“Cough, cough, cough…”

Far away from the crater, Chen Xiaoyin, Qiu Sheng, and Dawnlight struggled to poke their heads out from the accumulated dust. Their eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment.

They had been fully focused on a desperate battle against the monsters in the sea of blood. Then, without warning, the world spun around them—and the sea of blood vanished without a trace.

“Where are we?”

Unlike Chen Xiaoyin’s confusion, Qiu Sheng climbed out of the crater first. Her reaction was completely different.

The sight before her left her so shocked that she could barely speak. The crater was dozens of feet deep, and its earth had been roasted red-hot. The heat was so intense that even the air twisted beneath it.

Qiu Sheng’s eyes widened. Her heart filled with inexplicable fear and shock.

Even standing at the very edge of the endless crater, she could feel the heat rising from the ground beneath her feet. It seemed capable of piercing through her shoes and reaching straight into her heart.

Then Qiu Sheng saw it.

Something seemed to be lying at the center of the crater. It appeared to be the culprit behind this entire scene.

What kind of thing could possess such terrifying power?

Even a nuclear bomb dropped and detonated at a precise location couldn’t have caused only this much destruction, could it?

“The Abyss is now…”

Qiu Sheng looked around. Her gaze finally settled on the Abyss not far away.

Blood was currently flowing out from it. The dark-red, viscous liquid looked painfully bright beneath the sunlight. The boundless sea of blood had vanished, leaving behind only a pool of thick, charred semi-liquid on the ground. A nauseating stench filled the air.

That portion of the sea of blood had probably evaporated in an instant as well.

If the sea of blood hadn’t absorbed most of the impact and heat, it was hard to say whether they would have survived.

“I found someone!”

Dawnlight pointed toward a white-robed figure standing at the edge of the crater.

Although the girl’s features were difficult to make out through the distance and the layer of dust covering her face, Dawnlight could still identify her by the Magic Armor she wore.

The girl was Lu Jin.

“Save… my sister…”

When the Blood-colored Spear descended, Lu Shi had thrown herself onto Blood to restrain its movements. In Lu Shi’s eyes, that was the only way she could buy Lu Jin a sliver of hope.

At the moment the Blood-colored Spear struck, Lu Shi had disintegrated and separated Lu Jin from herself. Lu Shi and Blood, meanwhile, had both been swallowed by the explosion.

As Lu Shi’s twin sister, Lu Jin firmly believed that her sister was still alive.

The explosion of that Blood-colored Spear had been powerful enough to obliterate everything nearby. Even so, Lu Jin had a powerful intuition telling her that Lu Shi hadn’t died.

“We’ll do everything we can.”

Qiu Sheng agreed.

They were already at the end of their strength, but they couldn’t abandon a single comrade.

Near the Spear at the center of the crater, a deformed figure crawled out of the blood. Her body was completely charred, and her features were impossible to recognize.

Bit by bit, she dragged herself toward the Spear before her.

“This is the power of a god. Divine power. Those bastards… How dare they defile it like this?! And this one, too!”

Blood hauled Lu Shi out of the soil.

Lu Shi had originally wanted to hide herself back in the shadows. Instead, Blood grabbed her by the throat.

She had hidden herself—but only halfway.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Lu Shi genuinely had no idea what had driven the creature before her mad. She no longer had the strength to resist.

Kill her or torture her. It was all the same now.

Lu Shi closed her eyes and prepared to welcome death.

But Blood didn’t attack.

She was waiting.

Waiting for a shadow.

Lu Shi had seen this shadow before inside the Twelfth District branch. It was strange. They had clearly captured the branch, yet they had withdrawn afterward.

It was impossible to understand what they were thinking.

But now, Lu Shi seemed to have figured it out.

If they shared a common goal, everything made sense. They all wanted the Key.

And the Twelfth District no longer had it. Illusory Glass had taken the Key away.

They had spared the Twelfth District because they wanted to wait for their prey to walk into the trap.

“Eat her!”

The shadow began to writhe slowly.

Although Lu Shi couldn’t see its face, she could identify its form as it gradually emerged.

It looked exactly like her.

The eerie reflection sent a chill through Lu Shi.

If this shadow could obtain the appearance of whoever it devoured—or even something deeper—then the threat it represented was far beyond anything Lu Shi could imagine.

If this monster wearing Lu Shi’s face successfully infiltrated the Twelfth District, wouldn’t obtaining the Key be effortless?

The members of the Twelfth District would never imagine that a former friend or companion had already been replaced from within by a monster—and had become their enemy.

Cold tentacles climbed over Lu Shi’s body.

She could feel everything inside her being drawn away. Her body was transforming toward its most primitive form.

But at that moment, a streak of white light crossed through time and pierced the black shadow wearing Lu Shi’s face.

The pure-white girl arrived first. A trace of weariness lingered in her eyes.

After seeing the future of the Twelfth District, she had rushed over immediately.

Lu Shi had nearly died at this creature’s hands. Then the creature would have used Lu Shi’s face to trick the Key out of her and open the sealed gates beneath the Twelfth District.

Moon Owl, wearing a black crown, slowly stepped out from space.

She flicked her hand lightly.

Space itself crushed Blood to pieces.

The Blood before them was now thoroughly dead.

“I’ll suspend her time for now. Her injuries are too severe…”

Illusory Glass spoke to the arriving Chen Xiaoyin, Qiu Sheng, and Dawnlight.

She also told Lu Jin, who was in Chen Xiaoyin’s arms, not to panic. With time magic, her sister wouldn’t die for the moment.

“Let’s go.”

Moon Owl raised a hand, and everyone returned to the Twelfth District branch.

Everyone was left utterly dumbfounded by that display.

With one casual gesture, Moon Owl had brought them back to the Twelfth District branch.

She truly was the guardian of the Twelfth District. She had grown even stronger…

Night Frost was currently beside Qianchun.

Who could have expected that after leaving for only a dozen days, the Twelfth District would once again face the threat of destruction?

Qianchun had been dragged into it this time as well.

After learning the news from Illusory Glass, Night Frost borrowed some of Moon Owl’s blood. She drank it from the Cup of Blood and returned directly to the Twelfth District.

As soon as she came back, she saw Qianchun rolling across the carpeted office floor while clutching her head.

She seemed to be worrying far too much.

“I can’t figure it out!”

Qianchun stared blankly at the ceiling.

She couldn’t make sense of it. Everything seemed to be wrong, yet nothing seemed to be wrong.

Where on earth did this damned sense of dissonance come from?

“What’s wrong?”

Night Frost stepped out from the darkness.

The moment Qianchun saw her, she froze like a stone.

Bit by bit, she moved from the floor onto a chair. Her eyes grew even more vacant.

“I didn’t see anything!”

Qianchun glanced at Night Frost, looking even more hopeless.

…

After Night Frost pestered her relentlessly, Qianchun finally explained why she had been acting crazy in the office.

“Oh, so it’s the sense of dissonance. You’re wondering why those people captured the Twelfth District branch but spared you. You think they were after the Key?”

“That’s certainly possible. Is that where your dissonance comes from?”

“To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Key attracted every kind of monster and fiend.”

“If it truly seals divine power, then even Azure, who has ascended to the Ultimate Realm, still longs for it.”

“It’s the shadow.”

Illusory Glass poked her head out and stepped through the rift in space torn open by Moon Owl.

Ever since Moon Owl’s spatial abilities had evolved further, she had become increasingly elusive.

“That shadow can take on the appearance of people we know. I’m certain that one of them has infiltrated us.”

“Among us… there’s a traitor.”

Illusory Glass had seen countless futures.

Every person present could be replaced by the shadow, except Night Frost, Moon Owl, and herself.

The three of them seemed to possess something special. The shadow couldn’t replace them.

Night Frost looked at Qianchun for two or three seconds before waving her hand.

“No matter how I look at it, she’s Qianchun. There’s no faking that.”

“I have several likely candidates. These are the ones with the highest probability among the futures I saw: the people in the laboratory, and Blade…”

Moon Owl hadn’t expected Blade to be among them.

She didn’t want to oppose Blade. After all, Blade understood Moon Owl, and Moon Owl understood Blade. The two of them had been friends for nearly several years.

“I’ll handle Blade. Leave the investigation to the rest of you.”

“The shadow can possess the memories of whoever it replaces. Be extremely careful.”

After understanding the situation, everyone took action.

Night Frost and Qianchun headed for the underground laboratory. The researchers there had once applied to study the Key in Illusory Glass’s possession, but their request hadn’t yet been approved.

“Honestly, no matter how I look at it, it has to be Blade.”

Qianchun shook her head.

Even if the shadow imitated those researchers, it could do no more than cause some damage. It couldn’t do anything significant to the Twelfth District.

“Moon Owl and Blade have a good relationship. Perhaps Illusory Glass wanted Moon Owl to handle this.”

“And Moon Owl is powerful enough that nothing should go wrong, right?”

Night Frost’s words made sense.

Qianchun accepted them somewhat.

When it came to strength, Moon Owl was currently one of the very best in the Twelfth District. Night Frost could only give way to her and take second place…

Or perhaps third.

“My strength isn’t that bad, okay?”

“But I feel like my path has reached its end. Cantata Three is already my limit, yet even Cantata Three can’t accomplish anything now.”

Moon Owl and Illusory Glass were doing all the carrying.

She was the protagonist of this novel, wasn’t she?

Was it really okay for her to be this weak?

At that moment, Moon Owl arrived before Blade.

Blade was sitting beside a computer. An opened can of coffee sat before her, apparently with only one sip taken from it.

“Ah! Moon Owl, you’re back. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Blade walked forward to greet her.

But when she saw Moon Owl’s black robe and black crown, she froze for two seconds before continuing.

“Why does your Magic Armor look different now? …And Illusory Glass!”

Blade looked at Illusory Glass behind Moon Owl. Her tone carried a hint of complaint and displeasure.

“You ran out again without listening. I told you to stay put!”

“I won’t do it next time~”

Illusory Glass stuck out her tongue.

“Fine… Don’t let it happen again.”

Blade closed her tired eyes, returned to her chair, and continued typing on the computer.

“This time, the Twelfth District suffered heavy losses. There’ll be another huge round of expenses.”

“Oh, right. The Eye Orb wants to study the Key. The paperwork has already been approved…”