ΦT01 World—Uranus Mountain, summit.
The royal palace.
The doors opened.
A woman stepped into the hall and stopped at the foot of the steps. She was young, but her eyes carried the hard calm of someone who’d survived more than one world. Her posture was rigid with pride—Tier-3 pride.
Zhuyuan Li.
She bowed, then lifted her head and met Greedy Wolf’s gaze without flinching.
“My lord,” she said, voice steady, “I’m here to ask you to stop the catastrophe in New Star.”
Greedy Wolf watched her as if she were a curious insect. “Stop it?”
“Yes.” Zhuyuan Li’s hands clenched, then relaxed. “There are three billion people in New Star. They can’t survive what’s coming.”
For a heartbeat, the room was silent except for the faint sound of banners stirring in the draft.
Greedy Wolf spoke, indifferent.
“I won’t.”
Zhuyuan Li’s face tightened. “Why?”
Greedy Wolf leaned back, the throne creaking softly beneath him. “Because I’m curious.”
She stared, not understanding.
“A century ago,” Greedy Wolf said, “this world survived an apocalypse. They rebuilt. They adapted.”
His eyes narrowed, not with anger, but with fascination.
“So I want to see what happens if the apocalypse comes again. If they can do it twice.”
Zhuyuan Li’s breath caught.
Rage flashed across her face—hot and immediate—before she forced it down with sheer will.
Her pride screamed at her to lunge, to curse him, to do something.
But she didn’t.
Because she knew what sat above her on that throne.
Greedy Wolf didn’t look away. He simply watched her struggle to stay composed, like a scientist observing an animal in a cage.
Endless Sea World—October 8, night.
Player Cycle 13.
Windrest Keep, upper tower.
Ethan sat alone in the room, the Memory Box still open on the desk.
The truth burned in his skull:
The body he wore had once been a black-robed deacon of the Fire-Worship Church.
And the System had just handed him five quests that all pointed back to the same place.
Black-White Academy.
Radiance Island.
Sun City.
Damp Moss.
Ethan rested his elbows on the table and stared at the list in his mind.
The key mediums were scattered across worlds and factions:
The Cinnabar Cup was already in the hands of New Star players.
Crow’s Pupil Gate was already held by the Fire-Worship Church—and a New Star player had infiltrated them.
The Snake-Bone Statue’s location was known to some of the New Star group.
Damp Moss was believed to be in the hands of an Infiltrator at Black-White Academy.
Nightmare Coins had no clue at all.
Individually, each quest was a headache.
Together, they formed a map.
A map the original deacon had already started walking.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
The cleanest way forward was also the most disgusting.
He would restore the Infiltrator identity.
He would take the route the Fire-Worship Church had planned—go to Sun City, meet the contact, secure entry into Black-White Academy…
…and then betray every step of it.
He’d sworn he wouldn’t play at being a cultist again.
But the System had made the stakes too high to cling to pride.
If the Fire-Worship Church succeeded, a Lava Lord would descend into the Endless Sea.
Five, if the pentagram altar was telling the truth.
And if Greedy Wolf was really behind New Star’s catastrophe…
Then the Lava Lords were only one part of a much larger game.
Ethan let out a slow breath, forcing his mind into a plan.
First: become a Black-White Academy student—specifically, one of Morningstar’s.
Second: reconnect with the Fire-Worship Church’s black-robed network using the deacon identity the memories had handed him.
Third: use that access to locate Damp Moss—and, if possible, trace the other mediums through the Church’s own logistics.
There was also a practical advantage:
If a New Star player had infiltrated the Fire-Worship Church, then following the Church would likely lead him back to the same group that stole the Cinnabar Cup.
In other words…
If he put on the black robe, he could hunt every target on the list at once.
It was dangerous.
It was filthy.
But it was efficient.
Ethan’s fingers curled around the edge of the desk.
“Fine,” he muttered into the quiet room.
“If you want an Infiltrator…”
“I’ll give you one.”