In other words, I was different from all the other “Extreme Path” members…

They wouldn’t die, while I was “resurrected from death.” This also seemed to be Baiyang’s handiwork.

Old Sun told me that every time this kind of total death situation occurred, it was the best opportunity for the “Extreme Path” to quickly find teammates. Anyone who could still move about freely at this time was one hundred percent “Extreme Path.”

Some people would take this chance to meet and forge friendships. I heard that at the largest gathering, they managed to organize a meeting of over twenty people.

Unfortunately, the city was too vast, and the “Extreme Path” had no fixed meeting place, resulting in everyone relying on luck to encounter others.

Old Sun also said that almost every Great Reshuffle occurred during the last few days of the ten-day cycle, which meant survivors didn’t have much time to search for teammates and could only recognize each other by chance.

I found this notion quite interesting… It was like in the Werewolf game, when all the werewolves revealed themselves during nighttime.

That’s great…

This meant Jiang Ruoxue and Zhoumo were both fine… Everyone I knew was fine, though I didn’t know if I could still see them in the remaining days.

“Old Sun, what day is it now?”

My question clearly caught him off guard.

“What the… Zhichun, little sister, have you gotten confused from living here?” Old Sun said with a mixture of tears and laughter. “How can someone from the ‘Extreme Path’ ask such a question?”

Indeed, others might not, but for me, this question was extremely important.

“It’s already the tenth day.” Old Sun said. “We’re about to disappear, unfortunately we can’t find many people.”

After hearing this, I knew I wouldn’t be able to find Jiang Ruoxue in such a short time. I could only sit down on a nearby stone stump and rest my already numb arms.

The “Land of the End” was truly filthy. The air was filled with powder formed from the flesh and blood of “Participants,” falling randomly on the ground and furniture. Wherever I sat down, my skirt would definitely get dirty.

“Old Sun…” I said while moving my arms. “Have you met any interesting people recently?”

“Of course I have!” Old Sun suddenly seemed interested. “Little sister, let me tell you… I found a good younger brother. Hmm… should I call him younger brother though…”

“Who is it?”

“He’s a fellow from ’83…” Old Sun scratched his head. “It’s really strange though. That guy is from ’83, but he looks one or two decades older than me. How mysterious is that?”

“Uh… why is he good?” I asked again.

“That guy is a ‘Puppet,’ surname Deng. When the time comes, just call him Brother Deng.” Old Sun said enthusiastically. “Wait for your brother to organize a gathering and introduce you to Brother Deng. We’re all honest people.”

“Puppet…?” I was stunned after hearing this. “What kind of ability is that?”

“How should I describe this ability…” Old Sun carefully recalled after hearing this, then stared at me with a pair of innocent big eyes. “Little sister, you know… when we obtain abilities in this place, at most we can only know the name.”

“Right.” I nodded. “Knowing the ability’s name is already the best situation. Some people ‘echo’ in a daze and don’t even know that what’s displayed on the screen outside is their ability name.”

“Exactly, exactly.” Old Sun agreed. “So generally, after seeing their ‘echo’ name, people have to test it out. When Brother Deng found out he was a ‘Puppet,’ he also conducted many experiments.”

“Experiments?”

“Right, he mainly wanted to test what kind of ability this was.” Old Sun continued. “According to Brother Deng… he seems to be able to transfer death from certain moments onto corpses… but I always feel something’s not right. He definitely hasn’t figured it out completely. If it’s called ‘Puppet,’ shouldn’t he at least be able to make corpses move?”

I knew Old Sun wasn’t wrong. In this place, as long as you were crazy enough or fundamentally forgot you were human, forget corpses—you could treat even living people as puppets.

I vaguely felt this person would be of great use in the future, but now there was no way to find him. I asked Old Sun about his appearance and learned he was a short, plump uncle.

Next, Old Sun and I rested for a while, and then “Annihilation” came. I watched with my own eyes as Old Sun turned to powder before me.

It seemed that even the “rules” here had a clear sequence. Although the “Extreme Path” could avoid death from the Great Reshuffle, they had no way to escape Annihilation.

Two cycles later, everything indeed returned to normal.

The people here continued to move about in the “Land of the End” as if nothing had happened, and many major events occurred over the next two years.

First was “Heaven’s Gate’s” big move. Since moving into the school, they began recruiting “Participants” on a large scale.

I was actually somewhat curious… All “Great Reshuffles” lasted two cycles to ensure no one’s memories would be preserved.

Yet their leader was still Chu Tianqiu.

I knew very clearly that person wasn’t “Extreme Path,” but he seemed to have escaped the reshuffle and retained his memories, pulling powerful partners like Yun Yao back into the fold.

I also heard that Chu Tianqiu “picked up” an exceptionally powerful “Participant” on the street, who became co-vice leader alongside Yun Yao.

It seemed “Heaven’s Gate’s” strength was growing daily.

Later I saw Jiang Ruoxue again. She didn’t look very happy. No matter how much I asked, she wouldn’t tell me what had recently happened. She only asked me a strange question:

“If a mirror that’s already shattered is repaired and then you forget it was ever broken, does that make it new?”

I couldn’t get anything out of her and could only offer symbolic comfort.

Before long, she withdrew from “Heaven’s Gate.” This made me quite curious about Chu Tianqiu’s character. Perhaps, as Auntie Tong said, everything Chu Tianqiu did came from a place of “goodness,” so even with someone as powerful as Jiang Ruoxue with her “echo,” he didn’t try to keep her, allowing anyone to come and go freely.

Jiang Ruoxue’s personality became somewhat more reserved, but she remained as close to me as before.

The second thing that made me uneasy was Baiyang. His gaze was becoming increasingly strange.

Each time, he needed several seconds to confirm my identity, then to confirm his own location.

But fortunately, his game venue was completely empty now.

Baiyang locked himself in the bank’s office every time and never went out, causing all “Participants” to be unable to tell from the entrance that this was a “game.”

Even if someone really did “participate,” Baiyang would introduce the game rules extremely perfunctorily.

The previously most popular “Lottery” had a prize pool that remained at zero, causing a vicious cycle where no one participated anymore.

The legendary “Paradise Bank,” after the Great Reshuffle two years ago, completely fell from prominence in the “Land of the End.”