Chapter 574 Fooling Oneself

Chapter 574: Deceiving Oneself

"The villagers called that tree the Life Mother Tree."

The wall, already cracked from the torn branches, trembled violently at the murmured words "Life Mother Tree," as if it could no longer bear the overloaded pressure. Every fissure expanded rapidly in that moment, like the veins of some terrifying life form suddenly swelling.

Almost simultaneously, accompanied by a sharp sound that seemed to rise from an abyssal depth, the walls and ceiling collapsed entirely!

"Boom—!!"

A deep yet earth-shattering crash erupted, as if the entire space had tilted and crumbled in an instant. In that moment, even the air seemed to twist under immense pressure, surging into everyone's ears and chests with a suffocating force!

Even under the protection of the Blood Vine, when they looked up, they could still clearly see the walls and ceiling shattering into large chunks of debris, crashing down.

As everyone instinctively closed their eyes, bracing for the impact of the falling rubble.

The surrounding lights suddenly went dark.

Without any warning, in an instant, the entire corridor plunged into an almost absolute darkness.

"Mr. Su! Think of something!"

Chi Yan couldn't help but shout, his voice swallowed by the darkness, yet the raw trust and plea in his voice were unmistakable.

"Open your eyes and look." Su Bai's calm voice came through the crashing sounds in the darkness.

Chi Yan and Le Shiya, who trusted Su Bai without question, instinctively opened their eyes—and somehow, the entire space had quietly lit up again.

The light dispelled the darkness, gradually clearing their vision. Countless pieces of debris were still falling from above, but the large chunks of rubble didn't slam into them as expected. Instead, they dissolved above them, vanishing into the air like dust returning to nothing.

"'It' is probably fused with this building, so there's no stone or cement here. The walls and ceiling, made of 'its' power, revert to that power and return to 'its' body after shattering, right?" Su Bai explained from the side.

The blood butterflies, too simple to sense 'its' danger, let Su Bai see through their vision that Jie Ying had never closed her eyes from the start.

When the walls and ceiling collapsed completely, a strange sight appeared before everyone. Beyond the walls and ceiling, there was nothing but white light, as if the light were concealing something. Yet the light didn't feel harsh; instead, it felt warm.

"What a disgusting sensation." Blood Epiphyllum's voice came from the puzzle piece.

"Why? Because 'it' is the Life Mother Tree 'it' spoke of? Does the bloody power of the red moon repel the Life Mother Tree's power?" Unlike Le Shiya's ability, Su Bai could not only hear the voice from the puzzle but also respond to it.

Su Bai felt that Blood Epiphyllum's power wasn't as strong as 'its', so the Blood Vine protecting them wasn't just about raw strength—it was 'its' rejection of the Blood Vine or the red moon's power itself.

Thus, Su Bai wondered if the clash between the Life Mother Tree and Blood Epiphyllum was like the mutual repulsion of light and dark forces in movies.

"Light and darkness?" Blood Epiphyllum picked up on Su Bai's thought and let out a disdainful laugh. "I can be darkness, but believe me, master, that thing is by no means light."

Having spent time with Su Bai, the puzzle pieces had learned some real-world terms and symbolism.

"The Life Mother Tree? That must be from ages ago. Even the mightiest beings get eroded by the red moon—can't you feel 'its' power fluctuating?"

Su Bai certainly hadn't forgotten. Not long after entering this game, he had sensed 'its' terror from the horrifying fluctuations of the red moon's power. But as Blood Epiphyllum had said earlier, this building lacked the usual bloody smell of the nightmare world.

"Emphasizing that outdated title 'Life Mother Tree,' putting on a friendly tone, rejecting me..."

Blood Epiphyllum let out a cold laugh, her voice fading into nothing.

"'It' is just fooling itself with these actions. Who knows what disgusting thing lies beneath that 'light' skin 'it' refuses to shed?"

No sooner had Blood Epiphyllum finished speaking than the white light, which had been like a curtain obscuring their view, dimmed slightly, as if a corner had been gently lifted by some force, revealing the truth hidden behind 'it'.

"This..."

"Ah!"

Seeing this clearly, Chi Yan and the others were stunned silent. Even Su Bai's eyes widened in shock.

"This... is the real fifteenth floor, isn't it?"

He spoke slowly, his voice low and hoarse, laced with undeniable shock.

Behind the light, the forbidden space of the fifteenth floor was finally revealed:

'Its' withered branches twisted and intertwined, densely piercing the walls and ceiling like distorted veins spreading wildly, weaving a massive, suffocating corridor structure.

Yet, tightly packed between those branches were hundreds of unsettling, translucent, flesh-colored bubbles.

Those "bubbles" varied in shape, looking like freshly extracted fish bladders—slick and sticky, with faint shapes floating in the liquid inside.

When Su Bai commanded the blood butterflies to fly closer and examine the contents of each bubble, a shockwave exploded in his mind.

Infants.

They were infants.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of babies who looked less than a year old, curled up unconsciously, sealed in those flesh-colored bubbles, immersed in an unknown liquid—a sight so eerie it sent chills down your spine.

"Welcome to the Corridor of Rebirth."