Phil fell silent.

However, she reconsidered a few things.

Consciousness, emotions, and the like made people feel as though everything was under their control, yet it was impossible to know how much of their choice was truly free will.

Every moment’s choice influences the personality of the next; if one thinks of it that way and traces it back to the very beginning, humans are nothing more than predetermined automatons. There is no such thing as a “self.”

So, rather than obsessing over whether she was still herself, it was better to steel her will and use this power prudently.

…The above was the serious, self-consoling version of her thoughts.

To put it simply, Phil still couldn’t just give up the strength brought by the Crown.

Of course, continuing to burn Transformation Points to push the Reality Sync Rate was still far too terrifying.

For the time being, Phil couldn’t think of any reason that would justify risking the loss of her “self” just to pursue power.

“What, figured it out?”

The Crown watched Phil’s expression, still wearing that inscrutable smile, though because of her current petite body, she looked more like a bratty kid.

“Yeah, I’ve figured it out. I’m not going to keep raising that damn Reality Sync Rate anymore,” Phil said irritably.

There was one thing she didn’t say: especially since The Crown was clearly hiding something from her, her desire to stop making deals with her had become even stronger.

The Crown definitely seemed to know things she didn’t, yet for some unknown reason, she didn’t intend to reveal everything. Phil had realized long ago that under such a severe information asymmetry, The Crown had taken the lead every single time they dealt with each other.

Being in such a passive position was unbearable for Phil. She had always been the one in control, so how could she let someone else lead her around?

“Eh? My King, have you developed some sort of misunderstanding about your loyal servant?”

The Crown put on a pitiful, aggrieved expression, sidling up to grab one of Phil’s arms with both hands and swaying it back and forth.

“I swear to heaven, I have never once harbored any thoughts against you, not even for a single second. How could you doubt my loyalty?”

“Until you are completely transparent with me, I can only ever take my trust in you with a grain of salt.”

“Waaaah…”

Phil’s heart had grown as cold as a man who had spent thirty years gutting fish in a supermarket; she would never again have any reaction to the Crown’s fake, pitiable displays.

“Fine, fine, I get it. Honestly, it’s understandable.”

Seeing that Phil remained unmoved, the Crown pouted and sighed, stepping back to stand in front of Phil once more.

“But in all seriousness, even if you wanted to continue trading with me to burn Transformation Points right now, I might not necessarily agree. I might be even more worried than you are about you losing yourself.”

A look of sorrow that Phil couldn’t quite fathom flickered in the Crown’s eyes. This time, it wasn’t a superficial affectation; those red pupils, nearly identical to Phil’s own, reflected a look she had never seen before.

“If even you were to pass away, to whom would I speak… when that time comes, who else in this lonely world would be able to embrace me… I love you so much, my King, even though you do not love me.”

The Crown whispered softly.

“There are some things I haven’t explained to you, but one day you will understand everything. I even hope that day comes later; after all, when the day all the foreshadowing is revealed arrives, that is when the story ends.”

For a moment, no one spoke in the black space.

After a long while, The Crown smiled once more, personally breaking the agonizing silence.

“Mhm, well then, the gacha game customer service call segment ends here. The remaining time will be left to my dear player to do as she pleases. Please enjoy your rewards.”

With that, The Crown disappeared, leaving Phil all alone, just as it had been when she first entered the game.

It had to be said, The Crown’s performance truly dazed Phil for a moment, and the thought even briefly surfaced that perhaps she was being too suspicious and had misunderstood The Crown.

But in the end, it was merely a fleeting thought.

Suppressing her thoughts, Phil looked back at the panel covered in text and began taking stock of her rewards.

First was the [Reward: Random Epic Accessory (Pending Claim)] glowing with a purple light under [Side Mission 4: Rescue Xiao Rou].

After Phil’s finger lightly touched this line of text, a streak of light flew out, finally coming to rest in her hand and transforming into what looked like an extremely ordinary hairclip.

The kind that Jiang Wanfeng could buy a handful of for just a few yuan at a roadside stall.

This was an Epic Accessory?

Just as Phil was feeling doubtful, the accessory’s panel surfaced—

Seeing the item description, Phil’s eyes lit up.

Although the description was a bit cryptic, the effect was incredibly practical.

From the description, it seemed different from abilities like [Illusion] that required constant maintenance and would emit mana fluctuations to maintain a transformed appearance.

Phil put on the Faceless Knot and then activated its ability.

Subsequently, her silver hair indeed turned black after a flash of light, and her striking red eyes also became black.

Phil was already very satisfied with this.

While it couldn’t achieve a perfect disguise, it was at least much more reliable than a black wig.

As long as she didn’t run into high-ranking personnel from SAVE, it should significantly reduce the risk of exposure under normal circumstances.

Not to mention, the other two abilities were also quite practical.

Having obtained an accessory that solved her urgent problem, Phil couldn’t help but feel a bit gleeful. She decided to strike while the iron was hot and use her two lottery draws while her luck was still good.

However, it seemed that the good luck was merely a temporary illusion. As the wheel spun, the white light the pointer landed on caused the smile on Phil’s face to instantly freeze.

“What the hell is this?!”

For a moment, Phil even felt that this was The Crown’s revenge for her lack of trust.

This thing absolutely could not be placed at home. If Jiang Wanfeng ever touched it, the consequences would be unimaginable…

With a darkened expression, Phil used her second lottery draw.

A few seconds later, the pointer stopped at the blue light.

Only this time, what she obtained didn’t seem to be equipment.

It was a simple and unadorned skill; normally, it would just be considered a decent ability.

But if combined with Phil’s Domain and those omnipresent threads… in other words, Phil could mark any location within her Domain and then use this skill to teleport there.

That would be terrifying.

However, for now, Phil had to use the powers from the side of the Crown cautiously to prevent imbalance; naturally, opening her Domain and such was out of the question for the time being.

It could be considered a promising prospect for the future.

With the lottery draws finished, Phil looked at [The Doctor’s Ultimate Reagent (Side Effects Removed)] that she had obtained from the [Main Mission: Stop the current operation of the Metamorphosis Society].

With a thought, a small vial containing a golden reagent appeared in Phil’s hand.

The reagent in this vial was extremely similar to the one she had seized from the drug dealer in X City, except the gold within was even more magnificent, reminiscent of the Doctor’s eyes.

Thinking of this, Phil felt it was a bit unpleasant.

Still, she took a look at the reagent’s effects regardless—

After reading the reagent’s description, Phil felt its utility was somewhat niche.

At the very least… it could count as a trump card.

She just couldn’t figure out exactly how much this reagent could enhance her. The most critical issue was that it was a consumable, meaning she couldn’t perform too many tests.

Hmm… maybe she could let Shen Qingshu take a look; she was an expert in this field, after all.

It was just that the origin of this thing was a bit hard to explain…

But on second thought, Phil realized Shen Qingshu wasn’t the type to pry. If she really gave her this reagent for appraisal, she probably wouldn’t say much.

Once again, Phil felt that Shen Qingshu was a truly convenient Contractor, she could handle identity issues and provide information, among other things.

If there was a chance, she really hoped to repay her.

She just didn’t know what Shen Qingshu liked…

After thinking for a while to no avail, Phil decided to finish claiming the rewards in front of her first.

Next came the “hard work and sweat” phase of allocating attribute points—

She currently had 8 attribute points, and her attributes were:

As usual, she distributed them evenly. Phil chose to add one point each to Strength, Intelligence, Perception, and Skill, which became:

The moment her Perception reached 20 points, Phil suddenly felt that the world within her perception had become completely different.

Phil closed her eyes, and her invisible perception spread out like tentacles. With herself at the center, every movement within a small circle around her was caught perfectly in her mind’s eye; it felt as if the whole world had become transparent.

Phil grew thoughtful. It seemed that any attribute would undergo a qualitative change once it reached 20 points.

Although The Crown’s output power had been significantly reduced because it had to suppress the Witch Core, these attribute values were somewhat similar to physical stats and would not be diminished too much because of it.

In a sense, the current Phil could be considered a dual monster of both mechanics and stats.

Although her mechanics were currently suppressed, Phil felt that she could now defeat the former Veil Weaver relying purely on stats alone.

Feeling her improvement, her mood lightened considerably, and Phil opened the skill tree panel again—

She had earned 5 skill points from this mission, and combined with the one point remaining from the last time she allocated points, Phil had exactly 6 skill points.

Thus, Phil chose to unlock all three skills. Simultaneously, new points of light continued to extend across the tree—

So strong…

Phil was a little stunned.

The strength of the next-tier abilities had clearly reached a new level, but the required skill points had also increased significantly.

It seemed she wouldn’t be able to upgrade her skills again anytime soon. Even if she did, she could only activate them one by one; it would be difficult to light them all up at once like she just did.

At the same time, after activating the [Deep Bond] ability, Phil found that she could suddenly sense some faint traces of Monica’s state in her consciousness.

Hmm, right now she’s…

Sleeping.

Well, it was normal given the hour.

As for Shen Qingshu and Jiang Wanfeng, there wasn’t much of a feeling, likely because their Soul Domination levels weren’t high enough yet.

Having finished dealing with the lottery draws and various points on hand, Phil looked toward the final reward for the [Hidden Mission: Absorb the Crown Fragment].

Story Fragment?

What exactly was this?

She couldn’t help but feel that this mysterious, cryptic style was somewhat similar to the Crown…

With that thought, Phil touched the line of text.

Immediately after, the Crown’s sigh-like voice echoed in her mind—

“Reading a story for a second time might evoke different feelings, but it is unlikely to have a different ending…”

Before the words could even fade, white light exploded before Phil’s eyes.

By the time she finally adapted to the intense glare and opened her eyes, the scene before her left Phil even more bewildered…

She found herself seemingly in the middle of a massive palace, sitting upon a seat so large it was exaggerated.

Sitting on this throne encrusted with all sorts of ostentatious gemstones and looking down at the palace, a sense of looking down upon the world spontaneously arose.

But what exactly was going on?

Phil looked around blankly, but she didn’t see the Crown jump out to explain the situation to her.

Where on earth did this send her?