Bai Feifei was currently focusing all her effort on pushing through the pressure, failing to notice the changes occurring within her body. Xu Mo, however, was a different story.
As an Old-Timer who was essentially just along for the ride, he naturally noticed the fluctuations in the Heart of the Real World.
Xu Mo watched with amazement at the faintly glowing phantom heart within Bai Feifei.
He hadn't expected that she would be able to tap into the power of this Evil God's heart on her own!
And why was it white?
This was completely different from when he used it!
Xu Mo was stunned for several seconds.
He instinctively glanced at his game panel, but there were no anomaly notifications.
“Heh,” Xu Mo couldn't help but chuckle. “Not bad!”
Previously, he had assumed this heart was a god-tier item and that the black mist was simply how its power manifested. Now, it seemed that wasn't the case.
Different people, different hearts!
What surprised him even more was that the white energy carried the heart's own emotions.
His black energy was violent, oppressive, and possessed the arrogance of a predator looking down from the top of the food chain—perfectly in line with an Evil God's heart.
But Bai Feifei’s white energy felt upward and positive, possessed of a relentless determination to break through the darkness and spread light!
Holy crap, was the heart’s evil aura before actually just because of me?
That’s slander!
Bai Feifei had no idea what was happening to her body. She only felt a sudden surge of strength supporting her, making her steps feel unexpectedly light.
“What’s going on...?” she asked hesitantly in her mind. “How did I get stronger? Are you helping me?”
“Seize the opportunity and keep going,” Xu Mo replied with a mischievous grin. “The pain means your muscles are growing! Go as far as you can.”
He wanted Bai Feifei to keep pushing herself to see just how much of the heart’s power she could draw out.
Who knew? Maybe she’d even get a transformation form like his black armor.
Bai Feifei took a deep breath and continued forward.
By the time she took her next step, the juiced-up testers ahead of her were already reaching their limits.
Though they were still ahead of her, they were clearly flagging.
The current pressure was enough to make even a Rank 5 Scavenger struggle to move a single inch!
Then, they heard footsteps behind them.
Steady, rhythmic steps. They weren't fast, but they didn't stop for a second.
The man at the back of the group whipped his head around, only to see “Bai Feifei” staring straight ahead, walking right past him without even a glance.
“How is this possible?!” The man gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked, the muscles in his neck tightening like steel cables.
He wanted to give chase.
However, under the influence of the drugs, his power was unstable. He had just hit a weak phase, and his footing faltered, nearly sending him sprawling!
Bai Feifei overtook him, then the next...
The faint white light at the center of her chest brightened a fraction more.
She could feel her body heating up. The soreness throughout her limbs was being dissolved bit by bit, replaced by an indescribable sense of exhilaration.
The observers and recorders on the sidelines were utterly dumbfounded.
“Fifty meters?!”
“Is she already at the level of a Rank 5 Scavenger? She looked like she was about to collapse earlier, so how is she still moving?”
“She looked spent at thirty meters, yet she’s managed to stagger this far. What the hell is going on...?”
Li Menglong stood on the high platform, unable to utter a single word.
His aged face shifted from fury to shock, and finally to a dazed bewilderment, though traces of wariness and malice still lingered in his eyes.
Liu Yun was equally shocked. While her expression remained stoic, a storm was raging in her mind.
This girl is only twenty, isn't she?
What kind of monster is she?
Watching Bai Feifei advance step by step, Liu Yun’s own heart began to race.
Were all the geniuses recruited by the Masked Hermit Society these kinds of mentally unstable freaks?!
Eventually, Bai Feifei overtook everyone on the testing field.
She staggered, her back slightly hunched as if she were on the verge of collapse, yet she kept moving!
The phantom heart throbbed in her chest, its frequency much faster than usual, pumping white energy through her body like blood.
Bai Feifei suddenly spoke in her mind, “I feel like my heartbeat... isn't right...”
“It’s just your muscles growing. Keep walking. Do you think I’d let you die?” Xu Mo said.
He needed Bai Feifei to keep going, to keep putting pressure on that heart. The further she went, the better!
When he had channeled the black energy before, it had already begun subtly strengthening Bai Feifei’s bones and tendons.
Now she was doing it herself. The same body was being buffed by two different methods in succession!
With the heart’s energy boost, her level 42 physical strength was already approaching that of a level 58.
He felt that if this continued, he could definitely build an incredibly broken character!
So, he decided to keep manipulating her.
“What are you doing?” Xu Mo intentionally made his voice sound dissatisfied. “You’re giving up before even hitting sixty meters?”
“Those pointed-headed guys might even overtake you in a bit. They’re just cheating dogs who juice themselves up. Their actual strength is garbage compared to yours. You have to finish the full hundred meters.”
“The Inner City people are all watching. Don’t lose face!”
“If the Prophet thinks highly of you, people might actually listen to what you have to say later. Otherwise, if you tell them Dawn City is doomed, who’s going to believe you?”
Bai Feifei bit her lip. Since the concept of PUA didn't exist in this world, she was successfully riled up by Xu Mo.
Taking a deep breath, she took another step.
Behind her, one of the pointed-headed testers saw her still moving forward and finally snapped.
With a loud thud, he fell to his knees, propping himself up with his hands as he gasped for air.
“Damn it... damn it!” he growled, his voice squeezed from his throat. “She’s playing with me!”
Under the side effects of the potion, his emotions were extremely unstable. He stared at “Bai Feifei’s” back with bloodshot eyes.
Since Bai Feifei had regained control of her body, she hadn't said another word to provoke them.
But to him, this was far worse than when Xu Mo had been mocking them!
In his eyes, she had been sweating and staggering since thirty meters, yet she had managed to get ahead of everyone while looking like she was dying the whole time!
It was clearly intentional. This woman was purposely using this act to mock them!
“You bitch, stop right there!”
He lost all control. He lunged into his pocket and pulled out a syringe, the needle glinting coldly under the lights. It was a backup dose.
When the staff members on the sidelines saw him pull out the drug, their expressions changed, and they rushed to stop him.
But it was too late. Without a word, the man jammed the needle into his own neck!
“Oh?” Xu Mo watched this through Bai Feifei’s eyes and immediately grew excited.
“Someone’s juicing right on the spot?”
“Looks like you’ve successfully broken his mind. Nice work, keep it up!”
Rate on N.U.
