Die, Replay, Repeat

Fang Xiu walked calmly into the battlefield, as if strolling through a peaceful garden. He casually stepped over the bodies of Li Xiaoru and the others, his expression completely unbothered.

"Hmph! Fang Xiu, all of your helpers are dead! I’d like to see what else you can rely on to fight me!" Joker sneered, brimming with arrogance.

Fang Xiu sighed, shaking his head in mild exasperation, then summoned the Angel.

And just like clockwork, the scene unfolded in a familiar way.

"Please… please don’t kill me! Sir, I’m a Specter too! One of you! Ever since I was young, my dream…"

"Your dream has been to be a part of the Other Side?" Fang Xiu interrupted calmly.

Joker froze, shocked for a moment before nodding furiously. "Sir, you're brilliant! I didn’t expect you to know even my dreams!"

"Yeah. I’ve heard it enough times already. Now, die."

BOOM!

The entire headquarters was obliterated as the Angel leveled everything to the ground.

Fang Xiu had summoned the Angel again for a very specific reason—he wanted to repeat the same method he used when learning Taotie’s abilities.

He was curious if he could gain new skills by repeatedly dying and resetting while in the Angel's presence.

But so far, it didn’t seem promising.

The Angel was different from Taotie. The Angel attacked proactively, killing instantly.

Taotie, on the other hand, didn’t attack at all—it merely consumed, and there was a brief window of time inside its belly to survive, which provided Fang Xiu the crucial opportunity to learn something.

…

"Fang Moli, do not engage. Keep your distance and circle around Joker. Stay behind him at all times," Fang Xiu’s calm voice echoed in Fang Moli’s mind.

Then, he gave specific orders to the other captains, instructing them on their roles in the battle.

For a moment, Fang Xiu’s mind worked in five different directions as he simultaneously controlled the actions of five people.

To ensure flawless execution, he even utilized his Nightmare ability, splitting his consciousness into five parts. He wrapped each piece in a separate dream, directing Fang Moli and the others remotely with pinpoint precision.

He had to envelop his consciousness in the dreams; otherwise, the fragments of his mind would automatically try to recombine.

Under Fang Xiu’s control, the tide of the battle shifted drastically compared to the first run. The fight now bordered on absurdity in its effectiveness.

Fang Moli maintained a safe distance from Joker, endlessly circling around him. No matter what Joker did, Fang Moli stubbornly ensured he was always behind him, out of sight.

This created an almost comedic scene—Fang Moli was drawing circles, while Joker was spinning in place, trying to keep Fang Moli within his line of sight.

Joker could not afford to let Fang Moli out of his vision for even a second, because the threat of the Xuanyuan Sword was too great.

Even though Joker wasn’t entirely convinced Fang Moli would land a hit, a deep sense of unease gnawed at him, forcing him to keep Fang Moli in view.

So, the bizarre spectacle continued: Fang Moli ran in circles, and Joker was forced to spin around, trying to keep up with him.

Meanwhile, the other four captains followed Fang Xiu’s instructions to the letter, launching a relentless assault on Joker.

Their teamwork was flawless, their attacks flowing together like a well-rehearsed routine. It was as if they could anticipate Joker’s every move before he even made it.

Joker was feeling utterly stifled.

While spinning in circles to keep Fang Moli in sight, he also had to fend off the coordinated attacks of the other four captains.

Every time he moved to dodge one attack, another captain would strike from a different angle, perfectly timed to hit him as soon as he landed.

He tried multiple times to break through the encirclement, aiming to take out the captains one by one.

But every time he made a move to attack, Fang Moli, who had been diligently running circles, would suddenly lift the Xuanyuan Sword, ready to strike at Joker's blind spot.

Joker’s heart raced as Fang Moli suddenly lifted the Xuanyuan Sword.

Fearing the worst, Joker quickly halted his own attack, only to see Fang Moli casually scratch his head with the hilt of the sword.

"Fang Xiu!!" Joker roared in frustration. He knew all of this was Fang Xiu’s doing—he was the one pulling the strings, orchestrating the entire battle. It wasn’t really a fight against Fang Moli and the others, it was a duel with Fang Xiu himself.

Fang Xiu was like a puppet master, controlling all five of his teammates with calculated precision.

Joker realized he couldn’t go on like this.

Fang Moli’s strange circling and sudden, meaningless gestures were making Joker so paranoid that he was stuck in a defensive posture, unable to attack.

He knew the old saying: "If you defend too long, you will eventually lose the game." And with Fang Xiu watching his every move, Joker knew that the moment he slipped, Fang Xiu would surely command Fang Moli to strike, and that strike would be fatal.

His only chance was to eliminate Fang Xiu—the team’s external brain. Without Fang Xiu, the entire strategy would collapse.

Using the corner of his eye, Joker glanced in Fang Xiu’s direction.

His heart leapt when he noticed the distance. From this range, an attack could very well reach Fang Xiu.

But then, a chilling thought hit him: ‘Wait a second! He’s the Foreseer! Could he really not foresee my attack? Why would he position himself at a distance where I could easily strike him? Unless… this is a trap!’

Joker’s mind raced, and he took a sharp breath.'Damn it, I almost fell for it. That Foreseer is truly devious. He’s the biggest threat to me right now. As long as he’s alive, I’m stuck playing by his rules… But wait!'

Suddenly, a new realization dawned on him.

‘What if… What if Fang Xiu has already foreseen that I would figure out he’s predicting my move? What if he knows that I’m aware of his foresight and that I won’t dare to attack him? Maybe that’s why he’s standing there so confidently—because in the future he’s seen, I hesitate! That would explain why he’s comfortable at this distance, calmly observing the battlefield and giving orders. And it makes sense—Fang Xiu is clearly using some sort of psychic method to control the others, and such a technique likely has a limited range. But damn it, which future is he predicting?! Should I attack or not?!’

Joker was spiraling into a state of madness. He now fully understood what Ace of Heart and the others must have felt when fighting against Fang Xiu.

They had been paralyzed by constant overthinking, never sure of their own actions, always second-guessing themselves.

The more they thought about Fang Xiu’s predictions, the more hesitant they became, trapped in a web of indecision.

Because how could they ever be sure? How could Joker be certain that the future Fang Xiu had foreseen wasn’t the one where he chose to attack? Or maybe the future Fang Xiu had predicted was the one where he didn’t attack, and thus, by standing there, Fang Xiu was completely safe.

It was maddening—the kind of loop that made a person doubt every choice they could possibly make.

Humans like to believe that the future is in their hands, that they can control their actions. For instance, someone might habitually go to bed at midnight. One night, he or she decide to stay up until 1 AM instead. Does that count as changing the future? But what if, in the grand scheme of things, the future always accounted for them staying up that night?

It was a paradox—a question of whether one’s choices were truly their own or if fate had already written the script. And now, Joker was caught in this very paradox.

He began questioning everything. 'What if the future I’m imagining right now is the exact one Fang Xiu has already seen? What if my hesitation to strike is part of the future he predicted? Is this choice even mine, or is it just a trap laid out by fate—or worse, by the Foreseer?'

For the first time in his life, Joker found himself paralyzed by indecision.

Every instinct told him to attack, yet every thought warned him that doing so would play right into Fang Xiu’s hands.