The nun remained in a state of extreme melancholy.

"What should I do? You won't let me go. You're all fake, no, this place is..."

Ji Shuyu was deeply impressed by this woman. It was clear that she was seriously ill. "Ah, is there any author who is a psychologist? How do you treat trauma and stress-related disorders?"

Lao Mo said, "I think her condition is rather complex."

Yoriko muttered, "There's no cure for brain problems. It only gets worse."

Owen smiled and said, "I can perform a brain reconstruction surgery for her, but there's a certain failure rate."

"Miss Moulin, don't be afraid, don't be afraid." Bernice came to the nun's side and gently embraced her, comforting her like a child.

Moulin trembled all over, looking around in disbelief, looking at everyone with unfamiliar eyes.

The familiarity she had finally established in the previous loop vanished as her memories faded away.

"Who are you? Why did you bring me here?"

"We are like you, people who have suffered greatly, seeking true redemption together."

"The world is an endless cycle, suffering never sees an end, nor does it wait for redemption." Moulin repeated the despairing lines.

Bernice knew what Moulin was afraid of and why she had become like this.

"It's just an illusion, it won't harm you. Please stay calm and rational..."

"It? Don't talk to me about it! Ahhh!!!"

Moulin suddenly screamed, curling up her body even more. It seemed that Bernice's words had the opposite effect.

Bernice let go of the nun, at a loss. Clearly, Moulin had been able to discuss the indescribable calmly with her before, so why did she react like this as soon as "it" was mentioned?

Seeing the nun in this state, the authors had different reactions: some couldn't bear it, some were indifferent, and some were intrigued. But no matter the expression, none of them comforted her like Bernice did.

After all, they were not familiar with each other.

Bernice looked at Xu Fang.

"Rules, do you have any way to help her? In her current state, even if she returns to the real world, she won't be able to escape this pain."

"Can you tell me about her symptoms?"

Bernice nodded and told Xu Fang what she had learned from Moulin in the previous loop.

Xu Fang approached Moulin and crouched down gently.

Moulin dared not meet his gaze and mumbled incomprehensible words.

"Moulin, let me ask you one thing. When did 'it' start appearing?"

"..."

"Is it inconvenient to answer?"

After a moment of contemplation, Xu Fang said, "In the previous loop, Emptiness gave me a mentally controlling type of item. It might be able to help her."

Bernice asked, "Is there any danger?"

"There won't be any life-threatening danger. As for her mental state... well, it can't get any worse, can it? Moulin, are you willing to give it a try?"

"Fine." Moulin still couldn't meet Xu Fang's eyes.

Xu Fang took out an invisible item. Although no one could see it, it seemed to have weight as it was held up by Xu Fang's gloves.

Under the gaze of everyone, Xu Fang placed it in Moulin's hand and pressed it.

"How are you, Miss Moulin? Feeling better?"

The nun shook the paper bag on her head, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and suddenly felt that the noisy comments had reduced a lot.

"Thank you, Xu Fang, I feel much better. May God bless you as your guardian."

"Holy crap, is this thing really useful? Priest, this item is real, you didn't trick me!" Ji Shuyu exclaimed in shock.

Xu clenched his beard triumphantly and said, "Who do you think I am?"

Seeing Moulin's state of mind recovering, Old Mo looked at Bernice and asked the question everyone was concerned about, "Bernice, you mentioned there is a solution that can save all authors. What is it?"

"Can it be solved in this game week? I want to return to reality as soon as possible," said Xu.

"Hehe, if you tell a lie, you have to swallow a thousand needles," Bernice said.

"жњџеѕ…"

Bernice's expression hesitated, "We don't have all of our people yet."

Xu Fang said, "Yezhi refused to participate in this meeting, but I can tell him afterwards, and Qidian is the same."

"But I need everyone to be present."

"Why?" asked Xu Fang.

Bernice sighed, "To be precise, I want to use magic to create a teleportation gate to the real world. But this gate can only be maintained for a few seconds. I want to send all the authors out at once."

Xu Fang observed changes in Bernice's heartbeat and blood flow, realizing that Bernice was lying.

The previous Bernice had always been honest in front of Xu Fang, and he could sense that she genuinely wanted to help all the authors. That was the reason he accepted Bernice as a teammate.

But why lie at this critical moment?

From the perspective of destruction, there were few marks on Bernice, not even one-tenth of Ji Shuyu's. She posed no threat to Xu Fang.

Xu Fang looked into her eyes and said, "Bernice, can you repeat that?"

The latter understood Xu Fang's subtext and panicked, hastily saying, "Please believe me, my determination to help you has never wavered."

"I believe you, you are a good person," the nun whispered softly.

"If you have such magic, why didn't you bring it out earlier? You indirectly caused Simpson's death," Owen said, laughing without a trace of sympathy for Simpson.

"First, magic can only be cast in the elf state; second, at that time, I couldn't be sure if this world was real," Bernice's eyes were filled with sadness, "I was also powerless against Simpson's death."

"It is I who should feel guilty, young lady, there is no need to blame yourself," Xu Fang said.

"Stop provoking Owen, your popularity is almost gone," Ji Shuyu said, waving her finger.

Owen chuckled lightly and didn't respond.

Black Frame: "дЅ иї™дёЄй­”жі•иѓЅе¤љж¬Ўж–Ѕе±•еђ—пјџ？"

Bernice nodded, "It can be cast multiple times, but the consumption is relatively large."

"Then let's send a part of the people first, and send Yezhi and the others later after we're done," Ji Shuyu said with a smile, clapping her hands repeatedly, "Finally, we can leave this ghost place."

Yoriko sat in the corner with a disappointed look on her face, saying, "I advise you not to have any hopes. Who knows if the next world is real or not?"

"Yoriko, stop being so negative," someone said.

Except for Yoriko and the unnamed person who never spoke, the other authors became interested in Bernice's magic and started discussing it enthusiastically. After all, they couldn't stay in this place any longer.

Xu Fang didn't say anything, feeling that something was off.

Soon, the authors came to a decision. They asked Bernice to draw the magic circle and activate it when the time was right.

Bernice used a small knife to cut her own finger and drew the magic circle on the ground with her fresh blood, according to everyone's imagination.

The magic circle had a diameter of two meters and was divided into several layers, each filled with "magic inscriptions."

"Elder, what kind of pattern is this? Can you understand it?" someone asked.

"...It's a different world's writing, a different system of power. I don't understand," the Elder replied.

"I'm curious. Can the magic from another world be used here?" someone asked.

"Definitely, but it's complicated," another person replied.

"Let's take a picture just in case we can use it later."

"..."

While everyone was discussing, Bernice lowered her head and carefully and slowly drew the magic circle. No one could see her expression.

The blood on the ground remained active, translucent, without any signs of drying.

After finishing the final stroke, Bernice suddenly tightly grasped the sharp blade with her hand, exerted force, and the blood that flowed between her fingers stained her front red.

"?"

"Miss Bernice?"

With a "snap," Bernice's blood-covered handprint landed in the center of the magic circle!

She looked up, revealing a relieved smile. "Goodbye, my dear friends."

Instantly, everyone's faces changed, and a chill rose in their hearts.

This wasn't what they had planned!

Although they didn't know what Bernice had done, it was clear that she didn't draw a teleportation circle.

Without hesitation, Owen took out his gun and fired eight shots at Bernice, piercing her head, chest, and abdomen. The latter let out a muffled groan and fell to the ground. Even an elf would die if their head was pierced by a firearm.

"Bernice!!" the nun exclaimed in shock.

Yoriko slumped to the ground. "You guys brought this upon yourselves. It's all over now."

"Wipe off the magic circle quickly!" the Elder urged urgently.

But it was too late.

The magic circle had already activated, and an invisible substance radiated outward from its center.

Ji Shuyu, Lao Mo, and the others didn't have time to dodge and instinctively lay down.

The nearest cockroach's body quickly withered and turned into ashes.

Everyone felt a strange weakness and exhaustion in their bodies.

Support structures on the ceiling collapsed and dust filled the air.

In this atmosphere of destruction, the authors held their breaths, afraid that any movement would cause their demise.

Five seconds passed...

Ten seconds passed...

"Oh, my back! It hurts, it hurts!" the Elder's cry of pain broke the silence.

Everyone realized they were still alive and quickly checked for changes in their bodies.

Lao Mo rubbed his sore wrists and neck, looking at his visibly relaxed skin. "I feel like I've aged ten years."

"More than ten years, I've aged twenty," the Elder said, standing up with a hunched back.

Yoriko felt a tightness in her chest and looked down, only to discover that she had suddenly gone up a cup size. She reached in and squeezed, saying, "Wow, not bad."

The dust gradually settled.

"What on earth is going on?" His Shuyu raised her head in distress, brushing off the dust from her body and looking at the scene in front of her, suddenly stunned.

A wriggling wall stood in front of everyone, slowly shrinking and gradually transforming into a petite loli figure. With a slight tilt of its head, it observed the condition of the group.

Its black hair hung straight and smooth, while its pale skin appeared slightly sickly. Its delicate features resembled that of a doll, with a round face devoid of expression and pitch-black, profound eyes without focus.

Unintentionally locking eyes with the loli, His Shuyu felt a slight pain in her eyes and quickly shifted her gaze.

She saw an even more shocking sight.

Divided by the loli, she saw a separation between heaven and hell. On one side, there was a hellscape; on the other, the mortal realm.

On the opposite side of the loli, in the direction of the magic array, the ceiling had already collapsed, with the steel bars inside rusted to powder. Organic matter in the cement ground rotted away, leading to severe expansion of the ground volume. The wall's plaster had completely fallen off, exposing the concrete.

As for the author's side, apart from more dust on the ground, there wasn't much else going on.

In an instant, His Shuyu understood that this loli had blocked the attack from the magic array, saving their lives.

Looking around again, she didn't see anyone missing, so it could only mean that this person in front of them was the one responsible for all this.

Xu Fang stood in place, checking his memories.

He hadn't expected this unknown substance to be so destructive, instantly aging his clothes and support bracket into ashes. However, his body was unharmed, and his memories remained intact.

It seemed that this unknown substance was particularly good at destroying organic matter.

Beside the magic array lay a limbless woman, the true form of Bernice. Although she was still alive, she had aged beyond recognition.

After being blown up by Owen, Bernice had returned to her true form, enduring several seconds of radiation during this time, but ultimately being lightly exposed at the end.

At this moment, she was gasping for breath with shallow inhales, clearly on her last legs.

"Why?" Xu Fang asked.

Bernice still had some life left in her consciousness as she looked at the unharmed group of people with cloudy eyes, a trace of despair and pain flickering within. "I'm... sorry... everyone... I couldn't... save... you..."

With her life abruptly cut short, her pupils lost focus, and her body disintegrated into fragments, dissolving into the air.