As long as you have the courage, fierce ghosts go on maternity leave.

As the blades sliced through the air, a heart-wrenching scream made Owen, who had just stepped out of the nightclub, shudder to his core.

Alexander’s pace was unhurried, his method of torment wholly unburdened by guilt for the sins Dominic had committed. One slash followed another, and Dominic’s eyes transitioned from frenzied pain to numbness, eventually losing all vitality.

A torrent of Ghost Energy erupted from Dominic, indicating that his mind could no longer bear the agonizing torture and had completely collapsed.

"What a pity! It was only a few thousand slashes," Alexander lamented, sending a collective chill down the spines of the onlookers. Just thinking about enduring such relentless pain over a thousand times sent shivers through their very marrow.

Turning his gaze towards Zoe, Alexander inquired, "Is this enough? If not, we can do it again."

"It’s sufficient. His soul’s obsession has shattered from the pain, just like that couple. There’s no point in repeating the process," Zoe replied, her face tinged with melancholy as she shook her head.

With her words, the whole nightclub seemed to freeze in time. An antique paper lantern slowly ascended. Surrounding natives started to burst, their infinite Ghost Energy swiftly absorbed by the lantern.

A twinge of wistfulness crept into Alexander’s heart as he looked at Zoe. Although they hadn’t spent much time together, he found himself growing fond of this quirky, sprite-like girl, almost like a little sister. An inexplicable sense of reluctance filled him.

The cycle was broken. The next step would be for Zoe’s obsessions to dissipate, accompanied by flashbacks related to this cycle.

However, instead of bowing in thanks like the obsessed souls in previous cycles, Zoe walked towards Alexander. Under his surprised gaze, she rose on her tiptoes and gently kissed him on the corner of his mouth.

"Brother... perhaps we’ll meet again," she whispered.

As she spoke, her figure disintegrated into mist, vanishing into the air.

"Congratulations to the participant for successfully breaking Cycle No. 00011. You’ve been rewarded with a Dimensional Confinement Card and the Mysterious Instance card. You now have control over the ’duplicate’ talent!"

Yet Alexander was still lost in thought about the recent events. It wasn’t the lingering impact of the final kiss that puzzled him, but rather the questions swirling in his mind.

Why hadn’t there been any flashback scenes this time? Why had the cycle disappeared yet Zoe, the object of obsession, still remained?

What did her final words, hinting at a future meeting, mean?

Could it be because this was a Mysterious cycle, or was there something unique about Zoe herself? Even though Alexander didn’t have extensive knowledge of Mysterious cycles, he knew that Zoe’s capabilities defied logic.

Her unlimited duplication power seemed too extreme even for a Mysterious cycle.

These queries would remain unanswered; no one could clarify them for Alexander. He could only keep his doubts hidden deep within his heart and focus on the rewards he had just received.

The lantern vanished, and two ghost crystals floated in mid-air, both of them of Emperor-level quality. While it was not the three he had anticipated, Alexander was still content. After all, the most valuable gain from this adventure had been the ’duplicates.’

Initially, he hadn’t paid much attention to the system’s rewards. He had enough Mist items bought from the airship, and after this Mysterious Instance, he felt 80% confident he could reach the Ghost Emperor level.

What he now lacked was a method for mass-producing Ghost Pills, something he couldn’t expect to get from cycle rewards.

However, much to his surprise, this time, the reward genuinely presented him with something unexpected and delightful.

Talent: Duplicate Control

Introduction: A gift from a deeply loved one.

Attributes: Grants you absolute control over duplicates, allowing you to command them as easily as if they were an extension of yourself. You can also revoke the control of any duplicate over its own body at any time.

This ability seemed tailor-made for Alexander.

It wasn’t just a safeguard against the betrayal of duplicates. More importantly, with the emergence of this talent, strands of connections similar to ghost-slave contracts appeared in his mind.

Through these strands, he could directly control a specific duplicate’s body, making it akin to a separate self.Even millions of miles apart, he could share the duplicate’s senses.

’Wait!’

Suddenly, as Alexander reviewed the description of the talent, his eyebrows furrowed. The gift from a deeply loved one should refer to Zoe. But wasn’t Zoe deeply in love with Thaddeus? How did it end up being him?

There was something even more bizarre.

If Zoe could gift him this ability, it meant she also had it herself. In other words, Zoe could control all duplicates.

During the restaurant attack, she could have just summoned a plethora of duplicates, avoiding the need for her personal involvement.

Moreover, since she could control all duplicates, that naturally included Alexander himself. Zoe didn’t even need him to act. The moment his first duplicate appeared, she could have controlled it to do everything.

’Zoe, just who are you, and what is your purpose?’

After pondering for a while and still coming up with no clues, Alexander ultimately chose to give up. He put away the two Emperor crystals and pulled out a piece of Ghost Emperor-level Ghost Food.

He aimed to attempt a breakthrough to Ghost Emperor-level physical constitution. If he could reach that level, he could directly consume the ghost crystals and instantly attain Ghost Emperor status.

Swallowing a piece of Ghost Emperor-level Ghost Food, terrifying Ghost Energy exploded within his body.

Under Alexander’s control, the surging Ghost Energy didn’t leak out but continually hammered at his flesh and bones.

Frightening fissures instantly appeared on the surface of his skin, and blood flowed out like springs.

On his attribute panel, Alexander’s three-dimensional stats began to soar rapidly.

Seven thousand, eight thousand, nine thousand...

In the blink of an eye, Alexander reached the level of a king, and the rapid increase showed no signs of slowing down.

Gradually, when his physical attributes reached the king-level limit and were about to surpass fifty thousand, his flesh and bone could no longer withstand the terrifying assault of Ghost Energy, beginning to disintegrate.

Muscles, bones, internal organs were no longer tearing; they were disintegrating and dissolving.

Excruciating pain sustained Alexander’s last shred of consciousness, which in his mind issued the command to use a Side Effect Elimination Card.

A card materialized out of nowhere, turning into a grey mist that merged into Alexander’s body.

In an instant, his torn muscles and bones were as good as new. The side effects brought by the Ghost Energy were eliminated, while the remaining Ghost Energy continued to enhance his body. However, after breaking through to fifty thousand, the growth rate began to slow down.

A few minutes later, his attributes reached close to seventy thousand.

More importantly, due to the Side Effect Elimination Card, Alexander’s muscles and bones felt like they were reborn, devoid of the swelling sensation usually associated with rapid Ghost Energy enhancement.

"Exactly as I had anticipated," Alexander said, a smile breaking across his face as he sensed the changes within him.

His body had always been hovering at the limit of Ghost Food enhancement.

The safest approach would actually be to wait for the side effects to completely dissipate, take another dose of Ghost Food for enhancement until the body strength reached the Imperial level, and then attempt to rush to the Ghost Emperor level using the elimination card.

But that would take too much time, so Alexander decided to take a gamble.

He swallowed Emperor-level Ghost Food and used the Side Effect Elimination Card when his body reached its limit.

At that point, the energy from the Emperor-level Ghost Food would certainly not be fully digested. What Alexander was betting on was whether the remaining side effects would also be eliminated.

If they could be, taking another piece of Emperor-level Ghost Food would secure his breakthrough to Emperor-level physical strength.

If not, he would have to wait until he left the Mist Instance and tried again after the side effects had dissipated.

Luckily, Alexander’s gamble paid off this time!

The second piece of Ghost Food, transformed from Dominic’s flesh and blood, contained Ghost Energy far exceeding that of a regular Ghost Emperor.

His muscles and bones experienced tearing pain again, but this time, having completely eliminated the side effects, his body—renewed as if born anew—successfully withstood the force.

His attributes began to soar again.

Eventually, when all three-dimensional attributes broke through to one hundred thousand points, the rapid increase in his attributes finally came to a complete stop.

Filled with excitement, Alexander took out a ghost crystal he had just obtained and swallowed it without hesitation.

The purest form of Ghost Energy surged within his body, rapidly integrating into Alexander’s own Ghost Energy.

Like the sea flowing into rivers yet perfectly merging, it was almost instantly controlled by Alexander.

"Congratulations, participant Alexander, for successfully breaking through and becoming a Ghost Emperor!"