Mo Bai found it rather amusing. Phantom Butterfly was practically turning this instance into a marriage proposal venue.

As she stepped inside, the transparent curtain closed behind her. The flowers lining both sides of the path swayed gently in the breeze, as though welcoming her arrival.

Mo Bai said, "A welcome ceremony shouldn't be this simple. At the very least, there should be fireworks."

The moment she finished speaking, the flowers on both sides of the road transformed into rows of fireworks. Day instantly became night, and bursts of fireworks bloomed across the sky, creating an incredibly romantic scene.

Yet Mo Bai found herself unable to laugh anymore.

"Player, after evolving, Phantom Butterfly completely counters your abilities!" Xiao Qi said nervously.

Mo Bai's ability could only be used when her understanding of an environment exceeded 50%. However, Phantom Butterfly's mimicry now covered the entire domain and could alter everything within it at any moment. As things stood, Mo Bai's understanding of Butterfly Cottage was only 1%.

In other words, not a single thing she was seeing right now was real.

"That does make things difficult," Mo Bai admitted as she mentally reviewed her assets. Since her abilities were useless here, she would have to rely on cards.

The Waking Nightmare she had obtained in the Dream Domain had already been used to clear an instance. Requiem of Confession had been exhausted while dealing with Li Ming, and Dusk Walker had been purified by Mo Bai. She could still use I Want to Be Liked, but it was a collection-type card, so she had no intention of using it.

Besides, there was no need to use it against Phantom Butterfly. It already liked her more than enough.

Mo Bai had never doubted Phantom Butterfly's love for her.

Du Heng had once said that Phantom Butterfly was deceiving her feelings in order to devour her soul, and that it was a liar.

But after interacting with Phantom Butterfly herself, Mo Bai had realized that its feelings were genuine.

This was simply the only way it knew how to love someone. In its eyes, this was what love looked like. It had already done its utmost to love.

The only cards Mo Bai could barely make use of were Human Enhancement and Inequivalent Exchange. However, Inequivalent Exchange was not a combat card, and she was saving it to exchange for Mo Xiangyou's card, so she could not use it.

That left only Human Enhancement.

The card could increase strength and defense, but its duration was extremely short, lasting only ten minutes.

Even though it could be used five times, there was a cooldown between uses. It could only be activated once within a twelve-hour period.

The interval existed to protect players since consecutive physical enhancements in a short time would put too much strain on the body.

"We should never have returned those cards to them," Xiao Qi said regretfully.

Mo Bai replied calmly, "It's fine. I can still optimize Human Enhancement and improve its effects. Besides, Qiu Xuerong entered this instance as well. Her ability is very powerful. As long as I can meet up with her, we should be able to defeat Phantom Butterfly together."

The current problem was: Where was Phantom Butterfly?

Ignoring the fireworks around her, Mo Bai strode quickly toward the cottage.

Since everything she saw was fake anyway, she didn't bother wasting energy to observe the surroundings and gather information.

She concealed Human Enhancement inside her sleeve, ready to use it at any moment.

Despite being in an unfamiliar environment, Mo Bai remained completely calm.

Whatever came, she would deal with it. Phantom Butterfly was definitely going to try to kill her; she only had to wait and respond.

No matter what tricks Phantom Butterfly played, its attacks ultimately fell into only two categories.

The first was physical attacks. Under the cover of environmental mimicry, it could use Scale Poison, hidden blades, or similar methods to assassinate her. Human Enhancement also increased poison resistance, making it suitable for dealing with physical attacks lurking in the shadows.

The second was mental attacks.

Judging from her teammates' behavior outside Butterfly Cottage, Mo Bai guessed that after upgrading, Phantom Butterfly had gained the abilities of mental contamination and love-information extraction.

Using these powers, it could influence everyone within its domain, causing them to fall into obsession, fall in love with Phantom Butterfly, and ultimately have their souls devoured.

Love-information extraction was a name Mo Bai herself had given to Phantom Butterfly's new ability. She deduced its existence from the question-and-answer session with the chibi text before entering Butterfly Cottage.

It wasn't mind reading.

Mind reading only reveals a person's current thoughts. Whatever a person is thinking at the moment is what gets read. It has no ability to discern deeper truths, nor can it uncover memories the person has not consciously recalled.

Love-information extraction, on the other hand, could obtain all information related to a person's love life. Even things the player had forgotten could still be extracted. It could even expose truths that Sheng Yan himself had never realized.

It was a power capable of seeing through the very essence of a soul.

Combined with environmental mimicry and mental contamination, it became frighteningly easy to control people.

Mo Bai was certain that anyone entering this domain would eventually fall under Phantom Butterfly's control.

What she did not know was what Phantom Butterfly intended to do with those people afterward.

Mo Bai quickly reached the cottage door and saw an LCD screen displaying a set of rules.

Rules of the Love Amusement Park

1. Violence is prohibited in this park. Violent cards and abilities cannot be used. Violators will be expelled from the park and permanently banned from reentry.

2. The only form of combat in this park is Love Value. The higher your Love Value, the stronger your abilities.

3. Visitors may increase their Love Value by participating in mini-games within the park or by making others fall in love with them.

4. Visitors must wear a wristband. The wristband will display the visitor's Love Value. A person's Love Value is visible only to themselves and their lover.

Beside the door was a small box labeled:

Wristband Collection Point

Mo Bai opened the box and found only a single pink wristband inside. She suspected it had been generated on the spot after she arrived.

After putting it on, she pressed a button.

The display read:

Love Value: 20

What a pitiful number. Is the love in your heart truly this dried up? If not for the hopelessly devoted fool who loves you with all their heart, your Love Value might even be negative.

Mo Bai: "..."

No wonder Phantom Butterfly had chosen to absorb the Love Amusement Park. This instance suited it perfectly.

You get kicked out if you don't use Love Value? What an absurd rule.

This single rule practically sealed away all of Mo Bai's abilities.

There was no point in even thinking about using Human Enhancement anymore. The card was completely useless here.

Likewise, there was no need to worry about hidden ambushes. These rules had already made one thing abundantly clear to Mo Bai: 'I'm going to mentally contaminate you through love.'

Xiao Qi said, "Players can indeed resist mental contamination, but that's only if they reject the contamination in the first place. Once a player begins to accept the ideas being transmitted by the instance, they can be contaminated just the same. This Love Amusement Park wants to turn players into hopeless romantics and gradually make them accept love as a form of contamination."

"It doesn't matter," Mo Bai said. "I have confidence in myself. Besides, I want to see what love looks like inside Phantom Butterfly's head."

The cottage indicated that this was the first stage of the Love Amusement Park. A player needed to earn 50 Love Value before advancing to the next stage.

Mo Bai pushed open the door, and the scenery around her changed instantly.

Suddenly, she found herself standing in a high school classroom. Everyone else was seated, and only she was standing beside her desk.

The teacher at the front of the classroom nodded to her.

"Correct answer. You may sit down."

Mo Bai: "..."

The instance couldn't alter her actual actions, so it used this method to seamlessly insert her into the scene.

After sitting down, Mo Bai realized that it was her high school classroom.

The female teacher at the podium was her Chinese teacher and homeroom teacher. The classmates whose faces she could see all looked exactly as they did in her memories.

Even the seating arrangement matched her high school days.

At some point, her clothes had become a school uniform.

They're really playing the nostalgia card.

As soon as Mo Bai sat down, the student on her left passed her a folded note.

Based on where she was sitting, Mo Bai estimated that this was probably the first semester of her senior year. The person who had sat to her left during that period had been her ex-boyfriend.

Back then, they would occasionally communicate during class by passing notes.

Mo Bai opened the note, and written on it were the words:

[

Mo Bai, keep it up. Let's get into Tsinghua together.

Lin Xiafei

]

Mo Bai: "..."

She distinctly remembered that her ex-boyfriend's name wasn't Lin Xiafei.

At that moment, her wristband vibrated, and a notification appeared:

[ Received a promise of future love. Love Value +10. Lin Xiafei possesses a large amount of Love Value. Visitor Mo Bai is strongly advised to maintain a close romantic relationship with him. ]

Mo Bai turned to look at the Lin Xiafei sitting beside her.

Sure enough, she saw the handsome face Phantom Butterfly had created. One that perfectly matched her tastes.

Whether this was the real Phantom Butterfly or merely an imitation produced by the dating game, she couldn't tell.

When Lin Xiafei saw her looking at him, he gave her a shy smile and waved.

Mo Bai snorted coldly and stood up.

"Teacher, I'd like to change seats."

With that, she hoisted up her desk and carried it to the back row of the classroom. She stopped beside a student sitting in the corner.

"I want to switch seats," she said. "I'd like somewhere quiet so I can study."

The student, who had been sleeping on his desk, raised his head.

Mo Bai saw an unfamiliar face and noticed that he wasn't one of her classmates.

Over the course of high school, Mo Bai had changed classes twice. Once, when students were divided into arts and science tracks, and again when she transferred into an advanced class during her senior year.

She hadn't been close friends with every classmate, and there were certainly people whose faces had become blurry in her memory.

But none of them were complete strangers. This person definitely wasn't her classmate.

Mo Bai glanced around the classroom again.

She recognized everyone else to varying degrees. Only this person was entirely unfamiliar.

Her gaze dropped to his hands, and on his left wrist was a blue wristband.

He was a visitor to the Love Amusement Park.

He was good-looking and appeared young, but his demeanor was nothing like that of a student. In his eyes, Mo Bai saw something faintly reminiscent of Li Ming.

The composure, experience, and killing intent that only battle-hardened players possessed.

This man was a player.

However, his temperament wasn't approachable. He didn't match Mo Xiangyou's description of Xie Xingchen, so he wasn't one of Avici's players.

He was probably one of the two players from Six Paths.

While Mo Bai was studying him, he was also observing her.

The first thing he noticed was the pink wristband on her wrist, and then he carefully examined her face.

A grave expression appeared on his features.

He had likely identified Mo Bai as a member of the Observation Group and assumed that someone as attractive as her would have a significant advantage in this instance. He seemed quite wary of her.

Mo Bai found this puzzling.

This was her high school.

The Love Amusement Park was recreating scenes from her relationship with her ex-boyfriend to deepen her mental contamination.

This was her memory.

So why was another player here?

At that moment, the teacher frowned.

"Mo Bai, can't this wait until after class? How can you bully a transfer student?"

A transfer student?

Only then did Mo Bai notice that everyone else was wearing school uniforms. The man alone was dressed casually.

Apparently his new uniform hadn't been made yet.

After recognizing Mo Bai's identity, the transfer student's first reaction was to glance toward the seat in front of him.

Sitting there was one of Mo Bai's high school classmates and closest friends, Ye Yatong.

The same best friend who had put up Mo Bai's makeup before her death.

Ye Yatong had loved makeup since childhood. Even during high school, when cosmetics were forbidden and uniforms were mandatory, she always managed to make herself look fashionable and stood out as noticeably prettier than most of the other girls.

After a brief moment of thought, Mo Bai understood the transfer student's intentions.

Ye Yatong was the prettiest girl in the class.

Like Mo Bai, the transfer student needed to earn 50 Love Value to clear this stage, and he had chosen Ye Yatong as his target.

Mo Bai gave the transfer student a cold smile.

Then she handed Ye Yatong the note from Lin Xiafei and whispered, "Yatong, Lin Xiafei keeps bothering me and won't let me focus on studying. The transfer student behind you won't help me. Why don't we switch seats? I want to concentrate on my studies."

If Phantom Butterfly wanted to recreate the scene of her first love, then it had to faithfully reproduce the people from her memories.

That meant Ye Yatong should be exactly as Mo Bai remembered.

Sure enough, after hearing Mo Bai's words, Ye Yatong glared at the transfer student over her shoulder, and then she stood up.

"I'll switch with you."

Mo Bai immediately helped Ye Yatong move her desk next to Lin Xiafei's seat, then shoved her own desk into Ye Yatong's former spot and sat down directly in front of the transfer student.

As she sat down, she heard a faint vibration from behind her.

It sounded suspiciously like a wristband notification, so Mo Bai immediately put on the Prying Lenses.

The rules only prohibited violent cards and abilities. The Prying Lenses were a support-type item with no offensive capability, so they should be allowed.

As expected, the moment she put them on, her vision changed.

She didn't activate Environmental Optimization. She only used the glasses' original ability to inspect the transfer student's wristband.

The display read:

Target Character Ye Yatong believes you were making things difficult for her best friend and now strongly dislikes you. Love Value -10. Please keep trying.

Seeing the transfer student staring at the back of her head with a look that practically screamed murder, Mo Bai secretly laughed.

Just then, her own wristband vibrated.

She glanced at the notification:

Lin Xiafei believes you are working hard to fulfill your promise of getting into Tsinghua together. His love for you has deepened. Love Value +10.

Mo Bai: "..."