Fortunately, Baiyang’s game venue wasn’t too far from where I spawned—about a forty-minute walk.

I went to see Baiyang every day. At first, my feelings were extremely complicated, and I didn’t even know what to consider him.

A partner? A teammate? A teacher?

He was like a very special existence. I could learn many things from him, but he definitely couldn’t be considered my friend.

Thinking carefully, perhaps I was more like a “subordinate.”

I was a subordinate who followed orders and had to report to my superior every day.

I had actually thought about it… could I become “friends” with Baiyang?

Baiyang’s changes were really significant. Since I had already seen him many times in the “interview room,” I could now clearly feel these changes.

He had become cold, obsessive… and somewhat ruthless.

Unfortunately, no one could agree with my viewpoint. I had never seen Zhang Qiang, Man-Goat, and Shar-Pei Dog again. They seemed to have vanished from the world.

Every time I came to his game venue, without exception, Baiyang was in a daze.

Whenever he raised his head to look at me, he seemed to spend a few seconds thinking about who exactly I was.

“Brother Goat… are you really okay?” I called out. “You really look very different from five years ago…”

“Let’s establish three ground rules.” Baiyang said coldly. “From now on, you’re forbidden to mention what happened five years ago to anyone, including me. You only need to remember that I became a ‘Zodiac’ starting from now.”

“What…?” I didn’t quite understand. “Can you tell me the reason…?”

I stood in front of Baiyang and quickly ran out of things to say.

I missed Jiang Ruoxue a bit.

If she were here… she might immediately become familiar with Baiyang, right?

Although my personality was somewhat more cheerful than five years ago, I really didn’t know how to deal with someone like Baiyang.

He spoke even less than I did, and with random aggressiveness.

But I knew I couldn’t let things develop as they were. I had something to ask of Baiyang. I needed him to help me become stronger. Perhaps sometimes I needed to learn from Jiang Ruoxue…

“What are you thinking about?” I walked over and sat beside Baiyang, asking.

“What…?” Baiyang probably didn’t expect me to be so proactive, and his eyes clearly showed a moment of surprise.

“I see you’re in a daze all day… what is your brain constantly thinking about?”

After hearing this, Baiyang slowly lowered his head, and from his expression, he actually seemed to be smiling bitterly.

“Yes… what am I thinking about?” Baiyang asked me back.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “Are you willing to share with me what you’re pondering?”

“Yan Zhichun… what do you think is the motivation for each person wandering here to escape?” Baiyang asked again.

“Motivation?” After listening, I thought for a moment, feeling this question was somewhat interesting. “I don’t quite understand this way of asking. Each of us was captured from the real world and brought here. To escape from a place like hell… do we really need a clear motivation? There can’t possibly be anyone willing to stay in this place, right?”

“I think that statement is too absolute.” Baiyang sighed. “There must be people who don’t want to leave… but those who don’t want to leave aren’t important. I just want to know… if there’s someone who must leave, what motivation would allow them to persist to the end?”

After listening, I pondered for a while and said, “‘Seeking benefit and avoiding harm.’ The ‘Memorial to General Liang Shang’ says, ‘As for seeking benefit and avoiding harm, fearing death and delighting in life, these too are universal.’ Everyone wants to escape a dangerous place. No clear motivation is needed.”

“That makes sense…” Baiyang nodded, but soon shook his head again. “But seeking benefit and avoiding harm is only the initial motivation… If they discover over a very long period that this place can’t be escaped, what then?”

I seemed to understand Baiyang’s question a bit. He wasn’t asking about ordinary people’s motivation, but about the motivation of the strong.

“Brother Goat, for everyone, they can escape as long as they collect 3,600 ‘Dao.'” I said. “Because they don’t know the ‘truth,’ even if they really collect them all, their memories will be wiped and they’ll restart. The ruler here continuously assigns them the same motivation. This motivation has everyone stuck, and this place stuck too.”

After listening, Baiyang nodded. “I almost forgot you’re a smart person. Talking with you indeed yields gains.”

“Is this a compliment?”

“Yes.” Baiyang answered. “Yan Zhichun, let’s explore another hypothesis. Suppose there’s someone who has preserved their memory for a long time. They know everything about this place and consistently find they can’t escape. Would they still follow the instinct of ‘seeking benefit and avoiding harm’?”

“Probably not.” I said. “The reason humans are powerful is first because they can ‘seek benefit and avoid harm,’ and second because they have sufficiently strong ‘adaptability.’ When this place is destined to be inescapable, they will find ways to live here peacefully, just like how the coldest and hottest places in the world all have human inhabitants now.”

“So they need a ‘motivation.'” Baiyang said. “What kind of ‘motivation’ would allow them to resist all external pressures and single-mindedly want to leave?”

“Even knowing this place can’t be escaped… they still want to leave?”

“Exactly…” Baiyang said.

“But you’re much smarter than me.” I looked at Baiyang with confusion. “You should be able to think of better methods, right?”

“It’s precisely because I can’t think of it… that I need to discuss it with someone whose life trajectory differs from mine.” Baiyang said. “Sometimes solutions don’t only come from wisdom, but also from experience.”

After listening, I nodded, but I really had no good solution.

The reason I kept moving forward here was only to “become stronger,” so for me, whether I could leave or not wasn’t the first priority to consider.

Even if I left, I had to ensure my days in the “Land of Ends” weren’t wasted. Every day I would be stronger than yesterday’s self.

So for me… a “motivation to necessarily leave” was really somewhat abstract. Perhaps I needed some time to think about this answer.

“I might need to think about it… maybe I’ll give you an answer after a while.”

“Alright. What you just mentioned, the ‘Memorial to General Liang Shang,’ reminds me of something.” Baiyang said to me. “Yan Zhichun, I remember you’re a very erudite person.”

“I dare not call myself erudite.” I shook my head. “It’s just that my innate wisdom isn’t strong. I can only rely on supplementing it with acquired knowledge to barely keep up with some monsters’ way of thinking.”

“Somewhat interesting.” Baiyang said. “From now on, help me bring a book every day.”

“Book?”

“That’s right. I know there’s a bookstore nearby, located right on your way to find me. There should still be undamaged books inside. Every day on your way, help me get a book. One book per day is fine.” Baiyang said.

“But why not take several at once?” I asked again. “Wouldn’t that be more convenient?”

“I need to account for them properly, reading one book every day.” Baiyang answered. “If I have two books at the same time, I’ll subconsciously think ‘I still have two days’ time,’ thus leading to slackness.”