"See? Disobedient children don't just get no candy."
"Even their homes get torn down."
That finishing blow, delivered with a smile as bright as sunshine, completely ignited Annie's final venomous resentment.
She stopped shrieking. Every expression vanished from her porcelain-doll-like face, leaving only dead silence and pure malice.
She slowly floated down from the second-floor stairs. The air around her twisted under the weight of extreme resentment as several pitch-black spikes, darker than ink, formed out of thin air and shot at Qin Feng from every direction with sharp howls that seemed capable of tearing everything apart!
This was her desperate final counterattack, abandoning all domain enhancements and concentrating all her power at one point.
"Annie, games aren't fun anymore. Go home."
The moment Qin Feng finished speaking, he swung the Scissors of Truth again.
This time, there was no fierce killing intent, no domineering force that severed rules.
The silver scissors traced a graceful, gentle arc before him, as though he were not fighting but conducting an elegant ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The resentment spikes that came screaming toward him neither exploded nor were knocked away upon touching that silver arc. Instead, like puppets with their strings cut, the threads of resentment composing the spikes were cleanly severed, silently dissolving and collapsing, all of them "cut" to pieces in midair.
"Annie..."
That name, together with the words "go home," was like two keys with supreme authority, forcibly unlocking the deepest shackles of memory buried beneath her resentment.
What crushed her was not her severed domain, nor her cleansed companions, but this name she had long forgotten and yet still remembered to her bones.
The venom in her eyes cracked apart inch by inch like a sheet of fractured ice.
Confusion, bewilderment, grievance, longing... countless human emotions flashed across her pale little face in turn.
In the end, everything gave way to an indescribable sorrow.
Two trails of viscous bloody tears slowly slid from her hollow eye sockets.
Her body began to turn transparent.
At the instant her resentment and obsession completely collapsed, this lonely soul trapped in the amusement park for more than a decade finally gained her last release from the endless "game."
She looked at Qin Feng. Within those hollow eyes, there seemed to be a barely perceptible trace of a child's timidity and... gratitude.
At last, her figure turned into specks of black light amid unwillingness and relief, completely dispersing within the ruined castle hall.
As Annie vanished, the final trace of chilling aura in the entire amusement park dissipated as well, leaving only moonlight quietly spilling over the ruins.
[Sin Cleansing Successful!] [Target: Orphan Girl in Red (D-Class)] [Cleansing Rating: S (Perfectly identified weakness, creatively used rule-based armament, overwhelming victory without injury)] [Obtained Cleansing Points: 400.] [Extracting target's core concept... Extraction successful!] [Obtained Legendary Armament: Lonely Game Box (D-Class)]
The cold system notification sounded.
Qin Feng felt a warm, stinging pain at the center of his back. With a thought, a virtual light screen unfolded before him, reflecting his back.
A music-box tattoo with an archaic pattern and exquisite design slowly emerged and took shape on the skin at the center of his back.
[Legendary Armament: Lonely Game Box] [Type: Domain/Mental] [Ability: Can consume inner energy to designate a target and force them into a "game." The game's content is randomly generated. If the target "fails" the game, their mind will be dragged into the game box and permanently imprisoned.] [Note: Careful not to play yourself into it.]
"A mental prison?" Qin Feng raised an eyebrow. So this was the root of her suffering—a game that had trapped even herself to death.
This thing was more insidious than Death Notice and more bizarre than the Scissors of Truth.
It did not harm the body; it only destroyed the mind.
Once caught, one would face spiritual imprisonment with no rebirth for all eternity.
"Another absurdly good thing." Satisfied, he closed the description and opened the system panel without hesitation.
Looking at that fortune, Qin Feng had only one thought.
"System, Origin Enhancement!"
[Confirm spending 460 Cleansing Points to raise Form Observation Realm (Early Stage) to Form Observation Realm (Mid Stage)?]
"Confirm!"
[Exchange successful! Remaining Cleansing Points: 50.]
Boom!
An immense surge of pure energy, several times greater than when he had advanced before, swept through his limbs and bones like a warm, sweet rain before pouring entirely into his eyes.
Qin Feng felt an indescribable coolness in his eyeballs, as though they had been immersed in the purest spiritual spring.
[The next second, he suddenly opened his eyes!]
The entire world completely changed before his eyes!
[No longer were there vague outlines and blocks of color, but... a torrent of data!]
He clearly "saw" the sparse Spiritual Energy particles floating through the air like dust, shimmering in countless colors.
He could even look inward and clearly "see" how the miniature vortex formed by the [Gluttony Stomach] within his dantian efficiently ground up, devoured, and converted the Spiritual Energy particles he inhaled into the most fundamental energy.
The range and precision of his Spiritual Sense had increased by more than tenfold!
If the Early Stage of the Form Observation Realm was like possessing night-vision goggles capable of seeing ghosts and monsters,
"Feels great." Qin Feng let out a long breath of stale air. Feeling the sense of control brought by his leap in strength, he was in an excellent mood.
He casually spat out the lollipop that had been sucked down to nothing but a plastic stick. The stick drew a precise parabola through the air and landed perfectly in a broken trash can in the distance. Then, humming a tuneless little song, he turned and left the ruins that had finally returned to silence.
Returning to his bright and spotless new home, returning to his bright and spotless new home, Qin Feng organized the information regarding Doll Island Amusement Park and uploaded it to the Recorder of Merit at the Yellow Springs APP.
They were specifically responsible for recording and compiling field agents' mission reports and achievements, evaluating missions, and ultimately issuing Contribution Points to field agents.
After finishing everything, Qin Feng took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and heavily threw himself onto the soft bed.
From evening until now, the intense hunting and consecutive advancements had left his mind somewhat exhausted as well.
He slept like that for an entire day.
7:00 p.m.
"Bzz... bzz..."
The phone on the bedside table suddenly vibrated.
Somewhat irritated, Qin Feng reached for it and glanced at the caller ID—Shen Bingyue.
He swiped to answer and gave a listless "Hello."
"Qin Feng."
On the other end, Shen Bingyue's voice was no longer her usual cool and detached one. It carried an unprecedented seriousness and urgency.
"Come to the East Sea Branch building of the Special Cases Department immediately."
"The operation to eliminate the Vanishing Bus has been moved up to tonight!"
Before you continue