Transforming Succubus: Almost Doomsday

One minute.

Upon considering a certain possibility, Zhou Baiyu didn't delay. He immediately approached the bookshelf, ready to randomly flip through a book.

"In less than sixty seconds, just a quick flip, even if I can get a bit of information, that'd be good!"

Zhou Baiyu had already guessed what was going to happen next. He had also confirmed what the endless mode was.

Therefore, this one minute to sum up the failed experience was particularly precious.

But suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

Just as Zhou Baiyu approached the history bookshelf, preparing to pick up a book on postmodern general history, that book...suddenly split open with a crack.

The crack abruptly spread, and a blood-red eye gazed at Zhou Baiyu, while black aura emanated from the closed book.

"Fuck, what the hell is this!"

This scene gave Zhou Baiyu quite a fright, reminding him of a horror movie from his childhood, in which a book concealed a bloody eye.

He immediately wanted to switch to another book but found the entire bookshelf shaking.

Countless cracks suddenly emerged, implying that countless eyes snapped open.

Streams of blood-red gazes were like the buildings outside Hanging Corpse Hospital.

Zhou Baiyu finally confirmed—

The demon lord-level monster he had previously speculated about was nearby.

The closer to the demon lord-level, the more severe the corruption of the surrounding environment.

These books had already become part of some indescribable monster, just like the periphery of Hanging Corpse Hospital.

And just like the walls within the Infested Tower.

When Bai Ling fully awakened, the room within the Infested Tower filled with numerous rotting flesh.

And on the walls of the Infested Tower outside the room, many black lines appeared, lined with various eyes.

Everything was so similar.

It was just a pity that Zhou Baiyu no longer had the time to investigate where the demon lord was located, or rather, to verify his own conjecture.

The countdown ended.

Everyone felt the world in their eyes break into pieces, beginning to peel away and then continuously reassembling.

At the same time, a sense of resentment sprouted in everyone's heart.

...

...

Seagulls soared, sunlight poured onto the deck. The salty sea breeze felt extraordinarily comfortable.

Not far away, several corrupted creatures were looking with strange gazes at a certain spot on the deck, as if a few people suddenly appeared there but then disappeared again.

Everything seemed very much like the beginning, yet everything was starkly different.

An indescribable sense of heaviness made everyone's heart extremely oppressive.

The corrupted creatures quickly charged over, each person's corruption value increased.

All sorts of negative emotions filled their brains.

Only after a bit did "Catching Fish Every Three Days" finally come to his senses—his good friend, "Three Meals a Day," was already dead. His eyes carried a tint of blood-red.

The rest also took up battle stances, as if history was about to repeat itself.

At this moment, Zhou Baiyu shouted:

"We cannot fight them!"

Guang Tongchen, who was ready to draw his sword, suddenly froze.

But the monsters charged over very quickly, and he had no chance to ask Jiang Xianwu the purpose of this action.

Everyone else was also confused. When the monsters attacked, where was the sense in not fighting?

But within a fleeting moment, as the president, Guang Tongchen made a decision—to gamble.

He gambled that Jiang Xianwu's intuition could lead them to safety!

In an instant, darkness descended once more, centering on Guang Tongchen... A dark domain with a radius of five meters unfolded.

Dark Night Calling.

Guang Tongchen once again used one of the Hidden Owl's secret techniques.

The vast darkness erased everyone's presence, as if they entered a state of nothingness.

But as powerful as this move was, it was extremely draining, and if not necessary, using this move was unwise for Guang Tongchen.

Especially since even someone as formidable as he struggled to maintain this domain.

The swath of darkness centered around Guang Tongchen quickly developed cracks.

Luckily, no one delayed, and they instantly moved on to the second round.

The door leading to the gambling casino had been opened.

Zhou Baiyu was surprised to discover that... the monster had been reset, but the door, whose properties she had altered herself, still appeared as it did after her touch.

"This is indeed an unexpected delight. Could it be that items altered by mutation are, in essence, endowed with new rules?"

This hypothesis was something Zhou Baiyu could only verify later.

The Dark Night shattered as if countless shards of black glass exploded in an instant.

Guang Tongchen's breathing grew even more rapid.

After casting Dark Night Summon for the second time, he had clearly expended considerable energy.

Everyone was puzzled; the move he had just used was definitely one that could turn the tide of the battle, but why use it so prematurely?

Only after everyone had entered the revolving staircase of the casino did Zhou Baiyu say,

"I apologize, I wasn't in a position to explain the situation then. Now that we have a bit of breathing room, let's briefly discuss it."

"The evaluation I just received was a C grade. What about the rest of you?"

The snow demon widened her eyes:

"Ah, so even Brother Jiang only got a C grade? I thought I was the worst performer... I got a C as well."

Three Days Fishing also appeared puzzled:

"How come you got a C grade too?"

He felt somewhat ashamed for not being able to contribute more and receiving a C grade evaluation.

But now, finding that Jiang Xianwu also settled for merely a C grade, something seemed amiss.

Guang Tongchen said,

"I, too, received a C grade."

Zhou Baiyu nodded:

"Good, this confirms one of my speculations about the grading."

"Clearly, our grades actually depend mainly on the impact we have on the event's outcome, on the rating of each person's influence on the conclusion not on our personal performances."

"What do you mean?" the prostrate knight servant asked.

Everyone had arrived at the entrance to the gambling game, the second phase of the round.

Each person had the familiar game rules surface in their minds.

Everything seemed like a replica of the previous round.

However, Zhou Baiyu and the others did not rush into the second round of the game; Zhou Baiyu said,

"If we complete the survival test or achieve the mission objective, we're at least C grade."

"During this process, your grade won't change based on the number of enemies you kill, how quickly you clear the stage, or how gracefully you do it."

"We are pioneers, our essence is to go to the Advanced World, the future version, to change the future."

"Changing the future is the only standard by which we're judged, and during this process, we don't need to go around killing monsters in a stylish and show-off manner like Dante in Devil May Cry to get a higher score."

"In fact... we don't even need to kill monsters."

This statement made everyone's eyes light up; it sounded exaggerated, but somehow made sense.

Zhou Baiyu continued,

"In the process of clearing the Gu Tower, many of my actions could hardly be called graceful, but in the end, I altered the trajectories of some people, which might have a tremendous impact on the future."

"That's why I got an SSS grade, while the snow demon was at a C grade because she was almost completely uninvolved."

"'We' determined that the snow demon was dispensable, so her rating was a very low C grade."

"The reason we received a C grade is that... we didn't actually save the hostage, we merely completed the process, but in reality, we didn't solve any puzzles throughout the cruise ship."

"Our actions had no impact on the future."

"Even if you, the guild leader, fought bravely, killing one monster after another, such performance might be a factor in acquiring permanent items, but it definitely won't affect your final grade!"

People were vaguely beginning to understand, and the prostrate knight servant frowned, asking,

"Brother Jiang, where exactly did we go wrong? What caused us all to get a collective C grade?"

After a brief pause, Zhou Baiyu replied,

"Because we misidentified the target hostage!"