Apocalypse: I'm the Landlady of the Refuge

After calming down a bit, Zhou Kai laid out everything he had observed: "During this time, you asked me to keep an eye on Wang Youde. With 001 monitoring the surveillance inside the manor, and me following him incessantly outside, I can say that all his movements were under my watch. But just now..."

Zhou Kai furrowed his brows in confusion: "You asked me to strike up a conversation with Wang Youde. Fearing he might run off at any hint of trouble, I discreetly manipulated the vines to loosely coil around Wang Youde’s trouser leg. It was this very coil of vine that caused Wang Youde to instantly reveal himself!"

Ji Wanwan urgently asked: "What do you mean?"

Zhou Kai carefully recalled the incident: "The moment I called out to him, I felt Wang Youde froze like a robot, with an obvious glitch—a glitch that might have gone unnoticed by ordinary people, but to a high-level Awakener like me, it was glaringly obvious.

Without a thought, I immediately tightened the vines around Wang Youde’s leg, and the next second, there was another Wang Youde in his place."

Ji Wanwan also knitted her brows in confusion: "What?"

Zhou Kai nodded affirmatively to himself: "Right, another Wang Youde appeared right where the first one had been, as if he had split without division, and this other Wang Youde just appeared out of nowhere.

This other Wang Youde seemed just as surprised to see the original Wang Youde had not disappeared. After a moment of shock, he immediately used something similar to Space Cutting to sever the vine on the original Wang Youde’s foot."

The moment the vine was cut, the original Wang Youde also vanished.

All of this happened in an instant, before I even had the chance to intervene—the original Wang Youde was gone."

Ji Wanwan looked down at the spot Zhou Kai was pointing at.

On the vast expanse of snow, there indeed were several out-of-season vines that had been neatly cut. The broken branches lay scattered on the snow, looking bizarre, yet beautiful.

She murmured to herself: "Space Cutting?"

Her murmur reminded Zhou Kai, and he hurriedly said: "That’s right, this new Wang Youde is very powerful, and the superpower he used is also very strange, completely different from the original Wang Youde’s!"

Ji Wanwan’s ears were already ringing: "What kind of superpower?"

Zhou Kai hesitated: "Space System superpowers, Healing system abilities, as well as his own inherent Fire superpower."

Although she had guessed the answer, Ji Wanwan’s mind still erupted at that moment.

An answer gradually cleared in her mind—

Baize!

Wang Youde is Baize!

Yes, if not for Baize, how could someone disappear and reappear out of thin air, or mutate without a sound?

The only explanation was Space superpower.

So, from the start, she should have trusted her instinct and captured Wang Youde directly...

...

Ji Wanwan did not know how she and Zhou Kai found their way back to the central building.

All she knew was that when she came to, everyone was looking at her with great concern.

She let out a weary breath, calmly addressing everyone: "Baize has reappeared, and a new battle has begun. I ask everyone to be spirited and fight alongside me!"

The people exchanged looks, their eyes igniting with determination.

A warmth flashed through Ji Wanwan’s heart, and the roaring in her ears slowly abated. Her muddled mind also started to clear up.

All the pieces of logic were falling into place, yet there was one thing she could not understand—why there were two identical Wang Youdes.

Perhaps, the truth could only be known on the day Wang Youde is found.

That night, Ji Wanwan, who had discussed all day how to deal with Baize, returned to the manor exhausted.

Just as she had taken a hot bath and lay down, she felt the space around her distort.

Her pupils contracted, and she instantly framed a Space Barrier to protect herself, "Come out!"

The next second, Wang Youde appeared in her room.

Unlike the Wang Youde she saw on usual days, this Wang Youde had a powerful presence and sharp eyes, giving off a very aggressive vibe.

"Baize?" Ji Wanwan recognized at a glance that the man before her was not the Wang Youde she was accustomed to seeing day after day.

Though the two men looked exactly alike, they exuded utterly different auras, making them very easy to distinguish.

The man chuckled softly, his low voice mellow and enchanting, "Ah, you recognized me so easily, how boring..."

Ji Wanwan’s fingertips moved slightly as she withdrew the Space Barrier and eyed Baize warily, "Play? In your eyes, are people’s lives just toys to be played with?"

Baize shrugged indifferently, "Yeah, whether they turn into zombies or not is all the same, living is so hard, it’s not much better than becoming a zombie, right? So, it’s like I’m helping them find relief, what’s wrong with playing a bit?"

Ji Wanwan laughed angrily, "Baize, you really are something!"

The man hummed noncommittally and lazily sat in the lounger in the room, curling up his long legs slightly, his peach blossom eyes curving as if smiling but not quite smiling, "Xiao Wanwan, you really have no conscience."

Ji Wanwan, puzzled, furrowed her brows, "What do you mean by that?"

Baize laughed softly twice, but didn’t answer. Instead, he looked meaningfully at Ji Wanwan’s slightly clenched fist, "Xiao Wanwan, stop thinking about attacking me. We can sit down and have a nice chat."

Ji Wanwan didn’t know the extent of Baize’s powers at the moment, so she naturally dared not act rashly.

Since he said so, she might as well go with the flow to see what he was up to, "Alright, then tell me, where’s the other Wang Youde?"

Baize blinked his beautiful eyes innocently, "Sitting right here."

Ji Wanwan stared tightly at Baize as if she wanted to bore holes into him.

Suddenly, she turned her head away, "If you’re not going to be honest, then what is there to talk about? Why don’t we find a place to have a fight?"

This time, it was Baize’s turn to laugh angrily, "Do you really want to beat me that badly?"

Ji Wanwan forced a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, "Well, it’s okay. If you are the real Wang Youde, then I don’t really want to beat you. But if you’re Baize, then I indeed quite want to beat you."

Baize sighed deeply, "It seems he’s really won your favor. Well, in that case, I’ll let him come out and see you."

Ji Wanwan was stunned, "?"

Just as she was about to ask, she saw a momentary hitch in the movement of Baize on the lounger. Following that, the man’s figure flickered, and in the next second, his previously sharp features took on a dose of naivety, transforming into Wang Youde.

Ji Wanwan: "??"

Her eyes narrowed in disbelief as she looked at the man, "Baize??"

The man on the sofa looked around and then stared at Ji Wanwan with a confused face, "Lord, are you calling me? Wasn’t I sleeping in my room? How did I end up here??"

Ji Wanwan: "???"