Downpour

After several moves, Bai Zhi and Xu Lian settled down temporarily in another room.

"Don't worry, it's just a minor injury. Although it looks serious on the surface, it's actually just a small wound."

He took out Medicine Box from his Inventory, treated the wound, applied medicine, and bandaged it. Looking at the Young Girl in front of him, who was sweating profusely from the pain, Bai Zhi began to speak.

"A superficial injury... then what constitutes a serious injury?"

Wiping the cold sweat from her brow, Xu Lian forced a smile.

"If this kind of attack happens a few more times, I think I might die here. Those things..."

"Clearly, we've encountered an Anomaly."

As Bai Zhi tidied up the remaining bandages and other medical supplies, he spoke.

"These Anomaly are triggered when more than one person gathers, which is why we weren't in the same place at the beginning."

"Anomaly... Are they specifically targeting me?"

Xu Lian was slightly taken aback.

"This isn't directed at you, it's directed at everyone in this wilderness."

Shaking his head, Bai Zhi put the items back into his Inventory and turned to look at the other person.

The room they were in now was a bit more dilapidated than the previous office. In the very center of the room, a roaring fire had been lit, dispelling the surrounding darkness and chill.

"The weaker the person, the more deeply they are affected. In this wilderness, there should be no survivors left... No, if they are ruthless enough, there might still be survivors."

After considering for a moment, Bai Zhi glanced outside and nodded thoughtfully.

"That's right, I've basically figured out the rules of this Anomaly. It's a kind of Anomaly that's troublesome in a certain sense, but quite easy to avoid."

"... So you've basically figured it out?"

Upon hearing Bai Zhi's words, Xu Lian's lips twitched slightly.

So what exactly is this Anomaly?

"Let me ask you a question. You have two eyes. If you choose to close one eye, what will happen?"

Shrugging, Bai Zhi turned to look at the other person.

In his view, the other person's head was in an abnormally distorted position, a pose that a living person could not possibly adopt, yet the other person seemed completely unaware of it.

On the other hand, from the perspective of God's Perspective provided by [Pluto], the Young Girl in front of them appears normal.

"Uh... will it affect my vision?"

"No, it's that half of the enemies in front of you will be gone."

Bai Zhi held up a finger in front of him, his face serious.

"... burying one's head in the sand?"

After a moment of silence, Xu Lian spoke without saying a word.

"If we follow your logic, does closing all my eyes mean I've eliminated all the enemies in front of me?"

"We don't need to talk about logic when it comes to Anomaly; we just need to figure out their rules."

Bai Zhi pulled a piece of black cloth from his Inventory, looked at the Young Girl in front of him, and spoke calmly.

"Close your eyes, I'll blindfold you."

"Wait, if I can't see them anymore, what if those things come back and we're all wiped out?"

Feeling quite puzzled by Bai Zhi's behavior, Xu Lian unconsciously shrank back while quickly speaking up.

"After all, only I can see those things..."

"It's precisely because only you can see it, and I can't, that I established the rules of this Anomaly."

Bai Zhi stopped what he was doing and pointed to his eyes.

"What's affected is our eyes."

"Eyes... eyes?"

After hearing Bai Zhi's words, Xu Lian was slightly stunned.

"That's right. To put it simply, it means that what you see only exists in your eyes, which is why you can see those things, while I can't."

As he folded the black cloth in his hand, Bai Zhi patiently began to explain.

"Actually, it's not just you; I've seen some strange things too. But if we don't look with our eyes, but observe from other perspectives, then those things are all illusions."

"Illusion... fantasy?"

Xu Lian seemed to have a clear inability to understand this explanation.

"That's right. For example, what I see of you right now is a headless corpse. And from the scarf you're wearing around your neck, white Worm are constantly crawling out..."

"Stop talking, I feel really uncomfortable right now."

Xu Lian shivered involuntarily and hurriedly used her left hand to pull off the scarf tied around her neck and threw it into the fire.

"According to you, what you say might actually become reality, right? Just like that attack before... If you say things so openly, I feel like I'm in danger?"

"That's right, this is a terrifying Anomaly that gradually turns what people see into reality."

Holding the rolled-up black cloth, Bai Zhi walked up to the other person and began to speak calmly.

"When multiple people gather, this Anomaly will be triggered. Depending on each person's overall strength, what each person sees and the degree of influence they experience will vary... Close your eyes."

"Oh..."

While racking her brains to understand the meaning of what the other person was saying, Xu Lian obediently closed her eyes.

"If that's the case... is it because you're stronger than me that you weren't affected?"

"No, I was affected in the same way, only very slightly. As long as you firmly believe in your heart that they are false, then they can never manifest as reality."

As he helped blindfold the other person, Bai Zhi continued to explain.

"And as time goes on, what you see will become increasingly terrifying, and will begin to Fantasy Manifestation into reality. The more you personally believe in the existence of those things, the faster they will become reality... Just like before, compared to when we were in the car at the beginning, they clearly possessed the ability to interfere with reality."

Since Bai Zhi really wasn't good at tying bows, he simply tied a knot behind the other person's head.

"And at the same time, because they are illusions that only exist in your eyes, they cannot harm me. Otherwise, after falling into the darkness, they should have attacked me, who was obviously stronger."

"Wait, if that's the case, if you really think I'm dead, then am I really dead now?"

Everything suddenly plunged into darkness, and Xu Lian clearly seemed quite uncomfortable, unconsciously reaching out to grab the hem of his clothes.

"If it were anyone else, I feel I would have died a very unjust death..."

"So that's the difference between difficulty levels B and S. If you're playing solo, the difficulty is B-rank; you just need to spend six hours in the wilderness and wait for the Safe Evacuation Point to open. But if you encounter other Player, the difficulty will jump dramatically to S-rank."

Bai Zhi glanced at the other person's left hand, which was nervously clutching the hem of his clothes, and simply reached out and took the other person's hand.

"We can't let those things keep appearing. Otherwise, if this continues, by the time I can see them too, they'll have truly stepped out of the fantasy world. And at that point, who knows what Bizarre Abilities you'll bestow upon them... like the previous Five-Horse Dismemberment."

"... So, I really am still a burden?"

Feeling her hand suddenly being grasped, the Young Girl's body stiffened slightly at first, then she gripped that hand tightly.

In the pitch-black world before her, only that hand could bring her a sliver of security.

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have ended up like this, right? After all, if you could act alone without any danger..."

Her words carried a slight hint of frustration.

"No, without you, I might have been in an even more dangerous situation."

After thinking for a moment, Bai Zhi nodded.

"In this wilderness, even if I hadn't encountered you, I would have met others. And in our eyes, there's little difference between fantasy and reality; they're practically indistinguishable. If you don't understand the rules of this Anomaly from the beginning, the other party will unknowingly materialize from the fantasy... The two people you saw were only the second time they attacked, and they already had the ability to interfere with reality. The third time, they'll probably be fully realized."

"If that's how the rules are... then as long as I close my eyes like this, there's no danger?"

Xu Lian was slightly stunned.

"Who said that? You can't see anything in this godforsaken place, which is obviously more dangerous, okay?"

With a slight pout, Bai Zhi pulled the other person to sit down by the fire.

"Don't forget where we are right now."

"... an abandoned... city?"

How many people do you think lived in this city before it was destroyed?

"Well..."

"Just imagine it for a moment: this Anomaly descends upon this city and spreads rapidly like a virus, infecting everyone in the city. Then more and more Monster appear in the city, causing riots and ultimately destruction."

"... In this city, there are many Monsters that have been brought to life from the realm of fantasy?"

"That's for sure."

Bai Zhi calmly spoke.

"For Player like me, that's probably where the difficulty lies. Because everything you see is real, even illusions are real, and you simply can't tell the difference. You don't know whether it's Monster in your imagination or Monster that actually exists, so you need Teammate to help you distinguish..."

"Imagine this: you thought it was Monster from your imagination, so you didn't take it seriously, but it turns out it's a real Monster. You thought it was a real Monster, but in reality, it's Monster from your imagination that's gradually becoming reality... That's roughly the situation."

"Then, surely I shouldn't be blindfolded now? If I weren't there to help you distinguish those things..."

After a slight pause, Xu Lian instinctively tried to remove the blindfold from her eyes, but she couldn't break free from Bai Zhi's grasp.

"Those are other people. I don't need them. I have other ways to determine whether these are illusions or reality."

While poking at the fire in front of him with a stick, Bai Zhi shook his head slightly.

"The Anomaly only affect our eyes and what we see. As long as we don't observe with our eyes, it's fine. Besides, I'm much stronger than you, so I'm less affected."

"Uh... right, why did I see Monster, but you only saw me dead?"

The Young Girl unconsciously leaned closer to the other person and asked, somewhat puzzled.

Even if you are less affected, that still...

"Perhaps it's because I'll get relevant information from you that this Anomaly is so eager to kill you first, who knows?"

Bai Zhi looked unconvinced.

"Besides, what I see in you is actually a Monster as well, the two are essentially the same... Oh, right, put this on."

"What is this... a raincoat? Are we leaving this place?"

Feeling the oversized raincoat being put on her, Xu Lian was slightly taken aback.

Whether it was her imagination or not, with her hearing becoming even more acute after her vision was blocked, she vaguely heard some different sounds coming from the torrential rain outside.

"... Have the Monster in the city been alerted?"

"If there are any intelligent people in this city, then there must be survivors. If the Monster that appear from fantasy can be altered according to human will, then there might be Monster in this city that hunt those Monsters... So there aren't as many Monsters in this city as we imagine."

The [Magic Type] silently slipped into his palm, while he muttered something to himself. Bai Zhi pulled the other person up from beside the fire.

"I'll lend you the Plush Cat. In about half an hour, the location of the Safe Evacuation Point will appear. Then you ride the Plush Cat there. Your hand injury needs more professional treatment, understand?"

"Wait, what about you!? Shouldn't you also..."

"Alright, don't have any thoughts of resistance."

In the darkness, as those words rang out, before she could even react, a torrential downpour lashed at her. Her figure appeared on the back of Plush Cat running away from the city, the sound of rain roaring all around.

The rain poured down.