Chapter 563: Ch 563 : Discussing intelligence

Looking at the now-awake Aether, Su Yuan didn’t really know how he had previously coordinated with him, but Aether himself should have known...

Su Yuan had originally planned to try coordinating with Aether to see if he could somehow trigger a "death rewind" to go back in time and save Bennett, who had been corrupted by the eerie force...

However, after thinking it over briefly, Su Yuan abandoned that idea...

Because judging from the current situation, the condition for Bennett to fall into the eerie state seemed completely unsolvable.

Su Yuan simply couldn’t think of a way to reverse Bennett’s eerie state...

"Traveler, it’s great—you’re finally awake..."

Seeing Aether awake, Paimon’s voice cracked with emotion, and she felt a great weight lift from her heart...

After some time to calm down, Aether also realized that now, Lumine wasn’t actually by his side, which helped him regain some composure...

Aether held his head, looked at Bennett lying lifeless in a pool of blood, then at Su Yuan and Paimon, his face filled with sadness and confusion as he asked:

"Su Yuan, Paimon, where exactly are we now? What just happened?"

"Ah..." Su Yuan let out a long sigh, somewhat helpless, and slowly began to explain: "Paimon just woke up too and doesn’t know what happened, so let me explain..."

Then, Su Yuan recounted Aji and Dottore’s conniving schemes, as well as how they lured them all into the Spiral Abyss...

Of course, he also explained how they had accidentally entered the 13th floor of the Spiral Abyss and encountered Bennett, as well as the strange insect...

"What??? Su Yuan, you actually have a living, strange insect inside your stomach???"

Paimon asked in horror:

"Su Yuan, are you okay? Could this insect be some sort of parasite, controlling your thoughts and actions?"

"And if this insect digested all the food you ate, would you end up malnourished and starve to death?"

Although Su Yuan wanted to scoff at Paimon’s peculiar focus, he still answered:

"Although I don’t know what will happen, I haven’t felt anything unusual so far, so it should be fine..."

"And before, when facing Eerie Furina at night, I had also eaten a few strange insects. Though those insects were different from the one today, there’s a certain similarity..."

"The insects created by Eerie Furina were made of eerie energy. Eating them didn’t harm me; on the contrary, it strengthened my physical condition and improved my abilities..."

"So, this is the Spiral Abyss, and these strange insects here should be made of Abyss energy, right?"

"If the eerie energy couldn’t harm me, then Abyss energy shouldn’t either..."

"So, little Paimon, you don’t need to worry about me anymore!"

"Alright..." Paimon nodded, saying, "Since you say so, Su Yuan, I guess I can let go of my worries..."

After quickly arranging Bennett’s body, Su Yuan turned to Aether and Paimon and asked:

"So, Aether and Paimon, when you faced the 12th floor challenge, did you also encounter clones of yourselves?"

"Yeah, fighting myself was quite a unique experience..." Aether recalled the previous events and couldn’t help but remark, "I had to exert a lot of effort just to barely defeat myself!"

"Hm?" Hearing this, Su Yuan sensed something was off and asked further, "Aether, was the clone you fought just a simple clone, without being corrupted by the eerie energy?"

"Yes, it was just a plain clone of me. Any move I could do, it could do. Any move I couldn’t do, it couldn’t either..." Aether responded, showing a slightly puzzled expression, "Wasn’t it the same for you two?"

"Of course not!!!" Paimon exclaimed in surprise, "When I faced the 12th floor, I actually encountered two clones of myself!!!"

"What? Paimon, you encountered two clones of yourself?" Aether asked incredulously.

"Then how did you manage to defeat both of them?"

"That’s actually quite incredible... I’ve been so tense just now, I didn’t even have a chance to tell you..."

Paimon took a deep breath and said:

"You probably wouldn’t believe it, but my two clones actually ended up fighting each other!!!"

"One of the clones killed the other, and then immediately committed suicide, and somehow I cleared the stage without even trying!"

"Wow, Paimon, you were really lucky, huh?" Aether couldn’t help but exclaim.

"I had to struggle through a tough fight just to barely make it, and you... just won without lifting a finger?"

Aether then looked at Su Yuan and asked, "Su Yuan, with your special constitution and strength, I’m sure you also had a hard time clearing the 12th floor, right?"

"Not just a hard time..."

Su Yuan didn’t really know what to say at this moment, surprised that Paimon had faced multiple clones on the 12th floor—and that internal conflict had even occurred...

"But the most critical part is that I faced three clones of myself, and just like Paimon, they ended up fighting among themselves..."

Su Yuan then recounted everything that happened to him on the 12th floor to Aether and Paimon.

Both of them listened in stunned silence...

Aether glanced at Paimon, then at Su Yuan, and asked in puzzlement:

"Why is it that both you, Paimon, and you, Su Yuan, faced multiple clones of yourselves?"

"And why did your clones turn against each other during the fight, almost like they were deliberately helping you?"

"Why... why would this happen?"

"And there’s something else strange—why is it that each of your clones only needed to be defeated once?"

Su Yuan shook his head, equally confused:

"But the first time I defeated my clones, they all showed signs of being controlled by eerie force..."

Su Yuan, Aether, and Paimon discussed for a long time but couldn’t reach a clear answer...

"Maybe it’s just because you, Su Yuan, have a special constitution..." Paimon could only offer this conclusion.