Chapter 381: Ripping Out All Your Ghosts for a Beating

The three-second time rewind after death was survivor-protagonist Su Huayun’s greatest weakness.

Qi Suian hadn’t discovered this through research; he’d learned it from the World Will during their last conversation.

Under normal circumstances, the chances of this weakness being discovered were slim.

After all, knowing about it meant you had experienced the rewind.

And if you were caught in the rewind, how could you possibly remember the weakness?

By the time someone became powerful enough to ignore the rewind, the weakness was useless to them. They could just crush their opponent outright.

That’s why it was only useful to someone like Qi Suian.

He would kill his target, leave the Truth Layer within three seconds, wait for time to pass, and then re-enter.

Once his weakness was known, the death rewind was no longer a convenience for the survivor-protagonist. Instead, it had become a resource to be endlessly exploited.

The reason was simple: the structure of the man’s yang energy was incredibly complex. Qi Suian estimated he had at least a B-rank talent for pollution resistance.

Furthermore, his application of the Ghost Control Technique seemed to have merged with some unique quality of the survivor-protagonist, granting him the ability to ignore backlash and fear no revival of the ghost.

This unique quality was almost certainly related to his death rewind talent.

Qi Suian didn’t just know about the death rewind; he also knew that this ability was likely just one sub-category of the man’s overall talent.

The World Will hadn’t revealed any more details, but he was certain of one thing: no matter how powerful the talent was, it was probably SSS-rank at most.

It wasn’t that the man’s potential was capped, but that the doomsday game itself had a ceiling of SSS-rank.

If this survivor-protagonist were truly given an X-rank talent, he’d likely be just as uncontrollable as Qi Suian.

As for himself, a regressor, his rebirth likely wasn’t the work of the doomsday game. The origin of his X-rank talent, Hyper-Dimensional Evolution, was probably backed by some entity looking to exploit the game as well.

Otherwise, an X-rank talent shouldn’t have been able to appear under normal circumstances.

Unfortunately, Qi Suian’s own level was too low to perceive such things, so he could only let the matter drop.

’That should be about enough.’ Qi Suian thought, looking at the sizable amount of B-rank yang energy he had amassed and the vast trove of data he had collected.

’Continuing to kill him would be a bit impolite.’

As the number of death rewinds mounted, the pressure on this Truth Layer naturally increased.

He had promised the World Will not to be too ruthless—just take what he wanted and be done.

’It’s a shame I can’t dissect him. I might have been able to learn more about his talent.’

’From the looks of it, besides the death rewind, his other sub-abilities might be weakened rule-tier powers.’

’At least on par with SSS-rank.’

As he mused, Qi Suian timed it perfectly and entered once more using a Live Observation Device, his hand shooting out to pierce through Su Huayun’s skull.

’I’ll take this last bit of yang energy, observe him one more time, and then I’ll call it quits.’

He’d wait for the next opportunity. After all, the World Will said it would take a month at the earliest. At a frequency of once every seven days, Qi Suian could come back at least three more times—that was a conservative estimate.

So he couldn’t be too hard on this survivor-protagonist. What would he do if he damaged the man’s Spirit?

No matter how special a protagonist he was, he was still a man, not a god. Die too many times, and it was impossible for his Spirit not to suffer.

Qi Suian had experienced it himself. The only way to avoid it was if the victim didn’t retain their memories.

’He’s died so many times he can even predict my moves now.’ Qi Suian’s strike, meant to pierce Su Huayun’s skull, instead grazed his scalp, carving a long, bloody gash across the top of his head.

A layer of his scalp was torn away, leaving him looking utterly wretched.

"It’s you again, Violator..." Su Huayun seethed, his scalp burning with searing pain.

Qi Suian didn’t respond. He simply attacked again.

He had to conduct an experiment before Su Huayun killed himself.

’Since he can react now, I won’t go for his yang energy.’

His hand plunged into the man’s chest, reaching deep inside for the location of the Truth Ghost.

He’d only been able to react last time because he’d died so many times, allowing him to guess Qi Suian’s attack trajectory and dodge preemptively.

It wasn’t that his speed had suddenly become fast enough to evade Qi Suian’s attacks.

Su Huayun knew what Qi Suian was trying to do. He opened his mouth to say something, but never got the chance.

The Truth Ghost within his body was violently ripped out by Qi Suian.

A massive creature resembling a stick insect was dragged out. It was impossible to imagine a human body containing such a monster.

Freed from its containment and control, the Truth Ghost instantly revived.

Following the scent of lies, it lunged back at Su Huayun. Qi Suian’s eyes never left Su Huayun or the Truth Ghost.

Just as the Truth Ghost opened its gaping maw and bit off more than half of Su Huayun’s body, Qi Suian timed his exit perfectly, leaving the Truth Layer via the Live Observation Device just before the death rewind could activate.

’Excellent. In that single moment, I observed a massive amount of data. The foundations of my Ghost Refining Technique have become much more solid.’

After this thought, he had no intention of repeating the process.

Su Huayun was on guard now. Hadn’t he just predicted a sneak attack? He could probably continue, but there was little point.

’And I still can’t dissect him.’

As for anesthetics, if they were effective, Qi Suian would have used them long ago.

After taming the Truth Ghost, its host, Su Huayun, became immune to all sorts of toxins and diseases. Anesthetics were useless.

This wasn’t a standard ability for ghosts, but a specific one of the Truth Ghost that could repel all foreign substances.

It just goes to show, this was a ghost only a protagonist could tame. Not some stray cat or dog you’d find on the street.

Qi Suian didn’t covet it. After all, the ghost born from his own Twin Soul Seed: Double Lotus was also likely to be a special type, just like Su Huayun’s Truth Ghost.

After all, he had a protagonist’s halo too—one he had crafted himself, no less. How could he possibly let himself be ordinary?

His looks were already plain enough. If his power was also unremarkable, how would Qi Suian ever get ahead?

"Well then, see you in seven days," Qi Suian said, bidding farewell to Su Huayun from outside the Truth Layer.

The man couldn’t hear him, of course, but it was the thought that counted.

Qi Suian was sincerely grateful to have a protagonist he could fleece repeatedly, one who even occasionally sent opportunities his way.

If it weren’t for the World Will, Qi Suian would have considered thanking him even more... profoundly. For instance, by killing him and letting their protagonist halos merge into one.

’That would be like Qi Suian helping him grow. How wonderful would that be?’

With that thought, he used the Live Observation Device and departed the Truth Layer.

’I’ve used up quite a few. The stockpile is almost gone.’ After returning to the Reality Layer, Qi Suian took stock of his Live Observation Devices. There weren’t many left.

They were consumables, after all. Each use expended one. And to evade the death rewind, he’d had to jump back and forth between layers repeatedly.

Jumping in consumed one, and jumping out consumed another.

The consumption rate was naturally high.

’Fortunately, the Royal Shadow Guard are efficient killers. There’s still some of the yang energy left from the ten percent share they gave me last time.’

"I’ll use it to create some more for my reserves," Qi Suian muttered.

He then prepared to return to his lab and continue his work perfecting the Ghost Refining Technique.

For Qi Suian, this wasn’t just about perfecting the Ghost Refining Technique. He also needed to integrate it into his Seven Elements Refining Technique. After all, his main Cultivation Technique hadn’t been upgraded in a long time.

Ever since leaving the Cold Winter World, Qi Suian had rarely relied on cultivation, improving himself almost entirely through modifications.

Divine Will: Fei could be considered a modification-based Cultivation Technique, but because Qi Suian’s spiritual structure was different, he didn’t improve by stimulating it with gunpowder. He modified himself directly.

So it couldn’t really be called cultivation.

Now that he finally had the chance, Qi Suian planned to upgrade his Cultivation Technique.

It had become obsolete, after all. This was a rare and welcome opportunity to bring it back up to speed.

If he let it fall too far behind, he might never be able to pick it up again.

As it was now, the Cultivation Technique he had created himself could no longer keep up with him. If not for the Ghost Refining Technique, there would be no path forward for it.

It just went to show that cultivation, as a practice, really didn’t suit Qi Suian.

After all, the rapid growth granted by a protagonist’s halo wasn’t limited to Cultivation Techniques. As long as one had sufficient knowledge and awareness, it would take effect.

The role of a Cultivation Technique was therefore greatly diminished.

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’He’s gone?’ Su Huayun thought as his death rewind completed. His first instinct was to dodge.

But this time, the excruciating pain he expected never came.

The nine other survivors shot Su Huayun a strange look as he suddenly "had an episode," wondering what on earth he was doing.

Su Huayun felt no embarrassment. He completely ignored his nine teammates, instead scanning his surroundings with a wary gaze.

This time he didn’t speak, so the "Deceive the Gods" effect didn’t trigger.

The nine of them started chattering amongst themselves.

Aside from Su Huayun, the other nine were all rookies on their first run, so it was natural for them to feel fear and panic.

Previously, Su Huayun had kept things under control, reassuring them and preventing any issues.

But now, Su Huayun was a nervous wreck, jumping at shadows like a paranoid madman.

To the nine of them, he looked like he’d been scared out of his wits, which only heightened the tension in the group.

’The Violator found a gap in the death rewind!’ Su Huayun suddenly realized the possibility.

’Otherwise, there’s no way he could have killed me so many times in a row while retaining his memories through the rewind.’

’This means the death rewind doesn’t turn back all of time—it only affects a single Survival Area!’

’And because he found that gap, he can exploit it to his advantage and land fatal blows on me.’

’But because of my own unique ability, the Violator can’t truly kill me.’

’So he’ll only attack me periodically, not hunt me down endlessly.’ A growing sense of dread washed over Su Huayun.

His own advantage was completely gone when facing the Violator.

He had to increase his own power, and fast.