Light in the Darkness

After driving for more than half an hour along the route he remembered, Bai Zhi saw the White Dividing Line.

It was as if half of a blackboard was covered with White Chalk, and outside that dividing line, there was only an extremely thick White Mist.

The fog was several tens of meters high, equivalent to the height of a ten-story building, almost obscuring half of the sky. Following this white line, the fog stretched endlessly to the left and right, with no end in sight.

--To be honest, it looked quite spectacular.

Stopping about several tens of meters from the edge of the fog, Bai Zhi approached the Mist Wall at close range.

Just a step away, the white mist surged and churned, but it never broke through that boundary.

After a moment's thought, Bai Zhi roughly understood why the fog had stopped.

The wilderness is not a safe place; it is home to all sorts of bloodthirsty Monster, as well as more than a dozen confirmed areas of Anomaly. The fog will not treat those things differently.

Is it gradually encroaching on the entire wilderness?

Thinking of this, Bai Zhi couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.

According to the information from the Campus Belle and the Night Owl, the entire wilderness is surrounded by this Mist Wall, and in three days, this fog will spread to the city.

"Protective Suit, oxygen tanks, and we still need to go to the Garbage Heap to look for Hitomi..."

After standing still for a moment and pondering, Bai Zhi mentally planned his next move.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, the fog in front of him suddenly surged, and a moment later, a man who looked extremely miserable stumbled out and fell down in front of Bai Zhi.

Stones, tree roots, grass, pebbles... these things were densely packed together with his body, and the place where his eyes were had been replaced by two stones that had merged with his eyes, making his face look quite terrifying.

"Retribution, this is all retribution..."

Unaware of the white paper, the man, who had escaped from the fog with his last breath, let out a few bitter laughs.

After struggling to rummage through his body with his disfigured hands for a while, the man seemed to throw a card away with great resentment, and then reached out and pulled a loop on his body.

"At the very least, don't become that kind of terrifying thing... In the end, it was humanity that destroyed itself..."

As the man muttered to himself, flames suddenly erupted from his body, burning him to ashes in no time.

"..."

Slightly narrowing his eyes, Bai Zhi bent down and picked up the card that had fallen in front of him.

From the outside, the card looks ordinary; it appears to be a pass for some kind of place.

"Humanity destroyed itself..."

Looking up at the Mist Wall in front of him, Bai Zhi hesitated for a moment, then turned back to his motorcycle and rode towards the town.

Some things are not as simple as they seem on the surface.

About an hour and a half later, Bai Zhi returned to town.

First, he went to check out the Doctor's house from his last Dungeon run, but it was empty. He learned from other people that a Doctor who used to live there had vanished a few days ago due to excessive debt.

"Character filling... Is this how this Dungeon works?"

After thinking for a moment, Bai Zhi turned around and headed towards the Wolf Gang.

He had repaired the [Beat Up Doll] with Game Coins after its Durability was depleted. Without the threat of attacks from afar and sniper shots from the shadows, the so-called Wolf Gang was nothing more than a rabble.

Although he loathed darkness, that did not mean he was willing to turn away and pretend that darkness did not exist.

This time there was no extra time limit; everyone in the Wolf Gang was wiped out.

"Crime must be punished, and evil must be eradicated."

With a snap, Bai Zhi reloaded the magazine, not even bothering to glance at the Hyena lying dead with its eyes wide open in front of him. He picked up the Key from the ground beside him.

The entire incident lasted for more than half an hour. Now, the entire Wolf Gang's base is completely silent, and no one has survived.

Picking up the Key and opening the iron gate, Bai Zhi stepped back into that Hell Underground Prison.

Using his memories from his previous life, he went to the place where he had found Tong, but this time, there was no Girl sitting there with lifeless eyes.

Beside her lay a Girl who was barely clinging to life, having lost hands and feet.

"If you want to save Hitomi, then you'd better listen patiently to what I have to say."

Stopping a few meters away from the other person, Bai Zhi calmly began to speak.

"..."

His response was, as expected, utter silence.

However, Bai Zhi didn't pay attention to any of that. Instead, he stood there and slowly began to speak.

He didn't hide anything, even revealing that this was just a constructed Dungeon, and that this wasn't his first time here; this was his second time.

That book devoured everyone in the city, which is why it was able to rebuild the city time and time again, allowing it to kill the Hound a second time, and slaughter the Wolf Gang a second time... But what about those who died before that?

"... I don't know what kind of existence you belong to now, but this Dungeon is constructed with Hitomi at its core, so you should represent all of Hitomi's memories of you."

Looking at the small figure lying on the ground not far away, Bai Zhi spoke very sincerely.

"So, I'm asking for your help. I really want to save her. Losing her again and again, experiencing that darkness and despair in these Dungeon time and time again, sinking into darkness again and again... it's too cruel."

In these repeatedly reopened Dungeon, how many times did Tong Jiu (https://www. hetushu. com. com) experience that kind of despair, and how many times did he die?

Even without consciously calculating, Bai Zhi could roughly guess that the cumulative effect of so many experiences of despair would surely cause her spirit and willpower to completely collapse.

--In these Dungeon that are repeatedly restarted due to failure, Tong is not an NPC.

"..."

At some point, the wails and screams that had been echoing in the Underground Prison suddenly ceased, leaving the entire Underground Prison deathly silent.

"... You can't save her."

After a long while, a voice that was clearly not human rang out from the figure lying on the ground.

"Those who fear the darkness and succumb to it are beyond saving. There is only one thing you can do now: kill her."

"Really? But you don't understand humanity at all."

After letting out a slight breath, Bai Zhi calmly began to speak.

"Humanity has never succumbed to fear of darkness; on the contrary, it has become more drawn to the light through its understanding of darkness."