Chapter 374: A Sense of Familiarity, Adapted Time Resistance

’I can’t wait any longer. I’ve been probing for so long without getting any data. I’ll have to take matters into my own hands.’

Qi Suian had already waited a full day. It wasn’t that he’d gained nothing, but none of it was of any critical use.

He took out a live observation device and opened a passage to this stratum of truth.

Qi Suian stepped inside and immediately saw a Survivor using some kind of special ability to control the Jia-Chen Seventy-Two Guards.

In that instant, Qi Suian could sense that the ghost inside the other man’s body seemed to have a different structure.

For the people of the Ziyue Dynasty, the ghosts in their bodies were more like symbiotic partners, whereas this person was subjugating his.

If he could capture this person and study him, he would be of immense value to Qi Suian.

The other man also noticed Qi Suian’s arrival, and a trace of surprise appeared on his face.

Qi Suian was actually a bit puzzled himself. He had passed through multiple strata of truth to get here and had encountered a few Survivors along the way.

But most of them had come in teams. Someone like this man was quite unusual—though, of course, perhaps his teammates had all died.

But that had little to do with Qi Suian. Without hesitation, he charged forward, intending to capture this Survivor.

’He’s almost certainly the protagonist among the Survivors.’

"I will—" After being seized, the Survivor opened his mouth to say something.

From this, Qi Suian deduced that the ghost ability within the man might be related to language. He immediately clamped his hand around the man’s throat, preventing him from making a sound.

"Live..."

But the man strained with all his might just to force out that single word: "live."

Before Qi Suian had time to ponder the man’s meaning, he found he had stopped breathing.

In a flash, he understood the man’s ability.

’It can produce the opposite effect of what is spoken.’

As for why he didn’t say "Let Qi Suian live" and then kill Qi Suian?

The reason was simple: the man must have known the ability couldn’t be used on someone with such a vast power gap.

But Qi Suian didn’t understand. Why would the man speak himself to death?

Even if he could be resurrected, he would still be in Qi Suian’s hands.

’Unless... he can start over from the beginning after death!’ Qi Suian connected this to the previous issue with the flow of time.

He now suspected it might not be the flow of time, but rather that the man could, to some extent, reset the time in this stratum of truth.

’Three seconds!’

Qi Suian couldn’t help but think of the interval before, when the red dot had extinguished and then reappeared.

He understood now. That was the interval of the man’s time reset, and it wasn’t fixed; it depended on how long the man managed to stay alive.

Qi Suian’s first instinct was to exit the stratum of truth to avoid being reset along with the man.

But he was a step too slow. The time reset was already complete.

Qi Suian’s figure also began to fade away.

Beyond that, he also saw the seventy-two dead Royal Shadow Guards. They, too, began to recover and regress.

Then their figures started to vanish. It seemed they were being intercepted and held within a special Time Domain.

Meanwhile, the deceased Su Huayun opened his eyes once more.

"Damn it, there really is a boss! Not only is the boss a violator, but he’s also an Armored Man."

"He has missiles and heavy weapons, how am I supposed to fight that?!" Su Huayun’s frustration boiled into rage.

Once or twice would have been one thing, but this was giving him no chance of survival at all.

The moment he saw the man, the Apocalypse Game had already alerted him that he was a violator.

No wonder the reward was so generous—a direct SSS-rank talent.

He was angry, but Su Huayun hadn’t given up.

He had already come this far. If he didn’t clear this Survival Area and leave with a full exploration rating, it would be a huge loss.

Besides, he still had to kill the violator to get that SSS-rank talent reward.

Judging by how the violator could perfectly pinpoint his timing, he must have some information on him. He could also ignore the Survival Area’s rules to target him, a Law Enforcer.

Even if he dodged him this time, he wouldn’t be able to escape the next.

So, according to his original plan, he would contain and subjugate the Truth Ghost, dodge the missiles, and then control the seventy-two enemies.

Then, in the next second, he would awaken the stitched, twisted ghosts inside the enemies.

’Since the violator wants to use the ghosts to kill me, and I have foreknowledge, I’ll let him taste his own medicine.’

His timing was perfect. The violator’s figure appeared just as the seventy-two stitched, twisted ghosts were reawakened.

And then... he died again.

That’s right. The seventy-two stitched, twisted ghosts completely ignored the violator and still treated him as the enemy. Before the violator even made a move, he was killed by the ghosts.

’The violator has some kind of talent that makes ghosts ignore him.’

’How am I supposed to fight this?!’

At this point, he was completely out of solutions.

The man was powerful. He could tell from their first encounter, when he had been captured in an instant.

Without setting things up in advance, he would be caught without any chance to resist.

Once the man figured out his Deceiver and Truth Ghost abilities, it would be game over for him.

After venting his frustration, a solution once again formed in his mind.

’In that case, I’ll just have to keep reducing the time needed to subjugate the Truth Ghost and buy myself more time to react.’

’If I can’t borrow the power of ghosts, I’ll use the power of truth and lies to make this entire Survival Area my ally.’

’And it’s not like I have no advantages. I can use my death-rewind to get countless chances for trial and error, and to constantly familiarize myself with the Truth Ghost.’

’But the violator only has to make one mistake, and he won’t get another chance.’

Never giving up was his greatest quality.

The plan began, and everything proceeded according to it.

The violator appeared again, but this time, he hesitated for a moment.

’Strange, something feels a little off,’ Qi Suian muttered to himself.

He had, in fact, just entered this stratum of truth, but when he saw the Survivor protagonist, a strange sense of familiarity flashed through his mind.

It couldn’t be an illusion. He had definitely seen this person before.

’Forget it. I’ll just capture him first and interrogate him,’ Qi Suian thought, then made his move.

He paid no mind to the man’s situation, but just before being caught, the man blurted out two words: "I live."

And then he instantly died.

At that moment, the sense of familiarity washed over him again, as if this wasn’t the first time he had experienced this.

"Fuck, time reset!" The words escaped his lips subconsciously.

This wasn’t his first time. As long as the other man died, he would be reset to the moment he had just entered this stratum of truth.

During this process, even his memories would be reset to that point in time, so he would be completely unaware of his situation.

As for the sense of familiarity? Simple. He was adapting to the reset.

After all, the Reinforcement +1 effect from his protagonist halo’s X-rank talent, Celestial Fate: Profound, was super adaptability.

Although this ability was a bit of a letdown—requiring repetition for continuous improvement—as his protagonist halo strengthened, its effects were on a completely different level.

Now, he could even adapt to the negative anomalies brought about by time.

So, although Qi Suian didn’t have the corresponding memories, he would feel an extreme sense of familiarity.

Even though he was being reset, he was also adapting to it, little by little.

This meant that Qi Suian was gaining time resistance. As long as he stacked enough of it, even without memories, his instincts would allow him to react accordingly.

That was the benefit of a passive ability.

"Heh, we’ll see if you can use your advantage to kill me first, or if I can adapt and build up enough time resistance."

"See you next time," Qi Suian said coldly.

’As for him winning? Heh, how is that possible?’

’My Death Reforged talent is nothing to scoff at. Besides, how could he even kill me?’

’He can’t even break my Tai Sui God’s shield.’

’Does he really think I only get to make one mistake? As someone with a resurrection-type talent, not only do I have just as many chances for trial and error, but I also possess far greater strength. On what grounds could he possibly beat me?’

The gap in strength was simply too unrealistic to bridge.

When Su Huayun opened his eyes once more, the rewind was complete.

"Phew, another fresh start. But it’s fine, the advantage is mine," Su Huayun said with a smile.

In the last time rewind, he’d had a slight edge, managing to die before the other man could capture him. This meant that the window of time was his opportunity to act.

And what he had to do next was constantly widen that window to increase his chances.

-----------------

"All units of the Royal Shadow Guard have returned. The captured Survivors were unable to survive in the Ziyue Dynasty; they were likely erased by some great power from the Apocalypse Game."

"However, it was not without its gains. Through interrogation, we have obtained information about the Survivors, as well as a large amount of yang energy."

The Crown Prince stood to the side, reporting the recent gains in detail to Emperor Ziyue.

Emperor Ziyue leafed through the interrogation results from the Survivors, a satisfied look on his face.

"What about that one Survivor? Why is there no news of him?" Emperor Ziyue suddenly remembered.

"There is no intelligence at this time, and there is also no news from the Jia-Chen Seventy-Two Guards." The Crown Prince was interrupted, but he answered truthfully: "If he didn’t die during his trial, then he must be tied up with something."

Emperor Ziyue glanced at the Crown Prince, then nodded and said, "Mm, keep an eye on his movements. See if a rescue is needed."

He knew the Crown Prince was trying to win the man over, so there was another possibility he hadn’t mentioned.

That he had defected.

However, Emperor Ziyue knew that the possibility of him defecting was low. After all, he still held ten ghosts that he had yet to hand over.

Given the man’s greedy nature, even if he were to flee, he would have to get his hands on those ten ghosts first rather than just leaving directly.

Compared to the three possibilities, he was more inclined to believe the man was tied up and couldn’t leave.

Since the man had run into trouble, it was worth saving him if possible. After all, he was the only Survivor who had managed to stay alive in the Ziyue Dynasty.

His importance was self-evident, and future cooperation could become even deeper.

For example, invading the planetary world where the Survivors came from.

Its resources might be barren, but their world had no ghosts.