Ye Tianxuan's Bubble Belt and Road Initiative was followed by Yin Xiu.
They walked through narrow, dark alleys, across a bustling square, along the lakeside path, and finally stood where Yin Xiuchang fished.
"Hey, why did you lean the sign I wrote crooked?" Ye Tianxuan hurriedly screwed on the bottle cap and straightened the prohibition sign by the lake. "If it falls over, some newcomer might not see it and accidentally get close to the lake, and something bad will happen."
"Oh." Yin Xiu stepped aside and watched Ye Tianxuan carefully press the wooden sign with the prohibition order back into the ground to prevent it from falling over. Then he looked at the crooked wooden sign next to him that read "Yin Xiu is prohibited from fishing" and smiled.
"The monsters in town really hate you."
Yin Xiu remained unmoved and replied, "I hate you too."
"It's okay if you hate me, I'll be leaving soon anyway. But if you hate me, there's nothing I can do." Ye Tianxuan squatted down by the lake again, wringing out bubble solution and blowing bubbles into the lake.
Yin Xiu stood beside him, gazing at the shimmering lake, his eyes unfocused. "If I find Xiaoxiao, I'll leave too. But I've been to all the instances, and Xiaoxiao isn't there. I can only gamble that she's in some dimensional town, or some instance..."
"So you're being bothered by Lady Night every night to sit in front of the TV and watch dungeons, right?" Ye Tianxuan pursed his lips helplessly.
This was like searching for a needle in a haystack, but it was Yin Xiu's last hope.
But no matter who thinks about it carefully, how lucky would such a fragile and helpless little girl be to survive the first, second... or third dungeon if she really entered it?
Only Yin Xiu, who had just entered this place, created a dungeon record that made monsters tremble with fear.
He entered the dungeon at the age of fifteen, working day and night for over a year, and killed all the monsters in a hundred dungeons, which was astonishing.
After clearing all the dungeons, he settled down in the town. After that, he would occasionally go into the dungeons to find people. He searched for almost a year and a half, until no dungeon boss dared to accept him into the dungeon again before he was kicked out.
Only an extremely reckless madman could create such a record.
Ye Tianxuan had seen Yin Xiu like that before. His eyes were lifeless, and his body was covered in dripping blood. He was so cold that it was terrifying and frightening. People would hold their breath when passing by him. He was a monster who would cause sorrow and fear to people.
He was like a corpse, because he didn't care about his own life and had no feelings.
"Yin Xiu, do you remember why everyone who enters this town came here?" Ye Tianxuan blew bubbles and suddenly brought up the topic of the town.
Yin Xiu squinted at the dark figure swimming in the lake. "I seem to remember a little bit. It was about searching... to be precise, it was about praying. It was about wanting something, following that desire, getting lost in the town at night, and then never being able to get out again."
"Yes, everyone who comes here is searching for something. Although for some it's not something specific, they are all drawn here by their yearning." Ye Tianxuan murmured, glancing at Yin Xiu's blank stare at the lake. "Then… do you remember the one you met when you first came here?"
"That?" Yin Xiu looked puzzled. "What is that?"
"So you've forgotten too." Ye Tianxuan sighed, resting his chin on his hand. "An existence... an existence that led us here. I can't remember what it looked like anymore. I only remember that when we entered this place, we saw it, and it asked me some questions."
"What did it ask you?" No matter how hard Yin Xiu searched his remaining vague memories, he couldn't recall the "it" Ye Tianxuan had mentioned.
Ye Tianxuan's gaze was slightly unfocused. "It said, 'What do you want? I'll give you anything, everything, as long as you stay and stay by my side...' And then I refused it."
"Then I appeared in the town. Basically everyone here is like this, and I think you are probably similar."
Yin Xiu frowned in confusion, but still couldn't remember anything. "I only remember that my sister is here... I was able to find her here, but I can't remember anything else."
Ye Tianxuan seemed to understand something. "Is that so?"
Yin Xiu shook his head, no longer thinking about his own vacancy, and looked at Ye Tianxuan, "Since the players here all followed something to enter this place, why is it that the being that can give everyone what they want, is still rejected by so many people?"
"Hmm...why?" Ye Tianxuan stroked his chin and tilted his head. "Regarding this, I've forgotten what that being looked like too. I can't remember. Anyway, there must have been a reason for being rejected. Everyone who was rejected is now trapped in the town and has no choice but to clear the dungeon to leave."
Yin Xiu nodded silently. The town was like a temporary residence. People who normally cleared all the dungeons would leave immediately, but only Yin Xiu would stay here.
However, the longer he stayed here, the more blurred his memories became.
"Yin Xiu... how much longer are you going to stay here?" Ye Tianxuan's slightly deep voice came from the lakeside. "I've analyzed this with you before. Staying in a small town for too long will gradually assimilate you. Your loss of memory is the best proof of that."
Yin Xiu lowered his eyes, staring at their reflections on the water, "But I..."
"But if I leave here, I have nowhere to go."
After his light, airy voice rang out, the lakeside was completely silent, with only Ye Tianxuan blowing bubbles in the wind, and the two of them remaining speechless.
"Sigh..." The silence was finally broken by Ye Tianxuan's soft sigh. "If one day you are assimilated into a monster and wreak havoc in my town, I may not care, but I will be very sad."
He thought about how terrifying the disaster would be for the players if the god of death that made monsters tremble one day turned into a monster.
Yin Xiu silently squatted down next to Ye Tianxuan, popping the bubbles that floated past them with his fingers. "What should we do then?"
Ye Tianxuan looked up at the darkening sky and said, "How would I know? We've been here for too long."
"One dies physically, the other loses his spirit; if they stay together too long, neither will have a good ending."
Yin Xiu nervously touched the white slip of paper in his pocket, then turned to look at Ye Tianxuan, "I'll go with you to the next dungeon."
"Hey, Brother Xiu wants to take me with him? What an honor!" Ye Tianxuan joked with a smile. "It's not really appropriate for us to do dungeons together. This noob will go by himself."
Yin Xiu's face turned cold. "Are you sure it'll be alright for you to go alone?"
"What could possibly happen to me?" Ye Tianxuan lazily tossed the empty bubble bath aside, lay down on the grass by the lake, and gazed at the darkening sky.
"Even if one day I really die in the dungeon, the strategy guide I left behind will be passed on to all the new players, the people I saved will always remember me, this town will live on forever, and my soul will live on forever."
"The only one who will completely forget me is you."