Finishing the book means death; I abandoned the whole world.

"Author, are you sure you want to leave this afternoon?"

"What's wrong with leaving this afternoon? The narrative weight is 135 points. When we wake up tomorrow, we'll only have 78 points left. Time is life, and we have Wu the engine. What are we afraid of?" Yong put his pen into his pocket and patted Wu Qu on the shoulder.

Wu Qu was squatting on the ground tying her shoelaces. They were a pair of hiking boots that Yong Ge had just confirmed for her with 1 point of weight. They were light purple with delicate patterns, and they matched her wisteria flower glasses very well.

Wu Qu looked up, his glasses gleaming: "Brother Yong, I'm ready."

"Prepare my ass!" Zhang Gou Dan burst out of the toilet, his floral shorts fluttering in the wind. "I don't dare utter a single fart now, for fear of losing weight."

"Then you can hold it in. We'll let you have your fill once we gain more power," Yong said with a grin.

Li Yumeng, carrying a medical backpack, was a little pale, and her fingers were trembling slightly, but she still straightened her back: "The emergency supplies are ready!"

"Efficiency!" Yong Ge gave a thumbs up and looked at Wang Gangtie.

"I can now maintain it consistently for more than 20 seconds, but it takes 3 points each time."

"Today you're in support, not dealing damage, so don't waste your points easily. Your points are about to reach a critical point, so focus on gaining more weight first."

"clear"

Huang Chaobin was already waiting at the entrance poster, squatting on the ground, his finger tracing the road surface, his pupils flashing with lines of data: "The route is planned. Go straight on Xiangyang Road, turn onto Chanshi Road, and then go straight to Wenhua Road. The whole route is 2.3 kilometers long, all main roads."

Are there any dangerous areas?

"There seems to be a narrative gap in the middle of Zen Master Road; my detection accuracy drops significantly there." He stood up. "Simply put, we have to guess about that part of the journey."

"With Wu Qu here, we're not afraid of guessing. Let's go!"

……

The afternoon sun pierced through the hazy mist, casting dappled and somewhat distorted shadows on the ground of Xiangyang Road.

"This lousy place, even the sun is a cheap imitation," Yong complained.

"Attention, at the intersection ahead, turn left onto Zen Master Road. Something is moving on the street," Huang Chaobin warned.

The small group moved along the street and turned onto Chanshi Road, a four-lane main road with cracked surfaces and abandoned vehicles parked haphazardly.

"Maintain formation, Wu Qu, sense what's ahead."

Wu Qu closed his eyes, his fingers lightly sliding through the air: "Ahead, there's something moving, a lot of things, like a troop?"

Six people hid behind an overturned bus and peered out. A procession slowly came into view: a square formation of dozens of random passersby, with a huge "update urging" figure in the center "escorting" them, a countdown displayed on his chest.

"Are they migrating?" Li Yumeng's voice trembled slightly.

"No, it's updating," Ye Tian floated over, his voice somewhat grave. "Did you see what that person who was urging for updates was holding?"

Yongge squinted and saw the black whip in the hand of the urging person. With each lash, the body of a "passerby" became more solid, and blurry facial features gradually appeared on the face, as if it was a process of being forcibly given a set of settings.

"Are they creating soldiers??? Using the remains of those who abandon their posts, creating an army starved of narratives???"

"There's no way around it! The main road is the only way. Other places are twice as long and might be even more dangerous." Huang Chaobin said somewhat heavily.

The author's face, which had previously displayed the "Author's Notice," now flashed with blood-red text: "[Aura of an unupdated work detected, 200 meters away.]"

"Damn it, that guy spotted us!" Zhang Gou Dan clenched his fist.

"No, it should be passive perception." Yong Ge thought quickly: "It should be searching for unfinished stories, our ongoing serialization, like a torch in the dark."

Wu Qu suddenly grabbed Yong Ge's sleeve: "I have an idea."

"explain."

"We can imagine a completed story as a vehicle, and you can confirm it. We'll create a fake sense of completion, because those urging for updates have no interest in completed works, right?"

Yong Ge was stunned for 3 seconds before he reacted: "Wu Qu, you are a fucking genius!"

Wu Qu imagined: A thick book, black cover, with a gold-embossed title, "Apocalyptic Survival Guide (Complete)". Author: Anonymous, the last page says "The End", the cover is somewhat worn, as if it has been read countless times.

Yong Ge wrote it down simultaneously.

A semi-transparent black book appeared in the air, exuding the scent of decay and completion.

"Dog Egg! Throw it over there!"

Zhang Gou Dan took the book and threw it with all his might toward the other side of the road, where it landed 50 meters in front of the person urging for more updates.

The person urging for more updates instantly changed direction, the countdown on their chest pounding wildly: [Completed work detected] [Incomplete work detected], the two conflicting messages.

"Let's go! While its logic is still confused!"

The team dashed off the sidewalk, running madly along the edge, while the person urging for more updates stood there dumbfounded. Even the group of "passersby" stopped, uttering bewildered questions: "And then?" "The End?" "And then?"

"You can only hold on for 30 seconds, run!" Wu Qu shouted cautiously, glancing back as he ran, when suddenly his foot tripped.

"Watch out!" Yong Ge grabbed her arm. "Watch where you're going! Don't turn around."

Finally, we escaped the monsters. In the middle of Zen Master's Road, the air became very thick.

Huang Chaobin paused, saying, "In a narrative void, my abilities completely fail."

The street in front of us has turned gray and white [to be supplemented], and most of the vehicles and buildings are only outlines.

"Wu Qu, give me the framework."

"The asphalt road has four lanes in both directions, white lane markings, green belts along the roadside, and plane trees planted on it."

Wu Qu closed his eyes and traced lines in the air with his hands: "The road surface is dark gray with tiny cracks, from which wild grass grows... The lane markings are faded white, blurred in some places... The sycamore trees are tall, their leaves green, but the edges are turning yellow, as if autumn is approaching..."

Her voice trembled slightly, but the details grew richer. Yongge quickly wrote: [Middle section of Jiefang Avenue, four-lane asphalt road in both directions, dark gray pavement cracked with weeds, faded white lines, tall plane trees on both sides, green leaves with yellowed edges.]

[Current narrative weight: 136→134]

The road "grew" out of the void, with asphalt pavement, lane markings, and sycamore trees appearing. However, the filled area only extended ten meters forward; beyond that, the landscape remained gray and white [to be supplemented].

"Keep moving!" Yong pushed Wu Qu forward. "You run and fill in the blanks in your mind, I'll run and confirm!"

"I'll give it a try!"

This was the first attempt at "dynamic coordination." Wu Qu ran, his eyes half-open and half-closed, imagining the details of the next stretch of road every ten meters: "There's a traffic light ahead, a red light, and a little GG on the light pole."

Yong Ge simultaneously wrote and confirmed: [Traffic light, red light, light pole has a small GG sticker] Weight consumption, real-world generation.

【134→132→130→128】

This kind of coordination is extremely costly, but the team keeps moving forward.