Chapter 245: Only the Mad Can Survive

Stealing the corresponding identity but not having the corresponding ability—the last time Ning Zhe encountered this situation was in He Family Village.

At that time, Taiyi had not yet been harnessed and was still a bewildered wandering ghost, roaming around the houses of He Family Village, randomly stealing the identity of a lucky passerby. That lucky passerby was Xie Sining, Zhang Yangxu's private lawyer.

Taiyi stole the identity of 'Xie Sining in Zhang Yangxu's cognition.' In Zhang Yangxu's cognition, Xie Sining was an elite lawyer with strong professional capabilities, familiar with various laws, especially various regulations in the real estate field.

However, such a Xie Sining couldn't answer the professional legal questions Zhang Yangxu asked her, because Zhang Yangxu himself didn't know those laws; he just thought Xie Sining should know.

There was no detailed cognition of relevant laws in Zhang Yangxu's mind, so the Xie Sining disguised by Taiyi couldn't give a correct answer, even though the real Xie Sining could have answered correctly.

Then it was in Taoyuan City, by calling Tu Yu through Yu Zi Qian's phone, Ning Zhe stole the identity of 'Yeyao in Tu Yu's cognition.'

In Tu Yu's cognition, Yu Zi Qian, who successfully called him, should have already harnessed 'Special Let,' and should have been able to use the instant-death rule of shadow-stepping murder. However, in fact, he hadn't. The real Yu Zi Qian never harnessed Special Let until he died.

Tu Yu thought Yu Zi Qian had harnessed Special Let, but in fact, Yu Zi Qian hadn't. So could Ning Zhe use the rule of Special Let in the identity of 'Yu Zi Qian in Tu Yu's cognition'?

The answer was no. Every time he used Special Let, he had to switch to Feng Yushu's identity.

Yu Zi Qian couldn't use Special Let, even if Tu Yu thought he could.

The operation of Taiyi's rules was based on objective facts.

Suppose there was such a fake professor who sought fame and reputation. He didn't have much talent himself, but relied on plagiarism and forging academic achievements to gild himself, creating an image of a respected scholar known to the public.

The public all thought this professor was a knowledgeable wise man. So if Ning Zhe used Taiyi to steal this professor's identity, could he obtain the true talent and learning that the public thought he had?

No, because this violated objective facts.

The fake professor seeking fame and reputation never had true talent and learning, so where could he steal knowledge from?

Similarly, even if Ning Zhe had already stolen Lan Shiwen's identity, he still couldn't obtain the ability to foresee the future, because Lan Shiwen never achieved the so-called—'foreseeing the future.'

"It is known that Lan Shiwen likely doesn't have the ability to foresee the future. This is probably a facade he fabricated to cover up his true core rule."

Standing in the green belt of the residential area, Ning Zhe quietly gazed at the motionless car, pondering in his heart: "Gridders will fabricate false information to confuse the public and cover up their core rules. This is a very normal thing. It's not strange that Lan Shiwen would do this."

Five parts true is more bluffing than ten parts false.

False information was a means for Gridders to protect themselves. Not to mention others, Ning Zhe himself often intentionally or unintentionally revealed part of Taiyi's abilities, making many people, including Lan Shiwen, feel that his core rule was 'disguise' or 'imitation.'

However, in fact, whether it was 'disguise' or 'imitation,' they were just part of the external manifestation of Taiyi's 'change' rule. A miss is as good as a mile.

So, what rule was Lan Shiwen's 'foreseeing the future'... an external manifestation of?

"Although I can roughly determine that Lan Shiwen doesn't actually have the ability to foresee the future, he has indeed made blind but correct predictions multiple times without any information. This is something only someone who knows the future can do..."

What kind of ability could achieve an effect similar to foreseeing the future without foreseeing the future?

Ning Zhe's eyes were deep, his left eye gilded like the scorching sun, his right eye silver-gray like the bright moon. He thought of a possibility: "Knowing the future trend without foreseeing it... perhaps, he went for a walk in the future?"

Death return, space-time travel, simulation deduction, divination and dream interpretation...

All these means could achieve an effect similar to foreseeing the future. Just relying on guessing, Ning Zhe couldn't determine for the time being which one Lan Shiwen's core rule was.

"Let's guard against all of them for now, just assume he has all these abilities."

Just a brief thought, and Ning Zhe decided on the next countermeasure: "Go all out. I need to try my best to kill Lan Shiwen. If I can kill him, I'll kill him directly. If I can't, it's likely because he predicted it, and I can also infer his core rule based on his reaction, which one it is..."

Time passed second by second, and Lan Shiwen's car remained in place. Seeing this scene, Ning Zhe understood that he had already begun to be alert.

It was just unclear whether Lan Shiwen predicted that there would be a bloody disaster later through means like divination, or if he was killed by him in the near future and returned to the present? A tiny flying insect crawled into the car through the gap in the sunroof. Ning Zhe sat in the back seat of the car in the identity of An Xiaoyu and spoke softly: "Xiao Lan?"

"Stop playing god and ghost, I want to talk to you." Lan Shiwen's tone carried deep exhaustion.

He had already forgotten how many times he had heard this call, and also forgotten how many times he had died in Ning Zhe's hands.

In the countless cycles, he had also successfully counter-killed a few times, but the final outcome was without exception death. The only difference was whether he was killed by Ning Zhe personally or wiped out by the macro-unfolding fierce ghost in Ning Zhe's body after Ning Zhe died.

"You really are a madman." Lan Shiwen said: "It's my bad luck to be entangled by you."

Hearing this reaction, Ning Zhe had a bottom line in his heart and asked: "How many times have you been killed by me?"

"Too many to count." Lan Shiwen sighed: "You are the first person to see through my core rule, Ning Zhe."

In those few cycles of successful counter-killing, Lan Shiwen learned Ning Zhe's true identity.

"You are also the first person to see through my true identity." Ning Zhe lied without changing his expression. He could hear that Lan Shiwen's mental state seemed very poor, so he didn't stimulate him anymore: "Then I should have told you the reason I'm killing you?"

"Rest assured, I won't help Fen Wu." Lan Shiwen held his forehead with one hand and sighed: "At least not while you're still alive."

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"Okay, okay... It seems your core rule really is death return." Ning Zhe said softly.

Lan Shiwen looked up, looking at the clear blue sky outside through the windshield, expressionless: "This is the 27th time you've said this to me. Do you know why?"

"Why."

"Because you son of a bitch branded me with a thought steel seal!" Lan Shiwen slammed the steering wheel and cursed: "I don't understand, I don't understand! Why, even after I killed you, even after I killed you! That damn ghost in your body is still running according to your will!"

"Ah—I fuck your mother, why?"

"I already killed you, your corpse is already lying downstairs at my house. I thought that was the end, but that was actually just the beginning."

"I saw a big snake rush out of your body, hazy mist shrouded the entire Yundu, the sun and moon had no light in the sky. It was a super-large strange event that no one could solve. In this hellish place, tens of thousands of people were dying every second..."

Ning Zhe was expressionless and asked lightly: "And then?"

"And then I regretted it." Lan Shiwen lowered his head, feeling a bit frustrated: "I started to regret it a little, thinking that maybe I shouldn't have killed you. Maybe I should have talked to you, at least let you, this madman, continue to live, live to imprison those terrifying ghosts with your body."

"However, not long after I had this thought..."

"After the thought 'I must let Ning Zhe live' finally appeared in my exhausted heart, some ghost branded me with a thought steel seal."

Ning Zhe looked at Lan Shiwen's back in the driver's seat and smiled slightly.

Because just now, while Lan Shiwen was narrating this, he had already branded him with a thought steel seal of the same content.

Only the mad can survive.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 246 =====