"What the hell, eh, why did I say what the hell? It feels like I just said it."

Old Eggplant took off his helmet, the feeling of being hit to death by the dump truck was still echoing in his body. He got up, hurriedly picked up his phone, and clicked on the avatar of a person in the group chat.

[Old Eggplant]: Were you also sacrificed just now?

[Zhou Changqing]: Also? Was it you who was screaming at the door just now?

[Old Eggplant]: I'm not screaming, I just want to save you!

[Zhou Changqing]: Thank you so much, it really hurts.

[Old Eggplant]: It will definitely feel painful the first time you do it, but it will be fine once you get used to it.

Zhou Changqing: ???

[Old Eggplant]: It’s okay. When you enter the game for the second time, they won’t capture you for sacrifice. The bodies we use in this copy are not human bodies, so it seems impossible to sacrifice them to those monsters.

[Zhou Changqing]: So this is still a massively multiplayer online copy?

The two quickly exchanged some of their experiences.

Zhou Changqing's experience was similar to that of Lao Qiezi. They appeared near the grass, were caught by passers-by, and were lifted up and sent to the church to be used as sacrifices.

Old Eggplant told the other party about the problem of the passage of time, and Zhou Changqing slapped his thigh.

[Zhou Changqing]: Then we should re-enter the game immediately, otherwise they will definitely find other people to sacrifice. If any key person is captured, the copy may never be completed!

[Old Eggplant]: Maybe after the copy is over, we can enter this city from the beginning?

Lao Qiezi thought of the settings of some online games. Although the time in the game is synchronized with reality, it is only in units of one week. At the beginning of each new week, all monsters, copies, and tasks will be refreshed. Even if you failed to complete the game last week, you can continue to challenge it this week.

[Zhou Changqing]: We can’t bet on this possibility. All previous copies were started from scratch. There must be something wrong with the time synchronization of this copy, just like the Country of Darkness. We haven’t re-entered the Country of Darkness yet, so I tend to think that this is irreversible.

After seeing the other party's analysis, Lao Qiezi felt that what he said made sense.

So the two agreed on a meeting place and entered the game at the same time.

But this time, Old Eggplant did not appear around the lawn again, but on the street.

There was no one on the street and it was very quiet.

He looked around but didn't see any cars passing by.

"Because I just died in a different way or at a different place, I was resurrected at this point?"

Old Eggplant thought.

Many games have such a setting. After the player dies, he will not be resurrected at the original place, but at the nearest save point to prevent the unlucky player from being guarded by monsters.

He remembered the agreement with Zhou Changqing, looked at the street, and suddenly realized that he seemed to have no idea how to get to that lawn.

"There's no one on the street, and it's not late yet. What happened to those citizens?"

Old Eggplant walked along the street, trying to find the church he had just seen, but there was obviously more than one church in Miskatoke. He just saw a spire house and ran over, only to find that it was not the first one.

The door of the church was closed, but the lights inside were brightly lit. I couldn't tell whether it was candlelight or incandescent light shining through the stained glass, which gave people a feeling of holiness.

The stained glass depicts the scene of the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus Christ, which should have been solemn and sacred.

But when Old Eggplant looked carefully, he found that the face of the Virgin Mary was full of an evil feeling. There was no kindness in her eyes, but enchantment and charm. The baby she gave birth to was not Jehovah who could save the world, but a monster with wriggling tentacles. In the swaying light, the picture on the stained glass was lifelike, as if it was about to drill out of the glass and come into reality.

He felt his scalp tingling and listened carefully. He could hear some chanting coming from the church.

Those prayers were not from the Bible, but rather some kind of gibberish that normal humans could not understand, praising some unknown great beings from the distant deep space.

Old Eggplant knocked on the door, and the sound inside suddenly stopped.

Although he couldn't see what was happening inside the door, Old Eggplant seemed to be able to see in his heart the scene where the believers who were sitting devoutly in the church and praying suddenly turned their heads and looked towards the door.

There was a moment of timidity, but Old Eggplant still plucked up the courage to wait.

Anyway, if I die, I can just start over again, so who’s afraid of who?

After a while, footsteps were heard at the door. The other party did not open the door, but only spoke through the door.

"Who is it?"

"I want to ask, there is a grassy area and parking lot nearby, which way should I go?"

Old Eggplant thought it was great that these people could communicate, so he asked without caring whether the other party was polite or not.

"Are you from outside the country?"

The other party did not answer, but asked back.

“Almost?”

Old Qiezi didn’t know whether he counted as a local or not, but after thinking about it, he decided that he definitely couldn’t say that he was a local.

"Outlander, leave, leave quickly."

The other party responded with one sentence, and then there was no sound.

Old Eggplant knocked on the door again.

But there was no response.

He frowned slightly. He didn't get any useful information, but only felt the rejection of outsiders here.

He continued walking along the street and saw another shop that had its shutter down but the lights seemed to be on.

"Perhaps the people in the church are all believers of those unknown evil gods, and they have deep malice towards us, while ordinary people in the city may be better."

Old Eggplant thought to himself, he came to the door of the shop, he heard some noises inside, and when he listened carefully, it sounded like a sewing machine or similar machine running under human power.

He knocked on the door.

Bang, bang, bang——

The sound of the rolling door was very loud. Old Eggplant heard the continuous sound inside suddenly interrupted, and then voices were heard.

"who?"

It was a soft female voice. Just from the sound of the words, Old Eggplant could imagine a young girl talking to him from behind the rolling door.

He repeated what he had just asked, and the other party was silent for a moment.

"Are you from outside the country?"

Hearing this, Old Eggplant was suddenly shocked and felt funny.

It's like having a conversation in a game, but the NPC only responds with one or two sentences. This is normal in a game, but once this happens in real life, it becomes a bit funny.

"No, I'm just lost."

Old Eggplant made up a lie. He now spoke with an authentic New England accent that came with the game, and the other party didn't see him, so it wasn't a big deal to tell a little lie.

"Yeah?"

The other party seemed to consider it for a moment, and then the rolling door was slightly raised.

Old Eggplant saw that the other person's shadow was reflected under the light.

In the shadow, countless tentacles spread.