Yu Tang walked to the desk and pulled over the computer.
He read the summarized "Survival Guide" again, opened the tourist area, and posted a few messages.
The system saw what Yu Tang had left and was stunned for a moment: "Host, do you want everyone to leave the room?"
Yu Tang nodded: "Electronic storms, the closer you are to the outer layer, the safer it is."
The particles in the outer layer seem to fluctuate violently, but their impact on humans is minimal. Even if they are assimilated by the environment, as long as the life energy has not completely dissipated, they can find a way to recover.
The closer you get to the core of the eye of the storm, the more dangerous the environment becomes.
"This artificial electronic storm has not yet fully formed. The dimension of its eye is not high enough to communicate with me."
Yu Tang stood up and pushed open the window: "Even if I can rescue someone, I can't throw him out... Is there anyone who wants to report it?"
System: “…Yes.”
Yu Tang: "What?"
The system flashed a small red light and whispered, "…We should stop spreading rumors and don't drag them into this if you want to die."
This is already a very mild statement.
Faced with successive life-threatening crises, many people have lost their composure and are more willing to believe in the most effective survival plan that has been proven in front of them.
Rather than taking the risk of retreating to the outdoors where rust will continue to grow, many people would rather stay in a temporarily safe enclosed space.
"Not surprising." Yu Tang nodded. "Senior Zhan, take the system outside to confirm the growth of this artificial storm. I will stay here and take a look—"
He paused, looked at the hand holding his arm, and raised his head to meet Zhan Chen's gaze.
"You are more familiar with these." Zhan Chen said gently, "If someone needs to stay behind, I am more suitable."
He has restored his original data state. Feng Qing's particles have been condensed into a dense particle mist, slowly circling in Zhan Chen's palm.
Zhan Chen handed the particle to Yu Tang.
Yu Tang looked at the light blue particle mist and did not react immediately.
… In theory, that is true.
But after the third rule was issued, people who went out would be safer and more likely to survive compared to the core area that was constantly evolving.
"Senior Zhan," Yu Tang asked, "Feng Qing's particles want to get out, right?"
Zhan Chen looked at him, paused for a moment, and nodded quietly.
Yu Tang took the ball of particles.
Extremely subtle fluctuations oscillated outward from the particle mist, spreading imperceptibly, constantly urging those holding onto the particle to leave the area.
The system wanted to ask this question a while ago and couldn't help but ask: "Host, since Feng Qing has been transformed into the game world, why does he still have this group of particles that make up his body?"
Yu Tang: "Because this group of particles was eliminated."
The system was stunned.
"What the terminal wants to create is an artificial electronic storm without a main consciousness and completely under its control."
Yu Tang said: "There is no Feng Qing who would rather die than swallow Zhong San."
To the terminal, this group of stubborn and troublesome particles is just a useless waste.
This group of particles was peeled off and turned into No. 13, who had severe memory loss and extremely unstable physical condition. He was abandoned as a failure and circulated on the black market as a commodity.
After many twists and turns, he was bought by Zhong San and joined this battle royale game.
In the game world, Feng Qing's domain, his body and the domain resonated. With each analysis and reorganization, a part of the particles would be swallowed up by the domain, and his memory and consciousness would be damaged again.
Until the end, Feng Qing was completely unable to maintain the last bit of himself and completely dissipated in the villa.
—Then, Feng Qing got a chance to be reborn.
He recalled the time when he was taken home by his adoptive parents and grew up with bumps and bruises. When he was ten years old, he looked up with a zero-scoring test paper and saw the primary school principal from the neighboring school who was invited by his adoptive parents to tutor him.
"The terminal has made two preparations."
Yu Tang said: "After all, cultivating an artificial electron storm is too troublesome and not stable enough - it wants to lure me to stop and stay in this world."
The electron storm is a high-energy particle flow that will never die, a particle-level civilization wandering in the universe, and an elusive light and wind.
The best way to keep the electronic storm is to let it experience the pleasure of being swallowed.
The bottom line is easily broken. At the beginning, in order to survive, one swallows the particles that are the culprit of everything. After tasting the power brought by swallowing, one cannot help but take another step forward.
The terminal was used to this kind of tricks, it didn't expect that this time it would be hit by a large ball of light that someone had hit.
"Yes, Senior Zhan."
Yu Tang stuffed Feng Qing's particles into his sea of consciousness and reached out to hug Zhan Chen: "It's not your fault."
Zhan Chen's shoulders tensed slightly.
He knew what Yu Tang was talking about. Even without the smile, his eyes were still warm and calm, as if this was the limit of what data could simulate.
"The terminal was listening to what you said at that time. It was so proud of itself."
Yu Tang said: "It wished that I had no one to watch over me, so I fell into its trap and swallowed up the particles scattered by the clock. Then it went deeper and deeper step by step, swallowing more and more, and finally it couldn't fly and was trapped in the dimension of the bookstore..."
Zhan Chen was somewhat helpless, and raised his hand to gently hold Yu Tang's back: "Aren't you also trapped in the dimension of the Book Bureau now?"
"No." Yu Tang said, "It doesn't matter in different dimensions."
Yu Tang held Zhan Chen in his arms, not knowing whether it was to prolong the time it took for the data to materialize. He noticed that Zhan Chen did not deliberately maintain his body temperature or heartbeat, like a lifeless shell.
Yu Tang actually doesn't care about this at all.
He held Zhan Chen's waist, buried his face in the crook of Zhan Chen's neck, and pressed against the cold skin exposed by his collar.
"I don't want to be trapped here."
Yu Tang: "My home is here, I will come back eventually."
Zhan Chen's chest and shoulders were slightly tense, but he didn't hesitate. He raised his hands to hold Yu Tang, with his palm resting on the back of Yu Tang.
"Feng Qing's domain will resonate with his particles. As long as Feng Qing enters the game, this situation will be automatically triggered."
Yu Tang: "Senior Zhan, if I'm not mistaken, you will win every time, because Feng Qing's particles will suddenly struggle at this time every time, trying to get out of the room."
Zhan Chen nodded.
This memory will be erased as time goes by, but no matter from which perspective, what Yu Tang said should be the most reasonable speculation.
The result of staying indoors is a blank unknown. Only by going outdoors where rust will grow can there be a possibility of survival.
The system asked in a low voice: "Host, can't we go out together?"
"No." Yu Tang said, "Because then we will go through this cycle again and have to start over again."
This game has been reset many times. One can get out of the sealed room and survive in the game and get the asteroid, but one can only stop at the penultimate level and can never reach the end of the book.
In the last level of this game, the big boss who only dares to hide must be hiding in this blank space.
No matter how dangerous this blank space is, in every reset of the game, there is no record of anyone surviving indoors, so someone must stay.
"I know this place better, and it would be more appropriate for me to go out."
Yu Tang said, "I'll obey you. But Senior Zhan, you have to stay here. No matter what danger you encounter, you have to wait for me to come."
Yu Tang: "You have to wait for me to come this time."
Zhan Chen nodded.
He met Yu Tang's gaze and assured him in a gentle voice, "Okay."
A ball of particles spun in Yu Tang's palm, compressed and hardened to the limit, and then he smashed the window behind him with his backhand.
Yu Tang loosened his hands, came out of Zhan Chen's arms, stepped on the window frame and climbed out of the villa.
In just a moment, his body disappeared in the particle stream outside the window.
Zhan Chen went to the desk and flipped through a few pages of posts in the message area.
It is difficult to convince humans who are trapped in fear and panic. Until now, a large number of players are still extremely resistant to going outdoors.
Some people couldn't help but want to leave, and they all held their own opinions, and had already started arguing in the comment section.
[How long will we stay in this closed environment? Will we stay here forever?]
[We only have enough food, water and water to last for two more days!]
[Has anyone figured out the third rule? What does blank space mean?]
[The blank does not refer to air? Can rust spread through the air?]
[If this is true, won’t there be a dead end outside?]
[The one who said the electronic storm actually has some truth to it.]
[What's the logic? Even if we meet in front, how can we be considered to be in the eye of the storm? We are all in different places and not together. We just need to be careful and not run around...]
The system was also thinking about this: "Mr. Zhan, what exactly does the eye of this man-made storm refer to?"
When it was chatting with Shiji, it also heard Shiji talk about the host's eye of the storm.
For example, if the electron storm is an egg, the eggshell is the outer area, the egg white is the middle area, and the eye of the storm is at the yolk, which is easy to identify.
But this natural electronic storm was the first time the system had seen the domain of an S-level supernatural power, and it was a little unsure: "Will there be an eye of the storm that can run around by itself, wandering around and catching people?"
Zhan Chen shook his head: "No."
The system asked quietly: "What will happen then?"
Zhan Chen did not answer immediately. He walked to the window and looked at the window that was smashed by Yu Tang.
In just a few minutes, the window was restored to its original state and was closed tightly as if it had never been damaged.
The system was stunned: "Mr. Zhan, how could this happen?!"
"Time does not flow in the eye of the storm." Zhan Chen said, "We are now in the eye of this man-made storm."
system:"??"
"After Feng Qing was adopted, his parents locked him up in a room to study. If he got into trouble, he would be locked up in a small dark room."
Zhan Chen: "He was sent for transformation and sealed in a sleeping cabin. Later, he was abandoned by his parents and admitted to the hospital."
"After he woke up again, he was shipped around in containers as a commodity."
"After being bought out by Zhong San, he was confined in this villa again."
Zhan Chen said: "What he is most familiar with is the closed, indoor space."
The system was startled and quickly went to the window, trying to look outside.
When Zhan Chen went out to investigate, he found that every corner outside was covered with rust. The entire world looked like a rusty antique, exuding a strange atmosphere of heavy dusk.
When Yu Tang opened the window, he saw countless overlapping images and broken particle flows outside that were completely unrecognizable.
…But now outside the window there is a peaceful and calm sea.
If you didn’t know about this game world, you might think it was just an ordinary corner of a planet.
In the comment section, there are people refuting those people's unfounded worries.
[Can you still see the rust now? Isn't it all gone?]
[Maybe there is a bug in the game, and it is being fixed now. It won’t be long before we are released.]
[There is really no rust! ]
[Will the assimilation before end after a certain period of time? Will the rusting also end?]
[Can anyone in the field of therapy come out and take a look? Can I go out now? I’m almost suffocating in this room!]
…
As the system read these messages, an increasingly weird feeling rose up, and it couldn't help but feel cold all over.
It looked at Zhan Chen, its heart tightening: "Mr. Zhan, your body is beginning to fade... Is the time that the data can support coming to an end?"
Zhan Chen shook his head and turned the mirror around.
The system stared at the camera in astonishment.
… In the mirror, the mecha body it temporarily resided in had completely lost its original silver color, and the flashing red lights could no longer be distinguished, leaving only dark and light gray.
Inorganic, gray color that seems like it will sooner or later fall into a blank void.
Shi Ji once told the system about this feeling. When hiding in the eye of the storm, he could see the color of his body gradually fade to gray, then turn gray, and finally turn into a line drawing like a two-dimensional animation.
If he had not been picked out by Yu Tang, and if he had gathered up a ball of particles, rolled them up and thrown them out, he would probably have slowly turned into a ball of tangled threads.
…
Many people in the comment section also noticed something unusual.
Some people suspected that there was something wrong with their eyes, while others confidently asserted that this was just a game and that the reality projection was too realistic. Now that there was a problem, the pixels began to drop and the color difference began to appear.
There were also people who already knew something about electronic storms, and they began to vaguely suspect that they might have fallen into the eye of the storm.
The system was a little anxious: "But how did we fall in? We didn't do anything at all, and we haven't been to any new place..."
Zhan Chen said: "This world is the eye of the storm and a closed space."
The system was stunned: "What?"
“Rule: ‘blank’, location: every completely enclosed space.”
Zhan Chen said: "Assimilation is to force players to the middle level area, and Rust is to force players to leave the jungle and enter the closed indoor area."
Zhan Chen: "Players are not scattered in different places. As long as the space is completely closed, the eye of the storm can grow."
Close the doors and windows tightly, block the last crack in the door, and the eye of the storm will grow in this secret room.
Wrap yourself tightly in the protective suit, zip up the last bit, and the eye of the storm will grow inside the suit.
The eye of the storm has no shape and cannot be observed. It grows in any enclosed space and devours everything in that space.
Every player who closes every gap in order to avoid rust will fall into the eye of the storm unknowingly while completing the process.
"This space is growing," Zhan Chen said, "growing, merging, and becoming one."
The system was speechless and looked at the computer on the desk.
The comment section also started scrolling like crazy.
A few particularly brief new messages that caused a stir.
[I am Sui Zan, a level A healing ability master.]
[Can anyone see?]
[The door to our room disappears.]