Die, Replay, Repeat

“The fear isn’t enough yet.”

With a quick snap of his fingers, Fang Xiu set off something that pushed everyone’s panic over the edge.

A haunting hymn of the Specter began to fill the air. The music was laced with madness and chaos, echoing through the sky and earth, sending shivers straight to the souls of those who heard it.

As if some invisible force pulled them, everyone looked up to see something they’d remember forever.

A radiant Angel came down from heaven. He's brighter than the sun, with eyes that seemed uncaring and cold. His six bloody white wings spread wide, covering nearly the entire sky.

The sheer size of the being struck deep fear into their hearts.

As the Angel appeared, waves of terror surged toward Fang Xiu, like an unstoppable tide.

Even Xiao Chuxia, standing nearby and knowing it was all just a dream, couldn’t stop the chill running down her spine. She dared not look directly at the Angel.

What made it so terrifying was that Fang Xiu had tapped into his ability to make pain real in the dream, crafting a vivid illusion of the Angel.

Though this Angel held no real power, his presence—a thing seemingly from another dimension—was enough to terrify everyone.

Most of the people in the dream were ordinary folks who had never encountered a Specter, let alone a godlike one.

Many were so terrified they wetted their pants. And in the dream world, what happened had... well, effects on the real world too.

“Uh, Xiu... don’t you think this is a bit much? You’re gonna scare them to death,” Xiao Chuxia muttered nervously.

Fang Xiu, watching the crowd drown in fear, gave a satisfied nod. “The fear is just right. Relax, no one dies in my controlled dream. They’re just... excellent nourishment.”

Xiao Chuxia’s unease deepened.

It reminded her of a dark joke she’d read online once. It was about someone suggesting that instead of killing pigs for their meat, we could just cut off small pieces and let the pig heal before taking more later. This way, humans could have endless pork, and the pig wouldn’t have to die. Seemed like a win-win, right?

Fang Xiu’s methods made her think of that joke.

“Won’t this mess with them psychologically?” she asked, still unsure.

Fang Xiu glanced at her coldly. “They’re saving the world. For Specters, the only things normal people can give are fear and lies, so they might as well give more of it. Do you think only psychics should fight and sacrifice themselves while the ordinary people hide? Have you ever thought that maybe they want to contribute?”

Xiao Chuxia didn’t say anything. She just thought,'You’re the boss. Whatever you say.'

“The time’s about right.”

SNAP!

With another snap, the dream world shifted.

The once terrified crowd found themselves suddenly inside a safe refuge, located at headquarters.

How they escaped the Specters and ended up here didn’t matter—the dream blurred the details, making everything seem natural.

The refuge was enormous, filled with millions of people. No one questioned the space, their focus entirely on the stage and what was about to happen.

Fang Xiu walked up slowly, eyes heavy as he took in the massive crowd before him.

Millions of faces stared back, their minds still reeling from the horror they’d witnessed. The name The Foreseer Fang Xiu was now burned into their very souls.

"The current situation is dire. The entire world has fallen, and nations have established shelters. Humanity's civilization stands on the brink of collapse."

Fang Xiu’s opening words hit the crowd like a cold wave, stirring fresh fear in their hearts.

"But fear not," he continued, his tone calm but strong. "I have seen the future. In this war, humanity will prevail!"

The crowd wasn’t just made up of ordinary people. Unconscious psychics and soldiers from headquarters, also caught up in Fang Xiu’s dream realm, moved as if they were truly part of the scene.

Even fabricated figures like Fang Moli, crafted by Fang Xiu’s manipulation, stood beside him on stage.

After those few brief but powerful words, Fang Xiu motioned to Fang Moli and the others, who began teaching the crowd.

They explained how people could awaken as psychics and broke down the various levels of psychic power.

While this happened, Fang Xiu worked subtly in the background. He made sure a few psychics emerged from the millions of dreamers.

His plan was clear: to root the concept of psychics deeply in their minds. Without that foundation, his larger scheme—convincing them that it was possible to break through from the fourth to the fifth tier—would never take hold.

Once the crowd fully grasped what psychics were, Fang Xiu staged a series of Specter invasions, each battle showcasing his incredible foresight. The dream was so vivid and lifelike that the line between fantasy and reality blurred even further.

And then, with everything perfectly set up, the main event began—the Pokers' invasion of the headquarters’ refuge!

This part was easy for Fang Xiu to create, based on real-world events he had witnessed. He tweaked and enhanced the details to fit the context of his dream, adjusting things as needed for dramatic effect.

Before long, chaos engulfed the headquarters under Fang Xiu’s direction.

“Hahahaha! From today on…” Joker’s wild laughter echoed through the air, his entire form glowing with a blood-red light.

The crowd was frozen in fear.

“The fifth tier?”

“He’s really a fifth-tier psychic? That’s impossible!”

People dropped like flies under Joker’s relentless attacks, and the terror of facing a fifth-tier psychic became seared into everyone’s minds.

Even the strongest commanders fought desperately, but they couldn’t hold back the tide. Slowly but surely, they were pushed further and further back.

The battles, the characters, and every twist in the plot felt so real to those experiencing it. No one doubted the reality of what they were witnessing. No one realized they were trapped in a dream.

Then, at the crucial moment, Fang Xiu, the Foreseer, made his entrance.

His footsteps echoed through the war-torn battlefield, and the masses parted as if by instinct, making a clear path for him.

All eyes turned to him, filled with hope and desperate belief. This was the man who had saved them time and time again. He was the one they trusted to lead them to victory.

And Fang Xiu didn’t let them down. His voice was steady, confident. "I have seen the future. In this battle, we will win!"

"We will win!" the crowd shouted back, some cheering, others crying in relief.

But Joker sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Win? The only thing that can beat a fifth-tier psychic is another fifth-tier psychic. Your vague prophecies won’t save you."

His words cast a shadow over the crowd’s joy. They had seen firsthand the overwhelming power of the fifth tier. Joker was right—it was beyond anything they could fight against.

"Oh? Is that so?" Fang Xiu’s chuckle broke the silence. "What if I told you I’ve seen a way to break through the fifth tier? How would you respond to that?"

Translator's note: If "people can reach the fifth tier" is a solid lie which Xiao Chuxia can make use of, then "nobody can get to the fifth tier" should be a solid truth in the real world, right? In that way, there's no way that Fang Xiu can get to the fifth tier, isn't it? If he succeeds, doesn't that mean "people can reach the fifth tier" is actually not a lie? Then how can Xiao Chuxia absorb energy from it?