"You can actually…" Sheng Yan looked at Mo Bai, hope igniting in his eyes.

In two days, he would be thrown into a forced instance. But because he had violated the Public Security Regulations, the system had sealed his abilities for a month. Only eight days had passed so far. Two days from now, he would enter a forced instance with an extremely high death rate as an ordinary person, so there was simply no hope of survival.

Sheng Yan had never signed up for a forced instance. He figured that once the time limit was up, the system could toss him wherever it wanted. No matter which instance it was, death was inevitable anyway.

He came to see Mo Xiangyou today merely to vent one last time before dying. Just to curse Mo Xiangyou properly.

What he never expected was that his ability actually recovered when he encountered this wheelchair-bound girl!

This had to be related to her ability.

He still had a chance to live!

As long as he could persuade this girl to enter the forced instance with him, he could survive.

With this thought, the impulsive Sheng Yan grabbed the girl's slender arm, intending to drag her into his VIP private room to discuss things in detail.

Unexpectedly, he couldn't move her at all.

The girl locked her wheelchair in place, bent her arm back, caught his hand, and fixed herself to the ground like a completely immovable rock.

Sheng Yan wasn't a strength-type player, but he still felt that his strength should surpass that of someone from the Observation Group. Yet he couldn't even drag such a thin, frail-looking girl.

Just how strong was she?

Mo Bai said calmly, "Your name is Sheng Yan, right? When something happens, don't panic. Take a deep breath first, calm down, and think carefully before you act."

Facing Mo Bai's unyielding gaze, Sheng Yan somehow followed her instructions and took a deep breath.

Wait, this was right outside Mo Xiangyou's door. Taking a deep breath meant inhaling Mo Xiangyou's strange fragrance! Wouldn't that put him under Mo Xiangyou's control again?

But he had already breathed in. He moved his nose, but there was no strange scent at all.

What filled his lungs was fresh air, and not Mo Xiangyou's fragrance.

How did this girl do it? Sheng Yan looked at her with growing reverence.

"Feeling calmer now?" Mo Bai asked.

Sheng Yan nodded.

"Good. Let's introduce ourselves. My name is Mo Bai, a beginner-7 player. What level are you, and what's your ability?"

"Sheng Yan," he replied. "Beginner-9 Nature-type ability user. I can release flames with explosive power comparable to dynamite, and I can also cover my skin in flames to block enemy attacks."

"Are nature-type abilities very strong?" Mo Bai asked, glancing toward Mo Xiangyou, but she was speaking to her wristband.

From the moment Sheng Yan grabbed her hand, Mo Bai had already included him within her protective zone.

The protective zone consisted of fresh air and a layer of vacuum film. It ensured sufficient air for both Mo Bai and Sheng Yan while also defending against Mo Xiangyou's strange fragrance. However, sound couldn't pass through a vacuum, so Mo Bai had to communicate with Mo Xiangyou via the wristband.

Mo Xiangyou raised an eyebrow and also spoke into his wristband. "Very strong. One of the strongest types among low-level players. Sheng Yan is basically a walking bomb. Throw him at an A-rank monster, and he could burn it to death. Players like him have combat power stronger than B-rank items. People love teaming up with them and even pay to hire them for daily instances.

The only problem with the Nature type is that leveling up is slower compared to other players. Sheng Yan has been in Peach Blossom Land for three years and is still stuck at beginner-9. He has accumulated enough experience long ago, but the system just won't let him level up.

To be precise, all the Nature-type players in Peach Blossom Land are stuck at beginner-9. No one has found a way to break through. I've heard there are two high-level Nature-type players in Neverland, but they don't sell any information about leveling up."

Before Mo Bai could respond, Xiao Qi got excited first. "Beginner-9, super strong, and not too bright! This is exactly the kind of easy-to-trick teammate we've been waiting for! Player, hurry up and invite him to the team!"

Mo Bai: “…”

She felt that Xiao Qi was becoming more and more human.

Mo Xiangyou's voice came through the wristband, and Sheng Yan heard it as well.

He lifted his chin arrogantly. "Even though I'm only at beginner-9, my strength far surpasses that of an intermediate-1 player."

"So that's why you overestimated yourself and went to settle scores with Mo Xiangyou. But you got tricked into losing your ability instead, and can only wait for death?" Mo Bai said.

"It was Mo Xiangyou who—" Sheng Yan tried to argue.

Mo Bai cut him off. "I don't care about your grudges. All I know is that under the Public Security Regulations, the one who strikes first is an idiot."

Sheng Yan: "…"

How could she say something so cold with such a beautiful face?

Mo Bai could be even colder. "I know you need me, but sorry, I already have an appointment with Mo Xiangyou. Wait outside. After I'm done talking here, come back, and we'll discuss the matter of burning my hair."

"It isn't about your hair, it's that you're supposed to follow me into a forced—"

Before he could finish, Mo Bai shoved him out of the protective zone.

His intuition was right. This delicate-looking girl had more arm strength than he did!

Once pushed out, Sheng Yan smelled Mo Xiangyou's unique fragrance. He hurriedly held his breath and left the private room.

Mo Bai maneuvered her wheelchair inside and closed the door.

Before closing it, she said to Sheng Yan, "Wait."

He couldn't hear her voice, but he could see her lips, so he roughly understood what she meant.

After the door closed, Mo Bai looked at Mo Xiangyou.

"You really know how to surprise me," Mo Xiangyou said into the wristband.

"What kind of surprise?" Mo Bai asked.

"For example, you survived the forced instance and even left it six days earlier. Or you can help Sheng Yan recover his ability."

"About helping Sheng Yan recover his ability," Mo Bai replied, "I don't even know the reason myself yet. I need to run more experiments before drawing any conclusions."

Just like when she had tested the maid's abilities and limits before, several experimental plans had already flashed through Mo Bai's mind, all of which would require Sheng Yan's cooperation.

"And the instance?" Mo Xiangyou asked. "I really want to know how you survived."

"I just exploited loopholes in the rules," Mo Bai simply replied. "I cooperated with several players I met inside the instance and defeated the boss. Players in the Infinite World are very strong. If everyone works together, clearing an instance isn't that hard."

"Observation Group cooperating with Combat Group?" Mo Xiangyou laughed disdainfully. "This world has no such rule, and it never will."

Mo Bai frowned. She felt that Mo Xiangyou harbored deep malice toward Combat-type players.

When facing her, Mo Bai could still sense a trace of empathy from Mo Xiangyou, a willingness to regard her as a companion. But toward Combat Group players, Mo Xiangyou's attitude was one of wishing they would all die.

Gu Tiandong also disliked other players, but not to this level of malice.

Mo Bai admitted that among players, there were both good and evil. Players like Wang Fan, who treated Observation Group members as decorative vases who traded beauty for survival; players like No. 11, who hunted weaker players; or players like Nos. 3, 8, 9, and 12, who lusted after the Observation Group's looks. But there were also players like Ding Xun, who had a sense of justice, liked beautiful things, and was willing to protect the weak.

Human nature was complex and multifaceted. Everyone was a polyhedron of light and darkness. Which side was revealed depended on the environment, on which side the world nurtured, and on the choices they made at critical moments.

Mo Bai also had people she disliked, and she would show no mercy in eliminating someone like No. 11. But she also believed in humanity's brighter side and would never judge a single person or group one-sidedly.

"Why do you hate Combat Group players so much?" Mo Bai asked, puzzled.

"Due to system rule restrictions, I can't say it," Mo Xiangyou replied. "It's a secret only Advanced-level players can know. I merely glimpsed it in advance through my precognition. But the saying 'Heaven's secrets must not be revealed' applies in the Infinite World too."

"You saw some despair-inducing secret, possibly related to your own death. From then on, you came to hate the Combat Group and even this world itself. Is that why you'd rather entrust your remains to an Observation Group member like me?" Mo Bai asked.

Mo Xiangyou smiled faintly and didn't pursue the topic. "Not just that. Combat Group players are also hostile and jealous toward Observation Group players. Mo Bai, you've only passed two stages and have already reached Beginner-7. Don't you think you're leveling up too fast?"

"I also think it's fast," Mo Bai said. "But I figured it's because I cleared each instance perfectly."

Mo Xiangyou shook his head. "That's not the only reason. Sheng Yan has been in the Infinite World for three years but is still a Beginner-9 player. I arrived a year later than him, and in just two years, I've reached Intermediate-9.

Not just you and me. Your friend Gu Tiandong entered this world only half a year ago and is already a beginner-9 player. After this instance, he'll probably become an Intermediate player.

As for other Combat Group players, even if they're not as stuck as Sheng Yan, it still takes them at least two years to go from Beginner to Intermediate level.

Mo Bai, Observation Group players level up far faster than Combat Group players, and you're the most outstanding among us. Have you ever thought about why?"

This was Mo Bai's first time encountering such information, and she felt a deep sense of dissonance.

"From what you're saying, it sounds like… the rules of the entire Infinite World are helping Observation Group players level up quickly?" Mo Bai said. "And after you glimpsed a secret that only Advanced Advanced High players know, you stopped leveling up. Does the rapid advancement of the Observation Group come with some kind of negative side effect?"

Mo Xiangyou fell silent. Clearly, it was another secret that he couldn't reveal.

But Mo Bai already understood what he wanted to convey. Once Observation Group players rapidly advanced to a high level, something bad would happen.

"Do I need to suppress my leveling speed?" Mo Bai murmured, as if to herself, yet also as if asking him.

"I don't know," Mo Xiangyou said. "I don't think I can suppress it for much longer, either. In the next forced instance, even if I don't want to level up, I'll be forced to. When I reach the advanced level, and the scene I foresaw becomes reality, then you can decide."

Mo Bai looked at him in confusion.

Mo Xiangyou cautioned her, "In short, what I want to tell you is this: the Observation Group is different from the Combat Group. They'll envy us for leveling up too fast early on. Be careful of Combat Group players."

"I have Combat Group friends I've fought alongside with my life on the line. I can't do what you are suggesting," Mo Bai said firmly.

In the Count's Castle instance, Ding Xun and Ye Junping had practically entrusted their lives to her. Asking her to guard against friends who had shared life and death with her just wasn't her way.

"Then let's talk about it when the time comes," Mo Xiangyou said calmly, his expression unchanged, as if indicating that no matter how deep Mo Bai's bonds with her Combat Group friends were, they would eventually break apart.

"What else did you want to see me for?" Mo Bai asked.

Mo Xiangyou shook his head. "I just wanted to see whether you were still alive and kicking. Seeing that you are, I'm relieved. But looking at you now… why do you seem less pretty than before? Your face is more beautiful, but your overall aura feels like it's missing something."

As Mo Bai leveled up, her facial appearance value increased, and her face truly became more beautiful. But as her Physique recovered, the frail aura she once had diminished, and her initial Appearance value dropped. So she ended up looking prettier, yet less delicately beautiful overall.

"That's why I came to see you," Mo Bai said. "I want to ask if the group title can be changed at will?"

She briefly explained how her title had changed from Porcelain Doll to Iron Doll to Iron Hammer, as well as the drop in her Appearance value. By the end, even Mo Xiangyou couldn't maintain his composure.

"Your title can change?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yours don't?" Mo Bai asked back.

When she ran instances with Gu Tiandong, she gradually realized that his title never seemed to change, only hers did.

Mo Xiangyou said, "My title only changed once, and that was when I advanced from Beginner to Intermediate level. I imagine it'll change again when I reach the advanced level."

"Have you tried changing how you allocate attribute points?" Mo Bai asked. "If you put all your points into physique, wouldn't that change your title?"

Mo Xiangyou glanced at her and sighed. "Not every Observation Group player puts points into Appearance. My distribution is two in Physique, two in Mental Power, and one in Appearance. My strange fragrance doesn't just come from Appearance; it also comes from my blood. Increasing my Physique helps my title deliver a greater impact. My ability is related to precognition, so increasing Mental Power enhances it too."

"Then the reason my title keeps changing isn't caused by attribute allocation?" Mo Bai wondered.

That made sense. Xiao Qi didn't just advise her to add Appearance points, but also to invest in Mental Power.

"I've never seen an Observation Group player who can change their title on their own like you," Mo Xiangyou said. "What makes you different from us?"

Mo Bai thought for a moment. "Maybe it's because I've never relied on my title effect to clear an instance."

She had always been dismissive of the titles the system gave her. In the Playing House instance, she could have relied on her title to survive, yet she insisted on risking her life by choosing the hardest path.

After pondering for a while, Mo Xiangyou said, "Could it be that the more frequently one uses a title, the greater the dependence on it becomes, thereby making it increasingly difficult to break free from that connection?"

"Or maybe the system is evaluating the compatibility between a title and a player," Mo Bai said. "When it deems them incompatible, it changes the title. When a player advances from Beginner to Intermediate level, their abilities and Physique change significantly, so the old title no longer matches and gets upgraded."

Recalling her title descriptions, Mo Bai felt they sounded more and more helpless each time, as if the system still hadn't found a title that truly suited her.

Unable to figure it out, Mo Xiangyou said, "No matter how titles change, the fate of the Observation Group won't change. Mo Bai, if you can keep creating miracles, then show them to me. When that time comes, maybe I will…"

He didn't finish the sentence, but Mo Bai felt that he had no hope at all for his own future.

This time, Mo Bai had come to ask whether Mo Xiangyou had foreseen anything about the Smiling Circus instance, but he said he hadn't. Perhaps he would already be dead before she entered it.

His attitude was too pessimistic, and Mo Bai found it hard to continue the conversation. Mo Xiangyou took a sip of wine and asked her to leave.

At that moment, Mo Bai added, "Before I go, I still have an experiment to run. Wait a moment."

She reached out to Mo Xiangyou and wrapped him and his fragrance in a layer of vacuum, preventing the scent from leaking out.

Then Mo Bai opened the window of the VIP private room and let the strange fragrance drift away.

"What are you doing?" Mo Xiangyou asked via the wristband.

"Experimenting." Mo Bai opened the door, looked outside, and spotted Sheng Yan squatting by the door, as if waiting to be summoned.

When she opened the door, Sheng Yan immediately stood up, nervously tidied his clothes, and said, "You're done in there? Is it my turn now?"

Mo Bai preempted him. "I know you want me to help you clear the forced instance, but I'm still not sure how I restored your ability, so we need to run experiments."

With that, she dragged Sheng Yan into Private Room No. 5.

Mo Xiangyou, who was sitting inside the room: "…"

He said into the wristband, "Mo Bai, you do know that Sheng Yan and I are enemies, right?"

"I know. But you also believe that Sheng Yan didn't actively violate the Public Security Regulations, but that he fell into your trap, right?" Mo Bai asked.

"That wasn't my trap. It was the passive effect of my title," Mo Xiangyou replied.

Mo Bai nodded. "Which means the rule has a loophole. Sheng Yan is a victim of that loophole. You and Sheng Yan are both parties involved in this incident. If you acknowledge that he didn't attack intentionally, and he himself believes he didn't deliberately violate the rules, doesn't that prove the rule has a loophole?"

"So what if it does?" Mo Xiangyou said. "The system has already passed judgment. Are you saying the system's decision can be overturned?"

Mo Bai smiled slightly. "If there's a loophole, it needs optimization. Optimization is my specialty."

The fact that Sheng Yan could use his ability whenever he encountered Mo Bai could only be attributed, in her mind, to her Environmental Optimization ability.

What was an environment? Rules were also a kind of environment.

Still, Mo Bai felt her current ability wasn't strong enough to change the rules outright. If she truly had the power to alter rules, she wouldn't have struggled so much in the Count's Castle instance.

She believed that what she triggered upon meeting Sheng Yan was precisely the Optimization aspect of her ability: Optimization of Rules.

So far, the rules of the Infinite World were absolute and unchangeable, but that didn't mean they had no loopholes.

Since both parties involved believed Sheng Yan was innocent, she could activate the power of optimization.

Thus, Mo Bai concluded that Sheng Yan's ability worked earlier because she had triggered the optimization component of her ability.

As for how the optimization worked, she still needed further verification.

She said to Sheng Yan, "Aim a fireball at Mo Xiangyou's hair. Don't hurt him, just graze it lightly, enough to burn off a strand."

Full of doubt, Sheng Yan raised his hand toward Mo Xiangyou. No fireball shot out, but a streak of flame flashed across the vacuum belt surrounding Mo Xiangyou and quickly vanished.

Because the vacuum belt wasn't pressed tightly against Mo Xiangyou's body, his hair wasn't burned.

Still, Sheng Yan's fire ability could be used within the range of Mo Bai's ability.

The rule-based restriction on Sheng Yan had been optimized by Mo Bai due to the existence of a loophole!

"My ability range is limited to only one cubic meter," Mo Bai said. "And I can't keep letting your fireballs be launched inside an optimized environment."

She thought for a moment and decided to envelop Sheng Yan with her ability.

In her mind, she visualized a human-sized oval-shaped space and wrapped it around Sheng Yan's entire body. She didn't change anything inside the oval. She simply repeated in her thoughts: The rules have loopholes. They need optimization. I want to optimize Sheng Yan's punishment.

As she continued, a headache began to form.

Still, she persevered and said to Sheng Yan, "Try using your ability. Don't release a fireball, just ignite your whole body."

Sheng Yan did as instructed. This time, he succeeded!

He transformed into a man of fire: his hair, eyes, eyebrows, and entire body were engulfed in roaring flames.

Mo Xiangyou was stunned, while Sheng Yan's eyes were filled with hope.

At that moment, Sheng Yan felt that Mo Bai was his faith, his source of power.

"Withdraw your ability and try launching a fireball," Mo Bai emphasized. "Not at Mo Xiangyou. Release a small one that will extinguish quickly."

Sheng Yan really wanted to burn Mo Xiangyou, but at this moment, he completely trusted Mo Bai and didn't want to go against her wishes. He pointed at a water cup on the table, and a small flame shot from his fingertip.

Mo Bai watched it nervously, afraid that Sheng Yan could only use his power within her optimized environment and that the flame would fail once it left that range.

She stared unblinkingly as the small flame left the oval she had constructed. It kept burning, landed smoothly in the water cup on the table, and then went out.

"It worked! I can really use my ability!" Sheng Yan exclaimed.

When Mo Bai first enveloped him with her ability, Sheng Yan had already felt the binding force that constrained him disappear. But he was worried that his power might only work at close range and fail once he left the protected area.

To his delight, as long as he was protected by Mo Bai's ability, he could use his power freely.

Mo Xiangyou, who had been watching Sheng Yan the whole time, couldn't help but stand up, staring at Mo Bai in disbelief.

"Optimizing rules… If it's you, maybe you really can break that rule targeting the Observation Group," he murmured.

But Mo Bai could no longer hear him. She had overdrawn her new ability again. A sharp pain tore through her brain, and she lost consciousness.