At the cost of losing an arm and a leg, Fang Zhiyi once again found a key to escape.
He succeeded in protecting those cities, but he had to die.
Because his injuries were real—in his current state, entering again would mean certain death. The authorities didn’t dare gamble, and neither did he. Only by his death would they select a new candidate.
But before he died, Fang Zhiyi had one last wish: to see that woman again.
Soon, the security team brought him some photos, and everyone looked at him strangely.
In the photos, Ning Yi'an was nestled shyly in the arms of a white man, her face glowing with happiness. Fang Zhiyi stared at the image for a long time before forcing a smile. "As long as she’s safe, that’s all that matters."
Someone from the security team quietly urged him to look at the other photos. Only then did Fang Zhiyi realize that in every picture, his "white moonlight" was with a different man—white, black, tall, short.
"Also, seeing her won’t be easy. She’s under the protection of K Country now."
K Country? Wasn’t that the same nation that had extended him an olive branch twice before? Fang Zhiyi seemed to understand everything now, but there was nothing he could do. Human logic was often twisted—facing the same disaster, they schemed to suppress other nations, vying for higher status. If they couldn’t recruit him, eliminating him was just as viable.
He died, drinking poison to end his own life.
"Use my brain? I just spent the last world racking my brains—can’t I take a break?" Fang Zhiyi complained after reading the scenario. This world might be even more exhausting than the last. If it turned out to be a puzzle-solving world, he was doomed.
Xiao Hei squinted, his face—Yue Anyao’s face—looking both cunning and adorable. "Host, actually, I’d like to ask for your help with something in this world."
"Me... huh?" Fang Zhiyi turned to look at his hand, his fingers twitching slightly.
"Host?"
"Shh. I feel something... familiar." Fang Zhiyi’s lips curled into a slow smile. He had tried this in many worlds before, but success was rare. Though he didn’t know why, this world actually responded!
As someone with prior experience in cultivation, understanding the mechanics was simple. Then, drawing from his experience as a ghost, Fang Zhiyi had invented ghost cultivation. And when he worked as a Taoist priest—though that world couldn’t sustain cultivation—he still made some refinements.
This world! It was saturated with that eerie energy, almost indistinguishable from yin energy!
Xiao Hei watched as Fang Zhiyi sat cross-legged, closing his eyes slightly. Wisps of black energy flowed into his body with each breath.
"Host, this isn’t safe, is it? You’re not a ghost right now..."
Fang Zhiyi didn’t respond, but seeing that he seemed unharmed, Xiao Hei quietly waited.
Meanwhile, the live chat erupted into chaos.
"What’s Fang Zhiyi doing?"
"No idea. Is he meditating?"
"Didn’t know he was a cultivator (laughing emoji)."
"Damn, that newbie next door just got crushed to death, and this guy hasn’t even moved?"
"Maybe it’s good he’s not moving. It’s super dangerous outside—so many people have died already."
"But he can’t just stay like this forever, right?"
"Who are you to question Fang Zhiyi?"
"Can’t I just say something?"
"If you’re so good, why don’t you go in?"
"I’m not going in! Do I need to know how to make ice to use a fridge?"
Fang Zhiyi couldn’t see these comments. He was carefully guiding the usable eerie energy into his body, avoiding his heart and circulating it slowly.
"Am I seeing things? There was black smoke around Fang Zhiyi just now."
"Are you stupid? Black smoke? You think he’s having a qi deviation?"
"Oh crap! The ghost nurse is at the door!"
The door creaked open, revealing a hunched humanoid figure standing at the threshold. Its face was rotted, exposing rows of white teeth. It sniffed the air like a predator tracking prey, dragging an IV stand with its left hand while clutching a massive syringe in its right—still stained with traces of blood.
"The tension is unreal."
"So gross. So terrifying."
"Honestly, if you cover the face, it’s not so bad... I have a bold idea..."
"WTF, what are you thinking?!"
The ghost nurse spotted Fang Zhiyi and shuffled toward him, but he remained motionless, eyes closed.
"Oh no oh no oh no oh no—"
"Did Fang-ge pull an all-nighter? Came here to catch up on sleep?"
"Game over. Time to pack up and move."
The ghost nurse stopped in front of Fang Zhiyi, tilting its head. Slowly, it raised the syringe, its teeth grinding with a hideous sound.
"That Japanese player next door was killed by her—stabbed through the eyeball with that thing, injected who-knows-what, then dragged to the dissection room..."
"Fck! Can’t someone go in and slap Fang-ge awake?"
"If I had that kind of power, I’d be acting on my bold idea already."
Just as the needle was about to pierce Fang Zhiyi’s eye—and just as the authorities were about to use their hint—his eyes snapped open. The ghost nurse found her hand frozen mid-air, unable to advance even a millimeter. Fang Zhiyi had seized her wrist in an iron grip.
"Host, I thought we were about to depart," Xiao Hei sighed in relief. It was confident it could pull Fang Zhiyi out the moment he died.
Fang Zhiyi grinned, flashing his teeth. Whether this thing could see it or not, he had to keep up appearances.
In one swift motion, he stood up, never releasing the ghost nurse’s hand. With a sharp twist, her arm emitted a crisp snap—broken! Fang Zhiyi frowned, then seized her other arm and repeated the motion. Now both arms hung limp at her sides. The ghost nurse stood dumbly before him, only her exposed teeth still grinding together, whether in rage or fear, it was unclear.
She seemed to sense something terrifying.
The live chat fell silent. As the ghost nurse was kicked aside, a single comment drifted across the screen:
"Uh... wasn’t Fang-ge supposed to be an intelligence-type player?"
"That’s what I remember too."
"His revealed divine relic was 'Prophet'—lets him see ten seconds into the future."
"So what is this now?"
The chat exploded. For the first time, someone had physically harmed a supernatural entity with bare hands! Sure, others had injured or even killed ghosts before—but only using cursed objects or divine relics. Fang Zhiyi, an intelligence-type player, had just done it empty-handed. In thirty years, he was the first!
Spies lurking in the live stream immediately relayed the news to their respective nations.
At K Country’s headquarters, officials watched the broadcast in stunned silence before finally declaring, "That young man must die. We cannot let the Xia Kingdom keep winning."
Fang Zhiyi paid no attention. He was pleased with his current state. Even if it damaged his body, so what? It wasn’t his to begin with.
Ignoring the now-harmless ghost nurse, he strode out the door, glanced left and right, and chose a path.