Thanks once again to Green KiTea for the kofis, hope you enjoy the bonus chapters!

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Shanhai thought for a moment, then patted Jian Xingyi’s shoulder to wake him. “Xingxing, we’ll have to use the Heroic Spirits to get across.” 

There were too many mermaids here, and their entire ship was still such a large target. Therefore, Shanhai’s plan was to shield Jian Xingyi and protect the ship, using a Unity Anchor to cross over together, then have the Spirit Heroes clear the surrounding zombies for them. 

After all, the zombies of Wave Mountain were no joke. If the ship were destroyed and they fell into the water, the situation would be even worse. Given Jian Xingyi’s current physical condition, Shanhai didn’t want to take any risks. 

Jian Xingyi nodded dazedly; after all, the battle talisman was now in Shanhai’s possession. 

The battle talisman was now bound to Shanhai, and after so many battles, when he took it out to inspect it, he saw that the originally Level 3 talisman had become Level 4! 

Level 1: Lasts 1 hour, summons 100 foot soldiers 

Level 2: Lasts 3 hours, can summon 300 foot soldiers 

Level 3: Lasts one day; can summon 300 foot soldiers and 50 vanguards 

Level 4: Lasts for three days, can summon 500 foot soldiers and 100 vanguards 

Level 5: Lasting 3 days, can summon 500 foot soldiers, 100 vanguards, and 1 general 

However, the experience required to level up from 4 to 5 is several times higher than that required to level up from 3 to 4, so it’s not that easy to achieve.

But for them right now, that’s more than enough— they have even more Vanguards! 

They’re just one level away from summoning a General, so once the cooldown ends, Jian Xingyi hopes to summon more heroes to gain experience quickly. This is the perfect opportunity! 

As the two of them summoned them, white smoke appeared all around. 

The advantage of Spirit Heroes is that they have no physical form and float in the air, so they can fight even on the surface of the sea. Shanhai declined the system’s prompt to bind the Spirit Heroes and, working in coordination with them, steered the ship into the zombie-infested zone. Boom—! 

The zombies pounced like dogs smelling meat, causing the entire ship to sway. Fortunately, with the spirits’ help, the two managed to pass through safely. 

Upon arriving on the other side of this false “reality,” Jian Xingyi pulled himself together and looked around. 

Unlike other air walls, this place seemed no different from the Waves Mountains they had been in before. Perhaps the ocean was just like this, ebbing and flowing. 

Yet the compass had stopped here, no longer providing them with any guidance. 

Jian Xingyi paused. “Does that mean there’s a Red Spider Lily nearby?” 

“Yes, or maybe not,” Shanhai explained. “The flowers usually bloom in incredibly obscure and unimaginable places. They might be buried on the ocean floor, underground, or in the sky—places we can’t reach. Or perhaps their blooming season has already passed, so we can’t see them. After all, the blooming season for the flowers of the afterlife is very short.” 

“Or maybe…” 

Shanhai paused, pointing to the unusual sight not far away. “On the seabed?” 

Jian Xingyi: “……” 

Oh my. 

A few out-of-place coconut trees had appeared on the surface of the sea not far away. They’d seen this before—it was that sunken structure. There must be some kind of ruins on the seabed here as well. 

Jian Xingyi scratched his head. “Should we go take a look? I slept the whole way, so I’m feeling pretty refreshed now.”

They were practically at the doorstep now; it wouldn’t feel right not to go take a look. 

After descending to the seabed, they indeed found the ground littered with ruins. There were dilapidated houses, city walls, trees…everything imaginable. 

Jian Xingyi was puzzled. What were these? Why did they look so much like… a guild base? 

And the walls of this guild base looked incredibly impressive—layered three times over. Just as Jian Xingyi was about to investigate further, he noticed something else not far away… Memory Bubbles?! How could there be 

Memory Bubbles inside an air wall?! 

This was the first time he’d ever seen anything like this. 

Jian Xingyi repeatedly assured him that if he felt unwell, he would immediately use the Wish Bottle, and if anything went wrong, he would activate the Unity Anchor. With that, the two of them went in to investigate. 

Now that the Heroic Spirit had been summoned, it could remain for three days—a very long time. With the Heroic Spirit by Jian Xingyi’s side, Shanhai felt much more at ease. The two touched the Memory Bubble. 

Splash— 

Jian Xingyi opened his eyes to find himself… still at the guild base. It was clearly the same silent ruins from before, but the difference was that this guild base was situated above ground. 

Thick city walls met his gaze. Jian Xingyi looked around and glanced down at his uncontrollable body. It seemed he was playing the role of 01. 

“Guild President… we can’t keep building. We don’t have enough manpower!” A man who was familiar yet not quite familiar— Jing Luo—spoke to him impatiently: “Now that both zombie waves have passed, and since the system hasn’t issued any announcements, that means there won’t be any more. But natural disasters have been getting worse lately. Shouldn’t our top priority be relocating and finding ways to deal with these disasters? Our guild is the strongest in Wave Mountain. Shouldn’t our responsibility be to lead the weaker guilds out to sea in search of a safe haven, like Peace Mountain?” 

Huh? 

He’s really gone off the deep end. He’s become the Guild President of 【Across the Sea】, and Jing Luo has even turned into his underling.

Jian Xingyi swallowed hard. Now he realized this wasn’t the first-run 01, but the second-run Xinghe. 

Wow, this memory bubble is from the second playthrough! 

In the first run, everyone had complete memories, and 01, the Doctor, and the others were mostly focused on researching the integration of reality and the game. It seems that after everyone lost their memories in the second run, Xinghe actually became the Guild President of Wave Mountain. So what about the others… like Shanhai? 

“Xinghe” spoke up, “No… I have a feeling the zombie horde will return. We can’t give up on building the walls. Don’t forget, didn’t everyone from Snow Mountain and Rainforest Mountain abandon their own guilds and join us precisely because we have such a formidable base?” 

Jian Xingyi was taken aback. 

“Wow, so the second wave also involved a merger, but the way it happened was actually by having the others switch guilds!” 

Jing Luo spoke even more passionately: “Guild President, they came here because you have abundant resources and food, but now we’re actually trapped by those very resources. Everyone feels uneasy about scrimping and saving their dawn coins on this hopeless endeavor… They don’t want to stay at the base building the wall, they’d much rather go out and gather resources!” 

Jian Xingyi understood. 

They were certain there would be a third zombie wave because they’d seen the memories from the first wave, but no one knew about it on the second wave! For some reason, Xinghe retained a kind of “sixth sense” and insisted on building the walls, but now the guild’s fortifications are so thick—layer upon layer—that everyone feels it’s not worth it, not to mention… 

Jing Luo said helplessly, “If an even more powerful tsunami strikes, these walls will be destroyed too.” 

Xinghe said firmly, “That’s exactly why we need to build walls strong enough to withstand a tsunami.” 

“But how much manpower and resources would that require? Guild President, the situation is dire right now. The guild has split into two factions over this: one led by Cangshui, who firmly supports you; the other led by Wan Yu, who has now gone on a collective strike, claiming they refuse to build the walls any longer.” 

Jian Xingyi paused, feeling a mix of exasperation and amusement. How come Wan Yu is still the antagonist in the second arc? 

No, wait—he wasn’t exactly the villain. It was just that whenever Wan Yu’s ideals clashed with theirs, conflict was inevitable. Or perhaps he simply valued practical interests more; he likely didn’t respect Xinghe either. 

According to Jing Luo, this meant that all the powerful guilds in Rainforest Mountain, Snow Mountain, and Wave Mountain were now under his control—that was a truly massive number of people. 

Jian Xingyi was also a bit puzzled. Why not just relocate to Peaceful Mountain and build the walls there?

Then he remembered: earlier, the Zombie Tide system had triggered a safety mechanism—the major adjustment the Doctor had mentioned, swapping two reset opportunities for three. It was during that previous adjustment that the system not only reduced the materials required for city walls but also allowed guild mergers. 

Prior to that, guilds couldn’t merge, since that feature wasn’t originally part of the game system. 

In other words, since players couldn’t merge guilds during the second cycle, the remaining players had to switch guilds, and the base couldn’t be relocated either! 

Xinghe also asked, “Will relocating really help? If we leave the base, we’ll have nothing. Will wandering the wilderness be any better than where we are now?” 

Jing Luo replied, “But Peace Mountain and Peaceful Mountain are safe. There are no natural disasters there. Isn’t sleeping under the open sky there better than fighting to the death in the base?” Xinghe frowned. “But what if a zombie tide comes? Since the system hasn’t announced anything, how can you be so sure it won’t happen?” 

“But since there’s no notice of a zombie tide right now, it might not come. Meanwhile, everyone is genuinely suffering from natural disasters, and the living conditions on Wave Mountain are terrible.” Jing Luo scratched his head. “I’m on your side, but I’m just worried that the ‘factional strife’ within the guild is getting more intense… I have a duty to remind you: a tall tree attracts the wind. A lot of people are dissatisfied right now…” 

Xinghe rubbed his temples. “I understand. Thank you.” 

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, it seems the him from the second timeline is so different from who he is now… 

He was currently just quietly selling items in the noob guild and clinging to the coattails of Grapevine Peak’s top players, whereas the Xinghe from the second playthrough felt like he was competing against other powerful players in a high-difficulty map. 

Moreover, the survival conditions in the second playthrough were far harsher than they were now, and Xinghe didn’t even have the Savior System back then. Jian Xingyi was also somewhat surprised—it turned out the Savior System hadn’t been generated until after the second playthrough. 

Since he and Yu Shen had co-developed the program, he naturally understood that the system’s generation required specific conditions. For instance, in the first playthrough, 01 and Yu Shen had established a base in Rainforest Mountain, collected countless seeds, and maxed out their management level—which is why the Grand Merchant system had been activated. 

It seemed, then, that the elements within the Savior System—such as helping others, reputation, alliances, and guilds—only appeared after the second playthrough. After all, in the second playthrough, Xinghe had indeed been building his own prestige. 

Jian Xingyi scratched his head. Why didn’t he feel like his memories were falling into place? 

He was still secretly hoping to restore his memories of the second run; maybe that would make him even more badass. “No need to thank me…” Jing Luo sighed. “Where’s Shanhai? Hasn’t he come back yet? I’m a little worried without him by your side…” 

“He went up to Grapevine Peak to exchange supplies. He’ll be back soon. Don’t worry, he’ll be careful.”

With no trade routes or anchor points, the only way to get anywhere was on foot. 

“Alright, then please try not to go out alone or wander around.” 

“It’s fine… Look, isn’t that him coming back right now?” Xinghe smiled as he looked toward the distance. Not far away, Shanhai was walking toward them. 

Even if Jian Xingyi weren’t Xinghe, he could still feel the joy radiating from this body at that moment. “You’re back…!” Xinghe stepped forward to embrace Shanhai, and the two nuzzled affectionately against each other. 

Jian Xingyi thought to himself: He had assumed that since he wasn’t in the Peace Mountain area in this second loop, he wouldn’t be with Shanhai. How could this be…? It seemed that in every loop, they ended up together. 

Jian Xingyi used Xinghe’s body to quietly sense Shanhai’s aura in this second loop, gently clasping his hand. It felt the same. 

Xinghe smiled. “So, how did it go? Is everything smooth?” 

Shanhai nodded. “Of course. Before I joined your guild, this area already belonged to Grapevine Peak. They’re all my friends, and they recognize your strength, so naturally they agreed to the merger.” 

Jing Luo’s eyes widened. “Merge? What do you mean?” 

Xinghe turned to him and said, “Those troubles you told me about… I’ve always known about them. So I plan to dissolve our guild and have everyone join Grapevine Peak. That way, we can build our city walls on Peace Mountain.” 

Jing Luo was taken aback. “O—okay! Maybe once we move to Peace Mountain, we won’t need to build the walls after all.” 

“No,” Xinghe said firmly. “That’s part of my plan. Either you agree to sign the treaty, move to Peace Mountain, and continue building the walls, or you refuse and go your own way.” 

In other words, those who refuse to build the walls will be kicked out. 

Jian Xingyi furrowed his brow slightly; he had a premonition that things wouldn’t go so smoothly from here on out. Otherwise, how could he still see those sunken guild bases on the seabed of Wave Mountain?