Chapter 897: The Whirl City's Backup Plan

The sky was about to turn dark, and Jiang Ruoxue led me and Gu Yu to a nearby building to rest.

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

The three of us sat together in the room, and Gu Yu used his portable flint to light a campfire. He mentioned that before coming here, he was a Mo Shu Shi.

Jiang Ruoxue gave us a simple introduction, but she seemed cautious and didn't reveal my identity as "Jidao Wang"; she only said I was a "Jidao Zhe."

But her next words left me utterly shocked.

She said that Gu Yu was actually a traveler from another city.

In Zhongyan Zhidi, I've encountered people of all sorts of identities, and I've even been a "thief" myself, but I'd never heard of a "Lüxingshe."

“So… is there a difference?” I asked. “Between here and where you're from.”

“Well…” Gu Yu lowered his head slowly, “The underlying logic is the same, but the forms are vastly different…”

Gu Yu gave me a detailed explanation of the situation in his city, Yu City. Jiang Ruoxue had probably heard it before, as she just shook her head helplessly beside us.

I had to admit, this was a scenario I'd never imagined, but upon reflection, it made sense.

Once someone accidentally builds an organization to a certain scale, others are forced to join or have no way to survive, leading to the organization growing larger in a distorted way, with fewer and fewer normal people.

In Yu City, the organization seemed like a contagious disease, drastically changing the "participants" there.

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

“I… I don't know.” Gu Yu lowered his head slowly. “I know my own abilities… I'm just an actor who performs for an audience, not a wise ruler who can govern a city. But there are people there who are important to me… I've been wandering outside for a long time, and if I don't go back to help them soon, things might go wrong.”

“You don't even know what you think?” I asked.

“Yes… Jie Chun Jie, I've laid out my situation to you… If it were you, what would you choose?”

He tossed the question to me, but I knew he was just seeking my advice.

“I'm sorry, my advice probably won't be much use to you,” I said. “In this world, I only love myself, so I wouldn't play the hero and risk saving a city—that sounds ridiculous. I'd just look out for myself first, find a way to stay safe, and then, within my capabilities, offer a helping hand if I can. If I can't save someone, well, at least I tried.”

After hearing my words, Gu Yu lowered his head slowly, looking a bit saddened.

“Xue Jie… what about you…?” Gu Yu asked. “Do you think the same way?”

“Hmm…” Jiang Ruoxue thought for a moment and said, “Although I love myself too, my approach is different from Jie Chun's. I think if you want to save people, go ahead and do it; if you want to stay, then stay. After all, if you think of something and don't act on it, you'll just end up draining yourself and wasting time. But on the other hand… if your decisions lead you to die there forever, you can't blame anyone else. It's all because of your own choices—that's your 'cause and effect.'”

Jiang Ruoxue and I offered two completely different paths, and no one knew which one Gu Yu should take.

He seemed conflicted already, and after hearing our words, he became even more so.

If that's the case, I'll help him out.

“My suggestion is for you to just switch to another city,” I said. “Anyone can see that place can't be saved.”

“Switch to another city…? That's easier said than done…” Gu Yu shook his head. “It takes me a long time to travel to another city… If the people in my room notice anything suspicious, they'll force me to stay, and then I won't be able to leave.”

Gu Yu shared information about other cities with us.

He said that besides the Dao City we're in and his own Yu City, two other cities had long since lost all normal people, and one was barely hanging on.

Gu Yu had stayed in that struggling city for several years before recently arriving here.

But that city, called Wo City, sounded remarkably similar to Yu City.

The entire city had only one ruler, who led the people in a desperate battle against the "Shengxiao." Every time they entered the game arena, it was a life-or-death gamble.

They believed that once all the "Shengxiao" were defeated, the "participants" would win, but that would render the cycle meaningless.

Yet… didn't they realize that "Shengxiao" could keep regenerating endlessly?

I thought about it carefully and quickly understood.

In Wo City, who would ever put on a mask and become a "Shengxiao"?

Clearly, being a "Shengxiao" there was a high-risk role, with people facing immense dangers every day, overwhelmed by the endless influx of "participants," and even wanting to escape.

In such a situation, would any "participant" pick up a mask and willingly become a "Shengxiao"?

It's like on a battlefield, while one side is fiercely suppressing the enemy, one of your soldiers suddenly decides to put on the enemy's uniform.

In other words… whether in Wo City or Yu City, everyone was dealing with various coincidences that created information gaps.

The people in Wo City didn't even know that "participants" could become "Shengxiao" by putting on the masks.

No… if this situation in Wo City had persisted for many years, it might end up similar to Yu City.

Even if the leader named Nie Bei had noticed something was off, he wouldn't be able to turn back.

After all, all the organization's members were pushing in that direction, with defeating all "Shengxiao" as the city's sole faith. How could the leader admit, “We've been wrong all along, and those comrades died in vain”?

He wouldn't want to, and he wouldn't admit it.

The whole of Wo City was like an arrow shot from a bow—it couldn't turn back. Even if they knew there was an iron wall ahead, they'd have to crash into it and break themselves.

Otherwise, they couldn't account to anyone.

“You just said Wo City is now 'barely hanging on'?” I asked.

“Yes,” Gu Yu nodded. “Think about it, and you'll see—the number of people in Wo City decreases every day. A comrade who shares life and death with you in one cycle might vanish in the next. The survivors will seek revenge and throw themselves back into the game, creating a vicious cycle… It's likely that the entire city will soon be devoid of any living people.”

That doesn't seem right…

I felt there was more to this.

If Nie Bei was truly capable of leading a city, he couldn't have overlooked that.

He must have prepared a backup plan in advance. Even if Wo City fell, someone would survive to represent it.