The Real Truth / Speaking Without Knowing

It seems he's not that special. He's just a regular student going to and from school... or rather, he just wants to be a student. Apart from being a bit unconventional, everything he does is something a student would do.

Did they discover she was following them?

Impossible. For the past month, she has never worn the same outfit twice, and she has always just stayed in the crowd and watched him from afar, strictly adhering to the rules of stalking and not daring to get close at all.

Ah, if only this world were a little more exciting...

"Da da da..."

Her sensitive nerves suddenly twitched; she noticed a man in a suit separating from the crowd and heading towards Lin's house.

A faint smile played on his face, and his steps were slow but powerful.

Who is that? A relative of Lin?

Judging from the man's features, he should be from Lin's father's generation, but he doesn't look like Lin at all...

No, she'd never seen what Lin looked like, but...

She had caught a glimpse of Lin's eyes peeking out from between his hood and mask. To be honest, she had never imagined a man's eyes could be so beautiful before seeing them, like a piece of flowing black Amber, captivating and mesmerizing.

The man's appearance did indeed possess a mature masculine charm, but when she saw that smile, she shuddered, which made her feel that he was nothing like Lin.

And I don't know if it was just my imagination, but it seemed like he... glanced at her just now?

At that moment, she did not realize that from this point on, both Lin's fate and her own fate had embarked on an irreversible path of deviation.

The phrase "to disrupt your daily routine in the worst possible way" is about to become a reality.

"Hello, hello, you've been following Lin for over a month now, haven't you?"

The man laughed heartily and stood in front of her, subtly blocking her path.

Chapter 163 The Real Truth

Qianqi, she lied again.

The man, weathered and worn, left the room, leaving Qianqi sitting there lost in thought.

What Qianqi said was half true and half false. Up until the first part about her following him, Lin believed that what she said was true, because she even knew the route home and that she hadn't left the house for almost a month except for going to school.

But what followed was just a bunch of nonsense.

Lin also told her about "the last time," but it was also half true and half false, omitting the fact that she was shot and killed for Lin's sake.

The rest is up to her to decide.

As for the others, is it necessary to inform them one by one?

There's no need for that.

Because it will be over soon.

"Lin, Doctor Mobius said..."

Prometheus spotted Lin on the deck. As she stepped outside, she saw Lin checking his equipment and weapons, fully armed and ready to go on a mission.

"I know there's no Ritalin." Lin interrupted Prometheus, putting the magazine full of bullets back into the pistol but not putting it back in its holster. Holding it in his hand, he looked up and pointed to the distant horizon.

"Prometheus, do you know what's on the other side of the sea?"

Lin's tone was more passionate than ever before; he was like a scholar eager for knowledge, impatient to get the answers.

Prometheus replied, puzzled, "The Mu Continent?"

"..." Lin shook his head, turned around, and stared intently at her through the dark pupils of his helmet. "The answer is, there is nothing."

"..."

"If it were Prometheus, she wouldn't have asked 'Mu Continent' in a questioning tone, because no matter how human-like her personality is, she is still an Artificial Intelligence based on rigorous logic. And after hearing my answer, she should have asked me why, instead of remaining silent, because she is still learning how to think like a human."

"... What are you saying?"

Prometheus abruptly took a step back, and a gaze more terrifying and sharp than a blade fixed on her face. After taking that step back, she realized that she had been exposed.

An Artificial Intelligence will not experience fear.

"You made three mistakes. First, you killed Vill-V every time. She was the person who knew Prometheus best besides me and May. Her leaps in thinking meant that after I told her the information, she could quickly find the problem. But the 'unchanging' in the change became the breakthrough point for thinking."

"That's why I sent you to protect Vill-V this time. You're the only one who hasn't changed amidst all these 'changes'."

If they killed Vill-V, it would arouse Lin's suspicion, but if they didn't kill Vill-V, it would further confirm Lin's guess. The only solution was to find a way to attack Vill-V but not kill her, and to pretend to protect her.

Was it because she was the one who always informed Lin that he became suspicious?

Without giving her any time to think, Lin raised a second finger, his tone becoming more forceful. "Secondly, you chose to impersonate Prometheus. Prometheus often appears around me. If she disappeared, it would inevitably arouse my suspicion. But among so many 'robots' that have disappeared, there is still one Prometheus left. Don't you find that strange?"

"Although you have given various reasons, such as Prometheus Unit 2 being upgraded and repaired, and the Armed Puppet being upgraded with Soul Steel... this cannot completely eliminate my suspicion. Besides, you are only imitating Prometheus through my memories. All your actions seem to me to be strongly incompatible with her."

Would Prometheus weep and tremble for Vill-V? Perhaps, but she couldn't possibly express her feelings with such human language.

The last time Prometheus came forward to explain that he was the mastermind, it was also impossible for the original Prometheus to do such a thing. It was simply the murderer showing off his achievements and trying to break down his psychological defenses.

As for why she did that...

Thirdly.

Lin raised his third finger, calmly gazing at Prometheus, who had fallen completely silent.

"Those hints you gave me, they were true..."

"It's so annoying."

Prometheus's face suddenly contorted, her shame and anger at being exposed leaping up, but after half a second she returned to her robotic blankness, as if she hadn't understood a word Lin said.

"When I first arrived here, you deliberately used broken language to remind me that my environment had changed, making me tense and looking for anything unusual. The only complete sentence you said was 'Don't trust Lin.'"

"This sentence has two meanings. One is 'Don't trust Lin,' which is just a reminder to be careful of my surroundings. Before I went through the second regression, I would naturally understand it as the first meaning."

"This way, I can wholeheartedly doubt everyone around me and rack my brains to guess who the mastermind is, laying the groundwork for the second meaning."

"The second 'Don't trust Lin' is to completely break down my psychological defenses. After I doubt my friend, learn the truth, and realize that I am the murderer, I will go crazy, kill the person I cherish, and destroy the hope of humanity. At that time, my consciousness will be on the verge of complete collapse."

"By then, even if I am not consciously corrupted, I will become corrupted."

Lin calmly analyzed the situation. His vulnerability, breakdown, and confusion from the previous two incidents had vanished, and his rationality was crushing the nerves of the culprit in front of him.

Yes, he even seemed more aloof and superior.

"If you have the ability to do this, then of course you can kill everyone at headquarters. After all, this is your world, and you can kill everyone except for my consciousness. That's why I didn't witness your 'death' twice."

"... Where's the evidence?"

"..."

"You say I'm the murderer, where's the evidence?"

Lin snapped his fingers.

This is something I learned from Vill-V; it means...

The show is about to begin.

Why is evidence needed?

"No evidence..."

"I don't need to convince you. There's no one here who needs my convincing. I don't need to explain to anyone why you're a traitor or what your true nature is." Lin exhaled a cold breath. "And the loopholes in your actions... there are actually many more. For example, the database was stolen. You discovered that none of the people in the Firemoth organization had any information about the WM Series in their memories. After all, those were top-secret documents stored by the deceased High Council of the Firemoth organization."

Therefore, when Lin destroyed the data, he discovered that it contained things that were exactly the same as the WM Series data he had imagined.

That was his "memory".

"When did you start to doubt me?"

"From the very beginning," Lin said coldly, "From the first time you smashed the plate, that elementary mistake that Prometheus would never make."

Chapter 164 Unknown Opinions

"..."

"..."

Silence.

Silence.

Unbeknownst to me, the sound of the waves crashing against the deck had ceased to be heard. The sea was calm, there was no direct sunlight, and no raging winds; all that remained was a terrifying silence.

The horizon stretches to the horizon, and beyond that line lies the endless ocean.

Yes, as he said, there is nothing on the other side of the sea. At least in this world made up of "consciousness and memory," there is no need to construct such a large and detailed scope.

So, when did we begin to realize that something was wrong with this "world"?

... As Mobius emphasized, "time rewind" is absolutely impossible. In fact, he had already discovered some things about it to some extent back then.

Since time travel is impossible, let's think about what method can be used to achieve something similar to time travel. The result of our thinking is... this is not the real world.

In a game where save/load is allowed, isn't the moment you load a save file and go back in time? From that moment on, it's already confirmed that this is a virtual world.

"You are trapping me in an endless cycle of reincarnation, wearing down my spirit and altering my memories. Although I don't know how much has been altered, the vague and contradictory parts in my memories have become so numerous that they cannot be ignored."

Lin drew his God Cutter, pointed it at Prometheus's face, and said in a chilling tone.

He couldn't remember most of the key figures in the major events. It was only during the time he sat across from Mobius that he thoroughly searched through his memories and found that many of them didn't match up.

"But according to you, I can control this so-called world of consciousness at will, and even kill others in one go, so why would I need to pretend to be..."

"Because this is not a world of consciousness with you as the subject."

Prometheus was stared intently at by the azure viewing window, his gaze no longer gentle and indifferent, but becoming aggressive.

He may already know the truth behind these three "reincarnations," but they have also genuinely changed some aspects of his consciousness and personality.

"At first, I guessed that it was just a world made up of my consciousness and memories, but later, when I was investigating the incident, I found that the overall layout of the headquarters was very complete. Even I couldn't remember all the details of the headquarters. So it's possible that you used the memories of everyone in the headquarters to create this fake headquarters. Everyone is no different from the original, but the important information you want to know, the WM Series data, is unknown to anyone. This is the only loophole in the authenticity."

"Let's get back to why you went through all that trouble. It's because you know that simply torturing or killing me won't make my consciousness change or collapse. You also can't make large-scale modifications to my main consciousness. After all, your original goal was to modify my consciousness. If you had done that from the beginning, you wouldn't have come here to play role-playing games."

"You can 'erasure' other people, but you can't change how they appear in my mind, and that's the root cause of your exposure."

Because one is not omnipotent, one can lose.

Because it was merely a disguise to resemble a god, its outer, inferior skin was torn off.

He had witnessed countless times the arrogant demeanor of those pseudo-gods.

He will personally pull them off the throne.

"You have already lost the battle of consciousness, Prometheus ... no, I should say, the Eighth Herrscher."

Lin coldly declared to "Prometheus".

He couldn't think of any other technology or ability besides the powers of the Herrscher that could accomplish this.

Lin's guess was correct. The Eighth Herrscher must be Herrscher who had already been born among humanity. She may have been born earlier than the Seventh Herrscher and many of the previous Herrscher. Her reason for being hidden was to completely annihilate humanity.

Perhaps they have finally found a way to annihilate them in one fell swoop, or perhaps they have reached the final step. Then, this power is likely related to consciousness. The Herrscher discovered that there is another anomaly in the headquarters.

A consciousness that once entered the Herrscher Core mutated, became uncontrollable, and possessed the ability to defeat multiple Herrscher.

"Your combat strength in reality is probably inferior to mine, let alone Kevin's, so you can't leave any room for maneuver. You must eliminate me first before proceeding with your plan."

"And your plan is related to the WM Series of materials."

WM Series materials... those are things closely related to the stable structure of human society, and it can be said that they are the root of everything in modern human society.

What would happen to a Herrscher capable of eroding consciousness after obtaining data from the WM Series?

Even destroying just one key node can effortlessly plunge humanity into chaos.

"... That was brilliant. I knew my decision to take you out first was the right one."

After a long period of silence with his head bowed, the Eighth Herrscher Prometheus Prometheus, raised his head and revealed a bewitching smile on his cold face—an expression that Prometheus himself would never make.

"How could I have imagined that when I woke up from the Moth of Fire, I would find two 'kindred spirits'? And they seemed so close to humans, so close that it made me jealous..." She walked on tiptoe beside Lin, her hands behind her back and her eyes narrowed, like a cat toying with its prey.

"Two?" Lin paused for a moment, then said sharply, "No, you're still lying."

By making him doubt the people around him through lies, he is unlikely to fall for it a second time.

"Hehehe... Are you lying?"

The Eighth Herrscher stopped in front of Lin's blade, giggling. Her long hair danced in the wind like an unfolding scroll.

"Then just treat it as a lie. I'm really looking forward to seeing what your expression will be when you find out the truth."