Chapter 1295: The Same Layout

He fled, she chased; even with wings he couldn't escape.

If we ignore Shen Yan's ghost‑like swift steps, it looks roughly like this.

It's been a long time since he last fled like this; viewed from above, Lin An now resembles a survivor desperately fleeing a horde of zombies.

With his power suppressed, his running figure looks a bit embarrassed, yet his speed is extreme—like a cheetah lowered in pursuit.

Such a masterpiece is naturally the effect of the Second Will's control.

I don't know whether after killing a target the intelligent entities gradually infect other NPCs, but nearby the whole kingdom, large numbers of instance humans have already been turned into the same monsters in a very short time.

Muttering to himself, like a mechanical zombie, he directly pursued the last two.

Or rather, just one person.

While thinking quickly, Lin An occasionally glanced at Zhang Tie, who had long been surrounded by monsters.

If not for the team panel, Zhang Tie's condition would have remained motionless since he fell to near death, stubbornly clinging to his last sliver of "HP"; he even suspected the guy was already dead.

"As expected… this instance is actually not dangerous…"

He raised his head, figured out the rough logic, Lin An ignored the Second Will's somewhat gloomy expression, and took a deep breath.

"Is the reason I can't die because of you?"

"You actually don't need to act; just showing up is enough."

"Putting it another way, your choice to flee after I gave up body control shows you still fear the intelligent entities' attacks here—or, rather, physical attacks."

"But I thought the rule‑based attacks were the biggest threat, yet you pay them no heed."

"This means that even if my Eternal Body is shattered, I won't be subject to command control, right? Otherwise there'd be no reason for you not to fear."

"If we reason backward from this point…"

"The rule‑based attacks uttered by these intelligent entities must be words we've spoken before! Only commands we've issued can they use! It's like a database—if the Awakened Ones never said it, they can't say it!"

"Likewise, each intelligent entity's rule‑based command works only on a specific person; there's no way another Awakened One could create an intelligent entity that orders me!"

"So, since you've never issued any command in the database and have no assigned mission target, just by appearing you can ignore this rule‑based attack—like an outsider!"

Having settled his train of thought, Lin An spoke quickly, his peripheral vision glancing toward the direction where Zhang Tie lay piled up like a mountain.

Zhang Tie isn't dead—the principle is the same!

Either Zhang Tie triggered near‑death and the instance's rules assumed he'd vanished from the database, no longer subject to attacks, or Chu An has already appeared!

Chu An and the Second Will are alike—neither participated in the instance, nor were they assigned intelligent entities—so naturally neither suffers any attack!

Once he figured it all out, Lin An realized this instance truly poses no threat to them—without rule‑based attacks, he could run for a month and be fine.

As for Zhang Tie? That guy, under no rule‑based attacks, what's physical harm to him? It's merely that their bodily strength has been suppressed, which is why he gets hurt. Just wait for Zhang Tie to gradually grow stronger from being beaten, and soon he'll be able to run wild all over the world!

Without surprise, the Second Will merely gave a light chuckle after hearing his analysis and casually nodded.

Lin An being able to think of this is nothing strange to him.

In fact, as long as Zhang Tie stays alive under the siege, Lin An doesn't even need to analyze—he instantly realizes this.

"So what if it is?"

"That's right; I came out and explained everything. But even if you realize this, it's meaningless."

"I take the rule‑based attacks for you; the principle is like switching accounts. You hide, and the instance time won't be consumed."

As his words fell, the Second Will's eyes were filled with mockery.

At this moment Lin An's face also darkened; he noticed the instance's countdown wasn't decreasing at all, and even while being hunted he remained in combat state.

This means that as long as the Second Will keeps standing in for him, he'll be stuck in this instance; likewise, if the Second Will doesn't stand in for him, he'll instantly fall under rule control.

Advancing or retreating both difficult, the situation once again fell into a deadlock.

Noticing that Lin An had thought of this, the Second Will gave an indifferent cold snort.

He doesn't care at all that Lin An noticed this; he's just saying all this out of sheer annoyance. In fact, he's realized he's been outmaneuvered by Chu An using the same method for the second time.

Last time, during the city‑defense battle, he first tried to force Lin An to commit suicide in order to seize body control.

When facing the Human‑head Spider, Chu An used his combat skills to replace Lin An in defeating that monster, then used AnXia to force him to give up occupying the body.

This time, it's exactly the same routine.

The laughable part is that he only discovered this not long ago.

Chu An used him to gain immunity to the intelligent entities' rule‑based attacks, forcing him to step forward and substitute for Lin An. In other words, he's been freeloaded again.

So how could he not be "angry"?

Naturally, precisely for this reason he will decisively refuse to let Lin An go—what happens to Gao Tian, Wen Ya and the others is none of his concern; once they die, Lin An will immediately "collapse." When Lin An lacks those laughable convictions that let him persevere, what right does he have to contend for the body?

"It's fine…"

"I can lose countless times; even if you scheme against me a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times—what of it?"

He turned his head; the Second Will's eyes returned to absolute rationality, and he likewise gazed toward the direction where Zhang Tie was.

In the reincarnation trials, he has lost far too many times.

But no matter how many times he loses, it actually has no effect on him.

Because in the trials he is immortal….

Likewise, in reality, as long as Chu An still wants Lin An to live, he will never die…

After all.

"We are one…"