Evil Emperor Zun

Chapter 2017 One Wrong Step
"It was an enormous Gnawing Clan creature." Hei Shiyu was lost in his memories, his voice strained but still carrying a chilling undertone. "Its size far exceeded the boundaries of this land, practically blotting out the sky and seemingly endless. Because it was just an illusion, it wasn't limited by space, so its true limits were immeasurable. The moment I made eye contact with it, I was struck with a splitting headache and instantly lost consciousness."

This was yet another extremely shocking answer. Chen Shiyu felt that he clearly wanted to ask something, but after moving his lips several times, he couldn't utter a single word.

Jing Shiyu's face was grim. Its reaction revealed only extreme shock, but interpreting that shock was equally difficult. One could assume it was astonished that its enemy had so easily revealed its hand, or it could be understood as the secret it had been desperately trying to conceal being exposed, hence its shock and anger.

“If you don’t trust me, you can wait until your clone finishes its work and read its records directly.” Black Ten Feather was indeed clear-headed; it knew that even if it talked itself hoarse, it couldn’t gain trust based on just one side of the story. Therefore, it offered Dust Ten Feather a more feasible verification plan: “The clone is not affected by the corruption, which might help us obtain more clues.”

"No!" Upon hearing this, Jing Shiyu pounded on the mirror in agitation. "You must put the clone away as soon as possible! Can't you see it's just trying to stall for time? If it drags on, you'll become a mirror image!"

It was in too much of a hurry.

Even through the mirror wall, Chen Shiyu could feel the intense and genuine anxiety emanating from the person in front of him.

Perhaps it was genuinely worried about itself, or perhaps it feared the replicant's records would confirm the truth, hence its desperate attempts to stop it. Chen Shiyu was tired of guessing at this unsolvable Rashomon mystery. But he still decided to go to the replicant's side, no matter what.

During this time, these two mirror images could not be left unattended. After much deliberation, Chen Shiyu went to find Su Ye to keep an eye on them.

While it might be somewhat unfair to Su Ye to say this—assuming the Gnawing Clan truly wanted to clone players on a large scale, their purpose would be one of two things: either to recruit a group of powerful fighters, or to seize the opportunity to abduct Qin Jia—Su Ye's combat strength is mediocre, and he's not close to Qin Jia, so cloning him would be useless. This precisely proves that the Su Ye she encountered earlier could not possibly be a clone.

After that, if another "self" were to appear and make strange requests, he would be more wary than other players. Furthermore, with Feng Wutong with him, he wouldn't cooperate, and even with "his" own strength, he couldn't forcibly replicate him. All things considered, currently, among everyone, his probability of being the "original" version is the highest.

As for leaving him alone with two people whose allegiance is unclear, and whether they might use sweet talk to win him over—that's a possibility, but for Chen Shiyu, it's a "loss" he can afford. To put it bluntly, you wouldn't care about having an extra ordinary ant in the enemy camp.

Su Ye was unaware of Chen Shiyu's considerations, but she was quite happy to accept the task, and even asked him several times, "Can I have your clone cook for me?"

A comment on the screen read: "Didn't you just eat?"

Su Ye: A person who only eats, a soul who only eats!

……

Before the Gnawing Clan's cage, everything seemed normal. The replicants were still faithfully performing their duties, their expressions unchanged, showing no sign of anything amiss.

Chen Shiyu stood there for a long time, pondering whether or not to put the clones away.

He was mainly thinking about whether he had made a mistake.

Fixed mindsets can create blind spots. Two people with completely opposite statements may both be lying; similarly, two seemingly opposing paths may both be traps.

Before leaving the room, he asked the two mirror images to entrust the cloning machine to him for safekeeping. Both claimed to have confused memories and couldn't recall the machine's whereabouts. It was at that moment that Chen Shiyu sensed something was wrong.

Because it was the first time he had discovered it, he couldn't actually remember why he knew that the Red-Eyed Demon Clan possessed such a treasure.

This information, like an inconspicuous decoration in a room, appeared out of nowhere and remained quietly there until its owner needed it, at which point it was casually picked up… When he formulated his plan to deal with the Gnawing Clan, he naturally incorporated it into his considerations. Thinking about it carefully, was he already being led by the nose by the enemy from that very beginning?
Because his memory had been tampered with, he overlooked it like a "blind spot," because both of the mirror images' narratives were missing a crucial piece of the puzzle: the origin of the copying machine.

Following Chen Shiyu's line of thought, Ye Yunyan also came up with a terrifying idea.

Initially, they went to great lengths, using clones, because the future Chen Shiyu had been corrupted by a curse during her investigation. The negative energy remaining within her even affected the past Chen Shiyu—something she had witnessed firsthand, so they never doubted it. But now, looking back, is this premise truly accurate?

If the "Black-Eyed Ten Feathers" she saw was not Chen Shiyu himself, but a carefully prepared prop—if Chen Shiyu had no memories of the period of corruption because he was not corrupted at all—if she was deliberately shown this scene in order to use her to pass false information to Chen Shiyu, so that he would deal with it in the way the enemy expected—then their supposedly step-by-step counterattack had actually stepped into a large net that the enemy had already laid.

If all of this is an enemy conspiracy, then they should indeed put away the clones; better late than never. Fortunately, this trip wasn't a complete waste; at least they've uncovered a new lead—the Red-Eyed Demon—from which they can continue their investigation.

What prompted Chen Shiyu to make up his mind were two facts he confirmed after temporarily putting away the time acceleration space and checking the logbook.

First, the fact that a page was torn out of the notebook indicates that someone who didn't want them to know the truth had been here. Second, even if the replicant had memorized some important secret, it would likely be on that missing page. Apart from that, no matter how many pages are turned, all you'll see are records like "which row, which Gnawling Clan member moved its front paw."

If, as Hei Shiyu said, what they saw using their pupil technique was a gigantic phantom of the Devourer Clan, assuming this phantom has already appeared, it might continue to prepare for another attack after realizing that the clones are unaffected by the corruption, or it might never appear again, requiring a considerable amount of time to wait. And now, the passage of time means risk for them.

If the clone were allowed to remain in the accelerated time space for an extended period, there was a chance it would develop self-awareness, leading to the mirroring of its original form. Chen Shiyu pondered that if he were a member of the Devouring Clan, he would naturally try his best to delay, letting the enemy bring about its own demise. In this way, the probability of it rashly launching an attack in the short term would approach zero. To put it bluntly, such a low probability was not worth the gamble. Moreover, he couldn't be certain whether the mysterious visitor had further accelerated the time-speed space, which could cause a serious misjudgment in their control of the time limit.

The two reached an agreement. Ye Yunyan raised the machine from a distance and was about to press the button when the clone seemed to sense something. Its writing speed suddenly increased, and its wrist vibrated, creating many afterimages, as if the Devouring Clan was eager to leave something through this medium.

The clone's desperate writing resembled rapidly scrolling gibberish on a screen, filled with a chaotic and frenzied disorder—it was terrifying. Ye Yunyan had a feeling that if this state continued, something ominous might happen. For example, its body might explode, or its eyes might suddenly turn pitch black, and it might pounce on them…

A sense of crisis assaulted Ye Yunyan's nerves. Her fingers reacted before her brain could, pressing the button. In an instant, the clone's form transformed into a flat, blurry shadow. The once vibrant body lost all its color in the shortest time, becoming thin and pale, and in the blink of an eye, like wisps of smoke torn apart by a strong wind, it was sucked into the gap at the bottom of the cloning machine with a "whoosh," disappearing without a trace.

Chen Shiyu picked up the notebook that had fallen to the ground. The last page was filled with densely packed small characters. They seemed to bloom all over the page, like a swarm of insects, so dense that looking at them for too long would even pollute one's spirit. Upon closer inspection, all the countless small characters were writing the same sentence, which, when gathered together, formed four large, crooked characters:
—"Those who spy die!"
……

Later that day, the Red-Eyed Demon received Chen Shiyu and Ye Yunyan in his room.

"You've arrived." Chen Shiyu had come to borrow the copying machine earlier, and the two had just interacted. Seeing the two of them visit again, he acted like a kind elder. "How is it going? Is the plan progressing smoothly?"

Chen Shiyu looked appropriately troubled: "I don't know why, but the clones we created don't seem to obey my commands. Maybe I just don't know how to use them yet. That's why I thought I'd come and ask my senior for some more instructions on how to use them. I hope I'm not bothering you?"

"Oh, this is very simple!" The red-eyed demon laughed and sat down on the sofa, patted the seat next to him, signaling Chen Shiyu to sit down as well, and then began to explain to him in a long and detailed manner.

Chen Shiyu occasionally chimed in, throwing out some trivial questions as smokescreens. At one point, he also casually mentioned:

"It's probably been too long; hearing it now feels like the first time. Senior, do you remember when you first told me about the effects of the cloning machine?"

This was Chen Shiyu's test of the Red-Eyed Demon Clan.

According to Feng Wutong, replication machines are indeed commonly used in the Cosmic Sea. The fact that the Red-Eyed Demon "possesses" this treasure doesn't necessarily mean he's colluding with the Devouring Clan; it's possible the enemy simply wants to use him to deliver the item. However, as long as his stance is sound, he should have truthfully explained the risks of mirroring when she inquired about the precautions in detail.

On the other hand, Chen Shiyu was now fairly certain that he had never directly heard of a replication machine from the other party. The enemy had merely implanted this information deep into his mind, without yet creating a detailed and vivid backstory. Since he had mentioned something that didn't exist, a normal red-eyed demon would likely be confused and would directly correct him.

However, both attempts disappointed Chen Shiyu.

Even when I explicitly asked about key points like "usage period" and "side effects" under the guise of seeking advice, the other person just smiled and avoided getting to the point. As for the "initial communication," he didn't even try to recall it, just laughed it off and said he couldn't remember.

This confirms that, whether actively or passively, he was indeed working for the enemy.

There are different ways to cooperate with allies. But when it comes to "undercover agents," you have to think carefully about how to make full use of them to counter the enemy.

"Senior, I feel a bit uncomfortable in my eyes. May I borrow your mirror?" Chen Shiyu politely asked during a break in the conversation.

The red-eyed demon paused for a moment, then smiled and gestured towards the inner room: "Of course, please go ahead."

Ye Yunyan knew that he wanted to talk to Jing Shiyu first, and then arrange for the two sides to confront each other. Wherever there was a mirror that could reflect the real body, it was the activity range of the mirror body. The Red-Eyed Demon Clan had been confirmed to be untrustworthy. Using him as a reference, there might be a chance to distinguish whether Jing Shiyu was loyal or treacherous.

Before this, Ye Yunyan was responsible for keeping the red-eyed demon at bay, maintaining communication with him, and distracting him to prevent him from connecting the "mirror" to the fact that Shi Yu already knew the secret of the mirror body and thus becoming suspicious.

The mission was progressing more smoothly than expected. Because of his relationship with Baili Ji, the red-eyed demon clearly harbored a strange and intense interest in Ye Yunyan. No matter what she said, he stared at her with a playful smile, his gaze so intense it felt like it was burning her inside and out. Ye Yunyan felt extremely uncomfortable under his gaze, but for the sake of the bigger picture, she could only force herself to endure it.

On the other side, Chen Shiyu walked into the bathroom and raised one hand to place on the mirror.

Then, he felt a chill rise from the depths of his soul, freezing him from head to toe.

He saw his hand pass straight through the lens and sink into the depths of the mirror. It was as if he were touching a vertical surface of water, with faint, transparent ripples spreading where his wrist was submerged. He could also feel a faint suction coming from behind the mirror; if he were willing to go with this force and let his body merge more into it, eventually he could even enter the mirror entirely!

Mirroring! The moment this word appeared, it quickly took over Chen Shiyu's mind.

Why is this happening? Didn't they already put away the clones? Why am I still a mirror image?!

No, now is not the time to leisurely think about these things... The lingering fear of falling into nothingness had not yet subsided when another urgent alarm bell rang out.

He couldn't linger here! He had witnessed firsthand how vulnerable mirror images were to the copying machine. If the red-eyed demon harbored malicious intent, now was the perfect opportunity to strike!
……

At the same time, Chu Tianyao was in his room, recalling what Chen Shiyu had told him.

"I am Chen Shiyu from the future."

"In this timeline, when I was using my pupil technique to investigate the Devouring Clan, I was unfortunately corrupted. I don't think he himself realized that his eyes had turned completely black."

"The curse seems to have caused him to hallucinate. When I came over from him just now, I saw him talking to himself in front of a mirror."