Zero

The loot dropped by an A-Class Calamity naturally did not disappoint.

However, this monster had not dropped any materials. Instead, all the energy from its corpse had condensed into a card.

It was not a one-use skill card, but a cultivation card.

The front of the card bore the image of a dark, blurry monster, while its back featured a silver five-pointed star.

Skill: Shadow Stealth

Details: Brilliant Silver skill cultivation card. Requires Dark Affinity 15. After fusion, grants mastery of Shadow Dive (Lv.0), allowing you to blend into darkness.

Mechanical Arm Girl looked at the card and softly exclaimed, "Oh? It's actually a cultivation card."

Ji Xun was confused again.

He could understand the words, but how could he possibly know this card's true value?

Mechanical Arm Girl seemed to have grown accustomed to the ignorance he occasionally revealed.

This guy was clearly smart, yet he seemed to lack a lot of common knowledge.

Oh!

Low-level hunters normally never came into contact with cultivation cards, so it was only natural that he was surprised.

She explained, "Legend says these cards were imprinted by ancient Spell Card Masters with Divine Sense. Their drop rate is extremely low, even lower than Brilliant Silver materials. They are more efficient than martial arts manuals. As long as anyone meets the requirements, they can directly master the skill after fusing with one. They are also among the most sought-after commodities in high society, and are incredibly valuable. Besides, this Darkness Stealth should be a lost secret technique of the Assassin Type. At least, I've never seen it before. You'd better not sell it lightly."

"..."

Only then did Ji Xun understand.

It was that ghostly movement technique the monster had used, capable of hiding its true body within shadows. If an assassin-class professional mastered it, it would be extraordinarily useful for both survival and assassination.

Ji Xun also found it fascinating. One could master a skill without arduous training—it was directly imprinted onto the soul.

For wealthy people, this thing was indeed more than attractive enough.

As she spoke, the girl handed him the card without hesitation and added, "I'm not following an Assassin Type career path. This card is useless to me."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Ji Xun glanced at her and accepted it without refusing.

His teammate was unwilling to take advantage of others. He had already learned that earlier.

And since she said it was valuable, it had to be valuable.

But when he checked himself, his Dark Affinity was only at 1.

It would be a long while before he could fuse with this card.

Besides the cultivation card, another utterly unremarkable Black Card appeared on the monster.

The card had no effect whatsoever. It only contained two lines:

"When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."

"Before dawn arrives, someone must illuminate the darkness."

Ji Xun looked at the card and vaguely felt that it was hinting at something. "This should be the final key to clearing the level."

Unlike the skill cards dropped by previous monsters, which could help kill the next stage's BOSS.

This card only had two sentences.

Mechanical Arm Girl pondered for a moment, but could not figure out what it was for. She could only ask, "What does this card mean?"

Ji Xun said, "A clue."

"..."

Mechanical Arm Girl was speechless. Of course I know it's a clue. The question is, what does it point to?

"I don't know either."

Ji Xun understood her expression and spread his hands.

He genuinely did not know. Somewhat helplessly, he asked, "You don't think I know everything, do you?"

Mechanical Arm Girl said nothing, but the atmosphere had reached that point, and her expression clearly implied: Isn't that what you've made it seem like all along?

It was as though she had developed a habitual assumption—whenever they encountered a puzzle, this guy would always crack it from some tricky angle.

Ji Xun guessed what she was thinking and shook his head with a smile.

He said, "It's like playing a puzzle game. The person behind it is afraid you won't find the answer, so they deliberately leave clues behind. But they're also afraid the clues will be too obvious, so they make them obscure and difficult to understand. Only when you need them at a certain moment will you suddenly realize their meaning. A severed clue like this could never be understood the moment you first obtain it."

His words were clearly convincing, and Mechanical Arm Girl's expression beneath the Gas Mask showed her agreement.

After thinking about it, Ji Xun added, "We should be heading to the final stage now. Usually, the last stage is either the most difficult one or something completely unexpected."

As he spoke, he looked at the card and added, "From the looks of it, it should be the latter."

Mechanical Arm Girl said nothing. She stared thoughtfully at the two lines on the card.

After packing up the loot, the two continued deeper into the laboratory.

It seemed Ji Xun's guess had been right. Since they were about to face the final stage, they encountered no more threatening aberrant creatures after killing the Shadow Demon.

A few scattered minor monsters occasionally emerged from corners of the laboratory, but Mechanical Arm Girl always spotted them in advance and killed them easily.

As they walked, Ji Xun suddenly said, "By the way, if you don't mind me asking, what should I call you, miss?"

Neither of them had asked the other's name from beginning to end, but since they had gone through hardship together, he casually asked.

"..."

Upon hearing that, Mechanical Arm Girl simply kept walking without responding.

Just as Ji Xun thought she did not want to acknowledge him, he suddenly heard her reply flatly, "Zero."

Ji Xun repeated it thoughtfully. "Zero?"

It was obviously not a proper name, but a codename.

Still, it did not matter. It was better than calling her Mechanical Arm Girl.

Ji Xun introduced himself as well. "Ji Xun. Pleased to meet you."

Zero heard him but remained silent.

Ji Xun did not mind.

His teammate was a little cold, but she was still a good person.

The two continued deeper inside.

The laboratory had an end after all. Before long, they arrived before a rusty elevator.

"Someone has used the elevator."

"Mm. Probably those mercenaries from earlier."

After checking the passage and finding no danger, they boarded the elevator.

No matter how they looked at it now, this was the path leading to the exit.

It resembled the elevator in a mine abandoned for decades, covered in rust and creaking as it rose, making them wonder nervously whether it would suddenly fall.

Fortunately, nothing went wrong. After ascending the height of more than twenty floors, they reached the top of the elevator.

After passing through a narrow corridor, they arrived in a wondrous Mirror World.

The floor was white, while the ceiling and walls were covered in mirrors of all sizes.

They sensed no monsters, so they walked inside.

At first, there were only a few simple mirror surfaces, but later, the mirrors became more and more numerous.

They saw countless versions of themselves—strange and bizarre versions of themselves—as well as countless pairs of eyes staring back at one another.

The mirrors were filled with bizarre images: doubt, obsession, rage, caution, fear, desire. Within those reflections, they seemed to see everything in their hearts.

There were also warped reflections, the distorted forms of desire.

"Interesting."

Ji Xun continued forward steadily.

Others might have felt uncomfortable looking at so many mirrors, but he was already used to such sights.

Every moment, the images in his mind were like this—countless versions of himself arguing.

Now that he saw the reflections, Ji Xun did not feel the slightest discomfort.

But Zero seemed to have seen something in the mirrors. Her aura was clearly becoming unstable.

Fortunately, Ji Xun noticed her abnormality and patted her shoulder. "Let's go."

Only then did Zero snap out of that nightmare-like state.

This "mirror house" did not seem particularly difficult, and it was unclear what exactly it was testing.

The two walked all the way through it.

Then, suddenly, they reached the end.

Zero said in surprise, "A dead end? A maze?"

She was trying to recall where they had gone wrong, but Ji Xun narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "No. We've arrived."

As soon as he spoke, the mirror-light around them receded like a tide.

When they looked again, the two of them were already inside a sealed iron cage.

Revelation: "Entered unknown space. Discovered special Hidden Mainline. Exploration Progress +5%."