Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Death Foretold and Deep Simulation (Third Update)

…

“Tomorrow”

“July 20th, Sheng Year 741, 18:25”

“Countdown: -23:59:59”

She opened her eyes and saw the familiar ceiling once again.

Besides the faint musty smell, there was also a strong bloody scent in the air.

Blood?

Shixia reached out to touch the ground and found herself touching something sticky. It was then that she realized she wasn’t lying on a bed.

She rolled over and stood up, thick blood dripping down from her fingers. Her pupils dilated slightly.

In the flickering candlelight, Shixia saw the full view of her room —

From the desk to where she had been lying, a large pool of uncoagulated blood was flowing. Messy blood footprints covered the floor, and the walls, which were covered with yellowing wallpaper, were smeared with fresh blood.

The shadow instantly emerged from the darkness beneath her feet, scanning the surroundings, but besides the dripping of blood, Shixia heard no other sounds.

Her gaze shifted to the desk, where a notebook soaked in blood lay quietly, looking like old bark.

Shixia stepped forward through the blood, and the shadow leaned against her back. She reached out cautiously and flipped open the cover.

This was indeed her notebook…

What exactly happened?

Since the notebook was soaked in blood, Shixia had to carefully peel away each page one by one.

Luckily, the earlier pages hadn’t been stained by blood, so she could still see the writing on them.

[June 18th, Sheng Year 741, 6 PM]

[After finishing my diary, I waited a minute and tried to open the system]

[I compared the system interface in the notebook with the actual one; the interfaces looked almost identical, but the system barely responded to my questions. There was no chatty behavior, but I didn’t notice anything unusual until now]

[I found the difference between the subsystem and the main system interface mainly in the “Simulation” section. You drew three interfaces: “Tomorrow,” “Yesterday,” and “Old Days.” But here, I only see a blurry section, and I can’t read the text. I tried drawing it, but ended up scribbling randomly. I decided to complete what was written in the notes first, then continue trying]

The subsystem and the main system interface were indeed different, and the subsystem, like in the simulation, did not answer any questions.

It seemed that one could indeed distinguish reality from simulation using this method. The simulated version of herself had already discovered she wasn’t in reality.

Shixia turned to the next page.

[June 18th, Sheng Year 741, 11:30 PM]

[I went directly to Jazz Bridge District No. 15 and met Aivana again, asking her about Adelle’s location]

[By the time I found Adelle and used the two notebooks to gain her trust and find High Priestess Yulis, it was already 11:30 PM]

[Directly delivering the message instead of relying on Aivana was much more efficient. High Priestess Yulis sent a secret report to the Church that same night, expecting a reply by tomorrow]

[Before a large-scale infection occurred, High Priestess Yulis planned to take Adelle to search ahead. I was left behind — because I lacked extraordinary abilities, going there would be too dangerous]

Shixia turned another page.

[June 19th, Sheng Year 741, 6:30 PM]

[Thank goodness, after High Priestess Yulis reported the four dehydrated corpses at the Church Hospital, the Church finally gave the order to ‘solve the issue’ quickly. They even dispatched a bishop,]

“Come here, assist in the investigation before the infection spreads on a large scale. The bishop will arrive as soon as tomorrow night, and his efficiency is much higher than last time.”

After obtaining the investigation authority, Yulis, in order to speed up the search and prevent more deaths, sought help from the Redemption Society. They would start a covert investigation centered around the Clock Tower Church, waiting for the arrival of the church’s strong figures, trying not to alert anyone.

The notes were now shorter, indicating everything was proceeding according to plan without any unexpected events.

Xia’er continued to turn the next page, but starting from here, there were already traces of blood sticking the pages together, requiring her to be extremely careful to separate them.

The handwriting began to get messy, indicating that Xia’er was writing very quickly.

[“Sheng Year 741, June 20th, 6:57 PM”]

[“To avoid alerting others, the blessing ceremony proceeded as usual on the 20th. On this day, most believers gathered in the square in front of the Clock Tower Church…”]

[“Dehydration Syndrome… has advanced earlier.”]

[“The people praying in the square were all sucked dry, only the High Priestess Yulis ran out when she felt the surrounding pain, saving her life, but she was also on the brink of death.”]

[“She gave me her church emblem, asking me to wait for the arrival of the church’s strong figures, while she herself, to avoid being driven mad by the continuous suffering here, committed suicide shortly after going out.”]

[“I can feel that my dehydration symptoms are getting worse… I don’t know if I can hold on until you come—if I die prematurely, will you still come?”]

[“I think I need to try the simulation in the subsystem ahead of time; wish me luck.”]

The page was filled with text, and Xia’er turned to the next page.

[“Now I am watching the system interface and writing down changes in real-time. The line of text in the simulation does not resemble any language from any world; just looking at it makes me feel nauseous.”]

[“I’m about to click in.”]

[“This simulation will consume ten points. My points have already been deducted by the subsystem, but why can’t I enter the simulation?”]

[“No… I seem to have seen something…”

[“The walls and wooden boards around me are breaking, my vision penetrates through the walls to see what’s behind… This change continues, fewer and fewer houses are visible, but more and more light can be seen…”]

[“I can’t find my notebook, I’m not even sure if I’m still recording.”]

[“Radiant light… I saw hideous things I’ve never seen before…”]

[“Underground”]

[“Circle”]

[“Church”]

Looking at the frenzied words stained with blood, Xia’er’s ears buzzed louder and louder, and the veins in her temples seemed ready to burst. She could even hear her heartbeat accelerating rapidly.

The fragmented words seemed to form scenes, flooding into her eyes.

The desk in front of her and the blood gradually blurred, and everything before her began to be covered by brilliant radiance. An extreme, uncontrollable emotion of admiration surged from Xia’er’s mind. She saw ugly monsters and countless elves, her vision piercing through layers of buildings, directly staring at the black-green disk like pupils in the distance…

Suddenly, Xia’er felt as if she had been doused with cold water. Everything in front of her rapidly returned to normal, and the pages in her hand had already been torn into shreds by her subconscious, leaving only the last page of frenzied text.

She quickly reached out, crumpling the blood-stained pages into a ball, taking deep breaths of the bloody air, and stuffing the paper ball into her pocket.

Dong-dong-dong —

A knock on the door came from downstairs.