46: Chapter 46 Death Loop

Chen Mo opened his eyes.

He was standing in a tunnel.

Before him was that floating ball of light—the Time-Lag Ghost, completely intact, the wound on its chest gone.

The surrounding Time Barriers were slowly rotating.

Everything was exactly the same as when he had first walked in.

Chen Mo froze for a moment.

He looked down at his hands—the cleaver was still there, but the three time core fragments were gone. The b-grade stabilizer in his pocket was also missing.

[Time Rewind Detected]

[Current Time Point: Third minute after entering the tunnel]

[Remaining Rewinds: Unknown]

Chen Mo's pupils constricted.

Time Rewind.

He had killed the Time-Lag Ghost, but it had activated some ability right before dying, causing time to turn back.

Now he was back to three minutes ago.

Nothing had happened.

The Time-Lag Ghost floated in mid-air, looking at him.

"You've come," it said. "Again."

Chen Mo stared at it.

"You know?"

"I know," the Time-Lag Ghost said. "Because the timeline on your body has already repeated seven times."

Chen Mo's heart sank a little.

He didn't remember what happened during the previous seven times.

But the Time-Lag Ghost remembered.

"Every time, you killed me," it continued. "But every time, I rewound. No matter how many times you kill me, I will rewind just as many."

It raised its hand.

"Because this is my ability—Time Reversal."

"As long as I wish, I can return to three minutes ago."

"And you will never be able to kill me."

The surrounding Time Barriers began to accelerate, closing in on Chen Mo.

Chen Mo didn't move.

He was thinking.

Time Reversal.

Every time he killed it, it would return to three minutes ago.

That meant all his efforts would be in vain.

But—

If its ability was Time Reversal, there had to be some kind of restriction.

Otherwise, it would have been invincible long ago.

Pupil of the Sequence operated at full capacity.

His golden vision pierced through that ball of light, seeing its internal structure—

The way those golden lines flowed was different from ordinary Ghost Shadows.

They were looping.

Circle after circle, never stopping.

But at the center of that loop, there was a tiny gap.

An unstable point.

Chen Mo stared at that point.

[Evolutionary Flaw Detected]

[After each Time Reversal, the Time-Lag Ghost's core stability drops by 0.5%]

[Accumulated seven times, dropped by 3.5%]

[When stability drops to 0%, Time Reversal fails]

He had killed it seven times.

It had rewound seven times.

Every time, its core was getting weaker.

The corner of Chen Mo's mouth twitched.

"How many more times can you rewind?"

The Time-Lag Ghost was stunned for a moment.

"What?"

"I asked you, how many more times can you rewind?"

The Time-Lag Ghost's expression changed.

It realized that Chen Mo had discovered something.

"You..."

"Your core is getting weaker," Chen Mo said. "Every time you rewind, it gets a bit weaker."

He took a step forward.

"How many more times can you rewind? Ten times? Twenty times?"

The Time-Lag Ghost didn't speak.

But its silence was the answer.

Chen Mo raised his cleaver.

"Then let's try."

He charged forward.

The Time-Lag Ghost raised its hand, and the Time Barriers accelerated their approach.

But Chen Mo didn't dodge.

He charged straight into the Deceleration Zone.

His movements instantly slowed down.

But he didn't care.

He stared at the core's position, slashing down strike after strike.

Slow.

But every strike landed in the same place.

The Time-Lag Ghost's body began to tremble.

It wanted to rewind, but rewinding required time.

Chen Mo didn't give it any time.

He slashed down again and again.

The Time-Lag Ghost finally couldn't hold on any longer.

Its body began to disintegrate.

But at the final moment of disintegration, it activated the rewind.

Time Reversal.

Chen Mo was standing at the tunnel entrance again.

Before him was that ball of light.

The eighth time.

Chen Mo didn't hesitate.

He charged forward once more.

The same position.

The same blade.

The Time-Lag Ghost disintegrated again.

Then it rewound again.

The ninth time.

The tenth time.

The eleventh time.

Chen Mo no longer remembered how many times he had killed it.

He only remembered that the core's stability was dropping.

89%.

87%.

85%.

Every kill, it drops by 2%.

The Time-Lag Ghost's face grew paler and paler.

It wanted to run, but it couldn't.

Because every time, Chen Mo struck the core before it could rewind.

Finally—

The fifteenth time.

Chen Mo's blade slashed into the core.

This time, there was no rewind.

The Time-Lag Ghost's body began to disintegrate, but the golden fragments did not reform.

It was truly dead.

[Killed C-grade Ghost Shadow "Time-Lag Ghost"]

[Obtained: time core fragment × 5]

[Current Fragments: 256]

[Memory Corridor Deep Trial Completed]

[Obtained Special Reward: Time Resistance]

[Time Resistance: Resistance to time-deceleration abilities increased by 30%]

Chen Mo stood there, panting heavily.

Fifteen times.

He had killed it fifteen times.

But it felt like a lifetime had passed.

All the surrounding Time Barriers had vanished.

Only endless darkness remained.

And that faint speck of light in the distance.

Chen Mo turned and walked toward that speck of light.

The moment he stepped out of the tunnel, the sunlight was blinding.

Lin Wei was standing by the pickup truck. Seeing him come out, she was stunned for a moment.

"Your face..."

Chen Mo touched his face.

It was cold.

Just like last time.

But this time, he didn't collapse.

He simply sat in the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Let's go."

Lin Wei got into the passenger seat.

The pickup truck drove onto the highway.

In the rearview mirror, that slope grew more and more distant.

Chen Mo gripped the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

The fifteenth time.

He had finally won.

But the Time-Lag Ghost's final words were still echoing in his head—

"No matter how many times you kill me, I will rewind just as many."

"You will never be able to kill me."

But it was wrong.

It had been killed.

Because its core would weaken.

Because all abilities have a price.

Chen Mo took a deep breath.

Ahead, the silhouette of the Farmhouse was faintly visible.

He stepped on the gas and accelerated forward.