Eternal Night

Chapter 719 Diary
"...Rule number one: Do not enter the fog! Do not enter the fog! Do not enter the fog!!"

"...At first I didn't understand this rule, but remember, you must follow it!!"

"...Rule number two: Every day, in front of everyone, recite your name and the life events you can still remember. Say as much as you can, and don't hide anything!"

"...At first, I didn't understand this rule at all, and even resisted it a lot, but because I didn't follow it, I learned a very painful lesson... It was really too painful, so I must follow it, I absolutely must follow it!!"

"...Rule number three: If you absolutely must enter the fog, the number of people entering must never be less than three. This is the absolute limit. Three people is the absolute limit for entering. Remember this!"

"...The number three, based on my inquiries, represents a minimum anchor number in self-logical cognition. Three people—you, me, and him—are the foundation for distinguishing a life. They say that if there are fewer than three people, something extremely terrifying will happen. But I'm very curious about this. If something terrifying will happen if there are fewer than three people, it means that if there are fewer than three people, no one can possibly come back alive. So...how do they know this rule?"

Wu Pifu, Xu Shilan, and Amadei looked at each other, all three feeling a sense of dread. Wu Pifu was slightly better off, partly due to his thick skin and partly due to his skill and daring, but Xu Shilan and Amadei were genuinely terrified, as there were only three of them.

The three of them calmed themselves down and continued reading the diary entries that the mainframe had "translated."

"...There must be other rules! There must be! These people who fled here crossed the fog zone and survived for so long. If there were no other rules, they would be gone by now. There must be other rules. Find them!"

"...My mentor finally replied to me. He went to the capital region with the military. Unfortunately, the cities along the coast and within three inland areas have been abandoned. As expected, I was not surprised at all. Although those high-ranking officials are not as exaggerated as the Celestial Dragons on the Grand Line, their cowardly and selfish nature is exactly the same."

"...According to the mentor, these scholars, researchers, scientists, magicians, and priests inquired about the rule simulation through sacrifice, and the analysis results and answers they obtained all pointed to the absence of existence."

"...The fog is merely the surface of this disaster; its true nature is an existential deficiency. Therefore, no matter what method is used, it is impossible to see inside the fog. The denser the fog, the lower the visibility. This visibility cannot be penetrated or exempted by any means. Technology is useless, supernatural abilities are useless, and it is said that even the ascendants within the government, despite their perfect characteristics, cannot be exempted. It is truly despairing. Even the ascendants who represent the ultimate perfection cannot be exempted?"

"...Communication was intermittent. Although theoretically, the absence of existence effect of the fog should only affect sentient beings, a research team on my supervisor's side has proposed another explanation. They believe that the life forms that disappeared in the fog may still exist, but their existence has transcended our understanding; they are metaphysical beings. Moreover, their absence of existence may have undergone some terrifying changes. In their existential characteristics, we and the world we live in may have become something else entirely. And when we cannot reach the wilderness or unobserved areas, when their existence cannot be anchored by existential observation, they may emerge..."

"...God! This is fucking like a ghost story! But I think this guess might be true, because lately... I keep feeling like there's something watching me, observing me, ready to devour me at any moment, somewhere I can't see it..."

Seeing this, Wu Pifu and the other two looked away and exchanged glances. Xu Shilan couldn't help but ask, "You just felt a lot of gazes? Were they hostile? But you couldn't see any creatures or monsters?"

Wu Pifu nodded silently and looked around.

It's still the same now. As long as he doesn't look with his naked eye or use his senses to perceive, he will continuously feel that kind of spying sensation around him. This is his sixth sense, which has proven effective countless times in the past, but it has failed in this fog. Now he has found the answer in this diary. There is indeed something in those empty places, but it is some other thing that has lost its existence.

Wu Pifu seemed to have encountered a similar situation before, namely the lost skeleton he met in the android dream world. That skeleton also exhibited a sense of loss, but compared to the current situation, there were many differences. The current situation was undoubtedly much more bizarre. After exchanging glances for a moment, the three looked at the diary, which was nearing its end, with only a few pages remaining.

"...Gone. Only six people remain in the entire town, including me. No, I don't even know if everyone here is human. Six, the last six... The network has been completely cut off, but there's no doubt the government didn't shut it down. They couldn't do that. The network relies on the Sacrifice Master's magical network setup. The Sacrifice Master headquarters wouldn't allow any member state to cut off the network. So I'm certain it was physically destroyed. The evidence is that the entire city was being destroyed by something unseen, appearing suddenly in places and at times we can't see..."

"...They can't wait any longer. They're starving, they're impatient. They want to devour us, and our existence is their very food, existence itself... I can't describe them, although I 'saw' one of them yesterday. I think that's the last sign that I'm about to disappear..."

"...Yesterday, there were only three people left in town. We had to go out and search for food, or we would starve to death. Although I would rather starve to death than enter the fog, the other two didn't want to. They felt there was still hope, so they insisted on leaving the building to search for food. And according to the rule of three people, I had to go with them. Damn it..."

"...We set off. The streets were silent, without a sound. That's right, sound is also a means of perception. Whether it's seeing, hearing, or even surveillance, videos, photos, smell... anything that can demonstrate our existence can be dispelled. But unfortunately, once we can no longer perceive them, all the surveillance equipment will be destroyed by them. When we can no longer observe them, their nature of existence seems to change."

"...Because of the silence, we kept talking along the way, but we didn't know what to say. Our existence had been swallowed up by so much, including past memories, familiar people, and even our understanding of this world. For example, I can't remember my parents' names or faces at all, I can't remember where this town is in this country, I can't even remember the full name of this country, let alone my neighbors. I don't remember anyone else who took refuge with me before. The only things I remember are my own name and the name of the person next to me..."

"...I was completely stunned at that moment, my whole body went cold, and an incomparably absurd fear burst forth from the bottom of my heart. The last step to the disappearance of existence is to lose your name. This is the last anchor point for your existence as an intellectual life, a life in civilized society. In the rules we have discussed in the past, the name is also the most important thing. So why could I only remember one person's name at that time?"

"...I called out to him, and in a trembling voice asked, 'What's its name?' I was so stupid, so incredibly stupid. I shouldn't have asked... He froze, and then I watched as his face turned from deathly pale to ashen, and then he gave me a smile that was more like a grimace, saying, 'We don't have good memories, don't ask anymore, let's go...'"

"...But it was too late. We both saw it slowly turn its head, revealing the hideous and terrifying thing beneath the human skin. What was it? I couldn't describe it at all. But it was definitely not the source, definitely not the source, definitely not one of those terrifying, extraordinary beings that coveted the world but could not obtain it. Because even after returning to the house, I could still recall it. This was completely different from the source described in the books. But I don't know how to describe it..."

"...like some kind of synapse, some kind of mouthparts, some kind of internal organs, some kind of mechanical doll, some kind of crack in the world, some kind of straw that is greedily sucking everything in, or perhaps the manifestation of some kind of metaphysical logical concept. I can't describe it, I can't inscribe it, and then I saw it with my own eyes, in an extremely greedy state, crushing it bit by bit, straightening it, and sucking it in like sucking noodles..."

"...I think I know what this mist is, I think I know what they are, I even know what I am, but I still can't describe it. I can only say that the transcendent worlds and supreme blessed lands described in books are all bullshit. Our world is an egg, a seed, the very terror of germination. In its core essence, true terror feeds on us, only this method of consumption is gentler and slower. But from birth to death, and even after death, we are bait for this great terror. It's just that the terror represented by the mist has come to our world, so it's more ferocious towards us..."

"...I don't know how I escaped back, I don't know why it spared me, I don't even know if I've been digested, absorbed, or transformed. I can only write these last words to prove that I still exist, that I still exist..."

"exist……"

The diary is finished.

(End of this chapter)