Grandpa Zheng saw the confusion in her expression. "Yes, every death or serious injury consumes a person's life force. When we discovered this cruel fact and tried to leave a message for outsiders, the game automatically leveled up. When we woke up again, not only had we lost some memories, but all those who were qualified to enter the game had also entered." He turned to Han Meimei with pity and affection. "And you confused reality with illusion, thus forgetting many memories that the system didn't think should exist, and even we became untouchable beings."

"I've heard that many people who come to the hospital on adventures are looking for mysterious dungeons." Grandpa Zheng smiled bitterly. "There are no mysterious dungeons. They've exhausted their life force to a certain extent, which is not enough to support the construction of the game system world. It's not so much that they disappear from the game, but rather that the world in their minds has completely disappeared."

Death and the annihilation of the soul are the normal process for humans in the real world to return to the heavens and earth. But here, without a physical body to support them and with their consciousness exhausted, what evidence can they possibly have left to prove that they once came to this world?!

In the Twin Village instance, Xiao Zhu Jun once mentioned that after the instance refreshed, only the corpses of outsiders remained... At that time, Cheng Shuang thought about it again and again and attributed the problem to the players' native identity, believing that the maintainers and natives were fundamentally different.

However, if they are both a form of consciousness (brainwaves) within the game, their existence is similar to that of the indigenous people in the 'Eternal New World'.

The maintainer should not leave any trace after the instance dies and the instance refreshes.

Unless the maintainer enters the game entirely as a person, don't doubt the power of the Gate of Reincarnation. It can bring countless maintainers and tourists across planes, and stuffing a few living people into a game space in a land of death wouldn't be a big problem for the Gate of Reincarnation.

So when the score is reset to zero and you return to the so-called newbie village, it actually marks the true death of the maintainers.

When consciousness is separated from the body, all attribute points will naturally decrease. There will always be a difference between a vibrant life and a mere consciousness.

Perhaps death really was so close to them!

Cheng Shuang only wished that her shallow and unfounded speculations were just wild thoughts. She turned her head and silently looked at Han Meimei, and found that she seemed to have thought of something. She was so shocked that she almost jumped off the folding bed.

Then Li Lei hugged her and gently comforted her, "It's okay, let's listen to Mr. Zheng continue."

Han Meimei's eyes were filled with sorrow as she buried her head in her boyfriend's shoulder. After a short while, she could be heard sobbing softly.

She was a smart woman. The young girl bit her lip, perhaps already doubting whether her boyfriend was alive or dead. After all, among those present, only Li Lei had his points reset to zero, and he hadn't even suggested going to find his teammates. Perhaps, in the instant his points were reset, they had already forgotten each other…

Li Lei felt extremely sorry for his girlfriend and gently patted her back with the utmost tenderness.

"But that doesn't mean the ultimate dungeon doesn't exist." Grandpa Zheng sighed. "Ten or twenty years ago, the last engineer among us who developed the game found the bug in this world."

"That's an extremely dangerous copy. It can be anything you can imagine, it can be any kind of danger, it will always appear when people least expect it."

"Isn't it at its coordinates?" Sun Han asked.

"Yes." Grandpa Zheng nodded, then shook his head when he saw the outsiders' eyes light up. "None of those who went in came back."

Cheng Shuang stretched out her little hand, "Grandpa Zheng, is it possible that they passed through that dangerous instance and escaped the game 'Eternal New World'?"

"You mean back to real human society?" Li Lei asked in surprise.

"You can't go out." The old man, who had been speaking urgently, suddenly changed his expression. He stood up abruptly and shouted to stop him, "You can't go outside! The outside is no longer suitable for human survival. There's no other way; this is humanity's last resort. Don't be so naive! You are humanity's hope! Outside... outside..." He wanted to say something, but it was as if he had something stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter another word for a long time.

He had long forgotten what the outside world had become.

"Old Zheng!" Grandma Xu called softly, and hurriedly pulled him back to sit on the folding bed.

Only then did the group realize that the old man's aged face was covered with tear stains and a look of bewilderment.

Grandpa Zheng remained motionless, blankly letting Grandma Xu take out a handkerchief to wipe away his tears. His condition was clearly abnormal; he seemed to be gradually converging with the three elderly men behind him.

Grandma Xu pursed her lips, her lowered eyelids revealing no emotion. After a long while, she calmly said, "You should go! Find transportation, get out of the city, not just the outskirts, but completely out of the city."

Li Lei wanted to ask more questions, but Du Jun stopped him, gently shaking his head. What the two elders could say, they wouldn't hide; what they couldn't say, perhaps, was like what Grandpa Zheng had to say...

"Take care of yourself!"

The basement returned to darkness, the footsteps faded into the distance, and after a long while, a deep sigh spread out.

Cheng Shuang stood between the buildings of the Academy of Sciences, and suddenly looked up at the red cross under the sun and the logo next to the cross—the Second Central Hospital.

It's not that the brand has changed; it's that, in the eyes of the players, it is whatever they want it to be.

It could be an academy of sciences, an amusement park, or a school.

"With so many consciousnesses, won't there be a car crash?" the little girl muttered to herself.

Walking beside her, Du Jun turned his head. "No, it will only cause the city to expand infinitely." Most importantly, there will always be someone with a stronger will take the lead, forcing everyone else to follow their lead. There won't be a car crash, but the herd mentality in humans can sometimes be quite terrifying.

Sun Han added, "When the consciousness dissipates, the city will shrink silently again."

Therefore, this land of death should welcome maintainers and tourists, so that it will have a continuous stream of consciousnesses forming the world.

Similarly, the awakening of individual consciousness caused by the maintainers would likely be enough to give the wanderers hiding behind the game world a run for their money.

Han Meimei, who had been in a daze, found a dungeon to max out her score. Li Lei was originally unwilling for his girlfriend to go on the adventure alone, but seeing her insistence with bloodshot eyes, he had no choice but to accompany her.

The two had very high scores, which limited their choices. Fortunately, it didn't take long, but they came out exhausted and injured.

After resting at the hotel for another day, and once the night was over and his injuries had fully healed, Sun Han used his old ID to rent a seven-seater car from a car rental company.

The group drove along the straight road, passing overpasses and through vegetable fields and farmland, until they reached a fast-flowing river where the road ended.

"How can there be no road?" Han Meimei's gaze lingered on both sides of the riverbank, then she looked helplessly at her boyfriend, anxiously seeking confirmation. "There's clearly a bridge here, connecting to other cities. Clearly..."

Under her boyfriend's tolerant gaze, she kept quiet. In truth, she already knew the answer in her heart, but she kept trying to deceive herself and let things slide.

Suddenly, a car horn sounded from behind. They turned around and saw a car full of college students peering curiously through the windows.