Ji Li did not believe he was one of Ruru's twenty-three personalities, because the numbers didn't match.
There were actually twenty-four things that had entered the Manager Mission—Fate included.
In other words, based on the twenty-three shadows Ruru had sketched in her album, she had only twenty-three personalities.
From what he learned afterward, the only way Fate could replace Ruru, and Ruru could make use of Fate, was by switching between the Main and Sub Personalities.
Then the answer held true.
Fate was also among the twenty-three personalities. Thus, among those present, one was not a personality—Ji Li.
First, Ji Li was unique. Unique enough that, under a certain rule, he and Ruru would be regarded as the same person.
That was why Ruru had unconditionally believed he was not Fate, and why she had used his body.
Second, according to the Female Voice—Ji Li resembled the grown-up Ruru.
This was an invisible rule rooted in some shared origin. Only because of this rule could Ruru use Ji Li's body without condition, unrestricted by the secrets within it.
Lastly, there was the most important point.
In this world, aside from Ji Li and Heavenly Sea, there should not have been a third person who knew the secret of the Stone Pillar.
And Ruru obviously could not have been Heavenly Sea.
Thus, the method of cracking Ruru had actually become quite simple.
When Ji Li's head was placed in the Stone Pillar's groove, it meant that Ji Li had entered Ruru's mind in reverse.
A person could not enter their own mind. It was a paradox.
Once it happened, it would inevitably cause collapse, ruin, and destruction.
At this moment, Ji Li stood in a nonexistent space, examining the intertwined yet relatively independent Ruru and Black Matter from the perspective of