This was the first sentence Zheng Zha heard when he awoke; he rubbed his temples with a puzzled look. He had expended a great deal of mental energy in Overlord's consciousness space, and upon emerging, he was still somewhat groggy and disoriented. It took him a good while before he could process what Xiao Honglv was saying.

"Huh? What do you mean? I just woke up, haven't brushed my teeth, haven't done any push-ups, and my head still hurts. I don't understand what you're saying..." Zheng Zha replied foolishly.

"I'm saying something is wrong!" Xiao Honglv shouted slightly louder, then ran a hand through his own hair as he continued, "I don't know why, but lately my heart has been growing increasingly anxious, like something is about to happen..." "Uh... your good friend is here?" Zheng Zha suddenly asked after some thought.

Xiao Honglv froze for a moment, then asked dumbly, "Who? Ah, you brat!" But Xiao Honglv was still Xiao Honglv; he quickly recovered from the question, then shouted back, irritated and vexed, "Don't imitate Cheng Xiao! Even if you tried, you wouldn't be as good at it!" Zheng Zha laughed heartily, patting the young boy's head. "Just trying to lighten the mood. You're too tense. Remember, anything can be discussed calmly, but if even you fall into this state of tension, won't the rest of the team become even more anxious?" Hearing this, Xiao Honglv took a deep breath, only then calming down. "In any case, hurry up and clean yourself, then I'll tell you about this bad premonition of mine."

"Oh?" Ten minutes later, the two were seated in the conference room, with a few others pretending to read nearby.

More people patrolled the destroyer.

"I told them to patrol. Although logically, our plan is virtually flawless. But on the battlefield, one cannot casually dismiss a premonition. So I had them set up rotating shifts to patrol the destroyer, to immediately attack any stealth operatives from the East Sea team they might find. Or rather, attack anyone who isn't part of our ship's crew." Xiao Honglv waved his hand, speaking with a tone of helplessness.

"Oh? Then tell me about your premonition." Zheng Zha still looked utterly bewildered.

"This way, mumble-mumble, and then like that. Because of this, therefore... you get it?" Xiao Honglv rattled off a stream of words, then stared intently at Zheng Zha.

"Uh, you noticed the death aura on a few team members was unusually heavy, which made you suspect a flaw in your and Chu Xuan's deduction, leading to your doubt, is that right?" Zheng Zha murmured while eating.

"Exactly, that's it." Xiao Honglv nodded in reply.

"What did Chu Xuan say?" Zheng Zha scratched his head, asking again.

"He said the deduction is correct. But... I don't trust him!" Xiao Honglv asserted firmly.

"Indeed, that fellow is certainly not trustworthy. So, is the deduction wrong?" "...The deduction is not wrong." Seeing Zheng Zha look at him blankly again, Xiao Honglv quickly added, "Don't think I'm joking. Although the deduction is correct, my premonition this time is incredibly strong. There must be a clue we overlooked, and this clue is so vital that it could determine the entire layout of our strategy and our subsequent battles. I must find this clue. Now, tell me in detail everything about the clone's appearance, including every single word he spoke. Remember, do not forget even the slightest detail."

Zheng Zha didn't hesitate. He genuinely trusted Xiao Honglv's intellect and immediately recounted the entire sequence of events leading to the clone's arrival in meticulous detail, even including every word and every expression. It was only thanks to his current superhuman physique that he could recall these details so clearly. In no time, he finished describing his encounter with the clone.

...Damn it, there's no special message left behind. What loophole did I miss?" Xiao Honglv tugged at his hair and roared low.

"Calm down, calm down. Isn't that what you said? When all clues point to negation, the resulting conclusion, no matter how incredible, must be the final truth. So when all inferences point to correctness, I think your and Chu Xuan's deduction must be right," Zheng Zha quickly tried to console him with a smile, after all, Xiao Honglv was still a child, and occasional frustration made him seem more normal.

"No, I must have missed something, I definitely did! Now I'm even more certain of this suspicion, but I can't find the loophole. Even a zero-point-one percent possibility would count! Why can't I find this flaw?" Xiao Honglv grew increasingly agitated, his small face turning completely red.

"Alright, alright, it was just a visit from a clone, nothing major. Even if there's a flaw, we'll find it somewhere else." Zheng Zha patted Xiao Honglv's hair again, then stood up, preparing to leave the conference room.

"Wait, wait! What did you just say?" Xiao Honglv's eyes suddenly lit up, and he quickly grabbed Zheng Zha.

"Uh? I said, even if there's a flaw, we'll find it somewhere else—that sentence?" Zheng Zha replied, momentarily stunned.

"No, the sentence before that... 'It was just a visit from a clone, nothing major.' Yes! That's it! Although the possibility is tiny, tiny, if that's the case, it can explain my premonition and the loophole in our strategy! And it can almost explain the East Sea team's next move too! Heavens, if that's true, our current situation is truly extremely... Chu Xuan, that guy! I don't believe he didn't consider all this! He must be planning to use the enemy's move against them, but we might lose one or two people, maybe more! This situation is incredibly dangerous!" Xiao Honglv became more and more excited as he thought, finally shouting loudly.

"What's going on? Did that bastard Chu Xuan do something detestable again? Is that it?" Zheng Zha was extremely interested by this outburst and quickly asked.

"It's not that he did something bad, but something far more serious..." After a moment of excitement, Xiao Honglv calmed down, pinching his hair and exhaling. "Everything can be explained now. According to this line of reasoning... let me start over from the beginning. According to our previous deduction, the East Sea team should arrive at Diaoyu Island before us. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Uh-huh. Continue, I already knew that."

Xiao Honglv nodded, then continued, "So let me start from there. First, judging by the East Sea team's initial actions, they haven't exceeded our expectations. In other words, they are a very ordinary team. They likely hijacked or hired a fishing boat based on normal human thinking, and their initial location should have been..." As Xiao Honglv spoke, he suddenly looked around, then picked up a piece of paper and a pen from a nearby table, sketching furiously.

When he finished drawing, Zheng Zha saw a circle and some incomprehensible outlines on the paper.

"*These outlines represent the landmasses. And the center of this circle represents Diaoyu Island. Therefore, the East Sea team's location is basically at the edge of the circle, and it's highly likely that our location is in the same area too." Xiao Honglv pointed to the drawing.

Zheng Zha was currently in the process of unlocking the third stage of his Gene Lock. He looked at the drawing and nodded. "Yeah, that can roughly be understood this way. This also explains why the 'Main God' made us enter later, rather than separating our distances... I get it. And then?"

"What happens next is very interesting. If the East Sea team is following our line of thought—that is, the thinking process of a team's strategist—they should be leveraging the 'advantage' given by the 'Main God' to create the most favorable situation, such as hijacking a warship, setting up an ambush, or even contacting and bribing the government, using any means necessary. But based on what we know, the East Sea team hasn't done any of that. To be precise, they acted exactly like an ordinary team, hijacking or hiring a fishing boat they saw, and then rushing desperately towards Diaoyu Island. This is the dumbest method, and also the only one they could think of." Xiao Honglv sighed at this point, drawing two heavy lines on the paper. "In fact, from this point, the East Sea team can be divided into two scenarios: one, their strength is simply limited to this; they only know how to get to Diaoyu Island using the most primitive method, pinning their hopes of victory on luck and the enemy's incompetence. That's the first. Two, they are deliberately playing weak to lure us in, setting up a counter-ambush trap for us ahead of time. In other words, a trap waiting for our counterattack."

"Although that's what I'm saying, the probability of this is extremely, extremely low, maybe only about ten percent. Because we can see this from one point... they haven't caused any major upheaval or attracted any attention in this world. Since we're discussing this, we must confirm it based on their strength. First, we must accept that the East Sea team is weaker than us, and much weaker at that, otherwise, we would have caught up to them days ago... Precisely because they are much weaker than us, they entered this horror movie world earlier than us and are in a position of greater 'advantage.' Therefore, since they are much weaker, it's impossible for them to abandon the power of the entire world to fight us alone."

"Of course, it's not absolutely impossible. This possibility exists only if they are a 'cultivation team.' Because the strength of one or two individuals, combined with special techniques and attributes, might tempt them to risk a sneak attack on us. Although the probability is extremely small, it could validate my premonition and deduction. Because under their ambush, we might suffer casualties, but they definitely wouldn't be among our powerful team members, only non-combatants or newcomers. This basically negates Wang Xia's premonition of death... Xiao Honglv waved his hand here, admitting helplessly, "At this point, my deduction has hit a dead end. First, my premonition isn't explained, and to explain the premonition, I must reverse my deduction. But the current evidence tells me the deduction is correct. Even if I use the deduction to adjust the plan, the general direction won't change—that's something both I and Chu Xuan would do. Without new, more information... we are bound to walk right into the trap set by the East Sea team because our initial direction of deduction was wrong!"

"Wrong? No, this deduction seems very reasonable. If it were me, I might not have even come up with such a deduction," Zheng Zha muttered, constantly thinking while running his hands through his hair. After thinking for a long while, he looked back at Xiao Honglv with surprise.

Xiao Honglv curled his lips, clearly unimpressed by Zheng Zha's comment. But then again, this was a thinking process simulated by the Gene Lock; it was naturally inferior to the original character's. As the team's planner and strategist, every step of the speculation had to be cautious and meticulous. That slight difference could completely change the entire strategy, which is why Zheng Zha never entertained the idea of trying to think in place of the two of them in daily life.

"First, our fundamental assumption was wrong. What if the East Sea team's intellect suddenly jumped to the level of mine and Chu Xuan's at this point? That is to say, there was no strategist among them initially, but once they reached this location, and as we began pursuing them and setting up our surveillance network, their intelligence suddenly increased significantly? If that's the case, then everything can be explained!"

"How could that be... Ah, you mean..." Zheng Zha suddenly snapped back to reality, exclaiming in shock.

"Yes. That's right..." Xiao Honglv nodded.

"You mean the clone met me, then went to meet the East Sea team and told them our movements and plans?"

"...Are you an idiot?" Xiao Honglv stared at Zheng Zha, dumbfounded, then roared while rubbing his temples in frustration. "Is it guaranteed that if a clone appears, it must be the clone's doing? You... forget it, I'll just tell you directly. This entire thing probably wasn't done by the clone or the Demon Reincarnation Squad. At least, the probability is only one or two tenths. What else do you think it could be? Some melodramatic plot twist? A test before challenging them? Stop joking. Even if the Demon Squad had the ability and skills, they basically wouldn't do this. Respect for a powerful opponent is respect for oneself. The Demon Squad has its own pride; they wouldn't allow an opponent, especially one they recognize, to suffer any attrition before the battle. While this idea sounds incredible in this reincarnation world, if the opponent is the strongest Demon Squad, I think it should—no, it absolutely must—be true!"

"The purpose of the Demon Squad's appearance isn't that. Their true purpose is to inform us of one fact... which is that other teams can bypass limitations of time, space, and even the 'Main God' to contact us! That single fact!" Xiao Honglv took a breath here and waved his hand. "I actually started considering this a long time ago, ever since we obtained the heritage of the Yellow Race lineage. As the heritage of ancient Sages and Cultivators, especially the heritage of the most powerful lineage, I don't believe it lacks anything that can counter the 'Main God.' There must be something! And probably quite a lot. Otherwise, if their heritage and the recipients of that heritage were still constrained by the 'Main God,' there would still be a chance of it being stolen by another team. Therefore, they must have made final arrangements for their heritage—that is, something that can restrain the 'Main God.' Then, all other battle scenarios become a matter of natural selection. At least, they believed that future generations should not be subject to non-combat restrictions... So I am absolutely certain that the heritage of the Yellow Race, White Race, and Black Race Sages and Cultivators must all contain similar things: artifacts or techniques that can counter the 'Main God'!"

"In fact, the Eastern Emperor Bell that Chu Xuan has already used should possess this capability, though perhaps not fully, as it lacks the energy to be used completely. So, let's get back on topic. Since our heritage can restrain the 'Main God,' why can't the other two heritages do the same? In other words, besides the Demon Reincarnation Squad, there must be at least one other team capable of traversing—no, perhaps not traversing across, but at least capable of crossing the boundaries of space, time, and worlds to transmit information to another horror movie world!"

Xiao Honglv held up a finger to illustrate. "The Demon Reincarnation Squad has a clone of Chu Xuan; I'm very aware of this fellow's characteristics—he wouldn't do anything inexplicable. As for the clone of you, I'm less certain, but since they are in the same team, there must be a connection... Clone Chu Xuan wouldn't let Clone Zheng Zha do something senseless. In other words, your clone coming to our world must have a reason, but based on the detailed account you gave me, he didn't reveal anything meaningful. That supposed warning or provocation doesn't hold up at all; it was just nonsense. Our positions are already set: they will fight us, the winner is strongest, the loser dies, there is no room for compromise, and even if there were, his few words couldn't achieve it. Therefore, his arrival has another deeper meaning... This deeper meaning lies in the inexplicability of his arrival. I mentioned before: when all falsehoods are stripped away, the remaining possibility, no matter how incredible, is the only answer. Since the clone didn't provide any possibility, the single possibility I'm considering must be the answer..."

"The clone came to tell us a fact: another team has interfered in this battle, and that team wants to use the East Sea team to weaken us! That's all!"