Chapter 41: A Classic Misdirection

The opportunity Mo Yu had been waiting for finally arrived.

As soon as the Ripper received the intelligence, he organized a team to investigate. Three successive reconnaissance groups were sent in, but all of them lost contact. After consulting with his subordinates, the Ripper decided to enter personally. He led a team of over twenty people, including several 4-star monster hunters and a group of 3-star hunters, into the manor.

Mo Yu did not rush to follow. He first rewound time back to his apartment, setting the Ripper’s departure as the anchor point, pushed the timeline forward five hours, and then set off to investigate the manor himself.

The Ripper had also lost contact. Five hours had passed, and there was not a single word from him. The monster hunters stationed outside the manor were all the Ripper's core team. They were anxious, but since the Ripper had strictly ordered secrecy before entering, they merely fretted in silence, not daring to report the situation to the other seat holders.

Mo Yu circled the perimeter, found a gap, and slipped into the manor. Passing through the invisible barrier, he was struck by the heavy stench of blood. The state of the manor was catastrophic, having been virtually razed to the ground. The thick fog had been mostly dispelled, and a bright orb of light hung in mid-air, banishing the darkness. There was a massive crater in the ground; looking down, one could clearly see the cross-sections of the floors, littered with the dismembered remains of monsters. The pit was bottomless.

The entire manor was deathly silent. Only the glowing orb in the sky rotated, casting strange, eerie characters into the air. The battle was over. Mo Yu walked to the edge of the crater, peering down in search of any red text, but the field of vision was clean. Recalling the room he had visited with Elise, he jumped into the pit, reached the basement level, and began searching through the ruins.

He didn't have much time—only forty minutes. If he couldn't find the inducer within that window, he would have to rewind, follow the Ripper into the manor, and strike during the chaos. Searching near the trap room, he found the remains of a metallic monstrosity, which had been torn to pieces. There was no inducer in the trap room.

He continued his search elsewhere. Navigating through the wreckage, he eventually reached a space resembling a warehouse. Inside a metal crate, he found a row of pink vials. Just as Mo Yu excitedly picked up the inducer, a familiar voice drifted from behind him.

"Why are you looking for the inducer? You know what this thing does!"

Mo Yu turned around. Alice stood not far behind him, dressed in her ornate gothic gown. Her silver hair was tied into twin tails, her snow-white rabbit ears were perked up, and her crimson eyes reflected a chilling, ghostly light in the darkness.

Mo Yu sighed. There was no escaping this. Behind Alice, countless red prompts appeared, indicating various monsters lurking in the darkness, invisible to the naked eye.

"I knew it wouldn't be this simple. Where’s the Ripper?" Mo Yu asked as he stood up.

"They’re all dead," Alice replied. She stared intently at Mo Yu, observing him, before suddenly asking, "Your ability—does it have to do with time?"

Mo Yu chuckled. "Huh? I thought you were a clever rabbit. Asking me that will only make me wary, you little fool."

Alice fell silent, her eyes glowing red. She unleashed a mental shockwave.

"That won't work on me..."

Mo Yu’s voice faded, his pupils dilated. Struck by the powerful mental force, he lost his sense of self and stood there like a walking corpse. His rewind ability was taking effect. He entered a strange, god-like perspective. In this state, his consciousness remained clear, maintaining absolute subjective will. His perception of the world consisted of two parts: one was the world constructed through the five senses of his physical body—if the body were destroyed, this perception would vanish—and the other was like telepathy, allowing him to vaguely sense the situation within a small radius around him.

Time flowed normally. Whether it was death or the loss of self through hypnosis, for Mo Yu, these were merely unfixed timelines. As long as he did not pass the deadline, he could rewind at any time. Simply put, true death only claimed him six hours after his physical demise, once the outcome of his death had been solidified.

He rewound to twenty minutes before the Ripper entered the manor. Mo Yu was still at his apartment; he went downstairs for a stroll and then returned, confirming that Elise wouldn't come by to question him. He then rewound, left a mirror image to sleep in his place, and headed for the manor himself.

He arrived just as the Ripper’s team was entering. After waiting two minutes, he entered the manor from a different angle. At that moment, the manor was a scene of intense combat. The bright light orb hung in the air, dispelling the darkness and fog. The hunters were using all their skills to slaughter the deformed monsters. These creatures looked abstract, like irregular growths resulting from cancerous mutations. As they pushed toward the villa entrance, they encountered their first major threat: a deformed monster nearly five meters tall. However, relying on their numbers, the hunters quickly piled onto the 4-star monster, killing it before continuing their advance.

Once Mo Yu confirmed the situation, he rewound. In this manner, he repeatedly rushed into the manor at intervals to check the hunters' progress, then rewound back. The hunters pushed forward steadily. Thirty-four minutes in, they killed the metallic monstrosity and descended to the second basement level.

Mo Yu timed his entry into the first basement perfectly. After several attempts, he had mapped out the fastest and most efficient route. He ran to the trap room, rummaged through the metallic monstrosity's remains to retrieve a circular metal disc, returned to the entrance, used brute force to pry open a metal door, and entered a hidden passageway.

Navigating the complex environment, he headed straight for the deepest warehouse. Using the card obtained from the metallic monstrosity, he successfully unlocked the door. The warehouse was vast, with shelves ten meters high packed with various materials. None of them were labeled.

Mo Yu’s objective was clear. He headed straight to a corner, took a metal box down from a high shelf, and opened it to find twenty neatly arranged pink vials. He took two and stuffed them into his pocket. He turned and ran toward the exit.

As expected, something went wrong. Alice blocked the doorway, and in the shadows behind her, two more red prompts appeared.

[This is a Death Reaper ghost, extremely dangerous! Immediate escape advised!]

The danger level was on par with Elise. Alice’s expression was grim as she asked, "How did you get in? Why are you so familiar with this place?"

"Obviously, I saw it using my precognition," Mo Yu replied confidently.

Alice asked, "Why are you looking for the inducer? What do you want to do to my treasure?"

"What do I want to do? The very thing you're thinking of! Turn her into a cream puff!" Mo Yu laughed, spreading his arms with an arrogant expression that screamed, "Come and get me!"

Alice took a deep breath and sneered, "Is there a possibility that your ability isn't precognition, but something related to time?"

Mo Yu’s expression shifted, but he instantly returned to his arrogant demeanor. "What are you talking about? What time ability? I don't know anything about that. I only know that if I make it out of here, your treasure will be shaped by me."

His expression changed for only a split second, but how could Alice be anything less than sharp? She caught it immediately. She let out an exaggerated laugh, as if confirming something. "You want to die that badly? Could your ability be... death regression?"

"My ability is precognition! My ability tells me I can escape!" Mo Yu shouted, as if to cover something up. His expression didn't change, but his hand slowly reached toward his waist. Suddenly, he looked behind Alice and exclaimed excitedly, "Ripper! Kill her! She’s the one truly in control here!"

Alice tilted her head. In that split second of distraction, Mo Yu drew a dagger and thrust it toward his own throat. The dagger froze in mid-air. Mo Yu’s body stiffened, his expression twisted, unable to move.

"In such a hurry to die?" Alice asked. She turned back, her eyes glowing with an eerie red light, and flicked her small pink tongue. "I was already guarding against this trick. Do you take me for a fool?"

The rabbit-girl walked forward with an elegant, cat-like gait, swaying from side to side. She took the dagger from Mo Yu’s hand and toyed with it. "You, on the other hand, always seem to be emphasizing death, whether you mean to or not."