Only Death Can Bring Termination

Yong Xin?

Ina's pupils constricted slightly upon hearing that name, and she immediately became wary.

Yong Xin clearly noticed the change in Ina's expression and smiled slightly, "It seems you know me."

"Of course." Ina replied in as calm a tone as possible, "It's hard not to."

Ina certainly knew Yong Xin.

A long time ago, she had heard from a small number of members of the Devil Squad that this person was Bishop Huo Er Man's confidant in the Fourth District and was very likely to become the next Bishop.

It should be known that the Devil Squad itself was relatively closed off, and external news was generally difficult to reach them. However, Yong Xin's name could circulate among them, saying that he had the ability to transfer members of the Devil Squad to the rear, which was a great deal of power. Therefore, many Knights of the Devil Squad would try every possible way to visit him.

However, if you asked what specific position Yong Xin held, no one could say clearly.

This made Ina somewhat suspicious of Yong Xin, but Ina herself wasn't very concerned about everything outside, so she didn't pay too much attention. After all, she didn't want to be transferred back, so she had never met the other party.

But now, she had met this legendary figure at such a time. How could she not be alert?

"Hmm... judging from your reaction, it seems my impression in your mind isn't very good." Yong Xin asked with a smile, "Is it my illusion? Or do you really have some opinion of me?"

Although Ina's emotional intelligence wasn't very high, she wouldn't tell the truth at this time, so she denied it, "Not at all, this is our first meeting, why would I have an opinion of you?"

"Ah, is it the first meeting?" Yong Xin showed a meaningful smile, "Yes, it is indeed our first meeting."

Yong Xin's smile made Ina feel very uncomfortable.

She felt that this smile was very fake, giving the impression of a face that didn't belong to this body draped over a skull.

...Why did she have this feeling?

Ina shook her head, casting aside those strange thoughts in her mind, and then spoke coldly, "Is there something you need from me?"

"Nothing at all." Yong Xin was still smiling, "I just came to the archives to look up some information, and then I found you. To be honest, I was very surprised, after all, it's already this late, so I wanted to come and see who was so diligent, and then..."

As he spoke, he picked up one of the scattered documents on the table and shook it in front of Ina.

"I found the information you were looking up, which is very interesting. And coincidentally, I know a little about this area, so I couldn't help but answer you. If I offended you, I apologize."

Ina didn't care about being offended or not. Her focus was entirely on Yong Xin's statement that he knew a little about this area.

At this point, she also recalled that Yong Xin's first sentence earlier was in response to her self-talk, "Is there really such a situation?"

So, Ina, who originally didn't want to have more contact with Yong Xin, after a slight hesitation, still asked, "How much do you know about this area? Can you tell me?"

"Of course." Yong Xin said with a smile, "I am honored to be able to provide some insignificant help to the only woman in the Devil Squad."

Although they hadn't met, Ina wasn't surprised that Yong Xin knew her identity. She went straight to the point and asked, "You said earlier that such symptoms exist. Have you seen them?"

"Hehe, yes." Yong Xin sat down in the position directly opposite Ina, and while flipping through the old documents, he said, "Due to the development of anti-contamination equipment, there have been very few contaminated civilians or Knights like in the past decade, so it's normal for you to doubt the authenticity of these symptoms, because you haven't seen them."

Yong Xin paused, and then said with a smile.

"Of course I've seen it, and I've had contact with him, but for various reasons, his case wasn't recorded."

Hearing this, Ina's heart skipped a beat, and she also sat down, looking directly into Yong Xin's seemingly unfathomable eyes.

So the conversation began.

"Why wasn't it recorded?"

"This, please forgive me for not being able to answer, it's confidential."

"Then who is he to you?"

"I can only say, a friend."

"...Then what kind of symptoms did he have?"

"Just like the information you're looking at." Yong Xin replied with a light chuckle, "Feeling like there's a different person inside the body."

Ina's brows furrowed slightly.

She felt that Yong Xin seemed to have said a lot, but also seemed to have said nothing. When asked, it was either confidential or it was in the documents. What else was there to ask?

"Hehe, Miss Ina, I really can't talk about confidential matters." Yong Xin seemed to have seen what Ina was thinking and said with a smile, "But what I can say is definitely more than what is recorded in these documents, because I talked with that person face-to-face for a long time. I can see many things that others can't see, and know many things that won't be recorded."

Ina raised her eyebrows, "For example?"

"For example... Miss Ina, have you heard this saying?" Yong Xin said, "The you of today and the you of yesterday are not the same person."

"...What kind of strange saying is that?"

"Hehe, it does sound a bit abstract, but we can make it more concrete." Yong Xin continued, "For example, when you were very young, you liked red, but after you grew up, something made you dislike red, and you preferred black. So, are the you who liked red and the you who liked black still the same person?"

When she first heard this sentence, Ina was surprised.

Because when she was little, she did like red very much, and later she did dislike it for some reasons.

But how did he know?

Although she was a little surprised, Ina didn't dwell on this question for too long. After all, there were only a few colors in total, and it was a color that little girls liked. It wouldn't be too surprising to just say red.

So she was more focused on Yong Xin's question itself.

Although Yong Xin made the analogy concrete, Ina still felt a little unable to understand, so she shook her head and said, "I don't understand. I am me. No matter what color I like, it's me."

"That's right, normal people would think that way." Yong Xin said, "But is it possible that the reason you think this way is because you currently like black? If one day, a voice appears in your mind, she knows everything about you, has had the same experiences as you, as if she is another you, but the only difference is... she likes red."

Even though she was mentally prepared, a hint of shock still flickered across Ina's face at this moment.

"It seems you understand what I mean," Yong Xin said softly. "This is the essence of this symptom. You will feel that the voice arguing with you in your mind is not a stranger, but the past you, or... the nascent you. Of course, the points you argue about are definitely not something as simple as your favorite color."

"Instead, they will be more contradictory, more intensely conflicting, or even completely incompatible things."

Ina tried her best to maintain her expression, then looked into Yong Xin's eyes and asked, "What do you mean by completely incompatible things? If you're talking about concepts, can concepts really escalate to the point of being incompatible?"

"In other places... I mean, other churches, there might not be such a problem, but in Lyra, it's different." Yong Xin smiled and tapped his head with his finger. "Because Lyra people are special. In our minds, there is a fundamental, well... something that can be called logic. You should know what it is."

"...Rule." Ina seemed to understand something.

"Yes, Lyra is a city built by rules. This special characteristic is unique even in the entire world, and Lyra people are also the most rule-abiding. It's not because of high quality, but because obeying rules is no different from breathing for Lyra people," Yong Xin said softly. "And once the other personality that appears in your mind is contrary to this most fundamental rule, then do you think you can coexist with this personality?"

A brief silence.

Ina asked, "So what is the result of not being able to coexist?"

"This is a conflict between paths, and only death can bring Termination."

"Death?" Ina asked, "Personality death?"

"Yes," Yong Xin nodded. "The two personalities will test each other at the beginning, and they will also try to understand each other. For people with gentle personalities, they will even try to merge or coexist, but this is only temporary. In the end, there will only be one result, which is one personality killing the other personality, thus allowing the split soul to become one again."

Upon hearing this sentence, Ina felt a little dazed. The image of seeing Jie La Er in the afternoon reappeared in her mind.

That completely unfamiliar expression, that completely unfamiliar tone, and that one sentence.

All of this matched Yong Xin's description.

Sure enough, was this the situation he was facing as well?

Ina was still trying to maintain her outward calm, not letting her inner thoughts show.

Then she asked Yong Xin one last question: "So what was the final outcome for your friend? The two personalities within him... who won?"

When asking this question, Ina couldn't help but clench her hands.

Yong Xin pretended not to see, and just slowly narrated: "After a period of time, my friend finally welcomed the last 'battle' with that nascent personality. Before that, he had told me that if he failed, please kill him immediately, because he knew very well how crazy and disorderly his nascent personality was, and I promised him."

Ina didn't speak, just quietly looked into Yong Xin's eyes, but her breathing slowed down little by little.

"Finally, he opened his eyes and then told me with a smile that he had won."

At this moment, Ina's slowed breathing immediately returned to normal.

"It seems like a good ending," Ina said, pretending to be calm. "Did he have any after-effects after that?"

"No," Yong Xin shrugged, then said with a smile, "He even felt as if he had been reborn."

This is truly... being reborn.

Jie La Er looked at himself in the mirror with great surprise.

Of course, he wasn't that narcissistic. More accurately, he was looking at the metal parts on his body.

These were brand new, a set that Ju had just replaced for him.

Yes, he had changed sets again.

But it wasn't just a simple replacement; more things had been added inside.

Jie La Er could even feel that he could now perform Overload with these metal body parts and Prosthetic Limbs.

Yes, Ju had upgraded these metal body parts of his from "civilian" to "military".

Although they hadn't fully reached the "military" standard yet and were still quite a bit behind the basic configuration of the Evening Star unit ten years ago, just the point of Overload alone was enough to call them military specification.

This was something that only an intermediate Mechanic could do.

But it was done by Ju, a ten-year-old girl.

Jie La Er looked at Ju beside him, his eyes full of disbelief.

"How did you do it?" Jie La Er couldn't help but ask again, although this wasn't the first time he had asked.

Ju also raised her hand patiently and pointed to the open small manual on the table.

The manual was naturally left by Ju's father, Eric.

Eric was a crazy mechanical enthusiast. He bought this warehouse back then to satisfy his research desires.

And that small manual was one of his research results - "How to manufacture military products with civilian parts".

In Lyra's laws, manufacturing Prosthetic Limbs of military specification without permission was illegal, but if it was just a design drawing that hadn't been put into practice, it didn't matter. Eric must have just wanted to satisfy his development desire back then, so he created a sketch.

But he certainly never expected at the time that the content on the sketch would be manufactured by his daughter and used on his old captain, Jie La Er.

This made Jie La Er feel a little emotional and surprised.

But the point of surprise wasn't that Eric could create such a sketch, but that Ju could actually complete it based on this sketch.

She was clearly just a ten-year-old child.

This overflowing talent.

Jie La Er felt that with Ju's ability, she would definitely surpass her father with normal development.

It's just...

Looking at Ju, who had started packing up her tools, Jie La Er felt a little down again.

The children of rebels are absolutely forbidden to touch military goods. In fact, it's even difficult for them to become the most basic mechanics. Once the equipment Ju made is discovered by others, she will be punished immediately and become the next rebel.

If it weren't for Jie La Er, Ju would have had no chance to showcase her talent.

But... it was precisely because of Jie La Er that Ju couldn't showcase her talent as she is now.

This made Jie La Er feel a little uncomfortable, because when he asked Ju what kind of person she wanted to be, his original intention was to help her, to do everything he could now.

But all Ju wanted to do was complete her father's design, or rather, just do what a normal mechanic could do.

And what she did was also beneficial to Jie La Er.

This naturally made Jie La Er feel a little unacceptable. Just as he was about to say something more to Ju, Bai Wei's voice slowly and leisurely sounded in his mind: "Interesting."

"What?"

"Didn't you notice?" Bai Wei said, "Doing this kind of modification for you is against the rules, right?"

Jie La Er frowned slightly: "You still care about rules?"

"Of course I don't care, and you don't care either." Bai Wei said indifferently, "But did you forget something? I don't care because I'm not a Lyra person at all. You don't care because you are influenced by me."

Bai Wei paused, then said with a half-smile.

"Then why doesn't she care either?"

Jie La Er's pupils constricted slightly, and then he looked at Ju's back again.

Yes, he almost forgot the most crucial question.

Under Bai Wei's influence, he could stop following Lyra's rules, but why could Ju?

Ju doesn't have Bai Wei in her body, and she is obviously not contaminated.

What's going on?

Although surprised, Jie La Er didn't directly ask Ju. He knew Ju definitely wouldn't know, so he asked Bai Wei: "Do you have any ideas?"

"I just have a guess." Bai Wei said indifferently, "Alright, stop playing house here, let's go quickly and take me somewhere."

"Now?" Jie La Er asked, "Where?"

"A place that records Lyra's history." Bai Wei asked, "Is there such a place?"

Jie La Er thought for a moment, then nodded.

"The archives of the Tower of Babel."