Chapter Sixty-Seven: Zhong Shenxiu's Peculiar Chaotic Magic

Unable to create a doll identical to me anymore?
So, that means she can no longer use that substitute ability?
After hearing Wanda’s words, Zhong Shenxiu instantly translated them in his mind, but he felt puzzled. Logically, after truly awakening her powers, Wanda should have grown stronger. How could she even be weaker than before her awakening?
Wanda’s previous ability to conjure a substitute out of nothing using chaos magic wasn’t the normal application of chaos magic—influencing the mind to thereby alter reality.
Instead, she bypassed the mind and directly changed reality itself. That was why Zhong Shenxiu’s first reaction was that Wanda’s power was much like the Reality Stone.
But now she was telling him that, upon waking, she had lost the Reality Stone’s ability?
This was somewhat unnerving—
“What’s going on? Tell me in detail,” Zhong Shenxiu said after a moment’s thought. He decided it was best to hear her out before drawing any conclusions.
At his words, Wanda raised a slender finger to her pale chin. Her large, beautiful eyes shifted thoughtfully, and after a while, she replied, “Well… I just suddenly couldn’t use it anymore.”
“When exactly did this happen?” Zhong Shenxiu decided to guide her memory.
“Hmm… It seemed to start when Jubi ran out of my body with a ‘thud thud thud.’ But at that time, I could still control the doll that looked like you, Lv Su, but I couldn’t create a new one.”
“So I asked Jubi. It said it couldn’t do it.”
With these words, Zhong Shenxiu fell into contemplation.
So, at the very moment Wanda truly awakened her mutant magical powers, she lost the ability that was somewhat like a crude version of the Reality Stone.
Why was that? It shouldn’t be this way—there’s no reason why she’d be weaker after her awakening!
Logically, she should have grown much stronger, able to easily outclass her former self.
Wait!
The thinker pondered.
Zhong Shenxiu suddenly realized a crucial detail!
Before her awakening, the chaos magic Wanda used was, in fact, the chaos magic that Zhong Shenxiu had, through a special cell, transformed into a form controllable by Hyde’s hairband.
After awakening, the chaos magic Wanda used was her own Scarlet Chaos Magic.
That was the only difference, and it was likely the reason behind this strange phenomenon.

Let’s test it, Zhong Shenxiu thought. He walked again toward the glass cell and beckoned to Wanda. “Come, follow me. I think I can figure out why.”
“Alright!” Wanda agreed cheerfully, floating gracefully like a drifting veil, obediently trailing behind Zhong Shenxiu.
He entered the cell, controlled the surge of chaos magic out of his body, and let the glass cell rapidly absorb it. After about six or seven hundred units of chaos magic had been swallowed, he stepped out, picked up the half-filled container of red, liquid chaos magic, and handed it to Wanda.
He asked, “Can you control the chaos… the Jubi inside this?”
“I’ll try,” Wanda replied softly. Her pale gray eyes grew serious, and her delicate face tensed as if she faced a particularly difficult task.
Pfft—Zhong Shenxiu couldn’t help but laugh. Though Wanda now looked like a grown, beautiful young woman, her childlike expressions that surfaced from time to time betrayed her immaturity.
She was much like Peter… sometimes even more childish than Peter…
After a while, Wanda pouted in disappointment and said regretfully, “No, Lv Su, these Jubis don’t listen to me…”
Oh?
Hearing this, Zhong Shenxiu’s eyes brightened. He was beginning to understand the real reason behind it all.
But he couldn’t be hasty. He needed one more test to be certain.
“Try putting on the previous hairband and see if it works,” Zhong Shenxiu suggested.
“No, I don’t want to!” As soon as she heard this, Wanda shook her head like a rattle drum and protested, “It’s too ugly! I don’t want to wear it!”
Seeing her behave this way,
Zhong Shenxiu simply smiled, reached out, and gently stroked Wanda’s dark red hair. She didn’t dodge, letting him do as he pleased.
Then, coaxing her as one might a child, he said, “Be good, Wanda. Just wear it for a little while. I have a theory I want to test.”
Wanda hesitated, then raised her lovely neck with a hint of pride and said,
“Alright… I’ll wear it for a bit, but only because it’s you, Lv Su~”
“Alright, alright.” Zhong Shenxiu withdrew his hand, smiling.
Soon, Wanda floated off to her room, fetched the hairband, and obediently put it on ahead of time.
When she returned, wearing the hairband, Zhong Shenxiu held up the container of chaos magic and said, “Try again. See if you can control the Jubi in here.”
“Okay.” This time, Wanda’s face had lost its earlier seriousness, but the chaos magic in the container, which had been calm as a still lake, now leapt joyfully toward Wanda, dancing in the air as if expressing its happiness.
Seizing the moment, Zhong Shenxiu said, “Wanda, now try making a doll that looks exactly like me.”
“Alright.” Wanda nodded gently.

With a flick of her small hand, the chaos magic that had been bouncing beside her immediately gathered like a well-drilled army, shooting toward the ground in unison.
It began to coalesce.
In moments, it shaped itself into a humanoid form as tall as Zhong Shenxiu, the details gradually refining, becoming more and more lifelike.
Soon, a substitute identical to Zhong Shenxiu stood at his side.
Witnessing this, Zhong Shenxiu finally understood.
It wasn’t that Wanda lost the Reality Stone’s power after awakening; she never possessed it to begin with. The reason she could summon substitutes in reality was because she was using Zhong Shenxiu’s chaos magic!
In other words, the one who truly possessed the Reality Stone’s power… was him?
Faced with this conclusion, Zhong Shenxiu could scarcely believe it.
After all, his chaos magic seemed to have no particular flair—unlike Wanda’s, which could control minds, soar through the sky, or manipulate things at a distance.
His chaos magic could only do what normal magic allowed—control minds, and perhaps that reality-altering trait akin to the Reality Stone.
But he couldn’t even use that!
It was all quite baffling…
However,
Shifting his perspective, Zhong Shenxiu suddenly realized that his most basic magical pulse had evolved into the buglike True Sight.
Could this, too, be related to that Reality Stone-like power?
His True Sight was utterly unreasonable—it could perceive a person’s name, abilities, probabilities, even offer battle advice.
Such things shouldn’t exist in any conventional magic.
There was something truly strange about his body!
Zhong Shenxiu’s thoughts drifted to the side quest involving the six Infinity Stones.
Gradually, he felt as if he was on the verge of some revelation… but it remained elusive, intangible, and beyond reach, with no concrete theory or conclusion in sight.