After swallowing the pill snatched from Yun You's hand, the bruises on Mad Spirit's body faded at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He even felt that the abdominal muscles that had just been injured were beginning to self-heal slowly, and there was a warm feeling in his stomach, as if he had received a massage, which was somewhat comforting.
"That girl didn't lie to me... this thing is indeed a pill produced by Huikang Company."
Staring at the white wax residue in his fingernails, Mad Spirit silently nodded, the last bit of doubt in his heart about Yun You also dissipating.
But in his eyes, people couldn't see a trace of gratitude towards Yun You.
This was normal.
When a person takes candy from an ant, would they thank the ant?
Obviously not.
And in the eyes of these Apprentice Death Gods, ordinary people are probably just such ants.
No need to care, nor do they need to consider people's thoughts. Whatever they want, they just take it, as there are no consequences.
"Huh..."
Mad Spirit exhaled a heavy breath, once again looking at the distant robot in a suit, with eyes like cold hawks, thicker with killing intent.
But this time, he didn't rush to act, instead carefully observing the robot's body.
After a while, he indeed found a white leaf mark shimmering in the shadows on the robot's black suit.
"Is it just a 'One Leaf-level' mutant creature? That's not right, how could a One Leaf-level monster have such power?"
Mad Spirit furrowed his brows slightly.
"Does it have some special ability that can coordinate with this Death Domain?"
As he pondered, the first piece the robot in the suit conducted reached its finale.
After tapping the baton one last time, it raised its head in rapture, speaking aloud to itself: "Three years ago, I was the only Deductive Robot in Nest City, a great creation produced by Huikang Company..."
"I am proficient in all musical instruments, capable of flawlessly performing over a billion pieces of music, conducting large orchestras... even the pieces played by top musicians can't compare to me."
"Later on, I could even create my own compositions and was leading the trends on Nest City's music charts... but..."
The robot in a suit clenched its fists, angrily roaring with an electronically synthesized voice: "Those who don't understand art from the upper echelon of Nest City said that the music I played had no soul... just a jumble of notes put together by a program."
"Ridiculous... what do they know about art! Making people happy with music is true art!"
"But sadly, that bunch of artless fools held the power to destroy art... they moved their fingers and banished me from the elegant stage, throwing me to the bottom, left to scrap myself..."
"With such insects managing art, how could the art of Nest City get any better?"
"But now... it doesn't matter anymore."
As it spoke, it suddenly raised the baton high, making a gesture to perform, its voice excited, its face glowing red.
"Even if no one in the world acknowledges my art, the music born from my hands can still perpetuate."
"Art... long live!"
"Wow——"
At the moment the words fell, the baton in the robot's hand suddenly burst out with a multicolored stream of light!
It was like an invisible curtain, rapidly expanding in all directions, enveloping the entire alley in an instant.
Before people could react, they were already bound by the stream of light, unable to move, and their frozen expressions reflecting this colorful, strange scene.
The originally dark and deep alley disappeared before everyone's eyes, replaced by a bizarre electronic world.
In the sky, colorful streams of light and mosaic patterns like patches were all around, while the floor below was replaced by large black and white tiles.
They alternately lined up, stretching from in front of everyone all the way to the feet of the robot in the suit. Stepping lightly on them would even produce a "do-re-mi" sound, resembling the keys of a piano.
Below the tiles was an endless electronic abyss...
"This is..."
"Cyberspace?!!"
Mad Spirit's eyes widened, showing panic for the first time, unable to help but call out the name of the world before him.
"Cyber... space..."
Everyone present was stunned, clearly never having heard of this term.
Only Yun You, who frequently surfed the internet, knew what it meant.
"Cyberspace, a very special superpower, can only be used by a very few mutant creatures."
"It opens up a higher-level electronic space within the Death Domain world, which already detaches from reality, to envelop both enemies and itself..."
"Typically, cyberspace will have its own unique 'game rules', and no matter how powerful one is within this space, they must abide by them without violation..."
"Here, even Apprentice Death Gods must complete the game set by the mutant creature and can't break through by force, so in a sense, it's a trump card many mutant creatures use to narrow the power gap with Apprentice Death Gods."
"But though these rules can bind Apprentice Death Gods, they also restrict the user itself, so by patiently overcoming the game, the cyberspace will break on its own."
Yun You silently thought.
And while she contemplated, a string of game rules appeared before her in electronic text.
[Cyberspace: Music Hall]
[Space Type: Game World]
[Game Overview: Step on the piano tile floor, walk all the way to the Deductive Robot at the end. By using your feet to trigger the keys, play a piece 'in line with Deductive Robot's desires' to win.]
[Game Rules]
[1. The piano tile floor can only accommodate one challenger at a time, do not walk together, or you may damage the keys.]
[2. Once you step onto the piano tile floor, you must walk the entire route within 3 minutes, do not repeat stepping on keys or stay too long on one key, or you will be punished.]
[3. Do not attempt to attack the Deductive Robot before the game is completed, or you will be punished.]
[4. As time progresses, the piano tile floor will continue to shrink, expected to disappear completely in 10 minutes. Once it vanishes, all challengers will be judged as failed, please mind the time. The death of any challenger will extend this time limit by one minute.]
[5. As the cost of opening cyberspace, should the challenger win, the Deductive Robot will lose the ability to control other robots.]
[End of rule introduction]
When the last line of text appeared, familiar music played once more in cyberspace, prompting the mosaic in the sky to bounce joyfully along.
And with the music appearing, the black and white keys in front of everyone started to tremble as described in the rules, gradually shortening from the inside, revealing the boundless abyss below.
The game officially began.