She is dead.

"Oh..." Mo Bai suddenly understood. "You want to learn alchemy."

He asked with curiosity, "Why the sudden urge to learn alchemy? I heard Team Leader Mo say you just awakened your bloodline."

Mo Bai silently recalled a certain afternoon when he saw a listing on the paranormal forum: [Rushed sale of a ritual garment, used exclusively by a female, 99% new, current price only...]

Followed by a long string of zeros that Mo Bai could not comprehend. And that wasn't even the worst part; more terrifyingly, the transaction was completed at lightning speed, and people in the comments were even fighting over it.

It felt as though this hastily sold ritual garment was some kind of ultra-rare, astronomical stroke of luck that could only be farmed with an infinitesimally small probability in the wild...

This made Mo Bai fully realize just how trashy Cao Chen's ritual garment, worth dozens of thousands, truly was.

How could he possibly miss out on such a lucrative gig?

Perhaps he was exceptionally talented and would understand everything at a single touch. By selling ritual garments, he could make a massive fortune, and then he wouldn't have to worry about Sister Li firing him anymore.

He could just buy the maid cafe outright and make Sister Li wear a maid outfit and call him "Master."

At this thought, Mo Bai looked sincerely at Ye Zhi. "For love and peace."

"Please, you must teach me how to craft ritual garments."

Mo Bai patted Shen Qiqi's shoulder. "Don't worry. Since you call me brother, I will definitely not let you go hungry."

"Once I've mastered the technique, I'll craft the very first ritual garment for you. What do you think, aren't you touched?"

Shen Qiqi: "...Ah, this."

He sounded so nice, but in the end, wasn't he just using her as a guinea pig?!

No wonder he told her not to go back on her word...

Shen Qiqi stepped back a few steps in fear. "No, Brother Mo Bai, I suddenly feel like I might have been a bit too hasty."

"I'm still so young, and I have plenty of time. Let's just forget about the ritual garment thing, shall we?"

Shen Qiqi wanted to use her secret technique of running away again, but Mo Bai grabbed her with a merciless iron grip and instantly refined her. His alter-ego sister popped right out, looking unkindly at the magical girl.

"Wuwu!?"

Shen Qiqi had never seen an alter-ego floating around like a female ghost before; she was so scared she curled up like a quail, too terrified to even move a muscle.

Mo Bai gently stroked Shen Qiqi's head with a soft expression. "Say it, you want a ritual garment."

Shen Qiqi: "Wuwu, I want a ritual garment..."

"Say it, you want the large ritual garment crafted by Brother Mo Bai."

"I want the large ritual garment crafted by Brother Mo Bai, wuwu..."

"Alrighty." Mo Bai stopped recording, released Shen Qiqi, and rubbed his hands together like a wretched fly facing Ye Zhi. "Come on, Teacher Ye, please pour your knowledge into my body to your heart's content."

"Don't hold back just because I am a delicate flower."

Mo Bai had helped Ye Zhi sort out Shen Qiqi's situation, and moreover, he was the brother of that famous bro-con Mo Mo, so naturally, Ye Zhi wouldn't refuse Mo Bai.

Besides, he was idle anyway.

"Fine, then I'm going to pour it in hard."

Ye Zhi opened the cabinet next to his feet and took out a book covered in dust. "Here, take this. Just flip through it and take a look to get a general idea of alchemy."

"Okay." Mo Bai took the book, which was about four fingers thick, and asked curiously, "What is this? A secret manual exclusively for beginners?"

Ye Zhi smiled faintly. "More or less, but this isn't the content."

"This is just the table of contents."

He pointed to the rows of books neatly arranged on the bookshelves against the laboratory wall. "Those hold the content..."

"A small part of it."

Mo Bai: "?"

His hand suddenly trembled as if he had contracted Parkinson's disease. The sheer power of knowledge made Mo Bai cry out:

Holy crap, there's too much, it's simply too much! I'm going to be filled to the brim, I'm going to be flooded with alchemical knowledge (tragic).

It's, it's about to overflow!

Ye Zhi looked at Mo Bai and raised an eyebrow. "Well, do you still want to learn?"

Mo Bai gritted his teeth. "...Learn!"

"Taking the long way around is my shortcut."

Mo Bai turned back to look at Shen Qiqi. "You said I'm your brother, right?"

"So..." Mo Bai stared with dead fish eyes, looking utterly desolate. "Before I learn how to craft ritual garments, you must absolutely not go out and buy those shady, sketchy ritual garments from outside, you hear me?"

"Your brother's are the best, got it?"

Shen Qiqi: "..."

She squeezed out a smile that was uglier than crying. "Got it, Brother Mo Bai."

She really wanted to stop caring about this brain-damaged guy. Someday she would just use her private savings and wander around the market...

By the time Mo Bai managed to craft a ritual garment, she feared the queue at the bureau would have already reached her turn.

"Looks like you really want to learn."

Ye Zhi nodded in approval. "Good. To be a good alchemist, the first thing you must learn is persistence."

"Some masters can converse with the starlit sky at the Earth's poles for decades just to observe the stars; others can slice themselves into tiny pieces of minced meat just to control a change that lasts roughly a second."

"Though in the end, those masters either went insane or died, and none met a good end, their persistent spirit is truly admirable."

"Am I right?"

Mo Bai half-closed his eyes in retort, "No, I still think that last part about none of them meeting a good end sounds a bit terrifying..."

"Of course," Ye Zhi said quite naturally. "High-end alchemy requires communication with the Overlords. If you see too many of those incomprehensible things, you're bound to go crazy."

"As for you, though..." Ye Zhi suddenly thought of the incident with the four moons hanging simultaneously in the sky. "You don't seem to need to worry about that aspect."

He smiled. "After all, those four moons all like you so much."

Mo Bai shook his head. "No, it would be enough if just the red moon stayed. As for the rest of them, let's just forget it."

He couldn't afford to provoke them, nor did he want to get entangled.

"Well, anyway, it's not like you can just craft ritual garments once you've learned alchemy. It still depends on your personal aptitude and affinity."

Ye Zhi began to explain professionally. "Some people are good at solidifying miracles, while others are good at instigating miracles."

"And there are those who are good at destroying miracles."

"Let's test what you're suited for first, so you don't end up going down a crooked path like some righteous companion."

Ye Zhi took out a quill, dipped it into a box of blood-red liquid of unknown origin, and under the watchful eyes of Mo Bai and Shen Qiqi, drew a perfect circle.

"The circle represents infinity and the world. As the foundation for basic alchemical rituals, it couldn't be more appropriate."

Ye Zhi explained as he continued to fill it in. "This is a basic ritual called the [Resonance Summoning]. Its purpose is to clarify your soul and see which Overlord's gaze it will attract."

"Though there's a high probability it's the four moons, let's give it a try anyway."

"Alright." Mo Bai nodded and stepped onto it. "What do I need to do?"

"Close your eyes, imagine yourself as the world itself, and picture the universe, the stars, and the scenery beyond the world."

"Then, reach out your hand and call out for a response from a certain existence..."

The laboratory fell silent. Both Shen Qiqi and Ye Zhi stared fixedly at Mo Bai, holding their breath ever so slightly.

For fear of disturbing him.

And then, five minutes passed just like that.

Mo Bai opened his eyes in confusion. "Um, did you draw this thing wrong?"

"How come I didn't see a single one?"

That's right, let alone other Overlords, Mo Bai didn't even see the four moons.

Including the red moon.

Is, is this right?

Ye Zhi walked over and inspected it carefully. "That's impossible. I wouldn't draw such a basic ritual incorrectly."

His expression turned desolate. "Hiss... Did you really lure those four moons over?"

"How can there be zero reaction at all?"

Mo Bai akimboed. "You can doubt my character, but you cannot doubt my aura!"

If the four moons really hadn't come because of him, wouldn't he just become a scapegoat fool?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Putting the other three aside for a moment, could Gu Ran really abandon him?

"I'll make a call and ask."

Seeing Mo Bai pull out a phone, Ye Zhi lost his mind. "Wait, who are you calling???"

"And where on earth did you get an Overlord's contact information?"

Having been an alchemist for so many years, this was the first time he had ever seen someone directly make a phone call to communicate with an Overlord.

Did this call require paying international long-distance rates?

Mo Bai gestured for Ye Zhi to be quiet. A buzzing sound rang out, and soon, Gu Ran's voice came through from the other end of the line:

"Mo Bai? Why are you looking for me... Wait! ■■ Get lost! You ■■ing ■■ me ■■■■..."

"Sorry Mo Bai, I wasn't cursing at you, there's some... ■■! I ■■■■ you ■■ damn!..."

Over the next three minutes, Mo Bai listened to a rapid-fire sequence of high-intensity, hardcore profanity that could only be found on online forums.

Then, amidst a "bang" of an explosion, the call ended.

Mo Bai: "..."

He raised his head with an innocent expression, looking at Ye Zhi and Shen Qiqi:

"She hung up."