——[Explosive Drummer]

After she refused to revive the child of Maple Cake, Maple Syrup sent her an A-grade skill. A gunshot rang out, and the bullet in midair rapidly split into countless fiery projectiles, raining down like a torrential storm. Every bullet that hit an obstacle triggered a small explosion, and each one had a 10% chance of activating an auto-locking tracking effect.

This skill not only enveloped Zoey but also obliterated The Lopez Family—there were five survivors in the mansion who hadn't escaped yet.

Zoey skillfully dodged the attack.

Having spent three hundred years as Maple Mu, under the careful training of Maple Syrup, Zoey was no longer the same Zoey. Her whip was like an extension of her arm—crack, lash, flick, sweep, entangle, challenge, block... She was the next leader of the [Afternoon Tea] Legion, personally trained by Maple Syrup!

The whip wasn't of particularly high quality—it had probably been her weapon before she entered High Tower—but the tail of the whip bore a large scorpion-like blade made entirely of fire elements. This was Maple Mu's SS-level skill, [Scorpion], which Rita had seen countless times in High Tower.@@novelbin@@

Rita once asked "Maple Mu" over dinner why she didn't use a spear, the king of battlefield weapons, which seemed perfect for combat.

"Maple Mu" had just taken a bite of bread and hadn't been able to answer. Maple Syrup had replied instead: "She likes it. As long as she likes it, I'll make sure the weapon she likes becomes the king of all weapons. You too, Maple Burn, everything you like, Mother will help you get it."

In terms of combat skills and talents, Rita was always superior to Zoey. Though Zoey had been trained by Maple Syrup for three hundred years, she was still progressing steadily with various combat talents and experience from countless exchanges!

Besides, after leaving High Tower and returning to reality, Rita's attributes easily overwhelmed Zoey's. With the sheer gap in their stats, if Rita landed a hit, Zoey would be instantly defeated.

However, despite Zoey's overwhelming skills and divine gifts, Rita knew that Zoey's true strength lay in the ability to regenerate her health continuously, even when pushed to the brink. After several attempts where Zoey's health had dropped below 1%, only to immediately recover, Rita finally realized what skill Zoey had drawn from her orange-red wings' Divine Gift.

[Snowflake Crisp]'s third skill.

[Dessert Master]: The Dessert Master never fails. Once activated, your current state is saved, and for the next ten minutes, you can freely rollback your health to this saved state. Each time your health drops below 1%, it will automatically rollback to full health. The casting time is 0.1s, with a cooldown of one natural day.

This skill was one of the most practical from Maple Mu's Divine Gifts!

But unfortunately, this kind of talent skill wasn't listed on the character panel; it was stored in Zoey's skill library. If it had been visible, Rita would have risked revealing her own secrets to swap it for[Moment of Reversal].

As for Zoey's Holy Light talent, it was good, but not worth using her[I Could Just Steal It]on. Not even Holy Light was worth it. She wouldn't even spare the energy to use a full[Snowflake Crisp], let alone something like it. She'd only use that skill on an SS-level Divine Gift!

Wait... what about the [Hope] skill in the Holy Light?

If she could use the sharpshooter's skill, [Guaranteed Critical Hit], to swap for [Hope], then sell it to Eclipse Vanguard, she'd get the S-level skill she wanted... Eclipse Vanguard would definitely pay her for it!

[Hope] was critical, the core skill of the Holy Light. She might even swap it for an SS-level skill!

Rita quickly decided to ease up on her offensive approach, guiding Zoey toward Black Jade to position herself for the inevitable blame later.

The Lopez Family mansion was engulfed in flames by [Explosive Drummer], the fire and ruins serving as the backdrop for the fierce aerial battle between two beings with orange-red wings. Their weapons—silver meteorite handguns and fiery whips—seemed to eclipse all the moonlight, their long hair and wings dancing through the night sky.

They frequently closed in for close combat, only to pull back and launch various attribute-based ranged attacks. Waves of residual skill energy rippled out from them, forcing nearby players to retreat again and again. If they failed to dodge in time, they'd lose 10-50% of their health from the skill's shockwaves. No one dared to get close to this battle, except for Shadow.Q, who remained hovering in place. She neither intervened nor left.

In an attempt to feign weakness, Rita pulled out a script for the moment:

"You've been tricked by lies, and you're enjoying it. Wake up! With your talents, Eclipse Vanguard can't harm you. It's not too late to turn back; they'll never accept Blue Star people!"

Zoey flicked her whip and struck the bullets aside. She didn't want to fight Rita, but for some reason, she felt an overwhelming urge to kill every Blue Star player she saw tonight.

She realized that Rita was giving her room. Soon, Rita's health dropped to 12%, which made Zoey sigh deeply. She knew that no one could resist the allure of Maple Syrup's home.

Her tone softened as she spoke to Rita, almost as though they were in the cabin inside High Tower, sitting around a table eating Bear Cookies and drinking Maple Syrup's Butter Beer, chatting about the past. Speaking in the universal Oak Owl language, she said:

"Do you remember what Mother said about the potion called 'Second-Rate Fool' from Lania Kaia? Ah, I forgot. By then, you were already gone.

"It distorts one's perception—what's bitter becomes sweet. The people you despise become those you adore. The ugly is seen as beautiful, the false as true… As long as I can stay with Maple Syrup and Maple Cang, I'm happy to be a second-rate fool!"

Rita was waiting for Zoey's Dessert Master skill to activate. Once it did, Zoey would gain the upper hand, and Rita could steal the [Hope] skill. As she fired another round of [Explosive Drummer], bullets transformed into fiery rain, heading straight for Zoey.

Zoey dodged twice, but then suddenly stopped. She canceled the Dessert Master's effect and turned, embracing the bullets that triggered the tracking effect. With a composed smile on her face, she looked at Rita and said, "Thank you for the help."

The corpses of The Lopez Family dropped from the sky, crashing heavily onto the scorched ground.

The orange-red wings still glowed brightly, like burning flames illuminating the estate. Under Rita and the players' watch, those wings gently wrapped around the bodies, and flames erupted, turning both wings and corpses to ash. Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire

Her pet, Sweetwine the koala, hadn't been extracted from her pet space, indicating that Zoey hadn't truly died.

Rita stood amidst the smoke, gazing down at the ashes that were blown away by the wind. She hadn't managed to stop Zoey's revival skill.

It wasn't that she had been careless or softened at the last moment. As soon as she noticed Zoey's move, Rita abandoned her original plan to use Moment of Reversal, preparing to announce the party rules immediately. However, she realized her skills couldn't be activated because she was still in a party mode—Maple Burn had done this!

But this wasn't over!!