Inside the underground base, Vale Valetti began influencing the monster's judgment through their intricate connection, just as agreed.  

"As you wish... the plan begins now."  

With these words, Vale Valetti's figure dissolved into black oil once more, seeping through the platform's cracks and merging with the dark ocean below.  

The moment Vale Valetti disappeared, the entire black oil sea began stirring. The previously calm surface started undulating violently—  

As if...  

It had begun boiling!  

Lin Yu stood quietly on the platform, observing everything.  

He felt invisible eyes scrutinizing him from all directions, as if the entire Extreme Winter Mountain was gazing back at this tiny human within its depths.  

This sensation was enough to make anyone's blood run cold.  

Lin Yu was no exception—he felt creeping dread rising from the depths of his heart.  

Though not quite "fear" yet, it was far from pleasant.  

"Tch, losing the Corporate Drone ability is genuinely regrettable."  

"But... it's not a major problem."  

Lin Yu climbed onto the platform's railing as he spoke.  

The cavern ceiling housed numerous metal "maintenance passages."  

With powerful legs, Lin Yu leaped onto the nearest metal walkway.  

Grabbing the edge, he effortlessly flipped himself up.  

Now standing even higher, Lin Yu declared loudly:  

"Come on, monster... come on, Chate!"  

His resolute gaze fixed downward, directly confronting the amorphous entity's scrutiny.  

The monster seemed to sense Lin Yu's challenge and transformed again.  

The black oil churned violently below, truly boiling now!  

Soon...  

It morphed and condensed, forming one terrifying apparition after another on its surface—  

Ferocious snow monsters, grotesque zombies, pale spectral ghosts...  

Yet Lin Yu simply watched these horrifyingly realistic manifestations with cold detachment, showing not a trace of fear.  

"These don't scare me..."  

Knowing they were illusions, no monster could frighten Lin Yu at this point.  

Having aspired to be a great actor since childhood, Lin Yu had consumed countless horror films and thrillers.  

Simple visual shocks could never instill fear in him.  

As expected, realizing Lin Yu remained unfazed, the terrifying images quickly dissipated.  

Just as Vale Valetti had said—just as Lin Yu had predicted—  

"This monster can only kill in reality by exploiting 'fear'!"  

Without fear, these manifestations couldn't harm him.  

"Most people probably wouldn't realize this..." Lin Yu murmured.  

After all, this monster's "nature" resembled the Fraudster's!  

One required "belief," the other "fear"—that was the only difference.  

From his elevated position, Lin Yu looked down contemptuously:  

"Pathetic tricks like these won't work on me."  

"Save your cheap theatrics!"  

"If this is all you've got... today will be your end!"  

His taunts made the monster increasingly agitated.  

So close to attaining true life, yet...  

Its consciousness now mimicked living beings perfectly.  

Thus, it had developed primitive "emotions"—  

And emotions led to poor judgment.  

"Come, come, come—show me what you're really made of!"  

Lin Yu's intense stare remained locked on the seething oil below.  

Soon...  

All the black oil coalesced into a new form—  

A towering humanoid figure several stories tall, dripping with viscous black oil.  

It roared at Lin Yu menacingly.  

Suddenly, overwhelming terror flooded Lin Yu's heart.  

All his earlier arrogance vanished, replaced by primal dread.  

Painful childhood memories surfaced—  

That collapsing mine shaft, the flammable gas-filled environment, the oil pipeline explosion caused by rusted screws...  

His oil-drenched father growling "Run!"  

Then...  

Young Lin Yu reaching the shaft's exit, only to watch his father engulfed by flames...  

This was his deepest fear—that monstrous oil-soaked figure disappearing into inferno...  

"Run..." the monster snarled.  

"Ah Hu... run!"  

Yet just as the increasingly realistic (and distorted) giant form solidified—  

Lin Yu's fear abruptly vanished.  

He exhaled,  

"Oh right, my name isn't Ah Hu... and my father wasn't a miner."  

His tone was eerily calm, as if reminding himself.  

This wasn't the Corporate Drone's ability—that was long gone.  

Lin Yu had snapped out of it.  

Everything until now had been Lin Yu's grand deception—  

An actor's masterpiece so convincing it fooled even himself.  

Why forty hours?  

To fully immerse in his fabricated role.  

For forty hours, Lin Yu had lived as "Ah Hu"—  

A young man whose miner father died in a shaft accident he'd witnessed.  

Chate could partially read human fears.  

This was precisely what Lin Yu exploited.  

Surveying the fully-formed oil monster, smelling faint gas in the air, watching the boiling black sea below—  

Lin Yu smiled.  

"My 'fear' plus your 'belief'... double confirmation creates near-perfect replication!"  

He called down to the oil:  

"Vale Valetti, this is what I needed you to do—understand now?"  

"Make it maintain this form!"  

Producing the Black Oil Torch—  

"Whoosh!"  

Pale flames ignited.  

"Now, Vale Valetti—my friend, let it burn as you desired!"  

Lin Yu hurled the torch at the colossal monster.  

From within the oil-covered giant, a human hand emerged—  

Catching the torch.  

"Thank you... friend!"  

Vale Valetti's voice echoed underground as he dragged the flame into the monster's core.  

"Hiss—"  

Pale fire erupted from within, igniting the oil-saturated entity, spreading rapidly until—  

"BOOM!"  

A massive explosion rocked Extreme Winter Mountain's foundations!