Book Six: What She Lost · What I Gained - The Cat-and-Mouse Game

"Memory... memories form a chain..."

Haoyue rushed over the dilapidated partition wall and ran quickly along the staff passage. She had many scratches, burns and other injuries on her body. Although none of them were serious individually, they accumulated into a considerable burden.

"If human memory is arranged in a straight line, then my ability is... to cut a small section off this line, connect the ends to form a loop... I can only recall things within this loop, and after recalling a few things, I'll always end up back at the starting point... Damn it... Ugh!"

This is an important conclusion! It must be... it must be preserved! Although it's a passive approach, it's the only way.

The clear moonlight condensed into a fine needle, and the bright moon performed its precise operation as it moved.

"Ugh!"

As Haoyue passed through a room, her legs suddenly went weak. Looking down, she saw that half of her lower leg had become translucent, like the enhanced transparency of an oil painting, and she had lost all strength!

"This is--"

--Yes, what was it again? Stepping into this room, my limbs faded, I lost my strength, so I stepped into this room, my limbs faded...

Ugh, it's a vicious cycle again! I just wanted to recall what happened a second ago to clarify the situation, but I'm stuck in this cycle again.

--Ring within a ring? What ring?

Just now... just now I seemed to have come to a general conclusion about the superpower I was under, but now...

"I can't remember anything at all!"

It was something very important, something that concerned his life and safety, yet...

But what happened?

Just as Haoyue fled the room, she suddenly stopped.

What happened?

What am I doing right now?

Why run away?

What are you trying to escape?

What happened before?

Enemy encountered?

What special abilities does the enemy possess?

"I remember..."

In the break room, everyone was discussing how Xiao Ye and the delinquent girl were trapped by the enemy's strange abilities. Xiao Ye, wanting to help them, tried to eliminate Su Mengli, but Su Mengli was protected by a robot. So, everyone discussed the situation in the break room, and then Xiao Ye and the delinquent girl got caught in...

... strangeness.

Why did my thoughts circle back to the same point? Why can't I recall anything more important?

He had many inexplicable wounds on his body, clearly indicating he was in some kind of crisis, but what exactly was it? Where was he now? What was he fighting?

Trying to recall, but...

"Um?"

I have a strange, tingling, numbing pain in my arm, different from the pain in other parts of my body, and it seems to be arranged in a certain shape.

Looking down, I saw Blood Script.

There were words carved on my left arm, probably by piercing the skin with some kind of very sharp needle.

The content is--

"'Two women are direct enemies'... What does that mean?"

Although the Blood Script, the handwriting was quite elegant.

"... My handwriting? I carved words on myself? When did I carve them?"

She immediately checked other parts of her body: her left arm, and other areas as well, such as the back of her right hand, the middle of her thighs, and the upper edge of her breasts...

Just then,

Rolling around...

A pretty little marble appeared out of nowhere and rolled to my feet.

What--

Haoyue instinctively felt that she had seen this small marble before, although she could not recall what it was. However, her intuition, accumulated from many life-or-death experiences, told her that this thing was dangerous!

Block it!

At the last moment, Haoyue deployed her Shield of Moon Radiance, and in the next instant, flames and shockwaves bursting from the marble engulfed her, affecting all parts of the surrounding buildings. If viewed from outside the venue, one would see that the explosion occurred roughly in the middle of the outer side of the flattened cylinder, with thick smoke and flames shooting out incessantly.

"--Gah!"

Haoyue rubbed her slightly dazed head. The sturdy Shield of Moon Radiance had minimized the damage, leaving her with only minor scratches.

"So that's what it meant..."

There are also Blood Script on his right upper arm that read "Avoid marbles".

"This is a reminder, a warning I left on my body before... precisely to deal with situations where I can't remember things..."

What exactly did I go through before?

Her gaze fell on the first line of text. "The direct enemies are two women."

"Two women?... Yes, I remember now, they were two troublesome women."

They were Yu Xun and Valentina. He had been subjected to some kind of interference, and then these two appeared—one attacking directly, the other interfering indirectly, forcing him into this situation. Then they appeared again, one attacking directly—

"--Tsk!"

How strange! No matter how hard I try to recall, I can only remember this much, and after going through the whole process from "being interfered with," I always end up back at "being interfered with"! Could this be...?

A thought suddenly struck her; she looked down at the middle of her thigh, where there were also words carved there—

"The Circle of Memories"

Further down, there were words on the knees as well.

Don't try to remember.

"This..."

"Ha! Found her, she's here!"

"Valentina, keep up!"

A voice suddenly came from not far away, and a woman with long purple-blue hair and a woman with slightly curly black hair appeared.

Who are they?

The tingling pain in her arm reminded her.

"The direct enemies are two women."

"Moonlight!!!"

Without hesitation, Haoyue immediately unleashed her ultimate attack on the two women! The silvery storm tore through all obstacles in its path and rushed towards them, clearly startled by the sudden attack.

"Self-isolation!"

Valentina immediately grabbed Yu Xun, compressing the small space they were in into the size of a marble, using her power in reverse to protect herself. Even so, they were still affected for a moment, suffering some scratches, which were not serious but stung.

"Are you alright, Yu Xun?"

"I'm fine, but that guy—"

"I'll do it!"

Outside, a dozen or so smaller marbles simultaneously emerged from the marbles that had contained Valentina and Yu Xun. These marbles contained enough kinetic energy to tow a vehicle, and under her control, five of them shot towards Haoyue first!

"Gurgle... Shield of Moon Radiance!"

Haoyue reacted the instant she saw the marbles. Runes condensed into an orange light shield in front of her, and the five marbles collided with them one after another, producing ear-piercing explosions. Almost at the same moment, the whooshing sound of wind breaking approached.

"Here we go again!"

Ten beads, which had somehow circled around to her left, right, above, and behind, had locked onto her. Haoyue immediately prepared to defend herself, but—

Left, right, up? Then create a full-body light shield at once, simultaneously deflecting attacks from all four directions.

Four directions?

Right, up, then... right and up and...

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The light shield blocked attacks from three of the four directions, but it failed to cover the left side! In that instant, due to the influence of the "Memory Loop," the three memories of "attack from the right," "attack from above," and "attack from behind" formed a circle, forcing her memories to wander only within these three events. The "attack from the left" was outside the circle, so she couldn't recall it at all!

"Woo!"

At the last moment, her body's instincts compelled her to tilt her body sharply to the side. The marble, which would have pierced her chest horizontally, only went through her left shoulder, but it still ruined her arm!

No, I can't fight in this state at all! I can't even remember the enemy's face, abilities, strength, or even where their attacks came from. A counterattack is just a pipe dream!

"... ah!"

The emptiness in my body returned! This time, my entire body suddenly began to fade, and the previously damaged objects around me began to rapidly regenerate! What was happening now?

Haoyue immediately noticed the words carved on her right upper arm that she hadn't seen before. "Existence Disappears!"

Fortunately, over the years, Haoyue's commonly used skills have all become part of her physical instincts, allowing her to use them even with limited memory.

"Silver Moon - Moon Mist Silver Veil!"

A silvery mist of light spread out, and the bright moon, concealed by the mist, escaped once more before its existence vanished.

Valentina deactivated the defenses, and the two returned to the outside world, only to find that Haoyue had vanished.

"She escaped again..."

"Her resilience is unexpected."

"To actually carve all the facts he discovered onto his body while he could still remember them—I wouldn't dare do that."

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and chase after her! That same thing has happened three times already. Although she manages to escape unscathed each time, it's clearly getting harder each time. We should be able to take her down next time!"

"... Speaking of which, where's the other person? That purple-haired girl didn't seem to show up at all."

While chaos erupted on one side of the venue, the handshake event outside was in full swing, with fans lining up in long queues under the open sky.

"I... I've always been a huge fan of yours! To be able to shake hands with Lord Sinan like this is truly... truly..."

The bald, muscular man with tattoos on his face now blushed like a shy maiden, his hand trembling as he held Little Ying's. Little Ying responded with a radiant smile.

"Thank you for your continued support, Little Ying! I will work even harder in the future!"

"Oh, oh, oh, to be able to hear Lord Sinan's voice so closely, I'm truly, I'm truly..."

"... Um, sir, time's up, it's time for the next person..."

Producer Sang came over and cut off the muscular man's muscular man's reminiscences. The muscular man glared at the producer and left with a reluctant expression.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Si Nan, I should have arrived earlier..." the producer said apologetically.

"It's okay! I'm a woman loved by my fans, hahaha~"

"... Uh, whatever makes you happy."

In the end, only Si Nan Ying attended the handshake event that was supposed to be held, so she naturally attracted everyone's attention. She is simply a born idol.

"Hello! I've been following you guys since your debut! I absolutely love Sin Annihilation- chan!"

"Haha~ It's a pity she's not here!"

"I'm already very content to be able to shake hands with Lord Sinan!"

"That's great! Please continue to support us in the future!"

"Of course! I'm buying ten copies of the event-limited edition CD! Buy, buy, buy!!"

The shops next to the handshake event were piled high with event-limited CDs, which were already being snapped up by fans who had finished shaking hands with the event. They were selling like hotcakes.

Little Ying couldn't help but feel smug.

(Haha! I made so much money just from attending a handshake event, this is lucrative! You should admire me, Xiao Ye!)

But--

"Speaking of which... although I escaped early, what is Xiao Ye doing now? Could she have fallen into a life-threatening situation after only a short while? Hahaha, just kidding!"

This is no joke.

While everyone else was working their butts off, this goofball remained completely oblivious.

(System notification: Dear user, you have unlocked the achievement <Stay Out of It> and obtained the title <AFK Master>)

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Midterms are over... but the grueling week is only just beginning...