They had grown together.

In the dim light, 007 stared intently at the coat clinging to her body.

She and this coat... they had grown together.

Because it had been too cold the previous night, 007 had no intention of taking off her coat. She shivered through the night, wearing it while collecting dry twigs.

Upon waking, she had too much to do, causing her to completely forget about the coat the little girl had given her.

She had never imagined that merely wearing clothes from the instance could lead to a slow fusion with it.

Yes, fusion...

Their mission was to escape from Fairy Tale City.

And this so-called Fairy Tale City *is* the instance!

All players who enter this instance will slowly fuse with it, until their identity as "players" becomes completely blurred, eventually becoming a part of this instance!

Not long ago, 007 discovered this truth.

She had seen the mechanical people wandering the streets and had been suspicious, but observing them alone yielded no conclusions.

Until, just a short while ago, she found a shovel.

A shovel with a special item attached to it, seemingly used by a group of players long ago who had then left their special item behind.

By the time 007 found that special item, it was no longer functional. Even its description was garbled, as if its data had been corrupted by the instance...

The instance destroying special items—this was unheard of!

It was then that 007 realized that a witch-like character was assigning tasks to players, tasks remarkably similar to those given by the little girl selling lighters. The NPCs in this instance, it seemed, all enjoyed assigning tasks that consumed vast amounts of players' time, making it easier for them to merge with this world.

Furthermore, the witch handed that player a shovel identical to the one 007 now possessed.

This implied that, long ago, the witch had given similar tasks to previous groups of players. However, those players who had accepted the tasks seemed to have vanished, not only abandoning their shovels but also their special items, which were now found with corrupted data.

Connecting this with the mechanical people she had seen earlier on the streets, 007 finally understood.

All players who failed their tasks were assimilated by the instance!

Those mechanical people she had seen were all assimilated players!

007 recalled a rule of this global game: an instance cannot host two groups of players simultaneously. For a new group to enter, the previous one must have exited completely, every single one of them.

If those mechanical people truly were players from previous groups, then theoretically, her current group shouldn't have been able to enter. But there was another explanation—

Those people... they no longer counted as players.

They had been completely assimilated into this instance as NPCs, no longer classifiable as "players."

Therefore, in this instance, the only true "players" were indeed her current group...

They call this place "Fairy Tale City," but its real name ought to be "Assimilation City."

Now, 007 thought she understood how to complete the mission "Escape Fairy Tale City."

Don't accept any tasks from NPCs right from the start.

Stay away from everyone here from the very beginning.

Don't touch anything here from the outset.

If you act completely out of sync with this Fairy Tale City, you won't be assimilated. Someone like that would probably be ejected from the instance before long. But those who are unfortunately assimilated…

007 shivered violently.

If a player dies in an instance, they simply wake up in reality. But this instance doesn't cause death. It gradually assimilates players, making them part of itself. This means...

The sky had completely darkened.

The moon was absent from tonight's sky, making the forest seem even more sinister than the night before.

007 tugged hard at the fabric of her sleeve again. It hurt. The coat had completely fused with her skin.

This meant she was already starting to be assimilated by the instance.

Yesterday, she was still worried about being suddenly hunted by an Evil Ghost. But now she understood. In this instance, there are no such gory dangers as I had imagined.

That previous despair when facing an Evil Ghost, the heart-wrenching screams and struggles, the pores on her back dilating abruptly on the brink of life and death—none of those terrifying, horrifying scenes will occur here.

There is only a calm, lonely panic, gradually intensifying and spreading throughout my body.

It's like an elderly person at the end of their days, watching death slowly draw near—filled with reluctance, yet utterly powerless.

I will watch myself die in this bizarre way.

A true death.

Even if my body remains, moving meaninglessly, I myself will be truly dead. That moving body will be nothing more than a pre-programmed walking corpse.

The night wind blew through the forest.

The leaves overhead rustled again, as if applauding and mocking the foolish humans.

007 closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. Or perhaps, if I had discovered the truth sooner and stayed away from everything in this instance, there might have been a chance of salvation...

No, it's not too late! She suddenly opened her eyes, as if a thought had struck her.

I absolutely cannot die in this place!

With this thought, she gritted her teeth and pulled a boning knife from her inventory.

If I die before being completely assimilated by the instance, will I be saved?

All I have to do is kill myself first!

But after drawing the knife, she hesitated.

No, that's not safe... Part of my body has already been assimilated. What if, upon death, I'm instantly and completely assimilated?

I must... find a safer way. I have to sever all my connections to this instance first…

At this thought, 007 hesitated for a moment. Then, under the cover of darkness, she raised the knife in her right hand.

Just then, the moon, which had been hidden by dark clouds, peeked out. Moonlight glinted off the sharp knife in her hand, the blade flashing with a fierce, cold light.

The gleaming tip of the knife approached the cuff of her left sleeve and then, without hesitation, descended, slicing into it as if through tofu.

The sharp edge pierced the skin of her arm. She didn't pause. Bolstered by what courage she had left, she quickly and decisively gripped the knife tighter and slashed upwards forcefully, dragging the tip all the way to her elbow.

Only then did the searing pain finally register in her mind.

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