Just how strong is Deng's power, really? This woman who looks so utterly ordinary on the surface—exactly what kind of realm has she reached?

No matter how he tried, Zhao Xuan couldn't think of an answer; this was already beyond the understanding of a Quasi-God.

"Can we have a bit of quiet now?"

Deng's pair of violet eyes shone so clear they could see straight through Zhao Xuan's thoughts, but she didn't care in the least. She just waved her hand casually and lifted the seal on Zhao Xuan's mouth, letting this guy regain the ability to speak.

At the same time, she produced a white book with no cover. After giving Zhao Xuan a few brief looks, she spoke: "Zhao Xuan, born in 1931, became an Apprentice Death God at seventeen, broke through to Tier Five at thirty-six, reached Tier Six at fifty. From then on, because you lacked an Initial Sequence, you stayed stuck at Tier Six for nearly a hundred years."

"It wasn't until 2076 that you finally relied on the Initial Sequence Celestial Ku Blessing you got from Nest City No. 3 to luckily promote to Quasi-God."

"Honestly... I feel like your Talent is really kind of lousy. You got so many Initial Sequences, and in the end you couldn't even get a single True God seat, just stuck at the Quasi-God level—neither here nor there... If it had been someone else, they'd probably have become a True God long ago."

"But then again, in the past few centuries, because of 'Kui's' influence, more than half of the Initial Sequences in the mortal world really have vanished. It's been hard on 'geniuses' like you down below—there's a road, but you can't walk it."

"All in all, I should still give you a tiny bit of praise."

As she spoke, Deng extended a finger and lightly tapped a few strokes onto the blank page.

"It's just a pity that with strength like yours, you still don't qualify to leave a book of your own here in the Cosmic Library as a memorial. You don't even qualify to leave a single page or a single line of words—only a few brushstrokes."

"Anything else you want to say? Once you've become a book here, you'll never get another chance to talk."

"..."

Hearing this, Zhao Xuan's eyes widened, and a rare hint of panic flashed in his gaze.

It was as if he'd already seen his own ending, but he was unwilling to accept it.

"According to your agreement with 'Kui', under normal circumstances, you shouldn't be able to interfere with the mortal world..."

Zhao Xuan muttered to himself, "But now, you're taking the initiative to break that rule, just for this girl...!"

He suddenly pointed at Yun You.

"What is this really for? I don't believe an existence like you would risk violating an oath for the sake of an ordinary girl..."

Deng laughed.

"What for, hmm?"

She fished around in her pocket, took out a pink lollipop, deftly tore open the wrapper, and tossed it into her mouth to slowly enjoy.

Seeing this, Yun You froze for a moment, stared a few times to make sure, and then remembered—wasn't this the 'snack' she'd given Deng after leaving the Cosmic Library for the first time?

"Obviously for these~"

Deng joked as she spoke, but looking at the suspicion on Zhao Xuan's face, she waved her hand again.

"Kidding... just kidding."

"The real reason..."

She turned her head to look at Yun You.

"So, uh, Little Youyou, could I ask you to take off that mask?"

"Don't worry, there won't be a third person besides me and him who sees what you look like here."

Deng seemed to have already anticipated what Yun You might be worried about, so she explained, "I can't leave the Cosmic Library, and this Little Zhao over here will never have the chance to leave again either, so it's fine if we take a look~"

"..."

Yun You fell silent as well.

She didn't understand how Deng knew her name, but it probably had something to do with the "Stargazer" Sequence.

But judging by the Ability this woman had already shown, she might not even need any Sequence Ability at all to get a name.

Deng's strength was unfathomable, like a pool of water that looked calm on the surface, yet hid who knows how many unknown things beneath its dark, glassy depths.

This woman... cannot be provoked. Absolutely cannot.

That was a bone-deep instinct for Yun You.

So after thinking it over for a moment, she still nodded.

Deng had stopped Zhao Xuan, and from the looks of it she would move against him at any moment—that was essentially doing Yun You a huge favor.

Since that was the case, if she wanted to see Yun You's face, it wasn't exactly unacceptable.

With that in mind, Yun You took a deep breath, pinched her mask, and gently removed it...

"..."

In that instant, the Cosmic Library suddenly fell silent.

It was a silence in the absolute sense—no sound of breathing, no sound of wind, nothing at all.

Zhao Xuan held his breath. He saw the girl's face at the very first moment and then... his breathing stopped, and disbelief once again surfaced on his face.

He remembered Shen Ye's earlier reaction.

That guy Shen Ye, when he'd seen half of Yun You's face, had also been shocked to the point of forgetting to breathe.

At the time, Zhao Xuan couldn't understand. Shen Ye was a well‑informed person—what kind of beautiful girl hadn't he seen? How could he be stunned into a daze by the face of a little girl?

But now he finally understood.

He even wondered if he was hallucinating.

Can a human... really be this perfect?

Even as a Quasi-God, he found it unbelievable.

And mere beauty alone still wouldn't have shocked him to this extent.

The things that truly stunned him were twofold.

First: Yun You's looks bore a faint resemblance to two people.

And those two, to Zhao Xuan now, as a Quasi-God, were existences he could only look up to, never reach.

Second: Yun You's pair of scarlet eyes.

Anyone who saw those eyes would feel it was unbelievable and be taken aback.

Zhao Xuan was no exception.

He widened his pupils, carefully examined Yun You's red eyes for quite some time, and only after confirming that these eyes were neither colored contacts nor artificial prosthetics did he finally let out a long sigh and nod.

"So that's it, so that's it..."

"I understand now."

He turned his head to look at Deng, unable to keep from sighing again.

"So she's a [Calamity Demon]."

"That you would help a [Calamity Demon] is the most natural thing in the world."

"Since that's the case, please, do it."

"To meet death at your hands—Zhao has no complaints."

Since Zhao Xuan had already said as much, Deng didn't bother arguing. She nodded in satisfaction, then casually tossed the book in her hand to the still‑dazed Yun You.

"Since this Little Zhao is your enemy, you can be the one to do it."

"Little Youyou, don't you dare say I shortchanged you later~"

Yun You was stunned for a moment, but still reflexively caught the book.

And the instant her palm touched the volume, the method for using this thing flashed into Yun You's mind.

Deng had already used a few brushstrokes on it to write Zhao Xuan's life and death. All Yun You needed to do was gently add a period, and Zhao Xuan's life would end here.

She still couldn't grasp how this was even possible—how a few strokes written in a book could send a Quasi-God to his death...

But...

She knew that Deng—or rather, the being in front of her using the alias "Deng"—definitely had the power to make it happen, and without the slightest effort.

Why was Deng helping her? Yun You still couldn't figure it out.

Thinking it through, it was probably related to that "Calamity Demon" Zhao Xuan had mentioned.

Was that term referring to her? But she was clearly human—how could she be branded a "demon"?

Yun You couldn't help recalling when she was little, how kids her age would always point at her red eyes with looks of disgust and call her a monster every time they saw her.

That feeling really wasn't pleasant.

But speaking of which, in this moment, Yun You didn't have the bandwidth to think about that anymore.

The last of her parents' killers was right in front of her—she had to finish this.

This was the whole meaning of her life...

Thinking that, Yun You took a deep breath. She did not pick up the fountain pen Deng had given her, but instead bit open her own finger and used her bright red blood to draw a not‑so‑perfect period after those lines summarizing Zhao Xuan's life.

The moment the period took shape, Zhao Xuan's Life Force dissipated along with it.

His Spirit Body closed its eyes, and after exhaling one final breath, he stepped into death, completely merging into the words on the page.

Zhao Xuan, Quasi‑Tier Seven Apprentice Death God, true culprit of the massacre, dead.

At the age of 148.