When Lin Ye regained his senses, he had already left the cafeteria and entered a gray space.

The ground and sky here were both gray, with nothing around except an endless expanse of gray space.

Little Qi stood by his side, while Little Ye stood behind them.

"You've been waiting here for me all this time?"

Lin Ye hadn't expected Little Qi to stand here waiting for him for an entire day.

"Waiting for you? Didn't we just pass through that light gate? What is this place? What happened to your body?"

Little Qi nervously looked at the additional components that had appeared on Lin Ye's body.

"...I don't know what this place is either. As for these cabbages... these components, they're biological plugins I installed myself, no need to worry."

Lin Ye glanced back at Little Ye. That boiled vegetable dish had given him a headache, and now when he tried to think, various material names would suddenly pop into his mind.

Little Ye didn't speak, merely pointed ahead.

A gray young girl appeared before them.

"Senior, I knew you'd be the first to reach the top of the Tower."

The junior said happily.

"This is the tower top? What should I do now? Are you going to give me a reward?"

Lin Ye thought of the reward she had mentioned before and asked.

"That should have been the case, but senior synthesized a Rule Fragment using one hundred identical fragments. That Rule Fragment isn't unowned, so if senior wants to truly obtain that Rule Fragment, you'll have to fight the challenger sent by the other party. The challenger's rank is the same as senior's."

The junior revealed a mischievous smile. This was her territory, so this same rank meant truly the same rank - the second rank of spiritual energy users. There was no such thing as the entire spiritual energy rank system;

even third rank wasn't allowed.

"I accept."

Lin Ye didn't know what ranks were, but he didn't think he needed to fear an enemy at the same level.

"Don't rush. Are you really sure you want to start the challenge now?"

The junior kept blinking her beautiful eyes. As the master of the Tower and the provider of the stage, she couldn't violate the rules to remind Lin Ye, otherwise those existences would do similar things.

"No, I'm not ready yet."

Without needing any reminder, Lin Ye quickly realized he still had many fragments to process, and this challenge was likely related to fragment settlement.

Lin Ye first synthesized one hundred colorless fragments into an Ultimate Skill. That Fate component had given him a lot of drops earlier.

[Obtained Colorless Rule Fragment*1. Convert to Ultimate Skill?]

"No conversion."

Lin Ye then mixed the remaining fragments and synthesized another Ultimate Skill.

[Obtained Ultimate Skill: World of Ashes]

[World of Ashes]

[Temporarily converts the surrounding space into the World of Ashes, can pull specified nearby individuals into it]

[Note: Warning, use with caution if spiritual energy and mental energy are insufficient]

'...Trash skill, completely unusable right now.'

Lin Ye then synthesized the remaining fragments into several basic skills before saying to the junior:

"Now it's ready. I accept the challenge."

Lin Ye shook the fishing rod, preparing to go all out.

"Excellent! Then let the challenge begin!"

Two green portals appeared behind the junior, and a small Phantom and a half-human-height fish-head monster were thrown out from behind the doors.

When the Phantom saw Little Qi, it landed on the ground and stopped moving, while the fish-head monster ran up to Lin Ye and sprayed red liquid at him.

The familiar movement made Lin Ye hesitate for a moment. He suspected this wasn't an ordinary fish-head monster, but some creature similar to a fish-head monster.

So Lin Ye decided to test it out first.

Lin Ye moved left to dodge the red liquid, then used the fishhook to tear off the fish-head monster's head.

"...That's it? This is way too weak."

Lin Ye hadn't expected to accidentally kill the fish-head monster during his testing.

Little Qi lent her power to Lin Ye again, and Lin Ye used the fishhook to hook the Phantom to death.

"Congratulations, senior, on your victory. Those two Rule Fragments belong to you now, but please be careful of their original owners. Suitable Rule Fragments are very important to them, so they definitely won't let this matter rest."

As soon as the junior finished speaking, Lin Ye received two notifications.

[Obtained Flesh and Blood Rule Fragment*1]

[Obtained Fate Rule Fragment*1]

Lin Ye felt as if something had become different, but upon careful examination, nothing seemed to have changed.

"That's it? Can you send us out?"

Those patients were still drooling in the ward, waiting for Lin Ye to save them.

"I told you, there's no exit here... because there's only an entrance."

The junior pulled a door open from the air like magic, and inside the door was his ward.

'Entrance? But going there would... Wait, no way...'

If it was this kind of entrance, then Lin Ye had a bit more confidence in escaping.

"Can you help send her back to that world?"

Lin Ye looked at the junior. He didn't want Little Qi to follow him to the asylum, because that place was truly very dangerous.

"No, but you don't need to worry. As long as you can escape that asylum, she can return to that world. Not just her, you can all return to your own places too."

The junior smiled and stepped aside to make way.

"Even if I could go back, I wouldn't abandon you and leave. Let's go. Although I don't know what this place is, I'll help you solve the problems here, just like you helped me before."

Little Qi patted Lin Ye's back and walked toward the door first.

Lin Ye had no choice but to follow behind Little Qi. He wasn't used to dragging others into his troubles.

"Oh, right, what about my reward?"

As he passed by the junior, Lin Ye suddenly noticed the blind spot - after the challenge, he still hadn't received the so-called reward.

It wasn't that he particularly wanted any reward, but he was curious about what the reward contained. His memory was quite good, and if he didn't clarify this matter, it would bother him for a long time.

"The reward is this Tower, but I can't give it to you yet. It's still part of the stage right now. After you escape the asylum, it will automatically enter your body. You can look forward to it - it's a very troub... very powerful item."

The junior seemed to be in a very good mood.

"...Can I refuse it?"

Lin Ye vaguely sensed an ominous atmosphere.

"No, because you requested this yourself. You asked me to give it to you, before you entered this place."

The junior said happily.

Lin Ye had no choice but to walk through the door into the ward.

"See you next time. I hope you'll still be alive and well by then."

After the three passed through, the junior closed the door.

Lin Ye glanced back at the wall behind him. None of the components on his body were missing, and his abilities could still be used normally.

Ding ding ding ding ding...

Suddenly, the ward door was knocked on, sharp, urgent knocking sounds urging Lin Ye to open the door.

"There's a Void Entity outside. Can I deal with it?"

Little Qi scanned the door and said.