"......"

Liu Re's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was now thoroughly dead.

Immediately after, Li Ku delivered another crushing blow to him:

"So, perhaps my earlier statement wasn't wrong after all."

"Zhou Qiming... this Morning Star... might just be the key for us to dispel the darkness and achieve a Grand Unified world!"

These words were originally spoken by Li Ku with great conviction and without any sense of awkwardness.

Back at the School, he had already latched onto Zhou Qiming's coattails.

In his heart, even if it was Zhou Qiming who ultimately unified the entire world, he didn't care.

For the sake of his dream, he could even sacrifice himself.

Therefore, as long as the dream was realized, he would have no regrets in this life.

As for whether he himself would ultimately ascend to the pinnacle of power...

Li Ku wasn't as obsessive about that as he was about his dream.

However, the moment he spoke these words just now, a sense of dissonance arose in his heart—

The Morning Star... dispelling darkness?

He only wanted to express that Zhou Qiming's name might contain some profound meaning of destiny.

That's why he said such a thing.

But the problem is...

Dispelling darkness??

Wasn't the very energy Li Ku believed in precisely Dark energy?

So then, Morning Star, dispelling darkness?

Wouldn't this contradict his own faith??

Could it be...

Li Ku suddenly felt a wave of chilling horror.

If the sense of destiny he believed in truly existed...

Then might it be that Zhou Qiming would indeed become the key to the Grand Unification...

while simultaneously overturning his faith?

For a moment, Li Ku fell into extreme internal conflict.

As for Jiang Ye, based on Li Ku's idea of inferring so-called "destiny" from a name, he also came up with some new speculations—

If the Zhou Qiming clone truly contained the meaning of "Morning Star," just like the clone's name...

Then this clone's current slumber might be equivalent to the darkness before dawn?

And the timing of this clone's awakening...

might also carry its own profound meaning?

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly noticed—

Du Yuheng, with whom he shared dual-soul fusion, had at some point fixed his gaze on the calm surface of the Blood Pool.

And this gaze also caught Lin Jing's attention.

From the very beginning, Lin Jing had never underestimated Du Yuheng, this seemingly low-key youth.

Even...

he had noticed the red glint in Du Yuheng's eyes!

He just hadn't openly declared it.

Now, seeing Du Yuheng's gaze fixed on the Blood Pool surface, but without any red glint flashing in his eyes...

Lin Jing hesitantly asked, "Did you see something from this Blood Pool?"

This question also drew Li Ku's attention.

He quickly snapped out of his conflicted thoughts and also looked at the Blood Pool.

Not receiving a response from Du Yuheng, he didn't mind, instead directly asking Li Si, "Well? What do you think?"

However, the current Li Si no longer had the black cloth over his eyes.

His deeply sunken eye sockets made his rugged face look extremely grim.

The tone of his voice was also unable to conceal his gloom, "The black cloth is burned. What else can I see?"

"..." Li Ku frowned, emphasizing, "It wasn't me who burned the black cloth."

Li Si took a deep breath, barely restraining his emotions before slowly exhaling, "I know. I don't blame you."

"But right now, I truly can't see anything."

Lin Dong inwardly cursed, "Serves you right," but outwardly showed confusion, "Could the eyeballs from Glyph Pattern Abilities serve as eyeballs for you?"

However, as soon as he asked this, he belatedly realized, "That black cloth of yours that got burned... could it still see something else?"

This question went unanswered by both Li Ku and Li Si.

After a moment of silence, Li Ku looked at Du Yuheng and asked, "Did you see something? Do you know what the situation is beneath the Blood Pool right now?"

Du Yuheng didn't answer. Instead, he directly addressed Li Si, "It's about time to bring the Fire Chain in."

These words shocked Lin Dong and the others—

What did he mean, bring the Fire Chain in?

Wasn't that Fire Chain... the key to this Blood Pool space?

If you lock the key inside the space...

Wouldn't that mean they could never get out?

Of course, if the bottom of the Blood Pool really led to that so-called World Tree ruins...

then there might indeed still be a way out.

But the problem is...

Throwing the "key" to a dungeon space into the dungeon space itself—such a thing had never been done before!

Not only had no one ever done it in practice.

Even in theory, there was absolutely no reason to do such a thing!

And...

Du Yuheng was telling Li Si to bring the Fire Chain in...

Didn't that mean—

The player currently holding the Fire Chain key to this Blood Pool space...

was also in cahoots with this Li Si?!

For a moment, Lin Dong's gaze toward Li Si became filled with intense scrutiny and hesitation.

Even though Li Ku had already established a consensus for them—

that this group of people were all comrades.

Yet deep down, Lin Dong vaguely felt...

Could this Li Si... really be considered a comrade?

However, Lin Dong didn't voice these suspicions.

Because he noticed that Li Ku, faced with Du Yuheng's statement, wasn't overly shocked. Instead, he directly looked toward Li Si again.

Li Si seemed to have truly lost his vision.

And his face, twisted from losing his eyeballs, still looked grim.

His tone also couldn't hide his gloom, "Without mechanical eyeballs, and without the black cloth's vision to replace the mechanical eyeballs..."

"I simply have no way to contact people outside!"

As he spoke, he slightly turned his head in this near-blind state, as if trying to find something.

However, perhaps thinking of something, he soon fell into despair.

"If even one of us could still produce a single mechanical eyeball, I could still try to contact the outside world."

"But right now, none of us possess any mechanical eyeballs!"

"The outside world can't receive my messages. Our messages can't be sent out either!"

Hearing these words...

Lin Dong belatedly realized:

"So, the reason you dared to enter the Blood Pool space was because even after entering, you could still maintain contact with the outside world."

"But now, we have completely lost contact with the outside world... or rather, only the Blood Pool remains as a channel?"

Li Si didn't directly answer. Instead, he asked, unable to hide his irritation, "Among you, is there anyone who can provide another mechanical eyeball?"

Everyone fell silent.

The answer, of course, was no.

Weren't the only three pairs of mechanical eyeballs all absorbed by the Blood Pool in front of everyone?

Even if someone really still had a mechanical eyeball...

Wouldn't it just get absorbed by the Blood Pool the moment it was taken out?

So...

Were they truly completely cut off from the outside world?

Lin Dong, thinking of Wang Lingling's recent Glyph Pattern Ability awakening, couldn't help but suggest:

"Why don't you try awakening a Glyph Pattern Ability too? Li Ku should still have some Exile Fruits, right?"

However, Li Si shook his head with a dark expression, "Eyeballs from Glyph Pattern Abilities are completely useless."

"Even if the Glyph Pattern mutates during awakening like Wang Lingling's did... there's no black mist left in this space to induce mutation anymore."

Lin Dong was about to say: Shouldn't we at least try?

But before he could speak, he keenly sensed that the atmosphere seemed off.

He couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

However, after a brief moment of contemplation, he tentatively asked, "Do you... already have an idea?"

Li Si still appeared completely blind.

He seemed to only be able to determine Lin Dong's location by sound.

He moved his ears, slightly turning his head toward Lin Dong's direction.

After a moment of silence, he said in a heavy tone, "I do, indeed, have an idea..."

As these words were slowly spoken, Lin Dong increasingly felt the atmosphere was wrong.

His mind grew tense, his heart on guard.

The next second, he indeed heard Li Si say something shocking:

"I want to borrow a pair of eyeballs to try."

?

Lin Dong was startled, quickly realizing, "You're not talking about borrowing mechanical eyeballs, but borrowing normal human eyeballs from our flesh-and-blood bodies?!"

After saying this, he suddenly realized, "Whose eyeballs are you planning to... borrow?"

As he subconsciously asked this, the corner of Lin Dong's eye glanced toward the low-key and silent Du Yuheng.

If one were to ask which player among their group had the most special eyeballs...

Before, perhaps one could have said Wang Lingling, or Li Ku.

But Wang Lingling's and Li Ku's eyeballs, along with that Doll's eyeballs...

had all sunk into the Blood Pool.

The remaining players only possessed the most ordinary eyeballs.

If one absolutely had to pick the tallest among dwarves, who among these ordinary eyeballs was the most special?

That would naturally be...

Du Yuheng!

Whether Li Si, in his current state, was truly blind and could see Lin Dong's glance toward Du Yuheng remained unknown.

But after a moment of silence, he indeed, as Lin Dong expected, said in a heavy tone:

"If possible, I'd like to borrow Du Yuheng's eyes to try contacting the outside world."

"If it succeeds, then we can convey a message to the outside world to throw the Fire Chain into the Blood Pool space;"

"If it fails..." Li Si deliberately paused, his eyeless head turning around as if trying to locate Du Yuheng's position, "...then I'll return the eyes to you."

Heh...

Even Jiang Ye couldn't help but inwardly complain.

This Li Si guy really had some nerve!

First, he asked Du Yuheng to display his [Salvation Domain] skill...

Now he wanted Du Yuheng to lend him his eyeballs?

However, to his surprise...

Just like before, when Du Yuheng actually complied with his request and displayed the [Salvation Domain] skill description.

At this moment, Du Yuheng, faced with such a rude request, didn't show any signs of anger or resistance either.

He only hesitated briefly before actually nodding.

"If placing my eyes into your eye sockets can really serve a purpose... then I'd be happy to help."

"After all, regarding the shared great cause, we've already reached a consensus."

Saying this, Du Yuheng really didn't hesitate much and was about to raise his hand to remove his eyeball.

He added in a rather relaxed tone, "Luckily, I also have a Glyph Pattern Ability. Just an eyeball—removing it won't harm my body..."

As he said this, his palm pressed against his right eye.

As he slowly moved his right hand, the right eyeball was indeed brought out from his right eye by his palm...

The eye socket from which he removed the eyeball didn't bleed. Instead, it simply sank inward.

It was as if a black vapor had dissipated the blood that should have flowed out...

Such a scene did indeed match what one would expect when a player with a Glyph Pattern Ability removed an eyeball.

And because he only removed his right eye,

Even Jiang Ye couldn't help but inwardly complain.

Jiang Ye, sharing dual-soul fusion with him, also shared the perspective of his left eye. Through this perspective, he saw—

This right eyeball that Du Yuheng had removed...

In its detached state, deep within the pupil of the eyeball... it could reflect images!

This...

What was going on?!

Weren't only Jiang Ye clones' detached eyeballs supposed to reflect images?

Why could Du Yuheng's detached eyeball also reflect images?

Could it be... Du Yuheng was also a clone?

But Jiang Ye couldn't sense this clone at all!

Wait, hold on?

Actually, Jiang Ye seemed to have encountered a situation before where someone might be a clone, but he couldn't sense it...

Namely, the original Nomadic Merchant!

Although through various detailed analyses, he felt the Nomadic Merchant was likely some kind of T0-level clone.

But from beginning to end, he had never used his clone ability to sense the Nomadic Merchant clone.

So, if Du Yuheng's situation was similar to the Nomadic Merchant's...

If he truly was a clone, but Jiang Ye just couldn't sense him?

Then perhaps...

When a clone completely achieves "self-forgetfulness," it becomes completely severed from other clones, no longer mutually sensing?

Or perhaps...

Jiang Ye's earlier guess was wrong.

Detached eyeballs reflecting images wasn't unique proof of "Jiang Ye consciousness"?

There might even be a possibility...

That the reason Du Yuheng's detached eyeball could reflect images right now was simply because Witch Gui Jiang Ye had achieved dual-soul fusion with him?

So that eyeball also counted as Witch Gui Jiang Ye's eyeball?

For a moment, Jiang Ye thought of many possibilities.

At the same time, he was also curious—

Was Li Si truly blind right now?

Had he seen that Du Yuheng's detached eyeball could reflect images?

From Li Si's expression, nothing unusual could be seen.

At least outwardly, he seemed completely blind.

When Du Yuheng handed over the detached right eye, he proactively added:

"When you just asked if anyone still had mechanical eyeballs, you said even one would be enough..."

"So my eyeball should also be sufficient if you borrow just one."

"Then I'll lend you my right eye and keep my left eye so I can see."

Li Si didn't object.

In fact, he even seemed somewhat surprised that Du Yuheng was so agreeable.

Lin Dong and the others also felt that this Du Yuheng was really easy to talk to.

Tell him to do something, and he does it.

When not told to do anything, he remains extremely low-key.

He seemed quite easy to bully.

However, Lin Dong naturally didn't dare to truly think he was easy to bully.

He watched as Li Si took the eyeball Du Yuheng handed over, quite politely saying "Thank you," then stuffed that eyeball into his own right eye socket.

Originally, for players possessing Glyph Pattern Abilities, this was just an ordinary, unremarkable scene.

The players present, having witnessed many storms and waves, watched this bizarre scene without any particular feeling.

Only Witch Gui Jiang Ye, sharing dual-soul fusion with Du Yuheng...

The moment Du Yuheng's eyeball was stuffed into Li Si's right eye socket, he was slightly startled.

Because...

At that instant, he sensed a new clone!

A Li Si clone!