Chapter 408: Rusty City Strange Stories

"I trust him, just as he trusts me."

The game never stops.

Xu Zhiyan and Gan Mi kept calculating and guessing their opponent's next plan and making the choice they thought was right.

"What do you think? Gan Mi, do you want to bet with me?" he asked.

The gaze cast on Gan Mi was cold and steady. Xu Zhiyan straightened his back, raised his head to reveal his slender neck, and there was no trace of timidity in his words.

Xinan is always quiet.

He tilted his head and looked at Xu Zhiyan, without interfering in what was happening between them.

Under the gold filled with greed and sin, cold silence spread silently among the three people.

Perhaps it was too quiet, Gan Mi heard the sound of his own heartbeat. He looked up at the familiar face of the young man and laughed softly.

Some questions that had suddenly troubled him were answered at this moment.

Would anything change if he were human?

The answer is yes.

If there were no infinite games, if he were human.

They would become friends, rivals, partners... or any other relationship between humans that he could think of and desire.

They may win or lose in the fight, and may even scheme against each other to gain more benefits, but they will never reach the point of a life-and-death fight where no reconciliation can take place.

"Okay, let's gamble."

Gan Mi heard his own answer.

"There's always a jackpot in betting, but it looks like I can only give it the next time we meet."

If it wasn't for this scene, they might have chosen luxury cars, watches, yachts, jewelry, etc. He felt that Xu Zhiyan would definitely like his wealth in this world...

But, there are no ifs.

He is a mimetic and he uses humans as vessels, which means they can never be friends.

Meet, fight, and decide the winner.

He could admire Xu Zhiyan, praise Xu Zhiyan, and recruit Xu Zhiyan. He could even provide some convenience for the other party in certain circumstances, but that was all.

They are enemies.

They can only be enemies.

Gan Mi suddenly felt a little depressed.

It was as if mud and gravel were flowing through the blood throughout the body, bringing with it the pain of being scraped by a blunt knife, and finally all accumulated in the center of the heart, making it difficult to breathe.

The dull pain is not fatal, but it cannot be ignored.

Gan Mi had always controlled the power of air, and had seen countless creatures die from suffocation. Today, he actually experienced this feeling, and the cause was just a thought, a situation that everyone knew.

"Oh? Okay."

After listening to Gan Mi's words, Xu Zhiyan nodded in agreement.

"If you die, I won't take the prize." After saying this, he turned around and walked towards the steps outside the secret room without any lingering thoughts.

Gan Mi opened his mouth and wanted to say something else.

Thinking of his own appearance, he lowered his head and sneered, despising this behavior in his heart.

"Hey, do you want to wait a minute?"

But in the end, Gan Mi still couldn't control his inner impulse.

He wanted to talk to Xu Zhiyan again, anything would do, as long as he could keep him here for a while, even for a few minutes...

He pointed at Xinan, pursed his lips and spoke.

"Aren't you interested in his memory? Wait for me, I'll dismantle it and give you his memory module."

Xinan's death was part of his plan.

Even if it was just a jackpot, Gan Mi couldn't help thinking. As for the outcome of Wang Ying and Jiang Huaique, he no longer wanted to care.

This topic worked.

Xu Zhiyan indeed stopped.

“…”

His calm expression whenever he talked about Jiang Huai Que finally broke.

Although he was indeed interested in Mad Dog's memories and was tempted by Gan Mi's proposal, wasn't it a bit wrong to say it so openly?

Turning his head to look at Xinan, Xu Zhiyan found that the other party was still staring at him, not affected by Gan Mi's words at all, as if the guy who was told to dismantle the memory module was not him.

Finally, Xu Zhiyan couldn't help but ask Xinan.

"Aren't you going to hit him?"

People say they are going to tear you down!

He inexplicably felt that the three of them seemed to have some kind of combined buff. Every time they got together, their topics and behaviors would go in a strange direction that made people confused.

Xinan made a knife-shaped hairstyle, and the cold electronic sound revealed a unique calm emotion during the conversation.

"Wait till you leave."

In stark contrast to Gan Mi, Xinan had been waiting for Xu Zhiyan to leave from beginning to end.

Hearing this, Xu Zhiyan was slightly stunned.

Gan Mi frowned. The breath that had just calmed down was stuck in his throat, neither going up nor down, feeling uncomfortable.

He thought Xinan was a little ridiculous.

There are two layers of emotions at work. Putting aside personal feelings, Xinan should want to stay with Xu Zhiyan more than anyone else.

However, Xinan ignored Gan Mi. He met Xu Zhiyan's eyes and suddenly smiled. That smile was just like the one Xu Zhiyan saw in the information at the beginning, as dazzling as the silver hair.

"Are you leaving?" he asked.

Xu Zhiyan nodded slightly and said nothing.

He doesn't want to be a savior, but he's not a saint either.

Regardless of whether Xinan was manipulated or influenced, hundreds of lives were no joke. The dead would not be resurrected, he would not save Xinan, nor would he interfere in the feud between the other party and the ideal country.

Xinan seemed a little happy, and the mechanical eyeballs in his eye sockets, which no longer belonged to human beings, moved a little.

"Goodbye then."

"But if I win, you won't be able to see my memory module."

He had no complaints about Gan Mi's proposal, and even agreed that his memory module would be removed if he lost.

Gan Mi, who was watching, was not as calm as Xinan. He felt that his brain circuits could not keep up with the lunatic's thinking. But after Mad Dog said this, he no longer had any reason to keep Xu Zhiyan.

The body of the regular monster in the secret room had shriveled up, and even the blood had dried up quickly due to the death of the body.

Xu Zhiyan lowered his eyes and showed no emotion at all. He walked past Xinan and did not look back at the two people who stayed there.

Only when they were about to leave did Xu Zhiyan turn his back to the two of them and speak softly.

"I'm leaving now. See you next time."

As for who he will meet next time and who he will become the enemy of, no one knows.

The young man's thin back fell into two pairs of eyes.

He stepped on the dazzling golden light and disappeared, leaving Xinan and Gan Mi alone, like earthbound spirits trapped in a dark and cramped room.

Gan Mi stared at the direction where Xu Zhiyan left, moved his lips, but was unable to utter another word.

After a while, he laughed silently.

Yes, he was the only one in the abyss from beginning to end.

The despicable look of wanting to drag the person you want into the abyss for your own selfish desires is extremely ugly, but uncontrollable.

He suddenly felt more human.

How ridiculous! He was the one who arranged the meeting between Wang Ying and Jiang Huaique. His goal was to kill all of Xu Zhiyan's teammates. So what qualifications does he have to keep Xu Zhiyan now?

"There's no such thing as see you next time..."

Gan Mi knew very well that this would be the last time they met.

But when Xinan saw Xu Zhiyan leaving, he nodded and replied, "Okay, see you next time."

After he finished speaking, he turned and looked at Gan Mi.

"If you win, will you really give him my memory module?"

Gan Mi listened to this question, and the mood that had begun to fade after Xu Zhiyan left seemed to return a little.

He didn't know how to taunt Xinan, so he said coldly: "No, I lied to him."

“…”

Xinan's expression fell.

But then, as if he had thought of something, he said with relief: "You know you will lose, right?"

If it were any other time, Gan Mi would probably have laughed out of anger, just like when the three of them were forced to work together to screw in the screws, and would have retorted angrily or something.

But he suddenly realized that Xu Zhiyan had been gone for only a few minutes, and his original human emotions had completely disappeared. At this moment, listening to Xinan's words, his heart was not moved at all.

This is the signal for the Mimic to break free from the influence of the Shell.

Gan Mi did not answer Xinan's words. His eyes passed Xinan and fell on the direction where Xu Zhiyan left.

how so?

It doesn't mean that only when the people associated with the body disappear...

His thoughts came to an abrupt end here, and Gan Mi realized a fact that almost crushed him!

In the past, mimics would choose to kill all people who were related to the body. When the last person disappeared, they would no longer be controlled by human emotions. Over the years, all mimics, including Yan Chengfan, believed that this was the only way.

Now, Xu Zhiyan is not dead, but his emotions have disappeared.

Gan Mi didn't know how to describe her confused thoughts. It turned out that the so-called severing of ties did not mean one-sided killing?

Xu Zhiyan is his last link with the human world.

When the other party no longer has any expectations of him, and they are no longer even rivals or friends, this bond is broken...

Gan Mi was shocked to realize that everything he had done was in vain.

There was neither gratitude nor disgust. Perhaps because of Jiang Huaique's confidence, Xu Zhiyan didn't even hate him. He had now become a stranger to Xu Zhiyan.

Lonely and desperate.

Gan Mi felt that he should panic.

But the emotion suddenly disappeared, and before he put in the emotion like the other mimics, he found that he couldn't even feel fear.

Everything seemed to have returned to the time when it was controlled by the main system.

"Hey, are you still going to fight?"

Xinan's sudden voice interrupted Gan Mi's thoughts.

He seemed to still have his sanity, with the blade on his shoulder, a smile on his face, and he seemed to be in a very good mood.

Gan Mi retracted his gaze and looked towards Xinan.

"I hope you can be this confident when you die."

His voice was so cold that Xinan's mechanical voice was warmer than his.

His answer was Xinan's attack!

The agile silver-haired young man jumped in front of him without saying anything. The scarlet double-headed knife fell from the air and chopped heavily towards his cheek, but it stopped abruptly in front of him.

Through a layer of air wall, Gan Mi looked at Xinan, whose expression was becoming increasingly crazy.

"Hey, why don't you ask him to save you?"

He imagined the scene when Xu Zhiyan left, and tried his best to speak like a normal human being with full emotions.

Maybe this will cover up the facts and make everything remain the same as before.

"You beg him, you give him a few reasons, you tell him that you killed people because you were manipulated by Yan Chengfan, maybe he will soften his heart and choose to help you kill me... although he is not a soft-hearted person."

As he spoke, Gan Mi tried to pull the corners of his mouth to make himself smile again.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Xinan frowned, launched a few powerful attacks, and then retreated suddenly, avoiding the attack at his feet.

"If you want to kill me, just kill me. There's no reason for that."

From the beginning to the end, he had no intention of excusing himself. From the first time he killed someone, he was ready to be killed.

After saying this, he added his usual sarcastic remark.

"You don't have to laugh if you don't know how to laugh."

He couldn't understand why Gan Mi showed a smile full of pain.

Invisible empty blades attacked from all directions.

Xinan's attack failed to break Gan Mi's barrier, so he simply jumped to the side against the wall. As soon as he dodged, his landing point was blasted by his skill, and the entire wall exploded.

After several rounds of attacks, both sides fought back and forth and neither gave in, and there was not much difference between the two sides.

…

Another round of strong attack came.

Xinan, who was retreating, seized the opportunity, quickly dodged the continuous attacks, exerted force of his wrist and threw the knife towards Gan Mi.

“Shua——”

The sharp blade tears everything apart and breaks through the air!

Unexpectedly, Xinan would turn around and attack while dodging, Gan Mi immediately raised his new skill and used the main defense to attack the front. However, the next second, he found that the protective shield in front of him was not attacked at all, and the scarlet double-headed knife pierced straight into the wall above his head.

What? Not attack him?

Why throw the weapon then?

At the moment when Gan Mi was stunned, Xinan himself had flashed to his side without him knowing.

Gan Mi's pupils shrank slightly, oh no!

He didn't expect Xinan to abandon his weapon and attack.

You must know that the Red Blood Moon, which has undergone a blood sacrifice, is quite powerful. If Xinan didn't have the double-headed knife before, he couldn't even kill Saiqiye.

But it's too late to react now!

“Boom!”

Xinan punched him in the face.

Probably because he used all his strength, Gan Mi was knocked away by the punch and smashed heavily into the wall.

“Boom—”

There was a loud noise and dust flew!

After a successful strike, Xinan's smile grew wider, "Hey, can you be serious when fighting——"

Before he could finish the remaining few words, he sensed unusual fluctuations in the air.

"call out……"

“Boom—”

The surrounding air was compressed to the extreme, and serial explosions occurred!

Unexpectedly, Gan Mi actually counterattacked the moment he was attacked. Although Xinan took back the double-headed knife as quickly as possible, he still couldn't avoid being hit several times.

“Ka-ka…”

The calf was hit, revealing some parts, circuits, and bloody wounds.

Without time to think, Xinan retreated at a high speed relying on his fighting instinct, and only stopped at the door of the secret room.

He looked towards the smoke-filled area.

Gan Mi stood in the dust, his face scratched by a purely mechanical fist. He tilted his head and spat out a mouthful of blood, looking at him with a fierce look, as if he was looking at a dead person, and the air around him almost froze.

"No wonder Yan Chengfan chose you as his vessel."

Unparalleled fighting instinct, will not be afraid or retreat...

After saying that, Gan Mi suddenly thought of another person.

Jiang Huaique also possesses excellent fighting talent. He remembers that Utopia once arranged for another mimetic on the potential newcomer list to snipe the opponent in the dungeon, but it was unfortunately ruined by Xu Zhiyan.

"The boss has a good eye for choosing containers."

If there was no Xu Zhiyan, Jiang Huaique would become the second Yan Chengfan, or the second mad dog.

Looking at Xinan who had stopped attacking but was tense all over, Gan Mi moved his wrist and asked, "Why do you want him to leave?"

...You're still unwilling to give up.

As he spoke, the ceiling around him began to collapse and the ground began to shake.

Surprisingly, however, the rubble did not fall to the ground.

In this situation, Xinan's expression not only did not relax, but became more solemn.

An invisible barrier appeared at some point, with Gan Mi as the center, and it continued to expand. All the creatures covered by it became lambs in his territory.

Sensing the air fluctuations, Xinan wanted to continue retreating, but was suddenly grabbed by an invisible giant hand coming from the opposite direction!

Gan Mi saw this and tried to dissuade them.

"I didn't want to use my domain so quickly. I wanted to know if you had any other backup skills, but it seems like you don't have any."

He raised his hand, his fingertips tightening slightly.

Xinan noticed that the air around him was instantly sucked away. He tilted his head and said, "I can live for a long time without air."

Gan Mi remained indifferent and continued to tighten his grip.

He imagined how he would tease if he still had emotions, and after a moment he said, "Oh, it seems that I am more human than you."

His own territory brought him a great sense of security, and Gan Mi slowly walked in front of Xinan.

The distance between the two people has shortened a lot.

"Why would you want him to leave?"

Gan Mi found that he still couldn't let go of this problem.

During the conversation, Xinan broke through the shackles and launched an attack again!

The Red Blood Moon let out a mournful cry, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of swords were swung at it, shattering Gan Mi's defense in front of him in a flash.

He is only one step away from his goal!

But it was all in vain.

"You can break through one layer of shackles, so what about ten layers? What about a hundred layers?" A cold voice sounded, and Gan Mi did not put up the protective device again.

"This is my territory, don't be surprised. I didn't expect you to be so strong before..." His voice became smaller and smaller, and was barely audible at the end.

Xu Zhiyan no longer had any expectations of him, which, in a sense, prompted him to complete the final step of becoming a mimetic.

The shackles that belonged to humanity disappeared, and he became stronger than expected.

Xinan didn't pay attention to these things. The shackles, heavier than before, were piled up layer by layer, trapping him completely. His limbs and bones felt as if a thousand-pound force was pressing down on him.

The blade finally stopped in front of Gan Mi and could no longer move forward.

"I won't crush you to death like this. At least I have to wait until I find the memory module. But it's safer to dismantle it." Gan Mi asked, "Can you talk properly now?"

As his skills became stronger, Xinan's entire body was grasped by invisible hands.

“Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka”

The sound of metal breaking was heard.

The first parts of his body to break were the regular parts, especially his calves, which had been injured repeatedly before. Under the extreme pressure, the flesh and metal were deformed and almost squeezed into the width of a finger. It was so shaky that it almost fell off.

Then comes the physical body.

Blood spread out from the gaps in the machinery, and it was impossible to tell which remaining organs had been damaged, or if all of them could not bear the damage.

By the time Gan Mi released his skill, Xinan's expression remained calm, but the rest of his body was in pieces. The most serious was his right leg, which was only connected by a few wires, and the whole person was about to fall apart.

The blood gathered into a pool on the ground, reflecting Gan Mi's indifferent expression.

“Boom—”

Xinan fell into the blood.

Gan Mi bent down, picked up the Red Blood Moon that had fallen to the ground, and threw it back to Xinan.

He stepped forward and grabbed the other's bloodstained silver hair, asking in a low voice.

"Where is the memory module assembled?"

But looking at Xinan's miserable state, he murmured again: "This kind of thing should be very strong and won't break, right?"

The two people's eyes met in the air.

After a few seconds, Xinan spoke.

"Why are you so obsessed with him? Are you crazy too?"

As he spoke, he laughed wildly, with blood foam oozing out from the corners of his mouth, as if he was still the arrogant monster who killed indiscriminately.

"Gan Mi, you are not ready to be a lunatic yet."

Xinan's words exploded like thunder.

Gan Mi subconsciously let go of his hand and took two steps back.

Yes, when his last connection with humanity was severed, along with the increase in power, came chaotic and disordered thoughts.

He wanted to grasp the last node of thinking - to give Xu Zhiyan a chance.

Gan Mi took a deep breath and wiped the blood off his hands. However, his hands became dirtier and dirtier, with mixed blood stains spreading out, some of his own blood, and some of Xinan's.

"Never mind. It's not important."

He seemed to have finally regained his sanity and stopped wiping his hands.

Seeing this, Xinan laughed wildly, and his dilapidated body kept shaking as he laughed.

"Hahahahahaha you really are crazy!"

"Don't you want to know why I let him go?"

He gave the answer with a smile.

"Because my thoughts are fragmented, there will always be memories that don't belong to me. You don't know, right? Yan Chengfan once had to use a knife to cut off his own flesh bit by bit in order to suppress the violent power in his body..."

As if recalling some wonderful scene, Xinan's expression was extremely happy and he looked more like a winner than Gan Mi.

"Later, these people who repeatedly cut off their bodies bit by bit replaced them with my face."

Day and night, without end.

Memories that do not belong to you invade your mind.

Xinan went from initial rejection to subsequent fascination.

He began to kill people indiscriminately.

Whether they are mimics or ordinary people, all beings are equal in his eyes.

"But they only need to experience it once before they die, but I can't avoid it. As long as I close my eyes, the pain will echo in my mind."

When the suffering has accumulated to the extreme, he will no longer think about why he was chosen, because he no longer has the strength to maintain his sanity.

"Until he showed up."

Xinan's voice suddenly dropped.

"As long as I am by his side, as long as I see him, I won't be entangled by those thoughts anymore."

Whether it is the restless power or the thoughts that do not belong to you.

As long as he stands by Xu Zhiyan, he will no longer be entangled by suffering, and all the pain will go away.

Xinan couldn't laugh anymore.

"But I have long lost the qualifications to be a normal person. A moment of peace makes me panic."

So he was always quiet when facing Xu Zhiyan.

The sanity he regained in the tranquility only made him fall into greater pain and even doubt his own existence. He wanted to die countless times, but was unwilling to do so.

“Sometimes it’s better to be crazy.”

He looked at Gan Mi and gave some pertinent advice.

Gan Mi nodded perfunctorily. He no longer cared whether he still had his sanity. He reached out his hand to Xinan's chest and used his fingertips to push aside the outer metal shell.

"That's enough complaining. I found where the memory module is installed—"

The moment he touched Xinan's heart, his eyes suddenly widened and his whole body froze in place.

"you……"

A familiar feeling swept over my body, and a confused consciousness was injected into my brain.

It's a virus in the main system!

Xinan actually took the initiative to install the virus to eliminate the mimics on his heart.