She was at her wit’s end, unable to think of any other solution.

Tang Mo could only feign composure and use the last of her Power of Sensitivity to continue her repairs. The longer she worked, the more time it took, as if she were performing some kind of delicate, intricate task.

‘She knew this last bit of energy would eventually run out. When it did, it would be her time to truly say goodbye to this world.’

While Tang Mo was preoccupied with her ‘delicate carving,’ she naturally couldn’t spare any attention for what was happening outside the tent.

Just then, Jingjing slipped into the tent at some point. It seemed to sense its master’s consciousness returning and quietly curled up against Tang Mo’s neck.

Ever since Tang Mo’s accident, Jingjing had been standing guard without eating or drinking for days, looking utterly listless.

Seeing Jingjing enter so quietly, Qin Ling didn’t say anything. He just glanced at it before his gaze returned to Momo.

‘Jingjing can get in, so the Sect Leader must have told those outside about the situation. Most of the guards must have been withdrawn.’

‘That makes sense. After all, when the plan began, both I and the Sect Leader were incapacitated. The plan couldn’t afford a single mistake, so the security was naturally ironclad.’

‘But now the plan’s been called off. With me here to guard Momo, there’s no need for so many people.’

A large group would naturally attract unwanted attention, and they were hiding everything about Tang Mo from the public.

‘They needed to buy Momo more time. There was no need to invite more trouble.’

Just then, Tang Mo, who was still struggling to hold on, suddenly felt something nuzzling affectionately against her. Her consciousness swept over it and immediately recognized what it was.

It was the Jade Pendant she had absorbed into her sea of consciousness. It had now transformed into a small, round speck of light.

‘Perhaps when the Space Pearl merged with me, it also re-fused the Jade Pendant. The Jade Pendant still existed as a separate entity, but it no longer had its original shape.’

‘It looked like a miniature version of the Space Pearl, albeit one that had been shrunk down considerably.’

‘Where were you hiding just now?’

Innate treasures like the Attribute Pearl, which contained immense energy, usually had some form of consciousness of their own.

The Jade Pendant’s original level was nowhere near high enough for this, but after several fusions and a long time spent in Tang Mo’s sea of consciousness, it had developed a semblance of thought.

Tang Mo found it a little amusing to see the Jade Pendant flitting about as if it were scared, only to then overcome its fear to nuzzle up to her.

‘Actually, I saw the little thing in my sea of consciousness just a moment ago. But it’s so tiny; even with its energy, it wouldn’t be nearly enough. So when I saw it hiding, I didn’t rush to commandeer its power.’

Tang Mo held a special affection for this Jade Pendant, which had been with her since the beginning of the apocalypse.

The Jade Pendant had witnessed her growth and helped her make up for the regrets of her past life.

It was fair to say that without the Jade Pendant, Tang Mo wouldn’t have had such a significant advantage in the early days of the apocalypse, nor the confidence to do so much more.

The Jade Pendant’s little ball of light spun in a circle, as if hesitating or afraid. But soon, as if it had made a decision, it plunged into the fragments of the sea of consciousness Tang Mo was repairing and dissolved into energy.

So it had sensed its master’s struggle. That was why the Jade Pendant had overcome its fear and decided to offer up its energy.

Tang Mo was moved but also felt a bit exasperated. ‘This Jade Pendant is so dramatic.’

‘It was already part of the energy in my sea of consciousness to begin with. Now it’s just merging back into it. Its own energy isn’t disappearing, just changing form.’

‘So much internal drama!’

The Jade Pendant’s energy was small, but it was still useful.

But soon, the energy available to Tang Mo bottomed out once more.

The closer she got to the end, the more strained Tang Mo became. Maintaining the sea of consciousness in a half-repaired state, when it was already mostly rebuilt, was an even more difficult task.

The tearing sensation of imminent collapse due to the lack of new energy once again plunged Tang Mo into endless agony.

She even felt as if she would be squeezed out of her body again in the very next second.

This wasn’t the first time Tang Mo had endured such pain, but a person never builds a tolerance for it. No matter how many times she experienced it, the pain was as sharp as the very first time.

But the outcome Tang Mo expected never came. A moment later, a full, rich surge of energy was once again injected into her sea of consciousness.

The repair work resumed.

Feeling as if a tightly bound rope had suddenly gone slack, Tang Mo was surprised. She looked toward the source of the energy and saw a familiar golden light.

That golden color was so familiar…

‘It’s the color of the golden icon next to my name on the leaderboards.’

‘The color of Jingjing’s energy.’

Jingjing, who had been lying silently by Tang Mo’s side, had sensed that something was wrong. Although it didn’t know what was happening, its soul contract with Tang Mo allowed it to feel the storm raging in her sea of consciousness and the pain she was enduring.

Overwhelmed with worry for its master’s safety, Jingjing poured all of its energy into Tang Mo’s sea of consciousness.

As a Beast Pet contracted to Tang Mo, Jingjing’s energy was not rejected upon entering her sea of consciousness. On the contrary, because the energy was so familiar, it was accepted with ease.

Thus, with a new injection of energy, the shattered sea of consciousness resumed its repairs.

‘You fool!’

Tang Mo had been in the Illusion World for so long. You couldn’t bring pets into the Illusion World, so she and Jingjing had been separated for a very long time.

‘This reunion might very well be our last.’

Jingjing’s energy was golden. Tang Mo could see it—an immense, majestic torrent, even vaster than she had ever imagined.

Without a doubt, with the addition of Jingjing’s energy, she now had more than enough material to repair her sea of consciousness, with plenty to spare.

However…

This result came at the cost of Jingjing’s life.

Tang Mo and Jingjing were bound by a contract. She could feel it: at this very moment, Jingjing’s Life Force had been completely depleted.

Normally, if a Beast Pet died, its master would also suffer extreme trauma.

But that didn’t happen this time. Jingjing’s energy hadn’t dissipated; it had entered Tang Mo’s body completely, becoming a part of the energy in her sea of consciousness.

In a way, Jingjing and Tang Mo had merged more perfectly than ever before.

Mutant beasts, after all, were still beasts; they were different from humans.

Even though Jingjing’s energy was so immense that it surpassed that of a dozen ordinary superpower users combined, mutant beasts had no way of releasing their energy outside their bodies.

Because they were beasts, their energy was simply an internal reserve; they couldn’t wield it as a tool to be deployed and retracted at will.

There was only one way for them to release their energy: to sever their sea of consciousness from their physical body, taking all their energy with them, with no way to ever return.

And the moment it separated from its energy, it spelled its death.

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