Before they left, Mo Bai buried the cat.

It was only a small task, nothing troublesome.

She didn't have any particularly deep feelings toward the cat. She simply felt like doing it.

Let this cat be buried together with this hospital full of stories.

After patting the soil down, Mo Bai and the others immediately headed to the Plague Garden.

The forensic doctor provided the autopsy report while the investigating officer handed over the mother and daughter's statements.

Her former colleagues had passed the information on to her, along with the work that remained to be done.

Mo Bai now carried that responsibility.

She was very worried about Gu Tiandong and the other two, but she had no idea where they had been lured away to. Moreover, she couldn't afford to waste time searching aimlessly.

As fellow players, she also had to trust in their ability to protect themselves.

Du Heng had the location of Plague Garden.

He said that the teammate from Mending Heaven had gone there.

That teammate possessed the host device and had uploaded Plague Garden's coordinates to him.

Du Heng took out a card.

When it landed on the ground, it transformed into four motorcycles.

"Running is too slow and wastes stamina," he said proudly. "Use my card. Our captain from Mending Heaven told me that an instance called Disease Town sounded like it would have a huge map, so I should bring transportation. That's why I brought the card Gale Convoy. It's a B-rank card. It can create between one and five motorcycles, and each bike can carry a passenger."

Sheng Yan loved the cool-looking motorcycles and immediately rode one around in a circle.

Du Heng continued his explanation.

"Since it's called a convoy, the vehicles come with communication equipment. Every helmet has a radio. You can switch between private channels and a public channel. The only limitation is that it stops working beyond one kilometer."

The four of them mounted their motorcycles and sped toward Plague Garden.

Along the way, Mo Bai opened a private channel with Du Heng.

"You really admire your captain."

"Of course I do," Du Heng said proudly. "He's the smartest person in all of Neverland. No, in the entire Infinite World. And he's also the person with the strongest sense of duty and justice. You already know the secret of the Observation Group, right? So there's no need for me to hide it. Without our captain, it would probably be difficult to find even a single high-level Observation Group player in all of Neverland."

As far back as Biological Research Institute No. 7, Mo Bai had already noticed how much Du Heng admired and respected his captain.

If the captain were truly as remarkable as Du Heng described, then she would admire him as well.

"If I get the chance, I'd definitely like to meet him someday," Mo Bai said.

"You absolutely have to join Mending Heaven!" Du Heng replied enthusiastically. "Our captain has known your name for a long time through me. I even suggested that he should apply for a Pass Card and visit you in Peach Blossom Land, but he refused. He said, 'Our paths will cross eventually.'"

Because the power gap between high-level and low-level players was so enormous, the system had implemented a permit system similar to visas in order to protect both sides.

Players from Peach Blossom Land who hadn't reached the required level weren't allowed to enter Neverland.

Likewise, players who had settled in Neverland had to apply for a permit before visiting Peach Blossom Land.

The permit suppressed high-level players' strength down to approximately Intermediate-5, making them appear no different from an ordinary mid-level player.

As for high-level players who weren't strong enough to settle in Neverland and instead lived in Peach Blossom Land, their power was also suppressed to Intermediate-5 while inside Peach Blossom Land. Only within instances could they display their true strength.

As a result, Peach Blossom Land did contain high-level players, and Mo Bai had simply never met any of them.

After hearing Du Heng's explanation, she asked curiously,

"Is your captain some kind of prophet? The way he talks sounds awfully mysterious."

"He's not a prophet," Du Heng replied with a grin. "Though he does enjoy acting mysterious."

An image of an excessively theatrical person immediately formed in Mo Bai's mind.

"What's his name?"

Du Heng answered,

"He said there was no need to tell you right now."

Mo Bai blinked.

"Why? Is his name a secret too?"

Du Heng hurriedly defended him.

"Don't form a bad impression of our captain because of that. He doesn't mean anything by it. He just believes in one principle: seeing is believing. He said that if the two of you ever truly meet, he'll introduce himself personally. There's no need for me to do it on his behalf."

Du Heng paused.

"Though now that I think about it, the way he said it almost sounded like there might not be a chance for you two to meet at all."

"If I die in this instance, there won't be one," Mo Bai replied.

Despite never having met this legendary captain, Mo Bai had already formed a rough impression of him.

He was evaluating her through Du Heng.

Based on everything Du Heng had said, she began constructing a profile of the Mending Heaven captain.

He was definitely not the warm, approachable, and selfless person Du Heng described.

On the contrary, Mo Bai suspected that he was an extreme pragmatist.

She acknowledged that anyone capable of protecting Observation Group players in a place like Neverland could hardly be a bad person.

However, managing such a large organization was no easy task, and being surrounded by the other two major factions made it even harder.

A leader had to know how to weigh costs and benefits.

Putting herself in his shoes, if a friend like Ding Xun told her he'd met an intelligent, powerful, and trustworthy person in an instance and hoped to recruit them into the team, her first reaction wouldn't be enthusiastic hospitality.

It would be observation and evaluation.

First, determine their character.

Then determine their strength.

Finally, determine their interests and preferences.

By the time they met, she'd be able to prepare exactly the right approach for interacting with them.

Comfortable, but not entirely sincere.

Mo Bai was the same type of person, and that's why she understood the captain's methods.

But she simply didn't particularly like people like that and preferred straightforward people like Ding Xun, Du Heng, and Sheng Yan.

Or thoughtful people like Ye Pingjun and Gu Tiandong, who were sensitive and perceptive without actively calculating others.

Du Heng's recruiting efforts were misguided anyway since

Mo Bai had never planned to join Mending Heaven.

There was no need for her to develop a close relationship with their captain.

The person who interested her far more right now was Du Heng's teammate.

At present, she represented the strongest combat force that their group could potentially ally with.

Just as the Mending Heaven captain was evaluating her through Du Heng, Mo Bai began gathering information about this teammate's strength and personality.

She, too, wanted to approach their first meeting in the most comfortable way possible.

Du Heng had once mentioned that his teammate was a very distinctive woman.

The two of them communicated through a card called Mother-and-Child Device.

The main unit could send messages to the secondary unit.

The secondary unit could only receive messages and could not reply.

"You're carrying the secondary unit?" Mo Bai asked sharply. "The two of you are teamed up together, but she's the leader?"

"She's stronger than I am," Du Heng replied matter-of-factly.

Mo Bai remembered that Du Heng had previously mentioned asking this teammate to heal Sheng Yan.

That prompted another question.

"Does your teammate have healing abilities?"

"It's more accurate to call it sealing rather than healing," Du Heng answered. "It's not as effective as your methods, so once you have a way to treat him, I didn't push the issue. Anyway, she's a very, very beautiful player. You'll understand when you meet her."

Mo Bai immediately realized that Du Heng didn't want to reveal either the woman's identity or abilities.

Since they were speaking over a private channel and neither Sheng Yan nor Liu Congyi could hear them, she asked directly, "Your teammate is an Observation Group player, isn't she?"

"Nothing gets past you," Du Heng admitted.

"She operates alone. Aren't you worried she'll run into members of the other two organizations and get turned into a card?" Mo Bai asked.

Du Heng laughed.

"Our spawn locations were different. Besides, considering the state I was in back then, she was probably the one worrying about me, not the other way around. Hahaha!

You don't need to worry about her. Turning an Observation Group player into a card has conditions. You have to kill them while they're actively using their ability. Only then can you obtain their ability card.

If you simply ambush them when they're not using their power, you won't get a card at all."

His smile widened.

"And once my teammate activates her ability...

...no one can hurt her."

After hearing that, Mo Bai felt considerably more at ease.

Mo Bai's greatest concern was that Gu Tiandong might be ambushed without realizing it.

But if obtaining an ability card required killing an Observation Group player while they were actively using their ability, then no one would be able to kill Gu Tiandong.

His abilities, Keep Your Distance and Cold-Hearted, provided nearly perfect defense against both physical and mental attacks. Anyone with a lower Appearance value than his couldn't break through his defenses at all.

And how could any Combat Group player possibly have a higher Appearance value than Gu Tiandong?

At last, Mo Bai felt relieved.

She said to Du Heng, "I'm genuinely interested in meeting your teammate."

"Like I said, she's very strong and very beautiful," Du Heng replied. "But when you meet her... please make sure you treat her as a person."

Mo Bai wanted to ask more questions, but by then, they had already arrived at Plague Garden.

Liu Congyi stopped her motorcycle, removed her helmet, and coughed violently several times.

Finally catching her breath, she said,

"We've finally reached a new domain. My skin feels like it's burning, and my lungs feel as if they're about to explode. How did the townspeople survive in this environment for three whole months?"

Mo Bai found that strange as well.

The audience members she had seen in the Smiling Circus seemed fairly normal.

Du Heng explained,

"I know the answer. The townspeople are part of the domain itself, so they're protected by it. Think of them as fish living in water. They naturally possess some resistance to contamination.

We players are outsiders. We're birds that suddenly fell into the water. For us, the water isn't protection. It's harm."

Meanwhile, Sheng Yan was busy rapidly writing down Du Heng's explanation for Liu Congyi.

The agility of a Combat Group player was apparently being used for real-time transcription.

Plague Garden was an enormous estate.

Under normal circumstances, it should have been filled with roses and overflowing with fragrance. The scent of roses ought to have been noticeable even outside the domain.

But the Plague Garden before them was different.

There were no visible flowers nor discernible fragrance, and they could barely make out the estate's gates.

The entire garden was shrouded in thick white mist, making it impossible to see what lay inside.

"What's going on?" Liu Congyi asked as they stood before the entrance.

Mo Bai and Sheng Yan both became wary, suspecting that some kind of abnormal change had occurred within the domain.

Only Du Heng reacted differently as he let out a sigh of admiration.

"My sister's gone all out! Are they fighting in there?"

"This white mist was created by your teammate?" Mo Bai asked.

Du Heng nodded vigorously.

Remembering Li Ming's devastating area-wide attack that had nearly destroyed the entire hospital, Liu Congyi couldn't help commenting,

"Does your teammate's attack range cover the entire domain too? Are all high-level players this powerful?"

Du Heng merely chuckled without answering.

Instead, Sheng Yan answered for him.

"Depends on the person. Du Heng couldn't do it."

As he spoke, he continued writing everything down for Liu Congyi to read.

Du Heng immediately exploded.

"Hey! Sheng Yan! You're seriously asking for a beating!"

Sheng Yan finished writing down Du Heng's words before replying,

"Yeah. Is this your first day knowing me?"

Liu Congyi laughed.

"Stop arguing. Why are you even writing down your insults for me too? Isn't that exhausting?"

Sheng Yan shrugged.

"I'm not fighting right now. What's there to be tired about?"

"I think you're just frustrated because you can't fight."

Mo Bai smacked him lightly on the head.

Sheng Yan really did have the personality of a giant dog.

When Sheng Lei treated him well, Sheng Yan was willing to die avenging his brother after his death.

When Mo Bai helped him and lifted his seal, he followed her orders without hesitation.

When Liu Congyi gave up her chance at treatment to save him, he faithfully kept his promise and became her ears, diligently conveying every sound around them.

Sheng Yan had many flaws.

He was impulsive, sharp-tongued, terrible at reading the room, and often invested so much emotion into people that it became a burden.

But his strengths were just as obvious.

Suppressing the two squabbling teammates, Mo Bai pushed open the estate gates.

The gates of Plague Garden swung open.

"We can enter?" she asked.

"Of course we can," Du Heng replied confidently. "My sister's already gone all out. Trust me. This domain is absolutely safe."

His trust in his teammate was absolute.

He stepped inside first.

The moment they crossed the gate, everyone's coughing eased, and the burning sensation on their skin vanished as well.

At the same time, they felt a chill in the air as countless white snowflakes drifted down from the sky.

Liu Congyi caught one and asked, "Is it snowing?"

"No," Mo Bai replied, catching one herself.

The snowflake was cold, but it didn't melt in her hand. Its texture felt more like a leaf.

The sky was raining down leaf after leaf that resembled snowflakes. The ground was blanketed with them. Some were enormous, spanning four or five square meters.

They covered vast clusters of flowers.

The roses beneath were weighed down by the giant white leaves, their branches bent low and unable to spread their plague.

Others were even roughly the size of a human being.

Beneath them lay person after person whose bodies were covered in festering wounds.

Mo Bai checked their breathing.

They weren't dead, only asleep.

The group continued deeper into the garden, and they eventually reached its center.

There, they saw a gigantic, pure-white...

...tree.

At least, it seemed appropriate to call it a tree that towered dozens of meters into the air.

Her branches and foliage spread so widely that they covered the entire Plague Garden.

The snowflakes falling from the sky were her leaves, and the white mist blanketing the estate was created by those drifting leaves.

"This is..." Sheng Yan stared at the massive tree in shock.

He seemed to have already guessed her identity.

Du Heng said, "This is my teammate."

He looked up at the colossal white tree.

"Qiu Xuerong. An Advance-8 Observation Group player.

When Observation Group players reach the advanced ranks, their titles and abilities completely merge together. Their appearance also begins to approach the form represented by their title."

He paused before introducing her ability.

"Her ability is... Snow-Clad Tree."