A new moon slowly rose.

What it cast down was not shimmering moonlight, but a blood-red glow that made one tremble.

Today, the moon was stained red.

If you looked up and observed carefully, you could see faint black marks on that blood moon.

Stare a moment longer.

You would discover the moon was watching you.

Wu Wang lowered his head and shook it slightly. He crushed the few teeth in his mouth that had been contaminated and twisted into tentacles, then swallowed them.

Mm. The taste was a bit fishy, like deep-sea octopus.

Without a doubt, this inner world was collapsing as the Ghost Gate opened. Taking its place was the culprit who had created it all.

The Abyss God, 【亡】.

Now that even the moon had taken on the appearance of a Vertical Pupil, Wu Wang dared not imagine what creatures could possibly survive here once the Ghost Gate was fully open.

“I can’t close that door…”

Lou Yu lowered her head, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.

Water stains from when Wu Wang had leaped out of the well still pooled on the ground, forming a small puddle on the already damp earth. Though the blood moon cast the world in dim light, she could still see her own reflection.

The half-face of Yu Ji made her extremely emotional.

This world was vibrant and colorful, but none of it belonged to her.

She had wandered for years, surviving severe cold, scorching heat, famine, and even plague. She had willingly lost herself, twisting into a monster for so long.

Now, her entire world consisted of only Yu Ji. He was her sole spiritual pillar.

If what this Descender playing Bai Sha said was true, then Yu Ji was the kind of man who would use his own heart’s blood to leave a message in his palm, just to protect her in his final moments.

Lou Yu’s love was fierce and grand. And Yu Ji had not disappointed her, responding in the purest way possible.

She couldn’t let go of this last straw.

Like an innocent child, she clung to the string of a helium balloon with all her might, terrified it would fly away and never return.

“Roar—”

“Hiss—”

During the stalemate, the roars of malevolent ghosts and the hissing of vicious snakes began to rise from the bottom of the well. Ghostly hands could be seen reaching out from the opening, grasping at anything within reach.

The crack in the Ghost Gate was growing wider.

Soon, the things on the other side would surge out like a tidal wave, drowning everything.

“You don’t seem very worried.”

The scholar boy walked up to Wu Wang’s side.

At this point, Xiaoxiao and Zi Jin were in a full-blown panic. They were desperately trying anything they could to fill the well, wanting to close that damned gate.

But Wu Wang just stood before Lou Yu, watching her silently with a thoughtful expression.

“You’re not afraid of death either, are you?” Wu Wang retorted.

He knew this scholar boy had another trick up his sleeve. He himself wasn’t afraid of death—and even looked forward to it—because of his 【Undying】 trait.

But the scholar boy was different.

Wu Wang didn’t see a lack of fear in the boy’s eyes, but a confident fearlessness. It was the certainty of someone who knew they would leave this Instance alive.

The scholar boy smiled but said nothing. This was his greatest secret; he couldn’t just tell a stranger.

“Xiaoxiao, stop trying to close the gate. You can’t,” Wu Wang shouted from a distance. “He who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. Only this lady can close the gate.”

He beckoned her over.

“Come here first. I need to ask you something.”

Hearing Wu Wang call her, the white-haired loli, who was busy tossing items into the well, was taken aback. She quickly ran to his side, her short stature making her run look comically like a small child’s.

“What is it? Do you have a plan?” Xiaoxiao asked hurriedly.

Wu Wang looked into her eyes, shook his head, and smiled.

“No. You have a plan.”

“Me?” Xiaoxiao was confused. What plan could she possibly have?

Then, a flash of insight struck her. She looked at Wu Wang warily.

“You’ve been in my room?”

Hearing this, he rolled his eyes. “Don’t make it sound so scandalous. I wasn’t after your body, just clues.”

Xiaoxiao was exasperated. Was there really a difference? Both involved barging into someone’s room and rummaging through their things. And to think she had actually trusted this guy.

She now understood what Wu Wang was referring to. That Fuzi Helmet.

Before coming out, Xiaoxiao had already completely repaired the unfinished helmet. But she couldn’t figure out what use it could possibly be at a time like this.

“Don’t worry about its use. Just give it to me, the faster the better,” Wu Wang said seriously, his gaze fixed on Lou Yu, who was still squatting on the ground, caressing the half-face of Yu Ji.

He had another idea. The King of Ideas of Yi Garden was none other than himself, after all.

Looking at the increasingly dangerous Ghost Gate, Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth. She pulled a scroll-like object from her pocket, held it in front of her, and unfurled it forcefully.

“You’d better have a real plan, or I’ll stuff you into that gate myself when I get back…”

She tried to look fierce, but because of the curse, her puffed-up young face just looked like a child holding its breath.

【Hearthstone Scroll (Epic, Consumable Item)】

Can set a room resided in within the last 72 hours as “Home”. Using this scroll allows the user to instantly teleport home, ignoring terrain and distance. A second use allows teleportation from Home back to the original location. During use, be mindful of any Barriers.

【Note】 A ward is placed! I can TP!

The moment the scroll opened, Xiaoxiao vanished. Just three seconds later, she reappeared, an ornate and exquisite helmet in her hands.

“Yo, not bad craftsmanship. You have this kind of skill?” Wu Wang said with admiration.

He took the helmet and examined it closely. Sure enough, it was just as he had thought.

The helmet featured a large forehead plate with a dragon-patterned pom-pom at its center. Its back was shaped like an inverted bell, framed by a wide, octagonal brim with red tassels hanging from each corner. The back flap bore an embroidered dragon, and the whole piece was crafted from a gilded, wire-mesh base inlaid with kingfisher feathers.

This was the Overlord’s Helmet, the exclusive helmet for Overlord Xiang Yu in opera.

Previously, when Prince Xiang played the role of the Overlord in Farewell My Concubine, Wu Wang had felt something was off. His costume and even the weapons on the wall all fit Xiang Yu’s image. The only thing missing was the Overlord’s Helmet on his head.

He had assumed it was just a mistake. But when Troupe Leader Yu appeared as Yu Ji, he was wearing a Ruyi Crown.

At that moment, Wu Wang realized it wasn’t an oversight. It was that “Prince Xiang,” or rather, Lou Yu, believed from the bottom of her heart that she wasn’t worthy of wearing the Overlord’s Helmet.

That was why the Opera God’s Righteous Garden had every costume imaginable, except for this one.

“This is my side quest. 【Side Quest: Repair the Helmet and Give It to the Good Person】,” Xiaoxiao sighed. “Don’t tell me you’re the ‘good person’.”

She seemed to be on the verge of giving up. Things had come to this, and she still hadn’t found a way to lift her curse. After getting out, she wouldn’t have many days left to live anyway. She would rather die here with a clear cause than turn into a child and die for no reason.

“Do I look like a good person to you?” Wu Wang laughed, toying with the helmet. “Tell me, do I look more like a god or a person?”

This remark made Xiaoxiao roll her eyes again. Was this bastard still playing at being a fox spirit asking for apotheosis?

“I think you look like a lunatic, laughing even when you’re about to die.”

Hearing this, Wu Wang’s expression turned serious. “Careful. I could sue you for slander.”

“How did I slander you?”

“You told the truth about what I do.”

“…”

Seeing Xiaoxiao speechless, Wu Wang figured he’d had enough fun teasing her. He strode over to Lou Yu in a few quick steps and held up the Overlord’s Helmet.

“Lou Yu, the true Overlord in your heart… is him, isn’t it?”

With that, he placed the helmet on her head.

According to Wu Wang’s deduction, the masked ghosts in the Nuo Opera Garden worshipped that tattered red cloth marked with the Abyss God’s symbol for a reason. When Lou Yu was at a dead end, about to be stripped of all hope, the Abyss God’s Mark had fallen into the Opera God’s Righteous Garden. It created this inner world for her, a world that held the promise of reversing everything.

From the perspective of the players, and even Wu Wang himself, the Abyss God’s Mark was a corrupting force that destroyed the Instance. But from Lou Yu’s point of view, it was a brilliant red light in the depths of her gray heart.

Therefore, they revered the Abyss God as “good.”

This meant that the “good” in the Instance wasn’t an objective concept. It was what was “good” in Lou Yu’s heart. It was a subjective question. After all, this was her inner world.

There was only one person qualified to wear this Overlord’s Helmet.

And that was Yu Ji.

He was the “good” that could dispel all darkness. Years ago, that boy in the backstage of the Opera God’s Righteous Garden, sweating as he practiced with a painted face, he was Lou Yu’s Overlord.

Only he could change Lou Yu’s decision.

Voom—

The moment the helmet landed on Lou Yu’s head, the entire world seemed to freeze.

The Ghost Gate, already more than halfway open, shuddered to a halt, stuck at the very last bit of progress.

Countless ferocious ghosts had already stuck their heads out of the well. Some were only a few steps away from Wu Wang, their sharp fangs ready to chew his head off. But they could never close that final gap.

Lou Yu slowly raised her head.

This time, it was the Yu Ji half of her face that opened its eye.

His expression was incredibly complex, his eyes revealing an intense mix of love and pain. The control of this body had now passed to Yu Ji.

This also meant that the resurrection of the 【Five-Flower Melody】 was about to succeed. But because he now wore the Overlord’s Helmet, his consciousness had awakened ahead of time and actively interrupted the process.

“Yu, was it worth it?”

Yu Ji’s voice was so gentle it felt like basking in the sun on a warm beach.

Hearing his words, the Lou Yu half of the face sobbed.

“It was worth it! As long as you can come back, any price is worth paying!”

She hadn’t thought about lovers getting their happy ending, nor about spending every day with the one she loved. She just wanted Yu Ji to come back. That was enough.

Even if the price was her own life.

The one who should have died that night was her. The person the old troupe leader had designated to entertain the Prince was her from the very beginning. If she hadn’t let Yu Ji go in her place, he wouldn’t have died beneath the stage he loved, at the hands of the Prince he admired.

It was all her fault.

However, this time, the one she loved denied her.

Yu Ji gave a bitter smile. “No. For you to become like this for my sake… it’s not worth it.”

“This is the only way! I don’t care what I look like! Even if I become a green-faced, long-fanged monster, it’s worth it!” Lou Yu screamed hysterically.

But Yu Ji shook his head. He raised a hand to touch the helmet, looking at the countless eyes on his own arm.

“It’s not your appearance, Yu,” he said softly. “No matter how you change, you will always be the Crescent Moon Girl in my heart.”

“I’m talking about how your heart has changed.”

“To resurrect me through your own sacrifice, to open the Ghost Gate and cause the deaths of innocent people…”

“In that case, how would I be any different from that frontier Prince who abandoned his humanity?”

“Is the me in your heart such a coward who clings to life and fears death?”

At these words, everyone was filled with solemn respect.

Even Xiaoxiao, who hadn’t understood before, now realized why Wu Wang insisted the helmet had to be worn by Yu Ji. This guy… he was so righteous it was almost insane.

A dead man, faced with the possibility of resurrection. Even a Prince, second only to the emperor, was willing to abandon his humanity for such a chance.

Yet Yu Ji showed no attachment. His thoughts were only for the heartache of his beloved’s twisted heart and the kindness that refused to harm others. Such pure kindness was unparalleled.

“Be a hero in life, and a hero in death,” Yu Ji recited from the poem “Summer Quatrain.”

“To this day we think of Xiang Yu, who refused to cross the Wu River.”

Facing the tear-streaked Lou Yu, he gently raised a hand to wipe the tears from the corner of her eye.

“The Overlord felt he had no face to meet the elders of Jiangdong,” he said gently. “He was unwilling to let the flames of war burn his homeland again, so he took his own life at the Wu River.”

“I, too, am unwilling to use anyone’s life in exchange for my own meager survival.”

“If you insist on doing this, even if I am resurrected, I will take my own life right here and seek you on the road to the underworld.”

“Yu, in our next life, let’s watch the moon together again.”

With that, the part of the puppet’s face that belonged to Yu Ji began to fade away. On the Overlord’s Helmet, specks of black and white appeared, forming an opera mask on its front.

Yu Ji had infused his resurrecting soul into it.

The next second, he used his remaining consciousness to make the puppet body stand up. He took off the helmet, faced the Ghost Gate deep within the well, and threw it without a trace of hesitation.

“Yu! Yu! No!” Lou Yu screamed her heart out.

She watched as the helmet fell into the Ghost Gate, where it was seized by baring-fanged shadows and dragged inside. Her tears, once again, turned to blood.

Her mind reeled with Yu Ji’s words. Had she really changed in his heart? Had her persistence and choices all been wrong?

Wu Wang sighed and stepped forward, patting her on the shoulder.

He shook his head and said, “Sorry. You can’t save anything.”

“In the end, the Abyss God’s power doesn’t belong to you. Its very essence is ‘Twisted’ and ‘Error’.”

“You can’t get the right answer by using the wrong power.”

“Even if you stumble upon the correct answer by chance, if your work is all wrong, you still won’t get any points. You’d be better off just writing ‘Solution:’ to look nonchalant and at least keep the paper neat.”

He paused.

“Oh, and I got a perfect score on my college entrance exam for math. This is just how I comfort the academically challenged.”

Although she didn’t understand Wu Wang’s last sentence, Lou Yu now understood what she had to do.

She looked at the helpless Xiaoxiao and Zi Jin, then at the smiling scholar boy and The Joker in the Purple Tuxedo. Her gaze gradually firmed.

“No. There are still things I can save.”

“I can save you all. If it were Yu…”

“He would definitely do this.”

At this, a smile touched the corner of Wu Wang’s lips. As expected. It had to be the true Overlord to make his Yu Ji change her mind.

Just as he’d said. This was Lou Yu’s inner world. If she didn’t want to save you, you could never escape.

Now, she had finally made the right choice.

Just as all the players thought they were about to clear the Instance, Wu Wang suddenly spoke up.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea.”

“You guys just save them. I’d like to stick around for a surprise, and I also want to appreciate the end of the world.”

“After all, opportunities like this are rare. My world hasn’t been blown up by a blood moon just for looking at it, so I should familiarize myself with the process first.”

Lou Yu: “?”

The other players: “?”

He could leave, but he wasn’t? Was he tired of living?

Had this idiot gone crazy?