Chapter 26: Golden Pear - Resident Attack Patterns

At the moment she clearly heard the first words behind her, Jin Xueli felt a flicker of relief amid her terror—

"I knew you were revived,"

Her own voice, like a thick, heavy fog, floated faintly from above and behind her mind. "You're so easy to fool, unlike me."

Good. As Jin Xueli spun on the spot, twisting her knee and turning her body, she thought to herself, luckily its first words were nonsense.

Even if it had known early on, so what? No matter what, the two of them would inevitably reach the point of life-or-death confrontation.

She had long prepared herself mentally, yet when the "Jin Xueli" suddenly appeared brightly in her sight, she couldn’t help but catch her breath, as if pushed by an unseen force.

Compared with the "Jin Xueli" in her memory, the resident before her now seemed even more vivid and real: a forehead glistening faintly with sweat under the firelight, a strand of golden-brown short hair stuck to her temple; the fine down on her cheeks, the warm breath escaping from her lips...

Those eyes shone as if nothing else remained within.

This was Jin Xueli. This was herself—yet she stood outside herself, raising her arm high and striking down a shadow toward her.

At the last moment, Jin Xueli leapt quickly to the side; a thunderous crash exploded by her ear as the exhibit was bitten deeply, leaving a big dent. Wood chips flew as she squinted and rolled away on the spot, her face and hands pierced by splinters she could no longer count.

"Die sooner! There can only be one Jin Xueli in this world!"

A strange voice, yet her own, echoed wave after wave through the exhibition hall; the "Jin Xueli" gripped a fire axe pulled from deep within the wooden structure with all her might.

When did she...?

Before she could even finish the thought, Jin Xueli sprang up and ran—but in her haste, she forgot she had kicked off one shoe earlier, so both feet were clad only in socks, slipping helplessly on the smooth exhibition floor.

Just as she was about to fall flat, she dove forward in a diving motion—since reopening her eyes, she seemed to spend more time sprawling and rolling on the floor than standing.

The fire axe slammed heavily into the floor tile beside her, just a step away.

Jin Xueli had never taken off a sock so quickly in her life.

Seizing the moment before the axe could be lifted again, she yanked off her sock and threw it toward the other face of herself, aiming for the eyes; like any normal person, the resident instinctively turned their head away from the sock, unwilling to touch their eyeballs.

Jin Xueli wanted to keep up the offense, but to take off the other sock and throw it, she no longer had the chance—the resident had already closed the gap and raised the axe high.

Almost instinctively, she kicked the resident’s ankle.

After the resident copied Jin Xueli’s form, it was just an ordinary human body; struck hard in the leg bone, it staggered backward in pain. Jin Xueli seized the opportunity, flipped herself up, and ran forward with one steady foot and one sliding.

Yet as she ran, she couldn’t help but think about the ankle she had just kicked.

She had never considered this before: what kind of shoes was the resident wearing?

She knew the resident couldn’t replicate backpacks, phones, or similar items during copying. But what about clothes? Shoes?

From that critical glance in life-or-death moments...

"Wait!"

Jin Xueli knew she couldn’t outrun the resident with one bare foot; moreover, the more chances she gave the resident to speak, the more dangerous she became. She hurriedly called back, "What are you wearing?"

The other "Jin Xueli," gritting her teeth and chasing closely, paused briefly at the words but was not distracted. Instead, she swung the axe down first. After Jin Xueli narrowly dodged, the resident gasped and smiled, "Are you trying to waste time with nonsense?"

"The resident can’t replicate backpacks or clothes!"

Fearing the resident would catch up, Jin Xueli shouted, "You copied my appearance, but your shoes are still your own. Before I came to the nest today, I wore certain clothes and shoes. That memory must be in your mind, too. Look down and think: do the clothes in your memory match the ones you’re wearing?"

The "Jin Xueli" froze for a moment and actually looked down at the clothes.

Even a nest resident couldn’t be naked; most wore at least something.

This one, perhaps because she was a "vulture" who had to be ready to assume any identity at a moment’s notice, wore plain, highly compatible black pants and black shoes—no wonder Jin Xueli had never noticed her outfit; when a familiar face appears at night, it’s hard to focus on what shoes they wear.

"Exactly," she said clearly when looking up again. "When entering the nest at night, I always wear black clothes and black shoes to avoid attention. If you want to use this to trick me, that’s ridiculous."

She held the fire axe in one hand and lightly tapped the toe of her shoe.

"I can even tell you these shoes were bought at a Bloomingdale’s sale. I thought, since they’re for the nest, good quality is enough; no need to pay full price for style."

This time, Jin Xueli was stunned. That line of thought was indeed her own; she could even recall several clothes bought for the same reason.

"And you?" The resident smiled at her, a strand of hair stuck to her lips, framing her teeth. "If you really had my memory, you’d find your clothes don’t match either."

Jin Xueli involuntarily lowered her gaze to the khaki sweatpants she wore.

She remembered putting on those pants before jumping out the window... but where did those pants come from?

Most people remember where they bought their clothes, but these sweatpants felt as if someone had just slipped them onto her moments ago—strangely unfamiliar, leaving her bewildered.

Why did she have no memory of buying these pants?

"The resident seems to improve and smooth over memories after copying the original, fixing inconsistencies and covering flaws... That’s why you so firmly believe you are me."

While she stared at the pants in daze, the other "Jin Xueli" slowly approached; her voice, breath, sweat, and black-shoed foot were gradually encroaching on her existence.

"The resident can’t be killed, I’ve heard,"

she whispered. "But I’ll disable your mobility first, only then can I be at ease... I suppose copying a human form has a time limit? When it expires, if you haven’t returned to Blackmoor City to replace me, you’ll revert to the resident form, right?"

Wait—what was she saying?

It was as if a tiny light pierced deep inside her mind, but it flashed only briefly before being covered by heavier, more urgent shadows.

She neither heard nor saw it—like some intuition beyond the five senses—when the fire axe swung down at her forehead, she suddenly crouched low and lunged forward, grabbing the resident and crashing her off the ground.

The resident tightened her arm muscles to strike hard on Jin Xueli’s ear and head; but the deadly fire axe finally grazed Jin Xueli’s shoulder and slipped away, crashing onto the tiles nearby.

They tumbled to the ground together; the resident’s back of the head struck the floor with a sound that made one’s insides tighten.

"You copied my form," she gasped heavily, "so you also—"

Before she could finish, Jin Xueli pulled the towel she had stuffed into her waistband earlier and forced it into the resident’s mouth.

The resident shook her head left and right, trying to avoid it; though the towel didn’t go in smoothly, it stopped her from speaking.

Jin Xueli didn’t loosen her grip, gritting her teeth as the resident punched her repeatedly; she tightened her hands on the long towel and, seizing a moment when the resident’s lips parted, pressed it deep into her mouth—the towel stretched across the other’s cheek like a rope, pushing her tongue deep into her mouth, leaving her only muffled sounds and no clear words.

"I... I think I understand..." Jin Xueli whispered, looking at the distorted face beneath the towel. "I think I’ve figured out your attack pattern. You really are the resident."