"Hey there, superstar. Would you rather die by the hands of this scruffy man, or would you prefer to die by mine?"
Faced with Fu Zhu's sudden appearance in the room, Robin immediately pointed the fruit knife at him. Although she was the only one of the three holding a weapon, facing two men, the short blade offered her not a single shred of security.
"Can you choose quickly? I don't have much time to wait for you to think."
Fu Zhu urged her on when Robin remained undecided for a long while, but the only response he got was the small action of her retreating a few steps.
Seeing this, Fu Zhu sighed with a hint of resignation. "I was hoping that if you cooperated, I could give you a less frightening way to die. It seems that's unnecessary now."
Fu Zhu stood up and started walking towards Robin. He had only taken two or three steps when three claw strikes, burning with a demonic flame, slashed toward him. But just as the claws were about to connect, Fu Zhu's figure vanished, and the three strikes hit empty air, tearing three large, light-leaking gashes in the wall.
"Hmm?!"
The man was surprised by his failed ambush. Given the mere five-meter distance between them, and the fact that he was launching a sneak attack, there was no reason Fu Zhu should have been able to dodge his assault.
Unless the opponent's strength far surpassed his own.
The thought of this possibility caused a cold sweat to bead on the man's forehead. He was only here to lay some groundwork for a future plan. How had he run into such a powerhouse?
While the man was sweating and searching for any sign of Fu Zhu, a hand suddenly rested on his shoulder.
"You're a nasty piece of work. Not only do you steal my kill, you even launch a sneak attack. At your age, ambushing a young man like me... you should be ashamed of yourself."
The man spun around violently, channeling the force of the turn into a punch thrown behind him, but he hit nothing. There was no one there!
Such speed...
The man couldn't help but click his tongue internally. He had run into a tough nut to crack today. The plan to take Robin was likely impossible to complete. He had to figure out how to retreat, or he would be caught in this mess himself.
However, even retreat wouldn't be so easy now. He discovered that Fu Zhu was, at some point, already guarding the door, and he hadn't noticed him move at all.
As the man observed Fu Zhu, searching for a chance to escape, he noticed several "peculiar" things about him. This prompted him to raise an eyebrow at Fu Zhu.
"A powerhouse like you still needs to disguise yourself as someone else?"
"Hmm? You saw through it?"
Fu Zhu didn't think the man was bluffing; his expression was one of complete certainty that he was currently in disguise.
"Of course. I've lived for so long that if I still can't distinguish between a man dressed as a woman or a woman dressed as a man, I might as well be blind."
The man pointed to Fu Zhu's splayed legs and his feet-pointing-outwards stance. "I've never seen a woman stand so boldly. Of course, that was just a guess, but after you spoke, I was completely certain."
After hearing the man's analysis, Fu Zhu couldn't help but applaud. "Truly worthy of a Fictional Historiographer. Not only are you skilled at deception yourself, but your ability to see through others' lies is also impressive. I'm a fake, and I'm afraid you're not much better, Gallagher."
[Fictional Historiographer - Gallagher (?)]
The moment Fu Zhu exposed his underlying false identity, Gallagher's expression changed dramatically.
He hadn't expected his opponent to see through all of his secrets! He might as well have announced the color of his underwear!
What was more fatal was that once a "lie" is exposed, it ceases to exist. He could already feel his current physical form starting to crumble.
Fu Zhu also noticed the change happening to his body. The most obvious sign was that he could clearly see Gallagher's health bar cap steadily decreasing. At this rate, it would probably take less than a day or two for Gallagher to disappear completely.
Realizing his own demise was just a matter of time, Gallagher completely abandoned the idea of escaping from Fu Zhu. He now only wanted to use the time he had left to pass on more information about the [Watchmaker's Legacy] to the few Nameless he had specifically invited to Penacony.
Gallagher took out his phone to send a pre-written message. When those Nameless arrived in Penacony, he had obtained their contact information from the registration computer at The Reverie Hotel's front desk. Now was the perfect time to send the content directly.
But shortly after the message was sent, a red exclamation mark appeared on the left side. The message had failed to send.
"No signal?"
Gallagher looked up at Fu Zhu in astonishment. This hotel was the most luxurious in the world of the beautiful dream. Something like having no signal was absolutely impossible here. The only possibility was that Fu Zhu had done something.
---o---
"Indeed. A person of your strength and cunning, who then meticulously planned this so-called 'pillar of light serial murder case,' is unlikely to make such a small mistake."
Having figured this out, Gallagher gave a self-deprecating laugh. He then leaned against the coffee table and sat down, looking as if he had completely given up the struggle.
Seeing Gallagher seemingly abandon the fight, Fu Zhu didn't bother with him anymore and walked directly toward Robin, who was leaning against the window. He needed to wrap this up quickly; he still had the final act to perform.
But just as Fu Zhu was walking towards Robin, Gallagher, who had been sitting by the coffee table with a look of dejection, suddenly looked up. He threw a claw strike at Fu Zhu while simultaneously shouting at Robin.
"Miss Robin, don't be afraid when you get to the other side! The Nameless will find you. When they do, please pass a message to them for me: 'Mikhail is waiting for you...'"
As Gallagher's voice fell, Fu Zhu noticed a red hostile icon suddenly appear on his minimap.
[Memetic Entity of the Memoria: Something Unto Death (Meme)]
The moment this sudden enemy appeared, Fu Zhu switched directly to Observer Mode, effortlessly dodging Gallagher's sneak attack from behind.
But because of this, the suddenly appearing Memetic Entity swung its bladed tail at a stunned Robin, piercing straight through her chest. Immediately after, Robin dissolved into countless bubbles and vanished before Fu Zhu's eyes.
Witnessing all this, Fu Zhu reappeared in front of Gallagher.
Seeing Fu Zhu appear again, Gallagher couldn't help but grin. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.
"Even though you saw through my identity, in the end, you were still tricked by me once."
"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. I didn't act just now because I was curious, not because I was incapable."
As he spoke, Fu Zhu smiled and snapped his fingers. He once again switched back to Observer Mode and rewound time to a dozen or so seconds ago, to the moment Gallagher had just pretended to give up and sat by the coffee table.
The moment Fu Zhu returned to this point in time, he immediately drew his Godfall Sword and pressed it against Gallagher's throat.
"Give up those little tricks of yours. Explain it to me. What did you mean by 'Mikhail is waiting for the Nameless'?"