He feigned madness for eighteen years, all for the power of a god.

What Bai Ye saw was a cold corpse.

Chen Sujin leaned against the broken wall, her eyes closed, with a peaceful expression on her face, as if she were just asleep.

On her chest was a horrifying, bloody hole pierced by sharp claws, the congealed blood staining the front of her clothes red.

Not far from her, the bottle of "weird avoidance potion" that she treasured lay intact on the ground.

The bottle was full of ointment.

She was completely useless.

Bai Ye frowned, his heart filled with doubt.

Forgot to use it?

impossible.

How could a shrewd and calculating woman like Chen Sujin make such a basic and fatal mistake?

Just then, he noticed that Chen Sujin's tightly clenched hand seemed to be holding something.

He stepped forward and gently pried open her stiff fingers.

It was a letter that was crumpled and slightly wrinkled.

On the envelope, a few words were written in neat handwriting:

"To Dr. Zhao He".

Bai Ye silently picked up the letter and opened it.

The letter was written in the same neat handwriting as the envelope, but some parts were messy due to shaky hands.

"Dr. Zhao, by the time you read this letter, I will probably be dead."

"I'm sorry, I've lied to you again."

"Actually, I never intended to leave the Otherworld alive in the first place."

Six months ago, I was diagnosed with an incurable disease called "the bizarre disease".

"The doctor said I have less than three months left to live."

"This disease will slowly erode and rot my body through bizarre radiation, eventually causing me to die in endless pain."

"Although there is now an expensive medical technology that is rumored to be able to alleviate or even cure this disease."

"But that expense is an astronomical figure for our already broken family."

"I don't want my two children to watch me rot away day by day."

"I don't want them to have to bear heavy debts on top of their already difficult lives."

"So, I orchestrated all of this."

"I found an underground insurance company founded by extraordinary individuals and bribed one of its employees."

"I bought myself a huge 'bizarre accident insurance' policy."

"As long as I can be proven to have died at the hands of the monsters of the underworld."

"My children will then receive a pension that will allow them to comfortably complete high school, college, and grow up..."

The letter ended with these words:

"The original terms of the transaction remain unchanged. Please take 'me' out of the Otherworld and hand me over to that insurance company."

"...I'm sorry, I've lied to you time and time again, but this is the last time."

"A selfish woman: Chen Sujin".

……

A dead silence.

Bai Ye stared silently at the letter in his hand, remaining silent for a long time.

He looked at the letter, then at the woman's face by the wall, which had lost all color but remained serene.

He finally understood why she hadn't used the "weird avoidance potion" at all, even though she clearly had it.

Because her purpose was to attract the grotesque and die at their hands.

This is a scam that is full of lies and scheming from beginning to end.

But this is also the last deception a mother can devise for her child.

He did not judge whether Chen Sujin's behavior was right or wrong.

In this twisted and cruel world, everyone is struggling to survive in their own way.

Bai Ye silently put the letter away.

He walked to Chen Sujin's body, squatted down, and took out the folding box.

Her body was completely preserved inside.

After doing all this, he stood up, took one last look at the desolate, leaden-gray world, and turned to leave.

City Security Bureau, Interrogation Room.

Bai Ye sat calmly in the interrogation chair, letting the blinding spotlight illuminate his pale face.

His gloomy face, which belonged to "Zhao He," now revealed a perfect hint of exhaustion and the weakness of surviving a disaster.

It was as if they had just gone through a fierce battle where they were on the verge of death, and their mental and physical strength had been exhausted to the limit.

Opposite him were three high-ranking officials with high-level epaulets on their shoulders.

Their expressions were serious, their sharp gazes like scalpels, trying to scrape away any flaw from Bai Ye's face.

The person sitting in the presiding judge's seat was an elderly man with gray hair and a stern face.

He is the deputy director of the City Safety Administration Bureau, and his surname is Zhou.

The two people beside him were the head of the intelligence department and the commander-in-chief of the operations department.

In the shadows of a corner of the interrogation room stood a man wearing huge sunglasses, exuding an aura that kept strangers at bay.

He was like a silent statue, yet the extraordinary pressure emanating from him was stronger than that of the three high-ranking officials present combined.

He is the renowned "lie detector" within the official ranks, a fourth-level extraordinary individual with the special ability of "True Echo".

No lie can hide from his abilities; they will turn into extremely jarring noise that echoes in his mind.

It can be said that the success or failure of today's trial largely depends on this man's judgment.

"Mr. Zhao He, we know you have just gone through a fierce battle and are exhausted both physically and mentally."

Deputy Director Zhou spoke first, his voice deep and powerful:

"But this incident is too serious, and we must find out all the details as soon as possible. So, please cooperate."

He tapped his fingers on the cold metal tabletop, the "knock-knock" sound particularly clear in the quiet room.

"Tell me, what exactly happened after you entered the second layer of the inner world?"

Pressure, invisible pressure, came from all directions.

Bai Ye slowly raised his head, seemingly blinded by the spotlight. He squinted slightly and began his story in a hoarse tone, filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.

"After we entered the second layer of the inner world, Captain Wei ordered us to split up, saying it was to improve efficiency."

"We foreign players were assigned to one group and went through the left passage, while the official team went through the right passage."

Bai Ye's voice was calm and unhurried as he narrated the script he had rehearsed countless times in his mind, using the most authentic tone.

He recounted how the foreign aid team encountered the "mourner" in the abandoned church.

It tells the story of the terrifying power of a music box called "The Believer".

It tells the story of how those foreign aid teammates lost their minds to the eerie melody, knelt down and waited to die, and were eventually brutally slaughtered.

As he spoke, his tone carried a perfectly measured hint of lingering fear and sorrow.

It was as if that bloody scene was still haunting him.

These are all the truth.

The lie detector behind the presiding judge remained motionless and unresponsive, like a statue.

The official opposite listened while quickly jotting something down on a document.

They occasionally exchanged glances, but neither interrupted him.

"...I am the only survivor."

Bai Ye's voice lowered:

"I narrowly escaped the music box's mind control, and after a fierce battle, I finally killed the 'mourner'."

After saying that, he placed the folding box containing the head of the "mourner" on the table and pushed it over.

An official immediately put on gloves and carefully opened the box.

When the head of the "mourner," with its eyes wide open and a lingering expression of madness, was exposed to the light.

The air in the interrogation room seemed to have turned several degrees colder.

"Target confirmed."

The official said in a low voice, then closed the box.

The presiding judge nodded, his gaze once again fixed on Bai Ye:

"And then? What happened after you killed the 'Mourner'? What happened to Captain Wei and his squad?"