Die, Replay, Repeat

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Gongben Tenger's account was so vivid and detailed that, for a fleeting moment, doubt flickered across the staff's faces.

They glanced at each other uneasily, their eyes darting between the Director and Fang Xiu. Uncertainty was beginning to creep in.

The Director, however, only smiled faintly. "Now that's starting to sound like an entertaining story."

Gongben Teng'er was in maddening frustration. He had presented irrefutable evidence, only to have it dismissed outright.

"Are you people even listening?! Isn't this obvious enough?" he bellowed. "I'm not making this up! I saw it with my own eyes—"

"He's right," Fang Xiu interrupted calmly.

Gongben Tenger's face lit up with joy, trembling with relief. His finger shook as he pointed at Fang Xiu. "See?! He admitted it again! You all heard him!"

Fang Xiu continued with measured composure.

"During the headquarters battle, Ace of Spades' corpse was never recovered. I suspected he might still be alive, so I used my foreseeing ability to gather information. What I saw confirmed my suspicions.

"Using that knowledge, I tracked down Ace of Spades and gained his trust. My plan is to leverage him to infiltrate and take control of the Pokers.

"With the Investigation Bureau operating in the open and the Pokers in the shadows, I aim to implement a nationwide psychic plan to unify humanity and combat the Specterization of this world."

Gongben Teng'er froze, his jaw hanging open as his brain scrambled to process what he'd just heard. 'Is he using the exact same words I said? Is he just flipping the story? He's not even trying that hard!'*

Gongben Teng'er still believed that there's no way they'll believe Fang Xiu's nonsense.

To his utter horror, however, the Director nodded, his expression serious. "That's a bold and well-thought-out strategy, Fang Xiu. However, next time, inform me before acting alone. Meeting with the Pokers without backup is too dangerous. Your safety is paramount."

Gongben Tenger's face twisted in disbelief, his mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air. He looked around the room, searching desperately for a shred of sanity.

"Are you kidding me?" he yelled.

Fang Xiu just used his words and twisted them, and the director praised him.

Not only that, but now he was telling Fang Xiu to stay safe. Gongben Teng'er could believe this stupid old moron was the head of the director.

"No need to worry," Fang Xiu replied calmly. "I've already seen the future. There's no danger. Besides, the Pokers will play a crucial role in what's to come. That's why I've decided to scale back our investigations into them, avoiding unnecessary conflict between headquarters and their organization."

"Hey, hey, hey! Did you hear that?" Gongben Teng'er screamed, his voice rising to a hysterical pitch. "He's openly protecting the Pokers! How can you not see what's happening?!"

The Director nodded solemnly to Fang Xiu, his tone matter-of-fact. "Understood. Let's proceed with your suggestion."

"AAAAHHH!" Gongben Tenger let out a dramatic scream, slamming his fists on the table in a frenzy.

"You idiots! How can you not see it?! A spy has become the Chief Commander, and now he's calling off a manhunt for an enemy organization! And you're all just going along with it? What's wrong with you people?"

"Shut it!" one of the staff snapped, punctuating his words with a hard kick to Gongben Tenger's stomach.

Gongben Teng'er doubled over in pain, collapsing to the floor. His veins bulged as his bloodshot eyes filled with rage and despair.

The physical agony was nothing compared to the mental torment. It felt like the foundations of his reality had crumbled beneath him. 'How can they all blindly trust Fang Xiu, ignoring such glaring evidence?'

In the end, utterly broken in body and mind, Gongben Tenger was dragged out of the interrogation room.

*****

Fang Xiu led the way as Gongben Teng'er, now reduced to a trembling shell of a man, stumbled along behind him like a condemned prisoner.

The "experiments" Fang Xiu had mentioned earlier? They were nothing but a cover. His true purpose was to consume his Spiritual Energy.

Though Gongben Teng'er wasn't particularly powerful, as a fourth-tier psychic, he was still a decent source of energy.

When the process was complete, Fang Xiu's awakened energy had risen from 45% to 48%.

The increase was smaller than what he had gained from consuming the Isleland woman earlier, but it was still a big help.

Fang Xiu deduced that advancing further required exponentially greater resources. The further he progressed, the more difficult it became to climb higher.

This principle, he realized, was precisely why high-level psychics were so rare.

While this boost wasn't enough for him to summon two Specter Gods simultaneously, it did extend the time for which he could maintain a single Specter God.

The next day…

Fang Xiu sat in his office, casually skimming through a diplomatic statement issued by Isleland.

The wording was sharp and accusatory, essentially condemning the Huaxia Investigation Bureau for "killing their envoy without justification."

The document went on to demand an explanation and threatened severe measures if none were provided, including escalation to the United Bureaus to push for sanctions against Huaxia.

After glancing at the letter for a few seconds, Fang Xiu tossed it into the trash can without hesitation.

Such empty threats didn't concern him. Even if it escalated to an actual conflict, he wasn't worried in the slightest.

He didn't even need Fang Moli to step in—he could handle the entire situation by himself. A quick trip to Isleland and a few summoned Specters would easily resolve the matter.

Next, Fang Xiu picked up another document, this one a reply from the United Bureaus.

It was written in a very formal and roundabout tone, but the message boiled down to one thing: the United Bureaus would not agree to Huaxia unilaterally disclosing the truth about the Specter invasion.

After reading the first few lines, Fang Xiu dropped this document into the trash can as well.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...

Suddenly, there was a series of hurried knocks on the door.

"Xiu! You won't believe what I've discovered!" Yang Ming's excited voice called out from outside.

"Come in," Fang Xiu replied calmly.

Yang Ming burst into the room, shutting the door behind him. With an air of mystery, he pulled out the ancient bronze bell.

Fang Xiu glanced over—and his eyes lit up slightly.

The bronze bell, which had previously been corroded and covered in rust like an archaeological relic, had undergone a complete transformation.

Now, it gleamed brilliantly, as if freshly forged.

Its bronze surface was adorned with intricate and densely packed patterns, full of an enigmatic and ancient vibe. The craftsmanship was exquisite, almost mesmerizing to behold.

Seeing Yang Ming's thrilled expression, Fang Xiu sighed in relief. As expected, Yang Ming's ability was as extraordinary as ever.

In anyone else's hands, this bell would have been dismissed as worthless junk. But in Yang Ming's hands, it had been unlocked as a treasure.

The one favored by God… That was truly terrifying.

"This is… a Spiritual Gadget?" Fang Xiu murmured, carefully studying the bell.

The energy emanating from it was similar to what he felt from his Double Dragon Ring—a unique resonance of Spiritual Energy.

The Double Dragon Ring, which Fang Xiu used daily, wasn't just for storing items but also for storing Spiritual Energy. He had developed a habit of channeling a portion of his Spiritual Energy into the ring each day, keeping it as a reserve for emergencies.

During his battle with Gongben Teng'er, he had tapped into some of the Spiritual Energy stored in the Double Dragon Ring to summon both "wife" and Taotie.

Without the ring, sustaining the two summons simultaneously would have been impossible.

Fortunately, "wife" consumed very little energy. Otherwise, even if he had completely drained the Double Dragon Ring, summoning two Specter Gods at once would have been nearly unachievable.

In addition to storing Spiritual Energy, Fang Xiu had also started storing Domains in the ring. By "borrowing" a bit of Domain Energy from several team captains, he had managed to keep some in reserve.

However, the Double Dragon Ring had its limits. It could store a maximum of five Domains, and it was incapable of holding the unique power of Fang Moli's Xuanyuan Sword Energy or the disruptive energy of Mindflare.

Yang Ming's voice snapped Fang Xiu out of his thoughts.

"Huh, Xiu, you didn't know this was a Spiritual Gadget?" Yang Ming asked, his expression full of disbelief.

"You were so serious when you gave it to me, saying it was super important. I thought you already knew it was a Spiritual Gadget and gave it to me to use for self-defense!"

"You're overthinking it," Fang Xiu said indifferently. "I gave it to you so you could figure out what it's for."

<!--/$-->Notes

Translator's note: In the original text, Fang Xiu twisted Gongben's words in a very smart way, yet the smartness was inevitably lost in translation.

Also, he tossed all the docs in the trash… is he planning to go against the whole world?

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