After seeing the nuclear strike locations, Ji Shuyu was horrified. Her own position had a red “☢” marker right on it.

To evade the Eternal Life Church, Ji Shuyu had hidden in an extremely remote rural area. Judging by its strategic position and population density, this place should never have been a nuclear missile target under any circumstances.

And yet, by some incredible coincidence, a nuclear missile was about to detonate nearby.

Since they didn’t know the bomb’s yield, they couldn’t determine the blast radius either. But staying here meant certain death. The shockwave and thermal radiation from an airburst alone would be enough to kill her.

These were all dirt roads, so she couldn’t drive very fast… But two hours was still enough. She had to get out of the area on her own.

Ji Shuyu packed her luggage while asking in the group chat: “Owen, can your information be trusted?”

Owen: “One ‘Little Boy’ has already detonated above Times Square in NY. The others are still on their way… As a pacifist, I’m deeply saddened.”

Ji Shuyu was furious beyond words. Just yesterday, that bastard had sworn up and down that he’d “never let the nuclear weapons detonate.” And today, he’d launched three thousand of them himself. Was this even something a human being could do?

She snapped, “Stop calling yourself a messenger of peace. You’re the most inhuman person I’ve ever met! I’m leaving first. I’ll settle the score with you when I get back.”

Rules: “Send over the exact yields of the nuclear weapons.”

Owen: “I’m decrypting them! Judging from the payload of the intercontinental missiles, they’re at most a few million tons.”

……

(98,842,310, 1,021,179)

Xu Fang silently counted the numbers before him. He dismantled the aircraft parked outside into parts, modified its wheels into a cart, and transported the other components to the cave entrance in several batches.

After that, Xu Fang started cutting down trees. He was incredibly efficient. He pulled his hair into fine strands, wrapped them around a tree trunk, and yanked—turning the whole thing into lumber.

He observed the changes in the numbers again.

Both sides were decreasing. The number suspected to represent the total population was dropping especially fast, at nearly ten thousand per second.

Half an hour later, Xu Fang had cut down almost all the trees in the surrounding area. He tied them into numerous bundles and carried them back to the cave entrance.

Xiao Ming was helping arrange the scattered wood into neat rows. More than two hundred logs, each five to ten meters long, were piled on the ground.

“Luo Xiaoming, move the luggage to the very back.”

“Okay, leave it to me!”

(98,728,974, 1,011,021)

If Owen’s nuclear strike locations were accurate, everything within a thousand-kilometer radius would be hit by nuclear explosions over the next two hours. A light jet might barely manage to escape, but Xu Fang couldn’t afford to gamble on it.

Now that the Eternal Life Church had practically revealed the map, was there any reason to believe they wouldn’t adjust the trajectories at the last minute?

In the end, the only choice was to hide in the cave.

Although an airburst produced a wider shockwave that was harder for a shelter to absorb and cancel out, a ground-level detonation was still possible, and that could cause the mountain to collapse.

So Xu Fang needed to construct some temporary supports to prevent the interior from collapsing. Even if a collapse did happen, it couldn’t completely seal off the entrance. With time running short, he simply fastened logs together into triangular pillar structures, adding two vertical supports in the middle. He extended the triangular pillars all the way to the back of the cave, and a simple support structure was complete.

All of this had been part of the original plan. The only difference was that the threat had forced them to finish it in a hurry.

(98,612,334, 1,008,037)

“Xu Fang, is there anything else that needs to be brought inside?”

“No.” Xu Fang laid an alloy panel dismantled from the aircraft across the cave entrance, blocking out the sunlight from outside.

“The rocks here are so cold.” Luo Xiaoming sat on the ground for a while, feeling the chill bite into her bones, then stood up again.

Aside from carrying things, there wasn’t much else Luo Xiaoming could help with, so she opened the “Natural Disaster Strategy Group.”

Xiao Ming had never interacted with the other authors before, and she was curious about what the authors’ circle was really like.

As soon as she entered the group, she saw someone with the nickname “Yoriko” talking to herself about strange things.

“Once this bizarre event is over, I’m going back to get married.”

“Waaah, I don’t want an immortal! (sob)”

“By the way, where’s that handsome guy Lao Mo? He hasn’t said anything in ages.”

“Where’s the hero? Someone come save us!”

Freaking out.jpg**Freaking out.jpg**Freaking out.jpg

Luo Xiaoming asked, “What are you talking about?”

“!!!”

Yoriko: “It’s here! The legendary ‘Singularity,’ the mysterious person behind Rules!”

Luo Xiaoming: “Hello, everyone. I’m Singularity.”

Empty: “Could you be Rules’ alt account?”

Xiao Ming knew that “Rules” was Xu Fang’s author alias, while she herself also had an identity called “Singularity.” At this moment, her nickname was exactly “Singularity.”

Singularity: “No. Why would you think that?”

Empty: “We’ve never met before. A pleasure to meet you.”

Owen: “Hello, let’s protect peace together.”

Owen: “Oh, I forgot to mention—none of the nuclear warheads being launched have yields over a million tons. Their destructive power is pretty ordinary.”

Yoriko: “Singularity, do you have any plan to turn this around?”

Luo Xiaoming: …

She felt she couldn’t say whatever came to mind, or she might disrupt Xu Fang’s arrangements.

Singularity: “Everyone, please focus on surviving for now.”

Xu Fang’s voice sounded beside her ear. “We’re more or less ready. We’ll have to stay here for at least a few hours.”

“Xu Fang, I just greeted the authors. Was it okay for me to say that?”

“It’s fine.”

Just then, Luo Xiaoming noticed that Xu Fang was holding a box about the size of a coffin.

“What’s that?”

“A mobile shelter made from a multilayer composite structure filled with flexible aluminum foam. Get inside.”

The box looked spacious from the outside, but the interior was somewhat cramped. All of its thickness had been devoted to defense. Apparently, a similar design had existed as far back as the last century, originally intended to protect important figures during explosions. It could block not only the shockwaves from outside, but sound as well—completely cutting it off.

Luo Xiaoming lay down and adjusted herself into a comfortable position, only to see Xu Fang crawl in as well and close the lid behind him.

“Huh? Why are you getting in too?”

“Of course. I need protection too.”

Ahaha, I thought you’d prepared it especially for me… Xiao Ming laughed as she thought, Xu Fang, isn’t this going to be cramped?

The space inside was so narrow that accommodating even one person was already a struggle.

“It’s enough.”

Luo Xiaoming felt the weight pressing down above her begin to lessen, spreading outward like water. Gradually, she felt her entire body covered by a thin membrane.

Xiao Ming couldn’t see what was happening in the darkness, but she could imagine it—the feeling was practically like being held in Xu Fang’s arms. Her face flushed slightly. She was far too aware of it, and her heart was pounding hard.

Suddenly, something cold covered her face. Luo Xiaoming almost cried out, but she soon felt air entering through the mask.

“This place is completely sealed off from the outside, so we need portable respirators.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t be nervous. We’ll be fine.”

“I’m not nervous,” she retorted. “…I’m just a little hot.”

Xu Fang closed his eyes and used the synchronization device to connect his consciousness to a duplicate thousands of kilometers away.

Xu Fang had prepared two duplicates, one to the east and one to the west, stationed in mountain ranges thousands of kilometers away along the same latitude. They were meant to provide early warning; if any missiles passed through the upper atmosphere, the duplicates would be able to observe them.

The western duplicate raised its head and saw several abnormal energy objects streak across the sky. A rough count put their number at nearly a hundred. They were flying at supersonic speeds at high altitude, making them difficult to detect even with the naked eye, let alone ordinary radar.

After seeing those high-speed objects, Xu Fang calculated that the nuclear warheads would arrive in half an hour. Their detonation point was indeed Xu Fang’s location. Judging from their energy signatures, none of the warheads had a yield exceeding a million tons. That meant they would have a hard time destroying the interior of the mountain. Owen’s information was accurate.

Half an hour later…

Although the mobile shelter could block most sound-wave energy, Luo Xiaoming still heard the dull booms of the nuclear explosions outside. That was the sound humans could hear, while Xu Fang received infrasound pulses across various frequencies. He instantly determined the distance of each explosion from its frequency.

They were airbursts. The nearest explosion was at least ten kilometers away in a straight line from his position. The yield was several hundred kilotons. The mountain had not been damaged.

All of those were optimistic results.

And yet Xu Fang felt that something was wrong.

He opened the group chat and asked Owen: “How many nuclear warheads does the Eternal Life Church have left? Can they launch another salvo?”

Five minutes later, Owen replied:

“None. I’ve used up every warhead they had in reserve. And because of the nuclear explosions, the United States is already in complete chaos. The only thing I’m worried about is retaliation from the other four nuclear powers among the permanent members, but the Eternal Life Church doesn’t control their weapons.”

“…Fuck, I need to switch servers. Talk to you later.”

The answer was more or less what Xu Fang had expected.

“We survived!” Luo Xiaoming exclaimed from underneath him, her voice full of relief.

“Don’t go outside yet. Close your eyes and get some sleep.”

“How am I supposed to sleep at a time like this?”

……

At first, Luo Xiaoming insisted she couldn’t sleep. But people entered sleep more easily in a relatively safe environment, and the fatigue from the day soon caught up with her. After closing her eyes for only a moment, she fell into a deep sleep.

When she woke again, Luo Xiaoming felt a dull ache in her neck. As expected, holding the same position in such a cramped space was uncomfortable.

She also felt an intense urge to urinate and needed to use the bathroom.

“You’re awake.”

“What time is it?”

“October 18, 8:45 a.m., B City time.”

“I slept for ten hours… Can we go outside now?”

“The conditions outside aren’t very good. It’s best to stay here.”

“Hey, I want to go out! I don’t want to be trapped in here anymore!”

“Fine. Wait two more hours.”

Luo Xiaoming squeezed her legs together and pleaded, “One hour at most, okay?”

While Luo Xiaoming slept, Xu Fang did a great many things.

He controlled his duplicates and investigated the surrounding environment.

All the nuclear warheads had detonated in the air, and their shockwaves had triggered the collapse of parts of the mountain.

The radiation produced by the nuclear explosions was strange—strange to an almost eerie degree.

The forests had turned to ash, the grasslands to wasteland, and the fish in the rivers had vanished without a trace. Thick, heavy clouds coiled across the sky. What showed through the gaps wasn’t sunlight, but radiation carrying residual heat.

For a thousand kilometers in every direction, not a blade of grass remained. Xu Fang had painstakingly dug a rodent out of a patch of mud. Once exposed to the air, its entire body visibly aged before his eyes. It struggled briefly, then died. The whole process took less than an hour.

Xu Fang sent his duplicates to find some healthy animals elsewhere. He collected some nuclear-contaminated water from a nearby river and gave it to a rat to drink.

The water contained radioactive nuclides. The concentration was diluted enough to affect the rat’s health without killing it.

The rat that drank the contaminated water rapidly aged and died within five minutes.

Xu Fang couldn’t help recalling the beam of light Bernice had summoned with a magic circle, as well as Lao Mo’s conclusions from his research on Bernice’s blood.

That beam of light might have been the “Blue Light of Death,” composed of neutron radiation and gamma rays. This radiation was even more dangerous than the radiation of the real world—some dangerous substance had been added to it, one with absolute destructive effects on living beings and organic matter. It would attach itself to a solvent, and no matter what form the solvent changed into, its existence would remain unaffected.

At the time, Lao Mo had given this bizarre substance a name: the Destruction Factor.

The radiation in the nuclear warheads contained the Destruction Factor.

From Xu Fang’s observations, the Destruction Factor spread through radiation and attached itself to water. It might also be capable of airborne transmission, but based on his observations of living creatures, as long as they weren’t exposed to nuclear radiation or consumed nuclear-contaminated materials, they wouldn’t suffer the destructive aging effect.

The Destruction Factor was so strongly attracted to water that the nearby seas must already have been completely contaminated. As time passed, there wouldn’t be a single uncontaminated place left in the world.

Xu Fang placed several healthy animals inside the cave.

After observing them for several hours, he found that the dog in one cage showed no changes, while the rat in the other cage was still lively and energetic.

The animals were indeed fine. But what if this substance could spread through the air specifically to humans?

Even if they wore respirators the entire time, their skin would still come into contact with the air.

Should they leave the cave and go somewhere else?

No. There wasn’t a safe place anywhere in this world. Any location could be hit by nuclear warheads. They might as well stay hidden in the cave.

Xu Fang needed to find a human for an experiment.

However, any person could be an immortal—or a potential immortal.

So he brought Daoist Empty over.

More precisely, he rescued him.

The Daoist priest was hiding overseas as well, far from the nuclear blast zone and unlikely to be affected.

Empty had thought he was safe, but who could have guessed that, after the explosion, heavy rain would suddenly begin falling where he was?

Looking out through the window, he saw birds dropping from the sky with loud pitter-patters, mixed in with the rain. People on the streets would run a few steps before collapsing in the downpour.

The cabbages planted outside wilted the moment the rain hit them.

This rain makes living things age?!

The Daoist priest’s eyes widened as he remembered the terror of being controlled by Bernice’s magic array.

Empty pulled out his phone to call for help, but there was no signal.

Seeing that his house was about to collapse as well, Empty put on layer after layer of clothing, donned a raincoat, opened an umbrella, and used every ounce of his strength to trek to the nearest signal tower. There, with a signal booster he’d prepared in advance, he sent his location to the authors’ group chat.

“Grandpas, save my life!”

……

At that moment, Empty was sitting in the cave where Xu Fang and Xiao Ming were staying, wearing a fresh set of clothes.

“Fellow Daoist Rule, thank you once again for saving my life. I’m eternally grateful.”

“I thought you were capable of protecting yourself.”

“I’m only an ordinary man. I survived by sheer luck, at the cost of countless sacrifices. Sigh… I’ve incurred another enormous debt of gratitude this time.”

“You’re the original body right now, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

When Xu Fang’s duplicate discovered the Daoist priest, one of his lives had already been devoured by the “Destruction Factor.” His second life had also been ravaged by aging, leaving him white-haired and white-bearded. Fortunately, Xu Fang arrived in time, so he didn’t die completely.

“Daoist priest, do me a favor.”

“Please, Rule, name it. Other than this life of mine, take whatever you want.”

“It’s nothing. Just stay here.” Xu Fang pointed at the “mobile shelter” beside them. “Singularity is still inside. I’m not sure whether the ‘Destruction Factor’ can contaminate the air, so I want to observe your condition. If it’s safe, I’ll let Singularity out.”

“Oh, no problem.”

Xu Fang chatted with the Daoist priest for a while. An hour later, after confirming that the priest’s body was unharmed, he opened the mobile shelter.

“Waaaah!!” The moment Luo Xiaoming stepped out, she saw an old man’s face and nearly peed herself.

A moment later, after taking care of her biological needs, Luo Xiaoming finally exchanged greetings with Empty and formally acknowledged him.

“Hey, Xu… Rule, can this old man really be trusted? He doesn’t look like a good person to me.” Luo Xiaoming didn’t call Xu Fang by name in front of outsiders.

“At least our goals are aligned, and he isn’t an immortal.”

Xu Fang and Luo Xiaoming’s “loud scheming” left Empty, sitting beside them, thoroughly embarrassed.

“Daoist priest, we can talk more openly now. My name is actually Xu Fang. The one beside me is Luo Xiaoming, though you can also call her ‘Singularity.’ We still don’t know why we entered this place.”

“My real name is Zhang Empty, and my occupation in the real world is obvious enough. I wrote a book called Exorcism Manual, which had already been completed before I entered the bizarre event. Sigh… Truthfully, I have no special talents. All the abilities and items you’ve seen came from the settings in my novel.”

“Is Exorcism Manual also a reality-type work?”

“That’s right.”

As it happened, before a certain website underwent a revision, reality-type authors could obtain some of the items from their own works at very little cost. The old “Name-Washing Card” and “Enhancement Card” had both come from the Horror System.

“What’s it mainly about?”

“It’s a collection of strange tales and unusual incidents set in the Qing Dynasty, presented in an episodic format. The book includes zombies, ghosts, monsters, and deformed heroes who roam the land. The ‘items’ I gave you before came from the strangest demon in the book—the Zhen Kui. The Zhen Kui’s design was inspired by the settings section. It’s a conceptual demon, without form or substance, capable of killing without a trace. The Zhen Kui develops followers from among humanity, and those followers can develop followers of their own. A follower can exchange a ‘price’ for anything they desire, but after paying the price again and again, the follower will eventually become a new Zhen Kui. I’ve always believed in the light, and later in the book, the protagonist defeats the last Zhen Kui in the world. Then, afterward…”

Xu Fang had already guessed what Empty wanted to say. “Don’t tell me it was rejected endlessly?”

Empty nodded bitterly. “You’re not wrong. Any description of the protagonist’s activities in the chapters that followed was rejected. In the end, I realized that the protagonist had probably died, or become a new Zhen Kui. So I simply stopped writing and ended the book.”

“…I suspect I may have become a follower of the Zhen Kui as well. I survived the bizarre event, but my relatives and friends have all been leaving me one after another. Still, as you said, those misfortunes may have been nothing more than coincidences.”

“Ugh…” The Daoist priest made it sound terrifying. Luo Xiaoming couldn’t help taking a step back, whether out of fear, disgust, or perhaps both.

Xu Fang understood their current predicament.

“The reason you survived the Eternal Life Church’s pursuit may be because you paid a ‘price,’ and that ‘price’ was giving me the ‘follower buff’… So now I might be a ‘follower of the Zhen Kui’ too?”

“The followers of the Zhen Kui cannot be distinguished. I have no way to prove it.”

“Is the price an active skill or a passive one?” Luo Xiaoming asked.

“If it were an active skill, would I be so troubled by it?”

“Fair point.”

“Surviving the Eternal Life Church’s pursuit still isn’t enough to confirm that it was the price. There were two other authors present at the time. Perhaps other factors led to that outcome.”

As Empty spoke, he didn’t dare raise his head to look Xu Fang in the eye. Back then, he had used repayment of a debt as an excuse to give Xu Fang the mysterious double-edged sword known as the “follower buff.” It had been a truly underhanded thing to do, and he felt he had no face to meet his benefactor.

Xu Fang said slowly, “Daoist priest, how about we continue discussing these bizarre matters after we return to the real world?”

Empty froze for a moment as warmth welled up in his heart. He hurriedly said, “I’d be delighted!”

Luo Xiaoming smiled. “Count me in, too.”

After that, the three of them chatted for a long while over food and water in the cold cave left behind by the nuclear blast. Luo Xiaoming occasionally asked questions or threw in sarcastic remarks from the side, and the atmosphere grew more and more congenial. If there had been alcohol, Empty would surely have downed three bowls in a row.

After revealing the secrets in his heart, Empty felt considerably more at ease.

Authors in the real world were hostile toward one another, so becoming friends during a bizarre event was a kind of fate in itself.

As they talked, the Daoist priest learned that Luo Xiaoming wasn’t an author at all. She was merely Xu Fang’s friend from the real world, and the reason she had entered this place was unknown as well. Perhaps because she wasn’t an author, she hadn’t been subjected to the constraints of iteration.

“Xu Fang… the numbers. What are they now?”

Xu Fang told Empty about the “Unspeakable” matter, but Empty didn’t understand it very well either. He also couldn’t see the “Unspeakable” through Moulin’s eye.

“Over three tens of millions on the left. On the right, only twenty thousand remain.”

“It was close to a hundred million at first, right?”

“Yeah.”

Empty’s expression turned solemn. “It’s only been a little over ten shichen since the nuclear blast, yet seventy percent of the population is already gone. This…”

The Daoist priest had meant to question it, but when he remembered how he had nearly been killed by a bout of acid rain, he could only let out a heavy sigh.

“The nuclear weapon contained the ‘Destruction’ Factor—the strange substance that Bernice’s magic array summoned back then. It’s far more potent than nuclear radiation, both in duration and lethality.”

Xiao Ming said, “I remember reading some science explanations before. Radiation only damages genes. Even if humans are exposed to excessive radiation and their genes are wrecked beyond recognition, they still won’t necessarily die immediately. Normal metabolism can keep them going for several days.”

The Daoist priest stroked his beard and nodded. “The evildoers of the Eternal Life Church are unbelievably treacherous. I only wonder whether the other authors were as lucky as I was.”

Perhaps the nuclear blast had destroyed the network, or perhaps the other authors had already perished. The authors’ group chat was utterly silent.

The chill in Empty’s heart grew even deeper. He took out a compass and muttered, “Better to believe it exists. I’ll make one more divination, just in case.”

“Is that an item?”

Empty gave an embarrassed laugh. “No, it’s just an ordinary compass. I learned the art of divination and fortune-telling from my sect. It isn’t profound scholarship—merely a skill for making a living.”

Xiao Ming asked bluntly, “You mean telling fortunes from a street stall?”

Empty had a distinct feeling that she was implying he was a con artist. “…That’s one way to put it.”

Of course, Xiao Ming was simply very interested. “Can you tell my fortune later?”

“Certainly. What would this good person like to know?”

“My future… my luck…” Luo Xiaoming glanced at Xu Fang and lowered her voice. “Or maybe something like my romantic prospects.”

What an ordinary request…

The Daoist priest smiled inwardly.

I’m far too familiar with this one—Empty had just been about to say that when Xu Fang spoke first. “Daoist priest, could you first calculate how many authors are still alive?”

Empty’s face fell. This was unknown territory.

————————————————

Three thousand meters beneath the deep sea.

Even through three thousand meters of water, the Nameless One could sense the immense energy released by nuclear fission. The entire underwater world was trembling.

After the trembling came endless silence.

The Nameless One sat perfectly still, watching the pitch-black deep sea outside through the electronic screen.

After an unknown amount of time, the lights above his head began to flicker.

Had something gone wrong with the power system?

The moment that thought flashed through the Nameless One’s mind, everything around him suddenly plunged into darkness.

The power was out.

The interior of the manned submersible was extremely cramped. He took out the light source he carried with him and crawled toward the power room.

After checking everything, the Nameless One confirmed that the power system hadn’t malfunctioned. The reason for the blackout was simply that there was no electricity left.

But that was strange. There was enough power here to keep the submersible running for a week. Why had it run out so quickly?

Unless… something had drained the power.

Could there be some strange creature in the deep sea that stole electricity?

Just then, he heard a faint sound.

The Nameless One pressed his ear against the cabin wall and listened carefully.

It sounded a little like the muffled tearing of layers of paper—fine and continuous.

The submersible’s hull was resisting something.

Here’s a horror story: deep sea, submersible, strange noises coming from the hull.

Maybe hiding in the sea had been the wrong decision…

The Nameless One thought.

The implosion happened within milliseconds. The submersible’s hull was instantly crushed flat.

——————————————

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a white space.

He rubbed his head. His hair felt a little stiff… He realized that he was Four-Eyes at that moment, not Ji Shuyu.

“What happened just now? Right, I think I was driving, and then a flash of white light suddenly streaked past outside…”

Four-Eyes was utterly horrified. He got to his feet and looked around.

“What the heck, where is this? The real world? Or a dream?”

“No way. I got here after only an hour? And it exploded right over my head? Owen, you bastard!”

“My phone, my phone…”

It wasn’t there.

“This is the world of the immortals.” A gentle woman’s voice came from behind him.

Four-Eyes turned around. When he saw who it was, his expression shifted from surprise to something complicated. “Who are you?”

“You’ve forgotten me already? I’m Bernice.”

Bernice raised her hand. A table unfolded in the void, followed by two chairs.

Two cups of steaming black tea appeared on the table.

“Please, sit.” Bernice smiled sweetly as she gestured for Four-Eyes to take a seat.

Four-Eyes didn’t sit down, much less touch the tea. “Are you the mastermind behind all this?”

“Could you not use such a derogatory term to describe a friend?”

“Hmph. Don’t act familiar. We’re not close. Tell me, what are you after?”

Bernice sat down and lifted her teacup with one hand, taking a delicate sip. “I want to share a story with you. A story about immortality.”

In a soft voice, Bernice explained the meaning of immortality to Four-Eyes.

Four-Eyes’s gaze grew colder and colder. Before long, he cut her off stiffly.

“You don’t need to say anything else. I get it. You’ve joined the Eternal Life Church, haven’t you?”

“The Eternal Life Church isn’t an enemy. Its true purpose is to grant civilization more years. Immortality is a wonderful thing.”

“And what does that have to do with me? I’m an ordinary person living in the real world, not a believer in your Eternal Life Church. Send me back to the real world!”

“Please don’t scold me in that tone. I only want you to happily integrate into this world, instead of repeatedly experiencing despair like that child.” Bernice looked deeply aggrieved, like a child who had done something good only to be scolded by an adult.

Looking at Bernice’s tearful expression, the anger in Four-Eyes’s heart vanished all at once. He suddenly remembered the woman who had collapsed before the magic array, consumed by despair and pain.

“Maybe your intentions are good, but I’ll never acknowledge the Eternal Life Church. Bernice, tell me—who is the true mastermind controlling the Eternal Life Church?”

“Ah…”

Space itself seemed to twist into some kind of disorder.

【All right, Four-Eyes. Let’s take our conversation to the next stage.】

Bernice vanished in the blink of an eye, and Four-Eyes realized in astonishment that he was speaking with an ordinary old man.

He was sitting down now, a teacup still in his right hand.

What had just happened? Four-Eyes inexplicably felt a cold sweat break out across his back.

What kind of being was I really playing against?

“Who are you, then? And where’s Bernice?” Four-Eyes asked, forcing himself to stay calm.

【You can call me Number Four.】 Number Four replied, 【Bernice has gone back to rest. I’ll be the one communicating with you.】

“Oh, I get it. You’re one of the immortals, and Bernice has been brainwashed by people like you until she can’t tell reality from delusion.”

【You’re clever, and rational too. That makes you a rather troublesome author.】

“If you already know I’m an author, why oppose me? What do you stand to gain?”

Number Four looked at you but didn’t answer Four-Eyes’s question.

【You still haven’t realized your situation.】 Number Four spoke calmly. 【This is the world of eternal life, the territory of the immortals. No matter who you are, you have no choice but to become immortal.】

Four-Eyes let out a cold laugh. “Is that a threat? A lot of people have said things like that to me before. Guess what happened to them in the end?”

【As the author of that website, you really can toy with the people of this world through the words you write.】

“Then why oppose me? Do you really think I have no way to fight back just because I came here?”

Number Four continued speaking as if to himself: 【Four-Eyes, next we’re going to conduct a “boundary-crossing test” on you. Once it’s over, you’ll acknowledge the Eternal Life Church and willingly become one of its members. Just like all the other authors before you.】

Four-Eyes had no idea what a “boundary-crossing test” was, but it was probably something similar to brainwashing. He roared, “If you dare touch me, you’ll pay for it!”

【And what price would that be?】

Four-Eyes spoke in a low voice. “What’s more terrifying than an author? The website itself. Before I even came here, I made preparations. If I don’t go online for a certain length of time, everyone in the world of eternal life will learn the name of that website. You’re not afraid of an author—but are you really not afraid of that website?”

Four-Eyes forced a stiff smile and played his final trump card.

Nearly a minute of silence finally ended with Number Four’s laughter.

【The Lord doesn’t care.】

【Four-Eyes, once you become part of the Eternal Life Church, you’ll understand how laughable your current thoughts are.】

——————————————

“Tsk, they’re all auspicious signs. Every last one of them.” Empty stared helplessly at the compass. “When something abnormal happens, an auspicious sign becomes an ominous one. The other authors are probably in for a bad time.”

Two days had passed since the Taoist priest was rescued. Every time he woke up, he cast another divination with the compass.

But the results were never encouraging.

Luo Xiaoming’s supplies of food and water were more than sufficient, and the inside of the cave hadn’t been contaminated, so these two days had been relatively safe.

However, the outside world had already undergone earth-shaking changes.

Earth was now completely unfit for carbon-based life.

“I have something important to tell you,” Xu Fang suddenly said.

“Hm?”

“There’s only one person left in this world.”

Xu Fang continued, “Over the past two days, I used my duplicates to rescue several hundred people and move them to safe places. But in the end, they all died. Most of them had come into contact with the Destruction Factor, which caused their bodies to deteriorate. A few developed symptoms similar to Moulin’s and died when their bodies completely collapsed.”

“What’s the number now?”

“Just two hours ago, it became ‘one.’”

“Who’s the last person?”

“That number might mean ‘the humans in the world of eternal life.’ It might also mean ‘the immortals.’ But the one thing it can’t possibly mean is the authors.”

Xu Fang and Empty were authors too, so the number of surviving authors should be at least two.

“That’s great! We’re almost there!” Luo Xiaoming’s spirits lifted. “Whether the last one is an immortal or a human, as long as it disappears, we win, right?”

Ye Zhi’s plan for the second playthrough was about to be realized in another way.

Victory was within reach.

“Y-Yes…” The Taoist priest looked troubled, as if he had thought of something.

“Who’s the last person? I think it’s an immortal. It must be hiding somewhere and barely hanging on. Is there any way we can launch an attack ourselves? Taoist priest, can you divine its location?”

The Taoist priest looked distressed and simply stared at Xu Fang.

Luo Xiaoming blinked and looked toward Xu Fang as well, only to find Xu Fang already watching him.

“What’s wrong? Why isn’t anyone saying anything? Did you figure something out?”

“Luo Xiaoming, let me confirm one more time—you’re not an author, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I told you that before… Ah…”

Halfway through his sentence, Luo Xiaoming’s eyes widened as realization finally dawned on him.

“The last person… is me?”