“That’s Dragonblood Degradation, Master…” White Radiance sighed helplessly. In the end, she decided to tell her master the truth.

“Dragonblood Degradation?” Yueye heard the unfamiliar term and grew curious.

“The Dragon Clan is a special race. Some say they weren’t born of the world, but were instead a powerful race created alongside it…” White Radiance paused, as if watching Yueye’s reaction.

“Dragonblood Degradation is the result of the world refusing to acknowledge the Dragon Clan’s existence. Other races usually feel fear and panic when they face dragons. Even if the Dragon Clan never reveals who they are, those races will still target them because the world rejects any power on their level.” A hint of sadness appeared in White Radiance’s eyes as she spoke.

“And dragon blood is one of the main ways the world keeps the Dragon Clan under surveillance. It’s one of many things that came into being alongside the power that created the world. The world never allows even the slightest possibility of a force that could harm it to enter, and this is the result. Take that dragon we just saw, for example. There are probably only a few dragons like it left in this world. The rest were all slaughtered by the world. And that’s despite the fact that they’re the products of countless generations of Dragon Clan breeding. They’ve only just begun to touch the most basic thing, soul energy, and their dragon soul purity is down to just one percent. But the world will never spare anything within it that shows even the slightest potential to possess power on its level…” White Radiance recalled the blue dragon they had just seen, her eyes full of contempt. To her, the other dragon’s very claim to the title was an insult to the word ‘dragon.’

“Is that so…?” Yueye had only managed to grasp the gist of what White Radiance meant. Disappointment filled her eyes.

“But why could a dragon with only one percent dragon soul purity awaken my bloodline?” Yueye was curious about how dragon souls were judged. From what White Radiance had said, it seemed the Dragon Clan had many different levels.

“Because you only need to awaken your Dragon Clan bloodline, not your dragon soul. Also, maybe you’ve misunderstood what I meant.” White Radiance pouted in dissatisfaction.

“How should I put it… Simply put, dragons with a dragon soul have the potential to inherit the ancient Dragon Clan and Void Dragon Clan, and can wield the Dragon Clan’s most primordial power. Dragons without a dragon soul can’t wield that power. Dragon soul purity has nothing to do with awakening your Dragon Clan bloodline… A dragon soul is something supreme. It’s passed down through dragon blood, and at the same time, it is the very essence of every dragon who possesses one.”

“There are dragons without dragon souls?” Yueye couldn’t help asking.

“There are. Over the long course of their lives, the Dragon Clan’s most primordial power dwindled with each new generation. In the final few generations, even their dragon souls had regressed into ordinary souls. The Dragon Clan called this phenomenon ‘racial decline.’”

“Then what’s the difference in strength between dragons with and without dragon souls?” Yueye was curious. If a dragon soul was a power on the same level as the power that created the world, didn’t that mean dragons who possessed one could create worlds?

“It’s something like the difference between higher- and lower-dimensional beings… Dragons without dragon souls are destined to be unable to understand the world of those who have them. But even that isn’t quite right. It’s like how I used the ability to wield the Dragon Clan’s most primordial power as a stand-in for having a dragon soul. No number of examples from me could properly explain it… Once your dragon soul awakens, Master, you’ll understand.” White Radiance tried to explain, but it seemed the effort had already burned through most of her brain cells.

“All right. That really is a lot to take in…” Yueye rubbed her slightly throbbing head.

“…Was that Yueye?” Zhao Zhihua dropped heavily to the ground and stared in the direction she’d gone. He looked as if he’d just escaped with his life.

“…” Su Lin fell silent. He’d seen those cold eyes, tinged with sadness. They weren’t the eyes of a high school student, nor those of a demon who would hurt others.

“…Monster! She was right around us from the very beginning. She even tried to step in herself just now…” Wang Qian still wouldn’t let Yueye off the hook, even with the truth right in front of her.

“Yueye, she…” Wang Tong’s words were full of remorse. The moment Yueye stepped in to save them, regret had begun to spread through Wang Tong’s heart.

“She’s not Yueye anymore. Not since we abandoned her…” Zhu Yue said dully. Now, Zhu Yue understood just how stupid a thing they’d done.

“...Some things can’t be undone once they’re done…” Du Shengjie stared off into the distance, lost in thought.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” Tears burst from Liu Huiying’s eyes. Now that she understood everything, every memory of Yueye stabbed at her conscience.

“Liu Huiying, don’t…” Su Lin tried to comfort her, his voice trembling. He’d just driven one of his own teammates away with his own hands.

Liu Huiying didn’t respond to Su Lin. After a long silence, she looked up and spoke.

“Su Lin… I don’t think I belong on this team. I’m sorry.” With that, Liu Huiying ran in the direction Yueye had disappeared, without looking back. Tears blurred her vision until she could barely see where she was going, but she truly didn’t want to stay on a team without trust.

“Notice… Team member Liu Huiying has left the team.” The system’s voice rang in Su Lin’s ears like a piercing alarm, dragging him straight into hell.

“Notice… Team member Zhu Yue has left the team…”

“Notice… Team member Wang Tong has left the team…”

“Notice… Team member Du Shengjie has left the team…” As the notifications kept coming, Su Lin turned to look at the people behind him.

“...You’re leaving too?” Su Lin stared in disbelief. For a moment, he thought he’d misheard. So many people leaving at once was more than he could take.

“I’m sorry, Su Lin… You’re the leader. You can choose to put the team first. But we know who was right and who was wrong…” Wang Tong said, then led the other two after Liu Huiying in the distance, completely ignoring Su Lin.

But it wasn’t over yet. Another piece of bad news came from beside him. “I’m leaving too, Su Lin. Take care…”

“Notice: Team member Yang Yufeng has left the team…” Even Yang Yufeng, who’d been the quietest one among them the whole way, chose to leave. Su Lin couldn’t bring himself to believe this was real.

Su Lin stood rooted to the spot, staring at the ground, his hands clenched tight with frustration.

“Did I really… make the wrong choice?” Su Lin remembered the blue-haired little girl who’d wanted to give her 3,000 points to the team. Suddenly, he hated himself for ever suspecting her.

“Come on, Su Lin. Don’t be sad… A bunch of lunatics chasing after a monster. They’re all crazy.” The voice he found most disgusting right then came from behind him. Wang Qian stared after the others in bafflement, speaking to Su Lin with self-righteous disgust.

Wang Qian didn’t expect Su Lin to say, “Wang Qian, you can go too…”

“Hm? Don’t thank me. You also— What did you say?!” Wang Qian kept talking as if to herself, then suddenly realized what he meant.

“You have been removed from the team…” The system’s notification gave her no chance to protest.

Wang Qian stared at Su Lin in disbelief, as if she wanted to kill him. She couldn’t understand why he would do this.

“Don’t look at me. Think about it yourself.” Su Lin ignored Wang Qian and walked in the opposite direction.

“You can’t leave me behind…” Wang Qian sneered. She thought Su Lin needed teammates more than ever, and wouldn’t dare abandon her.

“Why can’t I?” Su Lin paused, his voice low as if he were forcing down his anger. But after a moment, he turned and walked away.

“Su Lin, you bastard!” Wang Qian raised her pistol and pulled the trigger.

“Click, click…” There was no deafening gunshot. She’d already given away her bullets to Yueye and the spiders just now.

Wang Qian crumpled and fell to her knees in despair. At that moment, she finally understood what it felt like to be abandoned by the team.

“Su Lin… please…”

“Su Lin… you… please…” Wang Qian watched the figure grow smaller as it walked away, growing more and more desperate. Her voice dwindled until it was barely audible. It seemed she was beginning to realize she’d been wrong.

Time passed quickly. No one knew how long Wang Qian had been kneeling there. Su Lin and the few remaining members of the team had long since gone. Lost in her own world, she only now realized she was all alone.

“Squeak, squeak.” The sound from above made Wang Qian jerk her head up in panic.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Wang Qian stared at the enormous spider before her. So the predator had been watching them for this long…

“Waaah…” A sharp pain shot through her body. She could feel her life slowly slipping away.

“I won’t ever… do this again… Please, forgive me… Yueye…” The spider gradually drained Wang Qian’s blood. The pain grew fainter and fainter.

…The spider that had survived Yueye’s attack took Wang Qian’s life at that very moment. Like Yueye before her, Wang Qian had been abandoned by her team, left alone and helpless to die in despair.