“The true weakness of the Eternal Life Church? I can hardly wait…” Xu Fang muttered in a voice only he could hear.

After the curtain fell, Xu Fang found himself standing at the lectern in a classroom. Behind him was a blackboard, while twelve students sat scattered across the room before him.

On closer inspection, all these “students” were people he knew.

In the front row, Morton was intently reading Evolution of Physics. “Xu Fang” stared over at him expressionlessly. Owen kept looking left and right, overflowing with curiosity. Yezhi, her face wrapped completely in bandages, sat closest to the door.

In the middle row, at the far left, was an ordinary-looking boy. Xu Fang had never seen that face before, but he could sense an aura similar to Black Frame’s. Beside him sat a white-haired beauty who looked as if she’d stepped straight out of an anime—Ji Shuyu. Farther to the right was the young Professor Simpson. At the far right sat Nobody, though Xu Fang knew perfectly well that this “Nobody” was an immortal in disguise.

In the back row, JK Yoriko was bored out of her mind as she played with her own nail art. The Daoist studied the compass in his hand with a solemn expression while sneaking glances at the beauty beside him. Bernice and Moulin held hands, whispering intimately to each other.

The only people present were the participants in the game: Xu Fang and the twelve immortal overseers.

An electronic clock hung above the blackboard. Its display showed a countdown: 09:50.

Xu Fang had nine minutes and fifty seconds to question the twelve disguised immortals.

He now had to find Number 2 or Number 12. Only their answers would be meaningful. The other immortals wouldn’t give him accurate answers—in fact, they might even deliberately mislead him.

The restrictions also required Xu Fang to distinguish the immortals’ identities solely by asking questions, leaving him no chance to try any other method.

The first thing Xu Fang thought of was the classic Boolos puzzle: There are three gods—one True God who always tells the truth, one False God who always lies, and one Random God who answers either truthfully or falsely at random. By asking yes-or-no questions, how can you determine their identities with the fewest questions? It was a puzzle that put one’s logic to the test.

But the method used for that puzzle was completely unsuited to the current situation. There were a full ten “Random Gods” here.

The most dangerous thing had never been lies, but lies mixed in with the truth.

Then he could only use the process of elimination.

Xu Fang didn’t have much time left to think, so he selected his first target.

Xu Fang walked up to “Xu Fang” and asked:

“Do you know that, regarding the question ‘Is it correct that you aren’t Number 2?’, there’s a situation in which Numbers 2 and 12 give the same answer?”

“Xu Fang” opened and closed his mouth, unable to answer.

Xu Fang understood. “Xu Fang” was neither Number 2 nor Number 12. Its identity was no longer important.

Only Numbers 2 and 12 could answer that question.

Number 2 would answer, “Yes.” For Number 2, the question “Is it correct that you aren’t Number 2?” was false, while for Number 12 it was true. But since Number 12 would lie, Number 12 would also answer, “Yes.” Thus, Number 2 knew that in this situation, Numbers 2 and 12 would give the same answer.

Number 12 would answer, “No.” Number 12 also knew that Numbers 2 and 12 would give the same answer in this situation, but because Number 12 had to lie, it would deny that fact.

Anyone who was neither Number 2 nor Number 12 only knew that Numbers 2 and 12 would give different answers in every situation. They didn’t know about the situation in which the answers matched, and therefore couldn’t answer.

Xu Fang asked the same question to the boy at the far left of the middle row, the Daoist, and Yezhi. None of them could answer.

It wasn’t until Xu Fang asked “Yoriko” that he got a response. She gave him a playful smile and wrote a character on a sheet of paper:

「是」

Xu Fang: ?

These were characters unique to Black Frame.

The Eternal Life Church had played a word game with him. It had only said to answer with “yes” or “no,” but it had never specified which language to use.

Xu Fang froze for only a moment before realizing that it wasn’t a problem.

At least “Yoriko” had given him an answer. She was the immortal he was looking for, even though he still wasn’t sure whether she was Number 2 or Number 12.

Xu Fang didn’t want to waste his precious questions figuring out the meaning of 「是」 or “Yoriko’s” identity.

What should he ask? Xu Fang wasn’t going to ask a question like “Is the Eternal Life Church’s weakness XXX?” and rely on blind guessing. He needed to piece together a complete chain of events from everything he had experienced before and after entering the immortal world. At the same time, he had to understand the nature and purpose of the Eternal Life Church. Once he did, the answer would reveal itself.

He glanced at the countdown. 08:48.

Xu Fang pulled over a chair, sat down beside “Yoriko,” and quickly wrote on the paper:

“If I ask you, ‘Is it a bizarre event when the immortal world iterates, and not a bizarre event when it doesn’t iterate?’, will you answer 「是」?”

This was an all-purpose question for dealing with the “True and False Gods.”

I. If 「是」 meant “yes,” and the statement “It’s a bizarre event when the immortal world iterates, and not a bizarre event when it doesn’t iterate” was true.

Number 2 would answer yes to the fact. Since 「是」 meant “yes,” Number 2 would say 「是」. In the end, answering truthfully, Number 2 would say 「是」.

Number 12 would answer no to the fact. Since 「是」 meant “yes,” Number 12 wouldn’t say 「是」. In the end, answering falsely, Number 12 would say 「是」.

II. If 「是」 meant “no,” and the statement “It’s a bizarre event when the immortal world iterates, and not a bizarre event when it doesn’t iterate” was true.

Number 2 would answer yes to the fact. Since 「是」 meant “no,” Number 2 wouldn’t say 「是」. In the end, answering truthfully, Number 2 wouldn’t say 「是」.

Number 12 would answer no to the fact. Since 「是」 meant “no,” Number 12 wouldn’t say 「是」. In the end, answering falsely, Number 12 wouldn’t say 「是」.

Double affirmation equals affirmation equals double negation.

According to this logic, regardless of what 「是」 meant, and regardless of “Yoriko’s” identity, Xu Fang could obtain the answer he wanted.

“Yoriko” wrote her answer:

「是」

Seeing that answer, one of the puzzles in Xu Fang’s heart was solved.

Back then, Xu Fang had clearly used the Night Voucher, yet he hadn’t left the immortal world. It had merely returned the “reincarnation” to its starting point. The item hadn’t failed. Rather, the immortal world stopping—ceasing to iterate—was reality, while its moving—iterating—was a bizarre event. One moving and one still: they were two different worlds. To humans, that concept was simply too abstract.

Xu Fang immediately wrote down another prepared question:

“If I ask you, ‘Was my entry into the immortal world caused by the All-Seeing Eye?’, will you answer 「是」?”

“Yoriko” immediately wrote her answer:

「еђ¦」

It was a new word, different from 「是」.

Xu Fang frowned. So it had nothing to do with the All-Seeing Eye? Based on Luo Xiaoming’s description, he’d originally thought the All-Seeing Eye had been involved at least to some extent. That meant he could rule out the possibility that the Eternal Life Church was cooperating with the All-Seeing Eye. Perhaps the truth was somewhat simpler than he’d imagined.

The countdown read 07:35.

“If I ask you, ‘Immortals can achieve immortality only by using authors’, will you answer 「是」?”

“Yoriko” wrote her answer: 「是」

As expected, the immortals were obsessed with authors in order to achieve immortality. They didn’t seem to place particularly great importance on Singularity Individuals. Horror Novel Web could “create” authors, and the Eternal Life Church was connected to Horror Novel Web by countless hidden threads. In that case, it made perfect sense for the Little Black Man to have appeared here.

So Horror Novel Web was the culprit behind Xu Fang’s entry into the immortal world?

Why would that website do this?

After comparing the experiences of the other authors, Xu Fang faintly arrived at an answer.

Perhaps an author had done something that crossed the website’s bottom line—like finishing their novel.

But what had Xu Fang done? Could it have been because he had used that website to deal with the God of Destruction? The timing did line up.

Xu Fang glanced at the time. 06:52. He had four questions left.

Just how many immortals were there in the immortal world? There were countless numbers of them in the upper world, yet the lower world had only thirteen overseers. Then what were all those immortals above—artificial intelligences? Those ordinary immortals really weren’t very bright.

Xu Fang continued recalling the past and suddenly remembered the immortal who had preached on the train. Back then, that immortal had said a strange word: “reader.”

At the time, Xu Fang’s memories had been incomplete, so he hadn’t paid much attention. But now that he thought about it carefully, something was very wrong.

If there were “authors,” then were there also “readers”?

“If I ask you, ‘Is the immortal world being observed by “readers”?’, will you answer 「是」?”

“Yoriko” wrote her answer: 「是」

…The concept of the immortal world was becoming more and more abstract.

Xu Fang thought for a moment, then asked his tenth question: “If I ask you, ‘Measured by time in the real world, has the Eternal Life Church existed for less than fifty million years?’, will you answer 「是」?”

The immortal beside him gave an answer: 「еђ¦」

Since he’d already been mentally prepared, Xu Fang wasn’t particularly surprised. It could now be confirmed that the Eternal Life Church hadn’t been created by humans. It might have come from aliens, or it might have been the product of a former civilization. These bizarre-looking immortals might barely include any humans at all.

Three minutes remained. He had one last chance to ask a question.

Xu Fang thought for a moment, then asked his final question:

“If I ask you, ‘Compared with authors, is the immortal world’s function similar to a “boundary-crossing test” used more by immortals?’, will you answer 「是」?”

「是」

…

【The questioning is over. Xu Fang, please state the “answer.”】

A curtain fell. Xu Fang took several steps back, and the twelve immortal overseers, restored to their original forms, reappeared before him.

Number 1 reappeared beside Xu Fang and quietly waited for him to announce his answer.

Number 3 looked at Xu Fang with a complicated expression, unable to figure out what he was thinking.

Xu Fang had come dangerously close to touching the true weakness of the Eternal Life Church.

It was the question about “readers.” Why had Xu Fang suddenly asked about “readers” for no apparent reason?

It had never implanted the concept of “readers” in Xu Fang’s mind. So why had he asked about them?

Even stranger, after asking about “readers” once, Xu Fang hadn’t followed up. It was as if he’d simply asked on a whim.

Had he already guessed it?

【Go on, Xu Fang. If you don’t say it, I’ll assume you didn’t find the “answer.”】

Xu Fang slowly raised his head, his sharp gaze sweeping across every immortal present. “The answer is… the true weakness of the Eternal Life Church is immortality.”

Immortality.

The instant before Xu Fang stated his answer, it was as if every immortal’s heartbeat had stopped for half a beat. But after hearing his answer, they felt an absurd sense of contrast.

With how serious you looked, I thought you’d figured it out.

Unfortunately, you still hadn’t guessed the true answer that was right within reach: the fourth wall.

【Xu Fang, you’re wrong!】

“Don’t rush to deny it. This is the verification phase.”