Die, Replay, Repeat

Chapter 257 - Fang Xiu's Terrifying Power

Luo Qingxin stood silently, her expression cold as ice.

Without a word, she raised her hand, unleashing the power of her Domain. In an instant, the air grew frigid, forming a huge ice phoenix.

The phoenix let out a sharp screech as it charged toward the talking scarecrow.

Although the blood-red flames managed to melt parts of the ice, the ice phoenix was too massive to be fully destroyed in an instant.

BOOM!

The phoenix slammed into the scarecrow, shattering its body into a heap of frozen straw.

"Hahaha..." A different scarecrow erupted in laughter. "You think that’s enough? That was just one of my clones. You can break through my flames with your Domain, sure, but can you figure out which one of us is real? You could try taking us out one by one, but how many more hits like that can you even handle?"

Luo Qingxin’s face darkened, her frustration building.

Just then, footsteps echoed from behind her.

She snapped to attention, turning to see Fang Xiu approaching.

"Fang Xiu? What are you doing here? This place is too—"

"Second row, second from the left, hit that scarecrow," Fang Xiu said, cutting her off in a calm voice.

Luo Qingxin didn't need more explanation. She knew Fang Xiu could predict the future. Without wasting a second, she launched an attack exactly where he said.

The scarecrow in question went pale, its form flickering as it hurriedly switched places with another.

Seeing this, Luo Qingxin knew Fang Xiu had been right.

"Third row, fourth from the right," Fang Xiu called out again.

"What?!" Ace of Diamonds yelled, startled that Fang Xiu had once more pinpointed his true location.

Before Luo Qingxin could land another blow, Ace of Diamonds quickly swapped positions again, managing to escape.

Having his true form revealed twice in a row made Ace of Diamonds feel a twisted sense of pride.

"The Foreseer, Fang Xiu," Ace sneered. "You really live up to the hype. But what's the point in knowing where I am? The time it takes for you to tell her is enough for me to move. You're just giving me a heads-up!"

Fang Xiu shook his head, almost amused. "I’m starting to wonder if all you Pokers have had your brains scrambled by Specter power. If you had any sense, you’d realize you’re already done for."

He gestured to Luo Qingxin, motioning her to come closer. "Come here."

Luo Qingxin's eyes widened in understanding. She hurried over to Fang Xiu, pulling back her long hair to reveal her pale, delicate ear.

Then she leaned in so his hair was nearly brushing Fang Xiu's lips.

She knew Ace of Diamonds, as a fourth-tier Psychic, had heightened senses. The only way to make sure he couldn’t overhear their conversation was for her to listen this closely to Fang Xiu.

As Fang Xiu’s breath gently warmed her ear, Luo Qingxin felt a strange, unfamiliar sensation. She had never been this close to any man before.

Meanwhile, Ace of Diamonds’ smug expression twisted into panic. If he couldn’t hear Fang Xiu’s instructions, he’d have no time to dodge. Luo Qingxin’s next strike could land straight on his real body.

'No! I can’t just sit here and wait to die!' Ace of Diamonds thought frantically.

He quickly teleported to a new spot, hiding in the shadows. But even there, he didn’t feel secure.

Then it hit him—Fang Xiu’s power wasn’t ordinary. It was foresight. If Fang Xiu could see the future, he might have already predicted that Ace would hide here.

Panic spread through him. He switched positions again. And again. Three times in rapid succession.

But with each move, his unease only grew stronger. 'What if this spot was predicted too? What if Fang Xiu knows where I’ll be after every jump? Damn it! Should I keep moving, or stop? Maybe no matter how much I change, Fang Xiu’s foresight will always find me!'

Suddenly, a thought sparked in Ace of Diamonds' mind. His eyes lit up as he considered a new plan—keep moving nonstop. If he never stayed in one place, Fang Xiu couldn’t pin him down.

Yes, it would drain his energy, but it was his best shot at survival.

Determined, he began to teleport continuously, switching positions faster than ever.

Meanwhile, Fang Xiu leaned in and whispered softly into Luo Qingxin’s ear.

Her expression shifted as she felt his breath near her ear, cheeks flushing slightly. But it wasn’t just his closeness.

As she absorbed his words, her body stiffened, eyes widening in shock and disbelief.

Without hesitation, Luo Qingxin moved. Her Domain energy swirled around her, and in her palm, a delicate, shimmering ice lotus began to form.

The chilling power radiating from it was immense, freezing the air around her.

Even at a glance, it was clear that this ice lotus held terrifying, destructive potential.

Ace of Diamonds' heart raced as he caught sight of it.

'This must be one of her ultimate techniques,' he realized. If it hit him, there’d be no escape. No surviving.

He doubled down, changing spots even faster. He swapped places with the scarecrows scattered around the battlefield, making it nearly impossible to tell where he was at any given moment.

Luo Qingxin remained still, holding the ice lotus, not moving for ten full seconds.

Ace of Diamonds grinned smugly to himself. “So what if Fang Xiu can see the future? Let’s see him predict this! I’m changing positions eight times a second—there’s no way he can track me!”

A minute passed. Ace’s grin began to falter. He could feel his spiritual energy draining rapidly.

He glanced at Luo Qingxin, who still hadn’t moved, ice lotus in hand, and then at Fang Xiu, who stood calmly, completely unbothered.

A sinking feeling began to grow in Ace’s chest. They were both watching him. Like he was... a joke.

“Damn it!” he cursed under his breath. “They’re playing me. This whole time they’ve just been stalling, making me waste my energy!”

His mind raced. 'But... wait. What if this is all part of Fang Xiu’s plan? If I stop, Luo Qingxin might hit me directly. But if I don’t stop, I’ll run out of energy and die anyway. Damn it! This is terrifying. Fang Xiu didn’t have to lift a finger—just one prediction, and I’m cornered.'

Desperate, Ace of Diamonds made a decision. He couldn’t keep up his intense teleportation pace. So, he slowed down, cutting his movements from eight jumps per second to just four.

'95, 96, 97, 98...' Luo Qingxin counted silently in her mind, her grip tightening on the ice lotus.

'99... 100!'

The moment she reached one hundred, she moved without hesitation. The ice lotus flew from her hand, aimed directly at the third scarecrow in the second row from the left.

And right at that instant, Ace of Diamonds moved into that exact spot.

"No!!" he screamed, but it was too late.

BOOM!

The ice lotus exploded in a blinding flash, unleashing a fierce surge of cold energy.

The blast transformed into thousands of ice spikes, tearing through Ace of Diamonds' body, turning him into nothing more than a frozen, shattered pile of straw.

As the dust settled, Luo Qingxin stood still, her expression blank, as if the scene playing out before her eyes wasn’t real.

She had just killed Ace of Diamonds, one of the formidable Pokers.

In her daze, Fang Xiu’s instructions was still echoing in her mind:

'Use your strongest attack. Count silently to one hundred. After one hundred seconds, strike the third scarecrow in the second row from the left.'

Everything had played out exactly as Fang Xiu had said. His foresight wasn’t just accurate—it was pinpoint precise, right down to the second. The shock of it hit her like a wave.

And then the realization sank in: Fang Xiu hadn’t just predicted what would happen a hundred seconds later. He could have told her to strike in the very first second, ending the fight quickly. But instead, he waited.

He let Ace of Diamonds teleport, run, and wear himself out for a full hundred seconds before delivering the killing blow.

It was all intentional. Fang Xiu had used those one hundred seconds to sap Ace of Diamonds’ strength, knowing he would be too drained to escape the final attack.

Even the fact that Ace of Diamonds slowing his movement, and the second row being closest for a faster strike—all of it had been part of Fang Xiu’s plan.

This wasn’t just foresight. It was a masterful understanding of human behavior and battlefield control.

"Let’s go. Time for the next one," Fang Xiu’s calm voice brought Luo Qingxin back to reality. She shook off her daze, realizing just how terrifyingly brilliant Fang Xiu’s strategy had been.