The Person in the Book

There seemed to be some ripples in the air, but perhaps that was just Trist's imagination.

Everything seems unchanged, yet everything also seems to have changed.

"Don't worry, you should be able to get back safely."

Gudu put down the pen and breathed a soft sigh of relief.

"In the story, I have already sent you out of the town. You only need to walk out of this door to return to the original Ruined City."

He pointed to a wooden door that had appeared behind the three of them at some unknown time.

"And what about you?"

Xiya couldn't help but ask.

"I am already a character in the book."

Gudu at ease.

He picked up the harmonica that was on the table.

"You've been staring at this thing for a while, so you seem to recognize it?"

"This is what Gudu said to Lu Ban."

"I know his owner."

Lu Ban replied that although he had only seen the corpse, he still knew it.

"Then you can have this. There's no point in keeping it with me."

He handed the harmonica to Lu Ban, Lu Ban and held it in his hand. The harmonica was very heavy, as if it had carried a lot.

[Item Obtained: Fragment of Du Danping's Melody Fragment]

The system's indifferent and cold text appeared on the harmonica's shell.

"There's one more thing."

Gudu pulled out another piece of paper from the pile of old papers and handed it to Lu Ban.

"Before I met that friend, I was in a relationship with a woman. Later, because of the guy behind that door, I had to stay away from everyone. I only gave her one copy of the novel after it was published, keeping the title page as a memento. I hope you will have the opportunity to give this title page to her."

The great writer was momentarily at a loss for words. He hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"Just say that he is no longer here."

Lu Ban took the paper and felt it looked somewhat familiar.

He took out the book "Old News of the Ruined Capital" that he had previously obtained from Stone from his pocket, opened the cover, and put this title page inside.

The tear marks matched perfectly.

"Is she alright?"

Gudu understood many things in an instant, but he did not waver. What he should have wavered about, hesitated about, and struggled with had already been done before the end.

"Her children are all grown up and doing well now."

Lu Ban replied.

"That's good."

The Gudu seemed somewhat somber, but ultimately found solace in its state of mind.

"You should leave. Staying here too long is not a good thing."

He waved his hand, urging the three of them to leave.

The mission is complete, and Lu Ban has no reason to stay here any longer.

They pushed open the wooden door, and outside was a deep night. The town no longer existed, only endless ruins remained.

The rented car was parked outside, quiet and still, like an old friend.

Lu Ban glanced one last time at the Gudu sitting in front of the bronze gate. The other person didn't look in his direction, but instead lowered his head, picked up a pen, and prepared to write another story.

He will continue to create those horrifying, terrifying, and chilling stories to please the sleeping god. This struggle will continue forever, until the end of the universe. No, even after the universe ends, perhaps he will still be writing tirelessly in the dream of the Old Ones.

Lu Ban closed the door, and the door disappeared completely. The road was empty, as if nothing had ever existed.

Suddenly, at the other end of the seemingly endless ruins, Lu Ban saw a glimmer of dawn.

Beyond the pitch-black horizon, the Other Shore even the stars are invisible, a ray of light pierces the darkness and stretches across the sky.

Immediately afterwards, brilliant, magnificent, and dazzling sunlight illuminated a patch of sky, and a golden sun slowly rose from the horizon.

In the dawn light, the world was shrouded in a layer of mist. The light shone on the broken walls and ruins, and on the slightly bumpy road, leaving dazzling spots of light.

Everything seemed to be reborn, full of hope.

No one knows that there was once an ordinary person here who, through his wisdom, imprisoned an indescribable deity.

"Give this to Stone; he should understand everything."

Lu Ban handed the newly completed "Old News of the Ruined Capital" to Trist.

"You mean, he's from the Gudu?"

Trist quickly understood as well.

"This task may not be as simple as we think."

Having experienced so much, Lu Ban had already made some guesses about the Silent Land.

"If something goes wrong in the middle of the process, we might become cannon fodder in a novel, turning into detectives who failed in the previous investigation, becoming nameless monsters, or dead people with names."

This is the essence of alienation.

Although the Gudu did not explicitly state it, perhaps many similar Chosen of the Gods had participated in this mission before, but they all failed, ultimately becoming one of those townspeople in suits, or being torn apart by the dogs that jumped out of the painting, or getting lost in the roads outside the Ruined City.

Those Unnamable Great Being seem incompatible with each other, and some even have obvious conflicts and hostile relationships.

Lu Ban and his group came here precisely because they were the key to bringing the story of the Gudu to a close and ultimately allowing the sleepers to continue their slumber.

Therefore, the gods of the Silent Land may not wish for this one in the Ruined City to awaken.

Aren't you coming back with me?

Trist got into the driver's seat and asked.

"No, I don't like sitting in this thing, it makes me dizzy."

Xiya's reasoning was very genuine.

"I don't want to sit in a car with a man."

Lu Ban's reasons are more genuine.

"."

Helpless, Trist could only start the engine and glance at the two of them again.

"I hope we can meet again someday, no matter what."

Lu Ban nodded, and then the system's text appeared in his field of vision.

[Mission complete, now returning to base]

[321]

The surrounding ruins were a jumbled mess, and Lu Ban felt dizzy. In that extreme dizziness, he seemed to see some slippery tentacles sweeping around his body and some fluttering cloaks. Like sinking into a cold, dark lake, a suffocating feeling enveloped Lu Ban.

Something's not right?

In the past, although returning from foreign lands was sometimes bizarre, it was generally just an experience similar to flying.

But now, this unnatural feeling of suffocation is unreasonable.

Lu Ban tried to find some clues in the colorful world around him, and he saw at his feet a emerald eye without pupils staring at him.

However, the eyes disappeared just moments later, covered by dreamlike, colorful bubbles.

Everything quickly distorted, the suffocating feeling that had been plaguing Lu Ban disappeared, and his feet once again touched solid ground.

He saw himself sitting at his computer desk, the tattered and decaying book on the tabletop drifting away in the wind. On the cover, a slightly deranged man was writing furiously, and countless monsters escaped from his pen.

The last thing to disappear was the book title, which Lu Ban saw was called "The Mouth of the Madman".

*

September's second bonus chapter for monthly pass subscribers: 1/3