The brown-black shell plummeted directly into the boiling soup below, sending splashes of milky white water flying.
Simmering in a pot of high-temperature seafood broth for just a moment, the shell resurfaced, with its two tightly closed valves open, revealing its contents.
However, when Wen Nan looked closely, they discovered that the shell did not contain the anticipated cooked pale yellow clam meat, but rather...
A woman's face.
The face was very blurry, appearing as if the faceless woman in Yu Shujun's previous test space had roughly sketched out a portrait on her flat, two-dimensional face.
Even such an abstract face, though shrouded in thick steam, still allowed Wen Nan to clearly see the expression on it.
The woman, at this moment, was staring straight at Wen Nan, her eyes brimming with intense hatred.
If looks could kill, Wen Nan would have been slain a hundred times over by now.
Wen Nan squinted slightly, staring blankly at the woman, meeting her gaze.
The next moment, the surrounding temperature suddenly dropped, followed by the complete disappearance of the water vapor.
Wen Nan snapped back to reality, looked up and found that, unknowingly, they had been carried out of the seafood pot by a metal spoon.
Guan Ailin placed Jun Beibei on the pot's handle, and once she landed steadily, she reverted to her female form wearing a white dress, kneeling beside Jun Beibei to check on her condition.
Jun Beibei held the metal box, its lid open, with the Sea Gourd crawling out and nestling into her arms, softly calling "Beibei."
Jun Beibei gently stroked the hem of the Sea Gourd's dress, presenting a very harmonious scene of maternal tenderness.
However, Wen Nan loosened the strand of wakame, jumped onto the handle, squatted beside Jun Beibei, and looked toward her shell, seeing only a series of cold readings—
[Candidate: Number 1; Testing Stage: Phase Two; Obsession Value Clearance Progress: 31%.]
The clearance progress of the obsession value was frozen at 31% when Jun Beibei cut the chain with a golden fruit knife and decided to plunge into the bottom of the pot, and it had not increased since.
Even though they successfully retrieved the Sea Gourd and safely left the bottom of the seafood pot, this number did not change.
As Wen Nan was contemplating, a sudden system announcement echoed in their mind—
9527: [Congratulations to the contestant for successfully reaching 100% Obsession Value Clearance Progress!]
9527: [According to the Divine Staff Sheath Qualification Test rules, the contestant with the highest clearance at the end wins. In the event of a tie, the first to reach the score wins.]
9527: [Congratulations! You are the first candidate to achieve a perfect score in this test and win by default!]
9527: [This qualification test ends early. This test space will disintegrate in 15 minutes. Please prepare for settlement.]
With a stroke of luck, Wen Nan snagged first place once again.
As the system announcement appeared, the elements in Test Space Number 1 began to disintegrate gradually.
However, this time the space disintegrated more slowly than previous occasions.
Previously, in just a few seconds, the furniture and furnishings in the test space became transparent, and within minutes, everything inside turned to black smoke and dissipated.
This time, a few minutes after the announcement, apart from the complete disappearance of water vapor, there was no immediate sign of space disintegration.
Wen Nan checked the system countdown in their mind, confirming their initial suspicion—that the time flow here was reduced to less than a tenth of normal.
In other words, it would take more than two hours for this test space to completely disintegrate.
This time would be sufficient for Wen Nan to head over to Test Space Number 3 to finish what needed to be done.
However, before that, Wen Nan glanced at the severed chain on Beibei's shell and then at the golden-glowing fruit knife in their hand, and the emotions that had been bottled up began to brew again.
Lost in thought, Wen Nan's spine was caught by the white hem of a dress.
Yu Shujun had opened her mouth slightly, seemingly wanting to ask something, but hadn't yet spoken. When their eyes met and she saw the resentment and anger in Wen Nan's eyes, Yu Shujun swallowed back her question.
A moment later, seeing that Yu Shujun was not about to speak, Wen Nan took the initiative to say, "Did you choose your mom?"
Yu Shujun: ?
Guan Ailin: ?
Mo Yu: "Boss, why are you insulting people?"
As Wen Nan was scrutinized with bewilderment by the three women's faces, some of his rationality returned, and much of his prior anger dissipated.
As soon as the question was asked, he felt that it sounded somewhat absurd.
It was almost like those cliché questions lovers ask, "If I and your mom fell into the water, who would you save first?" that are so idiotic.
Normally, Wen Nan would never ask such a question—the destructive nature of that question is so powerful that not even 50,000 charm points could withstand it.
But earlier, without going through his mind, the words just slipped out of his mouth.
This was all the fault of the lingering impact of the seafood school drama in Test Space Number 2.
Wen Nan suspected that this test space had incorporated his obsessions—though according to Qiaozi, he supposedly didn't have any obsessions in his mind. Why there were no obsessions yet it could merge with Yu Shujun's obsessions, Wen Nan hadn't figured out yet—but regardless, since his obsessions had fused here, the strong empathy he felt, even after the test was over, was understandable, wasn't it?
Because just earlier, right before Wen Nan fully awakened from the illusion and successfully summoned Guan Ailin and Mo Yu, he had watched helplessly as Jun Beibei cut the chain herself and fell into the scalding broth. The anger and helplessness he experienced were genuine.
That feeling, he didn't want to encounter it again.
If not in the test space, if he hadn't managed to awaken at the critical moment, would Yu Shujun make the same choice next time, when faced with a similar situation?
Perish with the black Arctic Clam that claimed to be her mother, completing Wen Nan, letting him, just a sea cucumber, head to freedom alone?
Ha, so self-righteous and sacrificing—did she ever ask for his opinion?
Locking eyes with Wen Nan's questioning gaze, Yu Shujun was momentarily taken aback.
She hadn't expected him to be so angry over this, given that it was only a test, and yet the man before her had always approached instances and tasks with a flippant disregard. Why the sudden change now?
This unusual reaction made Yu Shujun unsure of how to respond.
She lowered her eyes, so nervous that the soft flesh of the shell hem tightened, trying to gently explain: "I, I acted out of desperation...it was a stopgap measure."
"Out of desperation?" Wen Nan pushed further, "Your mom|forced|you, so you chose to die? You call that a stopgap measure?"
Wen Nan had completed the test, yet he was still a sea cucumber, and they hadn't completely left the test space, so his consciousness was still affected by it.
Thus, Wen Nan's mind felt muddled, like an early-working commuter struggling to catch the subway before six in the morning—his body might have left the bed, but his consciousness remained groggy.
Fueled by an inexplicable impulse and morning irritation, Wen Nan, domineering and unreasonable, declared:
"You are mine, and under any circumstance, you can only choose to live well. This is the master's order."
As the words fell, a flash of golden light crossed the circular command emblem on Wen Nan's neck.
The invisible words, like a burning brand, imprinted on Yu Shujun's heart.