The nameless one stood in the ruins after demolition, gazing at the distant city lights. Five minutes ago, he had seen a message from the "Disaster Guide Team," but remained silent throughout. Of course, everyone may have already overlooked him. Since being awakened, he had been pondering over who he was. Losing his memory and his appearance, everything was a mystery. Unlike other authors trying to unravel bizarre events, he couldn't sense his own fears and desires, nor could he find a goal to strive for.
"So, you're hiding here, nameless one." Suddenly, a strange voice appeared behind him. The nameless one reflexively tried to turn around, but the voice behind him stopped his motion. "Stay in that position and don't move. If you turn back, you'll die." Understanding his situation, the nameless one remained silent without moving.
"Good cooperation. Rest assured, if you obey, I won't harm you, I just want to chat with you." The person behind seemed to be using a voice changer, distorting their voice. "...," the nameless one remained silent. "Not in the mood for a chat? You should be asking 'Who are you' at a time like this." "Who are you?" the nameless one asked.
"I am an author." "What's your name?" "Introducing myself, I am the thirteenth author, you can call me 'Thirteen'." After a moment of thought, the nameless one asked, "Why are you looking for me?" "Just for a chat," Thirteen chuckled. "I suspect there's a 'challenger' among us, so I chat individually with certain authors. Relax, let's just chat like friends." "I don't know who I am."
"Your identity will be revealed at some point." "Are you 'the Rule'?" the nameless one suddenly asked. Thirteen paused, "Why do you ask that?" "The Rule has physical abilities beyond humans. I suspect the Rule can appear behind me without a sound." "Haha, unfortunately, I'm not. But, I do know the guy who calls himself 'the Rule'. Do you know the Rule's real name?" "I don't know." "He's called... Xu Fang." "Xu Fang?" "Yes, does that ring a bell?"
The nameless one pondered for two seconds, "No." "Alright then, shall we discuss other authors?" "...I'm not sure how to chat." "Isn't it exhausting when nobody criticizes or communicates with you?" "As long as there is communication, it must be considered carefully. I think the key to communication lies in how it is done. Everyone has to face these questions. In the face of such questions, when communication occurs, we must consider the fact that it has appeared. How should communication be achieved? What would happen if there was no communication?"
"Stop, let's go back to our original mode of communication." "Let's play a riddle game to lighten the mood: 'Far tree leans against the shadow of a cow, bright spring moon turns in front of the flowers - what word is it?'" The nameless one easily answered. "Very good, let's get back to the point. Can you make a promise: to always stand with the author, never to betray the author?" "I don't know... I don't want to lie." "Is your thought voluntary or involuntary?" "It could be both, voluntarily and involuntarily."
"You're very honest, it's about time for me to go, you can turn around in ten seconds."
Without a name silently counting to ten in his mind, he turned around.
There was nothing behind him, not even footprints.
It was as if he had just been conversing with an illusion.
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Upon waking, Moulin found herself in an infinitely vast pure white space.
She touched her eyes to ensure they were still there.
Her body felt no pain at all.
Surveying her surroundings, there seemed to be no end to this space.
Except for a mysterious large door standing in front of her.
As if sensing Moulin's awakening, the door creaked open slightly, and a head popped out.
"Ah!"
It was Bernice!
Anxious and uncertain, Moulin's heart was both excited and puzzled, suspecting she was still trapped in a loop, but she had never experienced anything similar before.
"Miss Moulin, it's so good to see you again, I've missed you!"
After locking eyes for a couple of seconds, Bernice walked over with a delighted expression.
"Is this heaven or hell?"
Bernice smiled, "What are you talking about? This is the world of eternal life, of course!"
Her smile was so warm that it calmed Moulin down.
"Have you joined the Eternal Life Church? Have they mistreated you?"
"No, not at all, it's nice here, I feel very happy, I have reunited with my child. Perhaps from the author's perspective, Eternal Life Church is seen as an obstruction to solving bizarre events, but it is definitely not our enemy. I have to admit, many of my previous thoughts were wrong."
"I also want to see my partner and child, as well as my parents. Can Eternal Life Church help me do that?"
"Yes."
Bernice answered without hesitation, throwing Moulin off balance at once. She had grown accustomed to denying both smooth and painful situations.
"... It's a lie, even if I see them, it will only be an illusion!"
"Moulin..."
Moulin crouched down, covering her head, her expression pained as memories began to gnaw at her nerves.
"I have said more than once, this world is fake, it's fake, it's fake, it's fake, all of you are fake! Now, I am starting to doubt if I'm fake too, just a character under some author without a soul, existing solely to feel pain!!"
Bernice gazed gently at Moulin as she vented her emotions, waiting until she finished. Then she spoke:
"Indeed, human senses are uncertain, if a presence can deceive all our senses, everything we perceive could be false. Including those things you once told me, they could all be fabricated by some entity. But, just as Descartes was certain about 'doubt,' I am equally certain about 'wanting to help everyone.' If I didn't want to help you, I wouldn't be here, and if you didn't exist, you wouldn't be here either. So, you absolutely cannot be fake."
"Miss Moulin, do you believe me?" Bernice asked gently.
Moulin looked at her blankly, her mind in chaos, feeling truly exhausted, wanting to end it all, no matter what the outcome might be.
After a pause, she responded with a hoarse and dry voice, "I'm willing."
After countless cycles, Eternal Life finally put an end to Moulin's story.
"Thank you for your trust. Now, come with me. I'll take you to see your family."
【Welcome home, author. As long as you are willing to come home, all nightmares will come to an end.】
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October 20th.
Old Mo put on his protective suit and took out a glass bottle containing Bernice's blood.
By diluting Bernice's blood with water in different proportions, Old Mo obtained ten different concentrations of mixed solutions for testing the bacteria. By observing the density of the bacteria, he calculated the concentration of "harmful substances" in the mixed solution.
While waiting for the results of the experiment, Old Mo purified water using methods such as mineralization, distillation, and ultrafiltration, but the results were astonishing.
No matter which method he used, he couldn't completely purify the "harmful substances" in Bernice's blood.
Even after electrolyzing the water, as the water split into hydrogen and oxygen and recombined into water, the concentration of the "harmful substances" actually increased.
Only mineralization had some minor effect, but the zeolite after purification also absorbed the "harmful substances," turning it into a new source of pollution.
This substance was easily soluble in any solution, did not react with any solvents, and could not be purified. Old Mo attempted to centrifuge it at high speeds, only to find that centrifugal force did not change the solution's concentration, regardless of the initial concentration. This substance did not have a fixed relative molecular mass, as its mass changed with the solvent? Or perhaps, this substance had no mass at all but merely attached itself to the solvent in a way beyond human understanding?
After two days of experiments, Old Mo concluded from the existing data that this was a miraculous substance that did not exist in the real world. It had absolute destructive power over living organisms and organic matter and had no such thing as a safe dosage. It did not multiply, and as long as it was diluted to a certain extent, living organisms could still barely tolerate it—Old Mo speculated that Bernice's blood would need to be diluted at least 1000 times for a person to ingest it without noticeable changes, but it would still be harmful to the body. It attached itself to the solvent, regardless of the form the solvent took, meaning even air could become its carrier.
Was this a "factor"?
He knew the Simpson team was studying things related to "biological factors." They wanted to create a system that could explain all "bizarre" phenomena using "factors," which included many philosophical questions overlooked by everyday people, such as human consciousness.
"Given its extreme nature of destructiveness, let's call it 'destructive factor."
This peculiar product of a bizarre world was fine to play with here but should not be brought into the real world.
Although his experiments had nothing to do with bizarre events or strategies, Old Mo's curiosity was greatly satisfied. He was always curious about mysteries, and most of his friends in the real world were researchers.
Old Mo took out his phone, opened the Disaster Strategy Group chat, and shared his discovery with the group.
However, amidst the discussions about the "destructive factor," authors were more interested in something else: Owen captured a member of the Eternal Life Church.
Owen precisely controlled an ordinary person and had this person come into contact with the evangelical scene of the Eternal Life Church. Owen followed closely behind this person and, upon seeing the person's face transforming into an indescribable monstrous appearance, directly sedated and brought them back. Now, Owen is in a small town in Palestine, a neighbor of Israel, conducting human experiments on the deeply comatose followers of the Eternal Life Church. He is transferring the blood and organs of the monster to the body of an ordinary person. However, the ordinary person remains unchanged, and conversely, the monster also cannot revert back to being an ordinary person.
Owen locked up a semi-sedated monster and an ordinary person in solitary confinement for two days, injecting them with glucose each day and observing their conditions. Strangely, after conversing with the semi-conscious monster, the ordinary person also turned into a monster.
Old Mo furrowed his brow as he clicked on the video.
In the video, there was a narrow windowless room. Inside were two individuals, one naked man crouched in a corner. The other person lay in the center of the room with an IV drip inserted, a black plastic bag covering their face with a small breathing hole around the nose area. From the slight movements of their chest, it was clear this person was still alive, likely a follower of the Eternal Life Church. Suddenly, the follower spoke in a strange and muffled manner, causing the naked man to become extremely fearful, trembling with his head lowered. Soon, Owen appeared on the screen, administering a sedative injection to the person lying down, then exchanged a few words with the naked man. After Owen left, the video fast-forwarded 60 times. Three hours later, the naked man suddenly got up and rushed towards the camera, then the screen turned black as the camera was damaged. According to Owen, after breaking the camera, the monster attempted to break the door lock using brute force in an escape attempt but was promptly shot dead by Owen.
Old Mo paused to observe the black screen for a moment and noticed the naked man's face had already undergone a transformation.
The other contents shared by Owen held little value as they consisted of various perverse surgeries, which were quite nauseating to watch.
In the group chat, Owen stated: "During the monster transformation experiments, I've noticed a few noteworthy points:
1. Monsters evangelize through communication, but due to limited samples, it's impossible to determine the correlation between communication type and transformation probability.
2. After ordinary people transform into monsters, their physical capabilities greatly improve, but they do not surpass human limits.
3. Newly transformed monsters exhibit low intelligence and only act on instinct, not even speaking. However, I've encountered cunning monsters before that can cooperate. I believe monster transformation is an ongoing process, and they become increasingly intelligent."
Old Mo inquired, "Is there a way to turn monsters back into ordinary people?"
Owen replied, "I would like to know that as well."
Ji Shuyu asked, "Could you provide me with a sample of the monster? Perhaps I can try using code magic."
Owen responded, "Brother, I was waiting for you to say that. Provide an address."
Ji Shuyu hesitated, "Um... for someone like you, who has such close contact, I prefer to keep my distance."
Owen chuckled, "Heh, if you don't trust me, just say so."
Ji Shuyu questioned, "Are the rules in place? Can you help me with this favor?"
The rules replied, "I can."
Ji Shuyu expressed his gratitude, "Hey, thanks. Let's discuss the address in private chat."
The abstraction of "it" exceeds that of the Black Frame, only visible through the eyes of a nun.
The appearance of "it" cannot be described, its form, its quantity, even whether "it" is an illusion or reality remains unknown.
The only thing Xu Fang can sense is that "it" is staring at him.
Is this what Moulin has been muttering about all along?
Xu Fang tries to communicate with "it," but there is no response.
However, Xu Fang does not feel afraid or uncomfortable. "It" does not affect Xu Fang's emotions.
After a brief staring contest with "it," Xu Fang stops trying to communicate.
Ever since obtaining the eyes of the nun, the perspective of destruction has fallen into an anomaly, and now the whole world is pixelated.
Does this mean there is no way out?
Perhaps these eyeballs are ominous objects, but Xu Fang still keeps them, in this absurd and bizarre world, where nothing is safe.
Carrying a large parcel off the helicopter, inside lies a living member of the Eternal Life Church in a deep state of anesthesia. The creatures have exceptional physical qualities, but that does not make them immune to drugs. To prevent them from waking up, Owen purposely increased the dosage, which resulted in severe nerve damage to the creatures. Xu Fang can tell that even if the effects wear off now, it won't be able to move normally.
After careful coordination, Xu Fang meets Ji Shuyu once again.
The meeting place is an office building in the outskirts.
Ji Shuyu looks completely different from before. She has cut her hair short, dyed it chestnut, put on glasses and a headband, looking more ordinary, but still somewhat anime-like.
"I've rented a studio, all the identities are fake, it won't raise any suspicions in the short term," Ji Shuyu pours a cup of tea for Xu Fang.
"Thank you, I'm good."
"Oh, I forgot you're not human anymore, what do you need?"
"I don't need anything, let's get to work, I will protect you along the way," Xu Fang sets down the parcel in his hand.
"Alright, let's begin then," Ji Shuyu sounds slightly smug, "I finally have the chance to unleash my abilities, I want all the authors to see the true power of code magic!"
"Is it your creation, this code magic?"
"Hehe, yes, before the emergence of code magic, no one believed you could use magic in reality."
"Have you ever sold or open-sourced your code magic?"
"Only sold it once."
"Was it a magic related to locating beings?"
"... How did you know?"
"I've seen members of the Destruction Association use it to mark other authors."
"That powerful? Back then, I only developed a tracking spell, it wasn't in the realm of authors yet!" Ji Shuyu furrows her brows, "I've never dealt with evil organizations like the Destruction Association."
