Chapter 1100: Thinking

Gao Yang pondered.

He first realized something: he had conjured a double and taken White Dew here with two Spatial Migrations, meaning he wouldn’t be able to use the skill in three days.

Baili Yi had obviously deduced the development, but he hadn’t reminded him, most likely because he didn’t want to interfere with their causality. Gao Yang couldn’t fault him for that.

With the best escape option out, Gao Yang had two other contingencies.

He teleported to Hong Xiaoxiao to touch her before teleporting to Dead Pig, touching the unconscious Heavenly Dog on his back.

“Raven Shark, Dimensional Storage,” Gao Yang ordered. “Everyone, get in.”

“Understood!”

No one hesitated.

Only Gao Yang and Raven Shark remained outside the storage. Raven Shark closed the subspace. By then, Gao Yang had already conjured a true double. He turned his back to Raven Shark, “Hop on.”

Raven Shark climbed onto his back.

“Hold tight,” Gao Yang warned. “It’s going to be quick.”

Raven Shark tightened his arms around Gao Yang’s neck and wound his legs around his waist, turning into a shell on Gao Yang’s back.

Gao Yang glanced at his double. “Burn down the laboratory and keep him busy.”

“Will do.”

His double lifted a hand and gave himself a Golden Armor, swirling with radiant flames.

Willful Power!

Gao Yang shifted all his stats to Agility.

The moment the Absolute Barrier shattered into pieces of golden energy, the double overwhelmed the laboratory by unleashing a pillar of flames. Meanwhile, Gao Yang, carrying Raven Shark, had already disappeared.

Sonic explosions announced their retreat. Gao Yang had turned invisible and fled quickly with Fly. Mark wouldn’t catch up with them or find them.

...

A little more than ten seconds later, Gao Yang was already flying toward the ocean bordering the Ni Nation with Raven Shark. He switched to using an Absolute Barrier to carry them along the official channel via the sea, catching up to a cargo ship and hiding in the storage room on the bottom deck.

The whole process took less than a minute.

Raven Shark quickly opened his Dimensional Storage. Everyone rushed out—living beings could die if they stayed in the subspace for more than ten minutes. Inanimate objects didn’t run the same risk, but they could get lost if they were left inside for a long time.

“Forty-five. All here.” Chen Ying quickly finished the headcount and reported to Gao Yang.

Gao Yang was about to respond when he suddenly pressed a hand to his chest and threw up blood.

“Gao Yang!” Vermilion Bird rushed up to support him. “What’s wrong?”

The others turned to him in concern and panic as well.

Gao Yang paled. A lynching pain wreaked havoc across his body, and his energy pathway suffered substantial damage.

Qing Ling had guessed what it was: “The double’s dead?”

Gao Yang nodded and wiped the blood from the corners of his mouth. Although his double was only thirty percent as strong, it would’ve been considered a tier 0.5 fighter according to War Tiger’s ranking, yet the double only lasted a minute.

“Are the death monsters all...that powerful?” Zhang Wei’s composure wavered.

Gao Yang pondered for a few seconds before shaking his head. “I have a feeling that my double’s trying to tell me something.”

The others fell silent, not wanting to disrupt his thinking.

Closing his eyes, Gao Yang sat down on a wooden chest with his hands steepled between his knees, back arched and head lowered. “Chen Ying, Nine Frost, stay on guard. Let me think.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Understood.”

The two immediately used their Talents to keep watch. Qing Ling stood by Gao Yang’s side without a word. Vermilion Bird also went up to lay a hand on Gao Yang’s shoulder, injecting him with soothing energy; while it wouldn’t heal the deep damage done to him, it could lessen his pain and allow him to focus better.

“Thanks,” Gao Yang said softly before retreating to his mind.

Calm down, think.

First, the double’s mission is to keep Mark busy to help us escape, not fight Mark to the death.

The fact that Mark didn’t catch up with us meant that the double fulfilled the mission.

Then there would be even less reason to fight Mark. The double should try to flee, and if impossible, buy time with Absolute Barrier so that he could think of a strategy.

Had the other death monsters joined, and the double realized that he stood no chance of fleeing?

It makes sense that the other death monsters would come as reinforcements. Mark looks like a hotheaded type. He was the first to arrive, and the other death monsters were on their way.

That’s...excluding Envy. It was so quick that it would’ve been the first to arrive if it wanted.

Then Greed must be the death monster coming to support Mark. Greed was the one to find us after all. Let’s put aside the how for now.

Still, even with multiple death monsters, the double wouldn’t have just given up. He would’ve fought until the last second like I would.

It’s possible that the double had killed himself on purpose. Then there must be a reason for that.

Suicide either means choosing death over surrendering, or not wanting oneself to be exploited.

The true double was an independent being. So long as his body wasn’t seriously damaged, he wouldn’t immediately vanish after death, which meant the body could be used.

Can there be someone among the death monsters with a power similar to Puppeteer, allowing them to manipulate a corpse? Or something similar to Equivalent Exchange, allowing them to question a body?

Then the double would’ve committed suicide with Burning Heaven. That would’ve struck a heavy blow on the enemies and ensured the rendering to ashes of the body, giving the enemies no chance to manipulate or question it.

Wait, something’s not right. The double couldn’t have become certain that the death monsters had the power to manipulate or question a body if that was the case. And even if there was the possibility, the double could’ve considered and analyzed the situation in an Absolute Barrier before making a decision.

Yet the double had killed himself almost immediately.

That would mean that the double was certain that someone among the death monsters had the ability at first glance, which means that there are some familiar faces among the death monsters...just like Envy is to me and Mark is to War Tiger.

Vermilion Bird’s with me. And I’ve personally incinerated Qilin’s body.

Wait, there’s someone else!