Demons and Ghosts, Be Gone

Yet another loop.

Yue Shi pushed open the door to the Director's office.

Tang Zhuhe was leaning back in her chair. Seeing Yue Shi enter, she didn't invite him to sit as she had before, but spoke directly. "Haven't I already told you how to leave? What are you still doing here?"

Her tone carried a hint of the impatience one might feel when thinking, 'Why are you back again?'

Yue Shi sat down in a chair while holding the snow leopard cub, acting as if he were trying to cozy up to a relative who didn't particularly like him. "I'm just staying a few more days to catch up..."

Tang Zhuhe snorted coldly. "You clearly just don't believe a word I say."

Yue Shi went back to feigning an air of indifference. "Please don't talk nonsense, Director. I have always held you in the highest regard."

Tang Zhuhe laughed. "Oh, please. Don't I know you? When someone hands you something on a silver platter, you’re always suspicious, terrified they’re trying to screw you over. You only feel comfortable with things you’ve snatched away with your own two hands."

Yue Shi didn't deny it, nor was he embarrassed. He nodded and offered sincere praise. "The Director truly understands me."

Tang Zhuhe didn't beat around the bush either, asking directly, "Are you leaving or not?"

Yue Shi thought for a moment. "I'm going to leave, but could the Director reveal a bit more before I go? For example, the specific details of that exit, or why you know so much about the Bewitching Beauty Painting Workshop, or..."

"Or why I'm not leaving myself?" Tang Zhuhe interrupted his nonsense.

Yue Shi shut his mouth and remained quiet.

Tang Zhuhe looked at him, and the two stared each other down for a few seconds, like two chess players testing one another across a board, neither willing to make the first move.

"You really are something," Tang Zhuhe said helplessly.

He was so incredibly annoying.

Yue Shi smiled. "I'm just concerned for the Director's safety, yet you don't trust me. I've been asking for so long, and you've never given me a straight answer."

Tang Zhuhe rolled her eyes elegantly and pulled a pen from her drawer.

That pen was different from ordinary ones; the barrel was a deep brown and appeared to be made of some kind of bone. Its surface was covered in fine patterns that shimmered with a dark light under the lamps.

Yue Shi's gaze fell on the pen; it was clearly no ordinary object. "What's that?"

Tang Zhuhe didn't answer. She pulled out a piece of paper and began writing.

Yue Shi couldn't see what she was writing.

When she finished, Tang Zhuhe folded the paper and pushed it toward Yue Shi. "Take it."

Yue Shi looked at the paper but didn't reach for it. "What is this?"

"The secret you want to know," Tang Zhuhe said calmly. "There are some things I cannot say directly, but I can write a little down."

Yue Shi replied bluntly, "Really? I don't believe you."

"Why do you have to be so difficult?" Tang Zhuhe snapped.

In the next second, the paper turned into black smoke.

The surrounding space vibrated, the air trembled, and the walls of the office began to blur.

Tang Zhuhe sat behind her desk, motionless.

"Director..." Yue Shi started to speak.

"Stop talking and just get going," Tang Zhuhe waved her hand. The words written on that paper hadn't been a secret at all; it was an expulsion order to get rid of this uninvited guest.

A vortex appeared and instantly swept Yue Shi away.

The vortex closed, and silence returned to the office.

Seeing that Yue Shi had completely disappeared, Tang Zhuhe let out a long sigh of relief.

She had finally sent that god of plague on his way.

The things she had said before were only half-truths.

It was true that Amber City had been captured by an unspeakable entity.

It was also true that Amber City had become a room within the Bewitching Beauty Painting Workshop.

And it was even true that the infinite loop of Amber City was related to her.

However, the reason for the infinite loop wasn't energy conservation; it was a side effect of the hunt.

After Amber City was captured by the Bewitching Beauty Painting Workshop, Tang Zhuhe had indeed been a bit panicked. With her strength, she could have easily escaped on her own.

But she quickly realized there was no need to flee, as this was actually a prime location.

The Bewitching Beauty Painting Workshop contained many strange worlds, each with unique rules and specialties, as well as all sorts of powerful experts.

Those who could wander back and forth between different worlds were essentially all powerhouses.

And powerhouses were the most valuable prey.

Tang Zhuhe had turned Amber City into a hunting cage. She had altered the city's rules to make it highly attractive to outsiders, making it very easy for transmigrators currently in transit to be sucked in.

Furthermore, the city was easy to enter but hard to leave. It wasn't that transmigrators couldn't leave at all, but that it was extremely difficult to do so.

Only if she was willing to let them go could a transmigrator depart.

The powerful transmigrators trapped in Amber City were her meals.

She would convert them, making them her believers, destined to chant sutras forever at the feet of the Black Guanyin.

The reason Amber City had fallen into an infinite loop was that she had captured a very special prey.

—A transmigrator with a save-loading ability.

The person himself wasn't particularly strong, but his ability's mechanics were so unique that Tang Zhuhe couldn't easily subdue him.

He used his ability to repeatedly load his saves within Amber City, trying to find a way out.

It took Tang Zhuhe a long time to understand that this person was even more valuable than she had imagined.

His save-loading ability wasn't ordinary time reversal; it was a far more domineering and irrational power.

After dying, he could passively return to a previously set save point.

If she could obtain this ability, her strength would take a qualitative leap.

Thus, she began a long process of digestion.

Dealing with someone who had a save-loading ability was truly difficult.

Fortunately, her hard work paid off. Amber City was her home turf, and she used every means at her disposal to trap that man in a dead-end save.

His save point was a desperate situation where death was certain; no matter how many times he reloaded, he would only return to that same hopeless spot, unable to escape.

The loop of Amber City was, in essence, that man looping within his dead-end save.

Now, she only needed to slowly wear him down. Once he completely collapsed, he would fall from the branch like a ripe fruit, right into her hands.

Yue Shi returning to Amber City was something Tang Zhuhe hadn't expected.

Yet he had returned, and he was far stronger than before—strong enough to make even her feel a bit wary.

At first, she had considered whether to move against Yue Shi and make him one of her believers as well.

But she quickly abandoned the idea. Yue Shi was too difficult to handle and was incredibly toxic.

The aura on him was far too sinister; she wasn't sure if she could convert him, and she even worried about being contaminated herself.

Moreover, she highly suspected that the reason Yue Shi was lingering in Amber City was that he was also coveting something.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Being too greedy often leads to catching nothing at all; it was better to focus on solving one target.

The transmigrator with the save-loading ability was already trapped, making him a much better, safer, and more certain choice.

So, she had used a mix of coaxing and deception to forcibly send Yue Shi away, lest this unstable factor ruin her plans.

As for the method she mentioned to completely leave the Bewitching Beauty Painting Workshop?

It was real.

But there was a catch.