The sky was about to turn dark. Jiang Ruoxue brought Guyu and me to rest inside a nearby building.

Thanks to her, I actually became familiar with this boy I was meeting for the first time.

The three of us sat together in the room. Guyu used a fire starter he carried with him to light a campfire. He said that before coming here, he was a magician.

Jiang Ruoxue gave us a brief introduction to each other. She seemed to have some concerns and didn’t reveal my identity as “Extreme Path King,” only saying I was an “Extreme Path member.”

However, her next words left my jaw dropped.

She said that Guyu was actually a traveler from another city.

During my time in the “Land of the End,” I’ve encountered many different identities. I’ve even been a “Bandit” myself, yet I’ve never heard of a “Traveler.”

“So… is there a difference?” I asked. “Between our place and yours?”

“How should I put it…” Guyu slowly lowered his head. “The underlying logic is the same, but the forms of expression are vastly different…”

Guyu gave me a detailed introduction to the situation in “Jade City” where he was from. Jiang Ruoxue must have heard it before, as she sat to the side shaking her head helplessly.

I have to say, this was a situation I had never envisioned, but upon careful thought, it was quite reasonable.

Once a person accidentally builds an organization to a certain scale, others can only be forced to join, otherwise they have no chance of survival at all. This causes diseased organizations to grow larger and larger, while normal people become fewer and fewer.

The organization in “Jade City” was like an infectious disease, changing the “Participants” there on a large scale.

“So what do you think?” I said. “Do you want to escape from that city, or do you want to save that city?”

“I… don’t know.” Guyu slowly lowered his head. “I know my own capabilities… I’m just an actor who can be watched by others, not a sage who can rule a city. But there are indeed people important to me there… I’ve been wandering outside for a long time now. If I don’t go back to help them, I’m afraid problems will arise.”

“Yes… Sister Zhichun, I’ve explained my entire situation to you… If it were you, what would you choose?”

He threw the question to me, but I knew he just wanted to hear my advice.

“I’m sorry, my advice probably won’t be very useful to you.” I said. “In this world, I only love myself, so I won’t be any kind of hero or take risks to save a city or anything like that. That sounds too absurd. I would only take care of myself, think of ways to protect myself first, then extend a helping hand within my capabilities. If I can save someone, I will. If I can’t, then I can only say I did my best.”

After hearing my words, Guyu slowly lowered his head, seeming somewhat sad.

“Sister Xue… what about you…?” Guyu asked again. “Do you think the same way?”

“Mm…” Jiang Ruoxue pondered for a while and said, “Although I also love myself, my approach is different from Zhichun’s. I think if you want to save people, then go save them. If you want to stay, then stay. After all, if you think of something but don’t do it, you’ll only end up in internal conflict afterward, wasting your own time. But likewise… even if you die there forever because of your own decision, you can’t blame anyone. After all, you went because you wanted to go. This is your ’cause and effect.'”

Jiang Ruoxue and I gave two completely different paths. No one knew how Guyu should choose.

He seemed to have been conflicted to begin with, and after hearing what Jiang Ruoxue and I said, he became even more conflicted.

In that case, let me help him out.

“My advice is for you to directly switch to a different city.” I said. “Anyone would know that place can’t be saved.”

“Switch to a different city…? That’s easier said than done…” Guyu shook his head. “Every time I go to another city, it takes a very long time… Once the people in my room discover something suspicious and forcibly keep me there, I’ll never be able to leave.”

Guyu shared intelligence about other cities with us.

He said that besides “Dao City” where we were located and “Jade City” where he himself was from, two cities had long since run out of normal people, and another city was now barely hanging on.

Guyu had stayed in that city for several years and had only recently come to our place.

However, that city called “Whirlpool City” sounded extraordinarily similar to “Jade City” where Guyu was from.

In that enormous city, there was only one ruler. This ruler led everyone to engage in life-or-death struggles with the “Zodiac,” directly initiating “Gambling with Lives” every time they entered a game venue.

They believed that after gambling away all the “Zodiac” to death, it would count as the “Participants'” victory, and this cycle would lose its meaning.

But… could they really not know all along that “Zodiac” members could appear in an endless stream?

I thought about it carefully and actually understood quickly.

In “Whirlpool City,” how could anyone put on a mask to become a “Zodiac”?

The “Zodiac” in that city were obviously high-risk occupations. Every day they had to face tremendous danger. They were too busy dealing with the tide of “Participants” flooding in every day and even wanted to escape.

Under these circumstances, would any “Participant” pick up a mask and put it on their head, willingly becoming a “Zodiac”?

This was like on a battlefield where both sides were fighting fiercely—when our side was suppressing the other side with firepower, suddenly a soldier chose to put on the enemy army’s clothes.

In other words… whether it was “Whirlpool City” or “Jade City,” everyone had created different information gaps due to various coincidences.

The people of “Whirlpool City” didn’t even know that “Participants” would become “Zodiac” by putting on masks.

No… if their situation had already continued for many years, perhaps their circumstances would be similar to “Jade City.”

Even if that leader called Nie Bei had already discovered something suspicious, he had no way to turn back.

After all, all the organization members were working hard toward this direction. Gambling all the “Zodiac” to death was this city’s only faith. At this point, how could the leader say “We’ve been wrong all along, those teammates all died in vain”?

He wouldn’t want to, and wouldn’t, acknowledge this reality.

The entire “Whirlpool City” was like an arrow that had been shot—there was simply no way to turn back. Even knowing there was an iron wall ahead, they could only crash into it and break themselves.

Otherwise, they had no way to answer to anyone.

“You just said ‘Whirlpool City’ is now ‘barely hanging on’?” I asked again.

“Yes.” Guyu nodded. “If you think about it carefully, you’ll know that the number of people in ‘Whirlpool City’ is decreasing every day. The teammate who shared life and death with you in this cycle might disappear in the next cycle. And the remaining people, in order to take revenge, will throw themselves into the games again, forming a vicious cycle… I estimate it won’t be long before the entire city has no living people left.”

That’s not right…

I felt this matter wasn’t so simple.

If Nie Bei truly was a figure capable of ruling a city, he couldn’t possibly not think of this point.

He must have prepared contingency plans in advance. Even if “Whirlpool City” was destroyed, there must be people who would survive to represent “Whirlpool City.”