Buddhist player

Having been hungry all day, and with no immediate rush, Bai Chen decided to cook.

Even disregarding the cards stored in his card collecting book, the contents of his backpack alone are enough for him to squander.

Life needs a sense of ritual, and so does eating... although the expression on Quantum Self-Binding's face was one of utter disillusionment throughout.

Just as they were about to eat, the Painter of Prisons, who had been wandering around all day, returned leisurely with a map. Although the little girl had drawn it very seriously, it was far inferior to the professional version.

Perhaps for this reason, the little girl was in a low mood throughout the meal, and by the time they finished eating, it had already quietly gotten dark outside.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?"

Holding the Langya staff with obvious affection, Quantum suddenly asked a question.

There were still quite a few parts of the map that needed to be completed, but since the other side's invisible hidden assistant brought back the entire map, there was plenty of time left.

But he didn't believe that the other party didn't have any decent plans for the night. After all, once today was over, everything except them would be reset, including the players they had captured today.

While there's a high probability that one of them will be completely swallowed up by the town tomorrow, there are still three left. This morning, the other side went to such great lengths just to have one day of peace, which is somewhat inconsistent with their image of being a master strategist...

Indeed, in Quantum Self-Binding's mind, someone's image has basically become synonymous with the almost supernaturally wise Zhuge Liang. His actions are meticulously planned and logically interconnected, and although he can sometimes be a liar, there is always a strange sense of security in following his plans.

—This thigh is very thick.

"Arrange two? I'll go with two."

After thinking for a moment, Bai Chen gave his answer.

"You go to the lord's manor, while Xiao Qi and I go deep into the grassroots and collect as much intelligence as possible, whether it's useful or not."

"The lord's manor... that's fine too."

After pondering for a moment, Quantum Automatically nodded and accepted the task.

"It's 7 p.m. now. I'll give you three hours. We'll meet here at 10 p.m."

Bai Chen tossed a watch to the other person and stood up from the table.

To find out what exactly happened in this town, intelligence gathering is a necessary step... Unfortunately, he rested for a bit too long during the day.

He originally estimated that he would wake up around noon at most and sleep for a few hours, but he never expected to sleep until 4 p.m.

Fortunately, there was still enough time.

Bai Chen had originally planned to take care of the knife-cut noodles and the others before setting off, but after casually glancing at his personal attributes, he was somewhat surprised to find that his attributes had undergone slight changes.

His original "Spirit" attribute was 13 points, but now it has become 16, a full increase of 3 points, which is equivalent to the free attribute points he gained by leveling up three times for free.

"You can actually gain attributes from self-harm..."

Bai Chen closed his personal panel thoughtfully. After glancing at the knife-cut noodles covered by the white sheet on the ground, he decisively changed his mind and sealed the other party into the card as well.

It's just a little hardship, but compared to the attribute points you get for free, this little effort is worthwhile.

No one can resist the temptation of getting something for free.

.......................................

Thanks to the highly concealed "Hand of the Painted Prison," Bai Chen already knew the detailed layout of the entire town by heart, and was also familiar with the locations of all the underground refuges.

Compared to the lifeless and almost deserted surface of the town, the underground shelter was much better. However, although there were more people here, almost everyone had an extremely numb and mechanical expression on their faces.

If I had to put it into words, these people reminded him a bit of Xiaoqi's parents, like a group of monsters wearing human shells. Observing them for too long could easily trigger the uncanny valley effect.

The only ones who were somewhat angry were the dozens of passengers who arrived on that bus today, but the information they knew was nowhere near as good as that of these locals.

So after asking a few people, Bai Chen finally focused his main attention on the local town residents. Although Xiao Qi had been living here for nearly ten years, she was not a native of this place. Her time was still stuck on the day her parents brought her to this town, and she knew far less information than these local residents.

To save time and to obtain more accurate information, Bai Chen simply took out all the supplies piled up in his backpack.

The fresh meat, along with the plump and green fruits and vegetables, ignited the enthusiasm of the townspeople who had long lived underground. In addition, the questions he asked were not too sensitive, so it didn't take long for Bai Chen to get the information he wanted.

...However, this new intelligence was quite unexpected.

The town was not originally named Fog Town, but rather after the name of Dawn. At that time, the town was constantly filled with outsiders, and even a single settlement spot could cause a huge uproar.

But at some point, a white fog appeared out of nowhere and enveloped the town. At first, no one paid attention to this trivial matter, but as time went by, all sorts of strange and bizarre things began to happen in the town. People in the town started to disappear and die one after another.

At this point, it should have been the town's lord who took charge, since no ordinary person could create a town-level settlement from scratch in the current world situation.

To everyone's surprise, the lord not only failed to step in and take charge, but also deliberately allowed the situation to spiral out of control. As a result, people began to flee the town, and the once prosperous town fell into ruin, and the name Dawn was changed to Fog.

The lord did not reappear until the town's population began to decline to a dangerous threshold.

...However, this time, the other party brought good news.

An adventuring team from elsewhere entered Fog Town and took the initiative to solve the town's strange occurrences. This team was not only quite strong but also extremely capable. In just four or five days, they not only solved many strange occurrences in the town but also successfully found the source of the fog.

On that day, when the long-lost fog was dispelled and the sun shone on the town again, everyone in the town spontaneously held a grand carnival.

There's plenty of alcohol, plenty of meat, and plenty of fruit.

The lord, who was usually elusive, was unusually generous at this time.

...But this is not the end, but the beginning of another misfortune.

After the revelry that day, no one could quite remember what happened next. All they remembered was that when they woke up from their hangovers, they found that the town had returned to normal.

...just like always.

After saying all this, the old man suddenly shuddered, as if he had remembered something terrible.

"I always felt like I saw something that night... but I can't quite remember it, I just know that it made me despair."

"...a despair that penetrates to the very marrow of one's bones."