What Du Heng and the others didn't know was that Mo Bai had already considered the worst-case scenario.

Since variables existed, Mo Bai never believed that her plan was guaranteed to succeed. It was simply her habit to consider the worst-case outcome.

In her projection, the worst possibility was this: Professor Yang's assistant was the player they had never been able to locate. At some unknown point, the Phantom Butterfly had passed their intelligence to Professor Yang. Catching them completely off guard, Professor Yang would launch some unpredictable attack, capture them all, forcibly inject them with the extract, and compel them to use the serum.

This was the most disastrous situation Mo Bai could imagine: a world in which, apart from the four of them, everyone else was an enemy.

The Player couldn't be trusted, the Phantom Butterfly would betray them, and Professor Yang had seen through their plan.

Mo Bai didn't want to think this way. However, the unresolved presence of the final player, who has remained unidentified, along with the contract mentioned by Professor Yang and his assistant, bothered her too much to ignore.

After meeting the assistant with the Phantom Butterfly that day, Mo Bai realized that he wasn't an ordinary person. Yet Du Heng's investigation didn't mention him at all. That meant Du Heng had never noticed the assistant's existence, and that the assistant had deliberately posed as someone insignificant in front of him.

This meant the assistant had known Du Heng's identity from the very beginning and had been guarding against him on purpose.

This person had to be taken seriously.

From his conversations with Professor Yang, it was clear that the assistant's status was equal to Professor Yang's; he might even be able to check and restrain him. That contradicted the instincts of instance monsters. Monsters in an instance possessed a strong sense of territorial dominance and generally did not allow stronger monsters to exist within their domain.

Unless the assistant could help Professor Yang become an Ultra-Star Rank monster.

Following this line of thought, it was only natural to ask: what was preventing Professor Yang from becoming an Ultra-Star Rank monster?

It was the half-body that refused to merge with him, and the system and players who sought to prevent the birth of an Ultra-Star Rank monster.

Professor Yang's solution to clear these obstacles was to use B to deal with A. Let the system and the players handle his other half, while he remained the oriole waiting behind the mantis.

But this strategy required Professor Yang to understand both the system and the players very well.

But that was something an instance monster couldn't possibly achieve.

The system might offer players a sliver of assistance, but it showed no mercy to instance monsters. Professor Yang's understanding of the system could never surpass that of the players.

He's even less likely to fully comprehend players with different abilities and personalities.

Therefore, there had to be someone behind Professor Yang who understood both the system and the players.

Most likely, that person was a veteran player.

Not a beginner like Mo Bai or Liu Congyi, but someone like Du Heng, who understood Ultra-Star Rank monsters and the system's rules.

Such a player could only be a high-level player from Neverland.

If Du Heng could lower his level to enter the instance, others from Neverland could do the same.

Since Du Heng belonged to an organization, and he clearly didn't know that a second person had entered the instance, it meant that this person belonged to a different faction.

The two of them had hidden in the instance for so long. Du Heng had been gathering information everywhere and must have exposed his identity long ago. Yet this person had never allied with him, which proved that their positions and goals were different.

If Du Heng's goal was to prevent the birth of an Ultra-Star Rank monster, then the other person's goal was obvious.

Based on these deductions, Mo Bai concluded that the assistant was the missing player. Because his stance was opposite to Du Heng's, and because the system was bound by rules to protect player privacy, it hadn't revealed the assistant's identity to Du Heng.

Even after guessing the assistant's identity, Mo Bai did not alter her plan, for two reasons.

First, it was only speculation, not confirmed. They were all players, and she did not want to assume the worst of someone.

Second, even if the guess was true, it wouldn't affect their actions. They could simply treat the final player as an ordinary enemy.

But if the Phantom Butterfly had betrayed them, that changed everything.

Mo Bai tried to think from Phantom Butterfly's perspective and realized that the circumstances at the time had been too unusual. She had overlooked a crucial window of time: after using the Prying Lenses to observe the Ultra-Star Rank monster, when her teammates had gathered in her room to discuss the plan. Because of the mental backlash and her excitement at discovering the monster's weakness, she had neglected the Phantom Butterfly.

During that window, the Phantom Butterfly was neither implanted with a Psychological Shadow nor tracked. It had enough time and space to pass their information to Professor Yang and the others.

By then, the Phantom Butterfly already knew Mo Bai's and Liu Congyi's abilities, knew they had become Intermediate players with the system's help, and knew Mo Bai could lift Du Heng's level restriction.

It also knew that after seeing the Ultra-Star Rank monster, Mo Bai had declared she'd discovered its weakness.

Mo Bai imagined that if the Phantom Butterfly had leaked this information, what would Professor Yang and the assistant do?

No one understood the Ultra-Star Rank monster's weakness better than Professor Yang. He also knew that on the night of the full moon, the Ultra-Star Rank monster would split from a single powerful entity into several S-rank monsters that could be killed.

If Professor Yang realized that Mo Bai had discovered this and planned to strike on the fourth night in the instance, then his only option would be to act ahead of schedule and merge with the Ultra-Star Rank monster before the full moon.

From this premise, Mo Bai deduced Professor Yang's plan:

First, have Blank Paper, who possessed the ability to erase memories, delete Phantom Butterfly's memory of passing on the information. As long as it had no memory of betrayal, Mo Bai would never detect it, no matter what methods she used.

Second, use the instance boss's authority to seal Du Heng's S-rank card, which eliminates the strongest combatant on their team.

Third, send five monsters specifically tailored to counter Mo Bai, Liu Congyi, and Sheng Yan, using an ability-countering distribution method. Since Sheng Yan's ability was unknown, send the strongest, Du Ying, to deal with him.

Fourth, during the second injection of the extract, administer an excessive dose to force the players to use the serum and feed five portions of serum to the Ultra-Star Rank monster.

The five best candidates for serum would be: the two Schizophrenics, Mao Juncai, Zhuang Xiangyang, and Liu Congyi.

The Phantom Butterfly wanted Mo Bai, which was its condition. On the other hand, Sheng Yan's ability was too strong, so they might not be able to force him to use the serum.

Comparatively speaking, Liu Congyi was the easiest target.

This was the worst-case scenario Mo Bai had prepared for before taking action.

Yes, by simulating the most disastrous possibility, she had already guessed the enemy's plan.

The reason she hadn't acted was that, in a subtle way, the plan aligned with her own optimal strategy.

Mo Bai had once told Xiao Qi that the best approach was not to risk her teammates' lives in fighting the Ultra-Star Rank monster, but to go along with Professor Yang's plan and deliver five portions of serum.

She hadn't done so for two reasons. First, there were only four usable players; the fifth would have to come from among her teammates, and that was something she could not accept. Second, she still had a conscience; she wasn't ruthless enough to send four already-doomed people to their deaths.

She knew that if she proposed the plan, her teammates would agree. As players of the Infinite World, they were accustomed to the extremely high mortality rate of forced instances. When there was no alternative, no one would object.

But doing so would leave a permanent shadow in their hearts.

They would bear the weight of four innocent lives. That shadow would be a ticking time bomb that can be exploited in another instance and turned into a blade that would end them.

Mo Bai didn't want that hidden danger lingering in their hearts.

So she said nothing, neither about her fears nor about the worst-case scenario she had foreseen. She left everything to conscience.

If the hidden player had a conscience, if the Phantom Butterfly had a conscience, then their plan would proceed normally, and the four innocent players wouldn't have to die.

If no one had a conscience, then Mo Bai would abandon her own kindness and choose the easiest path.

But in her heart, she believed there was more than a seventy percent chance that the worst outcome would occur.

The worst outcome was the most rational one. The Phantom Butterfly was unlikely to have a conscience, and if the hidden player intended to cooperate, he would have revealed himself long ago.

So Mo Bai knew that she had allowed the events to unfold. That's why she called herself hypocritical.

To prepare for the worst while not disrupting the original plan, she made several arrangements.

First, she tightened surveillance on the Phantom Butterfly, giving it no opportunity to contact Professor Yang or the assistant. This was to prevent it from revealing Sheng Yan's ability, Liu Congyi's cards, or the bombs' locations.

Second, before entering the laboratory for the injection, she sent each teammate an email detailing her thoughts on what to do if everything unfolded according to the worst-case scenario.

Third, she would absolutely refuse the extract to prevent Professor Yang from gathering five portions of serum. She would personally decide who would become the final serum.

Fourth, she asked Liu Congyi to implant the Psychological Shadow of fear of death into Sheng Yan.

The reason for this final measure was simple: Mo Bai had already decided that she herself would become the last portion of serum.

If possible, she would have preferred the assistant, the player who had betrayed Neverland and the Infinite World, to become the final serum and reap what he had sown. But that was nearly impossible since they had no capacity left to deal with him.

Moreover, if the assistant became the serum, it would actually fulfill Professor Yang's goals. Professor Yang would both suppress the Ultra-Star Rank monster and successfully merge with it, while freeing himself from the contract's constraints by eliminating the contractor.

Mo Bai would never do something so foolish.

The only suitable person to become the final serum was Mo Bai herself.

She believed that if she became the serum, she might not die.

That night, when she eavesdropped on Professor Yang and the assistant, she noticed something: Professor Yang seemed to hope that they would use the serum only after the third phase of injections. He clearly didn't want them to become serum prematurely.

This meant that only by following the institute's protocol, injecting the drugs in proper sequence, and using the serum during the third phase, would their efficacy be at its peak.

But Professor Yang had no choice. If he missed today, they would make their move tonight. That forced him to act early and produce serums with less-than-ideal potency.

If Mo Bai could endure until the moment Professor Yang merged with the Ultra-Star Rank monster without dying, then, given the serum's reduced efficacy, she stood a strong chance of sabotaging the fusion.

Killing Professor Yang alone would not kill the Ultra-Star Rank monster. But what if she killed him while he was in the middle of merging with it? At that point, the Ultra-Star Rank monster would be dormant, and Professor Yang would be in control. A single decisive strike might kill both of them.

There were two reasons that Mo Bai believed she had a chance of surviving.

The first was her new ability, Environmental Rejection.

After several attempts, she concluded that she could reject the Ultra-Star Rank monster's devouring force. Before fusion, the monster counted as an external environment that was harmful to her body, and thus could potentially be rejected. This would allow her to last longer inside the monster.

The second reason was a card she had obtained in the previous instance, the A-rank blessing card, Blessing of the Puppets.

This card could dispel all negative effects, and that included the Ultra-Star Rank monster's fusion.

Even if the card's base rank wasn't high enough, she could temporarily elevate it to S-rank with her ability. Combined with Environmental Rejection, it should be sufficient.

Her survival rate was actually quite high.

The only person she worried about was Sheng Yan.

Mo Bai was perceptive, and she had long seen through Sheng Yan's feelings for her.

Sheng Yan was impulsive by nature. After Sheng Lei's death, he had lost his only family member and developed a self-destructive streak.

Mo Bai had appeared in his life at precisely that moment. He came to depend on her and gradually projected all his emotions onto her, treating her as his whole world.

If Mo Bai died, Sheng Yan would very likely follow her into the abyss and die with her.

But Mo Bai understood that this was not healthy love, but transference.

In normal society, once Sheng Yan had processed his grief, he might not love her so desperately, at least not to the point of dying for her. But he had immediately entered a forced instance, and the world had given him no time to heal.

In that landscape of despair, he transferred his feelings for Sheng Lei and his longing for life onto Mo Bai. It was impulsive, irresponsible, and unfair to himself.

Mo Bai, who had no romantic illusions about love, neither wished to bear such heavy devotion nor allow Sheng Yan's impulsiveness to disrupt her plan.

Thus, cold and detached as ever, she asked Liu Congyi to implant the Psychological Shadow of fear of death into Sheng Yan, so he would cherish his own life more and execute the plan more rationally.

Still, someone needed to die for love.

And that someone would naturally be the beautiful yet foolish, foolish yet vicious, vicious yet self-proclaimed devoted Phantom Butterfly.

Mo Bai had no intention of fighting her enemies wholeheartedly while also having to deal with that monster.

The best solution was to drag the Phantom Butterfly with her when she became the serum, letting the self-deluded creature be devoured alongside her by the Ultra-Star Rank monster.

After thorough preparation, when the assistant began to act, and everything spiraled toward the worst possible outcome, Du Heng was in utter despair, while Mo Bai remained the calmest person on the field.

Just as Du Heng had told the Soul Contractor, Mo Bai would surely find a way out of this predicament.

She wasn't incapable of dealing with the A-rank Ant Queen.

She was just waiting for the Phantom Butterfly.

Waiting for that foolish moth to fly into the flame, so she could seize it and send it on its final journey.

Before falling into the abyss, Mo Bai spoke into her watch:

"Sheng Yan, I'll handle the monster underground. The research institute is yours. You can fight without holding back."

Through the glass, Sheng Yan watched as Mo Bai was swallowed by writhing tentacles and let out a howl of despair.

For a brief instant, he wanted to smash through the glass and follow her.

But the fear of death in his heart stopped him.

Sheng Yan had never imagined that he was such a coward. Furious at himself, he began attacking the enemies without restraint.

He transformed into a figure engulfed in flames and completely ignored Du Ying's attacks. He charged forward and grabbed him in a tight embrace, letting Du Ying's claws pierce his body and letting his blood spill all over the monster.

Flames scorched Du Ying's skin. With a cold sneer, Du Ying shoved Sheng Yan away.

"You think this little fire can hurt me? At most, it burns off a layer of skin."

The charred skin peeled away rapidly as fresh flesh regenerated beneath.

Sheng Yan looked at the bright red blood splattered across Du Ying's body and smiled faintly.

Then he roared:

"Detonate!"

The blood on Du Ying's body exploded instantly, and a terrifying burst of fire erupted outward from him. The shockwave was so immense that it blasted away the rock monster fighting Liu Congyi.

The assistant, stepping on Du Heng, stared at the explosion in astonishment.

"A nature-element user? The Phantom Butterfly only said Sheng Yan's ability was related to explosions. It never mentioned what type."

"You didn't know?" Du Heng burst into laughter. "So what you know is just surface-level! Then tell me, do you know how many bombs Sheng Yan planted in the institute? Do you know where he and the Phantom Butterfly went this morning?"

"Where?" A sense of foreboding rose in the assistant's chest.

Du Heng said nothing.

Meanwhile, Sheng Yan, gravely wounded and collapsed on the ground, drank an intermediate healing potion and shouted:

"Detonate! Detonate! Detonate! Blow it all to hell!"

Having just barely survived Giant Rock's assault, Liu Congyi heard him and cursed:

"Sheng Yan, you absolute madman!"

Even as she cursed, she pulled out a B-rank card Steel Armor (鋼鐵铠甲 - Gāngtiě Kǎijiǎ). It was her strongest defensive card brought into this instance to withstand monster attacks. She never expected to use it against her own teammate.

The assistant didn't know where the bombs were planted, but Liu Congyi did.

That morning, Sheng Yan and the Phantom Butterfly had gone to the second-floor experimental hall. It had been Mo Bai's last-minute decision, where she instructed Sheng Yan to turn the glass into bombs.

There were twenty bombs hidden in the hall, and Sheng Yan didn't even care that his teammates were still inside.

He just detonated them all.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dozens of explosions roared at once. Not only were the twenty bombs in the hall ignited, but Sheng Yan also triggered all one hundred bombs he had planted throughout the institute over the past three days.

If he couldn't go with Mo Bai, then everyone else would join her.

The deafening blasts echoed through the entire research institute. Two panes of glass near the assistant were bombs, and they exploded simultaneously at his side.

The assistant hastily pulled out a card to defend himself, but the flames swallowed him before anyone could see whether he had time to activate it.

As for Du Heng, he remained unharmed under the Immortal-Binding Rope's protective effect.

His hands were tied together, and noticing that no one was paying attention to him, he tapped his watch to summon the light screen. With some difficulty, he opened the email that Mo Bai had sent, the one he hadn’t had a chance to read yet.

After quickly finishing it, Du Heng burst into loud laughter.

"Hahahaha! Mo Bai, you're really something else!"

They hadn't lost yet!

Amid Du Heng's hearty laughter, the research institute was reduced to ruins by Sheng Yan's explosions. Those clusters of brilliant flames were the manifestation of Sheng Yan's fury and anger that had nowhere else to go.

 

 

Author's Notes:

In the previous chapter, some dear readers said it felt like an outline and that the pacing was too fast. I knew that was the case, because I wanted to describe what happened first, then explain the mystery.

This time the plot flows more smoothly~

—

Another instance has been blown up.

Mo Bai: I’ve been here. I’ve destroyed it. Every instance I’ve stepped into is now in ruins.