153: Chapter 153 Don't stay in Haicheng!

[My Talent allows me to preview the future in my dreams, and as long as I have enough spirituality value, death in a dream can be rewound and restarted. Besides that, I can only receive messages from you within the dreamscape.]

Now in a dream, Chu Xuan didn't need to worry about the Phantom Demon knowing too many details about his Talent anymore. Moreover, Future Tang Zheng could retain memories, so revealing more information to the other party would do more good than harm.

[Tang Zheng: I see, your Talent really is extraordinary. Not only can you rewind, but even I rewind along with you and retain my memories. I think I understand a bit now... This should be a communication link established between us, forming a unique set of rules. No wonder I was struck by lightning last time.]

[Chu Xuan: One more thing, you said that communicating with you can't be told to anyone, but it is watching us chat through the phone. Will there be a problem?]

[Tang Zheng: As long as it in reality doesn't know, it's fine. Otherwise, you might get struck by lightning just like me.]

Chu Xuan's lips twitched. He was about to ask subtly how his future self was doing and whether he had already stepped into the sequence of the Purifier.

However, in the next second, the message sent by the other party made his pupils suddenly constrict.

[Tang Zheng: Holy crap! In the memories that just appeared, you've been hunting me down, and you're even stronger than before. You freaking even know how to teleport? Isn't that my Sequence Skill?]

Chu Xuan's heart tightened.

The meaning behind Future Tang Zheng's words was self-evident.

He quickly typed and sent: [Did I fail? Did I not manage to take that path?]

[Tang Zheng: Wait, my memories are a bit in Confusion, let me sort them out and think carefully... Oh no, the future you has already caught up to me! Neither human nor ghost, neither person nor phantom!]

Chu Xuan felt a chill in his heart.

At this moment, he suddenly felt the sense of oppression surrounding him grow stronger. The Phantom Demon's somewhat strange emphasis echoed in his ears:

"My friend, you seem to be hiding something from me? Have you learned something special from the future? Tell me..."

Chu Xuan narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Phantom Demon, are you starting to make trouble?"

"I just want to know some truth. As a friend, you shouldn't hide things from me." The Phantom Demon switched to its characteristic gentle voice. Faintly, a feeling of being enveloped by darkness appeared, and his consciousness gradually blurred.

Chu Xuan simply remained silent and bit the tip of his tongue hard. Along with the pain, a metallic sweetness filled his throat, and his consciousness returned instantly.

"Hehe! Hehe!"

The Phantom Demon's eerie laughter rang out: "My friend, under these circumstances, with me pressuring you like this, why don't you add to your Charm attribute?"

Chu Xuan's gaze turned cold.

"Is it because you already know through the future that increasing your Charm attribute cannot effectively suppress me?"

The Phantom Demon's laughter became even stranger, like someone betrayed by their closest person. Hysterical anger was mixed into the laughter: "So, you've been lying to me all along?!"

"It's mutual. Haven't you been deceiving me all along as well?"

Chu Xuan also smiled: "You keep saying you want me to help you find a suitable vessel, but that's just your stalling tactic. You still want to occupy my body and want me to keep increasing my Charm attribute so you can perform a perfect Fusion on me."

"You really do know."

The Phantom Demon's voice returned to its gentle, magnetic tone: "In that case, I can only give up on a perfect Fusion and settle for the next best thing: parasitizing this body of yours."

Chu Xuan said coldly: "Stop testing me. In yesterday's dream, I already knew that you cannot parasitize me right now! If you forcibly occupy my body, you will only perish together with me, and a brand new monster will be born."

"Then let's perish together. Anyway, this is your dream, I'll just waste one of your dream opportunities..."

As the Phantom Demon's voice drifted out, Chu Xuan felt the darkness in this brightly lit room grow stronger. His body felt as if it were slowly shrinking, and his vision began to blur.

Chu Xuan sneered: "Dying in a dream has no impact on reality; this has been verified countless times. But for you, who lives symbiotically with me, if you die in the dream, you might not survive in reality."

The darkness stopped abruptly.

"Are you bluffing?"

"Do you dare to gamble?"

After a short silence, the Phantom Demon laughed again: "Since that's the case, let's just keep stalling. Under my influence, you can't do anything. The spirituality value you used to enter this dream is destined to be wasted."

With his vision dim and consciousness hazy, Chu Xuan indeed couldn't do anything. He could only use pain to stay awake and avoid being controlled by the Phantom Demon, but this was not a long-term solution.

"You really aren't giving me any way out." Chu Xuan sighed softly: "Then let's both go our separate ways. I'll just commit suicide as soon as I wake up."

"You won't." There was mockery in the Phantom Demon's voice.

Chu Xuan said: "I was counting on communicating with the future in my dreams to farm some spirituality value. If you won't even give me this chance, I'm dead either way. I might as well die sooner to keep you from getting what you want."

The Phantom Demon fell silent for a moment, its tone softening significantly: "My friend, you really don't have to be like this... I mentioned earlier that having you help me find a suitable vessel is not unfeasible.

How about this: your friend Tang Zheng is quite good. Although his Talent and skills are terrifying, he's no match for you in his normal state. Especially your Rank 3 Heart-Confusing Skill; for him, it's practically a total suppression. You just need to follow the method I tell you..."

Chu Xuan's gaze was cold as he interrupted directly: "Are you joking? He's my sworn brother. I still need his future self to provide me with prophetic information."

The Phantom Demon's voice wavered: "This..."

"Max out my Heart Bewitchment Rank, remove the word 'temporary' from the Myriad Forms skill, and then give me 1000 spirituality value. Then I'll help you take down Tang Zheng."

Chu Xuan's expression returned to calm: "To test your sincerity, try it in the dream first, and then I'll renegotiate with you after I return to reality."

"You're joking."

"You're the one who started joking."

Silence again.

After a long while, the Phantom Demon sighed softly: "Fine, I'll take a step back. Find an opportunity to capture Qin Qing, and I'll settle for her body."

"Fine." Chu Xuan nodded.

"Although parting is for a better reunion, I still feel somewhat reluctant to leave you, my friend."

The surrounding darkness dissipated, and everything returned to normal.

The Phantom Demon let out a long sigh: "After you return to reality, you just need to explain the pros and cons to me like you did just now. I hope you don't deceive me again."

Chu Xuan narrowed his eyes: "It's still too early to talk about that. Didn't you see the message from Future Tang Zheng? The future me has been hunting him down! That 'me' is neither human nor ghost, neither person nor phantom—it's the brand new monster born after our Fusion...

This can only mean one thing: during this time, some irresistible force pushed me into a desperate situation near death, forcing you to parasitize me, which ultimately failed and led to the appearance of that monster."

"Hmm?"

The Phantom Demon's voice suddenly rose a few pitches.

Almost at the same time, the phone received three consecutive messages from Future Tang Zheng.

[June 20th, around 4 AM, you went into a wild frenzy and fought a mysterious powerhouse in the Villa Residence of the Research Base's Living Area in Haicheng, and eventually fled with injuries!]

[June 21st, you returned to Haicheng, deployed an Illusionary Blockade across the entire city, and slaughtered over twenty-five million people.]

[Leave as soon as possible. Do not stay in Haicheng!]

Chu Xuan's expression turned solemn.

It was currently June 14th.

He had already decided to leave tonight and would not return for a short while. How could he still be in Haicheng on June 20th?

What exactly went wrong?