[Wasteland]

Dora sighed and crawled back to Song Shige's side to rest.

Why bother with all that? If you wake up, it's time; if you don't, it's the end.

Song Shige slowly opened his eyes, looked at Dora who had fallen beside him, and his gaze swept over a thin strand of Rainbow Threads on the top of her head.

Looking into the distance, in the vast desolate landscape, most of the Survivors have one or more wisps of delicate, Rainbow Threads hanging from their heads.

The Rainbow Threads, transparent and slightly luminous, as fine as hair, silently absorbed the remaining Origin and vitality of these people.

Since when, on this desolate and lifeless land, most of the Survivors have been trapped in the boundless Illusion Realm woven by the Silk Woman!

The Rainbow Threads that flutter gently in the air may seem beautiful, but they are actually a deadly net that binds the soul and plunders energy.

Their energy was not only being devoured by the [Wasteland], but also by the Silk Woman.

Admittedly, every time Survivor activates their ability, it accelerates the process of their own Origin being devoured by the [Wasteland].

But as long as the benefits gained from using one's abilities outweigh the rate at which Origin is lost, then all adventures are worthwhile.

Silk Woman happens to have that ability, so most Survivors, whose Origin is already weakened, are powerless to resist the layered Illusion Realm that Corrosion, and can only become Silk Woman's "energy donors," continuously supplying her with energy.

Song Shige withdrew his gaze, ignoring Dora who was lying there waiting to die.

His Attributes, Blood City, Martial Will, and so on, are all being slowly devoured by the [Wasteland].

Even though the Survivors ' Essence Attributes haven't been unlocked yet, and what's being shown now are the revamped Attributes, the Essence Attributes on the Survivors ' stats panels are slowly decreasing!

This process of absorption is extremely terrifying; it is irreversible.

In other words, once you're swallowed up, you're swallowed up, and you'll remain the same after leaving the Large Dungeon; there's no difference.

It's even more terrifying than the [Severe Punishment] Attribute reduction from the previous Continued Battle. At least that could be exempted by consuming a large amount of Survival Coins in the System Store, but this Essence of being devoured is irreversible.

No one knows how long they will be trapped and die in the [Wasteland].

Perhaps the next era will return to normal, or perhaps we may have to wait until the World Destruction and the Large Dungeon ends before we can leave.

The best hope is that when the Third Era ends, they will be carried along to the next Age, escaping the [Wasteland].

If this is the premise, then theoretically there is a method that might be able to avoid a significant drop in Essence.

That means in the short time before the era ends, you have to kill all the Survivors ten or more times in a row!

In this way, the Essence dropped upon death will randomly drop onto other Survivors. As long as enough other Survivors die, one's Essence can be replenished in a short time!

Furthermore, it avoids the problem that the higher the Essence, the more it drops, essentially allowing other Survivors to "keep their Essence warm."

Silk Woman is trying this method.

She dragged most of the Survivors into the Illusion Realm, using the disguised information to drain their energy and maintain her own.

When this era is about to end, we'll quickly trap these Survivors at their Resurrection point to farm their Essence.

The few remaining Survivors were not controlled by the Silk Woman's Illusion Realm, but they remained silent, including Song Shige.

Because of the inherently Essence drop mechanism, they will also be beneficiaries.

At that moment, Song Shige felt a certain sensation being directed at him.

Sure enough, the next instant, an encrypted mental transmission of unknown origin reached Song Shige.

But it doesn't matter if we can't find the source; Song Shige is familiar with this method, having seen it during the previous chaotic battles.

He knew the person who sent this message.

The Survivor on the Technology Side is named [Shen Haozi]. He fought against Su Luo in the previous era and was eventually blasted into pieces. He was also trapped in Blood City by Su Luo during the previous melee.

The Survivors in this game are all at least those who survived the end of the previous era; they just had bad luck and encountered a bug.

In other words, [Shen Haozi] did not actually die after fighting Su Luo, but Jingjing found a place to hide.

That's quite a survival skill.

"I don't believe the Silk Woman will let us sit back and reap the benefits. She's just too busy and unable to trap us awakened ones in her Illusion Realm cage right now, but that doesn't mean she'll let us off the hook in the final reckoning of the era. When she's finished harvesting the Origin of ordinary Survivors, her primary target will be us, the uncontrollable outcasts."

Come find me.

The meaning of [Shen Haozi]'s encrypted telepathic message is very clear: we cannot sit idly by and wait for our doom.

From any perspective, one person has no chance of winning against the Silk Woman alone; all forces that can be united must be united.

There are no grudges between Survivors in different Survivor worlds; there are only interests involved.

For a top-tier item, past favors of saving lives can be cast aside, leading to a desperate fight to the brink of death; to combat a common, deadly enemy, deep-seated hatred can be temporarily set aside, with concessions and mutual benefits offered in exchange for a win-win situation...

In Survival Games, all choices, all trade-offs, all sides, ultimately lead to only two words: survival.

Song Shige did not reply; he had no intention of cooperating.

"If you're worried about my current mental encryption being leaked, that's fine. In the current situation, two Survivors who haven't been confused establishing contact are most likely plotting against Silk Woman, and she couldn't possibly crack my mental encryption. This is supported by a [Pseudo-Epic] level Legendary item."

[Shen Haozi] did not give up; he had high hopes for Song Shige.

In the previous chaotic battle, Song Shige was the Survivor died the fewest, only once, second only to [Silk Woman] and [Dick Lang] who did not die. Most of the other Survivors could not damage him.

"You don't need to worry about this or that. If we don't even try, we're almost certainly going to die..."

Song Shige seemed impatient, pointing to the shrunken cocoon in the air, then clearly indicating his intention to point at [Shen Haozi].

"No need for pretense, I can find you."

[Shen Haozi] shut his mouth.

What's the difference between what you did and calling the police because the girl you met in Park Chang's hotel room provided bad service?

We'll both be in trouble, okay?

Shen Haozi lay down.

Song Shige then withdrew his gaze.

At this moment, several wisps of delicate, Rainbow Threads were still wrapped around Shen Haozi's head.

He never escaped the shackles of the Illusion Realm.

There is indeed a small number of Survivor are not trapped in the Illusion Realm, but [Shen Haozi] is not among them.

Even [Shen Haozi]'s request for cooperation was merely [Silk Woman]'s test, a gamble on whether he could distinguish whether the Divine Ability came from [Shen Haozi], in order to develop further cooperation and employ more methods.

He was speaking to the Silk Woman.

In fact, Song Shige didn't know whether he had been affected or not; everything he was seeing might be Illusion Realm.

So he did nothing, and while the other Survivors struggled, he sat there pondering for three days and three nights.