Shi Jin coughed a few times, put one hand behind his back, and stared blankly at the familiar figure for a long time.

Sheikh was still pondering what the Queen would say before she breathed her last when he heard a cough and immediately turned around.

"Is the wound still not healing?"

The wind and snow were fierce, and in her concern for others, she overlooked the dull pain that was almost imperceptible in her heart.

Shi Jinzhe shook his head, the golden blood in his palms flowing uncontrollably, because he was forbidden from healing and could not cure himself.

Shekh returned to his side, and upon hearing this, she quickly changed the subject, saying, "This outfit is really beautiful. I thought it would be purple."

"Because the divinity has not yet been reclaimed."

She clenched her tattered hand, palm up, and remained silent about the wound.

They were afraid the system would intervene, so they made thorough preparations. Shi Jinzhe even used his blood to help her evolve, but they didn't expect the system to outmaneuver them.

The queen is dead, and she has also recalled the past of this world, but the mission prompt has not appeared, and the system is still waiting.

Wait until she regains her divinity.

Shekh looked at the high wall of his bones; without the wall reclaimed, the reunion with the gods was incomplete.

But to reclaim divinity, one must absorb the energy of the wall.

If Shi Jinzhe hadn't consumed so much energy, he could have tried to purify himself, but in his current state, completely purifying the skeletons would drain him of all his strength, and he wouldn't be able to escape this state until the game ended.

The system knows them too well. The Queen is its bait. It doesn't need to do anything; it just needs to throw out a suspicious point. With their cautious attitude, they can easily make a mistake that backfires.

Shekh could easily imagine that if she absorbed the wall's energy first, the system would definitely intervene when she faced the Queen.

"We've been tricked." She frowned slightly, feeling a bit sleepy.

"If the system wants it, it will definitely try every means to steal your divinity. One princess is not enough, then bring two more."

Upon hearing this, Shekh hesitated and looked at Shi Jinzhe, "You heard everything I just said."

“I heard that. She got off too easily.” He placed his other hand over Shekh’s. “You hadn’t even read any books back then, you didn’t understand anything. It’s not your fault.”

Shekh didn't like what he was hearing, so he pulled his hand back, putting on a cold and ruthless act.

Shi Jinzhe: "Let's just dismantle the dungeon."

Shekh: "But we haven't found Bai Weishuang yet. She's still in this world, and we can't miss this opportunity."

The two hesitated, and just then, two people ran over from a distance.

Yan Ruoying led the way, with Ji Hui carrying Pusheng on his back. When they saw Shi Jinzhe and Shehe, their eyes almost lit up with greed.

"I've finally found you." Yan Ruoying got straight to the point. "Pusheng said you absolutely mustn't touch this wall, or something terrible will happen. Are you alright?"

Shi Jinzhe reassured her: "We didn't touch anything. How did you get in?"

"...Didn't touch it?"

Yan Ruoying completely ignored the question that followed, and was stunned. "But... the city walls were melting when we came in?"

"What did you say?"

Shi Jinzhe quickly turned his head, but there was nothing unusual on the inner wall. He pulled Sheh away as he backed away, saying, "You must never leave me."

Shekh didn't retrieve it, so how could the divine remains, which were unharmed even by the black mist, suddenly melt?

Yan Ruoying and Ji Hui also hurriedly moved away from the high wall. Yan Ruoying kept talking, telling Shi Jinzhe how they got in and what had happened outside.

It's all condensed essence, said in one breath.

But that's not what Shi Jinzhe wants. "It's about details, every single detail, don't miss a single one."

"Ah..." Yan Ruoying only paused for a second before repeating the words as if the scene were being reenacted.

When he heard that Shekh’s molted snakes had voluntarily clung to the surface of the skeletons outside the city, Shi Jinzhe’s heart suddenly sank.

Where is that snake skin now?

He asked Yan Ruoying, but his gaze slowly shifted back to Shekh.

Yan Ruoying and the others weren't here, so they didn't know that it wasn't a snake's molt, but Shekh's snakeskin.

Just now, Shekh has completely recovered.

“The snake shed its skin by itself and flew over to cling to the wall. I couldn’t get it off no matter what I did. And Pusheng is like this. We were afraid of delaying things... so... we came to find you first.”

With each additional word Yan Ruoying spoke, the atmosphere grew colder. Eventually, even the slowest observer realized that an information gap had emerged between the three of them and Shi Jinzhe.

And this information gap led to very big mistakes...

"Did the snake molt fall out on its own?" Shi Jinzhe asked Yan Ruoying again to confirm.

"Yes," Ji Hui replied. "The snake molt is a very important thing. I kept it fixed to my arm, but it fell out by itself when we got near the city wall..."

Shi Jinzhe looked at Shekh's wrist as if trying to escape.

He spoke just now, but Shekh did not respond.

He turned his gaze to the center and caught a glimpse of her floor-length skirt fluttering and spreading out, looking very much like black smoke.

Looking past Shekh, Shi Jinzhe saw moisture rising from the inner wall of the skeleton, and a white droplet slid down into the snow.

Once the corrupted divinity is fused with flesh and blood, can it ever be separated again...?

Without a second thought, Shi Jinzhe activated the purification array. At that moment, the high wall of bones seemed to melt rapidly as if it were a pile of ice exposed to the scorching sun, rushing wildly into the array's range.

The sudden surge of immense power rapidly consumed Shi Jinzhe's life force. Sensing this, Sheh pressed down on Shi Jinzhe's hand.

"release."

The power required to purify the divine bones tainted by the black mist far exceeds that of ordinary purification. The array shone brightly with golden light, and Shi Jinzhe, who was already exhausted, quickly lost his blood color.

All malice was kept outside the formation. Sheh wanted to sever his connection with the skeleton, but he could not control the return of his divinity no matter what he did.

Without the black mist, another strange energy began to wreak havoc in her body.

Shekh finally knew what the Queen wanted to say before she died.

“Skin…bones…and soul, my soul has been cursed.”

"After the Queen took away my divine power, the game cursed me. If I regain all my power, it would mean that I have betrayed my own words that there are no more gods in this world."

“Words become law, and things of the same origin attract each other. My divinity and the curse within my body are merging, which is why I cannot sever the connection…”

Shi Jinzhe feigned composure, "...What would you do?"

"If I absorb it all, I will lose all my emotions and forget everything because of the black mist."

For the first time, Shekh avoided his gaze.

Cleaning an intricately carved wooden window is a different level of difficulty than cleaning an ordinary wooden board, and both she and Shi Jinzhe were well aware of this. After several days of exhaustion, continuous blood loss, and two evolutions, Shi Jinzhe no longer had the strength to purify all the skeletons.

But when it comes to himself, he will persist in this matter even if he has no spare energy.

Especially now that he can't stop absorbing it, he won't stop in order to prevent her from being contaminated.

If this continues, it will be very dangerous for Shi Jin to break.

“You have a card called ‘You have to give to receive.’” Sheh closed his eyes. “You’re willing to give up all my divine power, so you don’t want me to forget you, do you?”

"Shekh".

A string of details crept into Shi Jin's throbbing brain, and his voice was unexpectedly calm, "You wouldn't lie, you knew that card had a language trap, you said it yourself."

The skill effect of "You have to give up something to gain something" means that when you don't know what to give up, using this skill will help you choose how to exchange the minimum loss for the maximum benefit.

At this point, Shi Jinzhe understood everything: the game would ultimately decide who benefits the most.

"The game wants me to help you purify all the skeletons, but it's targeting me at every turn. Now I'm out of strength. Once I fall, the skill cards will belong to it. You understand that, right?"

Shekh did not reply, but Shi Jinzhe could tell from the way she clenched her wrist that she was not at peace.

"Either I risk my life to help you purify, and you forget me, or you use that trap card to save me, sacrificing something the game considers the least important. I think that's most likely the feelings between us."

In the end, the result is the same.

His long-held fears have finally come true.

The immense pressure crashed down on my heart; this instance was a trap from beginning to end.

The game is not about finding the gods; it's about making Shekh willingly become a tool to be manipulated.