Xu Fang handed the stone to Luo Bing and said, "You try it."

Luo Bing hesitated for a moment but still held the stone between his fingers. However, after ten seconds, he saw nothing. The stone seemed to have turned into an ordinary stone.

Xu Fang stared at the black stone, carefully observing the white light spots running inside it - there was no reaction, and the movement of the light spots was slower and more difficult than before, as if there were signs of stopping at any moment.

Could it be that the stone ran out of energy because I watched a "sci-fi film" just now?

Injecting energy into the stone forcibly was not difficult, but Xu Fang was sure that the injected energy would not circulate regularly, but instead severely interfere with the trajectory of the light spots, possibly even causing the stone to explode.

Gussy's "energy explosion" attack was to inject excessive energy into a point in the air, causing the light spots to violently scatter and create an explosive effect. The threshold for explosion in a solid was much lower than in gas.

Xu Fang also allowed Xiao Ming to touch the stone, but as expected, it had no effect.

"Maybe it's because I used up all the energy in the stone just now, so it turned back into an ordinary stone." Xu Fang shrugged.

"Ah? Really, how am I supposed to recall memories like this?" Xiao Ming glared at Xu Fang.

Xu Fang didn't say anything, and Luo Bing, who was beside him, had already stood up. He grabbed Xiao Ming's collar and sternly said, "You're still talking like that in front of Xu Fang? Are you out of your mind?"

Before Luo Bing could finish his words, he found that his body was suspended in the air. After a few seconds, he fell heavily to the ground, landing on his back.

"It's you who's out of your mind." Xu Fang knocked on Luo Bing's head and retracted his extended hand.

Luo Bing stood up, feeling both wronged and puzzled. He didn't understand why Xu Fang hit him. He was speaking up for Xu Fang just now, but Xu Fang seemed to have decided that he was wrong, even though it was clearly Xiao Ming's rudeness that came first.

Xiao Ming looked at Luo Bing and then at Xu Fang, not quite understanding the behavior of the two, but vaguely feeling that Xu Fang seemed to be protecting her. She scratched her cheek and changed the topic, "Can we eat now? I'm getting hungry."

"Luo Bing, call and prepare dinner." Xu Fang instructed, then looked at Xiao Ming, "You go back to the room and wait. I have something to say to Luo Bing alone."

"Okay, sure."

After watching Xiao Ming leave, Xu Fang looked out the window for a while and slowly said, "Luo Young Master, do you know why I didn't kill you?"

Luo Bing felt a chill down his spine as he was about to make a call to the front desk. "Are you joking?"

"There's an element of joking, but it's mostly because of Xiao Ming."

"Xiao Ming? What does she have to do with this?" Luo Bing was confused.

"Eliminating ghosts is not an easy task, but Xiao Ming has the power to suppress ghosts. If it weren't for her existence, I would have failed already." Xu Fang said, "She is a natural amulet, bringing good luck. It would be a waste to erase her, so I decided to spare your life."

Luo Bing was shocked, "My mom said she was the source of all evil, that she brought curses, are all of those lies?"

"They're lies. Without Xiao Ming, you probably wouldn't be alive now."

Luo Bing was skeptical and looked at Xu Fang for two seconds before confirming that he wasn't joking.

"Luo Bing, I need you to do something. Have someone investigate K city's Transportation University and find out the identity information of Xiao Ming's college roommate, the more detailed the better. Can you do it within a week?"

"I can do that." Luo Bing nodded.

"Alright then, I'm leaving. You two stay in the hotel and remember, don't tell anyone about my existence to outsiders."

"I will definitely follow... Would you like to stay and have some food?"

"No need."

With that, Xu Fang opened the window and jumped out.

The evening wind blew on Luo Bing's face as he went to the window and looked down, seeing nothing except the usual scenery.

Luo Bing stared at the evening scenery of Boston for a while, watching the sun sink into the seaside and the bustling city gradually light up. After a while, he sighed, "Looks like I have to be nicer to that guy."...

Xu Fang knew that the relationship between Luo Bing and Luo Xiaoming was very poor. From Luo Bing's perspective, Xiaoming was unnecessary. As an illegitimate child, Xiaoming had the same rights and responsibilities as the legitimate children, and there was also a possibility of inheriting the family property. Furthermore, Gussett came into the real world through Xiaoming, bringing disaster to the Luo family, and being called the "source of all evil" was understandable.

Although Xiaoming himself did nothing wrong, his existence was a mistake for Luo Bing.

If Xu Fang forced Luo Bing to treat Xiaoming well, it would likely intensify his hatred towards Xiaoming, and the consequences would be unpredictable. So Xu Fang could only deceive Luo Bing, knowing that Luo Bing couldn't verify the truth.

In addition, Xu Fang was curious to know if his roommates who were killed by Ye Huai would completely disappear from this world, and if there would be any traces of "Xu Fang" left at K University.

These were the few tasks Xu Fang had assigned to Luo Bing. The author was still lurking in the shadows, surely observing Luo Bing's actions. It would be safer for Xu Fang to replenish his energy himself.

Xu Fang visited several parking lots again, this time replenishing his energy to the maximum.

During the energy replenishing process, Xu Fang received a text message from Xu Tong, inquiring about the progress with Luo Xiaoming.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Fang found a dark corner and dialed Xu Tong's number.

"Xu Fang, how is it going?" Xu Tong asked.

"Everything is going smoothly. Do you want to hear the details?" Xu Fang replied.

There was a moment of silence from Xu Tong before he said, "Tell me."

When Xu Fang first met Xu Tong, the latter didn't want to know anything to avoid getting involved. But now, he no longer refused to know about the relationship between the novel website and the author. This indicated that he had accepted the fact of joining forces with Xu Fang and had tied his own interests to Xu Fang's.

After all, to resurrect Lin Jingrui, restore a peaceful life, and overcome the threat from the K organization, Xu Fang's help was needed.

Xu Fang told Xu Tong everything that had happened. When Xu Tong learned that Xu Fang could create duplicates of himself, he was greatly surprised.

...

Before leaving City K, Xu Fang created a duplicate of himself called "Xu Fang#1" (who named himself Gu Xi). Then, to test whether Xu Fang#1 had the ability to reproduce, Xu Fang had Xu Fang#1 create a duplicate called "Xu Fang#1-1".

Xu Fang#1 and Xu Fang#1-1 had independent consciousness, nearly identical memories and intelligence as Xu Fang himself. They were also able to submit and edit contributions to Horror Novel Web. However, they seemed unable to enter the strange gray space in dreams.

Their characters were similar to Xu Fang's but with slight differences.

In particular, Xu Fang asked a question: "If there were a powerful and unstoppable terrorist organization, such as the Mi country, which kidnapped Xiaoming and obtained all information about Xu Fang. It demanded that all individuals, including Xu Fang himself, commit suicide, or else Xiaoming would be killed. It could detect if each individual died, and changing identities through the novel website wouldn't deceive it. Faced with this situation, what would you do?"

Xu Fang#1 and Xu Fang#1-1 gave completely different answers.

Xu Fang#1 said, "We cannot let all individuals die, otherwise we would completely disappear from this world. If it were up to me, I would ensure my own survival and seek an opportunity to rescue Luo Xiaoming."

Xu Fang#1-1 replied, "I don't know. It's difficult for me to make a choice. I could only flip a coin."

Ultimately, Xu Fang sent Xu Fang#1 with the invisible cloak to City S.

He and Xu Fang#1-1 then headed directly to Boston.

During the mysterious events, Gu Xi didn't affect Xu Fang's main body, but he could no longer communicate remotely.

"You should know that Gussy has supernatural powers. In the face of such bizarre events, he has an advantage, right?""Yes, it's true that Gu Xi can directly attack the ghosts with energy in the symmetrical world. Isn't that cheating?" Xu Tong felt incredulous.

"I thought the same, so I conducted an experiment."

"What experiment?"

"I had Xu Fang#1-1 manipulate that website and forcibly enter the bizarre events. I wanted to test if my original self would also enter the bizarre events, but the result was that I didn't."

"That's not bad, right? In the future, you can let your clones take on all the dangerous operations on that website, and... you can repeatedly encounter bizarre events! Bizarre events have a very high mortality rate for humans, but for your Gussy Clan, it should just be like a copy." Xu Tong automatically excluded Xu Fang from the "human category."

"However, Xu Fang#1-1 failed. He died in the first bizarre event." Xu Fang said calmly.

Since becoming an author, Xu Fang had experienced numerous bizarre events. Apart from the one with Gest that time, he narrowly passed through all the other bizarre events and learned many tricks. Bizarre events invariably followed two rules: 1. There must be a solution. 2. Death only occurs when a fatal path is taken.

In other words, with Xu Fang's extensive experience, his mortality rate would be very low. He knew how to avoid fatal paths and find the optimal solution, not to mention the fact that Gussy could cheat.

But in the end, the clone still died. When Xu Fang arrived at the scene, he only found an empty Gussy shell. Xu Fang had underestimated the terrifying nature of the bizarre events.

"Xu Fang, I have a suggestion. Create as many clones as possible, then use a swarm tactic to deal with bizarre events and... any enemies. If you can reach a certain quantity, it would be enough to destroy any organization, even humans."

"I will consider your suggestion."

In fact, Xu Fang didn't plan to do that.

Clones also have independent personalities, which is very dangerous. The existence of the Horror Novel Web prevented the clones and the original from reaching a unified interest. If, by accident, a clone with a personality like a secondary personality is created, it would be a disaster for Xu Fang.

No, at least if a secondary personality reaches the extreme of rationality, without any survival desires, it would still be manageable. But if a slightly more emotional secondary personality appears, it would be a disaster for Xu Fang.

Xu Fang was always wary of himself. He even suspected that Xu Fang#1-1 did not die in the bizarre event but escaped from his sight in some other way.

Until the other clones can be guaranteed not to betray him, Xu Fang did not plan to breed easily.

"Xu Fang, may I ask a few questions, just for the sake of learning?" Xu Tong asked on the other end of the phone.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you write the setting for Luo Bing to save Luo Xiaoming at the bank? Aren't you afraid of paying the price?"

"There are four advantages to doing so. First, finding Luo Xiaoming. Second, ensuring the safety of Xiaoming, Luo Bing, and even myself. Third, testing the intentions of that unknown author to some extent. Lastly, using the pressure from the American police to give the other side some pressure. As for the price, why should I pay? Gu Xi has already paid for it."

The best opportunity for that author to kill Gu Xi was to blow up the plane in the sky over the Pacific because Gu Xi's energy was not enough to sustain his crossing of the Pacific. The ocean, lacking in energy, was the most dangerous place.

So Gu Xi wrote the setting for Luo Bing to save Xiaoming. If the setting passed, then Luo Bing wouldn't die before saving Xiaoming, and it also indicated that the plane wouldn't be blown up. From this, it could be deduced that the author had an intention to cooperate.

Alternatively, maybe the author didn't have enough power to blow up the plane, but if they couldn't even do that, cooperation would naturally follow.

After arriving in Boston, Gu Xi intentionally failed two submissions and then wrote in the setting for the third submission, "Luo Bing cannot save Xiaoming."

Naturally, the submission failed, but this was the result Gu Xi wanted. It meant that he could die at ease, using the last bizarre event to fulfill the "cooperation" with Joseph.

Xu Fang disguised himself as a pedestrian and completed the final part.

The setting was the guarantee for Xu Fang's plan.

By utilizing the characteristics of the setting, Xu Fang discreetly discovered Joseph's attitude. Joseph, however, remained oblivious, as he had already been betrayed by the Horror Novel Web.However, Xu Fang also took double insurance to prevent Josiah from tearing up the tickets. Until Guest took possession, his original body was guarding the police station.

"When will the intimidation system arrive?"

"Within a week, be prepared."

"Understood."

"One last question," Xu said, "If it was your original body answering the question about the US threatening Xiao Ming, what would you say?"

"Of course, it would be to clear all obstacles for her before Xiao Ming resurrects."

It took Xu a few seconds to react.

"...I think you're crazier than your clone."

After hanging up the phone, Xu Fang emerged from the shadows.

The sky was completely dark, with no stars visible, only a moon appearing from behind the clouds, reflecting a faint yellow halo in the sky.

He still needed to go to the library, and...where the body was.