Chapter 1245: Just Luck

"It's not a threat, just cooperation."

"No one knew that, at this moment, inside Fiona's mental space, it seemed to split into three, becoming like a chessboard, with the three sides vying for control."

"The red and blue colors were tangled together, as if in a fight, tightly entwined."

"Meanwhile, Fiona's own white hue lay bewildered in the corner, motionless."

""Cooperation?""

"On the mental projection, Andre's gaze was icy cold, merely staring fixedly at Chu An opposite him."

"Chu An appeared ordinary and somewhat frail and scholarly, yet in his eyes he posed a greater threat than anyone. If Lin An was a material monster, his strength off the charts, then Chu An was a mental monster, silently destroying his psychological defenses!"

""Cooperation means invading my thoughts, tampering with my memories!?""

""How did you do that?""

""You knew from the start what I would do!?""

"Unlike his feigned calm when facing Lin An, at this moment Andre clenched his fists tightly, a rare hint of apprehension showing in his eyes."

"Although he had been deprived of most of his emotional capacity, when confronted with fear reaching deep into his soul, he still felt a strong unease."

"Nothing is more frightening than having one's memories tampered with."

"After all, it means... not even knowing how one would die!"

"Especially since he had no idea when Chu An began scheming against him! He didn't even know how much of his current memories were genuine!"

""No need to be nervous.""

""Lin An needs points, you need freedom. But being overly greedy is not conducive to cooperation.""

""After we get out, help me with something, and I'll help you deal with the Leftovers.""

"Chu An gave a light chuckle and calmly adjusted his glasses. Though unnecessary in the mental space, he seemed to love doing it out of habit."

"No answer."

"Faced with Chu An's proposal of cooperation, Andre's expression wavered, and he did not directly accept."

"Even though it seemed he had no choice."

""Greedy?""

"No, he was simply following the optimal plan!"

"If Chu An hadn't interfered, he would have been the biggest winner of this confrontation!"

"Indeed, the plan he spoke of with Lin An reflected his true intentions, but the details were completely different."

"He needed to fake his death and also eliminate this batch of Leftovers, but..."

"How could he not want to earn points by killing Lin An?"

"Just as Lin An wondered, his forced fake death was purely due to insufficient strength or resources! If he had Lin An's means to scavenge the globe, he wouldn't be in such a sorry state!"

"In the original plan, he intended to control Zhang Tie, using the condition that he and Lin An would mutually kill each other's war zones to achieve a deceptive cooperation."

"After Lin An exhausted his strength, he would then manipulate the already strengthened Zhang Tie to fight Lin An!"

"He knew well that Lin An would certainly be restrained when facing Zhang Tie, giving him great confidence to severely wound Lin An!"

"Furthermore, as a master of mental control, his ability to summon Third Rank beings relied entirely on absorbing mental power. The more people died in the North American war zone, the more he secretly absorbed. Thus, Lin An would effectively be working for him!"

"Lin An was weakened while he gained two boosts! With this give-and-take, he had absolute confidence!"

"Besides this, the deliberately controlled Fiona was also his trump card."

"To prevent Lin An's strength from becoming too overwhelming, he had already prepared for his main body's death."

"Believing that after a bloody battle Lin An would have killed him 'dead', he would never suspect he was still alive!"

"After all, who would guard against a corpse!?"

"By then, he only needed to manipulate Fiona to approach Lin An; in their familiar situation, he had a ninety percent confidence to take Lin An down!"

"Regarding his familiarity with Lin An, he clearly knew that although Lin An seemed emotionless, he displayed a pathological protectiveness toward those around him."

"Although Fiona might not be considered one of his own, relaxing Lin An's vigilance was absolutely no problem."

"His eyes flickering, gazing at Chu An who had ruined his entire plan, Andre's heart continually surged with killing intent."

"Everything should have gone smoothly."

"After Fiona killed Lin An, she would gain massive resources, and moreover would instantly gain great prestige."

"Imagine this: Andre of North America dead, Lin An of Asia dead, Lei En of Soviet Russia dead, the Huaxia Military destroyed, North America reduced to an empty shell, and the African and Oceanian war zones had already begun fighting like fools from the start."

"Thus, worldwide, only Fiona's Third Rank forces remained."

"Once returning to reality, he could almost dominate the globe! No one could surpass him in the upcoming system tasks!"

"With vast resources, he could quickly rebuild 'North America'! And use it to oppose those Leftovers!"

"What's more clever, no one in the world would regard 'her' as an enemy..."

"The Leftovers would consider their enemies to be Lin An and the Huaxia Military."

"Alien Species would think it was North America, a batch similar to themselves, preparing to seize living space—those Leftovers."

"Other major war zones, due to Fiona's former 'prestige', would not think she harbored any ambition..."

"And as for Soviet Russia, needless to say..."

"Tai Er had long admired her; thanks to their relationship, she could completely take Lei En's place!"

"This... is his true plan!"

"But, everything was ruined."

""Tell me, how did you know I would control Zhang Tie!?""

""You've been hiding inside him all along!? Just to wait for me to make a move!?""

"Unable to comprehend."

"Andre, unwilling to give up, had a somewhat twisted expression on his handsome face."

He thought he had calculated everything that could be calculated, any loophole was covered, and for every plan he had made preparations of two or more ways.

But he never imagined that he would, as if throwing himself into a net, plunge headfirst into Chu An's trap.

He could not imagine how perverted Chu An had to be to set up his plans countless steps ahead!?

Only by knowing what he would do could one prepare in advance.

Just thinking that perhaps all the preparations he had made before entering the competition were visible to the opponent, Andre felt as if he were stark naked, with no secrets before this man.

If that were truly the case, he would rather die than complete the so-called cooperation!

Looking at Andre, who had already become somewhat extreme, Chu An gave a slight nod, as if he did not consider the question Andre had asked important at all.

He could see that if he did not honestly confess, Andre would not give up.

Andre's way of thinking is extremely similar to the Second Will; both are extremist and extremely arrogant, especially in terms of intelligence.

"Do you think I might have been monitoring you from the start, or perhaps control time, travel to the future? Foreknow?"

He conjured a candy out of thin air, Chu An slowly unwrapped the packaging, then suddenly smiled.

"No, I'm not that capable."

"I merely have always kept a portion of my mental power residing inside Zhang Tie's body."

"You're just... unlucky..."

As his words fell, Andre, with clenched fists, seemed to petrify, suddenly stunned.

"Luck..."

"Luck!?"