Chapter 78

An eerie silence filled the car.
The blare of a horn from behind snapped Brother Wei back to his senses.
He started the car and began driving while saying, "Well, you might be overthinking it. Could it be that you've mistaken this place?"
Brother Wei had initially thought Xiao Cheng was being extreme, but seeing her like this, he now felt she was somewhat pitiable.
From the information she had just revealed, he had pieced together some clues.
Xiao Cheng's item was likely obtained within this game world, and after using it, she could never escape this world.
Brother Wei said, "After you cleared the last world, weren't you supposed to return to your original world for ten days? If we can clear this one, you should be able to go back to your own world too."
Hearing this, Xiao Cheng finally perked up a little.
"After I cleared the last world, I did return to my own world."
Brother Wei feigned nonchalance. "See? Could it be that you've mistaken this world?"
"Impossible. I've been here before." Xiao Cheng stared at the shops along the street.
She said, "Drive along this road, turn ahead, and we'll reach the university we're headed to."
Brother Wei said, "Then I'll keep going straight."
Xiao Cheng murmured to herself, "I thought the university having the same name was just a coincidence, but the streets are identical, it's the same game world I was in last time."
Brother Wei said, "If this world is the same as your last game world, there might be traces left by the players from that round. Why don't you search for information on the phone?"
The phone he referred to was one they had picked up earlier.
At his suggestion, Xiao Cheng immediately grabbed the phone and started searching online.
Brother Wei focused on driving.
He listened to the navigation instructing him to turn at the upcoming intersection.
It seemed just as Xiao Cheng had said.
Brother Wei made the turn.
He noticed Xiao Cheng had fallen silent again.
He glanced sideways at her.
"Why do you look so pale?"
Brother Wei saw that her complexion had worsened.
Spotting a temporary parking spot by the roadside, he pulled over and asked, "What did you find?"
Xiao Cheng lifted her gaze from her phone.
The redness in her eyes had intensified even more than before.
"Blink your eyes a bit. Stop staring like that," Brother Wei said kindly.
He was now looking at Xiao Cheng with pity.
"There's no trace of us. Parallel worlds," Xiao Cheng said, enunciating each word clearly.
Brother Wei replied, "Parallel worlds are good. Look at this item, it didn't trap you in the world where you obtained it. You broke free from it."
He had another theory in mind but didn't voice it.
Xiao Cheng shook her head, gritting her teeth as she said, "This means there are countless parallel worlds. I've never encountered parallel worlds before. It was only after I obtained this item that I started experiencing this. It forces me to remain in its parallel worlds."
Her words actually aligned with Brother Wei's speculation.
Seeing Xiao Cheng like this, Brother Wei couldn't bear it. He said, "Then let's clear this level as quickly as possible. That way, you can return to your own world. This is just a world in the game of the gods. Think of it as playing a game where you encounter the same map every time, but your teammates and missions are different. Don't overthink it, it doesn't affect your gameplay."
After he said this, Xiao Cheng finally calmed down.
She suddenly said, "The name of my item is 'Despair.' Its description is: Time rewinds and starts over, and the more you use it, the more despair you feel."
Brother Wei actually didn't want to hear her reveal her item.
As soon as Xiao Cheng said this, he knew it was bad.
Xiao Cheng was treating him like some kind of lifeline.
This was even worse than killing him.
With her like this, he couldn't possibly turn against her.
Brother Wei's fingers unconsciously tapped on the steering wheel.
He had clearly heard the item description Xiao Cheng shared.
He also figured out what Xiao Cheng had previously believed to be the cost of using the item.
She thought it was emotions.
The emotions formed between people.
Once time reset, the relationships between people would vanish.
That's why she completely ignored her teammates, she didn't want any connection with them at all.
Brother Wei said, "Put down the item in your hand now. I won't take it from you."
Xiao Cheng glanced at him and said, "I'm not holding the item."
Brother Wei looked and saw her hands were empty.
He had misjudged her intentions.
He had thought Xiao Cheng was planning to reset time after finishing their conversation.
Unexpectedly, he had guessed wrong.
Brother Wei coughed to cover his embarrassment.
He said, "You don't need to tell me this."
Xiao Cheng replied, "Didn't you say you were my teammate?"
Brother Wei was left speechless. This was a lie he had told earlier to gain Xiao Cheng's trust. He never expected that, despite her extreme nature, she would actually take his words to heart.
Brother Wei had no choice but to say, "With an item like this, use it as little as possible. It definitely has limitations that neither of us can guess."
Xiao Cheng remained silent.
Seeing her like this, Brother Wei added, "Have you considered how many times it can be used?"
Xiao Cheng said, "There's no limit to the number of uses."
She added, "Theoretically, it's infinite. Because I don't know how many times that person has experienced time resets."
Hearing this, Brother Wei couldn't help but say, "You should rewind time to when we first arrived in this city. I know too much now, and I'm afraid you might take action against me."
Why was Xiao Cheng telling him everything? It put too much pressure on him.
Because of this trust, Brother Wei felt he couldn't bear the responsibility.
After learning about this item's description, Brother Wei felt even more unworthy of Xiao Cheng's trust.
She didn't trust any other teammates, only him.
Humans cannot endure loneliness.
Even though he knew this was merely Xiao Cheng's personal sentiment, her emotional dependence made Brother Wei extremely uncomfortable.
He now deeply regretted agreeing to the decision to split into two teams.
He should never have been grouped with Xiao Cheng!
While Brother Wei was filled with regret, the other team began to worry about the two of them.
The six players from the other team had borrowed transportation and returned to the outskirts of the village. The three novice players stayed outside to keep watch.
The three veteran players used their respective items to sneak into the village. They hid behind short houses, trees, fences, and other places, focusing on the households holding funerals. By eavesdropping and recording conversations, they successfully uncovered a shocking truth.
Now, the six players had taken their transportation and returned to the youth hostel.
The only female veteran player took the lead and said, "We've now confirmed the cause. Last year, those students died because they exposed the villagers' fabricated myth of the mountain deity. The villagers didn't want the students to reveal the truth and expose their lies, so they murdered the students."
"The recent funerals in the village are likely the work of the students' vengeful spirits."
The female player suggested, "Let's go report this to the police. Thanks to someone's earlier suggestion to record evidence, we now have audio proof that should help uncover this long-buried murder case."
Her proposal was met with agreement from the others.
The female player added, "Our mission in this game is probably related to this. The novice hint about a 'wish' likely refers to the wishes of the deceased students. In my opinion, their wishes are connected to their deaths. Should we call the other two players back? If they don't participate with us, they might not be able to clear this game."
Upon hearing this, most of the others had no strong opinions.
Another player's game wasn't their game.
Whether the others could clear the stage or not was none of their concern.
The only middle-aged male player, who didn't get along with Xiao Cheng, said, "If you want to call them, go ahead. But can you even reach them? We have no idea where they are."
The players had no means of communication, so even if they wanted to contact the other two, there was no way to get in touch.
This is indeed a problem.
The female player fell silent.
After a while, she said, "While it's still daylight, let's hurry and report this to the police."
There were far fewer people in the amusement park now.
Most had already left to go home.
The sun hanging in the sky was no longer as scorching as before.
Gu Yi'an and Lu Zize stood outside the haunted house, watching the hanged ghost wearing sunglasses being surrounded and scolded by the haunted house staff from a distance.
"We run a haunted house with the intention of giving visitors a scare, not for you to bring your own props and frighten our staff. Luckily, our staff member only fainted. Let me tell you, if anything serious had happened, you would be held fully responsible."
"What's your name? Please don't ever come to our haunted house again."
"I'm telling you, I'm being nice this time. If you show up again, don't blame us for not being polite."
Listening to the haunted house staff's reprimands, Gu Yi'an could easily guess what had happened.
The hanged ghost must have entered the haunted house and scared one of the staff into fainting.
Honestly, why would a ghost even go into a haunted house?
Gu Yi'an felt like pretending she didn't know the hanged ghost.
But unfortunately, the hanged ghost had already spotted her and Lu Zize.
It looked at them pitifully, hoping they would wait for it.
In the end, Gu Yi'an decided to wait.
She felt a bit guilty toward the hanged ghost.
It wasn't until later that she realized the little troublemaker, who had been so lively earlier, had gone missing.
When she told Lu Zize she wanted to find the hanged ghost, he brought her to the haunted house.
It was clear that Lu Zize had known the hanged ghost's whereabouts all along, she was the one who had forgotten about it.
Although her mind had been preoccupied with the date today, she had genuinely neglected the hanged ghost.
Once the hanged ghost noticed Gu Yi'an and Lu Zize's arrival, it immediately apologized obediently to the haunted house staff, suggesting that since it was almost time to clock out, everyone should just go their separate ways.
Upon hearing the word "clock out," the haunted house staff, though still wanting to scold the hanged ghost, ultimately let it go.
The hanged ghost cheerfully ran over to Gu Yi'an and Lu Zize.
"Your Highness! Lord Lu!"
It abruptly stopped in its tracks.
Its expression changed drastically.
The hanged ghost's gaze fixed intently on the ice cream cup in Gu Yi'an's hand.
Sitting on the rim of the cup was a two-centimeter-tall little girl, holding a spoon and scooping up ice cream to eat.
They were both subordinates, so why did the little girl get treated to ice cream by Her Highness while it had been forgotten for so long?
The hanged ghost felt deeply wronged.