Qianqi: The Truth Behind the Dream / Lin: Capgras Delusion

Perfect timing, I can also observe Kevin, he's the person closest to Lin.

So Qianqi smiled politely and said without showing any emotion, "I'm also waiting for the last bus. It seems we can chat for a while on the bus."

"That's great! I get a little bored traveling alone," Kevin laughed heartily. "My name is Kevin, what's yours?"

Everyone in the school knows your name is Kevin.

Qianqi thought to herself with a pang of sadness. Kevin was naturally different from Lin. Even if he had no desire to stand out, his flamboyant personality and behavior, coupled with his status as the captain of the basketball team, made him a popular figure in the school. All the girls in the school knew that there was a "Prince Charming" named Kevin who had lost his mind and was pursuing a gloomy literary girl. All the boys in the school also knew that there was a "socially successful jerk" named Kevin whose mere existence would automatically lower their status by one rank.

The car arrived, and the two boarded, chatting and laughing, and sat in the last row talking about Kevin's funny stories.

The car slowly started moving.

After passing a platform, a person got off.

His face still held a cheerful and generous warm smile.

He threw the syringe in his hand into the trash can next to him, and then walked into the darkness without looking back.

On the bus, in the last row, a gray-haired girl collapsed unconscious onto her seat.

Take care of your health, everyone.

I'm sick. I feel hot and cold all over, and my neck is very sore. I took cold medicine at noon and slept until 8 pm. I feel dizzy and have a fever.

There shouldn't be any more today. I've been catching up on a lot lately, so I'll make up for it by writing more special episodes on New Year's Eve and during the Spring Festival (I know you guys love watching them). Everyone, please take care of yourselves and get some rest. I think I caught it from going to the supermarket yesterday. I'll definitely wear a mask next time.

Chapter 49 Qianqi: The Truth of Dreams

Qianqi had a nightmare.

In her dream, she became a monster that plunged countless people into a deep sleep, a chilling smile plastered on her face, radiating malice and manipulating people to wreak havoc...

Is that... her?

She sat numbly in the burning ruins, hugging her legs tightly, as if she were the only person left in the world.

Loneliness and guilt overwhelmed her, making it hard for her to breathe.

"It was all my fault..."

The gray-haired girl looked up, and even her tears turned into wisps of smoke in the raging fire.

"Hoo-ha... ha... ha..."

Qianqi suddenly opened her eyes in bed. The blinding sunlight stung her nerves, and the lingering flames from her dream painted her vision orange-red.

The dust particles were clearly visible in the light, and her long hair spread out beneath her. Her mind was blank as she stared at the ceiling.

"..."

Strange... there's a sense of disharmony, and Déjà vu...

Qianqi listened to her father watching the morning news on TV downstairs, her agitated heart gradually cooled down.

Everything seemed normal, but upon closer reflection, she noticed a "mistake," such as... she couldn't remember how she got home yesterday.

Qianqi has developed an unimaginable aversion to the repetitive daily routine, so she is extremely sensitive to anything that is not the daily routine.

It's not just the memories after school yesterday; looking back over the past few days, I always feel a strong sense of dislocation.

After calming her mind, she got out of bed and glanced at the time. It was still early before school. She sat at her desk, turned on the lamp, and tried to recall the illogical things that had happened in the past few days. But once she tried to lift the veil, the scenes from her dream kept flooding into her mind.

No.

She clutched her temples, panting heavily, unable to concentrate at all, and felt as if the person in her dream was watching her and sneering.

Qianqi shook her head and went downstairs to have breakfast. To her surprise, as soon as she arrived at the table, her mother said something that caught her off guard.

"Why did you come home so late again yesterday?" Her mother's gaze was icy, a look she was very familiar with. Usually, whenever she misbehaved, her mother would look at her with that same gaze.

"Late? Again?"

Qianqi felt completely innocent. Although she felt something was stirring deep inside her, she couldn't possibly have stayed out so late more than once...

Wait a moment.

Qianqi realized something, and she recalled her routine over the past few days: going to school, coming home, and going back home, just like usual.

She put down her chopsticks and, ignoring her mother's stern reprimands, rushed back to her room, where she pulled a notebook from a hidden compartment in her drawer.

She was interested in anything unusual, so she kept a notebook to record special events she encountered. She hid the notebook in a homemade drawer compartment, knowing that her parents would probably scold her if they saw it.

Qianqi opened her notebook with a serious expression and flipped directly to the most recent pages, which contained—

"Call..."

Qianqi closed her notebook and let out a breath.

"Memory... can it be modified?"

Qianqi walked in the shade of the trees, her expression thoughtful beneath her hood, each step feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds.

She must have encountered something yesterday; her memories were altered. Unfortunately, her records only went back to the day before yesterday, and her memories were changed before she could even record them yesterday.

Based on the records, was she being "watched"? Was something investigated yesterday the key point?

... No, if she were being watched, she would be dead by now, not just have her memories altered.

It's a stroke of luck that I didn't die, but the results of yesterday's investigation are now invalid, and we have to start all over again.

We should have reached the key point by now... If only someone knew her schedule yesterday.

Unbeknownst to her, Qianqi had strayed from her route to school. When she suddenly realized it, she found herself in the shadow of a sparsely populated building.

Did they all develop a habit of not studying properly as a result? She gave a wry smile and walked towards the school gate.

"Hi~ Xiaoqi~ Are you going to school?"

"Clatter."

Footsteps, halted.

Qianqi's face first showed fear, but then a hint of doubt appeared.

She recognized the smiling, long-haired pink girl blocking her path—the monster who had ripped off MSA-079's head.

Logically, she should be worried about being watched or about to die, but Elysia in front of her has a warm smile and affectionately calls her Xiaoxi. Qianqi's quick thinking allows her to instantly deduce what might have happened yesterday.

Yesterday, I was searching for Ai, the Maid Cafe...

The scene that appeared in her mind made Qianqi instantly show the same warm smile, "Yes, Xiao Ai, why are you here?"

"Xiao Ai?" Elysia nodded her lips, showing a surprised expression, but quickly narrowed her eyes happily, "Hehe, I've come to find Lin."

"Forest?"

"Well, recently... something happened that I'd like to talk to him about."

At the opportune moment, Qianqi revealed a hint of curiosity on her face. "I've been having some problems lately, like constantly dreaming about strange people..."

"Hey? You also keep dreaming about Lin?"

Elysia stared in utter astonishment at the hooded girl.

She couldn't see that Qianqi, hidden under the hood, was equally surprised.

Dream.

This seemingly insignificant thing suddenly became the key to the connection. Qianqi abruptly grabbed Elysia's shoulders, pulled down her hood, and stared intently at Elysia: "Let's talk. I love talking about dreams with others."

"But... aren't you supposed to go to school?"

"Going to school is such a trivial matter, it's not important at all!"

Then the two of them found a coffee shop near the school and sat down. Qianqi casually ordered a cup of milk tea. She counted the money on her, and compared it with the amount from the day before yesterday, she knew what she might have done yesterday.

Qianqi sat down opposite Elysia with two cups of coffee in her hands. After pushing one of the cups, which had milk foam on it, to Elysia, she looked expectantly at the somewhat awkward and silent pink-haired girl in front of her.

"Hmm... where should we begin..." Elysia absentmindedly stirred her coffee with a spoon. She looked down at the white foam on the surface of her coffee and sighed softly. "Xiaoxi, you might find it strange that I'm saying this, but don't think I'm stupid~ I'm serious."

"Okay, go ahead and say it."

"Okay... So first of all, Xiaoqi, do you believe in time travel?"

"..."

Since Parallel World have already appeared, time travel isn't such a big deal... right?

"What if the dreams we have are actually our future?"

The spoon in Qianqi's hand fell into the cup.

Chapter Fifty: Lin: Capgras delusion

Lin walked into the school. He paused for a moment under the shade of a tree, his dark pupils fixed on the teaching building.

The chirping of insects, a monotonous repetition in my ears.

Instead of rushing to class, he stood in an inconspicuous spot, coldly watching the students come and go.

Memory alteration, Parallel World, insiders, the gaze...

To be honest, the elements that Qianqi told him were more outrageous than most novel settings. I reckon even a middle school student wouldn't believe it, since we're long past the era of the Mental Sea we're the chosen one who will be transported to another world by truck to become the protagonist.

So, does Lin believe in Qianqi?

Believe.

When all the evidence points to that bizarre answer, no matter how incredible the answer may seem, you have no choice but to believe it.

Lin hadn't told anyone about his dream except Kevin. Qianqi didn't know him before, and the two had no connection, so there was no conflict of interest between them. Qianqi had no reason to deceive him.

Kevin also mentioned the concept of "another self," but Lin herself has no memory of it. This sense of incongruity and conflict corresponds to what Qianqi said about "memory modification."

But...

Does Lin believe everything Qianqi says?

"..."

His dark pupils revealed no emotion, like blocks of ice that would never melt, remaining perfectly frozen even under the blazing sun.

I wonder if any of you have heard of Capgras delusion, a mental illness.

This symptom is usually caused by damage to the pathway of visual information from the fusiform back to the amygdala and then to the limbic system. People with this condition may believe that their loved one has been replaced by someone with the same physical characteristics.

Lin certainly doesn't have this disease, but he now suspects that someone around him might be impersonated by someone with the same appearance.

If we assume that everything Qianqi says is "true," then there are many points of doubt, such as how the science fiction-style act of "memory modification" is carried out on them.

If the mastermind could alter memories with a mere thought, then there would be no chance of victory. Moreover, if that were the case, Qianqi would never have obtained the information, and everything they had would be erased with a single thought from His mind.

Therefore, let's assume that memory modification requires certain conditions, or even certain contact, to be able to modify their memories without them noticing or arousing suspicion. This requires someone close to them.

A metal rod that can alter someone's memory in a flash? A video recording that leaves the other person in despair after being played? Drugs injected with a syringe?

In short, to modify memories and eliminate the sense of incongruity after modification, one must be by the side of the person performing the modification, preferably someone familiar to them.

Then, since there is another Parallel World's Lin—MSA-079, let's assume that other people from that other world also exist, and that they have replaced the people in this world.

Lin thinks this way because... according to what Qianqi said about "gazing," it doesn't seem like something that can be done by one person alone.

"Gazing" sounds like a computer search program, constantly searching for keywords. However, the activities that follow "gazing" are, according to Qianqi's description, concrete behaviors rather than abstract ones such as "disappearing into thin air," "exploding," or "being killed by a meteorite."

But... there are still conflicts.

Lin couldn't quite describe the feeling; it was a vague sense of familiarity, something he had experienced before, but which seemed to be hidden by a thin film, brewing in his heart.

There is one last question.

"If we are being 'watched,' then there must be a 'watcher,' and what is His/Her purpose?"

"We don't know yet, but one thing is certain... He definitely wants to kill us."

Kill them?

This is Qianqi's explanation that Lin Weiyi doesn't believe.

Since the Watchers can tamper with their memories, killing them would be a piece of cake. So even if they wanted to kill them, they would do so only after achieving their goal. The fact that they are alive now is very likely because they are trying to achieve some kind of goal.

So... there's something wrong with Qianqi.