Replica 08

The eerie target continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace than before, but it felt like the final straw that would snap its nerves—if it even had any.

"I quit!" Finally, it straightened up, grabbed its own head hanging limply from its chest, and slammed it back onto its neck before turning to head home.

Little did it know, an even bigger trouble awaited it there.

The first floor was still bustling with people, even a few homeless folks who had started a fire. In the past, it would have slaughtered them all without hesitation, but right now, all it wanted was to crawl back into the cramped, dark space above the ceiling and lie there quietly for a day.

But when it pushed open the ceiling panel, the sight before its eyes left it stunned.

A man was holding its son by the neck, swinging him through the air like a toy, while half the roof had already been torn off.

"Woo... the airplane's coming!"

"Woo... obstacle ahead, evasive maneuvers!"

The pale little ghost giggled with delight, clearly having the time of its life.

"Look, the main attraction's back!"

"Someone remind Brother Fang! The whole point of finding the ghost's son was to pacify it. I highly doubt his current method counts as 'pacifying.'"

"The female ghost's here!"

Both human and supernatural viewers on the live stream recoiled in unison.

The ghost itself froze for a moment before lunging forward in rage—only to be met with a resounding slap that sent its head flying off.

Fang Zhiyi seemed to brace for something, but when nothing happened after a long pause, a grin slowly spread across his face.

"Well, that's a relief."

"Y-you... what are you doing?!" The ghost suddenly felt uneasy.

"Someone tell me this isn't real," a viewer typed in the chat.

"Looks pretty real to me."

"Ghosts... can be hit? That's not scientifically possible."

"Wait, come to think of it, does anyone know what Fang Zhiyi's innate ability is?"

The question plunged everyone into silence. Every participant in the game drew a unique ability at the start, but to protect the players, almost none of them were publicly disclosed. Fang Zhiyi had always relied on his intellect to clear one challenge after another, so no one had ever figured out what his ability was.

Of course, Fang Zhiyi knew—it was just a lousy "extra life" perk, granting him one additional respawn per dungeon. If not for that, the original host wouldn't have even survived long enough to reach the next stage.

"I got it! His ability lets him deal damage to ghosts?!"

"Ohhh!"

The realization dawned on everyone. That had to be the explanation for what was happening.

Meanwhile, the ghost viewers in the supernatural live stream weren't overanalyzing it. They just kept spamming horrified reactions, as if every slap Fang Zhiyi delivered was landing on them personally.

Eventually, Fang Zhiyi grew tired and tossed the little ghost he'd been using as a weapon back at the female ghost. Instinctively, she raised her arms to shield her head, leaving the child to crash unceremoniously onto the floor.

"Let me ask you something," Fang Zhiyi crouched down. "Are you feeling calmer now?"

The ghost didn’t understand his words, but it definitely understood his expression and immediately nodded frantically.

"Contestant Fang Zhiyi has successfully cleared the dungeon. Rating... C-tier. Dungeon evaluation: 'Slanderer, violent maniac.' Dragon Nation gains a 2% increase in territorial area, while Chrysanthemum Nation loses 5% of its land."

The public erupted in excitement—no one had expected the dungeon to be cleared so effortlessly.

The citizens of Chrysanthemum Nation, however, were furious. They flooded the live stream to protest Fang Zhiyi’s use of their NPCs as cannon fodder, but their numbers were too few, and Dragon Nation’s viewers drowned them out with insults.

The next day, Fang Zhiyi heard that Chrysanthemum Nation’s prime minister had been stabbed by an angry mob and hospitalized.

At the same time, news broke that the transmigrator tasked with fast-travel missions had been devoured by the supernatural dungeon, reportedly turning into one of the ghostly students.

Fang Zhiyi’s name once again echoed across Blue Star. Now, no nation dared to oppose him directly. Instead, they began forcing their own contestants into rigorous training—specifically, advanced mathematics, physics, and chemistry problems. The contestants were driven to despair, cursing Fang Zhiyi under their breath even in their sleep.

One contestant finally snapped: "Don’t push me! If you keep this up, I’ll do anything!"

The think tank promptly slid a sheet of paper toward him. "Then solve this calculus problem set."

"Fang Zhiyi!!! I swear I’ll never forgive you!"

Meanwhile, Hanks from Eagle Nation met his end in a dungeon designed by a contestant from Palm Nation—a place shrouded in an unsettling aura, where a spectral woman lurking in the fog caught him off guard.

Fang Zhiyi also earned some points, though the low rating meant the rewards were barely enough to scrape by. Still, it was better than nothing.

After a brutal round of competition, the supernatural rules suddenly shifted. Due to complaints from ghostly viewers, the game accelerated. Now, both sides would design dungeons simultaneously and run them in parallel. If a dungeon design won and the contestant also cleared it, the rewards would be doubled!

As fate would have it, Dragon Nation’s first opponent in this new phase was none other than Eagle Nation.

That day, viewers frantically switched between the two live streams, unwilling to miss Fang Zhiyi’s dungeon design or his dungeon run.

The supernatural live stream had it easier—their screen was split, showing both dungeons side by side.

Fang Zhiyi found himself in a dilapidated temple. He paused, not because of anything supernatural, but because the temple was unmistakably Dragon Nation in style. Clearly, the Eagle Nation folks had gone all out to counter him.

But did that transmigrator really think he could be taken down with Dragon Nation-style horror? Was he even awake?

Just as he finished that thought, a group of shadowy figures approached the temple.

"Locate the evil spirit hiding in the temple; survive for three days. Time limit: three days."

The figures drew closer. Fang Zhiyi frowned—they were monks, ignoring him completely as they took their seats and began chanting sutras.

"Evil spirit?" Fang Zhiyi found their noise unbearable and strode outside.

Over in Eagle Nation’s live stream, viewers were baffled.

"What the—isn’t this guy from Dragon Nation?"

"Not necessarily. Could be from Chrysanthemum Nation or Kimchi Nation."

"Stupid Dragon Nation idiots, this is an Eagle Nation citizen now. He just used to be from Dragon Nation."

"Pfft!"