Mo Bai wasn't surprised when she saw the notification.

At that time, she could hardly be considered human anymore.

Aside from the final sliver of consciousness still struggling inside her, her body was already fused with the Ultra-Star Rank monster. It was only through the enhanced Blessing of the Puppets that those golden threads forcibly pulled her body back together and reconstituted it.

The Blessing of the Puppets didn't expel the genetic infection from her body. Rather, it had extracted her from a larger whole.

Strictly speaking, the target of the Blessing of the Puppets wasn't the genetic infection within her, but the independent consciousness inside the Ultra-Star Rank monster.

She was merely a human reconstructed from the flesh and blood of that monster.

Otherwise, the serum wouldn't have worked, and Professor Yang wouldn't have been deceived.

This was the price of victory.

"Player, don't worry," Xiao Qi said optimistically. "I just analyzed the main system's notification and compared it with your previous mental states. Since entering the Infinite World, you've never once felt despair. Even just now, when you were inside the Ultra-Star Rank monster and almost completely devoured, your mind was as solid as a fortress. Xiao Qi doesn't think you could ever fall into the situation that the main system mentioned."

"I've noticed your confidence in me is even greater than my own," Mo Bai replied.

When she had nearly been devoured, Xiao Qi's voice never stopped.

It tried everything. Threats, persuasion, and coaxing, just to wake her up. In the end, it even cried in her mind, saying that if Mo Bai disappeared, it would be formatted.

To Xiao Qi, that meant Xiao Qi is dead. Even if it continued to exist and serve other players, the soul that belonged to Xiao Qi would already be gone.

The fact that she managed to hold on until the end was largely thanks to Xiao Qi.

The little girl's sobbing voice kept echoing in her consciousness, which fuelled her unwillingness to let Xiao Qi die alongside her.

"That's because the player has never disappointed Xiao Qi!" it said happily. "Even with a Luck value of 4, Player has never lost."

"Wait," Mo Bai said in surprise. "Luck value? What's that?"

"Now that Player has reached the intermediate level, you have unlocked the sixth attribute," Xiao Qi explained. "In addition to Appearance, Mental Power, Constitution, Endurance, and Agility, there's a sixth hidden attribute, which is Luck. It isn't displayed while a player is at the beginner level. Only Intermediate players can see it.

Of course, even after it's displayed, it's not very useful. Luck doesn't increase with level-ups, and attribute points can't be assigned to it.

I checked the database and found that your Luck value rises and falls for no apparent reason. It doesn't follow statistics, probability theory, or mathematics at all. In short, it's completely metaphysical."

"Is 4 considered high or low?" Mo Bai asked.

"The maximum Luck value is 100, and the minimum is 0. Across the entire Infinite World, there are no players with 100 or 0. Most players fall between 50 and 70. Below 40 is considered very unlucky, while above 80 is extremely lucky."

Mo Bai asked, "Who has the lowest Luck in your database? It's not me, right?"

"Of course not," Xiao Qi comforted. "There are players with a Luck value of 1."

Thinking that she wasn't the worst, Mo Bai was just about to breathe a sigh of relief, but Xiao Qi continued: "However, those players all died during the beginner stages. Among the currently surviving players, your Luck value is the lowest. You're also the only one in single digits."

Mo Bai: "..."

So far, Luck was the only element that Mo Bai couldn't control. If her other attributes were low, she could improve them through effort. But how could she change her Luck?

Somewhat unconvinced, Mo Bai retorted, "But my luck was pretty good in the Count's Castle instance and this one. Especially this time. You said the laws of the Infinite World would help me suppress the birth of an Ultra-Star Rank monster."

"Have you forgotten?" Xiao Qi asked. "This is the third instance you've cleared. Do you remember other players' first three beginner instances?"

Mo Bai: "..."

So much had happened since she entered the Infinite World that she'd forgotten that this was only her third instance?!

Xiao Qi said mischievously, "Judging by the difficulty of these three stages, I don't think you're lucky. I just think you're really hard to kill. Hahahahaha!"

Xiao Qi meant it as a joke, but unintended words often hit their mark.

Recalling the system notification earlier, Mo Bai suddenly asked, "Xiao Qi, you said before that the world's laws would use all sorts of methods to prevent the birth of an Ultra-Star Rank monster, like heavenly tribulations bringing endless calamities upon it."

"Yeah," Xiao Qi replied innocently.

Mo Bai looked down at her hands, which had once been fused with the Ultra-Star Rank monster and then restored.

"The Ultra-Star Rank monster lacks a stable consciousness," she said slowly, "and I happen to have one. If it were to awaken inside me, who would be born as the Ultra-Star Rank monster? Me, or it? And the one destined to become an Ultra-Star Rank monster and be targeted everywhere by the world's laws... Would that be it, or me?"

Xiao Qi: "..."

The thought only flashed through Mo Bai's mind for a moment before she burst out laughing at her own wild imagination.

"I was just thinking about it," she said. "You're right. I won't let myself fall into despair."

Mo Bai believed that if one day she were to sink into sorrow and fail to climb back out, it would only be because she chose to. As long as she was unwilling, no one could make her unhappy.

Therefore, whether the Ultra-Star Rank monster awakened or not wasn't determined by it, but by Mo Bai.

No one could sway her thoughts.

Rather than worrying about something she could decide with absolute certainty, she might as well check the system rewards.

"An S-rank instance, and this is all the points we get? It's not even enough to feed my cards."

Mo Bai had just come back to her senses when she heard Du Heng speaking.

Not enough? She quickly checked the rewards.

 

[

Contribution Rank 1: Mo Bai

Reward: 500,000 points, one A-rank card "Human Enhancement," one A-rank card "Infinite Proliferation," one A-rank card "Tentacle Substitute," and one mysterious card of unknown effect, "?"

]

 

[

Contribution Rank 2: Du Heng

Reward: 300,000 points, one A-rank card "Rock Fortress," and one A-rank card "Ant Nest"

]

 

[

Contribution Rank 2 (tie): Sheng Yan

Reward: 300,000 points, one A-rank card "Shadow World," and one A-rank card "Spider Silk"

]

 

[

Contribution Rank 3: Liu Congyi

Reward: 200,000 points, and one A-rank card "Memory Erasure"

]

 

These cards had mostly dropped from the monsters they fought.

The Human Enhancement (人體強化 - Rén Tǐ Qiáng Huà) and Tentacle Substitute (觸手替身 - Chù Shǒu Tì Shēn) that Mo Bai obtained were clearly abilities of the Ultra-Star Rank monster. Human Enhancement could double or triple a player's attributes for ten minutes, which was similar to the extract's effects.

On the other hand, Tentacle Substitute allowed the user to summon an identical double formed from tentacles. The user could switch positions with it at any time, letting it absorb attacks on their behalf. Even fatal injuries could be transferred to the substitute. In other words, it was essentially an extremely useful life card.

As for Infinite Proliferation (無限增殖 - Wú Xiàn Zēng Zhí), it was particularly interesting. It had a nickname: Suicidal Proliferation (自殺式增殖 - Zì Shā Shì Zēng Zhí). The player could use this card on any target, causing the cells within a human or monster to multiply uncontrollably. In the short term, the target's strength would increase dramatically. But once their internal energy was depleted, they would self-destruct and die, hence the name.

The card description even thoughtfully mentioned that it was especially effective against certain monsters with extremely strong regeneration abilities that were difficult to kill in battle.

Infinite Proliferation was clearly the card formed after the Tumor Monster fused with No. 107 died. From its description, Mo Bai finally understood how No. 107 had perished together with Professor Yang.

No. 107 chose to fuse with Professor Yang, forcing the Ultra-Star Rank monster to proliferate and grow stronger without limit. Then, after exhausting all the monster's internal energy through that unchecked proliferation, he detonated himself and died.

All the sins began with the man who refused to reveal his name, and ultimately, they were also brought to a close by him.

Mo Bai didn't even need to look at the final mysterious card to guess what it was. Just like Ruins of the Count's Castle, it was another scene card: Ruins of the Research Institute (研究所的廢墟 - Yán Jiū Suǒ De Fèi Xū). The system congratulated her on blowing up yet another domain and obtaining its ruins, while once again warning her not to use the card.

The scene cards still did not take up inventory slots, so Mo Bai could carry both ruins on her at the same time.

As for the cards Du Heng, Sheng Yan, and Liu Congyi obtained, they were also abilities dropped by the A-rank monsters they had defeated.

Du Ying was killed by Sheng Yan, and Shadow World (影子世界 - Yǐng Zi Shì Jiè) was one of his abilities. Although the Spider Woman was finished off by Du Heng, she had already been burned half to death by Sheng Yan beforehand, so the kill was credited to Sheng Yan. That was how he obtained the card Spider Silk (蛛絲 - Zhū Sī).

Du Heng's Rock Fortress (岩石堡壘 - Yán Shí Bǎo Lěi) and Ant Nest (蟻穴 - Yǐ Xué) dropped from the Giant Rock and the Ant Queen, respectively.

While Liu Congyi's card Memory Erasure (記憶消除 - Jì Yì Xiāo Chú) was the ability of Blank Paper.

From Mo Bai's perspective, everyone had gained quite a lot, and the points awarded in this round were substantial. Although they hadn't received the legendary S-rank card, the A-rank cards were all powerful. Why was Du Heng dissatisfied? And what did he mean by feeding cards?

Seeing the confusion on Mo Bai's face, Du Heng explained, "Generally speaking, after clearing an S-rank instance, the player with the highest contribution receives at least one million points."

Mo Bai: "..."

Her heart suddenly ached as if the system had robbed her of 500,000 points.

Everyone perked up at the mention of points. Liu Congyi leaned forward and asked, "What about the minimum?"

"The minimum is 100,000," Du Heng replied. "But based on the difficulty of this instance, the lowest reward should've been at least 500,000. The system really gave too little this time, didn't it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, another line of text appeared in the air as if responding to his complaint:

 

[ This forced instance was a B-rank mutated instance. The granted rewards are already the highest possible for B-rank, which is issued with reference to the most difficult A-rank instances. ]

 

"That's still too little. We're heroes who saved the world," Du Heng muttered in dissatisfaction.

At that moment, Sheng Yan sidled up to him with a sly grin. "But you gained the most. You picked up the Immortal-Binding Rope that the assistant dropped. That's an S-rank card. Mo Bai risked her life, even sacrificed herself to become the final dose of serum, but she didn't get an S-rank card."

He was practically saying: Why don't you just give the S-rank card to Mo Bai?

Du Heng looked embarrassed. "I'd like to give it to her, but S-rank cards can only be transferred between high-ranked players. There's no way to give them to lower level players. Furthermore, if you want an S-rank card, you have to obtain it inside an instance.

And even if I gave it to you, you couldn't afford to maintain it."

"Is that what you meant by feeding cards?" Mo Bai asked.

Du Heng nodded and said, "Have you noticed that B-rank and A-rank cards usually have usage limits? Three uses are already considered a lot."

Mo Bai replied, "Prying Lenses and Spatial Blade don't have limits."

"Those two are special cases," Du Heng explained. "And they both have durability, and each use causes some wear. Once the damage exceeds 80%, they become unusable."

Mo Bai took out the Spatial Blade. After repeated use, the illustration on the card was already tattered and riddled with holes. The description now read: "Durability 60%, power reduced by 50%."

"That's because C-rank, B-rank, and A-rank cards are dead things. They're items," Du Heng continued. "Once they're used up, they're used up. Unless you have a special ability like Liu Congyi's to repair them.

"But S-rank cards are different. They're alive. Even if you don't use them, they require 100,000 points per month just to maintain. Every time you use one, you also have to pay between 100,000 and 500,000 points. But they don't degrade, unless someone completely destroys them with an ability."

"How many points?" Mo Bai dug at her ear. "Maybe fusing with the monster gave me auditory hallucinations. I thought I heard you say something about 100,000... 500,000. That was just in my head, right?"

Du Heng replied flatly, "Wake up. You heard correctly. Even Advanced-level players usually maintain one or two S-rank cards only. Only those who grind instances every day can afford more, and the drop rate for S-rank cards is extremely low. The system would rather give you three A-rank cards than a single S-rank card."

Sheng Yan asked, "How much does it cost to use the Immortal-Binding Rope once?"

"300,000."

Sheng Yan let out a small sigh of relief. "That's... still manageable."

Du Heng added calmly, "Per hour."

Sheng Yan: "..."

"When the Soul Contractor used the Immortal-Binding Rope to tie me up," Du Heng continued, "it worked just like a taxi meter. Starting price: 300,000 points. After that, 200,000 points per hour."

Mo Bai couldn't help but wipe the sweat from her forehead. The Ultra-Star Rank monster didn't make her sweat. The genetic infection inside her also didn't make her sweat. But these astronomical figures, 200,000, 300,000, sent a chill down her spine.

"Relying on your own abilities is more reliable," she said.

"That's why Advanced-level players bind their abilities to S-rank cards," Du Heng explained. "It enhances their abilities without requiring additional usage fees. The downside is that if the card gets sealed by a monster using instance authority, your ability becomes unusable as well."

Liu Congyi took a deep breath. "Is this what the world of big shots looks like? Every other word is about money!"

Even Sheng Yan, practically a tycoon back in Peach Blossom Land, fell silent at those numbers.

Du Heng then added seriously, "But I know in my heart that the Immortal-Binding Rope belongs to Mo Bai. Mo Bai, I'll temporarily keep it for you. When you become an Advanced-level player and come to Neverland, I'll return it to you."

Mo Bai quickly waved her hands. "It's fine if you don't. I'm not paying that 100,000 monthly maintenance fee either."

Seeing the utterly broke expression on her face, Du Heng couldn't help laughing. "This is the first time I've seen you panic. It seems that you actually have a weakness."

Mo Bai sighed. It couldn't be helped. Poverty always drains ambition.

"It's fine," Du Heng reassured her. "Once you get to Neverland, there are plenty of high-reward A-rank and S-rank daily instances. You can grind them for points to your heart's content."

"I've heard many Advanced-level players can't survive in Neverland," Mo Bai said. "Are points really that easy to earn?"

"In Peach Blossom Land, instance guides are shared," Du Heng replied. "But not in Neverland. Different organizations control different instance strategies. If new players arrive and they don't immediately join an organization, then it would be hard to afford the high costs."

At this point, his expression turned serious.

"Sheng Yan and Liu Congyi are one thing, but Mo Bai, if you arrive at Neverland, you must come find me and join the Mending Heaven organization. No matter what terms other groups offer you, don't go. In Neverland, only Mending Heaven will..."

Before he could finish, the system notification sounded:

[ Instance Biological Research Institute No. 7 has concluded. Players will now be transported back to their respective residences.]

 

Du Heng hurried to continue speaking, but no sound came out.

It seemed as if the system hurriedly ejected them from the instance to separate them.

The next second, Mo Bai found herself standing in Sheng Yan's home.