Chapter 278: Causal Sequence

The broken wall revealed the faint starlight outside.

Huang Shaohua stared blankly at the silver hourglass in Lin An's hand, a strong, almost tangible threat of death rising in his heart.

Villains die from talking too much!?

What is that hourglass!?

Before he could recover, Lin An let out a light chuckle:

"Causal Sequence!"

Eighth Sequence! Time reversal!

In an instant, a heart-pounding pressure suddenly emanated from the silver hourglass, then instantly enveloped Huang Shaohua.

Five-colored flowing light filled the room, a silver hue warped space.

As if the river of time flowed backward.

The dark blue spiritual entity enveloped by the spacetime force began to speak in reverse, like a rewound videotape playing.

Fear, unease.

The power unleashed by the Causal Sequence from an S-rank item cannot be resisted.

In that instant, Huang Shaohua, under the reversed time, seemed to realize what Lin An intended to do.

No!!

A despairing roar.

Wrapped by the power of time, the dark blue spiritual entity reversed at extreme speed.

In the blink of an eye, a strange white flame ignited from thin air, beginning to blaze from deep within his spiritual form.

That white flame!

It was the punishment for his earlier deliberate violation of the System's taboo!

Lin An actually used time reversal to forcibly drag him back into the System's punishment!

Why! Why would such an item exist at this stage!?

Is this not cheating!?

"Ahhhhh!!"

Amid screams and wails, the pain enough to drive one mad, the dark blue spiritual entity could no longer maintain the mental barrier that blocked sound.

Downstairs, Zhang Tie stared suspiciously at the ceiling, a hint of pity on his face.

Who is shouting?

Damn, why is he shouting so miserably?

Could it be that the smelly old man hasn't died yet, and Lin Dui tortured him into squealing?

Wang Kun collapsed face-as-white-as-death, trembling all over.

This mournful scream pierced the entire inn; likely audible within a five-li radius.

Hard to imagine what kind of torment could cause such agony.

Demon!

How is this torment method any different from that of a demon!

For a moment, he almost couldn't resist ending it himself.

Li Lei, whose hands and feet had been crushed on the floor, twitched, staring blankly at the ceiling with a foolish hehe laugh.

"Master is calling! Master is calling!"

"Hehe..."

In the dining hall, everyone's faces turned pale; many simply fainted from fright.

The anguish contained in that scream is hair-raising.

Today's ordeal has practically become an indelible fear for them for life.

Amid the room's ruins, Lin An's chest healed quickly; his eyes were dull and lifeless, yet his expression was unusually relaxed.

His depleted spiritual power intermittently supplied the Netherworld River's force to mend his wounds.

After consuming a small amount of his life essence, his condition rapidly returned to its peak.

Fortunately, Huang Shaohua treated his body as his own possession, so no serious injury was caused.

Otherwise, relying solely on that remaining spiritual power might not have sufficed to repair the wounds.

Before him, the dark blue spiritual entity inside the crystal lay powerless on the ground, twitching.

Despite being punished twice by the System, even Huang Shaohua's hidden strength was of no avail.

Lin An reached out and grasped the crystal; the icy pendant dangled down.

"Villains die from talking too much, and you still don't get this..."

"You've lived this long just to end up as a dog?"

Lin An gave a light chuckle, his gaze casually resting on Huang Shaohua as he struggled to lift his head.

As soon as he sensed Huang Shaohua's abnormality, he had already devised a countermeasure.

What that dark blue spiritual entity said was correct; the proper course for myself was indeed to feign ignorance.

But the problem is, he has a way to deal with Huang Shaohua.

If Huang Shaohua hadn't feigned weakness by deliberately triggering the System's punishment to lower his guard, he wouldn't have been exposed outright.

In the Eighth Sequence of the Causal Sequence, one can cause a target's state to regress or advance in time.

However, when targeting anyone other than oneself or one's possessions, the extra spiritual power consumption reaches a terrifying tenfold.

Therefore, Lin An simply blabbered on after speaking, to recover his spiritual power.

After all, after expending the energy core, his spiritual power was left at only fifty percent.

Even if it only required rolling back Huang Shaohua's state to a few seconds before in the white fire, but under ten times the mental power consumption, Lin An would rather spend more time to recover his mental power.

If it were again like the Soul-devouring Hand charging, draining me unconscious, that would be terribly unlucky.

The effect is not bad.

Lin An gazed with admiration at the silver hourglass in his hand, its starlight flowing.

【Causal Sequence】, truly deserving of being an S-rank Prop.

This ability is indeed somewhat unreasonable.

I never expected that the first time I'd use it would be in such a situation.

It seems that in the future, facing enemies with strong recovery abilities will be extremely easy.

You aren't able to recover?

I'll revert you to your heavily injured state, to see whether you recover faster or I rewind faster.

If it weren't for the excessive extra consumption when dealing with other targets, the Causal Sequence could be used in daily combat.

Upon encountering a powerful mutant, I directly activate time reversal, rewinding back to before the mutation.

No matter how strong you are at third stage or fourth stage, I'll slay you with a single sword while you're weakened.

Inside the crystal ball, Huang Shaohua seemed unable to maintain his youthful appearance, and had to crawl on the ground like a dead dog, reverting to an old man.

A hoarse, miserable laugh:

"No wonder..."

"No wonder you dare say it; you already had confidence..."

"Who exactly are you!"

"That hourglass, if I'm not mistaken, is at least an A-rank Prop!"

"Too much..."

Huang Shaohua's eyes were full of resentment; he couldn't help but feel a little jealous of how much equipment and props Lin An possesses:

"Your equipment is too much, exceeding the limit!"

"An existence like yours! It's impossible for you to be a normal player!"

"But if you're a glitch like me, why are you still able to freely walk in this world!"

Cannot comprehend, cannot figure it out.

In the eyes of the spiritual entity, Lin An's level of mystery is hardly inferior to the existence behind the Doomsday Game.

Could he be the system's illegitimate child?

Damn it, the apocalypse has only broken out a few days ago! How can a first-level take me down!

At this rate, in the whole Doomsday Game, which player could be a match for Lin An!?

Huang Shaohua's eyes full of resentment, he does not agree with Lin An's statement.

The villain talks too much!?

I, damn it, a dignified third-stage existence, have I not already been careful enough, repeatedly laying out plans against you?

Poisoning, acting, setting traps, lowering oneself...

Even without hesitation triggering the system's forbidden words, just to make you ask two fewer questions!

Is even saying a few words wrong?

Even this could cause him to capsize in a gutter; he really is somewhat unwilling.

Speaking frankly, even if I weren't long-winded, what could it change?

He needs Lin An's body, and to gain Lin An's trust he deliberately endured the system's punishment.

He can't possibly kill Lin An immediately just upon noticing a slight abnormality, can he?

Then what's the point of me scheming? It would be better to just bring Li Lei and run away early, wouldn't it?

As long as I don't act immediately!

In the end you'll still recover mental power! What difference does the outcome make?

Lin An saw Huang Shaohua's resentment, but didn't pay too much attention to it.

That's right, Huang Shaohua actually didn't do anything wrong; he lost only because of a single point.

That's because one's hidden cards are too many.

Amused, Lin An casually tossed the crystal ball into the belly of the black dragon wearing an angry expression:

"What you said is correct."

"In the face of absolute strength, all schemes are useless."