Mo Bai pondered carefully about Gu Tiandong's words and found herself in full agreement.

The system always emphasized 'Apeal Value,' not 'beauty.'

After all, it wasn't only 'beauty' that had entertainment value in this world.

Mo Bai had lived in a peaceful era and a peaceful country, so she hadn't really seen the ugly sides of humanity firsthand. But through the internet, books, and media, she knew there were plenty of absurd and insane forms of entertainment in the world.

Freak shows, circus clowns, bizarre variety acts, and even dog or animal fighting. These things, which made normal people sick to their stomachs, technically also had appeal value.

And beyond those negative things, there were also abstract art and museum pieces valued for their history. Not conventionally beautiful, but still valuable to look at.

When you really thought about it, the term 'appeal value' was quite extreme.

Mo Bai glanced at her own legs. She had stared at these shrunken, ugly legs night and day for years. Even though she was used to it, she still found them hard to look at sometimes.

If the Observation Group only cared about 'beauty,' then her legs would have been a deduction from her appearance points.

But now, with her appearance points so high... maybe her legs were actually a plus.

What a joke.

She thought about it and asked, "So, besides people like us, are there any Observation Group players who look… deformed?"

"There are." Gu Tiandong's tone grew heavy, as if remembering something unpleasant.

Mo Bai asked, "What happened to them?"

Gu Tiandong said, "The one I knew died in a dungeon. Actually, he didn't have to die. He had already met the conditions to clear it. But he gave up and died inside."

Mo Bai couldn't help but feel a chill of sadness. She asked, "What kind of person was he?"

Gu Tiandong said, "He was hunchbacked, kind of like Quasimodo from 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,' but not nearly as nice. He had a face that made people recoil. I used to pity him and even teamed up with him, but he sold me out to Wang Fan's group for an item card. Luckily, my title's ability is special, so I managed to escape in time."

"Then you should be glad that he's dead," Mo Bai said, comforting Gu Tiandong in her own way.

"I was glad. Isn't that the ending a traitor deserves?" Gu Tiandong said, but he looked genuinely sad. "Still, I would have rather killed him myself than see him die like that."

Mo Bai put her hand on his shoulder, her voice soft and gentle. "He chose to end his own life. That was his choice."

Gu Tiandong said, "Yeah. But do you know why he gave up? He was afraid of what would happen after the instance. That he would keep levelling up. He was already Beginner-9. One more level and he'd hit Intermediate-1, and intermediate players can leave Peach Blossom Land to explore the wider world. But he didn't dare. He was terrified that his body would undergo such drastic changes that he wouldn't even resemble a human anymore. He hated himself. He saw himself as a monster and wanted to end that monster with his own hands."

Mo Bai realized that Gu Tiandong wasn't just mourning that Player. He was mourning for himself, too.

He saw his own future in that other Player.

That's why, deep down, there was something about his own 'appeal value' that Gu Tiandong couldn't accept. He feared the same fate. Feared his own evolution and his own reflection in the system's mirror.

Especially after seeing a Player choosing to die out of fear of what he would become, Gu Tiandong had imprinted the idea in his mind: "That could be me someday."

Trying to help Gu Tiandong just by being warm and gentle wasn't enough. She needs to understand the root of his problem, challenge his current beliefs, and help him develop a new outlook on life to truly help him overcome this shadow.

Otherwise, as Wang Fan said, Gu Tiandong would just die in the next instance.

Not because his instance was so hard, but because he already wanted to die.

Mo Bai understood the crux of Gu Tiandong's problem. She just wasn't sure if she should help him untangle his heart.

To really help Gu Tiandong, she'd have to drop her own act and reveal her true self.

But for now, Mo Bai thinks that acting weak worked to her advantage, even if it made other players or NPCs look down on her. But being underestimated meant people would let their guard down, giving her the advantage in the situation to defeat the enemy in one move.

After all, they were just passing acquaintances. Mo Bai just wanted some information from Gu Tiandong. Was it really worth dropping her advantage for someone as impulsive, pessimistic, and loose-lipped as him?

Mo Bai watched Gu Tiandong, silently weighing the pros and cons. His temperament was too naive and reckless, hardly a reliable teammate.

Teaming up with him would likely cause more harm than good.

Besides, even if she wanted to, could she really talk him out of his despair?

If he ended up like that other Observation player, refusing to accept his changes no matter what, she'd just respect his choice.

After all, everyone's choices have meaning. Maybe it didn't matter much to Mo Bai, but to Gu Tiandong, it might be more important than life itself.

Seeing Mo Bai's beautiful face tangled with indecision, Gu Tiandong wiped his face and muttered in frustration, "Why am I telling all this to a young girl like you? You're nothing like him. I'm just talking too much. How about I show you around, teach you about Peach Blossom Land's city layout and factions, so you don't get scammed?"

"Little girl?" Mo Bai looked at Gu Tiandong and, puzzled, said, "I look like I'm in my early twenties, but you look only seventeen or eighteen. And you're calling me 'little girl'?"

Mentioning age clearly brought Gu Tiandong's mood down again. He slumped onto the sofa.

"How old are you?" Mo Bai asked.

In her mind, she'd always seen Gu Tiandong as a little brother, maybe two or three years younger.

Gu Tiandong ran his hand through his not-quite-long hair. "36."

"Huh?!" Even the cool-headed Mo Bai couldn't help but blurt out in surprise.

"Huh?!" That was Xiao Qi, who had been quiet the whole time, not wanting to interrupt Mo Bai's conversation. But hearing Gu Tiandong's age, it couldn't hold back.

"There's no way! You look at most twenty! Even twenty seems generous!" Mo Bai exclaimed.

Gu Tiandong said, "I always looked young. At thirty-six, I looked about twenty-five, but it was nothing like now. After arriving in the Infinite World, the system gave me the title 'Ageless Angel.' Since then, I've been getting younger every time I level up. After I reached Beginner-7, my height shrank to 175cm. Now, I look about 18."

"An eighteen-year-old guy can be 180cm tall, so why would the system force you to be five centimeters shorter? What's the point of that? And if the point is 'ageless,' wouldn't it be better to keep you fixed at, say, 18-25 and a perfect height for appeal value?" Mo Bai was confused. The Observation Group's upgrade path was nothing like what she'd imagined.

Gu Tiandong opened his mouth to explain, but quickly closed it again. Obviously, there was something he didn't want to say.

It must have to do with his evolution path.

Mo Bai thought about it and guessed, "Your evolution isn't focused on the 'ageless' part. Rather, it's developing from the 'angel' aspect instead?"

At the mention of 'angel,' Gu Tiandong was utterly speechless.

But he didn't change the subject, or tell her to leave, or say, "That's my secret, I don't want to talk about it." He didn't even try to take her out anymore.

Gu Tiandong just sat with a dull look in his eyes, neither answering nor refuting her.

Mo Bai could sense Gu Tiandong's desperation to talk to someone, but he couldn't reveal this to the Combat Group. He only wanted to talk to another Observation Group Player.

But even when he met one, he didn't have the courage to talk about his troubles.

What a difficult guy.

Mo Bai thought carefully about Gu Tiandong's features. Ageless angel, shrinking, medium-length hair, androgynous beauty, increasing youthful aura…

No, not youthful. With all these elements combined, it clearly gave him a sense of genderlessness!

In mythology, angels were inherently genderless.

His shrinking height was because his original height was too masculine for neutrality, and 170-175cm was just right. His hair and looks confirmed it even more.

As for the age change, it's because a person's most androgynous period is before puberty. To reach a genderless appearance, Gu Tiandong's age would continue to decrease, stopping at around twelve or thirteen.

Mo Bai, observing Gu Tiandong's apparent loss of will to live, hesitated over whether to voice her suspicions.

If she said it out loud and was right, she'd be exposing his deepest wound, risking his hostility. If she was wrong, it'd be a cruel guess and she'd lose a useful contact.

In this situation, most people would keep quiet.

Just as Mo Bai decided to stay silent, Gu Tiandong raised his left hand, tapped his wristband, and said, "I don't usually talk this much with other players. Maybe it's fate. Either way, I'm not making it past the next instance, and there's no point in hoarding my points. I'll transfer you 2,000 points."

Mo Bai was momentarily stunned, looking at Gu Tiandong in surprise.

Gu Tiandong said, "Hey, I'm just doing it because you eat so much. You finish off 100 points in a meal, so your 300 points won't even last a day! Borrow these 2,000 points to get through your newbie period. If I survive my next instance, you owe me 2,500 back!"

He even sounded like a loan shark.

Mo Bai suddenly burst out laughing. Not that fake, gentle, sweet smile, but her own hearty, lively laugh.

It wasn't girly at all, but it was full of life.

"Smiling at money, huh? Take out your wristband, I'll show you how to use it. It's a player's most basic tool. It's your phone, bank card, and ID all in one. That business card Wang Fan gave you? It had his wristband QR code. But don't contact him," Gu Tiandong rambled on.

Mo Bai shook her head. "I'm not laughing because of the money. I'm laughing at myself. You think I'm a good person, but honestly, I'm just like Wang Fan. We're both looking for useful players to team up with."

Gu Tiandong was full of goodwill, but Mo Bai was always calculating and taking advantage.

"What are you saying? I've got good judgment. You and Wang Fan are nothing alike," Gu Tiandong said.

"If you're so good at judging people, then even my smart assistant can say that it's also good at judging people's characters," Mo Bai replied.

Xiao Qi: "Player, what are you saying? Are you insulting Xiao Qi?"

Gu Tiandong protested too: "Come on, you're putting me on the same level as a dumb assistant?"

With that one comment, Mo Bai managed to offend both Xiao Qi and Gu Tiandong. Gu Tiandong was too shy to argue, but Xiao Qi grumbled nonstop in her ear.

Mo Bai quickly changed the subject. "There was something I wasn't going to say, but with you, I think it's fine. Gu Tiandong, is your evolution path 'genderless'?"

Gu Tiandong froze. His whole body was stiff, and his face was basically screaming: "How did you know?" "I never told anyone!" "I want to crawl under a rock!"

"Stop, stop, stop!" Mo Bai quickly interrupted his downward spiral. "Don't freak out. I just want to know... Are you already genderless, or about to be?"

Her calm was contagious, causing Gu Tiandong to also calm down.

He looked down and muttered almost inaudibly, "Almost."

"What's your current level?" Mo Bai asked.

“Beginner-9.” With his biggest secret exposed, Gu Tiandong didn't care about the rest, so he answered honestly.

"Are you afraid that after you level up and become an intermediate player, you'll be completely genderless?" Mo Bai asked.

"Yes." Gu Tiandong's face was full of despair.

Mo Bai asked, "Have you tried putting your attribute points into something besides appearance?"

Gu Tiandong nodded. "When I realized that my body was changing in scary ways, I tried to switch how I assigned my points, but it didn't help. No matter how much I added to constitution or agility, the only thing that changed was my physical fitness. None of it could reverse the changes in appearance.

Even if I stopped putting points into appearance, every time I level up, each attribute gets one point automatically.

"And the Observation Group's title is a huge advantage. Combat Group don't have a title. Only Observation Group Players have this special ability. Titles make it easy to clear instances, so just to stay alive, I have to keep adding points to appearance.

I hate myself for it, and I'm terrified of my body changing any further. I don't think I can make it past the next level."

He seemed utterly defeated, as if he'd lost all will to live.

Mo Bai asked, "What is it that you really hate? The fact that your body is about to change completely, or the fact that you're being forced to give in to survive?"

"What's the difference?" Gu Tiandong asked.

"There's a big difference," Mo Bai said. "If it's the first one, if you'd rather die than give up your original gender, I won't try to talk you out of it. Everyone has the right to decide what happens to their own body.

But if it's the second, it just proves that you want to live. In your heart, life is still the most important thing and surviving matters more than your changing gender. In that case, you shouldn't be so negative. No matter how hard the next instance is, you should fight to live so that every struggle and compromise will be worth it."

"If burning your face and skin off could give you back your legs, would you do it?" Gu Tiandong asked.

"I would." Mo Bai answered firmly.

Maybe some people wouldn't. But for Mo Bai, who had been in pain for so long, knew what really mattered to her.

That's why she'd rather put all her points into constitution and trade strength for health.

"If someday, you could only survive by relying on the effects of a permanently disabled title, would you accept it?" Gu Tiandong asked.

Mo Bai hesitated before answering, "It would be hard for me. It's not easy to get healthy again. But after the pain, I'd still make myself accept it. For me, life comes first."

Gu Tiandong kept thinking. This wasn't something he could accept so easily.

Mo Bai didn't push him. She turned her wheelchair and said, "I'm going to look around outside. Take your time to think about it. If you want to live, don't lend me your points. If you decide you really don't, then don't just give me 2,000 points. Give me all your points. Think of it as a final good deed."

When Gu Tiandong heard that Mo Bai was actually eyeing all his points, his expression twisted, "You really... Your personality is…"

"Terrible? Greedy?" Mo Bai shrugged. "So what? If you don't care about living, why care about your points?"

Mo Bai turned and left the room, leaving Gu Tiandong alone to think about life and the future.