As long as you have the courage, fierce ghosts go on maternity leave.

Chapter 310: Are you going to keep pretending?

"Yo! Tommy DeVito, that’s quite the name you got there! Come on, let me show you upstairs," said the gang member leading the way, his face twisted in mock amusement.

Just then, an argument erupted from above. Words like "pranks" and "tricks" were faintly discernible.

"Something’s happening upstairs too?"

The four men exchanged glances, sensing that something was amiss. If it were just them, it would be one thing, but since there was also commotion upstairs, this was more than just a prank.

Granted, today was Dominic’s party, and plenty of people were in attendance. However, most were confined to the lower floors; only a select few of higher rank had access to the fifth floor. They had been guarding the staircase themselves; it was impossible for outsiders to get in. So for identical imposters to appear upstairs as well—this was truly bizarre.

"Something doesn’t feel right. Let’s go upstairs and check it out. Let Dominic sort this out himself," said one, and the others nodded in agreement. They all rushed upstairs.

"What should we do? Should we follow them?" Zoe lifted her head from Alexander’s arms to ask.

Just as Alexander was about to agree, a cry for battle sounded from above.

"They’re fighting already? Gang members sure are hot-tempered!"

"Let’s go, the usual spot," sighed Alexander, pulling Zoe along toward a room on the fourth floor.

Bang!

He kicked open the door to find two people making love on the bed. With that kick, the man in bed lost his vigor instantly.

"What the hell? Who are you people? Bursting into our room like this, are you insane? Son of a—"

Before the woman could finish cursing, Alexander interjected, "Maybe you should have your man take a look in the mirror. He might find it enlightening."

"What nonsense are you talking about? Is there something on my face?" The man was momentarily confused and instinctively pulled out his phone to check his reflection.

"Honey, he’s messing with you! These people are no good; they must be here to rob us. Call the police!" The woman nudged her husband, speaking in a panicked tone.

As the man moved to dial the police, Alexander didn’t stop him. There wouldn’t be any police showing up in this cycle anyway. And if someone had to intervene, it wouldn’t need to be Alexander.

Sure enough, just as the man was about to connect the emergency call, a duplicate wearing a robe burst through the door, enraged. "You little bastard, there’s nothing on my face. Daring to mess with me, are you asking for a beating?"

"I’d advise you to take a look at the bed before making any moves," Alexander said, his tone level.

"My God, who are you?" Both the husband and wife were stunned as another man emerged from the bathroom.

"You..." The duplicate, whose memory spanned from the bed to checking himself in the bathroom mirror, instantly recognized the man in bed as an exact replica of himself. He froze.

Then both men turned their angry glares toward Alexander and Zoe. "Is this some sick prank you’re pulling?"

The duplicate closer to Alexander lunged forward, grabbing at his collar. Unlike the last cycle, Alexander didn’t let him have his way this time. He grabbed the man’s arm and flung him away.

The man soared through the air, landing harshly on the bed, entangling himself with the other couple.

"Impossible, how can you be so strong? Something’s not right about you!" All three looked at Alexander, an aura of dark energy emanating from them.

"You folks asking for trouble?" A surge of imposing aura burst forth from Alexander. Wisps of white mist materialized around him, forming ring-like structures, much like soul rings.

Eyes glowing with a cunning light, Alexander spoke again: "Well? Do you want to die?"

"I’m sorry, I was wrong!" The man immediately backed down.

"Yes, yes, he’s wrong!" The duplicate nodded fervently, earning himself a glare from the man.

Ignoring the three, Alexander took out his phone and began replicating himself again.

"What... what are you doing? Are you insane?" The man and the duplicate stared in disbelief as multiple Alexanders emerged from the bathroom.

"What a great idea!" The woman’s eyes lit up, looking at her two ’husbands,’ clearly intrigued.

Apparently, none of them had memories of prior events. As expected, when a rift in space opened, the couple and the duplicate charged toward the real world again. Alexander didn’t stop them, nor did he need to. Given the circumstances, it seemed that their stubbornness was a replication of the Mist system, not really them at all.

Perhaps the whole of Cangshan City, or even every Mist Instance, operated in a similar manner: based on a single, powerful obsession that accumulated into various instances, cycles erasing or dissipating these obsessions over time.

As the commotion outside quieted down, Alexander instantly teleported to a room just before the fifth floor. He glanced at the newspaper on the table and a meaningful smile curved his lips. He teleported out of the room once more.

"Participants! We have participants here!"

It was as if someone had stepped on a landmine. The hallway, which had just settled down, instantly erupted into chaos.

The gang members lying on the ground were surprisingly not dead. Initially unable to even groan, they instantaneously entered a Rampage State due to Alexander’s presence. Ghost Energy swirled around them, and in the blink of an eye, their severe injuries were healed.

Activating his spatial talent, Alexander returned directly to the room on the fourth floor. He moved his fingers, creating a spatial rift, ready to flee at any moment.

Boom!

A thunderous noise echoed as the ceiling above was violently shattered. Several figures descended from the sky.

Alexander was already prepared to teleport back to the real world at any time. However, just then, a dense white mist began to rapidly contract. A blinding halo flashed before his eyes. A new cycle had arrived again!

....

"Brother..."

Feeling a familiar sensation, Alexander let out a sigh of relief. However, this time he didn’t disrobe but calmly pushed Zoe away, saying, "Are you going to keep pretending?"

"Brother, I want you to love me..."

Zoe once again crawled from the edge of the bed, her body lunging toward Alexander.

Expressionless, Alexander pushed her away once more.

Once, twice...

Over and over again, Alexander showed great patience, his expression unchanging as he continually pushed her away.

Finally, Zoe halted her movements. The infatuated look in her eyes vanished in an instant, as if it had never existed.

Looking at Alexander, Zoe remained silent for a long moment before asking, "How did you find out? Where did I give myself away?"

"Your act was very convincing, and the sacrifices you made left almost no loopholes," Alexander shook his head, glancing suggestively at Zoe’s nude form before continuing, "However, I have a skill that allows me to see through obstacles within a certain range."

"That newspaper? You saw it? No wonder," Zoe suddenly understood.

"There was a malicious assassination in our city at eight tonight. Renowned entrepreneur Dominic was attacked, and the assailant was a young girl..."

Pausing for a moment, Alexander uttered the name he had seen: "Zoe!"

The birth of this mysterious instance created all these obsessions. That ghost was Zoe!

"So, you’re sure the cycle happened because of me, just based on that newspaper?" Zoe asked, frowning.

"Of course not! That’s why during the third cycle, I still took you to that couple’s room and awakened them right away. I wanted to see if the obsessions of ordinary people were really their own or aggregated by the system. And sure enough, those obsessions were aggregated by the instance.

Based on their past behavior and memories, if you were a regular person, you should’ve been repeating assassinations and suicides, not appearing here with a brother who has long since died. I even checked a room on the fifth floor again, and the newspaper had been changed."

"It seems I didn’t do well enough," Zoe shook her head, smiling.

"Even without that newspaper, I would’ve been suspicious. The most important reason was my initial doubt," Alexander said, shaking his head.

"You said I didn’t have any loopholes," Zoe questioned skeptically.

"Even though you disguised yourself well, you weren’t flawless. Remember when we just stepped out of the room? Among all those duplicates, you directly located my real body. Don’t you find that strange?"

"Is that it?" As Alexander spoke, Zoe became furious. She couldn’t believe it was for that reason.

Her breasts heaved angrily as she pointed at Alexander’s forehead and shouted, "You idiot, you don’t have numbers on your forehead!"