INSIDER Chapter 149

Returning to the clean, pure white “Rules,” Lu Chu looked at the time on his wristband—270′59″—the duration had increased by sixty-five minutes.

Two hundred seventy minutes.

According to the calculation of entering the illusion once every twenty-four hours and reducing the duration by five minutes each time, this meant he had dozens of days without needing to complete tasks. He could fully concentrate on finding the target world, although the time spent in the illusion would gradually decrease.

For now, the free time was sufficient.

Thinking this, Lu Chu walked towards the square screen existing in the extradimensional space. Not daring to waste time, he directly started to lower his head and filter through possible tasks, recording the corresponding codes one by one. Fortunately, earlier, he had followed Song Gui’s suggestion to bring some items from the illusion into this white space, among which he found paper and pens for writing.

There were so many tasks in the “Rules.” Even just searching for multiplayer mission instances with the same worldview as “City of Lost Feelings” was like finding a needle in a haystack.

In the world of rules and illusions, players are ageless, deathless, sleepless, and unfed. As time passed, Lu Chu almost remained in the same position, tilting his head to look at the information on the square screen: “Requirements,” “Tasks,” “Hints,” filtering through them meticulously.

Meanwhile, the others were also buried in their efforts, searching for relevant world information.

.

When someone is fully focused on something, they don’t feel the passage of time.

Unknowingly, a door appeared behind Lu Chu.

The door appeared silently and without warning. In a break between filtering and recording, Lu Chu noticed that the time on his wristband had decreased to “265′59″,” realizing it was time for the illusion to appear.

He exhaled lightly.

In the illusion, besides him and Song Gui, there were other players. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Lu Chu tore off the two written pages, folded them, and stuffed them into his pocket before stepping through the door.

Stepping out, he saw a hospital’s tall building.

Lu Chu looked around and found that this illusion was indeed a large city hospital. Several towering buildings blocked the sky, with one side of a building bearing the sign “First Hospital of a Certain City.” He faintly smelled the slightly irritating scent of disinfectant, which made him frown uncomfortably.

Soon, the others arrived in the illusion one after another. Without exception, they had all hidden their written notes in some pocket instead of holding them openly.

Yuan Kejie looked at the group: “To the edge of the illusion…which way should we go?”

Song Gui looked at Lu Chu: “Lu Xiao Chu, you decide. I trust your intuition.”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

Yuan Kejie chuckled: “Come on, I think it’s better if you decide. Honestly, whichever direction we go, we can reach the edge, but the ‘edge’ we aim for might not be the same direction where Qi Li and his team appear. If we choose wrong, both groups will waste time looking for each other. We need some luck now. Lu Xiao Chu, you’re our lucky star.”

Lu Chu just smiled lightly and then looked around, pointing in a direction based on his feeling: “That way.”

Yuan Kejie raised her fist: “Let’s go!”

The group headed that way.

This illusion wasn’t large; they reached the edge in about ten minutes. In front of them were seemingly real buildings, but no matter how they tried, they couldn’t cross the transparent barrier before them.

Yuan Kejie sighed: “This must be like ‘The Truman Show’.”

Song Gui commented: “Didn’t think you’d watch such movies.”

Yuan Kejie rolled her eyes: “What else?”

Luo Qi added: “Watching brainless idol dramas.”

“Come on,” Yuan Kejie ruffled Luo Qi’s hair, “you’re still at the age for watching cartoons!”

“Pfft,” Luo Qi sneered, “Haven’t watched those in ages.”

Ages…based on psychological age, Luo Qi wasn’t exactly wrong.

Song Gui cleared his throat, reminding everyone: “We haven’t found them yet; we need to hurry.”

“Lu Chu.” Just as Lu Chu was about to suggest searching along the boundary, a deep voice interrupted their conversation.

Lu Chu turned and saw 7.

Sun Haoran was also standing there.

Lu Chu smiled at 7: “You’re here.”

7 nodded: “Yes.”

After the last round, Sun Haoran’s body had recovered, and his wounds were gone. Now, he stood there, arms crossed, with his usual disdainful smirk: “How’s the search going?”

Lu Chu glanced at Song Gui and the others: “Everyone, take out your notes and compare to see if there are any overlaps. Then divide those worlds between Qi Li and Sun Haoran for them to investigate.”

Song Gui and the others agreed, taking out their notes.

They compared notes, removed any overlapping parts, and summarized them. Then, they divided the tasks into two parts, giving one to 7 and the other to Sun Haoran.

7 glanced at the tasks and pocketed the note. Sun Haoran clicked his tongue: “Nice, efficient.”

Luo Qi snorted: “No need for your approval.”

Song Gui, with a serious expression, said: “Now that we’ve handed over the tasks, this meeting is over. Qi Li, you two quickly check these possible worlds. We’ll continue filtering possible worlds, speeding up the process and reducing trouble.”

7 gave Lu Chu a deep look, then nodded at Song Gui, telling Sun Haoran: “Let’s go.”

The two crossed the transparent barrier that was an insurmountable gap for Lu Chu and the others, disappearing from sight.

Lu Chu didn’t even have time to tell him to be careful.

“Lu Chu?”

Lu Chu looked at Song Gui: “Yes, what is it?”

“Nothing, just thought you were daydreaming,” Song Gui said. “Let’s go back and continue searching for clues.”

Lu Chu nodded: “Alright, let’s go.”

.

At the next meeting, Lu Chu’s group had found several more potential instances, while 7 and Sun Haoran reported that none of the previous “instances” matched the “City of Lost Feelings” setting.

There were too many “instances,” finding the “City of Lost Feelings” world wasn’t a one-day task.

Afterward, 7 and Sun Haoran shuttled back and forth between the “instances” and the “illusion,” while Lu Chu’s group continued filtering tasks in the “Rules.” The time on Lu Chu’s wristband steadily decreased, and their expressions grew more serious.

Finally, at an unknown number of meetings later, 7’s frown eased. His eyes, as deep as a night wolf’s, looked at Lu Chu and said in a low voice: “Found it.”