104: Chapter 104 The Buddha Disappears, Illusionary Demons Become Suspicious

[Your spirituality value -1]

[Your spirituality value -1]

[...]

As the dim yellow light spread, the Great Buddha's massive body paused slightly, but immediately after, it charged into the lamp's range of illumination, raising its Buddhist staff and smashing it down.

Chu Xuan's scalp tightened as he hurriedly dodged.

Bang!!

Bricks and stones splattered, stinging Chu Xuan's cheeks, but his heart ached even more—it was practically bleeding.

In just this short while, the spirituality value consumed by using the ghost-forbidden lamp had reached 5 points, leaving him with only 16 points in total. Meanwhile, the Great Buddha had only paused for a moment at the start before resuming its relentless pursuit.

This was a massive loss!

Chu Xuan controlled the flow to stop the output of spirituality. With the lamp in one hand and a submachine gun in the other, he dodged while trying his best to run toward the overturned incense burner in the distance.

Now that Wang Ruozi was temporarily safe, Chu Xuan had no more reservations. As long as he rolled in some incense ash and found a spot to stay still, he could temporarily escape the Great Buddha's pursuit.

Seeing that the incense burner was still over ten meters away, the Great Buddha disappeared again. Chu Xuan immediately halted, focusing his attention and staying alert to his surroundings.

At this moment, he felt incredibly lucky that the Great Buddha's movements were extremely stiff.

If Chu Xuan himself possessed this skill, he would have definitely built up momentum before teleporting, so the attack would land the very instant he appeared.

That way, he would be half a beat faster than the target, making it difficult to parry even if the target was mentally prepared.

"Huh?"

Chu Xuan was suddenly taken aback and quickly looked around.

The Great Buddha actually didn't reappear?

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

A full three seconds passed, and the Great Buddha still hadn't appeared.

Could it be that because it couldn't kill him after so long, it went somewhere else?

Just as this thought flashed through his mind, exclamations and screams rang out in succession from the distance. Chu Xuan breathed a secret sigh of relief; the enemy had indeed left.

He didn't dare linger too long and quickly put away the ghost-forbidden lamp. Then, following his original plan, he lunged toward the overturned incense burner.

He first rolled twice on the ground, then reached into the incense burner to grab handfuls of ash. Ignoring the mess, he smeared it all over his body, including his hair and cheeks.

Having done all this, Chu Xuan headed straight for the Sangharama Hall.

"My friend, you really don't need to go through all this trouble. Open your mind, give your body to me, and I can help you kill it." A gentle and magnetic voice slowly sounded; the Phantom Demon finally couldn't hold back anymore and began its seduction.

In an instant, a strong thought arose in Chu Xuan.

That's right!

Why go through all this trouble?

Wouldn't it be much easier to let the Phantom Demon help?

As an S-rank Specter, dealing with a Great Buddha that was about to promote to A-rank should be very easy. If...

The next second, Chu Xuan's figure suddenly froze!

"Get lost! If I give my body to you, I'm afraid I won't get it back, will I?"

Chu Xuan spoke coldly, "Phantom Demon, you've broken our agreement once again! Once this matter is resolved and I have enough spirituality value, I will increase my Charm attribute again!"

"No! My friend, I was wrong. I shouldn't have done that. I was just worried about your safety... Hmm?"

The Phantom Demon's voice abruptly stopped, followed by a long laugh. "My friend, why is there some resistance in your emotions when you talk about increasing your Charm attribute?"

Chu Xuan was startled, a chill running down his spine.

"Weren't you always planning to accumulate spirituality and use it all at once to increase your Charm attribute? Are you hiding something from me?"

The Phantom Demon's voice became even gentler, like a teacher who, instead of blaming a child for a mistake, kindly rubs their head and softly asks for the reason.

In an instant, countless thoughts flew by, and his mind churned like a stormy sea. He couldn't suppress them no matter what. His consciousness began to blur, and he was about to blurt out his deepest thoughts!

Chu Xuan suddenly bit the tip of his tongue. The sharp pain jolted him awake. Feeling the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, the corners of his lips slowly curled into a cold sneer:

"Of course, it's because I've already guessed... your true purpose is to have me increase my Charm attribute!"

Since the Phantom Demon had already noticed the abnormality in his emotions, making excuses now was useless. It was better to just lay it out to cover up the matters concerning Future Tang Zheng and the Purger sequence.

At the same time, Chu Xuan wanted to take this opportunity to test how the other party would react if he already knew that the Charm attribute was a trap.

Chu Xuan mocked, "Phantom Demon, you clearly want me to increase my Charm attribute, yet you pretend to be afraid. I'd like to ask you, what are you hiding?"

The Phantom Demon fell silent for a moment, then laughed. "My friend, you're right. It's exactly as you say; I indeed hope you can increase your Charm attribute."

Such frankness slightly startled Chu Xuan, making him suspicious, but he understood immediately after.

The other party was just trying to compensate after being exposed, speaking this way on purpose to make him hesitate.

If he didn't have the memories from the previous dream, and if he hadn't known for a long time that the Charm attribute was a trap—a flaw in the System, a result of the collision of world game rules—Chu Xuan might have truly been doubtful.

With a shift in his thoughts, Chu Xuan knew the Phantom Demon was constantly sensing his emotional fluctuations, so he did as the other party wished and deliberately thought about things he didn't understand yet.

For example:

What exactly was the background of that White-haired Old Village Chief just now? He clearly had an air of being a high-level figure, so why did he suddenly seem to look like a normal person the moment the Great Buddha's staff fell? Was he being controlled, or was he just a Clone?

Logically, Future Tang Zheng would join the official organization and become a Night Watcher, but why did he say he had been traveling alone in the apocalypse for three years? What exactly does the future of this world look like?

How did Future Tang Zheng manage to get out of the dormitory alive back then?

Why was Future Tang Zheng's line, "Never trust anyone," exactly the same as what he had heard in his haze?

Strictly speaking, this sentence is a paradox. If no one can be trusted, then can this sentence itself not be trusted?

Could it be because many people in this world have already been parasitized by Specters, so he simply painted everyone with the same brush and decided not to trust anyone?

The more deeply Chu Xuan thought, the more surprised he was to find that he had unknowingly accumulated so many unresolved questions.

"My friend, you don't need to be so worried. Some things are quite complicated; I will explain the reasons to you later. For now, continue with your business."

After the Phantom Demon said this, it fell into complete silence.

Chu Xuan knew that the Phantom Demon's words were just perfunctory. Once this matter was over, that might be when the other party truly showed its fangs.

If he couldn't continue to do as the Phantom Demon wished—thinking only of increasing his Charm attribute—the other party might not go as far as choosing mutual destruction.

But after a complete falling out, it would definitely try to infect him frequently and wouldn't let him earn spirituality value easily anymore.

Fortunately, in reality, Chu Xuan had always restrained himself from thinking about how to deal with the Phantom Demon. Even regarding his long-standing suspicion that the Charm attribute might be a trap, he had constantly suppressed those thoughts and hadn't delved into them, so he hadn't aroused the other party's suspicion.

And now, everything was just inside a dream!