Floor 6 Waiting Room.
The portal hummed, taking away Su Mei, her team, and Zhang Wei.
The silence that followed wasn't peaceful; it was heavy. It was the silence of a business deal where one side had sold their conscience.
Fatty Wu sat on the floor, hugging his wok, staring at the empty space. "He's really gone."
"He was an asset," Lin Fan said, his voice flat. "We traded a perishable asset for a permanent upgrade. It's simple math."
Lin Fan sat down, placing the purple Bat Core Crystal on the floor. He tried to focus, but the silence gnawed at him. He realized, with annoying clarity, that Zhang Wei had been the one filling the silence before—with wood chopping, with breathing, with quiet moral support.
"Focus," Lin Fan hissed at himself.
He placed his hand on the Crystal.
[Seal 3: The Soul Forge.] [Catalyst Detected. Begin Assimilation?]
"Absorb."
The crystal didn't shatter. It liquefied. A violet sludge crept up Lin Fan's arm, burning like acid. It didn't stop at his skin; it bored into his meridians, hunting for his Dantian.
"Argh!" Lin Fan arched his back, gasping.
Inside his Mind Palace, the System roared.
The Desert Eagle (Spirit Artifact) was pulled into the violet vortex. The metal dissolved. The springs melted. The gunpowder essence vaporized.
It wasn't being destroyed; it was being digested.
CLANG.
A massive, spectral sound echoed in Lin Fan's soul. An anvil had been struck.
When Lin Fan opened his eyes, the gun was gone from his hand. But the weight... the weight was inside him. He felt a cold, hard lump of killing intent residing next to his cultivation core.
He raised his hand. He didn't summon the gun. He willed it.
Snap.
The air twisted. The Desert Eagle manifested in his grip, but it looked different. The metal seemed to breathe. The barrel had a faint, violet vein pulsing along the side.
[Natal Weapon Formed.] [Status: The weapon is now an extension of your Soul. It grows as you grow. It bleeds when you bleed.]
"No more external dependency," Lin Fan whispered. He dismissed the gun, and it dissolved into a wisp of smoke that retracted into his chest.
He stood up. He felt stronger, colder, and infinitely more alone.
"Get up, Fatty," Lin Fan kicked the merchant's boot lightly. "Time to go."
Floor 7: The Mirror of Betrayal.
They stepped into the portal and landed in a world of vertigo.
There was no horizon. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all mirrors. They reflected each other endlessly, creating a chaotic tunnel of infinite Lin Fans and infinite Fatty Wus.
[Trial: The Mirror of Betrayal.] [Objective: Find the True Exit.] [Warning: Perfection is the Enemy of Truth.]
"Don't look at them," Lin Fan ordered, narrowing his eyes.
Reflections surrounded them. But these reflections... lingered. When Lin Fan turned his head, his reflections delayed for a fraction of a second before following.
"They are watching us," Lin Fan muttered. "Keep moving."
They walked for an hour through the glass maze. The path twisted, but the scenery never changed. It was a prison of narcissism.
They reached a crossroads.
"Captain," Fatty Wu stopped. "I think we've been here before. That scratch on the floor..."
Lin Fan looked down. "There is no scratch."
"Yes there is! Look!" Fatty Wu pointed.
Lin Fan knelt. There was indeed a scratch on the glass.
"Wait," Lin Fan's Blueprint Eye (Seal 2) activated. He scanned the scratch.
[Analysis: Scratch Depth 0.00mm.] [Conclusion: Visual Illusion.]
"It's a trap," Lin Fan stood up.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the corridor ahead.
A figure emerged.
It was Fatty Wu.
Lin Fan spun around. The Fatty Wu he had been walking with (Fatty A) was standing right there. The new Fatty Wu (Fatty B) walked out of the mirror maze, looking relieved.
"Captain!" Fatty B shouted. "Thank god! I got separated at the last turn!"
"Liar!" Fatty A screamed. "I've been with the Captain the whole time!"
"No, you walked into the mirror!" Fatty B retorted.
Lin Fan stepped back, his hand hovering near his chest.
He looked at them.
Fatty A: Sweating. Trembling. Holding his wok tightly. Fatty B: Sweating. Trembling. Holding his wok tightly.
They were identical. Down to the pore. Down to the fear.
"System," Lin Fan commanded. "Scan."
[Target A: Fatty Wu. Match 100%.] [Target B: Fatty Wu. Match 100%.]
"Impossible," Lin Fan cursed. "The mirror copies the biology perfectly."
The two Fatty Wus looked at each other with pure terror.
"Captain," Fatty A whimpered. "Ask us a question! Something only I would know!"
"Okay," Lin Fan nodded. "What did we trade to Su Mei?"
"The Woodcutter!" Both shouted in unison.
"Useless," Lin Fan spat. The Mirror Spirit shared memories up to the moment of separation.
He drew his Natal Desert Eagle. The killing intent in the corridor spiked.
"Captain?" Fatty B raised his hands. "You're not going to shoot us, are you?"
"I have to," Lin Fan said coldly. "One of you is a monster."
"Wait!" Fatty B stepped forward. His face changed. The fear vanished, replaced by a strange, calm intelligence. "Captain, think about it. If you shoot, you risk killing your only teammate. You need a Tank for the next floor. Shooting is a gamble with 50% odds. That's bad math."
Lin Fan paused.
Fatty B continued, his voice steady. "Use your Blueprint Eye. Look at the Woks. The Mirror can copy the shape, but can it copy the Spirit of a Defensive Artifact? My Wok has saved my life three times. It has a bond with me."
Lin Fan blinked. That... was actually smart.
He looked at Fatty A. Fatty A was just crying and eating a dried bun out of stress.
"He makes sense," Lin Fan thought. "Fatty B is analyzing the situation. Fatty A is useless."
Lin Fan lowered the gun. He looked at Fatty B. "You're right. That's good logic."
Fatty B smiled. "Thank you, Captain. Now, let's move. I think the exit is this way."
Lin Fan took a step toward Fatty B.
Then, he stopped.
"You're right," Lin Fan repeated. "That was very good logic."
"Yes?" Fatty B nodded.
"Too good," Lin Fan whispered.
He raised the gun and aimed directly at Fatty B's head.
"What?" Fatty B froze. "Captain, I just helped you!"
"Exactly," Lin Fan sneered. "I know Fatty Wu. He's a coward. He's an idiot. He's a rolling ball of panic. He would never make a rational argument in the face of a gun."
Lin Fan gestured to Fatty A, who was currently choking on his bun from fear.
"That pathetic mess?" Lin Fan pointed. "That's my teammate."
"You're making a mistake!" Fatty B's eyes narrowed. "I am the improved version! I am what he should be!"
"I don't want an improved version," Lin Fan's finger tightened on the trigger. "I want the real trash."
BANG.
The Sonic Bore bullet erupted from the barrel.
Fatty B didn't bleed. He shattered.
His face cracked like porcelain. His body splintered into thousands of razor-sharp shards.
SCREEEE!
The shards didn't fall. They screamed. The Mirror Spirit, revealed, swirled into a tornado of glass.
"YOU REJECT PERFECTION!" The Spirit roared, a thousand voices overlapping.
"I reject fakes," Lin Fan roared back. "Fatty! Block!"
Fatty A, seeing the glass tornado coming, did the only thing he knew how to do. He squealed and hid under his Wok.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
The glass storm hammered against the black iron wok. Sparks flew.
Lin Fan stood his ground, the wind tearing at his cloak. He didn't fire wildly. He waited.
[Seal 2: Blueprint Active.] [Target: Mirror Storm.] [Core Located.]
Inside the swirling vortex of glass, a single shard pulsed with a different light. The Heart.
"Gotcha."
Lin Fan channeled his Qi. The violet vein on his gun glowed bright.
"Natal Art: Piercing Shot."
BANG.
One bullet. Perfect trajectory.
It flew through the chaotic storm, missing every decoy shard, and struck the pulsing core.
SHATTER.
The tornado instantly lost cohesion. It exploded outward, turning into harmless glitter that rained down on the glass floor.
Silence returned.
Lin Fan holstered his gun (absorbed it). He walked over to the overturned wok.
"You can come out now."
Fatty Wu lifted the lid, his face covered in crumbs and tears. "Is... is the smart one dead?"
"Yes," Lin Fan said, offering a hand to pull him up.
"He was better than me, wasn't he?" Fatty Wu sniffed, standing up. "He was brave."
"He was fake," Lin Fan said, turning away. "Brave people die early in this world. Cowards survive. I prefer a survivor."
Fatty Wu looked at Lin Fan. For the first time, he didn't see just a villain. He saw a man who accepted his uselessness as a feature, not a bug.
"Let's go," Lin Fan said. "The exit is ahead."
The Exit.
They reached the portal.
Standing there was Team C. Su Mei and Zhang Wei.
They looked clean. Efficient.
"Took you long enough," Su Mei checked her nails. "We heard gunshots. Trouble with the reflection?"
"Just cleaning up," Lin Fan said, his face impassive.
Zhang Wei looked at Fatty Wu. He saw the crumbs, the tears, and the relief.
"You chose the right one," Zhang Wei said softly to Lin Fan.
"I chose the one with the right stats," Lin Fan corrected, lying through his teeth.
"Floor 8 is next," Su Mei pushed off the wall. She pointed to the portal. It wasn't grey like the others. It was gold, and the sound of slot machines and jazz music drifted through.
"The Casino of Fate," Su Mei grinned. "Where strength means nothing."
She looked at Lin Fan's hand, where the Ring of the False King rested.
"You have the worst luck in the world, Lin Fan. This floor is designed to kill you."
She stepped through. Zhang Wei followed, giving Lin Fan one last unreadable look.
Lin Fan stood before the golden portal. He felt the Cursed Ring tighten on his finger.
[Luck: -50.]
He looked at Fatty Wu.
[Luck: +50.]
"Fatty," Lin Fan said, patting the merchant on the shoulder.
"Y-Yes, Captain?"
"I hope you're feeling lucky," Lin Fan whispered. "Because I'm going to bet your life on a dice roll."
They stepped into the gold.
[Floor 8: The Golden Gamble.]