A strand of Qiu Xuerong's branch-like hair suddenly lengthened and snatched the binoculars from Sheng Yan's hands.

She wanted to see for herself just how far Mo Bai could go relying on her own strength.

In Qiu Xuerong's view, if an Observation Group player advanced to the high-level ranks yet still lacked the ability to protect themselves, then they should be better off dying early than spending their lives in constant fear in this world.

Even someone as powerful as Qiu Xuerong had gone through a period of anxiety and dread after becoming a high-level player.

Back then, she lived in fear every day. Some of that fear came from other players, and some of it came from the changes to her own appearance.

She was grateful to Xing Shuo for providing Observation Group players with a safe house, yet she also despised a life in which survival depended on being protected by others.

Therefore, she worked tirelessly to become stronger until she became strong enough to no longer fear other players.

And gradually, she became less and less human.

Qiu Xuerong watched this irrational and cruel world with detached indifference, waiting for someone who could shatter it all.

Mo Bai's ability held that possibility.

After Du Heng returned to Neverland from Biological Research Institute No. 7 and reported Mo Bai's abilities to Xing Shuo, Xing Shuo stayed awake the entire night.

The wind chimes in his room rang continuously through the darkness, as though they were speaking with him.

The next day, Xing Shuo told Qiu Xuerong, "A storm capable of shattering everything is about to arrive. If we wish to mend the heavens, we must first break them."

Qiu Xuerong wanted to meet Mo Bai as well.

She wanted to know what kind of person could truly overturn this world, as Xing Shuo claimed.

So far, all she had seen in Mo Bai was intelligence and optimism. But that alone was not enough to change the world.

Qiu Xuerong watched as Mo Bai was buried beneath roses and undead corpses. Bored, she lowered the binoculars and tossed them to Liu Congyi, who had been pacing beneath her tree.

In Qiu Xuerong's judgment, Mo Bai was already doomed.

She had the power to save her. But why should she?

There was endless suffering in this world, and the higher one climbed, the greater the suffering became.

Perhaps it was better to stop here.

At least there would still be companions who mourned her death, people who would think of her from time to time and remember her fondly.

Qiu Xuerong coldly watched as Sheng Yan impulsively slashed open his carotid artery and charged into the Plague Garden, shouting that even if the rules' backlash killed him, he would blow up the entire manor and save Mo Bai.

She watched Liu Congyi reach out and tap Sheng Yan on the forehead.

The tap instantly imposed a psychological debuff on him: Fear of Blood.

Seeing his own blood, Sheng Yan foamed at the mouth and fainted on the spot.

She watched Du Heng draw out the Scythe of Death.

After briefly treating the wound on Sheng Yan's neck, Liu Congyi pulled out a machine gun.

The two exchanged a glance, abandoned the unconscious Sheng Yan, and charged into the Plague Garden together.

How wonderful.

To be cared about.

To have people worry about you.

Qiu Xuerong couldn't help wondering...

'If I were trapped by a monster, would anyone worry about me?'

No.

The members of Mending Heaven would simply think: 'Sister Xue is strong. She can handle it alone.'

And when news of her death arrived, they would think: 'Such a pity. Sister Xue's ability was so powerful.'

What they regretted was losing a powerful ability, not losing a comrade.

Her companions had never turned her into a card, yet they treated her like a rare and precious animal.

Like a giant panda.

They carefully watched over her mental state, wanting to observe her inhuman form but afraid of hurting her pride, so they could only spy on her from the shadows.

In the end, she was still merely a powerful and valuable exhibit.

How was that any different from being a card?

"Perhaps ending things here would be the best outcome," Qiu Xuerong murmured softly.

However, just as Du Heng and Liu Congyi pushed open the manor gates, the scene inside was completely different from what they had seen through the binoculars.

Mo Bai was still standing before the villa.

She hasn't moved an inch, but the undead corpses and roses had retreated.

The corpses crawled at her feet in submission while the roses meekly withdrew their thorns as their blossoms pressed against the ground.

It was as if she were the true master of this domain.

Mo Bai bent down and picked a rose.

Looking at the black curse-filled mist within the flower's core that lunged at her with bared fangs and claws, she said softly, "Anything that refuses to merge with the environment shall disperse."

Everyone saw invisible ripples spread outward from Mo Bai.

The moment the ripples touched them, the undead corpses instantly became dry skeletons and collapsed to the ground, never rising again.

Meanwhile, the vicious curses within the roses vanished completely.

Liu Congyi and Du Heng were very familiar with this ability.

It was Environmental Rejection!

But the Plague Garden was a monster's domain. Curses and plagues were fundamental components of that domain.

How did Mo Bai manage to reject the curse of the entire domain? It was like standing in the middle of the ocean and rejecting all seawater.

How could this still be called Environmental Rejection?

After eliminating the curse, Mo Bai gently crushed the rose in her hand. As the flower shattered, the entire Plague Garden trembled violently.

Like the rose itself, it fragmented and collapsed in an instant.

A moment later, the Plague Garden was gone.

All that remained before them were countless fragments of rose petals and a field of ruins.

A new scene card appeared in Mo Bai's hand, Ruins of Rose Manor.

Since Mo Bai had removed the plague, this place could no longer be called the Plague Garden. It was merely Rose Manor now.

"Power... is truly terrifying," Mo Bai murmured.

The shock of destroying an entire Super A-rank domain in a single moment sent waves crashing through her heart.

She could not calm herself for a long time.

"Player is so strong! So strong! So strong! #￥#&*%@￥#……"

Xiao Qi became completely incoherent.

No words in its database could adequately describe its emotions, so it resorted to gibberish symbols to express its excitement.

At the critical moment, Mo Bai had successfully assimilated five percent of the power sleeping within her body, instantly gaining an enormous amount of energy.

Using that energy, she activated Environmental Assimilation and assimilated the entire Plague Garden.

In that moment, Mo Bai became the ruler of the domain, and every monster bowed to her feet.

Liu Congyi and Du Heng believed that she had purified the domain using Environmental Rejection.

But that wasn't the case.

What she had used was Environmental Optimization.

At last, the ability had surpassed the limits of the physical world and become capable of affecting the rules themselves.

Within Mo Bai's domain, she could optimize any environmental element she found undesirable.

What a terrifying power.

This was merely five percent of the strength of an incomplete Ultra-Star Rank monster, yet it had already achieved such an effect.

"Not at all!" Xiao Qi enthusiastically objected. "The Ultra-Star Rank monster only provided the energy! What's truly powerful is your ability and your willpower, Player! You possess the indomitable will needed to control that power!"

And thus Xiao Qi once again launched into shameless praise of Mo Bai.

"Stop flattering me. If you keep it up, my ego is going to inflate," Mo Bai said, tapping her forehead to keep herself clear-headed and humble.

Just now, under the influence of that power, she had nearly blurted out something embarrassingly chuunibyou-like, "I am the king here. Kneel before me."

Fortunately, she had come to her senses in time and wasn't affected by the power.

Xiao Qi, however, seemed far less recovered. It was still excitedly rambling nonsense about conquering the world.

"Mo Bai!"

Mo Bai heard her teammates calling her.

She saw Du Heng carrying the unconscious Sheng Yan on his shoulder as he and Liu Congyi ran toward her.

Liu Congyi circled Mo Bai once, checking her over. Seeing that even her clothes weren't damaged, she finally relaxed.

"Good. You're okay."

Du Heng was still emotionally unsettled. He casually dumped Sheng Yan onto the ground and said, "This idiot saw you surrounded and immediately slit his neck, planning to take all the monsters down with him. Liu Congyi knocked him out."

Mo Bai glanced at the scythe in Du Heng's hand.

Du Heng put the scythe away and said, "What, do you think I can't do the same thing as him? I haven't lost my ability."

Mo Bai hugged Liu Congyi, pointed at Sheng Yan, and gave Liu Congyi a thumbs-up.

Even though Liu Congyi couldn't hear her, she understood that Mo Bai was praising her.

Laughing, she said, "I've figured it out. Sheng Yan's ability is exactly like his personality. The moment something goes wrong, he wants to self-destruct without thinking about the consequences."

The three of them were still basking in the relief of surviving the ordeal when Qiu Xuerong silently appeared beside them.

For the first time, a hint of surprise showed in her cold eyes.

The moment Du Heng sensed her approach, he noticeably moved away.

To hide the gesture, he bent down as if to hoist Sheng Yan onto his shoulder, then casually pulled Liu Congyi a little closer to Mo Bai.

Further away from Qiu Xuerong.

Mo Bai was somewhat surprised.

Du Heng had always made an effort to get closer to Qiu Xuerong and show that he regarded her as a teammate.

Now he was openly distancing himself.

Wasn't this exactly what he had always tried to avoid?

Qiu Xuerong didn't seem to care, but a branch extended from her body and lightly touched Mo Bai's cheek.

Then it immediately withdrew as though it had been burned.

"I'm not a monster," Mo Bai said.

"I know," Qiu Xuerong replied.

Mo Bai sensed that the atmosphere between Qiu Xuerong and Du Heng had become strangely delicate.

Qiu Xuerong said, "Now that you've become this strong, you should be capable of defeating the two Six Paths players who stole the heart. I left snowflake markers on them. I'll take you to them."

Du Heng curled his lips in displeasure.

He took out the Gale Convoy, summoning five motorcycles, and handed one to Qiu Xuerong.

Then he punched Sheng Yan.

"Stop sleeping! Get up and get to work!"

Sheng Yan woke groggily, still having no idea what happened, only to be shoved onto a motorcycle by Du Heng.

Mo Bai looked at Qiu Xuerong curiously, wondering how she was supposed to ride.

To her surprise, Qiu Xuerong's body shrank considerably until it was only about the height of a human upper body.

Branches wrapped around the motorcycle's handlebars and footrests, securing her in place.

Because she shrunk, her face was smaller too, reducing some of her usual coldness. She actually looked a little cute.

Before Mo Bai could admire the sight any longer, Qiu Xuerong put on a helmet and sped off and the others hurried to follow.

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

"What happened between you and Qiu Xuerong?"

After hesitating for a moment, Du Heng told her about his conversation with Qiu Xuerong, as well as Captain Xing Shuo's intentions.

He expected Mo Bai to be angry and develop a negative impression of Mending Heaven.

Instead, she said, "That's more like it. If your captain were truly some kind of saint, then I'd be worried about Mending Heaven's future."

"You're not angry?" Du Heng asked.

Mo Bai replied, "Of course, I'm angry that someone was calculating my life behind my back.

But I can understand it. Qiu Xuerong doesn't know me and we have no personal relationship. She has no obligation to save me. You don't need to be angry on my behalf for her being cold. That's simply human nature.

As for Xing Shuo, my opinion of him has actually improved."

"Why?" Du Heng asked.

Mo Bai smiled.

"The fact that he was willing to say those things to Qiu Xuerong proves that he's honest enough with the Observation Group and clear about his intentions.

And since he allowed Qiu Xuerong to tell you, that means he intended for you to pass the message on to me.

He's conveying a very simple idea: 'My objective will not change for anything.'

He's telling me that if I can't control my own power, then he'll take that power for himself.

I dislike that superior, high-handed attitude very much, but he's not a bad person."