The 100th minute...

It really should be the 100th minute.

Only at the 100th minute, after leaving the near-death state, could the two situations of "Curse of Despair" or "Rebirth state" randomly appear...

Only if "Rebirth state" is randomly selected could it then trigger even stranger phenomena.

So logically speaking, anomalies should only appear at the 100th minute.

Clearly, Li Si was also puzzled by this point, which is why he checked He Yuliang's status first.

Soon, he gave his conclusion: "He is still in a near-death state..."

Upon hearing this, the players present were all somewhat confused.

Lin Dong couldn't help but frown and said, "In other words, this guy hasn't triggered 'Rebirth state' or 'Curse of Despair' yet... So the abnormal situation with those three pairs of eyeballs just now has nothing to do with him?"

Zhang E, who was with Lin Dong, also frowned but questioned instead: "But didn't this Li Si just say—"

"During the birth process of that first moon infant, there was also a situation where the mechanical eyeballs all sank into the ground."

"This isn't the Forest of Oddities, so the eyeballs didn't sink into the ground but into the Blood Pool instead. Doesn't that seem very consistent with the situation back then?"

Yes, judging by this situation, it's hard to say it's unrelated to the moon infant birth process.

But the fact is, He Yuliang's near-death state hasn't been lifted yet!

Even if this situation must occur during the moon infant birth process...

It should only appear at the 100th minute, when the moon infant is confirmed to be preparing for birth.

What does this three-minute time difference actually mean?

Even with his eyes covered by the black cloth, Li Si's grave expression was still apparent. He directly followed up on Zhang E's question with his analysis:

"There are roughly two possibilities for this situation—"

"Either it's because of He Yuliang's special circumstances, causing the situation he's experiencing to be different from the first moon infant's birth process."

"Meaning, he indeed randomly got the 'Rebirth state' result at the 97th minute. It's just that this result requires a 3-minute brewing period."

"Or, the other possibility is..."

"There's something wrong with the Blood Pool in this Blood Pool space."

"Meaning, it's not because of He Yuliang's uniqueness. But rather, another existence is using He Yuliang's situation to create the current scenario."

After these two possibilities were analyzed, Chen Cang almost immediately believed it was the second possibility.

After all, he had just been thinking about whether he should use He Yuliang's moon infant birth process to stir up trouble under the cover of chaos.

As a result, before he could even start causing trouble, some other existence had already begun!

However, just as he was thinking this, Li Ku, whose eyes had turned into two deep abyssal cracks, said in a low voice:

"Although I'm more inclined towards the second possibility in my heart, meaning there's some existence in this Blood Pool causing trouble."

"But in this world, what kind of existence can directly strip a player's Glyph Pattern Ability?"

"During your witnessing of the first moon infant's birth, when those mechanical eyeballs sank into the ground, did they also take the players' Glyph Pattern Abilities with them into the ground?"

Although Wang Lingling was covering her eyes in pain.

Compared to the Lightburn pain she had felt before, the pain of losing her eyes now seemed quite trivial.

Thus, she managed to suppress the pain somewhat and quickly voiced her opinion following Li Ku's words:

"My Glyph Pattern Ability also left me along with the eyeball..."

These two people's words shocked Chen Cang.

He immediately carefully inspected his Prometheus Doll again...

Then, he let out an exclamation: "Damn! My doll's ability was also lost along with the eyeball!"

The Witch Gui Jiang Ye thought to himself: Of course it was!

His Cheng Lin-version clone's consciousness had also sunk into the Blood Pool along with that eyeball!

This phenomenon made Jiang Ye highly suspect—

Could the one who stole the three pairs of eyeballs...

Be the same existence that stole the "Formless Leaf" before?

Originally, when Jiang Ye had just returned to this Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh space, he had worried whether his Formless Puppet, which could be understood as an advanced version of the "Formless Leaf," would also disappear like the Formless Leaf did before...

He had breathed a sigh of relief when it didn't disappear at the time.

But now, not only had this Formless Puppet of his disappeared.

But Wang Lingling's and Li Ku's eyeballs had also disappeared along with it.

Chen Cang couldn't accept losing his doll's Fire Theft ability, so he couldn't help but console himself:

"I remember during the first moon infant's birth process, after the moon infant embryo was swallowed by the Moon-Devouring Giant Toad, your eyeballs that sank into the ground flew back out!"

"So maybe..."

Just as the few of them were caught off guard by this sudden situation and engaged in these discussions, the 3 minutes passed.

Li Si seemed unaware, interrupting Chen Cang with extremely fast speech:

"Back then, our eyes flew back from the ground because the Moon-Devouring Giant Toad swallowed the moon infant embryo."

"But now, according to what Li Ku said, the Moon-Devouring Giant Toad's tongue can't reach into this Blood Pool space..."

"Then, can those three pairs of eyeballs really return smoothly?"

Upon hearing this, a thought suddenly occurred to Chen Cang...

If those eyeballs that sank into the ground were nutrients for the moon infant's birth?

Then...

Could those three pairs of eyeballs that sank into the Blood Pool become nutrients to nourish He Yuliang into becoming a moon infant?!

Chen Cang had witnessed the moon infant's birth, so he naturally had his own unique understanding of the so-called moon infant.

He believed that moon infant birth could be replicated.

Theoretically, everyone could become a moon infant.

There were also differences in strength among moon infants.

That first moon infant that triggered the system-wide announcement, by virtue of being "first," did have some special qualities.

But just like the first generation of a product is often the worst generation.

It gets better with subsequent updates and iterations.

He believed that first moon infant, aside from holding the "first" title, was probably nothing special!

It went through so many hardships during its birth. Although it was born, it probably was a malnourished little piece of trash.

But now, He Yuliang's situation was clearly different!

Being in the Blood Pool space, he didn't need to worry about the Moon-Devouring Giant Toad as a natural predator.

Three pairs of obviously powerful eyeballs were nourishing him as nutrients...

Even this entire Blood Pool might become high-quality soil to assist his birth!

This birth of his would absolutely crush that first moon infant that went through so many hardships!

If he really succeeded...

He would probably become ridiculously strong!

At this moment, Chen Cang couldn't help but feel regret!

In his view, it was probably He Yuliang's SSS-grade [Luck] that created such favorable conditions of perfect timing and advantageous terrain for him!

If back then, he hadn't chosen to use He Yuliang for the experiment...

But had been a bit more confident, or had trusted [Protagonist Halo] a bit more...

Would he be the one enjoying this treatment now?!

Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets now!

Chen Cang watched helplessly as, after the 100 minutes ended, He Yuliang completely left the "near-death" state...

His entire body seemed to transform into a mass of black gas again, as if he once again possessed a Pure Black Body.

However, this mass of black gas was clearly not as solid as the Pure Black Body.

Moreover, in just an instant, this mass of black gas was sucked into the Prison watch on his wrist.

Thus, He Yuliang, who had just been lying on the ground, instantly disappeared without a trace.

Only a Prison watch remained, lying quietly on the ground.

At that moment, Chen Cang had another crooked thought, wondering if he could do something about this watch?

However, a hand was faster than his!

With a "whoosh," that Prison watch disappeared without a trace!

Chen Cang followed the direction where the Prison watch disappeared and saw that terrifying Jade Flask that had told him to "let go" before!

The Jade Flask had no lid. It seemed a hand had reached out from within it, dragging He Yuliang's Prison watch into the flask!

But immediately after, the Jade Flask wasn't retrieved by Lin Jing either.

Instead, as if also out of Lin Jing's control, it directly shot into the Blood Pool...

The speed was so fast that none of the players present could react in time!

Thus, three pairs of eyeballs and a Jade Flask containing He Yuliang's Prison watch all sank into the Blood Pool.

Outside the Blood Pool, no more anomalies occurred.

The Moon-Devouring Giant Toad's tongue indeed didn't reach in.

But after waiting for quite a while, the players didn't see any "umbilical cords" with embryos growing from the Blood Pool like the Hair Trees...

For a moment, everyone looked at each other.

Of course, among this group looking at each other, three of them had no eyes...

Chen Cang suddenly stared at Li Si's eyes covered by the black cloth and said decisively: "You anticipated this point early on, didn't you?! That's why you placed your eyes elsewhere long ago!"

"If you hadn't placed your eyes somewhere else, your eyes should have also sunk into the Blood Pool just now!"

Chen Cang was very certain about this speculation.

He soon brought up the old story again, questioning Li Si: "According to what you said, your eyes were destroyed in the Bamboo Tube explosion..."

"But those were mechanical eyeballs! How could proper mechanical eyeballs be easily destroyed by an explosion!"

"You must explain properly to us now, where exactly did your pair of eyes go!"

This series of impolite questions drew the gazes of the other players present onto Li Si.

It seemed he must know something about the moon infant's birth.

Li Si remained silent, and Chen Cang continued to press: "Before, you always said time was urgent, beating around the bush."

"May I ask now, is time still urgent? Can these questions be given clear answers now?"

"..." Li Si still didn't answer directly.

He had no eyes, yet walked precisely to the edge of the Blood Pool.

He suddenly crouched down and lightly tapped the surface of the Blood Pool with his fingertip.

This testing action didn't cause any strange phenomena to occur.

But it made the other players all become wary.

Especially Lin Dong and Lin Jing's group of players, who thought Li Si was also going to sink into the Blood Pool to escape.

However, after this testing action, Li Si stood up again and said slowly to Chen Cang: "You're right—"

"Mechanical eyeballs, of course, cannot be destroyed by just an explosion."

"But at that time, I merely wanted to conduct an experiment—"

"When the moon infant embryo first emerged, all the Sun Person players on site, as well as that batch of Sun and Moon People players' eyeballs, inexplicably sank into the ground and were completely out of the players' control."

"Only after the moon infant embryo was taken away did our eyeballs return."

"The other two Sun People who were with me at the time didn't have any other feelings."

"Because they were pure Sun People. They didn't have 'guilt,' nor did they have the Exile Aura that belongs to guilt."

"So their mechanical eyeballs were purely clean."

"Perhaps that's also why they didn't have other feelings."

"But when I regained my mechanical eyeball that returned from the ground, I discovered a shocking situation."

Li Si paused, his gaze behind the black cloth seemingly glancing subtly at Li Ku.

Then he continued: "That is, my Glyph Pattern Ability that disappeared along with the mechanical eyeball had inexplicably vanished!"

His words shocked all the players present!

Especially Chen Cang, who took a long moment to react and confirm:

"If I remember correctly, you were still a Sun Person back then!"

"Then as a Sun Person, how could your mechanical eyeball possibly contain a Glyph Pattern Ability?!"

This question was indeed bizarre.

However, Jiang Ye instantly thought of that Qi Lin.

That guy was also a Sun Person, yet he also possessed a Glyph Pattern Ability!

So...

Li Si and Qi Lin indeed shared a common secret!

"It's still the principle of 'Sun and Moon Sharing the Same Guilt'..."

Li Si said slowly: "Many Sun Person players only think 'Sun and Moon Sharing the Same Guilt' is the nonsense of madmen."

"No one knows that group of madmen actually enabled Sun Person players to also possess Glyph Pattern Abilities."

"However, this kind of Glyph Pattern Ability doesn't completely belong to the Sun Person players themselves, but rather parasitizes within the Sun Person players' mechanical eyeballs."

"A few Sun People have secretly undergone modifications at that abandoned mental hospital."

"Their eyeballs can use Glyph Pattern Abilities. And I am one of them."

"However, during the moon infant birth process, after the eyeballs sank into the ground and returned, the Glyph Pattern Ability parasitizing in my eyeball disappeared."

This...

Chen Cang became even more convinced—

The moon infant birth process indeed required nutrients!

Glyph Pattern Abilities, or rather Dark energy abilities, were the nutrients for its growth!

That first moon infant was probably truly a malnourished, incomplete version!

The nutrients it absorbed might only have been that tiny bit of Dark energy provided by Li Si's eyeball...

But—

Chen Cang soon questioned Li Si again: "You still haven't answered, what was the deal with the eyes you later transmitted to me!"

Li Si now appeared frank and straightforward, saying directly:

"After the Glyph Pattern Ability in the eyeball disappeared, I immediately contacted Chen Ji from the abandoned mental hospital who had modified my eyeballs."

"He asked me if I wanted to try assisting the moon infant's birth..."

"After some thought, I chose to agree. Then, following his requirements, I injected a new Glyph Pattern Ability into my eyeball."

"Then I delivered this eyeball specially prepared for the moon infant to the moon infant's side."

"But to be honest, I wasn't sure what would happen after doing this."

"Whether the moon infant that had lost its umbilical cord could still directly absorb the Glyph Pattern from the eyeball I provided, I wasn't sure at the time either..."

"But according to the message you sent back, it seems the moon infant should have absorbed the Glyph Pattern I prepared."

"Even, it seems to have absorbed my eyeball along with it."