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She sensed something was off.

"What exactly did he say?" She pursed her lips. "Did he say anything else?"

Rong Yin looked at her.

He recounted a strange adventure of a monster.

A monster entered a magical shopping mall, where a group of toys roamed freely.

Toys are just toys; they have no consciousness and only spin around mechanically.

By chance, when the monster walked up to a toy, the toy, which had been strolling leisurely, suddenly shot off like lightning. This was particularly unusual among a group of toys that were slowly rotating mechanically, and the monster instinctively gave chase.

He couldn't catch up.

The toy disappeared from the mall very quickly.

He missed his chance to grab the toy and find out what it was all about.

Later, he encountered several more toys like this, and each time he approached one, it would suddenly start acting up and run away.

He chased after the toys, but at first he couldn't catch up. It took him a long time, but his speed improved, and he was able to catch up with the toys.

He caught up with the first toy.

When he caught up, the toy suddenly opened its belly.

There's something hidden inside the toy.

He stayed in the mall, searching for special toys one by one, and taking the contents from inside the toys.

He started as a very weak monster, but he grew powerful in the mall.

The story ends here. Rong Yin paused, his gaze falling to look at Ye Jiang, his eyes flashing with a deep and lingering meaning. Then, he blinked, concealing it.

Ye Jiang slowly opened her eyes wide.

The story seemed familiar, unexpectedly overlapping with a fragmented phrase that kept echoing in her mind.

so...

Is what Rong Yin said true?

Although it seems like a perfunctory answer, is it actually true?

Ye Jiang went to see the young man. Under the bright light, the young man's flawless face reflected a thin, cold light. His skin was very white, and his pupils were very dark, making him appear even more cold and inhuman, like a carefully sculpted mannequin.

It makes it difficult to discern their thoughts, or to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Ye Jiang: "..."

"What's hidden inside the toy?" she asked.

Rong Yin said, "I didn't ask."

Ye Jiang: "Were there any other people in the mall at that time?"

Whose voice was that?

Rong Yin: "Perhaps."

Ye Jiang: "Perhaps?"

Rong Yin: "I didn't ask."

Ye Jiang: "..."

She looked at him with a hint of dissatisfaction. Why didn't he ask?

Did they not ask, or did they simply not want to answer?

Ye Jiang stared at Rong Yin's eyes, which seemed to hold countless secrets, for a long time, but he never spoke.

never mind.

She still didn't want to force him.

Ye Jiang: "The mall that monster you know entered is this Toy Mall."

Rong Yin: "Yes."

"So you deduced that the mirror fragments were hidden in the toy based on your experience with that monster you knew?" Ye Jiang asked.

Rong Yin nodded. "If they want to hide things, that's the best spot. I suspect they'll do that."

Ye Jiang inwardly agreed; it was indeed true. If she had known about this experience beforehand, she would definitely have thought the same way.

She frowned, trying to process the story Rong Yin had told her, but she didn't want to. The toys in the building hadn't awakened to Quasi-Life consciousness before; back then, they had something inside their bellies that made the monster powerful.

The strange shopping mall back then was different from shopping malls now; there were no toy missions because the toys didn't have any awakened consciousness. So, where did the toy missions come from?

Ye Jiang pondered, her face wrinkling slightly; she genuinely disliked thinking.

"They set it themselves."

A voice suddenly broke in. Ye Jiang looked over and saw a tall, beautiful woman with a cold and aloof face. It was the woman who had been fighting with the toy.

The woman was holding a small yellow chick wind-up toy. The chick was missing a thin leg, which she was holding in her other hand. When Ye Jiang looked over, the woman threw the chick to the ground. The chick seemed dazed and confused, not angry at being thrown to the ground. It looked around, clicking and clacking, searching for its lame leg. The woman glanced at it, then tossed the thin leg onto it. The chick was overjoyed and hugged the leg, immediately putting it back together.

The woman ignored it, her cold eyes fixed on Ye Jiang, and said, "These toys made their own decisions."

Ye Jiang realized what had happened; she had just read aloud the sentence about how the toy mission came about.

Then the answer was found on the spot.

The woman over there said that the toy's tasks were determined by the toy itself.

Ye Jiang stared at the woman who had suddenly spoken to her and asked, "Who are you?"

The little yellow chick put on its lame leg, but the new leg didn't work well. It tried to take a few steps, but it stumbled and bumped into the woman. The woman, expressionless, kicked it and sent it flying.

"Just an unlucky soul who wandered into the mall and couldn't get out," the woman replied to Ye Jiang. "I've been here long enough to witness one unfortunate human after another enter the mall, watching the toys create rules, devise tasks, and deceive humans."

The shopping mall originally had no rules, and there were no barriers between floors, so people could go up and down freely. It was the toys that set all those rules.

Therefore, on the fifth floor, without any prior mission, the toys directly attacked the superhuman Zhang Fan.

Therefore, the 99th floor of the mall is nothing special; there is simply no way out from there.

There were no rules or missions at all; it was just a game concocted by the toys that lasted for decades, deceiving all of humanity.

I see.

I see.

Ye Jiang looked at the little yellow chick, her eyes sparkling.

Click, click, click, the toys in the building gradually regained their senses and began to move around, leisurely spinning.

"Why would they do that?" she asked.

The woman replied indifferently, "Who knows?"

Anyway, she didn't know, and wasn't interested.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Ye Jiang asked calmly. The woman's expression was indifferent, clearly indicating she wasn't a kind-hearted person. The lie that no one was passing toys around in the building meant the woman hadn't told anyone else what she saw.

So, why her?

Why only tell her?

Upon hearing this, the woman's expression finally changed slightly. She stared intently at Ye Jiang and said, "I want to make a deal with you. This information is my way of showing my sincerity."

Ye Jiang: "?"

The little yellow chick recovered and circled around Ye Jiang once. Seeing that Ye Jiang ignored it, it clucked away, its back view looking inexplicably lonely.

The woman watched this scene, a slight ripple appearing in her calm eyes.

The woman's gaze returned to Ye Jiang.

"You've already been to the basement level of the mall, haven't you?" the woman said. "The skeleton there... that's a hero from the Ability Control Bureau."

She paused, seemingly lost in thought, before snapping out of it a few seconds later. Her voice was slightly hoarse as she said, "A hero shouldn't be forgotten in a place like this. I want you to find a way out and send him home. I hope he returns in glory, and that his honor will never be extinguished."

Ye Jiang raised her eyes slightly. The woman stared directly at Ye Jiang.

After a few seconds of eye contact, Ye Jiang lowered her gaze, unmoved by the woman's words, appearing calm and composed. "Since it's a transaction, what can you offer me?"

She doesn't dislike making deals.

The woman said, "My complete loyalty."

She said, "I am willing to pledge my loyalty to you."

Ye Jiang: "."

This was the most unique deal she had ever made.

It's also the most useless.

What does she need someone's loyalty for?

Seemingly sensing Ye Jiang's waning interest, the woman clenched her fist. With a flick of her wrist, her arm shattered into countless silver fragments, which shot towards the back of the little yellow chick toy. The little yellow chick seemed to sense this and tried to dodge, but it couldn't. Several fragments struck its back, and its hard body immediately cracked open in several places.

"The toys in the building are stronger than those of A-Rank superhuman."

The woman looked at Ye Jiang and said, "And I am stronger than all the toys."

She said, "The fragments that split off from my body can be used as disposable props, but I can give you my entire body, whenever you need it."

The fragments on the little yellow chick's back all came off and flew towards the woman, reforming into her arm. The little yellow chick, clutching its cracked body as if afraid it would really split apart, frantically tried to hold on.

Ye Jiang watched quietly, then squeezed the shards of mirror in her hand.

No wonder she sensed flowing energy from the fragments; they really were similar to props.

But she doesn't seem to need that many props.

This deal wasn't very appealing to her, but--

"Oh."

She said, "I agree to the deal."

This deal didn't appeal to her much, but since she needed to find a way out anyway, it was just a convenient option.

The woman silently loosened her clenched fist.

The Mirror Woman had been waiting, waiting for the pale, thin girl and the young man beside her to emerge from the mission space, all so she could discuss this deal with the girl.

A genuine smile appeared on her lips.

"Thank you. But..." The smile on her lips vanished in an instant, "But before that, please allow me to confirm one thing."

As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her hand, and countless silver fragments flew towards Ye Jiang, revealing her killing intent.

At the same time, all the toys that were leisurely spinning in the building stopped, and the next second, disregarding the rules they had set, they rushed towards the 99th floor with a chilling murderous aura, breaking through the false rules.

The woman looked up and saw toys rushing towards her from all directions.