Can't Leave

Yue Jingxui tried not to react.

Intrusive thoughts invaded his mind. 'Supernova? The one in space? Wait, she was thanking someone, so it must be the one worth 500 notes on Liv. Who has that much money to spare?'

'Wait, that's not the point! Smoke Without Fire is actually a streamer? Why am I only knowing about this now?! How can a streamer never talk to their chat?!'

He hurriedly pushed all other thoughts from his head and focused.

Yue Jingxui concentrated his senses onto the presence of the mysterious guide.

Their footsteps did not falter, their breathing did not change, and nothing about them indicated that they heard what Smoke Without Fire said at all.

'These people... they can't hear what Smoke Without Fire said?'

'The guide doesn't look like they're purposefully not reacting. After all, Smoke Without Fire quite literally said that their world was a game and that she'll be logging out! In their perspective, she would be "logging out" of reality!'

'Then, the NPCs are not able to perceive when Smoke Without Fire is interacting with the system?'

'Interesting. But, now's not the time to be thinking about this!'

It doesn't matter if the figure is able to tell if Smoke Without Fire is interacting with the system right now! His only connection to reality was going to disappear, and it's unknown whether Smoke Without Fire would return or if the NPCs will react to her disappearance!

Yue Jingxui desperately thought of ways to make Smoke Without Fire stay or guarantee her return. Ideas formed and were shut down one after another like bubbles inflating and bursting.

'From what Smoke Without Fire said, she wants to log out because of excessive immersion... Wait, excessive immersion?!'

'Excessive immersion… when a player forgets that they're in a game and gets lost in the Divenet, never waking up or returning to the real world again... An infectious Dive-virus. In the last instance of excessive immersion, more than 200 people became permanently comatose!'

'Maybe it's better to let her log out? After all, it concerns her safety.'

'But she's my only chance at receiving outside help and returning to reality!'

No matter how Yue Jingxui looked at the problem, he really couldn't figure out a suitable method.

Although Dive technology is relatively new, if the player is conscious of the game and the fact that they can leave at any time, it is practically impossible for Yue Jingxui to forcefully inhibit them from exiting the game.

Even if he were to dismember Smoke Without Fire's limbs so that she couldn't interact with the system interface or cut off her tongue so that she can't say "log out", she still had a number of ways to leave. Without considering that she would automatically log out when her distress reached a certain threshold, she can log out just by thinking about it deeply.

However, if he wanted to use persuasion to make her stay, he didn't even know where to start.

Smoke Without Fire had already decided to leave due to symptoms of excessive immersion, and short of revealing that he was actually from reality, Yue Jingxui didn't know what will get her to stay. Plus, even that was questionable due to some game developers' tendencies to insert a NPC who likes to break the fourth wall.

In Smoke Without Fire's perspective, he might just become one of those NPCs who were designed to "know" of reality.

'Most importantly, would the game let me reveal that I know of the system? After all, it didn't let me talk about reality, and the system is the way for players from reality to interact with the game world…'

For once, Yue Jingxui was helpless.

All this only took a few seconds, but in these few seconds, Zhang Yin had already said goodbye to his viewers and was ready to log out.

Yue Jingxui could only watch as Smoke Without Fire tapped the air and opened up her system.

Using his finger to bring up the Settings screen, Zhang Yin immediately tapped the [Log Out] button and waited for the world to go dark.

However, after waiting for a few seconds, he could still see the dimly lit caverns around him.

Zhang Yin tapped on the button again and again, the intervals between each tap becoming shorter and shorter.

'Why can't I leave? Is something really wrong? Wait, no, I still haven't tried the other methods yet.'

"Log out… Log out!"

Nothing happened.

When he still didn't exit the game, real panic overcame him and his breathing quickened.

An alarm started ringing in Zhang Yin's head like never before. He quickly closed his eyes and desperately thought of his deep wish to return to reality, but when he opened his eyes, he was still surround by grotesque monster tents and dim light. Yue Jingxui was still carrying him, and they were still making their way to the Southern Entrance in silence.

'Why is this happening? Being unable to return to reality while conscious of the game has always been a hypothetical possibility, but there has never been a case of this happening from the creation of the Divenet until now!'

Finally, taking a deep breath, he calmed down.

'My viewers have already alerted the authorities about my situation. Soon, the police or my cousin should arrive at the apartment and manually release me from the Divepod. Right now, I just need to remain conscious that I am in a game, keep on playing, and wait for someone to save me.'

Thinking this, Zhang Yin addressed his viewers again.

Knowing that he couldn't leave just yet, he used a light hearted tone to make the situation seem less serious and reassure his audience.

"Ahem. Well, my sons, daughters, and everything in between, it seems that you'll get to look at your father's handsome face for a while more."

Naturally, his viewers, who had witnessed his entire series of actions, were unconvinced.

Beneath his curtain of hair, Yue Jingxui raised an eyebrow.

[Smoke It Up: What happened? Why isn't he logging out?!]

[Bloodfallen: Shit, could it be that the first time the Divepod malfunctions is actually going to be caught live on stream? And my son is going to be the first victim?!]

[Old Hand: Did meeting the God-Tier NPC really take away all my daughter's luck? To actually be unable to log out of the game... maybe it is this game that has a problem?]

[Fire's Real #1 Fan: @Old Hand But buggy games have never prevented someone from returning to reality!]

"You guys don't need to panic." Zhang Yin comforted his viewers by sharing his thought process. "Sooner or later, the Divenet Security will manually activate the emergency disconnection procedure in reality. We just need to keep playing while we wait."

As Zhang Yin continued to talk to his viewers, Yue Jingxui guiltily let out a small sigh of relief before becoming solemn.

'Smoke Without Fire actually can't log out. This is a good thing for me currently, but it also raises very concerning questions.'

'This world is similar to the one I created, yet also different. All the factions I've learned from an inhabitant of this world, the [Church of Mischief] and [Order of Omniscience], are ones I've never heard of. And there is still that mysterious tower…'

'All this confirms that there is someone who was able to access my original world, change it, and connect it to the GameZone as a game.'

'However, other than plagiarizing, they have enough skills to exert unprecedented force onto the Divenet itself. For example, bringing me here and limiting my actions, or preventing Smoke Without Fire from leaving…'

'With all of these strange circumstances happening at the same time, I'm convinced that none of this is a coincidence. So, what exactly is their goal?'

Before Yue Jingxui could think any more, the guide's steps slowed down. Zhang Yin also stopped talking to pay attention.

Using the energy replenished during their brief walk, Yue Jingxui activated his ability and looked one second into the future.

[Slowly approaching the edge of the circle of tents, under the light from the specks within the walls, two hunched figures dressed in monster skin sat on a nearby protrusion next to a large tunnel.

Their heads were bowed close together and they seemed to be discussing something furiously in hushed voices.

Suddenly, the larger of the two figures appeared to sense something. He raised his head and nodded his head to greet him.]

With the vision shattering, Yue Jingxui returned to the present and greeted them pleasantly as their group walked closer. "Hello, it's nice to see you again."

Pride gave Yue Jingxui a hard stare. However, before he could say anything, the figure sitting next to him stood up and said in a no-nonsense tone, "What did the Boss say?"

Undisturbed that his greeting wasn't returned, Yue Jingxui replied. "He said that there was someone named Medusa here. We can clean up the grime on our bodies with her help."

After Yue Jingxui finished talking, the figure promptly reached into a hidden seam in their monster skin outfit and pulled out a thin bone staff.

Grasping the staff with a hand, they slammed the end of the staff onto the wall with a deceptively light tap and caused a pocket-sized portion of it to crumble.

In the pieces of the wall that fell onto the ground, small simmering crystals were mixed with the broken stone.

Using the staff to dig through the rubble, the figure's wrist performed a series of delicate maneuvers to expertly flick a glowing crystal the size of a peanut at Yue Jingxui and Zhang Yin.

With his ability giving him a warning, Yue Jingxui caught the small projectile before it could hit him.

A warm sense of safety and comfort immediately enveloped him and the dried blood coating his hand mysteriously faded away the second the crystal made contact with his hand. However, the crystal also slightly shrunk in size.

Crossing her arms, the figure, presumably Medusa, spoke in a terse voice.

"Crush the crystal and sprinkle it on yourselves. It will get rid of all the dirty things on you, but remember that you still can't fight recklessly just because of it."

Yue Jingxui nodded and used his strength to break the crystal in half. Then, Yue Jingxui passed half of the crystal to Zhang Yin, who accepted it wordlessly, and crushed his own into fine powder. Cautiously, Yue Jingxui activated his ability before he did anything else.

[A man with tangled, long black hair covering his face lifted his hand and sprinkled the powder over his entire body.

When the glowing powder touched his body, the blood and other substances clogging his hair,

staining his clothes, and dirtying his skin disappeared.]

'It looks like there's no problem with the crystal. At least, not immediately.'

When that thought finished, Yue Jingxui followed the actions performed by himself in the vision. A warm feeling that was more intense than just holding the crystal passed through his body and he had to resist a shudder.

'It's like the world's most comfortable hot bath…'

After waiting for Yue Jingxui to sprinkle the powdered crystal on himself and seeing that he was fine, Zhang Yun looked at his own half of the crystal and squeezed.

"…?"

Zhang Yin tried again. Using both hands, he tightly squeezed.

'Everyone else made it look easy, but why is this so hard?!'

After tightening his grip to the max, seeing the crystal still intact, Zhang Yin could only swallow his pride and helplessly ask Yue Jingxui. "Hey, Yue Jingxui, could you help me crush this?"

Turning around at the sound of Smoke Without Fire's voice, Yue Jingxui paused. Thinking about it more, he soon understood and couldn't help but worry after a thought occurred to him.

'Every prisoner in [Black Abyss Prison] is extremely powerful. This can be proven from Medusa's and Pride's previous demonstrations of strength. Therefore, it would definitely be strange if someone weak suddenly appeared in a place where only the strong gather.'

'Normally, if Smoke With Fire and I were alone, this wouldn't be a problem. I know that her character is brand new and started at Level 1, so her lack of strength is understandable and tolerable. However, to these people in the prison, it is an undeniable sign of otherness and a possible cause for hostility as well as suspicion.'

As Yue Jingxui was internally sweating and thinking of countless explanations for Zhang Yin's weakness, Medusa ordered impatiently.

"Help her crush the crystal. We're leaving right after, so hurry up."

Yue Jingxui paused imperceptibly before smiling. "Sure. Smoke Without Fire, please give me the crystal."

Taking the crystal in Smoke Without Fire's outstretched hand, Yue Jingxui crushed it and handed the powder back to Smoke Without Fire. As Smoke Without Fire was scattering the powder over herself, Yue Jingxui thought.

'How come Medusa and the others didn't react? NPCs are usually created with a certain immunity to a player's illogical actions, but this game is anything but ordinary. Yet, some rules of ordinary games still apply…'

'Perhaps, the same thing that makes these people to ignore Smoke Without Fire when she's communicating with her audience is making them unable to perceive the strangeness of her circumstances?'

Soon, Yue Jingxui's thoughts were interrupted again.

After making sure that Smoke Without Fire used the crystal, Medusa wasted no time. She used the end of her staff to tap on the ground, the sound alerting everyone. Without another word, she turned on her heel and started walking down the tunnel next to them.

Pride simply chuckled and followed behind her. Beside them, the guide gestured for them to go first.

With no other choice, Yue Jingxui and Zhang Yin made their way into the tunnel with the guide trailing behind them.