A Present

"I'll guide you 'beep—'"

"..."

"..."

Mei was also intimidated by his aura, as if she had seen a refined and easy-going red-haired professor from Anti-Entropy.

"I was saying, can you not get so angry? I was just trying to make it a little easier for her to accept it."

This time, the woman's voice neither interrupted him nor swore, "Let's get down to business."

"Okay, whatever you want to think of me, I'm just here to check if something is working properly." The man, somewhat exasperated with the other person, said to Mei in a normal tone, "It was purely by accident that you met me, please continue."

"Wait a minute, what is your relationship with Lin? How do you know who I am? Are you a memory fragment in this space?"

"Memory? Heh... Looks like there's no problem." The man chuckled. "And this rule... He just modified the one I used to test him and used it to test you? Can I apply for a patent? But this method is indeed the fastest way to achieve the effect of 'inquiring into one's heart'."

Mei didn't understand a word the man said, but he seemed to know Lin well and had some understanding of the current situation, so Mei asked again, "Do you know what Lin's test is?"

"He should have told you, right? Why don't you try to find clues through what he said? Of course, I can also help you find the answer directly, but you have to fulfill one condition of mine."

"What are the conditions?"

Tell me your measurements.

"..."

Mei was shocked.

Since entering the Imaginary Tree, apart from Elysia who spends all day jumping around with a megaphone, everyone else is either sarcastic or incomprehensible. This man is even more unruly than Elysia, and Mei even finds him "cheap".

Especially since his voice was just like that of a certain stern-faced man, the sense of incongruity and scumbag behavior was even stronger.

Of course, such frank and straightforward teasing made Mei blush with embarrassment, but then she felt a surge of anger.

"So innocent? Hahaha... Okay, I'll stop teasing you. Mei, I can't help you. This is a place where you have to ask the questions yourself and then give the answers yourself. But I can tell you a secret about the true nature of Imaginary Tree."

"Secret?" Upon hearing these two words, Mei waited intently for the man to continue, hoping it wouldn't be another risqué joke.

"To be precise, how do we find clues to the secret?" the man said with a meaningful smile. "There are three people who know this secret: Lin, Mobius, and Mei. But unfortunately, you can't verify this with Lin and Mobius in the Imaginary Tree, because the three people I'm talking about... are not memory bodies, but the real Lin, Mobius, and Mei."

"What exactly does that mean?!"

"Oh ho~ Time's up, goodbye, Mei. By the way, you're much cuter than the previous Herrscher of Thunder."

"Time is running out..." Lin's deep, ocean-like eyes swept over the setting sun in the distance, and he murmured softly, "Is success or failure hinged on this..."

"Speaking of which, you haven't given me the gift you bought yet."

Lin's solemn expression vanished, replaced by a smile, "That... I'll give it to you after I leave."

"Really? Can I look forward to it?"

"Hahaha..." Lin laughed quite cheerfully, "Of course, I think most people will feel surprised... It's just that a small number of people hope Eri you can tell them in advance that Lin is back. You don't want to see Lin beaten into a severe disability and lying in a hospital bed for two months, do you?"

"Then can you tell me who you really are?"

"..."

Elysia's gentle, spring-like words completely destroyed the warm atmosphere between the two.

The last rays of the setting sun shone on Elysia's gentle, smiling face. Always smiling at her friends, she reached out a finger to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, her delicate elf ears twitching as she met Lin's smiling gaze...

"Eri, do you think this kind of life is good? Being with friends..."

"Okay!" Elysia answered without hesitation, her smile never changing. "Every minute and every second I spend with everyone is the most precious time of my life."

Lin's smile melted. He had known all along that Elysia would say that. Yes, he knew it without even asking.

But he just wanted to hear it one more time...

"It's the same for me." He smiled with all his might, using the smile that the person in front of him had taught him. "I used to envy Kevin. He was able to do anything for the people around him, even if it meant abandoning the whole world."

What about now?

He didn't continue.

The bright light in Lin's eyes disappeared, leaving the body along with the last rays of the setting sun.

Don't worry, he will definitely protect you... protect you whom I failed to protect before...

Gradually, an Elysia color appeared in Lin's eyes.

"Forest?"

"... Yes, I'm back."

Chapter 85 Gifts

"You're back just like that?"

Mobius clearly didn't believe that the guy standing in front of him had returned to his original form, even though he had put on his signature helmet and that nonchalant air was gone.

But... you just went out for a short walk and came right back?

"Are you Lin?" Mobius's suspicious expression clearly revealed her doubts.

Lin nodded. "Yes, that's me."

I don't believe it.

"..."

The problem is, what the person who took over Lin's body said before seems to be true... Even if he says he is Lin, they have no way to verify it.

The tricky part is that the person claims to possess all of Lin's memories and can even impersonate Lin's personality. If it weren't for his exceptionally vulgar and nonsensical behavior, probably no one would have noticed...

Lin is also somewhat confused right now, as he is processing the new information that has entered his mind.

All his memories from when he fell into a coma until his return gave him a general understanding of what had happened, but there were also some "gifts" left behind by the consciousness that had taken over his body.

That's right, this was a special instruction that the cynical person left directly in Lin's memory, saying it was a gift to celebrate his passing the exam and welcoming him home.

Who... is that person?

From all perspectives, it seems that person imprisoned him and Yan Luo in the World Bubble, but was his purpose just to play around with his own body?

But judging from what he left behind...

"Lin... Captain? You're back?" Dessidobia walked over at this moment. She knew he was back when she saw Lin putting on his helmet. "Can the gifts be distributed now?"

Lin's thoughts snapped out of their reverie, and he nodded silently.

From her memory, the person instructed Dessidobia to deliver the gifts after Lin returned, but strangely, Lin had no memory of the contents of each person's gift.

So he was quite curious about what kind of gifts they were, so he followed Dessidobia to get the gifts and distribute them one by one.

"A gift... for me?"

When Lin handed the gift box to Ying, she looked surprised, and Lin just nodded silently, completely losing his previous playful demeanor, which greatly increased Ying's pressure.

I wonder if Lin actually has that memory...

Aren't you going to open it?

"May I?"

"..."

Lin didn't know how to describe this scene. Would anyone ask if the person giving the gift could open it? Is it possible for a person giving a gift to not allow others to open it and only look at the packaging box?

Fortunately, Sakura realized in time that there was something wrong with what she said. She hurriedly lowered her head and opened the gift, looking like a little girl whose secret had been discovered.

Little girl...

Lin glanced at Ying's pink and thin lips subconsciously, and thought of the criminal declaration that Yan Luo had told him, "Someone once told me that just touching lips doesn't count as a first kiss."

... For no apparent reason, why would he think of that sentence?

Sakura, who did not notice anything unusual about Rin, opened the gift box. Rin, who was standing next to her, stood on tiptoe and looked into the box, and found that it contained three identical pairs of headphones.

Considering that Sakura and Rin are such good sisters that they use the same things everywhere, it's quite normal to give two gifts, but...

"Why are there three pairs of headphones? Who is the extra pair for?"

The question Ling asked gave Sakura goosebumps, and she stood there helplessly.

There's another pair... of course, it's for Sakura too, because Sakura has two pairs of ears.

But how could I tell Rin something like this? Should I make her tell her sister that she is actually a monster with an extra pair of animal ears?

"It's for Sakura..." Lin was about to answer when Sakura slapped him back.

"Smack!"

The slap landed on the helmet, not stopping Lin from continuing to speak, but it did make him pause. He glanced at Sakura, whose eyes held a pleading look, and after a moment's thought, said, "It's... for myself."

"You guys..." Ling's suspicious gaze darted back and forth between the two who looked guilty, then she suddenly remembered something and clapped her hands in realization, "Okay, I get it!"

Lin didn't know what Ling knew, and Ying didn't know what Ling knew either, but in any case, she must have known something.

So Lin continued distributing gifts with "his" new headphones hanging around his neck.

What kind of look is this?

What kind of look is this?

Kevin and Lin asked each other questions at the same time.

Lin was still wearing the evening gown that Prometheus had given him, but he was wearing a sci-fi helmet and headphones, creating a very jarring effect.

Kevin, however, stood out even more. He sat solemnly on a white plastic chair that could be found anywhere in a food stall, eating noodles in the center of the banquet.

Just as Lin came over, he had finished the last bite of the noodles and was sucking them into his mouth.

"Slurp."

The moment he finished slurping his noodles and looked up to meet their gaze, the air seemed to freeze.

"..."

Although Kevin tried his best to maintain his aloof image, Lin could still tell that he was a little embarrassed.

Moreover, long before Lin arrived, the people around him had been secretly watching the first Flame-Chaser sitting in the most conspicuous place, enjoying his noodles.

"...It's stuck." Kevin said coldly.

"...What?"

"My back and buttocks... are completely stuck..."

"..."

Of course, if it was just his clothes that were stuck to his clothes, Kevin could still quietly move the plastic chair to a corner or backstage to remove it.

The problem is that the chair legs are also glued on.

According to Vill-V's assessment, it was a building material adhesive she made in her spare time. It cannot be removed like ordinary glue, and its stickiness is so great that a 100-milliliter amount can hold a ton of weight for decades.

Simply put, Kevin can't leave this chair unless he takes off his clothes in public.

Lin shook his head and handed over the gift box in his hand. "This is a gift for you. Where's Mei?"

"I'm here." Mei walked over just then. Today, she was dressed differently from her usual rigid science PhD, wearing a charming bodycon skirt, black stockings, and high heels.

She smiled and asked, "You're back?"

"Um."

Mei didn't ask any more questions. No one could understand the thought in her eyes, but she quickly put away her consideration and turned to look at the gift with Kevin.

Without needing to say much, perhaps due to a long-standing tacit understanding, Kevin and Lin didn't stand on ceremony. He tore open the packaging, opened the box, and took out... a pair of diamond rings.

The two pieces, one large and one small, fit Kevin and May's fingers perfectly, and each had the other's name engraved on the silver base. They weren't there when Lin and the others bought them, so it seems that the person engraved it on after buying them.

"Ring?"

While some couples wear matching rings to signify their relationship, there is no such tradition "at this time".

"When someone of the opposite sex gives you a ring, and you accept it and wear it on your left ring finger, it means you've accepted and it's considered a proposal," Lin explained, drawing on the memories left behind by that person. "There's a blood vessel on your left ring finger that connects directly to your heart, so it means that love is closest to your heart."

After a brief moment of surprise, Mei smiled gently, said nothing, and silently picked up the large ring.