, I discovered a possibility - there are other authors in this world who may be in the same situation as me. I want to find them, even though the chances are slim."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Record." Xu Fang said, "I will go out alone to find the authors, and during that time, I will contact you to report progress or confirm if my memory is faulty."

"Are you leaving now?"

"No, first, let's confirm one thing..."

Xu Fang jumped off the bed and hugged Luo Xiaoming from behind, whispering in her ear, "Xiao Ming, how can you distinguish between Gussy and me? And how can you prove that the second playthrough and the current me are also me?"

A familiar question, the second playthrough Xu Fang also asked the same.

Luo Xiaoming knew that she couldn't hide it from Xu Fang, so she simply said, "It's just a kiss! You know Gussy can't betray you, that's how you distinguish."

Xu Fang turned around, facing Xiao Ming, and smiled, "Then do you know what I'm about to do next?"

Luo Xiaoming's ears turned slightly red, and she avoided his gaze, saying, "Don't tease me, if you want to kiss, then just do it!"

Just as Xiao Ming was nervously about to close her eyes, Xu Fang just touched her head and said, "Since you said that, it means that the second playthrough me has already been verified, so I can rest assured. It's getting late, I'm leaving, you take care... and hide yourself."

"Okay... oh, you too."

The anticipation was suddenly dashed, and Xiao Ming felt a little disappointed, but she knew that every minute and second were so precious now, Xu Fang couldn't waste any more time.

"If you discover the Eternal Life Church, notify me immediately."

"Okay."

-------------------------------------

One week is not enough for Xu Fang to search the whole world, so he can only prioritize searching for authors in big cities.

In order to ensure efficiency, Xu Fang cannot bring Luo Xiaoming along. As long as Luo Xiaoming doesn't actively seek trouble, he can't be detected by this world and is relatively safe.

Xu Fang left the school and first searched for some disguises.

A mask, a cloak with a hood, a stabilizer frame.

He put on thick gloves, the hood covering his captivating pupils, and the stabilizer frame changing his loli figure, making it impossible to tell if he was male or female from appearance alone.

Although Xu Fang could manipulate an energy shield to change his body shape and fly, both the speed and endurance were inferior to an ordinary passenger plane.

The best choice for traveling long distances was to take a plane. Even so, it would still take two days to travel around the earth.

Xu Fang arrived at the airport and boarded the plane's cabin to H City. First, he needed to confirm the existence of Xu Tong and the intimidation system. Additionally, when flying over cities, Xu Fang would activate the Demon's Eye to scan below, searching for golden spots of light.

In the evening, after 9 o'clock, the plane Xu Fang was on arrived over H City. Xu Fang jumped directly from the plane, falling from the stratosphere into the troposphere, passing through a thick layer of clouds, and arriving at the optimal observation distance. He folded his disguise into his body, then used his energy to flatten himself, gliding in the air to slow down his descent speed.

From a kilometer above, he focused his gaze and looked down.

In the neon city at night, clusters of grey light points wriggled in a sea of white, and beyond the white sea was an even larger grey.

The inhabitants here were different from the human reality; their light points were grey.

After scanning at a kilometer altitude for a few minutes, Xu Fang felt his eyes becoming sore, a sign of insufficient energy supply. He didn't expect being a "telescope" would consume so much energy, around 2% per minute.

Although he didn't find any traces of the author, Xu Fang did discover other abnormalities.

While H City didn't have as high a population as K City, it still had nearly tens of millions of people. From Xu Fang's high altitude view, the population density here was abnormally low.

Calculating, did H City only have a population of one hundred thousand?

Well, since it's a bizarre event, this is also acceptable.

Xu Fang didn't waste any time. After gliding to the ground, he called Xiao Ming to report his progress and then boarded a plane to S City.

At two in the morning, Xu Fang arrived in S City, where Luo Xiaoming's parents lived.

During the journey, he passed through several big cities but didn't find anything.

S City had a higher population density than H City, but still not as much as the real world, with a total population of only around two hundred thousand.

"Hmm? Golden?"

Xu Fang originally wanted to visit Luo Bing, but in an apartment building, he noticed a peculiar touch of golden color.

After confirming multiple times, it was indeed golden, and Xu Fang's gaze became serious.

Thanks to Gussy being colorblind, Xu Fang wasn't dazzled by the neon lights and precisely found the golden spot of light.

The last time he saw golden light spots was from Ma Youcai and Heize Rengatsu.

The author was truly rare.

Disguising himself again in his cloak, Xu Fang silently landed in front of the balcony's floor-to-ceiling window, making no sound. Only the window and curtains separated him from the unknown author.

The unfamiliar author sits on the couch, seemingly still awake.

It's 2 AM in the middle of the night, the room is dark, and they're sitting on the couch, not sleeping?

The golden spot representing their arm moves, pointing towards Xu Fang and beckoning him to come inside, as if signaling for Xu Fang to enter.

The author seems to have known that Xu Fang would come, waiting here for him.

Xu Fang doesn't panic. He doesn't sense any "mosaic" on the author, no threat from this person.

But he still can't let his guard down.

"Excuse me." Xu Fang opens the window and walks inside.

Passing through the curtains, with no obstruction to his view, Xu Fang sees the face of the author.

There's something strange about them from head to toe.

Their figure, gender, and appearance cannot be described in words. It's as if this person is hidden in the mist beyond the boundaries of cognition, leaving behind only symbolic existence.

An alien? A multidimensional being? No, despite the inability to describe it, this is indeed a human, different from those grotesquely disfigured monsters.

"Are you the author?" Xu Fang asks in a disguised voice.

Looking at Xu Fang, they show an indescribable expression, then speak in an indescribable language.

"дЅ ж˜ЇдёЌж˜ЇжќҐжќЂж€‘зљ？"

What's even stranger is that Xu Fang actually understands it. The meaning is asking if Xu Fang has come to kill them.

"No, I'm here for cooperation. I mean no harm," Xu Fang replies.

They nod their head. "дЅ зљ„еђЌе­—ж˜Ї？"

Xu Fang says, "You can call me 'Rules.' And what about you, how should I address you?"

As an author, one should have the ability to come up with names on the spot.

"我叫 ▇ ▇ ▇"

Xu Fang feels troubled because despite understanding the author's intended meaning, he can't come up with their name. Could it be that even their name is obscured by the mist?

"Then I'll call you 'Black Frame,' since names are just codenames anyway. Is that okay?"

"可以зљ。" Black Frame agrees with Xu Fang's choice of address.