Die, Replay, Repeat

Chapter 34: Don't I Have To Pay for This?

BOOM!

Bright flames exploded around the "wife," but in a quick flash, they were gone, as if doused by a bucket of icy water. She stood there with not even a scratch.

"What?!" Shen Lingxue's eyes grew huge with shock. "How did she...? We need to get out of here, now!"

As she tried to escape the overpowering Specter, the "wife" gracefully waved her pale hand.

Suddenly, it was like the air itself twisted. Before they could react, Shen Lingxue and Li Wenhao's heads cleanly came off, the cut looking smooth like a perfect slice of cake.

WHOOSH!

Without wasting a second, Fang Xiu dove toward their bodies, urgently rummaging through their belongings.

"What are you looking for, dear?" The "wife" whispered softly into Fang Xiu's ear.

He didn't answer her but kept searching for something crucial. Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded in him, making everything go blurry as he felt himself slipping away.

Night came, with stars shining brightly.

Fang Xiu found himself standing at his house's entrance. This was right after he had gotten away from the Green Mountain Mental Hospital and came home.

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"Hmm? I'm back at this moment again. So, escaping from that hospital was his save point. Until the next scary Specter thing happens, I'll keep coming back to this point, I guess.

So, those agents will be here at 8:40 a.m. tomorrow. I should show them what I can do."

With this plan in mind, Fang Xiu, now knowing about the Investigation Bureau, thought about using their help. It wasn't like he could take on every Specter in the world on his own. He needed backup.

BANG!

He opened his front door, walked right by his wife, and went straight to his room. He turned on his computer to check out the global Specter website.

This was the website that Shen Lingxue and Li Wenhao had told him about. He remembered the website's address. When he opened the site, a huge, creepy skull took up almost the whole screen. After a bit, it faded, revealing a deep red homepage. The site had different areas: Western, Asian, Japan/Korea, and Local. Each had topics like Specter, Psychic, Specter Gadgets, and Prizes.

Curious, Fang Xiu quickly went through the topics. Maybe they had answers about what was going on with these Specters. The site might not have all the answers, but it might help him find out stuff faster. But, when he clicked on a topic about where Specters came from, a message appeared.

"Not enough credits. Please add more."

Fang Xiu quickly spotted a long line of zeros at the end of the post.

Doing a quick mental math, he realized that he'd need a whopping million to see this post. And with just a small amount in his savings, Fang Xiu felt his spirits drop.

As he checked other posts, he saw that even the cheaper ones cost ten or twenty thousand. The price for posts with secret info? They shot up into the millions, and some even tens of millions.

"Is this a site for rich psychics?" Fang Xiu thought with a frown.

This made him even more eager to pretend he could predict the future. If he could make people believe he had this skill, he might make some money. Without it, he couldn't even afford to look at most of the posts here.

He decided to check out the basic topics in the Local section. Most of these posts shared common info, mixed in with some gossip or people showing off.

A post that was trending caught his eye. It was titled, "I've Awakened the Power to Control Time."

"The power to control time?" Fang Xiu felt a pang of worry. If people could actually do this, his pretend future-predicting might lose its shine.

He opened the post and started reading, "It was a super dark and stormy night, full of loud thunder and bright lightning, and the moon looked all creepy and red."

After going through a lot of fancy words and storytelling, the end of the post read, "So, now I have the power to control time. But it's not like in movies. I call my power'Wasting Time!' Like, you just spent five minutes reading this and wasted your time."

A bunch of comments popped up under the post:

"Seriously?!"

"I can't believe I fell for that!"

"We should all upvote so others get tricked, too!"

CLICK!

Fang Xiu closed the post, trying not to feel too annoyed.

He made a mental note of the writer's nameSailor Moon. He thought he might need to remember that for later.

_'So, is this what you get when you don't have the money to pay?'_

Taking a deep breath, Fang Xiu kept on searching. After about an hour, he found some legit posts by the official Investigation Bureau. These were good stuffreal and useful.

They had ideas about where Specters came from, facts about psychics, and what Specter Gadgets were.

He clicked on a random post and got lost in reading.

All night, Fang Xiu learned about Specters and psychics. But it wasn't because there was loads of great info. No, he had to wade through a bunch of pointless posts, misleading headlines, and posts just wasting time. Those slowed him down a lot.

By the time morning light peeked in, Fang Xiu turned off his computer, feeling like he had a good start on understanding it all.

Specters, or these ghostly creatures, had different danger levels. They were ranked from most dangerous to least as S, A, B, C, and D.

Just because a Specter wasn't powerful on its own didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. What mattered was how much harm it could cause.

For example, there was this Specter from another country called "Plague." On its own, it wasn't that tough. If someone found its weak spot and protected themselves properly, even someone with basic psychic powers could beat it.

But here's the catch: this Specter could spread a deadly disease that might wipe out millions. That was why it was labeled as an A-class Specter.

An A-class Specter? It could quickly wipe out a big city if no one stopped it.

The really scary S-class Specters? They had the power to destroy an entire country in the blink of an eye.

Most of the time, the more dangerous a Specter was, the stronger it became. But sometimes, like with the Plague, there were exceptions.

No one knew where these Specters came from. There were old stories, but they were mostly just guesses and myths. Some people thought the magical folks from the old tales might have been the first psychics.

Strangely, for a long while, there were no stories about these mysterious folks or Specters. It was like they just vanished. Then, not too long ago, stories about Specters started popping up again. And there was this big gap, almost 100 years, where no one knew why there were no Specter stories.

The free parts of the forum didn't give any answers about this mystery.

It was also weird because Specters just seemed to appear out of nowhere without any rhyme or reason.

In the beginning, only a few Specters would show up here and there around the world. But as time passed, more and more of these ghostly beings appeared."