Four people sat in a row, and eight eyes were fixed on Mo Bai at the same time.

Mo Bai suddenly felt the pressure.

In her mind, she said to Xiao Qi, "Tell the main system to ensure that our conversation won't be overheard by anyone in this instance."

Mo Bai believed that with the information her teammates had gathered, the main system must have already calculated that something unusual was going on.

This time, she hoped the main system would help her.

Even if constrained by rules and unable to offer concrete assistance, it could at least prevent their conversation from being overheard by other creatures.

Among the five of them, four carried the extract of an Ultra-Star Rank monster inside their bodies, so Mo Bai was worried that the walls might have ears.

After a while, Xiao Qi said, "The main system said monsters in an instance that uses various methods to eavesdrop on players are considered part of the instance's domain. According to the rules, it cannot interfere."

Mo Bai didn’t get angry as she waited for the but. If there were no but, the main system wouldn't bothered to mention according to the rules.

Sure enough, Xiao Qi quickly continued, "However, in order to prevent an Ultra-Star Rank instance from being born, the main system can moderately interfere with the instance's power. It just can't interfere too much. If it's only providing a sound-shielding service, that's still within its capability. Players may now speak freely with their teammates. Time limit: thirty minutes."

"That's too short," Mo Bai grumbled inwardly.

She turned to Du Heng. "You have five minutes. Give everyone a concise explanation of the Ultra-Star Rank instance."

To make sense of everything, they first had to clarify what an Ultra-Star Rank instance actually was.

Du Heng organized his thoughts and rapidly explained the Ultra-Star Rank monster, his identity as a high-level player, and the related details. He finished just as the five minutes were up.

Sheng Yan and Liu Congyi turned pale.

Heavens, please have mercy! They were only beginner-level players!

"Don't panic yet," Mo Bai said. "The main system agreed to help us block the instance monsters from eavesdropping, but we only have thirty minutes. Five have already passed. What Du Heng described is only part of this instance. There's another part he doesn't know about, which is something I guessed myself."

"What other part? What did you figure out?" Du Heng asked.

As a high-level player, Du Heng had always been fairly confident. But ever since meeting Mo Bai, he felt like the brain in his head was just a decorative sphere sitting on his neck.

Mo Bai said, "When you mentioned that five A-rank monsters were protecting the Ultra-Star Rank monster, I already found it strange. If the Ultra-Star Rank monster is truly that powerful, why would it need A-rank monsters as protection? You said it yourself that it has almost no weaknesses."

"Maybe... the A-rank monsters are protecting this research institute?" Du Heng guessed.

"That's what I thought at first," Mo Bai replied. "But after meeting Du Ying, I became puzzled again. An A-rank monster like Du Ying possesses several extraordinary abilities that only players usually have, and its strength far exceeds that of players. Why hasn't the Ultra-Star Rank monster devoured Du Ying and the other A-rank monsters? More importantly, if Du Ying is so much stronger than players, does the Ultra-Star Rank monster even need to devour us?"

"Maybe... there aren't enough players yet? Or players are more valuable than the NPCs in the instance?" Du Heng suggested.

"Exactly. So when I met Du Ying, I only felt a sense of dissonance. I couldn't pinpoint where it came from until I saw this schedule." Mo Bai handed the schedule to Du Heng.

As soon as he read it, his brows furrowed.

"Did you notice the problem?" Mo Bai asked rhetorically. "The surveillance robots don't just have the test subjects' genetic data; they also have the researchers' genetic data. In other words, they can track you just like they track the test subjects. Yet when Mao Juncai and Zhuang Xiangyang entered the restricted area, they were brutally attacked by Du Ying. Meanwhile, you moved freely through the institute. You said you were protected by the Cloak of Invisibility, but Mao Juncai can merge into shadows. He dared to act alone precisely because his ability is quite special. I don't think his ability is any weaker than your Cloak of Invisibility. What do you think?"

"But they never took my blood. Where could they get my genetic information?" Du Heng said incredulously.

"Hair, saliva. It's impossible that you never shed a strand of hair. You also can't avoid eating or drinking. You've lived in the institute for so long, so you must have left behind genetic traces. Obtaining them wouldn't be difficult," Mo Bai said.

"But I was never discovered, no matter where I went! Even when I secretly infiltrated underground to observe the Ultra-Star Rank monster!" Du Heng protested.

Mo Bai gave a cool smile. "It seems incredible, but the answer is actually quite simple. Someone deliberately let you see and hear only what should be revealed. Everything you saw and heard was controlled. It was information that someone in this instance wanted to pass on.

"Once you delivered those messages, the other players didn't receive the same courtesy. Anyone daring to break the institute's rules was naturally punished."

"Who could do something like that? And what's their goal?" Du Heng fired off two questions.

"Let's solve the 'who' first," Mo Bai said. "Actually, the answer is already written on paper... The person behind the scenes has the authority to decide whether rule-breakers are punished."

She tapped the regulations on the schedule:

[

Second: If a monitored individual enters a restricted area, the surveillance robot will immediately report to Professor Yang.

Third: Professor Yang will dispatch the institute's guardians. The surveillance robot is responsible for locating the violator and guiding the guardians to them.

]

 

"Professor Yang," Du Heng, Liu Congyi, and Sheng Yan said in unison.

Only the Phantom Butterfly inched subtly toward the door.

"For the second question, what is Professor Yang's objective?" Mo Bai continued. "I didn't understand it at first either. I only vaguely sensed he had another purpose. I had no clues until Liu Congyi learned Professor Yang's story from a test subject."

Liu Congyi grabbed the increasingly distant Phantom Butterfly and pulled it back. "We're discussing classified matters; why are you scooting away? Do you want me to shout it out?"

Holding down the visibly pained Phantom Butterfly, Liu Congyi quickly recounted Professor Yang's story to it and Du Heng, who had returned later.

Du Heng said, "Does Professor Yang want to heal his injuries and then take revenge on the person who destroyed his family? But his injuries are already healed. The Ultra-Star Rank monster's extract can easily cure him. What else could he want?"

Mo Bai glanced at the Phantom Butterfly, who was desperate to escape, and smiled faintly. "At first, I wasn't sure either, and I only suspected he had another motive. There were no leads, until Xia Fei provided key information about the Schizophrenics."

Du Heng looked at the Phantom Butterfly again. Knowing its identity, he found it eerie that the Phantom Butterfly was huddled among the four players while discussing how to deal with the Ultra-Star Rank monster.

It was hard to tell whether a wolf had slipped among four sheep or a sheep among four wolves.

Du Heng held the Phantom Butterfly down. "The one who came back last really missed too much. Explain it to me again, my closest and most fated teammate."

"Oh, right, the two of you were both from the second batch of investigators," Liu Congyi said.

When Phantom Butterfly heard that Du Heng was a high-level player, it had already grown uneasy. Now, being held in place, it was like a cat seized by the scruff of its neck, too frightened to resist. It obediently shared the information.

Watching it, Mo Bai recalled how much trouble it had once caused her and found it faintly amusing.

At some point, the Phantom Butterfly becomes weak in an almost endearing way.

"I understand the part about the Schizophrenics, but I still don't see how it connects to Professor Yang's goal," Du Heng said.

Mo Bai sighed. "Isn't it obvious? Those infected by the Schizophrenic became patients with dissociative identities and split into two personalities. One becomes a monster very similar to the Ultra-Star Rank monster, while the other becomes an ordinary human with no abilities at all. The institute released the original Schizophrenic host in order to create more dissociative subjects and study how to merge the two personalities into one."

Guided by Mo Bai, Liu Congyi and Du Heng finally uncovered the truth.

Liu Congyi said, "The Ultra-Star Rank monster underground isn't complete. It's one personality split from a dissociative patient. The other personality is an intelligent but powerless human who wants to fuse with it. When the two merge, that's when the true Ultra-Star Rank monster will be born!"

Du Heng's expression turned grave. "A newly born Ultra-Star Rank monster would not only possess terrifying power but also the intelligence to manipulate three batches of players like pieces on a chessboard. Against something like that... could anyone even win?"

Mo Bai sighed. "It's not just the players it manipulated; the system was played too. It used you to pass information about the Ultra-Star Rank monster to the system, then released the mutilated remains of the second batch of investigators after they mutated. It prompted the system to develop a serum capable of suppressing the Ultra-Star Rank monster, and finally sent in a third batch of players.

When Sheng Yan tried to pull a fast one on the researchers, the A-rank monster Blank Paper once said something like 'test subjects like you,' which proves that in its eyes, we players are special from the very beginning.

If I'm not mistaken, our actions are almost transparent to the instance monsters. But because we carry the serum, they've been unusually tolerant. As long as we don't try to enter restricted areas or approach the truth, we will not be punished.

So even when Mao Juncai and the other broke the rules, they weren't killed. Part of their brains was removed to make them docile and obedient to ensure that they could still be used for drug experiments.

It's all because we are essential materials for the fusion of the Ultra-Star Rank monster."

The other two players who carried the serum gasped.

Their actions that afternoon had also been part of investigating the truth, but they didn't break any rules. The questions they asked seemed trivial and things anyone could know. The mastermind likely believed they wouldn't be able to piece together the truth from such publicly available scraps of information.

It was Mo Bai who had gathered all the scattered clues and restored the full picture.

Du Heng slumped back in his chair in despair. "How are we supposed to fight this? Their power and information far exceed ours. If it were only power, we could still try to outmaneuver them. But now... are we just waiting to die?"

The atmosphere in the room sank. In his hopelessness, Du Heng loosened his grip on the Phantom Butterfly.

Seizing the chance, the Phantom Butterfly edged closer to Mo Bai and whispered, "Come with me. I'll take you away."

In this desperate situation, it was Mo Bai's only salvation, her light. Surely she would fall in love with it.

But Mo Bai only gave a mocking smile. "You don't actually think you can still escape, do you?"

"If I could get in, then I can get out," Phantom Butterfly said confidently.

Mo Bai pointed to the words test subject on the schedule. "If I'm not mistaken, you're a 'test subject' too, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. You already knew that, didn't you? But I didn't leave any genetic information behind. I've always protected my hair carefully, and I never left any saliva either," Phantom Butterfly said.

"I'm not talking about this time," Mo Bai replied. "I mean, long ago. You were a test subject here before, and you left genetic information in the institute back then, didn't you? Phantom Butterfly."

At the name Phantom Butterfly, Sheng Yan's eyes locked onto it like lightning. His fingers twitched, and a card appeared in his hand.

Du Heng hadn't expected Mo Bai to expose the Phantom Butterfly's identity at this moment. He reached into the void and grasped his Scythe of Death.

At that instant, if the Phantom Butterfly made the slightest move, it would die at their hands.

The Phantom Butterfly gasped. "When did you know my real identity?"

"I knew from the very beginning, my dear Xia Fei, summer's moth," Mo Bai said calmly.

The Phantom Butterfly had never imagined that Mo Bai wasn't deceiving at all. It thought back to their time together, how Mo Bai had tried so hard to protect it, how tenderly she had treated it, and suddenly felt betrayed. "You lied to me! You knew who I was, and you still toyed with my feelings?"

Mo Bai laughed at its foolishness. She reached out and gently patted its head, speaking calmly. "Be reasonable. You were the one who tried to seduce me first."

"But..."

It tried to protest, but Mo Bai cut it off. "Enough. This isn't the time to argue about who deceived whom. Phantom Butterfly, you were a test subject long before us, so the institute already has your genetic data. Escaping during its early, unprepared phase was one thing, but you actually dared to come back? You really have some nerve. Who gave you that courage?"

Surrounded on all sides, the Phantom Butterfly hugged itself helplessly to stay alive. "Because... I have a small domain inside the institute. It appeared when I evolved into Phantom Butterfly."

"Where?" Mo Bai asked.

It glanced at everyone innocently and curled into a ball. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to kill me."

"If I hadn't exposed your identity, I would have definitely found a chance to kill you," Mo Bai said plainly. "I revealed it to get more information about the institute from you, and to gain an ally in this desperate instance. I won't kill you."

She now carried herself like a true captain. Even Du Heng, a high-level player, stood by her side. There was a strength in her words that made people feel secure.

The Phantom Butterfly, who had just been deceived by her, once again foolishly believed that she wouldn't lie.

So it pointed to the central air conditioning system. "My domain is the entire ventilation network of the institute. My domain ability lets me disperse into countless points of light within the ducts and move freely through them. That's how I escaped back then."

"That is really hard to detect. So how do you plan to take me out?" Mo Bai asked.

"If you fall completely in love with me, I can use my domain ability to turn you into light as well. I can take many people out, but only if all of you love me," Phantom Butterfly said.

"In your dreams," Sheng Yan scoffed.

"I wasn't asking you to love me. You're all injected with the extract, so you certainly have the right to love me, but I dislike you the most," Phantom Butterfly retorted.

"You..." Sheng Yan stood up as he clenched his fist.

Mo Bai held him back to prevent a fight and turned to the Phantom Butterfly. "When you escaped before, did the institute already have the genetic tracking technology?"

"No. If they did, so many people wouldn't have escaped," Phantom Butterfly replied.

"Do you think they might have uploaded your old genetic data into the surveillance robots?" Mo Bai asked.

"Would anyone go through such trouble?" Phantom Butterfly wondered.

"If it were me, I certainly would," Mo Bai answered. "There was already a large-scale escape. What if someone infiltrated again under the identity of a test subject to steal the institute's research results? Thus, I would upload all the escapees' genetic data into the robots' database to prevent them from threatening the institute again, especially when the goal is so close to being achieved. I would be extra cautious."

"Then why didn't they capture me?" Phantom Butterfly asked.

"Of course, it's to avoid alerting you," Mo Bai replied. "Since the ventilation ducts are your domain, I think even Professor Yang may not know that secret. The moment you entered the institute, the surveillance robots probably reported your presence to him. But because you came in disguised as a test subject and didn't use your secret passage, he can't locate it yet. He was afraid that attacking you outright would make you flee through that special method, and it wouldn't be worth the risk.

You're not that important as a test subject anyway. It's better to monitor you quietly and prevent you from causing trouble at a critical moment.

But if you truly try to escape or attempt to harm me, one of the 'important serums,' then the guards will definitely be dispatched to capture you. Once they pinpoint your location, your ventilation-duct domain won't stand a chance."

Phantom Butterfly: "..."

It began to feel like it was really a fool. After finally escaping, it arrogantly returned and extremely underestimated the institute.

Mo Bai said, "I hope you'll cooperate honestly with us and tell me the method for merging the two personalities of the Schizophrenic."

 

 

Author's Note:

Phantom Butterfly: I turned into an idiot after meeting Mo Bai.