"No," Mo Bai said firmly.

"Oh." Yang Lingxi obediently sat to the side and continued eating her finger biscuits.

She was actually rather well-behaved.

Mo Bai set the book down and began to think through what she had encountered after entering Room 404.

No matter how outrageous everything inside Room 404 seemed, this was ultimately a dream domain. Every room represented a fear within the dream, and that wouldn't change.

Therefore, everything she experienced in Room 404 was something the dream's owner feared, or even something they wanted her to know.

Yang Lingxi had handed her the book on her own initiative. Mo Bai asked, "Why did you lend me this book?"

Yang Lingxi replied flatly, "It's the one you wanted to read."

But Mo Bai had never said she wanted to read The Empire of Death. The moment she entered, the book was pushed into her hands.

Did that mean the dream's owner wanted outsiders to see this book?

At the moment, Mo Bai suspected the dream's owner was Gao Siyun. She feared that Yang Lingxi would ultimately become an Ultra-Star Rank monster who controlled death, and hoped someone would come to save her.

But Mo Bai didn't quite believe that Gao Siyun was acting out of kindness.

If she had only killed the arsonist or those involved in the illegal heart transplant of Yang Lingxi, that would be somewhat understandable. But how many people did Gao Siyun kill to revive her daughter? This hospital, this town, and even the residents of the neighboring town described in The Empire of Death.

Did Gao Siyun really fear causing too many deaths? Not necessarily.

What she feared was that once the power of the death vortex returned entirely to Yang Lingxi, the girl would truly die.

Just as Professor Yang's research had concluded, this was the power of death. The power of death would not grant life to the dead. It would only cause the dead to continuously spread death, turning them into puppets of the death vortex. Only the living could awaken the power of rebirth within the death vortex.

Gao Siyun had only one goal, and that was to keep Yang Lingxi alive.

She didn't care how many people had to die to revive Yang Lingxi. What she cared about was that even after so many deaths, Yang Lingxi still couldn't truly come back to life. She was nothing more than a walking corpse.

With that thought, Mo Bai suddenly grabbed Yang Lingxi's arm and lifted her sleeve. A foul stench of decay wafted out from beneath the cloth. Her arm was covered in livor mortis, with much of the flesh already rotting away.

After just one glance, Mo Bai felt her nerves take a sharp jolt. She quickly lowered Yang Lingxi's sleeve, trying to keep her expression as normal as possible.

Yang Lingxi, however, didn't care at all. "Big sister, don't be afraid. The dead are supposed to look like this. Forcing the dead to remain in this world will inevitably lead to this."

Yang Lingxi seemed capable of reasoning. Mo Bai said, "I'm not surprised because I'm afraid of you. It's just that you look so much like a friend of mine."

She thought of Mo Xiangyou, who had wrapped himself tightly in clothes. Beneath those clothes lay a rotting body.

Yang Lingxi tilted her head. "Oh? Then he must have borrowed the power of 'death' to fake the appearance of 'life.'"

"He said it was his Observation Group title, Bones Beneath the Fragrant Rosebush," Mo Bai replied.

As if she understood something, Yang Lingxi said, "That logic doesn't quite make sense. Roses and bones are two separate subjects, but a title should only have one subject, right? So is he the roses, or the bones?"

Mo Bai thought about it. As far as she knew, all Observation Group titles followed an adjective + noun pattern, like Broken Porcelain Doll, Indestructible Diamond, or Lonely Sufferer. A title with two nouns like the one Mo Xiangyou had mentioned was indeed unusual.

Just how many lies had Mo Xiangyou told her? Which were true, and which were false?

Mo Bai couldn't help but smile bitterly.

She had always prided herself on her intelligence, yet she was still completely played by Mo Xiangyou.

She believed that Mo Xiangyou's Fraudster ability was absolutely real. He used it far too well.

To find out the whole truth, she would still have to go to Plague Garden, the place where Yang Lingxi's heart was hidden.

But before that, she had to deal with this dream domain first.

She looked at Yang Lingxi, who was still eating her finger biscuits, and suddenly had an idea. "If it's just one finger, I can give you mine."

After a brief pause, she held out her right hand in front of Yang Lingxi and pointed at her little finger.

Yang Lingxi's eyes lit up. She happily hugged Mo Bai's arm. "Really? Thank you so much, big sister! I knew you were the best big sister to me. You smell like Dad."

"You think I smell good because I carry your father's scent, don't you?" Mo Bai said.

"That's part of it. The other reason is that you make me feel close to you, big sister." Yang Lingxi looked up at her. "Big sister, can you help me fulfill a wish?"

"I can," Mo Bai replied. "But you have to tell me what your real wish is. Not something your father taught you, and not something your mother forced on you. Your true, own wish."

Yang Lingxi tilted her head, seemingly not understanding her words.

Mo Bai took her hand and led her into the kitchen, where Gao Siyun was chopping vegetables. "Ms. Gao, I've agreed to give Lingxi my right pinky finger. I hope you can help me cut it off."

"Hm?" Gao Siyun pushed up her glasses, surprised. "Why would you make such a request?"

Yang Lingxi quickly grabbed Mo Bai. "Big sister is joking, she's just playing around. Mom, you must have misheard."

Yang Lingxi's small face had gone pale. She stood in front of Mo Bai, trying to shield her with her 1.3-meter frame.

Gao Siyun asked, "Lingxi, are you still eating other people's fingers?"

"No, no! I stopped a long time ago! I want to eat normal food now!" Yang Lingxi's face grew paler and paler. She kept waving frantically at Mo Bai, signaling her to run away.

But Mo Bai didn't move at all. She was observing the kitchen.

The kitchen was pitch dark. She had no idea what Gao Siyun was cooking.

Gao Siyun patted Yang Lingxi's head and said sternly, "Lingxi, don't lie to Mom. You're still eating other people's fingers, aren't you?"

"I, I, I'm not…" Yang Lingxi's voice grew weaker and weaker.

Gao Siyun pulled her daughter into a tight embrace, sounding almost hurt. "How could you do this?"

It looked like a mother desperately trying to protect her daughter, unwilling to let her become a monster.

But then Mo Bai noticed what was on the kitchen cutting board, and her brow lifted slightly.

Sure enough, Gao Siyun's next words were, "If you want to eat, just tell Mom! Mom will get them for you. How could you go to the hospital morgue to find those dead people's fingers? Those dead people's fingers will only bring you closer to death. Your body will rot even more!"

Yang Lingxi's expression showed no trace of being moved. Her face turned ashen as she said, "Mom, please stop doing things like this for me!"

"How could I? Mom came back to live in this world for you!" Gao Siyun took a small bucket from the kitchen and shoved it into Yang Lingxi's hands.

Mo Bai glanced at it and saw that it was filled with the kind of "food" Yang Lingxi was supposed to eat.

As expected, much of what The Empire of Death described was false.

Combined with Gao Siyun's personality as outlined in the forensic doctor's records, Mo Bai could pinpoint exactly where The Empire of Death had diverged from reality.

The first half was all true. But starting from the point where the revived Yang Lingxi began spreading death, the proportion of fabrication in the story increased.

Just as Mo Bai had concluded earlier, Gao Siyun didn't care about the lives of others at all. What she feared was absolutely not her daughter draining life force from the living. What she truly feared was that, no matter what she did, her daughter was uncontrollably slipping toward death.

The dead cannot be resurrected. That phrase seemed like a curse etched into Yang Lingxi.

So Gao Siyun had come up with a new plan.

Her original target had been Professor Yang.

She had hoped Professor Yang would become a complete entity, influenced by the death vortex, and merge with her daughter's power to seek out her heart. After Professor Yang absorbed Yang Lingxi's heart, something would surely change, allowing Yang Lingxi to take over Professor Yang's body, turn the tables, and use that power of "rebirth" to truly come back to life.

This was easy to deduce because Gao Siyun never tried to stop Professor Yang's research.

In Biological Research Institute No. 7, Mo Bai encountered countless obstacles, but not a single one came from Gao Siyun or Yang Lingxi.

And yet, once Professor Yang became complete, he would inevitably try to kill Yang Lingxi. How could Gao Siyun, who loved her daughter so deeply and always wanted to protect her, possibly allow that?

Unless she had set her sights on the life force within Professor Yang and intended to substitute one for the other.

But Professor Yang died, leaving Gao Siyun no choice but to search for someone else to inherit his power.

She gathered everyone connected to Biological Research Institute No. 7 into this town, all to find the next person who could help Yang Lingxi survive.

She must have also left messages in other "safe zones" with various claims like whoever obtains Yang Lingxi's heart will grow stronger, will become an Ultra-Star Rank monster, will recover their body, or will have their wishes fulfilled. She was waiting for someone powerful enough to come along as a stand-in.

To players, she promised strength or wishes. To monsters, she promised Ultra-Star Rank status.

What puzzled Mo Bai was that The Empire of Death automatically identified her as a monster. She had no idea what criteria it used.

After working through the dream, Mo Bai looked again at the deeply affectionate mother and daughter and naturally figured out who the dream's true owner was.

The dream's owner was Yang Lingxi.

A dream displays what its owner fears, and in this dream, whoever felt fear was the true owner.

At first, after finishing The Empire of Death, Mo Bai thought that the dream belonged to Gao Siyun, born from her fear of her daughter becoming a monster.

But in this dream, Yang Lingxi, the one who should have feared monsters, was far too docile. When Mo Bai gently refused her request for a finger, she obediently sat back down without making any move to attack.

And it was Yang Lingxi who had handed her The Empire of Death.

The book contained everything about Yang Lingxi's source of power, her experiences, all of it. Even if the methods described later were false, the information alone was enough to deal Yang Lingxi a devastating blow.

There had to be a reason why Yang Lingxi personally gave her this book.

So Mo Bai decided to test the mother and daughter to see which of them was the true monster born of fear.

She had promised to give her right pinky finger to Yang Lingxi, yet the girl didn't bite it off in one mouthful. She only clapped her hands and pretended to be a monster.

So Mo Bai brought Yang Lingxi to Gao Siyun and asked Gao Siyun to cut off her finger. Only then did Yang Lingxi become afraid. She knew she had only been trying to scare Mo Bai, but Gao Siyun could actually do it.

After that mother-daughter exchange, Mo Bai naturally identified the true monster of fear.

It was Gao Siyun.

Mo Bai placed a hand on Yang Lingxi's shoulder and gently asked, "Tell me your true wish. I'll help you fulfill it."

Yang Lingxi wiped her tears and sobbed, "I hope Mom won't keep going down the wrong path. I don't want to be revived. I just want to be with Mom and Dad without hurting anyone. It doesn't matter whether we're alive or dead."

"How can that be acceptable?!" Gao Siyun's voice turned shrill. "Mom and Dad can die, but you must live! I protected you with my life. All I want is for you to live. Why, why can't you live? Is it because I haven't killed enough people? Am I still not strong enough? Am I still not ruthless enough?!"

Gao Siyun's body began to swell, transforming into a monster made up of countless piled corpses. She herself was someone who had been forcibly resurrected after death. To remain alive in this world, she must have made enormous efforts.

Yet even as she became such a horrifying monster, the face she turned toward Yang Lingxi remained normal, gentle, and full of love. The arms with which she embraced her daughter were still as tender as ever.

She reached out and covered Yang Lingxi's eyes, then said to Mo Bai, "You've been filling my daughter's head with all sorts of strange ideas, haven't you? I can't let you influence her. I'll kill you!"

Facing the terrifying monster, Mo Bai showed no fear. Instead, she said, "Ms. Gao, I acknowledge your love. Your love for Yang Lingxi is so deep, so great. You'd do anything for her. But your love has hurt too many people, and it has ignored what Yang Lingxi herself wants."

"She's so young, what does she know? Of course, she has to listen to me!" Gao Siyun shouted herself hoarse. "Isn't living better than dying?!"

"Under normal circumstances, who wouldn't want to live?" Mo Bai replied. "But your situation is anything but normal. You've killed so many people to revive your daughter, and each one of them was someone else's child. Did you ever consider their feelings?"

"I don't care! They're the ones who killed my daughter! This town, this hospital, every single person is guilty!" Gao Siyun said, her expression twisted.

She could no longer be reasoned with normally.

Gao Siyun lunged at Mo Bai, her entire body "swallowing" Mo Bai whole, trying to make her a part of itself.

But Mo Bai felt no fear toward this dream. Her nerves were too resilient, and the dream had no physical form. It could only be considered a kind of mental contamination. It was as if a layer of light surrounded her, protecting her from being absorbed by Gao Siyun.

She was the most Indestructible Diamond in this contamination-filled world.

She passed through Gao Siyun's body and reached Yang Lingxi, placing the Waking Nightmare into her hands.

"I know why you don't want to wake up. Because within your fear, there is also attachment," Mo Bai said softly. "No matter what she has become, no matter how stubborn she is, she loves you. You're not bound by fear, but by love. You want her to be happy, don't you?"

Even after becoming like this, Gao Siyun would never harm Yang Lingxi.

The space around Yang Lingxi felt like a circle of invulnerability, absolutely safe, completely untouched by Gao Siyun's power.

Holding the card, Yang Lingxi said through tears, "Mom wasn't like this before. She was a high school teacher, upright, kind, and intelligent. She wasn't this kind of person. She shouldn't have hurt so many people. My wish is, I want my original mom back."

"She does love you, but that love has been infinitely twisted and amplified, eventually becoming an obsession. Do you understand the price of turning her back into who she was?" Mo Bai asked.

Yang Lingxi nodded. "I know. She'll die. And I'll die too."

Mo Bai reached out and pulled the little girl into an embrace.

Making such a decision required immense courage.

"Big sister, you have to help me. We made a promise," Yang Lingxi said, hugging her back.

The Waking Nightmare burst into dazzling light. The monstrous Gao Siyun and Yang Lingxi both vanished, and the warm home disappeared with them. What remained was a single hospital ward, with only Mo Bai standing inside.

Mo Bai picked up a card from the floor.

 

[

Card Name: My Wish

Card Type: Wish Card

Card Rank: None

Card Effect: It can only convey one person's wish to another specific person. It has no other effects.

]

 

Holding the card, Mo Bai let out a soft sigh.

The door to Room 404 opened. As Mo Bai stepped out, she found Room 501 directly across from it.

The door to Room 501 was slightly ajar.

Mo Bai pushed it open and saw a young man in uniform, neatly dressed, standing tall and straight, and brimming with vitality.

When he saw her, he saluted. "Thank you. You've dispelled all the nightmares here. Without nightmares, there's no need for an administrator anymore. I can finally rest."

Mo Bai asked, "Doesn't an administrator have to deal with his own nightmares too?"

He smiled. "My wish was for all the nightmares here to disappear."

Mo Bai extended her hand and shook his. Then she said, "I used to really hate instance monsters. But now, my opinion of you has suddenly changed."

"It's better not to change your opinion," the administrator replied. "In a world full of malice, most monsters are full of malice too. Ones like me are the minority."

"I'll make my own judgments," Mo Bai said.

Thinking of the police officer mentioned in the forensic doctor's records, she asked, "What was your regret?"

The administrator thought for a moment. "If only I'd been mentally stronger back then, strong enough to withstand the contamination and pass along the information about that transplant surgery. Unfortunately, my mind and body were both too weak to bear that contamination.

So this time, I had to guard this domain and entrust her wish to someone strong, gentle, and worthy of trust."

With that, the administrator dissolved into a cluster of twinkling lights and drifted off to who knows where.

Mo Bai had a vague sense that this time, the administrator who had fulfilled his wish wasn't heading to another instance world full of malice and death. Perhaps he had gone somewhere better.

If the administrator could leave so willingly, then perhaps the mother and daughter could also have a relatively better ending.

She faintly sensed that the light surrounding the administrator was what the system had called the "positive flow."

Looking down at her hands, she felt that she was one step closer to the truth of this world.

Just as she was about to piece it all together, she suddenly heard a commotion.

Snapping back to her senses, Mo Bai realized that she had at some point already left the dream domain and returned to her body, in the room on the first basement level.

The commotion was coming from right beside her. Sheng Yan and Du Heng were pinning down the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor and threatening him fiercely. "Talk! What did you do to Mo Bai? Why isn't she awake yet?!"

Mo Bai: "…"

Oh. She had completely forgotten that one-hour agreement with the forensic doctor.