A few minutes earlier, Mo Bai successfully reached the deepest underground level.

The power of the Black Boots was astonishing. She could freely control any ground the boots stepped on.

She jumped to the floor below and used the Black Boots to rapidly claim the area. Then she lightly tapped her toes, and the entire floor shattered beneath her, sending her down to the next level.

Without Dai Qianzhong obstructing her, Mo Bai easily reached the level directly above her destination.

The moment her foot touched the floor, she sensed Gao Siyun’s presence.

The sealed heart began beating wildly. Mo Bai couldn’t tell whether it was calling out to its own body or trembling in fear of something.

She was certain Gao Siyun could sense her as well.

A sudden, inexplicable sense of danger surged through her, and Mo Bai instinctively rolled aside.

A destructive beam of light flashed past, and a huge hole appeared where she stood just moments earlier.

An antimatter energy cannon! Xie Xingchen really was down there.

Still lying on the floor, Mo Bai heard an unhurried voice drift up from below.

“Why aren’t you coming down?”

That voice must have been Xie Xingchen's.

Mo Bai held her breath and said nothing.

Then she heard his footsteps. He seemed to kick something, and a moment later, Mo Bai heard a muffled groan of pain.

It was Gu Tiandong!

Mo Bai’s eyes widened. She finally found him!

Xie Xingchen spoke from below, “Why aren’t you screaming? It must hurt terribly. Are you afraid she’ll hear you?”

There was no reply. Then came the sound of kicking and beating.

Gu Tiandong, who groaned from the pain earlier, made no sound.

Mo Bai could no longer endure it. Her position was already exposed anyway. There was no point hiding.

She pushed herself up with her arms and lightly jumped down.

But as she bent her arm, she felt an odd stiffness in it, like several muscles were no longer obeying her.

She noticed the abnormality, but she had neither the time nor energy to investigate it.

Mo Bai landed and found herself at the bottom of a pit that was at least 300 meters deep. She landed near the edge of the pit, and the underground passage she took apparently followed its perimeter.

The floor of the pit covered hundreds of thousands of square meters, and it was a kilometer long and a kilometer wide.

Lights glowed along the walls. Though the lights themselves were bright, the sheer size of the chamber left the central area dim.

Fortunately, players had vision far superior to ordinary humans, and the available light was enough for Mo Bai to make out her surroundings.

There were no lights above, and everything more than 100 meters overhead was swallowed by darkness.

At the center of the pit stood three or perhaps four people.

It was difficult to say whether there were three or four because Gao Siyun and Yang Lingxi were fused, sharing a single heart and chest cavity. It was unclear whether they counted as one person or two.

Of the other two, one was the handsome and refined man Mo Bai saw in Love Amusement Park. Naturally, it was Xie Xingchen.

At Xie Xingchen’s feet lay someone with long silver-white hair and three pairs of pure-white wings.

His hair was much longer than before, which covered his face. One pair of wings became three pairs. Even so, Mo Bai immediately recognized the person beneath Xie Xingchen’s foot.

Gu Tiandong.

There was also a dagger beneath Xie Xingchen’s foot.

The dagger was driven deep into Gu Tiandong’s chest, and the ground beneath him was covered in blood.

The groan Gu Tiandong couldn’t suppress earlier came from Xie Xingchen stepping down on the dagger.

Rage surged through Mo Bai. She could no longer restrain her hatred for Xie Xingchen.

This man always hid behind the scenes, pretending to be kind and befriending people. His appearance was bright and elegant as the moon, yet everything he did belonged in the filthiest gutter.

He pretended to befriend Mo Xiangyou. When Li Ming tortured Sheng Lei, Xie Xingchen deceived Mo Xiangyou into using Pulling Up Seedlings to Help Them Grow to save him, exploiting Mo Xiangyou’s kindness in order to kill him from behind.

And now he was torturing Gu Tiandong with the same cruelty.

Mo Bai couldn’t help wondering which of them was truly the demon steeped in malice, Xie Xingchen or the instance monsters.

“Oh, you’re here?” Xie Xingchen said, looking at Mo Bai with a smile that suggested everything went exactly as he expected.

He turned toward the grotesque Gao Siyun.

“The main course has arrived. Enjoy.”

A nonhuman rasp came from Gao Siyun’s throat. In a hoarse voice, she said to Xie Xingchen, “Despicable player. Once I become complete, I’ll kill you.”

“That’s fine,” Xie Xingchen replied. “Our agreement was only meant to last until this point. I brought your other half here, and you helped me put on a little performance. You’ve fulfilled your side of the deal. From here on, do whatever you want.”

Mo Bai’s ability revolved around the environment. Whenever she entered an unfamiliar area, her first priority was to observe her surroundings and act only after making a plan.

Even though she was furious, she still forced herself to remain calm. She quickly surveyed the area, trying to understand more than 50% of the environment while analyzing Xie Xingchen’s words for signs of traps he prepared in advance.

Most importantly, Mo Bai knew exactly what Xie Xingchen wanted.

He wanted Gu Tiandong’s card. As long as Gu Tiandong didn’t use his ability, Xie Xingchen wouldn’t let him die.

Gu Tiandong was suffering terribly, but he was still alive.

If Mo Bai acted impulsively now and fell into Xie Xingchen’s trap, then her own recklessness might kill Gu Tiandong.

Xiao Qi said, “Even under circumstances like this, with emotions pushed this far, Player can still stay calm and rational. You still have goodwill toward the world and still want to save Gu Tiandong. You haven’t once thought about destroying everything. Player, you’re amazing. You truly deserve the title of ‘Indestructible Diamond’!”

Xiao Qi was a mischievous little devil who usually loved whispering wicked ideas. Yet at a moment like this, instead of encouraging Mo Bai to hate the world, it praised and encouraged her.

That alone showed that Mo Bai’s emotions reached their limit.

Xiao Qi didn’t dare offer any more terrible suggestions. It was afraid of becoming the final straw that broke her.

Encouraged by Xiao Qi, Mo Bai pulled herself together and rapidly reconstructed how the current situation came about. If she were Xie Xingchen, what would she do?

Xie Xingchen wanted Gu Tiandong’s card, but Gu Tiandong’s defense was invincible. After he advanced to the Advanced level, it would be even more impenetrable. Xie Xingchen also had to kill Gu Tiandong while he was using his ability in order to obtain the card. How could he possibly accomplish that?

Mo Bai was also a master strategist. Combining everything that happened earlier with what she could now see, she understood Xie Xingchen’s plan.

The first step was to exhaust Blessing of the Puppets. That explained what happened at the trading hall.

Gu Tiandong’s surgery was probably already complete. But because he knew the surgery existed, once he woke up, he likely faced a terrifying attack. He could only use Blessing of the Puppets to heal himself and activate his defensive skill to protect himself.

Gu Tiandong was under anesthesia, so they could control him when he woke up. Perhaps he woke up shortly after Xie Xingchen rescued Pang Mian from Love Amusement Park.

The second step was to repeat the same trick he used on Mo Xiangyou by becoming Gu Tiandong’s friend.

That was easy.

Xie Xingchen never showed his face to Gu Tiandong. He had an arrangement with Gao Siyun, promising to help her undo the seal on the heart, lure her other half over, and help her become complete.

Gao Siyun would naturally make things convenient for him. Xie Xingchen could hide inside the organ-transplant operating room and pretend to be another victim in the room next to Gu Tiandong.

He would disguise himself as a player that Gu Tiandong rescued and gain his trust.

After what happened with Dai Qianzhong, Gu Tiandong might be wary of someone who rescued him. But Xie Xingchen would be a “victim,” and Gu Tiandong would be the one to rescue him. People often find it easier to trust those they saved.

Gu Tiandong was desperate to rescue Ye Pingjun and Ding Xun. Xie Xingchen would exploit that urgency and tell him that as long as they killed Gao Siyun, they could destroy the Organ Trading Market and save Ding Xun and Ye Pingjun.

Then Xie Xingchen would reveal his antimatter energy weapon and explain that he possessed a weapon capable of defeating the monster, but his defensive ability was too weak for him to protect himself.

Meanwhile, Gu Tiandong had powerful defenses, but even he couldn’t withstand Gao Siyun’s attacks at his current level.

That was when Xie Xingchen would tell him that he possessed the card Pulling Up Seedlings to Help Them Grow, which could temporarily promote Gu Tiandong to Advanced level. At Advanced level, Gu Tiandong would surely be able to defend against Gao Siyun.

And so, lured along by Xie Xingchen, Gu Tiandong descended deep underground, planning for the two of them to eliminate Gao Siyun together.

If Xie Xingchen was someone who kept his promises, the two of them could really eliminate this Super-S-rank monster.

Unfortunately, from beginning to end, the entire thing was a scheme designed to trick Gu Tiandong into using the Pulling Up Seedlings to Help Them Grow card.

Once they reached Gao Siyun, Gu Tiandong used the card and became an Advanced player. His hair grew longer, three pairs of wings appeared on his back, and his appearance value rose again. He also gained the ability to defend against Gao Siyun’s attacks.

At that point, Xie Xingchen’s third step was complete, and the fourth step was betrayal.

The instant Gu Tiandong became an Advanced player, Xie Xingchen stabbed him through the heart with a dagger, severely injuring him before Gu Tiandong had time to activate his defensive ability.

At the same time, Xie Xingchen used another card to sustain Gu Tiandong’s life, allowing him to remain barely alive even with his heart pierced.

Only the fifth step remained, which was to force Gu Tiandong to activate his defensive ability. The moment Gu Tiandong used his power, he would then withdraw the life-sustaining card, and Gu Tiandong would then die from the dagger in his heart while his ability was active.

Gu Tiandong’s ability was clearly one of the hardest abilities in existence to turn into a card. Yet human malice was so vicious that someone actually devised a method like this.

Xie Xingchen’s torture just now was also intended to force Gu Tiandong into using his ability. But Gu Tiandong refused to yield even in the face of death. He would rather endure the pain than let Xie Xingchen succeed.

By now, Gu Tiandong probably also realized that members of the Observation Group ultimately turn into cards.

Mo Bai understood the entire chain of events in an instant, and she also understood why Gao Siyun and she herself were both here.

Gao Siyun was mutating. Her body kept expanding, seemingly preparing to transform into an enormous monster.

The underground pit was so vast that it appeared to be built specifically to contain a creature with colossal size.

Gao Siyun’s current appearance was clearly only a false form, and her true body had to be far more terrifying.

Still, Mo Bai wasn’t afraid. She had the Black Boots, her trump card. The card had only been in use for 20 minutes so she still had plenty of time to deal with Gao Siyun.

But just as Mo Bai prepared to act and use the Black Boots to seize control of the domain, she discovered that she could no longer move.

More than 60% of her body was beyond her control.

She noticed the stiffness when she jumped down. At the time, she assumed it was because 10% of her body was eroded by the Black Boots, causing some stiffness in her limbs. She never imagined that the degree of erosion already exceeded 10%. It was over 60%.

“Feels awful, doesn’t it?” Xie Xingchen said, looking at Mo Bai. But in truth, he was speaking to Gu Tiandong.

“You can’t move anymore, can you? You’ve always believed Mo Bai wouldn’t lose to Boss Gao, haven’t you? You trust her ability. Then let me tell you why she’s going to lose.”

Shut up! Mo Bai tried to speak and stop him. But to her horror, she could no longer control even her tongue. She couldn’t even make a sound.

Xie Xingchen continued speaking to Gu Tiandong. “The monsters of Disease Town were divided into two parts. One part is Boss Gao, right in front of you. The other part is a heart, which was sealed away.

We undid the seal right in front of Mo Bai, and to stop the heart, Mo Bai used Environmental Assimilation to contain the heart in her own body. I was standing nearby watching the entire time.

I really wanted to take that opportunity to kill Mo Bai and end everything once and for all. Unfortunately, that Phantom Butterfly lunatic suddenly went crazy and helped her, which ruined our plan.

But it doesn’t matter. Mo Bai took in the heart. To suppress it, she can no longer use her abilities.”

At the words “can no longer use her abilities,” Gu Tiandong’s fingers twitched.

Xie Xingchen was clearly satisfied with the reaction as he continued.

“The troublesome part was those people from Mending Heaven. They possessed an extremely powerful S-rank card called the Black Boots. They supported Mo Bai completely and gave the card to her.

Boss Gao could use her authority as the instance boss to seal the card for us. But the Black Boots have a negative effect. As time passes, they gradually erode the user’s body.

Then I had an idea. Why not make use of that side effect?

Along the route Mo Bai had to travel while searching for you, we placed a Time Acceleration card. As long as Mo Bai passed through that place, the flow of time for her body would accelerate by five to ten times.

She believes only five or six minutes have passed. But in reality, more than an hour has already passed for her body.

Over 70% of her body has now been eroded by the Black Boots. She cannot remove the boots herself. She also cannot speak, move, or defend herself against Gao Siyun’s attacks.

So, Gu Tiandong, what are you going to do?”

As Xie Xingchen spoke, Gao Siyun transformed into an unimaginably horrifying monster.

She stood 100 meters tall with a body made from countless human limbs. Those people were probably the victims she devoured after her death.

Her arms stretched endlessly forward, reaching for Mo Bai, intending to seize and absorb her entire body.

As long as she devoured Mo Bai, her daughter would regain the heart and inherit her husband’s power.

Her daughter would survive, and she would become the strongest existence of all, incapable of being harmed or killed by anything. She would stand at the very peak of this world.

This was the outstanding daughter Gao Siyun raised!

Gao Siyun smiled. Filled with beautiful hopes for the future, she extended a pair of enormous hands, each 100 meters long, intending to close them around Mo Bai.

Mo Bai could not move. The moment the heart encountered its original body, it unleashed an overwhelming urge to reunite. At that instant, Mo Bai’s heart rate surged to 400 beats per minute.

Mo Bai clenched her fists and ordered herself to move, but her body refused to obey.

“Maybe… maybe you should awaken the Ultra-Star genes…” Xiao Qi suggested weakly inside her mind.

Even Xiao Qi could no longer bear this overwhelming malice.

Mo Bai found herself asking the same question. What exactly was she still holding on to? Why, even now, did she refuse to surrender completely to despair? Why did she still refuse to become an Ultra-Star Rank?

As the enormous hands engulfed her, Mo Bai closed her eyes, which were the only part of her body she could still move.

She said to Xiao Qi, “Find a way to tell Gu Tiandong’s smart assistant. Make it tell Gu Tiandong not to save me. Let Gao Siyun become an overwhelmingly powerful monster and kill Xie Xingchen. Let Xie Xingchen suffer the consequences of his own actions.

Tell Gu Tiandong to keep holding on. Du Heng and the others are nearby, so they’ll get here soon.

As long as he stays alive, Du Heng can take him back to the surface and find a tree named Qiu Xuerong. That tree will protect all of you.”

Mo Bai spoke to Little Seven like she were leaving behind her final words.

She was in despair. But even now, she did not want to become a monster.

She looked at Gao Siyun’s grotesque form, which was twisted by obsession and malice. It was ugly and deformed, wantonly harming other living beings.

If becoming something like that was the only way to survive, then Mo Bai did not want to survive.

She had her dignity.

If Gao Siyun absorbed her into that body, and Mo Bai could defeat the combined wills of Gao Siyun, Professor Yang, and Yang Lingxi with her own will and seize control of the body, then she could reach Ultra-Star Rank.

Even if she became one, it had to be by her own choice. Only if her own will could completely control the body’s power and utterly suppress its malice would she walk down that road of no return.

She left her teammates a path to survival and thought through the final step.

Mo Bai closed her eyes and waited for the end.

This was her final battlefield.

But the battle she expected never came.

A pure-white light suddenly illuminated the dark underground chamber.

A pure-white angel with six wings, long silver-white hair, and vast, melancholy blue eyes opened his domain, enveloping the entire space.

Blood was still pouring from his chest, and yet he flew. He flew to Mo Bai’s side and placed himself between her and the enormous hands.

Three pairs of pure-white wings wrapped around Mo Bai’s body.

Mo Bai felt the brilliant light. She opened her eyes and saw Gu Tiandong’s flawless face right in front of her. He gave her a gentle smile.

It was just like the first time they met. Even though Gu Tiandong himself was thinking about ending his life then, he still reached out to help Mo Bai, who was only a newcomer.

When they entered Count’s Castle, nearly every card Gu Tiandong prepared was intended to help Mo Bai deal with the Phantom Butterfly. He barely left himself any options at all.

He was such a good person. How could someone like him possibly stand by and watch Mo Bai walk to her death?

Without a word, Gu Tiandong gently stroked Mo Bai’s head. Then he reached down and removed the Black Boots that bound her.

After forcing himself to complete that final movement, the dagger in Gu Tiandong’s chest disappeared.

A gaping hole appeared in his chest, and blood poured endlessly from it.

He left behind only one last gentle smile. Then his body dissolved into white points of light. The light gathered together and condensed into a card.

Mo Bai saw it clearly. On the face of the card was a weeping six-winged angel.

Its name was Perfect Sufferer.

Behind the card, Xie Xingchen’s Higher-Dimensional Space opened. A hand reached out from inside and took the card.

At last, Xie Xingchen obtained the S-rank card capable of defending against an Ultra-Star. With this card, even if the four Ultra-Star Rank monsters of the Four Pillars of Heaven overturned heaven and earth and invaded the Infinite World, he and Wujian would possess absolute defense and remain undefeated.

He won.