Infinite loop!

After walking through all seven floors, I returned to the first floor.

Over and over again, forever.

This was a setting I had only seen in horror movies, but I never expected it would actually happen to me now.

Li Yuebai didn't know whether to cry or laugh for a moment. He just felt cold all over, colder than ever before.

Just like last time, Ye Qing appeared again.

He seemed to have forgotten that he had been exposed once, and continued to pretend to be the complete Ye Qing in his memory, appearing in front of Li Yuebai.

"You still don't choose to kill me this time?" Ye Qing walked closer, stretched out his cold hand, and touched Li Yuebai's forehead: "Or do you want to be trapped here until you die?"

"No." Li Yuebai grabbed his wrist and shook it off.

Ye Qing smiled and hugged him tightly, pressing his cold body against his, the chill penetrating into his bone marrow through the contact of skin.

"The man you are holding now has become a demon. Everything he did was because you didn't kill him." Ye Qing repeated word by word in Li Yuebai's ear, his voice hoarse: "Once is fine, twice is fine, but what if, when it repeats a thousand times? What about ten thousand times? Will you really not pull out the gun and solve everything cleanly and neatly?"

Li Yuebai let Ye Qing hold him woodenly without resisting.

Yes, no one can endure the endless cycle of torture. No matter how strong a person is, he will be worn out to exhaustion, to collapse, and to have to obey the orders of the leader.

"System..." Li Yuebai called the system in his heart: "Check the time, and what are the conditions for victory in this world?"

The time is actually displayed in the lower right corner, and there are still twenty hours left.

"Dear host, the condition for victory is to kill Gao Chengyu himself." The system answered honestly.

Very reasonable conditions, but Li Yuebai now has no idea where Gao Chengyu's real body is. From beginning to end, he has only appeared in the form of an illusion.

Even if we knew where he was, we couldn't be sure of defeating him.

"Then tell me first, how can I escape from this damn infinite loop!" Li Yuebai secretly got angry at the system.

"Dear host, this depends on your ability." The system said politely.

Expected answer.

"Where is the real Ye Qing? Contact him for me." Li Yuebai ordered.

"Hey, the real Ye Qing?" The system didn't know if it was playing dumb or setting up obstacles again: "Isn't he right here? Why do you need me to contact him?"

"This is fake. I repeat, where is the real Ye Qing? Contact him for me."

"Dear host, I've already told you, it's right here." The system's voice was somewhat playful: "You can contact him in person."

Right here?

Thinking carefully about this sentence, it was so terrifying that Li Yuebai got goosebumps all over his body.

He shuddered, pushed the fake Ye Qing away, and looked around.

Of course, the surroundings were empty, and the only living thing was the crow that had been perched on the windowsill.

Crow...

Li Yuebai felt like he was really going crazy.

He walked towards Crow step by step, squatted down, took a look, and asked cautiously: "Xiao Ye, is that you?"

The crow flapped its wings noncommittally.

"How many stars are there in the sky? Answer me." Li Yuebai did not give up and asked again.

Ga, ga, ga, ga.

The crows cackle four times in unison.

"What power of ten is the unit?" Li Yuebai's eyes suddenly widened.

The crow jumped eleven times on the spot.

Four hundred billion, yes.

Ye Qing... Is this crow Ye Qing...?

Li Yuebai was so frightened by his own crazy thought that he was unable to breathe.

He lowered his head and reached out his hand to touch the crow, but was afraid of scaring it away.

Judging from the crow's gaze, it also roughly understood what he was thinking.

Li Yuebai didn't know how many thoughts went through his mind in a flash, and the next second, he took out the gun from his arms.

"Fuck you, you want to fool me with such a poor technique?" Li Yuebai almost roared as he aimed the muzzle of the gun at the crow, and pulled the trigger at its heart without hesitation: "Get out!"

He was so angry that he was about to explode. If he didn't vent his anger, he would really go crazy.

The crow was startled, and dodged quickly, screaming as it flew out of the window. However, it was still scratched by the silver bullet, and a few drops of blood and countless black feathers fell down.

As it was injured, the phantom of the fake Ye Qing disappeared again.

Before firing, Li Yuebai was 100% sure that the crow was the spellcaster, the vampire who used magic to create the illusion.

"Dear host, you are too impulsive." The system laughed and said, "What if it is really Ye Qing?"

"Impossible." Li Yuebai put the gun back: "Do you remember what time it was when we first came to the Seven Stars Tower? At that time, the crow was already there."

"Three hours ago." The system replied.

"And the last time I contacted Ye Qing, he was still at the beach." Li Yuebai took out his mobile phone and used the calculator on it to calculate the distance: "Even if it is the nearest beach, Ye Qing definitely cannot get here earlier than me. This crow cannot be him."

"Even so...what if..." The system still felt that he was acting too recklessly.

"No chance of that happening." Li Yuebai slapped away the crow feathers that fell on his body with disgust: "The real Ye Qing would never be able to sit still and do nothing when he sees the fake self entangled with me."

This crow can only be a spellcaster.

Its eyes, its cries, and its every move were always connected to the phantom's. It knew the answer, four hundred billion. After it was injured, the phantom disappeared... Everything pointed to one answer - it was the caster.

"Even if it is a spellcaster, dear host, you failed to kill it, what should you do?" The system pretended to be worried.

"It's injured." Li Yuebai walked to the windowsill, carefully picked up the black feathers, and dipped them into the crow blood dripping on the windowsill: "After it was injured, the power of the phantom will inevitably weaken, and the hope of escaping will increase."

"That's not necessarily true..." said the system.

"You can't escape." - There was an extra line of handwriting on the parchment.

"Yes, dear host, do you know such a rule - only the caster can escape from the illusion set up by the caster." said the system.

"Then you just wait and see." Li Yuebai sneered, left the window, and stepped onto the stairs leading to the second floor.

"Wait, dear host, why do you want to continue going up?" The system hurriedly advised: "Don't you know the consequences of going up? It's useless, this is an infinite loop..."

"Because I know this, I want to compete with the caster." Li Yuebai's steps did not stop at all: "I want to know, will it be me who is driven away by it first, or will it be exhausted by me first... How much magic power will be consumed to maintain such an illusion, such an infinite cycle? Think about it carefully..."

"You are so brave." The system's tone was a little sarcastic.

It's not about being brave or stupid, it's just that there is no other choice.

If you stop and stand in the empty tower, looking at the darkness all around you, you will only feel more despair.

No matter how tough Li Yuebai's attitude appears, he is actually unsure deep down.

He also often suspected that he might collapse at the next second.

The second cycle, the third cycle, the fourth cycle, the tenth cycle...

The hours passed by and the countdown soon reached 10 hours.

After 10 hours, if Gao Chengyu is not defeated, the team will lose.

After who knows how many times the cycle had repeated, Li Yuebai once again witnessed the fake Ye Qing sucking Xiao Wan's blood dry in front of him.

But this time, Ye Qing's figure seemed to be much fainter, and his movements also paused and froze.

Has the spellcaster finally given up?

Li Yuebai managed to stand against the wall, breathing hard.

My heart ached as if it was being torn apart every moment, my hands were shaking, my throat felt dry as if it was about to split, and everything in front of my eyes became blurry.

Blurred...

Li Yue looked at everything in front of him with disdainful eyes, as if it were winter glass, covered with a layer of window grilles.

Is it that my body's functions have reached their limits, or is it that the caster's magic power has reached its limit?

The next second, he heard a cracking sound. Right in the center of this floor of the tower, a very thin crack appeared in the air, as if a glass barrier had been hit hard by someone.

Is this... a barrier?

Unfortunately, the fragmentation trend was quickly suppressed and the cracks did not continue to expand.

Li Yuebai struggled to walk to the crack and felt like he was observing through glass.

Through this blurry "glass", he saw a familiar figure.

It’s Ye Qing.

This Ye Qing was completely different from the one in his memory, but Li Yuebai still recognized him at a glance.

He was wearing the most classic everyday suit, but the suit had been dyed into strange red and blue colors with some unknown color. He had a slender figure and looked in very poor condition, completely different from the calm and composed look in his memory.

Is he...crying?

I don’t know if it’s an illusion caused by the blue tear, but from this angle, Ye Qing really looks like she’s crying.

Why are you crying? Because you can't find me?

Li Yuebai punched the cracked glass hard, but no sound came out.

"Xiao Ye, come here..." As soon as he opened his mouth, he realized that his voice had become hoarse. After such a long journey without a drop of water, this result was almost inevitable.

Even with such a sound, Ye Qing didn't hear it at all.

They were separated by a barrier, in two completely different worlds.

Li Yuebai walked around the tower and finally had to admit this cruel fact.

Through the glass, one can see that Ye Qing is also in the Seven Star Building, also on the second floor.

But he couldn't see himself at all.

I could only see him through the small area where the crack appeared.

Sounds, smells, etc., cannot be communicated to each other at all.

In an instant, Li Yuebai finally understood what the system meant by "He is here".

Ye Qing came here after hearing the conditions proposed by Gao Chengyu. Maybe he was a step later than himself, a few hours later, but not too late.

But in the long ten hours, Ye Qing was always facing an empty Seven Star Tower. There was no himself, no Gao Chengyu, no vampire, nothing.

Maybe Ye Qing also asked the system: Where is Li Yuebai?

The only answer the system can give is: It’s right here.

It's right here, but we can't meet no matter what.