One way is when two personalities deeply love each other and merge sweetly into one, much like black coffee mixing with white milk to finally become a Häagen-Dazs ice cream bar retailing for twelve yuan and eighty cents.

The other way, B, is when the two personalities refuse to yield, engaging in a fierce battle until the weaker one is completely devoured by the stronger, perfectly demonstrating Darwin’s theory of evolution.

The so-called exception refers to an unsuccessful fusion, where both sides merely maintain the status quo. This situation is extremely rare, with a probability akin to winning the lottery.

In actual combat scenarios, situation A usually only exists in theory; situation B is almost always the case. A saying makes this perfectly clear: what you cannot obtain on the battlefield, you certainly won't get at the negotiation table. Especially when the matter concerns survival in this quasi-relationship?

Therefore, since Freddy has already struck and severely wounded the Black Phoenix personality, everyone understands the logic: if there is an opportunity, forget negotiating! Naturally, one must strike while the iron is hot!

The Black Phoenix personality was originally incredibly powerful, a terrifying Level Five mutant, a height that even seasoned veterans like Professor X and Magneto had not reached! But that was when she had completely seized control of Jean’s body—her full-power state!

At this moment, the Black Phoenix personality had only just escaped Professor X’s mental prison and was inherently weakened, possessing at most the strength of a Level Four mutant, while Jean’s primary personality was still vying for control of the body...

Well. Even if Jean only had Level Two mutant strength, the mutual struggle between the two amounted to the most typical form of internal attrition, naturally causing the Black Phoenix personality’s strength to drop by another half level.

Furthermore, she had two formidable adversaries—Professor X and Jasper of the Blood Clan—watching intently on the sidelines. How could she not be distracted? Therefore, strictly calculated, the Black Phoenix personality's previous power fluctuated between that of a Level Three mutant and a Level Four mutant, peaking at the strength of a Level Three Enhanced Human.

With this level of power, coupled with her complete ignorance of the attack methods and capabilities of a monster as powerful as Freddy, being critically wounded by a single strike was entirely predictable!

However, the Black Phoenix’s instantaneous counterattack was equally ferocious, severely wounding Freddy in an instant.

Fang Senyan could clearly see that the brutal malevolence emanating from Old Charlie’s body had dissipated by more than half. The projection behind him, which had previously been Freddy’s bizarre, distorted image, had reverted to Old Charlie himself.

But for an immortal fiend like Freddy, unless something like a Holy Light Cross could send him back to hell, any other method of attack would merely wound him severely—and the Black Phoenix was obviously not associated with holy righteousness. This meant Freddy’s recovery was only a matter of time.

In an instant, the offensive against the Black Phoenix fully commenced!

Professor X, Jasper, and Jean’s primary personality simultaneously entered Jean’s spiritual world, creating an absolutely overwhelming advantage. Fang Senyan had no way of knowing the specifics of what followed, but in the end, Professor X appeared composed, while Jasper, who should have been merely an observer, was drenched in sweat and pale. He was likely utilized by the old fox.

Yet, judging by Jasper’s ecstatic expression, Professor X’s guidance must have benefited him immensely, leading to a great leap forward in his application of mental power. This likely indicated a pre-arranged agreement between the two parties—one willing to strike, the other willing to endure.

The final result was not 100% perfect. The core fragment of the Black Phoenix’s sub-personality sank deep into Jean’s sea of consciousness. To completely eradicate it would only result in severe brain trauma for Jean, leaving her essentially vegetative for the rest of her life, requiring total care, similar to the symptoms of a severe stroke.

Thus, Jean likely only managed to absorb the majority of the shattered Black Phoenix fragments. Her control over the body shifted from the previous 2:8 ratio (after the Professor opened the mental prison) to the current 9.9:0.1. Therefore, as long as the vegetative state scenario was avoided, the Black Phoenix would find it almost impossible to stage a comeback.

Jean’s strength also saw a significant boost, just reaching the standard of a Level Four mutant. Apart from Professor X, Magneto, Dracula, and Doctor Octopus, she was implicitly the foremost figure among the new generation of legends.

Fang Senyan checked the time; there were only two or three hours left before the other Contractors "descended." From a time perspective, there was still enough time to do something, such as using Jean to proceed to the radio station to cultivate another batch of "believers" for the demon Freddy.

However, Old Charlie informed Fang Senyan that it was no longer necessary.

That recording from Dr. X had already pushed Freddy’s fear willpower to saturation, allowing him to successfully advance!

For Freddy at this point, simply accumulating fear from ordinary people—even ten million or a hundred million—was useless for power enhancement. He now needed to hunt high-quality, powerful souls to achieve the qualitative leap from quantitative change.

Fang Senyan had previously worried that the impending apocalypse and population decline would cause Freddy’s power to wane, but now that the creature had broken through this bottleneck, it was no longer a concern.

At this moment, Fang Senyan gazed up at the sky—utterly dark, starless and moonless. Yet, people living on Earth were constantly subject to the invisible influences of Earth's gravity and the Sun's gravity, while the Sun and Earth were, in turn, manipulated by forces emanating from the core of the Milky Way.

In the unseen realm, how awe-inspiring was that power?

In the unseen realm, how desirable was that power?

In a single thought, Fang Senyan recalled the hidden mastermind who had been pressing him step by step.

Fang Senyan still did not fully grasp the adversary’s motivation. If this was retaliation from the Stockholm Team, then this retaliation seemed excessively costly in terms of resources, did it not?

This was something Fang Senyan couldn't fathom. However, he had roughly understood the operational mechanism of the mastermind’s power.

This power could tentatively be termed "Fate." Its strength lay in its abruptness, subtlety, and the stealth with which it operated—often making the victim, even after being ambushed, unaware of the source, requiring tracing back many steps from the primary attack vector to find the anomaly that caused the effect.

It was like asking how much force is needed to press the launch button of a nuclear missile? But the resulting destruction was terrifyingly immense.

However, Fang Senyan also discerned a weakness in this power: it could manifest at any time, in any place, under any condition. But the power itself should not be inherently immense; otherwise, why bother with such intricate schemes? Why not just drop a nuclear bomb or conjure an iron nail directly inside his heart?

Secondly, based on Fang Senyan’s deduction, the more times this power "refracted," the stronger the attack would be, making it harder to defend against and dodge!

"Refraction" was a term Fang Senyan coined himself. For instance, if this power directly manifested an iron nail inside Fang Senyan’s body, that counted as one refraction. If the power triggered a gun that was aimed at Fang Senyan, with an intervening medium, that counted as two refractions.

Previously, when Fang Senyan was attacked during the mudslide, the power acted upon a stone. The stone's bizarre angle caused sewage to spray into the Ford Raptor’s drainpipe, leading to a stall. Once stalled, a massive boulder rolling down the torrent became the primary fatal blow.

Counting it up: the power refracted from the stone to the sewage, the sewage refracted to the Ford Raptor, and the Ford Raptor refracted to the boulder—that was four refractions.

Clearly, this method of attack highly tested the strategist's ability to plan.

It demanded the ultimate utilization of timing, geographical advantage, and every aspect of the natural environment! Fang Senyan had once eliminated someone named Fate on a Bloody Invitation battlefield. That person looked remarkably similar to a middle-aged Steve Jobs and possessed an aura of debilitating bad luck. Fate’s ability was somewhat similar to the mastermind’s current power.

But compared to the mastermind Fang Senyan now faced, Fate’s formidable ability was like a drop in the ocean.

To draw an analogy, Fate was like the Bixie Sword Manual practiced only to the fifth level, possessing clear clues and flaws that Fang Senyan exploited to defeat him. The mastermind, however, was practicing the Sunflower Manual to the seventh or eighth level—flawless!

What is meant to happen will happen, just as a virgin will eventually become an older sister-in-law. Therefore, as the other Contractors began to "arrive" in the world, the Ace Team remained exceptionally calm, or perhaps, in a state of high alert.

The newly arrived Contractors were not clustered together but scattered across the globe. Their numbers also exceeded Fang Senyan's initial expectation, and their goals were varied... China,

Sichuan,

Chengdu.

Three individuals carrying large backpacks resembling those of backpackers gathered together. They appeared to be casually resting in a teahouse by the river, but their conversation was shocking:

"I hope our intelligence isn't wrong. The 2012 Doomsday World has reopened. After all, a world on the brink of destruction often presents enormous opportunities."

"Indeed, the revival of our team hinges on this!"

"If that person is correct, although the world only successfully manufactured four Arks, how could a powerful nation like China tolerate such a situation? According to his intelligence, China actually replicated thousands of Arks. Although these Arks only achieved 75% of the template’s effect and performance and were stripped of their high-temperature resistance, the cunning Chinese gambled correctly!" (To be continued) RQ