Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 152: Chapter 142: Unyielding Without Desire

Tang Mo’s lengthy outburst not only stunned Lin Yi but also left Jingjing, nestled in her arms, afraid to even breathe.

Jingjing had always been by Tang Mo’s side. This Illusion Realm was so fake that even it could see through the farce, let alone Tang Mo.

But Tang Mo had said it all anyway—everything she truly felt, the words she could never say to anyone.

Only here could she speak her heart’s deepest truths without holding anything back.

Jingjing gently stroked Tang Mo’s arm with its small hands, offering comfort.

Perhaps this experience wasn’t a bad thing for Tang Mo.

A person’s capacity to endure is finite. Even the strongest people will eventually be crushed if they keep too much buried in their hearts.

"Momo, when did you become so cold and selfish? Don’t you want the love of your family, the love of those around you? If you’re covered in thorns like this, trusting no one, then no one will ever love you."

Lin Yi was silent for a long time before finally speaking these words.

Cold?

Selfish?

No one will love you?

To hear such words from her own mother, her only living relative, would be unbearable for anyone.

But Tang Mo remained unaffected. After her outburst, she had quickly calmed down.

Hearing Lin Yi say this, she just let out a cold snort.

"Perhaps. If being this way allows me to protect myself, if shouldering such a reputation allows me to focus on becoming strong so that Mom and I don’t have to suffer the cold stares of others, then I’d rather be cold and selfish. At least my conscience will be clear."

"As for whether anyone loves me, that’s not something I can control. If the only love I can get is by clipping my own wings and compromising myself, then I’d rather not have it."

Tang Mo had experienced too much in her previous life. Many of her pure and innocent beliefs in truth, goodness, and beauty had long since collapsed.

But the kindness in a person’s bones doesn’t change. In this life, whether it was toward her mother or Qin Ling, even if she held back emotionally, her actions were beyond what an ordinary person could do. That was enough.

From beginning to end, the only person she was ever truly harsh with was herself.

Sensing the powerful and unshakable conviction of the person before her, Lin Yi fell silent.

Finally, Lin Yi raised her hand and gently stroked Tang Mo’s short hair. Her expression was no longer aggressive as before, but had returned to normal.

"Seeing you like this, Mom can rest easy."

The world around her suddenly froze. Then, it began to fade away, gradually disappearing until only empty, cold walls remained.

By the time Tang Mo recovered from the dizziness, she found herself in a huge stone chamber.

The stone chamber still showed no signs of artificial craftsmanship. In the center of the empty, sealed room stood a small square pedestal, about half a person’s height. A silvery-white orb of light floated above it.

The pedestal was covered in mysterious patterns. They were ancient and mystical, inspiring boundless reverence with just a single glance.

At this moment, Tang Mo was alone in the sealed room. She inched closer to the pedestal, using her spiritual power to probe its surroundings.

But an unknown Strength blocked her spiritual power whenever it neared the pedestal.

Tang Mo tried several times and finally confirmed that if she tried to use brute force, she would have absolutely no way to contend with that Strength and retrieve the Spirit Power Pearl.

Her spiritual power was useless, and she couldn’t reach it with her hands. All she could do was rely on her eyes to observe it carefully.

Jingjing jumped off of Tang Mo and tried to approach the pedestal.

But this time, the barrier of spiritual power gave it no special treatment, mercilessly blocking it as well.

"WHINE~~~"

Having run into a wall, Jingjing was heartbroken. It was the first time it had ever been so thoroughly rejected by spiritual power.

Feeling utterly wronged, it trotted to a corner to squat and lick its wounds.

Meanwhile, Tang Mo had already reached the edge of the pedestal. The more clearly she saw, the more she realized the thing on the pedestal was strange.

According to common sense and the powerful spiritual fluctuations, this pearl had to be the Spirit Power Pearl.

But...

Why was this pearl just an image of light?

Tang Mo was very close and could see it clearly. The pearl was not a solid object, but rather like an image projected by 3D technology.

But while it might be an image, the soft, holy light emanating from the pearl was real. Everything seemed unusual.

She was certain that if her hand could touch it right now, she would grasp at empty air. Her hand would pass right through the image of light, grabbing nothing.

’Could it be that the pearl isn’t actually here? Is this just a bewildering formation?’

’But what’s the point of putting a virtual one here? And how can I explain the immense energy contained within this virtual image of the pearl?’

Tang Mo couldn’t figure it out at all. She walked in circles around the pedestal, thinking.

Her gaze was fixed on the small pedestal. As she circled it, all the patterns and decorations around it came into view.

’This pattern... why does it look so familiar?’

Suddenly, a thought struck Tang Mo, and she quickly took out the drawing she had copied in Wuxi Village from her Space.

She took out the three precious diagrams she had obtained in Wuxi Village.

She was sure that all three were precious secret manuals on the use of spiritual power.

The first was about materializing spiritual power to attack.

The second was about using the spiritual body to heal others externally.

And the third...

She had studied it for a long time without figuring out its purpose. It seemed to just be about tying one’s spiritual power into a strange knot and outputting it in a different way.

She had also studied the resulting spiritual power; aside from its different structure, it seemed to have no use whatsoever.

But now, Tang Mo was amazed to find that the diagram from the third drawing was identical to the pattern on the pedestal. Could it be...

Tang Mo carefully compared the drawing in her hand with the pattern on the pedestal, bit by bit condensing her spiritual power into the same pattern within her body to carefully analyze and feel it...

Tang Mo had lived a past life. An Illusion Realm targets the deepest insecurities and weaknesses in a person’s heart, magnifying them a thousandfold.

If you could resist it, you passed the trial. The more resolute a person was, the faster they would escape.

But if you shrank back, fled, and failed to hold fast to your convictions, you would be trapped in the Illusion Realm for all eternity, unable to escape.

From the very beginning of this life, Tang Mo knew what she wanted and what principles she had to uphold. Therefore, the Illusion Realm didn’t have a firm hold on her.

To be without desire is to be strong. Because she had no absolute desires or anything she couldn’t bear to lose, the Illusion Realm was unstable, its flaws more easily exposed.

Meanwhile, Ah Bin and Lin Shourong clearly lacked Tang Mo’s mental fortitude and would not be passing the trial so smoothly.

They too were experiencing the unmentionable fears and desires from the depths of their hearts.