The flames went out, and black smoke dispersed in the air. In the center of the black smoke stood two monsters, facing each other, cautious and alert.
"I told you, didn't I? If you want to kill me, you're a million years too early!" Xu Fang waved his hand, dispersing the suffocating smoke around him.
"How did you do it? Why do you have two..." Gust asked with deepened consciousness, but then he suddenly realized something.
"I got it. You are the direction of material evolution. Based on the reproductive sequence, you reproduce through division. The one I just killed was just a clone you split off. And... this clone is also the author, sharing the same pen name... I see," Gust said.
"Mr. Ghost, you're quite perceptive. But I'm sure you've also noticed that the current situation is not in your favor, right? With a second clone of me, it means there could be a third, fourth, or even thousands of clones. How are you going to deal with that?" Xu Fang replied with his thoughts.
"Human, you can't fool me! In order to maintain absolute control over that website, you dare not create too many clones, and you don't have that much time after you wake up... so you can have at most one clone. The one standing in front of me right now must be the original!" Gust exclaimed.
"You're absolutely right," Xu Fang clapped his hands. "But by doing so, you expose your true ability."
Not all of the clone's memories were real; a significant portion of them were subjective memories generated by self-suggestion, which could be highly misleading. If Gust didn't have the ability to distinguish between subjective and objective memories, he wouldn't have come to such a conclusion so quickly.
Xu Fang pointed his finger at Gust. "Your first ability is to trigger strange events, but it has a long cooldown. The second ability is to invade the Internet and use electromagnetic waves for super fast movement. The third ability is to invade the brain, take control of the body, read its memories completely, and even simulate the other person's way of thinking... Am I right?"
"Hahaha... Hahahaha!"
"Guessed it? Feeling anxious?" Gust suddenly attacked without warning.
Hundreds of energy beams shot out from Gust's controlled body at a speed of a thousand meters per second, instantly attacking Xu Fang a hundred meters away.
The white light dots entered Xu Fang's already prepared energy shield, disappearing without making any sound. This attack had tremendous killing power against humans, but had little effect on someone of the same kind.
"The energy beams will only be absorbed by you as fuel, but what if they explode?" Gust looked coldly at Xu Fang and controlled the last batch of energy beams to explode near him.
Xu Fang was pushed back several meters by the shockwave of the explosion. Before he could recover, several stones flew towards him. He quickly formed himself into a ball using his energy shield, avoiding most of the stones, but some stone fragments hit the shield.
The high-speed impact, accompanied by a loud noise, turned the stones into dust. Sand and rubble filled the air, and Xu Fang's clothes became tattered.
The kinetic energy of these stone fragments was much higher than that of bullets, especially at such a close distance. Without the protection of the energy shield, Gussy's soft body would have been shattered instantly.
Xu Fang didn't back down. He picked up a few stones and retaliated in the same way as Gust. However, the stones exploded into fragments before leaving his hand due to Gust's energy beams. Then, a few more stones came flying towards Xu Fang.
Xu Fang dodged the stones and hid behind a large tree. It had only been one second since Gust launched his sudden attack. Some lucky trees that had avoided the flame assaults were now riddled with holes from the stones thrown back and forth by both sides. Unburned leaves fluttered in the air, mixed with charred bark.
Xu Fang checked his energy pool - it had dropped from 98% to 97%, but he still had plenty of energy.
"Human, I can roughly guess your plan," Gust said, weighing the stone in his hand as he slowly approached Xu Fang. "You want to lead me into the clone, and then eliminate me by killing the clone? Dream on! My control over matter far surpasses yours. Let's say you defeat the clone, with your limited energy, you still can't kill me. You've already lost!"Without a word, a shadow flashed out from behind the large tree where Xu Fang was hiding. Gust immediately fired a stone at it.
Bang!!
The shadow was shattered, revealing that it was just a piece of wood. Gust became suspicious and activated the Demon Eye, capturing the energy traces in the air.
Energy, energy... No energy response ahead.
Xu Fang, wearing an invisibility cloak, had already circled around Gust - before coming to this artificial forest, the clone had secretly handed over the invisibility cloak to the real Xu Fang.
Yes, the man wearing sunglasses was Xu Fang in disguise. At the time, he had merged among the hostages, and no one recognized him. Just before the clone ended its invisibility, they completed the cloak exchange in the blind spot of the camera.
Although the invisibility cloak couldn't hide from the Demon Eye, it could still temporarily confuse one's senses. Gust didn't notice and Xu Fang managed to sneak up behind him.
Xu Fang stored away the cloak in his stomach and drew out the prepared dagger, slashing towards Gust's arm. With the support of the energy shield, the blade cut through the air, emitting a sharp sonic boom.
The moment the dagger touched Gust's shoulder, it melted into a puddle of molten iron.
Not giving him much time to react, Gust twisted his arm in a strange manner and grabbed Xu Fang's wrist.
Xu Fang felt that the flickering lights inside his body were out of control - Gust was crazily absorbing his energy. In response, Xu Fang also began absorbing Gust's energy.
The two Gussys stood in a strange pose, motionless for a few seconds.
Gradually, Gust burst into a cold laugh, while Xu Fang felt astonished - he couldn't absorb more than it!
95%... 93%... 91%... 89%... The energy inside their bodies rapidly dropped.
"Human, you are far from having control over this body. You can't even achieve 'overclocking'. Why do you think you can fight me?" a voice echoed in his mind.
"Sir Ghost, can you tell me what 'overclocking' is?" Xu Fang calmly asked while mentally tallying the rapidly decreasing energy in his body.
"In simple terms..." halfway through speaking, Gust realized that Xu Fang was trying to distract him and stopped talking, "do you think I will tell you?"
"Even if you don't, I pretty much know... When facing a life-threatening situation, adrenaline surges in the human body, enabling them to run at full speed for minutes without feeling muscle fatigue or difficulty breathing. Instead, they feel a continuous surge of strength, becoming faster and faster... This is what they call 'overclocking mode,' right?"
"You think too simply..."
Before Gust could finish his sentence, Xu Fang suddenly detonated an energy beam, creating a shockwave that forcefully separated them.
Gust's body was covered in an energy shield, protecting him from harm. Leaning forward in mid-air, he planned to land and immediately engage in close combat.
But just then, Gust noticed that his shoulder was restrained by a string. Following the string, he discovered that it was a long strand of hair connected to Xu Fang's wrist.
Feeling a sense of danger, Gust quickly overclocked the energy shield on his shoulder, but it was too late - his arm was instantly separated from his body.
The hair covering the energy shield was stronger than steel wire. Under the impact, the hair instantly reached a terrifying cutting force, even stronger than nanosteel wires due to Gussy's body being heat-resistant.
Xu Fang absorbed the arm that fell down from Gust. His energy level jumped from 86% to 95%, replenishing all the energy that was absorbed earlier.
"Huh, there are no memories in this arm of yours." Xu Fang wrapped the hair around his finger, looking indifferently at Gust, who was left with only one hand.
Clearly, Gust's consciousness structure was completely different from a human's - it wasn't evenly distributed inside Gussy's body, almost overcoming Gussy's biggest flaw.
Gust touched the gap where his arm used to be, his gaze growing colder.
"The human form, with its bulky limbs and narrow field of vision, useless organs - it's not suitable for battle..." Gust slowly lifted his head, and as he spoke, the clothes he bought from Hu Yingmai ignited and turned into fuel.Gussy transformed like a mass of water, undergoing a huge change in form. The originally petite loli figure gradually turned into a ball covered in long tentacles, with demonic eyes all over its body. The pitch-black eyes were fixated on Xu Fang.
"I grew 66 eyes that cover all angles, no matter which direction you hide, I can see you. My body has become spherical, so your hair can no longer cut through me!"
"This... is also too ugly."
Xu Fang couldn't help but take a step back, feeling his sanity plummeting. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel incredulous - wasn't Gussy's evolutionary ability sealed by Horror Novel Web? Could it have been released by it?
The consciousness of a fierce ghost, the body of a demon... these two monsters perfectly complemented each other, merging into a more terrifying monster.
"Double the fun, double the surprise..." Xu Fang couldn't help but make a sarcastic comment at a time like this.
The tentacle creature picked up several rocks, swung them violently, and instantly the stones whizzed towards Xu Fang.
Xu Fang barely defended with his energy shield, somersaulting in the air, and pressed the pair of wings on his back to soar.
"Don't even think about running!"
Gussy grew wings, chasing after Xu Fang at a faster speed than him. Unlike Xu Fang, who shaped his body into wings using his energy shield, Gussy actually grew a pair of bird wings with thick feathers.
Gussy turned into a tentacle creature with feathered wings.
The black smoke above the forest lingered for a long time. Several minutes later, a few fire trucks that received the alert arrived leisurely.
After getting off the truck, all of the firefighters were stunned. This artificial forest didn't look like it was on fire, but more like it had encountered a tornado with explosives.
