The night of Water Curtain Cave had only a few flickers of firelight among the rock walls, casting the shadows of the stalactites hanging from the ceiling to stretch short and long by turns.
Time slipped quietly away in the stillness, and the night-watching Clone had already changed batch after batch.
In the blink of an eye, it was almost the dawn of the Game World.
"Lord, Lord! Wake up! It is time!"
Lin Mo opened his eyes dazedly amidst a soft call, his vision reflecting Lin Qi's figure squatting beside him.
"What is it..." Lin Mo rubbed his eyes, his voice carrying the hoarseness of just waking up.
The light inside the cave was dim, with only a few soon-to-be-burnt-out torches in the corners providing a faint glow.
Most of the Clone were still curled up and sleeping soundly on the hay beds, their rising and falling snores echoing through the cave.
"As you ordered last night, at the morning of the Game World, one hour before logging off from the real world, you asked to be woken up without fail."
Lin Qi lowered his voice. "Now is just right. From the system's forced logout, there is probably about an hour left."
Lin Mo instantly sobered up and sat up abruptly.
Right! Maximize the use of essence and blood!
He immediately pulled up the status bar:
[Name: Lin Mo]
[Level: 5 (170/500)]
[Class: Lord (Legendary)]
[Essence and Blood: 140/300]
[Status: Mildly Fatigued]
"140 points..." Lin Mo mentally calculated quickly. "The coma threshold is 20 points... That means I can consume 120 points of essence and blood to create a Clone!"
He stood up, stretched his muscles and bones, and walked to a relatively open area in the center of the cave.
Lin Mo sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and concentrated his mind.
"Start."
His will triggered, and the familiar sensation of extraction arrived.
[Essence and Blood -10]
Water ripples danced in the air, and a naked figure slowly condensed.
"I—" The new Clone had just opened his eyes and before he could see his surroundings clearly, he was wrapped in a crude robe temporarily modified from a piece of cloth by Lin Qi and Lin Ba, who had been prepared for a long time.
"Stop talking nonsense, go wait on the side!" Lin Qi pushed him into the corner. "The next one is coming out soon!"
Lin Mo did not pause.
[Essence and Blood -10]
The second Clone appeared.
[Essence and Blood -10]
The creation process became more and more proficient, and the interval between them became shorter and shorter.
In the center of Water Curtain Cave, naked figures appeared one after another, and then were hurriedly dressed in simple body-covering items.
The center of the cave was like an efficient humanoid arms factory.
Lin Mo's face gradually grew pale with the consumption of essence and blood, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
When the ninth Clone was created, his essence and blood dropped to 50/300, and the status bar showed the mark of [Moderately Weak].
"Continue." Lin Mo gritted his teeth.
The tenth one, essence and blood 40/300.
His vision began to darken, his heartbeat pounded like a drum, and a strong sense of dizziness washed over him. This was a warning that his body was approaching the safety threshold.
"Lord, maybe..." Lin Qi looked somewhat worried.
"We have not reached the safety line yet." Lin Mo shook his head. "Continue!"
Lin Mo took a deep breath and concentrated all his mental focus.
"The eleventh one!"
[Essence and Blood -10] → 30/300.
His body shuddered violently, and he almost fell headlong.
He supported the ground with both hands and panted heavily, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.
The edges of his vision had already begun to blur, and there was a buzzing sound in his ears.
"Just a little more... the last... one..." He maintained his consciousness with difficulty.
Thirty points of essence and blood, below the safety line, but he had not fallen into a coma yet.
Theoretically, he could make one more.
The logout time was also coming soon, and passing out would just kick him back to reality.
And having one more Level 5 Clone meant one more share of strength!
"The twelfth one! Create!"
He almost roared these words out.
[Essence and Blood -10] → 20/300!
"Ugh, ah—!"
As if the last supporting string snapped, boundless darkness and weakness completely submerged him like a tidal wave.
Lin Mo's body went limp, and he fell forward.
"Lord!"
Lin Qi and Lin Ba were quick of eye and deft of hand, stepping forward together almost the moment his figure wavered.
They steadied him securely from left and right, and gently lowered Lin Mo to lay him flat upon the thick hay.
At this moment, Lin Mo's eyes were tightly closed, his long eyelashes casting shallow shadows under the firelight, and his face was as pale as paper, devoid of a shred of color.
Only the weak yet steady rise and fall of his nostrils proved that he still retained a sliver of vitality, only having fallen into a deep, unperceiving coma.
Time slowly flowed in the silence of the stone chamber, with only the flame of the torch leaping endlessly, reflecting the mottled marks on the rock wall.
Right at this moment, a cold and mechanical prompt sounded without warning in the depths of Lin Mo's consciousness, and also echoed in the minds of all the Surviving Player:
[The second day of the closed beta (Game Time) is about to end]
[Player consciousness is about to undergo Traction Return]
[During the traction process, the time of the Game World is relatively static]
[Current Surviving Player statistics:]
[Yesterday's survivors: 8,653 people]
[Today's deaths: 648 people]
[Currently surviving: 8,005 people]
[Number of successful class advancements: 17 people]
[In thirty seconds, all player consciousness will Return to Real World]
[Real-world time: 8:00 AM]
[Next entry time: 12:00 midnight in the real world]
[Please reasonably arrange your real-world life]
[Countdown: 30, 29, 28...]
The flame of the torch stood still.
The flow of air came to a halt.
[3, 2, 1]
[Return]
Silent golden light swept across the cave, enveloping Lin Mo Main Body.
The next second, his figure slowly faded on the berth and finally disappeared.
Inside the cave, fifty-eight Clone maintained their respective postures, solidifying like lifelike sculptures in the morning of this time-frozen Game World.
Outside the cave, that eternal waterfall still maintained an absolute, amber-like state of bizarre stillness.
The real world, exactly eight o'clock in the morning.
Before you continue