"Great! We're back!"

When Mo Bai came back to her senses, she saw Sheng Yan throw his arms open and pull her into an overjoyed, tight hug.

Indeed, this was something worth celebrating.

Over the past few days, Sheng Yan had brushed against death repeatedly, pacing back and forth at the gates of hell. At the final moment of the instance, he had even thought Mo Bai was dead. Now they had both returned alive, and he had successfully advanced to the intermediate level. How could he not be happy?

Infected by his joy, Mo Bai patted his back and said, "It's good to be alive."

Yes. No matter what the future holds, being alive right now is good enough.

Mo Bai wanted to feel happy too. But their encounter with Du Heng, the subtle hints in his words, and the existence of the Information Extraction card ultimately confirmed something for her.

That something was probably the reason why Mo Xiangyou was hostile toward all combat-type players. And it also affected her and Gu Tiandong's future.

She let Sheng Yan celebrate for a while, and once he calmed down a bit, she asked, "Do you still want to die?"

Sheng Yan froze, scratched his head awkwardly, and answered honestly, "If I can live, who would want to die?"

Mo Bai reached out and rubbed his head.

Startled by the oddly elder-sibling-like gesture, Sheng Yan tilted his head to dodge her hand and muttered, "I don't see you as my brother."

"I know," Mo Bai said. "You just needed someone to rely on."

"Did you make Liu Congyi use her Psychological Shadow on me?" Sheng Yan suddenly asked.

Mo Bai nodded. "I might have died. But if I lived and you rushed in impulsively to get yourself killed, who would pay for my fee then?"

She made a deal with Sheng Yan where she would help him clear the instance, while he would help her kill the Phantom Butterfly. After clearing it, all the rewards Sheng Yan obtained would belong to her, with points directly transferred, and cards converted into points.

"The two A-rank cards were earned by you. I won't take those, just give me the points."

But Sheng Yan insisted on giving everything. In the end, Mo Bai calculated the two A-rank cards at the minimum market price of 100,000 points each. Together with the points Sheng Yan earned, a total of 500,000 points were transferred to her.

With that, Mo Bai's total gain from the instance reached 1.2 million points. Compared to that, her previous savings were practically nothing. She didn't even want to bother calculating the loose change.

"Wow! So many points!" Xiao Qi exclaimed excitedly. "But player, once you become an intermediate-level player, you can't stay in the Newbie District anymore."

"Huh?" Mo Bai paused.

"It's called the Newbie District for a reason," Xiao Qi explained. "It's a benefit for brand-new players in the Infinite World. The facilities are great, but it only costs 3,000 points a month. That's basically a fifty-percent newbie discount."

"Then where am I supposed to live? Do I have to move right away?" Mo Bai asked. "My lugga... never mind, I don't have any luggage."

All she had was a wheelchair, and it wasn't even needed anymore.

"The system provides three days for players to choose a place and move," Xiao Qi said. "No rush. Intermediate players usually live in Public Harbor (大眾港 - Dà Zhòng Gǎng), which is similar to the Newbie District. It also provides single apartments, but just not as cheaply, which is 10,000 points a month.

A better option is the Seaview Residential Complex that Sheng Yan lives in. One household per floor, lots of private space, and fewer residents. There's less chance of running into enemies, but the rent is 50,000 points a month.

The best option is the Seaside Villa where Mo Xiangyou lives. Three-story detached villa with an elevator, about 1,000 square meters indoors plus a 2,000-square-meter private yard. Completely independent space, and an excellent living experience. Rent is 200,000 a month.

Since Intermediate players have a forced instance every six months, your first move-in requires paying six months' rent upfront."

Mo Bai: "..."

Her wallet had only just gotten thicker, but the system was already looking for ways to reclaim her points. The main system was still the same main system.

Still, she really liked Sheng Yan's flat, and 50,000 a month was something she could afford.

Now, Mo Bai finally understood why people in the Infinite World spent money so freely.

No one knew whether they would survive the next forced instance. If you hoarded money and died on the next round, wouldn't that be the biggest loss?

With a monthly expense of 200,000, paying six months in advance would amount to exactly what she earned from the last instance. This meant that the Seaside Villa was completely out of reach for her. Even if she managed to pay that amount, she would be left on a tight budget and unable to afford decent meals.

The best option was the 50,000-per-month Seaview flat. She could even live in the same complex as Sheng Yan and run daily instances together.

Just thinking about instances where failure only deducted points instead of costing lives made her feel light.

For the next few months, she wouldn't have to face death threats.

Then she remembered something.

"Was the Biological Research Institute No. 7 we cleared count as a forced instance? Does that mean I don't have to go to Smiling Circus anymore?"

Xiao Qi replied, "Biological Research Institute No. 7 was Sheng Yan's forced instance, not yours. You and Sheng Yan used a Binding Card, so you were basically the B-product in a bundle sale that the system didn't even want to buy. It doesn't count as the product itself, and it doesn't count as you clearing a forced instance."

Mo Bai: "..."

It didn't matter. Smiling Circus was only an A-rank instance. She even cleared an S-rank before, and with so many cards in hand, she wasn't afraid of a mere A-rank.

Hearing her thoughts, Xiao Qi spoke up cautiously, "Um... player, maybe you should add your attribute points first? After clearing the second stage, you've leveled up again."

Xiao Qi was getting cheekier by the day.

Mo Bai was curious about the strange new effects her upgraded title would bring, so she opened her watch only to find that her inbox was full of unread messages.

There were too many, but she set everything else aside to check her instance rewards first.

After clearing the instance, she advanced from Intermediate-1 to Intermediate-3. The range of Environmental Optimization and Environmental Rejection expanded again, so much so that she couldn't even be bothered checking the specific numbers. It already exceeded the spatial volume of an instance, which meant that she could use her abilities freely. This made further expansion seem meaningless.

Besides the increased range, the main change was in usage frequency.

Physical Transformation, Chemical Alteration, and Physical Manipulation within Environmental Optimization could now be used seven to eight times, basically achieving freedom of use.

Rule Optimization was special. Its activation condition was extremely strict as it only worked when there was a bug in the rules acknowledged by both the player and the system. So no matter how much energy she had, it was hard to use this ability freely.

Environmental Rejection hadn't changed much either, aside from its expanded range. The only difference was that after using it, she still had enough energy left to use Environmental Optimization a few more times, so she no longer had to rely on potions to keep going.

Mo Bai figured that reaching the intermediate level brought a qualitative leap in a player's abilities. After that, improvements would be incremental, and only at the advanced level would new changes appear.

Then there was her title.

She knew it had upgraded to Indestructible Diamond (堅固的金剛石 - Jiān Gù De Jīn Gāng Shí), but she hadn't seen its effects yet.

[

Title upgraded, details as follows.

Title: Indestructible Diamond

Description: You are an unpolished stone that refuses to be shaped. You possess the hardest structure in the world and an unbreakable spine. No one can make you yield, except yourself. Though you are indestructible, a diamond is still a substance composed of carbon that shares the same element as soft graphite.

Additional Effect: Since the player does not place much importance on title effects, this one is somewhat unworthy of your current level. It merely allows you to resist mental pressure from high-level monsters and players, granting immunity to mental contamination. But sometimes, being untainted is the greatest contamination of all.

]

The system's evaluation of Mo Bai's title was... intriguing.

Strictly speaking, this was her favorite title effect so far.

She hadn't encountered many mental-contamination instances yet, but the Schizophrenic in Biological Research Institute No. 7 had shown her that, besides physical attackers, there were also monsters that spread mental viruses.

With this title, she no longer feared that kind of infection.

But between the lines, the system was hinting that Mo Bai's immunity might actually stem from genetic contamination of the Ultra-Star Rank monster, and that she could change at any moment.

From diamond to graphite.

From white to black.

To prevent potential mental instability, she allocated her new attribute points to Mental Power and Endurance. Increasing Endurance strengthened not only physical resistance but also mental stability.

After allocation, her stats were:

[

Appearance: 114

Mental Power: 112

Endurance: 68

Constitution: 93

Agility: 96

]

The difficulty of the instance was great, but the rewards were equally satisfying.

With her strength, plus Sheng Yan, ordinary A-rank instances wouldn't be much of a problem.

Only that absurdly high Appearance stat was irritating. If those points had gone into Endurance or Constitution instead, how much better would that be? What was the use of such a high Appearance score? Mo Bai thought disdainfully.

Xiao Qi couldn't help teasing her. "Player, you really don't know how to use your looks. Look at Sheng Yan, so plain-looking. If he had your Appearance stat, he'd be strutting around you like a peacock."

"Appearance isn't the same as beauty," Mo Bai replied. "And Sheng Yan is fine as he is. I like his simple appearance. If he really started showing off, it would just be annoying."

After reviewing her personal data, she finally had time to deal with the unread messages.

At the top was a system email. The unread notification was blood-red and unsettling to look at.

Mo Bai had a bad feeling.

[

Player Mo Bai, the system regrets to inform you that due to drastic changes at the Biological Research Institute No. 7, all related derivative instances have undergone mutation.

Players Mo Bai, Gu Tiandong, Ding Xun, and Ye Pingjun's A-rank instance Smiling Circus has merged with other Biological Research Institute No. 7 derivative instances and reorganized into the mutated S-rank instance Disease Town.

In 86 days, please report to Disease Town as scheduled.

Note: Disease Town is an open instance. Participants are not limited to four players. Advanced-level players may be present. You will not be fighting alone.

]

Mo Bai: "..."

Author's Note:

Mo Bai: Main System, even if I'm difficult to kill, you can't kill me like this, right?

Main System: What are you talking about? Everything is arranged by fate.