"Master, Professor Simpson is fine, haha, you're too nervous!" After hanging up the phone, Four Eyes said with a smile to the emptiness beside him.

Just now, Emptiness ran over anxiously with an abacus in his hand, yelling, "Something big is not right, the divination has changed." When asked why, the Master only said that the outlook for Professor Simpson's visit to his family was not very optimistic.

Four Eyes was shocked and immediately called Professor Simpson, but there was nothing on the other end of the line.

"It's strange, why did the divination suddenly change? I am really puzzled," Emptiness muttered while tapping his abacus.

"What's going on?" Old Mo didn't understand the meaning.

"Both of you should know the divination results that I gave you before, right?" Emptiness said.

"Weren't they all 'auspicious'?" Four Eyes said, "I suspect that your divination is malfunctioning in this mysterious world."

"If everything has been auspicious all along, there's nothing much to say. I am worried about the changes... I just divined again, and Professor Simpson's divination unexpectedly changed to 'great auspiciousness'. I am thinking to myself... in this virtual world, could the divination be reversed? That's why I am so anxious," Emptiness said, touching his beard on his chin.

Old Mo said, "It is understandable that fortunes can change for the better. After all, Professor Simpson is going to reunite with his family, which is a very warm and wonderful thing. It may strengthen his confidence in resisting the mysterious world and provide more help to the authors."

"It seems that I worried too much," Emptiness stroked his beard.

"Master, what were the results of the divination for everyone at the author's meeting?"

"Most of them were 'auspicious.' Four Eyes, the funny mask, and the well-proportioned nun had ordinary divinations. The only one with a 'bad' divination was the original Yoko wearing a white underwear and a short skirt."

Four Eyes had a black line on his face. This old gentleman just casually destroyed the mystique of divination.

"As for the awakening of our 'rules' and the mysterious figure 'Nameless,' I am sorry to say that I can't see or understand them," Emptiness said.

"So 'Nameless' has the appearance of 'reversing fate'?" Four Eyes asked with a smile, no longer believing in Emptiness' divination but just seeing it as entertainment.

Emptiness smiled and said, "Those whom I can't see through are definitely not ordinary people. How about getting to know each other and building a good relationship? Maybe it will be beneficial for both of us in the future."

"The memory transmission device is ready. Although Professor Simpson left SOP, let's wait for him to come back to operate it. We should leave the experts' tasks to the experts," Old Mo said.

At this moment, a group message notification sounded.

After the rules awakened all the authors, a group was created with the name "Happy Family (12)". There were twelve people in the group, and except for the "Singularity" who had never appeared, all the other authors were in it.

The group name and the members' identities had nothing to do with each other. It was purely to disguise and avoid sensitive content such as "author," "world," "reality," and so on.

The group used a personally built server, which was highly concealed. The authors could rest assured to communicate in it, at least for a short period of time without being detected.

Bernice: "Hello everyone, I have a question. Does anyone know the meaning of the number sequence 99999940?"

Owen: "What? How did you find out?"

Bernice: "Muline just had another episode, and she kept mumbling about this number."

Owen: "Who is Muline?"

Bernice: "The nun."

Owen: "Hehe, maybe that's the PIN for her bank card or payment app?"

Bernice: "... Can you be serious?"

Old Mo thought for a moment and replied, "I guess it is a number that represents a password or points to a specific thing, or it could just be her imagination."

Owen: "Schizophrenia is like this, always mysteriously talking about mysterious numbers."

Bernice: "Well, let's wait until Mullen's emotions stabilize before asking her."

Owen: "How is everyone doing with the progress of finding the 'memory-saving method'? I haven't found anything yet, so I'll have to bother the rules again next weekend. But I did discover some interesting things..."

Next, Owen briefly updated his experiences in the group and made a summary.

"In short, the 'monsters' mentioned in the rules do exist. Their appearance matches the description in the rules, and their numbers are significant. They show clear organization, and they are very familiar with the author's system. I have enough reason to suspect that the monsters, just like the author, can go through cycles and even save memories of the cycles. This game is more difficult than I imagined."

Four Eyes: "Damn, are you kidding? Are you saying those monsters can also save memories of the cycles?"

Owen: "Yes, so be careful. Don't try to repeatedly experiment with the backboard method. Maybe the other side will use your psychology :D Hey, these monsters are not easy to kill."

As Four Eyes looked at the chat records, his expression became serious: "This is not good. If the monsters find out our identities, they might act before we wake up..."

Owen: "@Bernice, tell us about your experiences."

Bernice: "I encountered an organization that seems like the Eternal Life Church. They were preaching to me and Mullen."

Eternal Life Church?!

Old Mo: "And then?"

"The rules also mentioned that the Eternal Life Church is very dangerous. I didn't dare refuse them outright, so I pretended to become their follower. Maybe it's because of the author, but I didn't get brainwashed. The Eternal Life Church also knows about the cycles, and we plan to continue undercover here. Maybe the Eternal Life Church can also save memories."

Night Paper: "Advice, hide your identities well. Time is running out, and I haven't discovered much."

Four Eyes: "A strange lone wolf appeared!"

As he spoke, Four Eyes also planned to update the progress of their team. But just as he was halfway through typing, he found himself pulled into a new group with the name "Happy Family (11)".

It was a new group created by the rules, and now there were only 11 people in this group. After looking for a while, Four Eyes noticed that Simpson had been excluded.

"???"

"What happened, rules?"

"What happened to Professor Simpson?"

Rules: "I suspect that Professor Simpson has been killed."

Old Mo, Four Eyes, and Empty-You-Looking-At-Me-I-Look-At-You, all looked shocked.

Too coincidental, they just had this suspicion earlier. But they confirmed it over the phone, and there were no problems!

Empty: "Boss, are you also good at fortune-telling?"

Rules: "No, but I can know the life status of each of you. Now, Simpson is done for. @Empty @Four Eyes @Old Mo, what did you do?"

Old Mo: "In the afternoon, Professor Simpson said he wanted to go home and check things out. After an hour, the Daoist priest divined and said the professor might be in danger. We called to confirm, and there was nothing wrong."

Rules: "I thought you guys started killing each other. It seems like something else got Simpson. "

Owen: "Oh, the classic first casualty! Did the old guy strike gold so quickly?"

Bernice: "Oh my god, please tell me this isn't true..."

Yezhi: "The enemy is very close to us... very close."

Four Eyes: "Hey hey, isn't the real issue here not about arguing who the killer is? It's strange how you automatically assume that Simpson is dead, isn't it?"

Rules: "Well, Simpson is dead, so it's up to you guys to figure it out. How can you be so sure that it was the real Simpson on the phone?"

Black Box: "Damn it, little idiots! Hurry up and escape, as far as you can! We suspect that the monsters already know Simpson's memories... as you all know, when an author dies, their memories go to another author. And I really don't want to explain too much to you, don't hold everyone back."

Four Eyes: "Bro, what are you talking about? I don't understand!"

Rules: "Black Box means that you should escape quickly, as far as you can. We suspect that the monsters already know Simpson's memories... as you all know, when an author dies, their memories go to another author. And I really don't want to explain too much to you, don't hold everyone back."

Lao Mo: "But isn't that concerning the rules between authors?"

- Do you dare to assume that the monsters aren't authors?

Yuan Yizi had intended to send this information over, but her wrist was held down by a mist. She looked up and saw Black Box shaking its head.

Although Yuan Yizi was already used to Black Box, it still made her shudder unexpectedly.

Fortunately, Black Box had a relatively easygoing personality, so Yuan Yizi wasn't as scared as before.

"I should've stayed away..."

"I know I shouldn't break the trust between authors, but they just won't listen. If they aren't careful, they'll be wiped out!"

Xu Fang took off into the sky on a rocket, leaving Black Box and Yuan Yizi on the ground. Black Box could only contact Xu Fang through the signal enhancement tower on the ground. The account for "Rules" was temporarily given to Black Box, but since it could only produce garbled characters, it was written by Yuan Yizi.

At dusk, Black Box sensed that Simpson's location suddenly disappeared.

The connection that couldn't be broken even in the cycle was severed. If it wasn't for Simpson having a clever way to escape, it could only mean that he was dead.

Black Box immediately contacted Xu Fang through the signal tower, informing Xu Fang of its discovery and stating its speculation.

Simpson was with Kong Xu, Four Eyes, and Morton. Now that Simpson is dead, it is very likely that one of the other three is the suspect. In the worst-case scenario, the three of them could be accomplices.

Yuan Yizi clapped her hands and said, "I suggest putting Simpson's team on the blacklist. The villains are indeed hiding among us. In the next cycle, let Rules deal with them properly!"

Although no one said it outright, many people suspected that this bizarre event was a challenge from one of the authors.

If they couldn't resolve the bizarre event, then they would have to deal with the author who caused it.

However, Xu Fang did not follow Yuan Yizi's suggestion and instead quickly informed Four Eyes and the others, creating a new communication group. Black Box's positioning skills could remain confidential, and they could claim it was a rule's ability to outsiders.

Black Box trusted Xu Fang, and although Yuan Yizi had different opinions, she obediently followed the plan.

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

Four Eyes, Kong Xu, and Lao Mo sat around the coffee table, their faces serious.

"Should we contact the professor to inquire again?" Kong Xu asked, now convinced that something unfortunate had happened to Simpson.

Lao Mo frowned. "Wait, let's analyze the current situation first. How reliable do you think Rules' words are?"

"Four Eyes thought for a moment and said, 'Eight points. Deceiving us would not benefit him in any way. If the rules were intended to harm Simpson, he could have done so when he woke up the author individually. If he wants to divide our unity, it goes against the original intention of the rules. Moreover, the Taoist just issued a warning, and we cannot ignore it.'

Old Mo nodded. 'I also think so. But if the rules are telling the truth, I would feel scared. Since someone in our team has died, the remaining survivors will be highly suspicious. I don't know what the purpose of the rules is and what he wants to gain from us.'

People who have stayed in the dark forest for a long time have a skeptical attitude towards any goodwill.

Four Eyes said, 'Indeed, he could have kept the ability to know the life and death of the author a secret from all of us and killed the three of us in the next reincarnation. After all, it is uncertain whether we are the hidden "challengers". Let's kill and find out.'

Old Mo replied, 'I have never challenged any author, nor do I agree with the ideology of authors fighting each other.'

Kong Xu sighed and said, 'The rules trust us. He is betting that there is no traitor among us. I will make the same bet at this moment. I believe that both of you are good people.'

A bold bet based on trust often comes at the cost of one's own life. This is the price of unity.

Four Eyes clenched his fist and said, 'Taoist, there is no need to say more. I have already recognized both of you since the moment I took off my mask. If what the rules say is true, our situation is very dangerous right now. Let's find a way to deal with the crisis in front of us!'"