Die, Replay, Repeat

Chapter 171: Don't Look Back

"You guys go ahead, I'm leaving," Fang Xiu said calmly. He then swiftly moved through the numerous Specter Hands.

He didn't have the patience to wait for everyone. Plus, he knew that these Specter Hands were not very strong, and they would eventually break free.

Yang Ming felt envious and muttered, "I wish I could be as cool as him."

After Fang Xiu left the recreation room, he entered a long, dimly lit corridor that seemed to lead to hell.

He walked calmly, his footsteps echoing.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

As he walked, his figure gradually disappeared into the darkness. Then, he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

Fang Xiu's expression remained unchanged, and a bright scalpel fell into his hand.

The moment the scalpel was in his hand, without any pause, he turned around and swung. However, strangely, he hit nothing. There was no one behind him.

The footsteps sounded again; even though Fang Xiu had turned around, the footsteps were still behind him.

Then, something bone-chilling stuck to his back.

Before he could react, a huge force twisted his neck a full 180 degrees, completely twisting it backwards.

At that moment, he finally saw what was behind him. It was a Specter with a wrinkled face and crimson skin, chewing on bloody minced meat.

It was tall, entirely crimson, and its hands firmly grasped Fang Xiu's head.

Despite his severe injury, Fang Xiu's strong life force didn't let him die instantly. He controlled the scalpel, transforming it into a streak of silver light and fiercely slashing at the Specter.

However, just then, the Specter's figure faded and slowly disappeared, and the scalpel hit nothing.

Fang Xiu slightly frowned. The Specter disappeared just after twisting his neck, that was a bit strange.

He put away the scalpel and grabbed his own head, then forcefully twisted it.

CRACK!

His head rotated 180 degrees back to its original position.

This action made Fang Xiu start to feel dizzy, his life force rapidly fading.

In the next instant, he activated his ability—absorbing pain!

The excruciating pain in his neck was instantly absorbed. As the pain disappeared, his injuries also vanished.

This was the evolved version of his pain absorption ability. It not only absorbed the sensation of pain but also the cause of it.

After doing all this, Fang Xiu continued forward expressionlessly.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

He hadn't walked much farther when footsteps sounded behind him again.

SWISH!

In an instant, Fang Xiu swung his scalpel.

This time Fang Xiu didn't even turn his head; he just stabbed behind him.

Yet, Fang Xiu could clearly feel that this strike again hit nothing.

He stood still, his brows furrowed.

Soon, something cold and chilling stuck to Fang Xiu's back, spreading an icy, bone-piercing chill throughout his body. However, this time his neck wasn't twisted.

"What's different this time?" Fang Xiu wondered.

Then it hit him—the difference was turning back! Last time, his neck was twisted after he turned around; this time he hadn't.

It seemed the Specter's killing move was triggered by turning back. With this realization, Fang Xiu sheathed his scalpel and continued walking.

The footsteps followed closely, and the Specter remained glued to his back, its icy touch ever-present. But the Specter made no move, just kept following step by step.

Since it wasn't stopping him, Fang Xiu decided not to deal with it for now. Though he enjoyed destroying Specters, he had more important things to do—like heading to room 520 in building C to uncover the truth about the Specters!

According to the note left by Zhou Qingfeng, the truth was in that room.

This had been troubling Fang Xiu since he had arrived in this world.

What are the Specters? What is the truth of this world? Why is he the only one who can see the Specters?

Perhaps today, these mysteries would be resolved.

After walking through the corridor, Fang Xiu saw an office that looked a lot like the doctor's.

Guessing it might belong to another doctor, he opened the door and entered. The layout—a single bed, a wardrobe, and a desk—was almost identical to the doctor's office.

Fang Xiu scanned the room and immediately noticed shredded paper in the trash bin. He picked out the fragments, piecing them together to reveal incomplete sentences.

_President Zhou is the kindest person in the world, I like him the most!_

Just from this sentence, Fang Xiu could roughly imagine what kind of person had written these words.

_Today, I accidentally killed a few subjects again, but President Zhou didn't punish me. He even smiled at me. He's so kind. For President Zhou's vision, I must try harder to capture more subjects!_

_"Oh dear! President Zhou came to see my experiment today, I was so happy! But the subjects were too unruly, moving around and splattering blood on me. I wonder if President Zhou will dislike me now?"_

_"The number of failed experiments is increasing. Although President Zhou smiles every day, I can feel his disappointment. I don't want to disappoint him. If one subject isn't enough, I'll use two, and if two aren't enough, then three. As long as I keep trying, I'll succeed eventually!" _