The Fraudster

"So... this is the machine you made for tonight's dinner?" Zhu Yufeng asked, looking at the machine that Vill-V had taken out.

"No, it's because ever since I helped the cafeteria cook a meal that time, the staff there have always wanted me to do it again. I found it annoying, so I gave some suggestions to the Expert and created this machine," Vill-V said. "I recorded all the recipes I remembered into it, and according to the set program, it can cook meals more efficiently than humans."

"It's really amazing..." Sakura looked at the machine, which had a design reminiscent of Vill-V, "This makes cooking so much easier..."

I wonder if Vill-V has any ideas about making another one, so that if she doesn't have to worry about feeding the Fire Moth when she goes on missions.

"So, you can think of this as assembly line production?" Zhu Yufeng said.

"At least it saves more time than manual labor." Vill-V looked at Zhu Yufeng. "You... seem dissatisfied?"

"It's not that I'm dissatisfied. For most people, a machine that can free up their hands to make delicious food is simply a genius invention that they can't ask for." Zhu Yufeng looked at the other ingredients. "However... if you plan to use this machine to make dinner tonight, I personally prefer to make it myself."

Sakura said thoughtfully, "Is it because Elysia and Lilith are so looking forward to it?"

Zhu Yufeng nodded slightly and continued, "You could think of it this way. They prepared lunch carefully, and dinner... it was agreed in the morning that I would prepare it, so I couldn't let them down, could I? It's not that I don't trust the machines made by Vill-V, nor that I don't trust Bai Wei's recipes. I'm not a genius, and compared to you, Bai Wei, I'm just showing off my limited skills. But sometimes, what people who enjoy food might not be how it tastes, but how much effort the person who made it put into it."

Vill-V shifted her gaze to the machine, seemingly lost in thought.

"Take Mei's cooking for example. The dishes your machine makes are not even in the same league as hers. If I had to choose, I would definitely choose yours." Zhu Yufeng said as he walked to the kitchen counter, completely unaware of the strange look that Vill-V was giving him. "But if Kevin were to choose, even if he knew that eating Mei's cooking would send him to the emergency room, he would still choose Mei's cooking without hesitation."

Although nine times out of ten, to avoid being rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, Kevin would still pull himself and Su along...

So, you're saying we'll die together?

"Because for Kevin, he eats Mei's cooking not because Mei's cooking is delicious, but because it's Mei's cooking?" Sakura said, her expression becoming somewhat strange. It seems that Feng's emotional intelligence isn't that low after all. But if that's the case, judging from the current situation, there were actually quite a few girls who liked Feng in his previous life. Why didn't Feng notice that?

There's a saying, "Those involved are often confused, while bystanders see things clearly." Another saying is: someone can theoretically explain something perfectly, but when they actually do it, it's a completely different story.

For example, in order to pass Lilith's emotional intelligence test, he stayed up all night reading a lot of books on psychoanalysis. His theoretical answers were well-reasoned and supported by evidence, but when asked to answer in a real-life situation, he was still the same wooden block that could give Lilith a heart attack.

"Is that so... I see." Vill-V said thoughtfully. "So, back then, it really was just for this reason... No, I should have known sooner. It was just that I didn't want to believe him..."

"Hmm?" Zhu Yufeng put on his apron and looked at Wei Vill-V.

Vill-V walked over to Zhu Yufeng, picked up a knife from the kitchen utensils, looked at the cutting board on the counter, and said, "The original reason I was born as Bai Wei should be that the original me, one day, on a whim, wanted to become a chef. She briefly read some books about cooking and made dishes that almost everyone praised, except for Kevin."

"You didn't find Kevin when you were cooking for Kevin, did you?" Zhu Yufeng twitched the corner of his mouth. In that situation, Kevin definitely wouldn't have even glanced at him and would have just sent him to Kai Mei's side to "die and live"!

"That was just a coincidence." Seeing Zhu Yufeng's suspicious look, Vill-V said in a wronged tone, "It really was just a coincidence! Of course... when I saw that Kevin chose Mei without hesitation, I was also very curious as to why, so I followed her and took a look. Her incomprehension and unwillingness at the Present time still remain in my heart, which is called 'Bai Wei'."

"Any normal person would be unwilling to accept this, right?" Zhu Yufeng thought to himself.

He had seen Mei's cooking before. Imagine the situation at the time: Vill-V received praise from almost everyone, but in the Kevin, he found himself defeated by the indescribable thing Mei made... So this is why the most depressing Bai Wei is so concerned about the production of Kevin's weapon?

So it seems that, apart from my own personality, all of the Vill-V are keen on creating weapons to defeat Kevin... It's as if each and every one of them has some deep-seated grudge against Kevin.

The Magician also complained to him that as a spectator, Kevin had no reaction to the performance of "the greatest Magician of the second century, the magic king of the Twilight Era," which was an insult to her.

That said, could this be the reason why Bai Wei has a rather pessimistic personality? Because the reason she was cut out was because she suffered a setback with Kevin.

Because she lost to the indescribable thing called Mei when cooking normally, when Bai Wei made dishes, her style, selection and combination of ingredients also tended towards strange methods. In the end, although the result could be called delicious, it always gave people a strange feeling.

"Actually, I did think about it later, was it because Kevin's love for Mei was enough to make up for the difference in cooking?" Vill-V picked up a fish and scraped off its scales.

"You've thought of all this, so why do you still choose to continue doing this?" Zhu Yufeng also began to process other ingredients. "Kevin's feelings for Mei remain unshaken even after ten thousand years of time."

"Because I am Vill-V," Vill-V said. "If I want to, then I can. To achieve this, Kevin is undoubtedly an obstacle we need to overcome. My purpose from the beginning was to be able to create a dish that could transcend the feelings between Kevin and Mei."

"That's truly challenging the impossible..." Zhu Yufeng muttered. "Generally speaking, as long as Mei cooks, even if it means needing to be resuscitated for three days and three nights after eating, Kevin would do it without hesitation..."

"What makes you... any different from us?" Vill-V asked.

Zhu Yufeng paused in his eating.

"To become Fusion Warrior as an ordinary human, bearing pain that ordinary people cannot endure, carrying a secret that perhaps no one would believe, and fighting against the whole world alone." Vill-V continued, "The only possibility that exists in theory is to become Herrscher through human will, cross the Finality, and reverse the fate of thirteen people... Which one, in the eyes of outsiders, is possible?"

"Uh..." Zhu Yufeng choked, then tried to struggle, "How will I know if I don't try? Because when I did this, I didn't have anything to rely on. Besides defeating Kevin, you have many other amazing things to do, and you even completely crush Kevin in terms of intelligence?"

He would never mention that when he first became Fusion Warrior, he cried under the covers because the side effects were too painful!

Wait, Lilith knows about this too, right?! She... she shouldn't tell anyone, right? Shouldn't she?

"Besides... I didn't completely change the fate of you thirteen people either." Zhu Yufeng lowered his eyes. "I... in the end, I still couldn't save Elysia, and I couldn't reverse the ending of the 'The Final Banquet'."

"But you made her fall in love with you," Vill-V said. "Isn't that a change?"

Zhu Yufeng remained silent.

This should... count, right? He wasn't sure either; he had already chosen to give up on his relationship.

"In essence, we are all the same. Regardless of each other's talents or the paths we have taken, we are all just... fools trying to prove ourselves," Vill-V said.

Zhu Yufeng looked at Vill-V, finally realizing something was wrong. "You are... me, Vill-V? When did you...?"

"It's been me from the beginning. After all, even though I have a different personality now, I'm still the same con artist," Vill-V said. "The Bai Wei is cut out from my mind. If I want to imitate it again, it's not difficult."

Zhu Yufeng recalled the confrontation between Erwei and the Vill-V the Wicked Vill-V Elysian Realm. Erwei had indeed imitated other personalities and completed the separation. However, because too many personalities were separated, Erwei, who should have been the main personality, eventually became a "sub-personality" like the other personalities and perished along with the Evil Erwei.

That Evil might indeed have the means to defeat the Corrosion, but that wouldn't be a happy ending for anyone, so I rejected it, because...

The true darling of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers was actually Elysia, wasn't she? For Elysia's wish to fight alongside the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, they were all willing to put their lives into the chambers of their guns, just to save one person. For Mei, and for all the players, they presented the final and grandest curtain call of the Heroes of the Previous Civilization.

Speaking of which, I wonder what Kevin's final fate will be outside of the Elysian Realm. Because of the price of immunity to the Discipline, Kevin can no longer dream. Will he dream of Mei in the end?

Or perhaps, his end was quiet, because it was the tranquility he had once attained in his fifty thousand years of life.

Perhaps, from a realistic perspective, the choices of the Flame-Chasers of the Elysian Realm are unwise, but who can remain rational forever? As the most rational person, May would still give all her feelings for Kevin.

I wonder, if everything doesn't restart, will my version of myself in the Elysian Realm eventually reconcile with Elysia? During the Corrosion, will he be able to fight alongside everyone?

Who knows?

"Truly worthy of being the original genius; I didn't even recognize her at first." Zhu Yufeng snapped out of his thoughts. "Speaking of which, I hope this isn't too much of a blow to Bai Wei?"

"Hmm..." Vill-V seemed to think for a moment, then said, "She said she doesn't mind."

After a moment of silence, Zhu Yufeng said, "... After your rebirth, you can communicate directly in your minds. Before, you had to use a special notepad to communicate, right?"

"Indeed, this may be due to my current state. Saying it's a split personality doesn't quite capture it," Vill-V said. "After all the personalities were cut off, each personality's memories were independent. After the rebirth, the independent memories of each personality didn't merge. They were simply preserved and became what they are now."

After a pause, Vill-V continued, "Ultimately, aren't all my personalities a mirror of myself? For example, there are many things I want to do, but reason tells me I can't, yet the Evil and the Magician can. My insecure side, like the 'Bai Wei,' is afraid of being rejected and always lacks confidence in myself. Even the Conductor, who is most like me... isn't he actually an ideal version of myself? Someone who can command all personalities, confident yet not arrogant..."

"So, why did you hate yourself in the first place?" Zhu Yufeng asked.

"I don't know," Vill-V answered decisively. "I just don't like myself. I feel like this isn't who I want to be, but I don't know what I want to be."

"So you started becoming a con artist, imitating everything you thought you might like?" Zhu Yufeng said. "You wanted to see yourself through other people's eyes, but as you imitated, you grew to hate your original self more and more. So after you underwent the Fusion Warrior surgery and completed the personality resection, you fell into a deep sleep because... the version of yourself that everyone accepted wasn't the real you?"

Vill-V paused for a moment, then looked away. "Your emotional intelligence isn't actually that low..."

"My emotional intelligence has never been that low, has it?" Zhu Yufeng said speechlessly. "Although I might not be very good at understanding other people's feelings for me, I always lack self-confidence and therefore always think about the worst-case scenario..."

Speaking of which, a certain Lilith is quite similar to Vill-V, except that Lilith hates the obedient girl persona she presents.

A slight smile appeared on Vill-V's lips as she suddenly changed the subject, "By the way, I've never asked you before, do you remember when we first met?"

Zhu Yufeng thought for a moment and said, "If we're talking about a formal exchange, it should be around the time after the Eighth Herrscher Incident, when Lilith wanted to establish the Fallen Angel Squad, right?"

"Oh, that was certainly true for you back then." Vill-V lowered her eyes. "But I had already started paying attention to you long before that, before you went to the European frontier. As for me, I knew you even earlier."

Zhu Yufeng: "???"

Before that? Why didn't he print it? Wait, Vill-V said he was paying attention, so it's... normal that he didn't print it, right?

Sakura, who was just in the background. "..."

She couldn't get a word in edgewise halfway through the conversation... Oh well, she'll go chop some vegetables...