They left here and randomly drove to other cities.

There was silence all the way, and the nun seemed to be constantly fighting her own confusion.

Béatrice, in the driver's seat, looked at her through the rearview mirror and sighed softly.

"What's your name?"

"Name?" She snapped out of her trance and thought for a while before answering, "Mulin."

"Okay, Mulin, let's reintroduce ourselves. I'm Béatrice. No matter what you have experienced, you need to stay strong in this world."

"Follow the footsteps of God? Or immerse in endless darkness?" The nun also stared at her through the mirror.

"I'm sorry, I'm an atheist. I only believe in myself, but I don't oppose the power of faith... Would it be better to go outside and clear our minds?"

"Perhaps... yes."

"Then follow me."

The car stopped at the edge of the city's development zone.

The two walked slowly along a small path, without a clear destination or direction.

There were not many people around, and no one noticed the two authors dressed strangely.

Although Béatrice's movements were a bit stiff, her walking speed was not slow. And Mulin knew that when she was driving, Béatrice's fingers were tightly gripping the steering wheel.

Looking at the nun in the paper bag, Béatrice moved her fingers made of rubber material and said, "I'm curious, how is the prosthetic limb made?"

The nun nodded.

Béatrice smiled, "Actually, it's not just a simple prosthetic limb, but a bionic intelligent prosthetic limb. Micro sensors are implanted in the prosthetic limb, connected to my muscle nerves, allowing me to control it with my brain to make simple movements. Although it is not as flexible as a normal person's limbs, it is sufficient for me. In the real world, this technology is still being improved, and I believe it will be widely promoted one day to help more disabled people."

"May this technology benefit humanity."

"Yes." Seeing that there was a good start to their communication, Béatrice suggested, "Why don't we exchange some information with each other? It's the best way to promote mutual trust."

"What do you want to know?"

"Do you have any bad memories in the past? Ones that made you feel so uncomfortable that you wanted to commit suicide?"

The nun remained silent for a moment, and finally spoke slowly.

"The world is an endless cycle, suffering can never see the end, nor await redemption."

"It's a bit difficult to understand. Does it mean that you have experienced countless cycles that never end?"

"I wish death could be a release."

Béatrice looked at the nun and said seriously, "I need to correct your mistaken thoughts - to live is to have hope. We should leave this bizarre world instead of seeking death. When you compromise with death, you lose!"

"Compromise? Haha, compromise is the last resistance. Death is not scary, what's scary is the absence of an end and its eternity."

"He?"

"It."

Béatrice frowned, "Who is 'it'? Can you tell me?"

"..."

Mulin looked over, then her gaze shifted back to Béatrice. "I don't know what it is. It has been there since the day I was born, always watching me. At this moment, it is also listening to our conversation."

Mulin's description was vivid, making Béatrice feel a creepy sensation. Her gaze wandered, attempting to find the "it" Mulin mentioned, but everything around them appeared normal.

"Could it be an illusion?"

"What's the difference between a persistent illusion and reality?" Mulin paused for a moment. "And what about you? What have you been through?"

"My experience..." Bernice scratched her head and looked at her prosthetic limb. "I was an orphan, adopted by a gambler father. When I was almost of age, my father lost all his money and sold me to human traffickers. They took one of my kidneys and sold me to a pervert in a remote and impoverished place. Those people were afraid I would escape, so they cut off my limbs and threw me into a doghouse. They humiliated me every day, one after another. I used to fantasize that someone would come and rescue me, but alas, no miracles happened..."

"I spent five years in that place, probably suffering too much. I lost my ability to bear children and contracted a contagious disease. They saw me as a burden and threw me into the river, but luckily, I was picked up by a mysterious organization. They cured my injuries and illness, and fitted me with prosthetics. It was during that time that I became an author."

Mulin asked, "What do you plan to do as an author? To judge? To tally the sins and assign guilt? Eye for an eye?"

"No, I just sent those bad people to prison. To prevent others from experiencing my tragedy, I opened an orphanage. With the help of that website, I arrange the most suitable adoptive parents for every child who has lost their parents. I eliminated those despicable human traffickers and retrieved my kidney. I am gratified that it was placed in the body of a girl who had previously suffered from uremia. I am happy because my organ created value, unlike my limbs, which were treated as garbage. So, I forgave their act of purchasing human organs on the black market. There are always many helplessness for people in critical condition."

Bernice said, "My experiences were terrible in various ways, but I don't think the outcome is bad. I can still save other lives. The only regret is that three of my children are still missing. Only one has returned to me."

Mulin nodded slightly, "Love is patient and kind. I see light in you, illuminating everything. Your good deeds will surely be rewarded."

"Haha, thank you for your blessings. Also... there's no need to exaggerate so much. I'm just doing what I can."

Although the nun sometimes rambled on, Bernice still thought she was a good person. Good people long for the light.

"Does the orphanage you opened exist in this world?"

Bernice shook her head, "It doesn't exist. In this world, I can't find anyone or anything familiar, but I believe the children at the orphanage will be well taken care of. The headmaster is someone I trust. And even if I am alone in this world, I still have a purpose."

"What purpose?"

"I want to save all the authors trapped here."

"..."

"Don't look at me with doubt. Although it may be beyond my capabilities, I still have some trump cards. For example, I already have a method to carry memories into the next cycle..."

Bernice suddenly noticed that Mulin's expression was off.

"..."

Mulin covered her head, crouched down, and looked at this direction in fear.

However, "this direction" did not refer to where Bernice was.

"Mulin, what's happening?"

"It spoke, it spoke to me!!"

"It? Your hallucination? What did it say?"

"I don't know, it was a string of numbers. I don't know what it means."

"Are you in pain? Should we go to the hospital?"

Mulin shook her head and said with a trembling voice, "It's the first time I've seen it speak. It... it really exists..."

"Saw? Shouldn't it be heard?" Bernice noticed something unusual.

"I don't know, I have no idea..." Mulan became lost in confusion again.

"What did it say?"

"..."

Mulan didn't answer anymore, but immersed herself back into her own world.

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

Hawaii, on a sea-based launch platform.

An aircraft flew by at an altitude of eight kilometers, and an object dropped from the plane, heading straight for the assembly command ship below.

It was a person, completely without any equipment such as a parachute. Daredevil stunts like this in high altitude were only possible for a few mentally strong superhumans or those accustomed to free fall, like Xu Fang.

The moon's movement displayed continuity in different cycles, which meant that it wouldn't be reset by information. By extension, leaving the Earth was a method of preserving memories. Of course, Xu Fang couldn't reach the moon in just one day, but reaching suborbital altitude was still possible.

Space launch centers required a large amount of land and had to avoid residential areas for the trajectory of the launch. Therefore, some major launch sites or space launch centers were located along the coast, or even on vast oceans. Xu Fang's target was the command ship carrying the carrier rocket.

Yuan Yizi and Hei Kuang were left in Europe by Xu Fang to collect information from this cycle.

When Xu Fang descended to an altitude of five kilometers, he saw white light dots in the form of electromagnetic waves radiating from the command ship as the center. He knew that this was the radar warning scan and search.

Although Xu Fang couldn't completely shield military Doppler radar with high sensitivity to interference, like the radar at Organization K's military base, it was extremely dangerous to move around in front of such radar. However, a ship was not a radar station, and its power, sensitivity, and anti-interference capabilities were limited by equipment. Xu Fang could directly absorb such intense electromagnetic waves, preventing the launch side from receiving any echoes.

With a loud "bang," Xu Fang crashed heavily into the water, splashing onto the deck.

The crew members who saw this scene hurriedly came to the deck, looking around in astonishment. However, the water surface only shook for a while before returning to calmness.

Just as people were curious about what had fallen from the sky, Xu Fang had already sneaked into the command center from behind, eliminating all the internal control personnel.

As usual, when people in this world "died," they would turn into fragments and disappear without a trace. Xu Fang vaguely felt that these "people" had not truly died; they had just transformed into another form of existence that was difficult to comprehend. Based on this hidden danger and energy conservation, Xu Fang did not waste too much energy.

After obtaining access to the command center, Xu Fang performed several actions. Firstly, he cut off the transmitter, temporarily preventing military interference when using the rocket. Secondly, he destroyed the control system for the rocket in the command center. Thirdly, he removed the positioning system from the rocket.

At the same time, Xu Fang obtained basic information about the launch well. The rocket was connected to pipes and electrical circuits. It was a solid fuel rocket that could be launched without refueling, making it a standard rapid-fire rocket. However, there was currently no satellite installed, and the launch system was still shut down.

This was exactly what Xu Fang needed. Without hesitation, he rushed to the rocket launch well, manually ignited the engine, and then seized control of the gantry's console, releasing the clamping device. Many workers noticed the flames at the bottom of the rocket and panicked. They ran into the command center, only to find that the ignition control system had long lost contact with the rocket.

Some of the guards also noticed Xu Fang, carrying their guns and sounding the alarm as they shot at Xu Fang, but it was too late. The ship was hit by the reaction force and slowly sank several levels. The flames at the bottom of the rocket became increasingly fierce, forcing everyone to move away from the launch silo. It was an irreversible process. By the time the ignition was almost complete, the temperature of the tail flame was comparable to the surface of the sun, instantly vaporizing a large amount of coolant.

They watched in horror as the rocket lost control, slowly ascending and accelerating.

While Xu Fang was ascending into space, Owen made progress on his end.

Owen deliberately let go of a woman named Ximeng Na, allowing her to test the government's attitude.

Ximeng Na's mother was a lawyer and her father was an independent prosecutor with extensive government connections. Even if Ximeng Na killed someone, her parents had the ability to turn things around, let alone what Owen forced her to do.

Owen planted listening devices and tracking systems on Ximeng Na in advance.

Initially, as Owen had expected, Ximeng Na quickly went to the police station and explained the situation to the officers there, including the phenomenon of the disappearing corpse. However, they didn't believe her at all. After watching the video, they suspected it was special effects and expressed concern about Ximeng Na's mental state. Ximeng Na demanded that the police immediately go and shoot the masked lunatic, but the police said they would investigate first and confirm the authenticity before making a decision.

"Forget it, I can't rely on you idiots. I'm going to find my father!" Ximeng Na angrily called out as she got into a taxi and called her father.

Unexpectedly, during the call, the listening device suddenly lost contact, and all they heard was a "thud". The strand of Ximeng Na's hair that Owen had kept disappeared, proving that she was dead. The GPS system was still functioning, showing her location. The GPS briefly paused at its original location and then quickly moved to a factory at high speed.

"What happened?" Owen was puzzled. What was even more surprising was that the GPS started moving in an irregular pattern, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, and sometimes the signal flickered intermittently.

After observing for a moment, Owen quickly noticed a pattern.

Flickering, slow movement, fast movement...these three elements resembled some kind of signal code. So, while opening a Morse code translator, Owen inputted "...././.-././--..--/-/./.-../.-../-.--/---/..-/..../---/.--/-/---/.-.././.-/...-/.", following the GPS variation pattern. Sure enough, it translated into an English phrase, roughly meaning "Come here, I will tell you how to leave."

"Hahaha! Finally, I found it!!" Owen laughed heartily and stood up abruptly.

The unnamed individual looked at him confusedly and asked, "What did you find?"

"Of course, it's a way out." Owen smirked. "The bizarre event is all about balance. If there are dead ends, there must also be ways out. In the narrative of the rules, monsters, the Eternal Life Church, the Grim Reaper...they can all be considered forces leading to dead ends, aiming to eliminate us. On the other hand, the forces leading to ways out are allies with our interests. Whatever their motives may be, they ultimately hope for us to survive and overcome the bizarre event. I didn't expect to encounter them so quickly. Nameless, I have a brilliant plan, and you will cooperate with me!"

"If it's a trap, you will be in danger. If it's not a trap, you may still not be safe," said an unknown person.

"A life without adventure is meaningless."

Serena had already seen Owen's comical mask and informed the police. Following the mindset of an ordinary person, one would naturally dispose of the mask. However, Owen's thinking was different from that of regular people. Not only did he not discard the mask, but he also brought several identical ones. Of course, when he entered the range of the surveillance cameras, he took off the mask and blended into the city as an ordinary citizen.

Driving a stolen car, Owen paid attention to the movement of the GPS and remained vigilant.

There were no police cars on the road, no roadblocks, and no pedestrians behaving unusually.

Everything was calm.

Finally, Owen arrived at the Flai processing plant. It was a partially abandoned steel processing plant, with some buildings being demolished. From a distance, he saw construction teams operating excavators. Owen got out of the car, bypassed the construction team, and headed straight for the factory's backyard - a large, empty cement platform. The GPS signal was coming from there. As he walked out from behind a stone pillar, he happened to see a white car moving in a peculiar path, intermittently stopping and starting. At the same time, the driver of the white car also noticed Owen.

The corners of Owen's mouth slightly curled up, but soon his expression froze.

The driver had no face, or rather, its face was a chaotic and bizarre pattern. It seemed like a devil had created an extremely abstract face.

Without giving Owen much time to react, the driver suddenly jerked the front of the car and swiftly charged towards him.

Owen dropped a smoke bomb and ran towards the nearest stone pillar for cover. Almost as soon as he hid behind the pillar, a barrage of bullets passed through the smoke, hitting the ground near Owen's feet with a popping sound. The stones that were kicked up flew onto his face.

"Shit! It really is a trap!" He cursed loudly, embarrassedly diving into the abandoned building.

At that moment, a group of black-clad individuals wearing tactical goggles and carrying firearms emerged from the smoke, rushing towards the building where Owen took cover. Some of the black-clad individuals surrounded and barricaded the entire building, while others formed pairs and entered to search.

The abandoned building was not large, and soon the black-clad individuals found their target - the comical masks.

But, aren't there a bit too many of them?

Under the pressure of loaded guns, ten comical mask-wearers raised their hands, their legs trembling.

"Take off the masks! Show your faces!" one of the black-clad individuals yelled loudly, tightly gripping a rifle.

"Officer, I... I can't do it!" one of the mask-wearers cried out in fear. "That madman behind me has planted explosives. Once I take it off, it will explode. Please, save me!"

"I... I am also..."

"I am a victim too, don't hurt me!"

"Oh my God, why am I being subjected to this punishment!"

"Officer, I need a doctor and a bomb disposal expert!"

"Ah... Ah!"

The black-clad individuals looked at each other, and they pressed the communication devices in their ears, seemingly exchanging something. Finally, it appeared they reached a consensus.

Without hesitation, they raised their guns and pulled the triggers, aiming at the unfortunate mask-wearers.

With the sound of gunfire, screams, and explosions, ten bodies fell to the ground. One person even attempted to remove his mask to prove his innocence, and as a result, triggered the explosives mechanism, blowing a hole in the back of his head.

The bodies quickly disappeared, leaving behind only clothes and masks, which once again triggered the mechanism behind the masks, causing a continuous chain of explosions.

While the black-clad individuals dealt with the mask-wearers, a small team searching the abandoned building accidentally triggered a trap. A tripwire grenade exploded on the spot, killing one person and severely injuring another.

Owen hid in the corner and patched up the wounded soldier, then dragged the unconscious man towards the window and leaped out, landing perfectly behind a small truck cushioned with soft grass.

The truck only paused for a moment before revving up and accelerating forward.

"Well done, Nameless!" Owen laughed. "Even though it was a trap, we still gained a lot."

"They're catching up," Nameless controlled the truck, never loosening his foot on the accelerator.

The black-clad men reacted quickly, realizing their target had escaped. They immediately gave chase, cars whizzing behind the truck.

"Bang!" Owen's arm sprayed blood.

"Fuck!" Owen cursed, holding his wound and lowering his body.

Finally, the car arrived at the designated tower bridge. At the most intense moment of the chase, a planned explosion occurred on the bridge. Owen and Nameless took the opportunity to jump into the water, escaping the pursuit of their enemies.

...

In a hidden underground room, Owen tended to his wounds. Unexpectedly, those black-clad men had used vicious dum-dum bullets that exploded within Owen's right arm. There were tiny metal fragments scattered throughout his body tissue, rendering the arm useless. Owen decided to inject himself with anesthesia and, with the help of Nameless, used a chainsaw and a hammer to amputate his arm. The severed body tissue was not wasted. They quickly cleaned it and, with some random hot pot seasoning and wild dandelions, turned it into a dinner.

The black-clad men were naked, tightly bound, their twisted faces facing the two authors. Their faces exuded an indescribable sense of terror, making ordinary people tremble and have nightmares just by looking at them. But Owen remained unfazed, devouring his food with relish. In no time, he approached the monster with a bowl in one hand and a smile on his face, saying, "How should I interrogate you? You were so hard to capture."

The monster remained silent, its strange facial patterns faintly flickering.

"Nameless, do you know what kind of creature this is? It looks so bizarre."

"Based on my memory retrieval, I don't." Nameless chewed on the dandelion root.

"Getting a person with amnesia is killing two birds with one stone." Owen shifted his gaze back to the monster, a malicious smile on his face. "What's your name, Mr. Monster?"

The black-clad monster continued to stare at Owen, its thoughts unknown.

"It seems the rules were not lying in this aspect. Monsters do exist in this world. Okay, let me deduce..."

"Your uniforms, weapons, and transportation are not military items. You are not government personnel, or rather, you have not yet reached the level to control the government. However, you have a powerful intelligence gathering system that can detect anomalies in humans in real-time. You can disguise yourselves in the human world, but you cannot distinguish between authors and ordinary people. You hold the vile attitude of 'better to kill a thousand innocent than let one go'."

"This world is fake, and you have been maintaining the laughable lie that 'the world is real' while trying to eliminate anyone who reveals the truth. Judging by your actions, lured by the GPS, it seems you are quite familiar with the 'author' group, well aware of their needs. Eliminating authors is your top priority. Unfortunately, the power of your monsters is limited, and you can only mobilize a few people. To think you want to be enemies with me, it's quite presumptuous, isn't it?"

"Tell me, who is manipulating you from behind? Unless you want to experience torture."

The monster suddenly chuckled softly, its hoarse voice chilling to the core. "Next time, you won't be so lucky anymore."

"Next time?"

Owen raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean by 'next time'? The next operation? Or the next... reincarnation?"

The monster did not answer Owen's question. It only said, "[I remember... you all.]" Then its body began to decompose.

The two authors quickly took cover.

Although they had examined the monster's body in advance and found that it was similar to a human except for its abstract face, who knew if it would explode?

Nothing happened.

The monster just decomposed like a regular death.

Owen stepped out of cover and picked up the rope on the ground with his remaining hand. "Judging from the tone of the monster, it will obviously come back in the next cycle, and they have a way to preserve memories. It's really a headache dealing with enemies that can't be killed."

"It remembered your appearance," the unnamed person said flatly.

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter. That's not my real face anyway," Owen laughed and waved his hand, "Forget it, let's eat first."