Mo Bai had calculated everything clearly. Among them, the strongest combat abilities belonged to Du Heng's Soul Reaping and Sheng Yan's fire attacks, but both were restricted by the rules and couldn't be used.

Only her ability could help them break free from those constraints, but the limitations were severe. They were confined to a single cubic meter of space and could only stand like pillars within the range of her ability. They can't withstand close-range attacks, and if anyone discovered that weakness and kicked them out of the optimized space, the two of them would instantly become useless.

And at present, Mo Bai only had enough energy to use Rule Optimization once. The restrictions were simply too great.

Of course, to compensate for that weakness, Mo Bai had already chosen a B-rank card for Sheng Yan called Recorder (刻錄機 - Kèlùjī).

This card could record a single ability and release it at 80% reduced effectiveness, which lasts for five minutes.

The weakening of Mo Bai's ability was reflected in its range, but even at 80% reduction, the remaining coverage was still enough to cover Sheng Yan and restore his powers for five minutes.

That afternoon, after Mo Bai and Sheng Yan returned from Liu Congyi's room, she asked him for the card, recorded her ability onto it, and handed it back.

It was precisely because Sheng Yan carried this card that Mo Bai dared to let him provoke the researcher. Otherwise, if her estimate had been wrong and the researcher decided to punish him, Sheng Yan wouldn't have even had the ability to protect himself.

After Sheng Yan took the card, Mo Bai was actually in a state of depleted energy.

When Du Heng came to see her, she only rested for a short while, and her energy barely recovered to move objects once or twice at most. But at that time, Mo Bai put on an I'm super powerful, my ability is amazing front and successfully bluffed Du Heng.

When the Phantom Butterfly came to see her, Mo Bai's energy had only recovered to around one-fifth, but that was fine. She still had a bottle of Basic Nutrient Potion that could fully replenish her energy at any time.

Even now, her energy still hasn't recovered. But that didn't matter either. Once the system rewards were settled, leveling up would refill it completely.

She was looking forward to the upgrade. She hoped that the range of her ability would expand further, enough for Sheng Yan and Du Heng to freely use their powers within this instance.

After agreeing to Mo Bai's request, the system quickly settled the first-phase rewards.

 

[

Congratulations to Player Mo Bai for successfully completing the First Phase of the Mutated-rank Forced Instance Biological Research Institute No. 7. 100% perfect decryption. Rewards doubled.

Player Mo Bai receives 200,000 points. Card rewards will be settled after completing Phase Two.

 ]

 

[

Half of Phase Two's experience rewards have been provided in advance to Player Mo Bai. Combined with Phase One experience rewards, Player Mo Bai's level has risen from Beginner-7 to Intermediate-1. The original ability, Environmental Optimization, has been greatly enhanced.

Environmental Optimization coverage expanded to a surface area of one square kilometer, with a depth of 500 meters and a height of 500 meters. Effective operational range: 1,000 cubic meters.

]

 

[

Intermediate ability unlocked: Environmental Rejection.

Ability: Environmental Rejection

Ability Description: Environmental Optimization makes a beautiful environment even more beautiful, while Environmental Rejection removes unfavorable factors from the environment. Note: rejection is not purification. Purification is a form of refinement. Rejection is more akin to an immune response.

Ability Range: The player may reject environmental factors detrimental to ** within a radius of 100 meters. (This range increases with level.)

Usage Requirement: The player must have a sufficient understanding of their environment. If their understanding is below 50%, the ability cannot be used.

]

 

At the same time, Mo Bai's attribute points increased.

Her original stats were: Appearance 108, Mental Power 86, Endurance 52, Constitution 87, and Agility 90.

From Beginner-7 to Beginner-9, she gained two levels. Moreover, the leap from Beginner-9 to Intermediate counted as a level breakthrough, which doubles the attribute gains. In total, she received 40 attribute points.

20 points were distributed evenly across all attributes: Appearance 112, Mental Power 90, Endurance 56, Constitution 91, Agility 94. That left 20 free points.

After some thought, Mo Bai allocated 15 points to Mental Power and 5 to Endurance. Mental Power rose to 105, and Endurance to 61.

After being injected with the extract, both her Mental Power and Endurance had dropped significantly, and her mental state had become unstable. Mo Bai needed a large reserve of energy to support Sheng Yan and Du Heng, so boosting Mental Power was essential. As for Endurance, it would help resist the corrosive effects of the extract on her body.

After finishing with her attribute allocation, Mo Bai turned her attention to the newly unlocked Environmental Rejection.

It was a very interesting ability.

The system's explanation was equally thought-provoking. What exactly did detrimental to ** mean? Why was there a censored term in an ability description? It didn't even give her a complete explanation of her own power.

Xiao Qi answered her question: "Player, this '**' is related to your future advanced ability. This censored term can only be unlocked once you reach the advanced level. However, you can use your Mental Power to sense whether a given environmental factor can be rejected. It won't affect your ability usage."

"Related to my advanced ability?" Mo Bai asked. "When a player first awakens their power, can the system already foresee their final abilities?"

Xiao Qi replied, "The Main System says it's not foresight, but calculation. And it can't be calculated from the very beginning. The direction can only be determined based on how the player uses their initial ability. The Main System only calculated your next evolutionary path after you unlocked Environmental Rejection."

Mo Bai stared at the word Rejection and suddenly asked, "Are the censored words fusion or assimilation?"

It wasn't Xiao Qi who answered. A mechanical, gender-neutral voice echoed in Mo Bai's mind:

"How did you guess that? The system's prediction was calculated using the entire world's database. You are just a player. How are you capable of such advanced computation?"

The voice was calm, but it spoke extremely fast, with a hint of urgency.

"You're the Main System?" Mo Bai asked.

She had never heard its voice before. Their previous negotiations had all been conducted via text messages.

"Yes. Please answer the Main System's question."

"I didn't compute it," Mo Bai said. "I'm just making reasonable deductions. The key is the word rejection. Your explanation of the ability states that rejection is not purification, so why use the term rejection? It's a medical term commonly used in organ transplantation, which belongs to the domain of the immune system response.

I couldn't guess my next ability on my own. But fortunately, the instance I'm in happens to involve fusion, and I just learned that if the human half of a Schizophrenic dies, the monster half will continuously devour others, expelling parts the body cannot accommodate, until it finds a suitable host. That's also a process of rejection.

So I guessed that Environmental Optimization and Environmental Rejection are both preparatory abilities that are laying the groundwork for better fusion.

Therefore, the next ability should be Environmental Fusion or Environmental Assimilation."

"It is Environmental Assimilation." The system directly gave Mo Bai the answer.

"That's even better than I imagined," Mo Bai said. "Assimilation is superior to fusion. Fusion means blending into the environment, while Assimilation means the environment becomes mine to command. Looks like I'll be pretty strong once I reach the advanced level."

After a brief silence, the Main System said, "That may not be a good thing. A common man is innocent, but possessing a precious jade is a crime."

"You always speak in riddles," Mo Bai said. "I suppose you're also restricted by the rules and can't reveal certain things to low-rank players in advance. That's fine. I have a rough idea and will prepare accordingly.

Right now, what matters isn't what ability I'll have in the future. Since you've already promoted us to Intermediate level, how about upgrading the potions in our backpacks while you're at it? The current healing potions and energy-recovery potions are basic-tier. For Intermediate players, they're barely a drop in the bucket."

It seemed that the Main System had already withdrawn. This time, Xiao Qi responded: "The player's potions have been upgraded to intermediate-tier. Two bottles total. Each bottle costs 20,000 points. 40,000 points deducted."

Mo Bai: "..."

Her Xiao Qi really spends points at an alarming speed.

After fully reviewing her own abilities, Mo Bai looked at her teammates and asked, "What are everyone's abilities after the upgrade? I need to know what each of you can do so I can make proper allocations."

Du Heng shrugged. "No changes. This amount of energy is useless to me."

Sheng Yan said, "I gained a new ability called Bomb Crafting. I can make three types of bombs now. But it's pointless since I still can't use them."

On the other hand, Liu Congyi looked confused. "How did my ability become like this?"

"How so?" Mo Bai asked.

"My original ability was E-type (e人 - E Rén)," Liu Congyi said. "Yes, like the E in the MBTI personality test, an extrovert. On the surface, it means someone who is outgoing and enjoys socializing. As an ability, it means I can gain energy through social interaction."

Putting that together with Liu Congyi's behavior, Mo Bai finally understood why she loved socializing so much.

From the moment they met, Liu Congyi had been building a team and trying to become its leader. When Mo Bai asked her to gather information from the other test subjects, she'd been more than happy to do so.

It turned out that her goal from the very beginning had been to absorb energy through social interaction.

"And what can that energy do?" Mo Bai asked.

"Quite a lot," Liu Congyi replied. "For example, it can enhance my natural self-healing, replenish energy for teammates who've run out of power or used up their potions, and even recharge cards."

"What happens after a card is recharged?" Sheng Yan's eyes lit up.

"For example, a card can only be used twice," Liu Congyi explained. "After one use, I can restore a charge, but the maximum stays at two. I can't increase the upper limit. And each card can only be recharged once. Cards have their own lifespan and wear after all, so you can't just keep refilling them indefinitely."

Sheng Yan immediately pulled out a card. "Can you recharge this one? I don't want it to disappear."

It was the Information Extraction card.

"Of course! I absorbed tons of social energy this afternoon. Let me just… what the hell?!" Liu Congyi suddenly swore. "What's wrong with your card? The energy I gathered today should've been enough to recharge eight B-rank cards. How did it get completely drained by just refilling this one? What kind of super card is this? Its ability doesn't even look that special."

"It's my brother's keepsake." Sheng Yan took the card back. When he saw its usage count change from 2 uses back to 3 uses, a happy smile spread across his face. "I don't know why, either. My brother left me a lot of things, and I'm not particularly attached to most of them. But this card… I've always been reluctant to use it. Every time I do, it feels like I'm killing someone."

"That state of yours is a bit like my new ability," Liu Congyi continued. "After reaching Intermediate, my new ability is called Psychological Shadow (心理陰影 - Xīnlǐ Yīnyǐng). I still gain power through social interaction, but now, in addition to energy, I also collect negative emotions. These negative emotions don't affect an E-type like me. I can store them up, and once I accumulate enough and combine similar types, I can transform them into different Psychological Shadows and plant them in an opponent's mind."

"What kind of shadows?" Mo Bai asked.

"Like fear of fire, light, snakes, or darkness. If the enemy already has that kind of trauma, the effect will be even stronger," Liu Congyi said.

Du Heng nodded. "Your ability is pretty good. It feels almost like a curse-type power. What are you confused about?"

Liu Congyi sighed. "I know it's good. But how does E-type evolve into Psychological Shadow? Is the system implying that extroverts leave psychological trauma on other people?"

Mo Bai chuckled quietly and patted Liu Congyi on the shoulder. "Probably not. Your ability just leans more toward the psychological side. In any case, it's excellent, especially against someone like Professor Yang, who has trauma. From now on, you should keep absorbing as much energy as you can through social interaction."

After learning everyone's upgraded abilities, a plan gradually took shape in Mo Bai's mind.

While she was thinking about how to refine the plan, Phantom Butterfly said timidly, "I didn't change."

Everyone: "..."

Was the Phantom Butterfly so thoroughly manipulated by Mo Bai that it actually believed it was her teammate, a player, who should level up along with everyone else?

Mo Bai, though, understood the real reason behind its words.

Everyone else had upgraded, and only the Phantom Butterfly hadn't. It felt so insecure, and was desperately trying to fit in.

"It's fine. I can help you become stronger," Mo Bai said, dropping a bombshell.

"Huh?" Everyone turned to look at her.

"The remaining four players might lose their combat capability," Mo Bai said. "Our manpower is limited. If Phantom Butterfly can serve as an auxiliary helper, that's naturally the best outcome. Don't forget, its scales can spread through the central air-conditioning system to every area, which can weaken enemies in advance. Most importantly, its scales can cause hallucinations, which will help Liu Congyi deepen the effects of Psychological Shadow. Helping Phantom Butterfly become stronger benefits us as well. And if it dares to betray us…"

Her tone shifted, and she looked at the Phantom Butterfly with an extraordinarily gentle smile. She patted its head and admired it thoughtfully.

"If we kill it, it'll make a pretty decent card. Come to think of it, cards are better than the Phantom Butterfly. Phantom Butterfly might betray us, but cards won't."

The Phantom Butterfly shook its head frantically. "I won't! Cards have usage limits and can only extract one ability. A living instance monster is still stronger!"

"That's true," Mo Bai nodded. "As long as you're obedient, I'll find a way to let you devour the souls of a few A-rank monsters. You can absorb energy from souls, right?"

"Only test subjects from the same research institute can make me stronger. Other creatures' souls are just food to fill my stomach," Phantom Butterfly said.

"Does it have to be painful emotions? Do they have to be caused by you?" Mo Bai asked.

"Not necessarily," Phantom Butterfly replied. "Pain and despair are just the soul flavors that suit my palate. Even if it tastes worse, as long as it replenishes energy, I can swallow it. And the emotions don't have to be caused by me, either. Though if they are, they taste the best."

"Oh, so it's just a matter of preference. It'll be easy then." Mo Bai smiled. "I'll try to get you plenty of food so you can grow stronger quickly. Be obedient, and I'll help you get stronger and escape the institute's pursuit. Disobey, and you'll be directly turned into a card. The institute won't protect you. Understood?"

"Mm-hmm! Yes, yes!" The Phantom Butterfly nodded repeatedly.

While it wasn't paying attention, Mo Bai seized the chance to send Liu Congyi a message: "Find a time to plant a Psychological Shadow in Phantom Butterfly. Make sure it will never betray us."

Liu Congyi: "..."

For a moment, it was hard to tell which one was more evil: Mo Bai or the Phantom Butterfly.