Rain sounds.
Neon lights.
A small room.
A fresh, slightly damp scent.
Qin Xuezhong almost thought she had once again crossed over to when she first arrived in Xigu City.
Because she was in that little room in the city-state district.
Everything around her was exactly the same as it was when she had just crossed over.
But she quickly realized that she couldn't move; she was passively experiencing it.
She understood now: this was the original owner's memory.
Moreover, this memory likely took place right before her crossing!
During the process of connecting to the dead person's chip and continually unlocking the original owner's memories, Little Qin had already discovered that the most recent memory she could see was only up to when the original owner went undercover in the security department, which is why she knew the original owner was about to start working there after her crossing.
The memories unlocked afterward happened even earlier.
As for what had happened to the original owner that led to Qin Xuezhong's crossing, she actually had no idea.
But now, with the introduction of the main Ouyang Zhao's 'destiny,' this segment of memory had been unlocked?
This further convinced Qin Xuezhong that the two events were absolutely related.
Just as she thought of this, she suddenly sensed something was off.
The original owner's mind was too chaotic.
The memory retrieval process was very similar to connecting to a virtual dream, where all scents, tactile sensations, temperatures, and even illusions could be felt through the nerves.
At first, these things hadn't fully integrated, but now, all kinds of chaotic illusions surged up.
First, in the original owner's eyes, besides herself, there were three identical versions of her.
One was dejected, one was insane, and another was even a corpse hanging from the ceiling.
In addition to these three main illusions, there were several other people, including the old man from the Moon Children that Qin Xuezhong had met before.
All of these illusions were speaking.
"Don't connect anymore; you'll die if you do!"—the old man shouted angrily.
"Don't mess around; quickly hide!"—this was the middle-aged man guarding the safe house chip.
"Ha ha ha ha, go ahead and connect; look at me, I'm already dead, you come along too!"—this was the corpse from the ceiling, its tongue completely swollen out of its mouth, yet it still spoke indistinctly.
"Have you thought about it? If you die, we all die together…" the dejected illusion said softly.
The original owner's face twitched visibly.
Qin Xuezhong could feel the original owner was struggling hard to overcome her anxiety and fear.
After a moment of silence, as if gathering strength, she attempted to speak.
Just before she could say anything, another illusion appeared right in front of her face, startling Qin Xuezhong.
Upon seeing that figure for the first time, Little Qin's heart skipped a beat.
—It was a person with no face at all, or rather, someone with only the back half of a skull, with even the brain tissue missing.
There was only a bloodied hollow, with eerie white bones facing the original owner.
The original owner gently reached out, tracing her fingers along the edge of the skull, her heart filled with attachment and reluctance.
Little Qin was terrified.
The original owner spoke, "I know you're reluctant too, but we've already discovered that something is off in this world; everyone is living in an illusion… You know my personality; once I'm determined about something, I have to see it through."
The hollow skull silently gazed at her.
"Alright, I'm talking to myself again. You know, I know, you're just an illusion in my mind, a personification of my sense of security… If a person's brain is completely deceived, what sense of security can there be? I might as well dig out my brain; perhaps that way I can see the truth of this world."
The original owner's tone grew increasingly resolute.
"I've understood clearly now; the Moon Children blocked the dual moons' suicide suggestion methods, connected to this brain, and the chaotic consciousness I generated in my head… it has brought me very close to death."
"But even so… if I'm to die, I must make one last effort; that's the survival rule of a child from the slums."
"Maybe, just maybe, this time it will succeed?"
As she spoke, the hollow skull illusion disappeared, and the original owner seemed to exert a lot of effort to take the first step, then walked to the side of the bed.
Qin Xuezhong already knew the next process because she had experienced it herself.
The original owner, with slightly trembling hands, conducted identity verification at the bed's edge and opened the hidden compartment under the bed once more.
The brain that belonged to the opposite Ouyang Zhao was revealed.
This time, Little Qin finally understood that it was likely because the original owner made one last connection that led to her death, causing Qin Xuezhong to cross over.
Following the original owner's memory, Qin Xuezhong connected to Ouyang Zhao's brain again.
However, this time, she didn't see the escape from the laboratory that she had experienced; instead, it was a state of chaos.
Countless fragmented and highly aggressive memories were swirling chaotically, seeking to crush any incoming consciousness.
The original owner spoke to herself as if recording an experimental log.
"This is the last experiment; I have long given up on the trial of escaping the laboratory. This is not consistent with Ouyang Zhao's escape scenario; I suspect it's just a disguise. On the surface of the brain's consciousness space, there are many aggressive memory fragments that can easily cause confusion. I plan to use the illusions generated so far to block these attacks while probing the internal situation once more."
"In previous experiments, I discovered an interesting phenomenon: these memory fragments produce chain reactions. If I destroy or modify some of the data, the other fragments will automatically adjust."
"In particular, some key nodes can bring about drastic random changes in the entire chaotic space with just minor adjustments."
"It's quite similar to the butterfly effect in climate models."
"Perhaps this is some kind of protective program developed by Ouyang Zhao."
At this point, Qin Xuezhong understood: wasn't this exactly what the main Ouyang Zhao referred to as 'destiny'?
When she connected to this brain beneath the psychiatric hospital, perhaps due to the effect of the consciousness void, she was able to break through the outer protective layer by exhaustive methods and see the negative Ouyang Zhao inside…
At that time, both believed that the abnormality in this brain's consciousness space was due to a split consciousness, making it difficult for others to enter and prone to madness.
But in reality, the outer layer of this brain's consciousness space was a trap laid by the main Ouyang Zhao!
The following scenes lacked any concrete images.
After the original owner connected, all her senses and psychological states became completely chaotic, and not even a coherent thought remained.
If it weren't for the protection of the consciousness void, Little Qin wouldn't last long in such an environment.
Countless erratic light points and threads were interacting, sometimes silent, sometimes exploding into a brilliance that seemed to tear through the void.
Numerous scenes, people, and voices raced by during this process, as if sweeping through countless worlds in an instant.
Ultimately, in this dazzling yet cruel journey, the original owner's consciousness was completely shattered and disappeared within.
Just before the original owner's consciousness vanished, a thought sparked a small flame.
"If someone could continue to uncover the truth, how wonderful that would be."
This spark opened a tiny window in the chaos.
Qin Xuezhong looked through and saw her office before she crossed over, with her own self suddenly slumped over the desk.
Her: !!!
So this was how she came through?!
She once again confirmed that the "destiny" created by the main Ouyang Zhao was definitely not just a simple program; it might really be as Ouyang Zhao said, that "destiny" involved the underlying logic of the world.
Otherwise, a computer virus or program could never have allowed her to cross over.
But how could she manipulate something so intangible and mysterious? What did she have to do to combat it?
By this point, the memory had completely ceased.
Emerging from this fantastical and sorrowful journey, Qin Xuezhong did not return directly to reality; instead, she found herself in her consciousness void.
She saw that the original owner's light sphere, which had accompanied her for a long time, had vanished.
In its place were countless fissures in the consciousness void.
At first, Qin Xuezhong thought these were mere cracks, as they created a sense of rupture akin to shattered glass.
But upon closer inspection, she realized that they weren't just cracks.
Those seemed to be some kind of lines that had caused spatial distortion.
Some were thin, some were thick, some looked as if they could break with a breath, while others seemed very sturdy.
Fearing that she might snap one of the thinner lines, she cautiously attempted to touch the one that appeared the most stable.
Yu Zhezhong nervously raised his gun, watching the combat robots closing in from all directions.
Just a moment ago, after Qin Xuezhong announced that she would introduce the "destiny," there had been a sudden silence.
Thirty seconds had passed.
The main Ouyang Zhao was clearly becoming impatient, ordering the immediate capture of everyone present.
Yu Zhezhong looked at the numerous low-temperature containment gels ready to launch above his head, knowing that if Qin Xuezhong didn't appear soon, this team would likely be done for.
At this critical moment, he suddenly felt a surge of anxiety.
This caused him to lose focus for a second.
He knew that combat personnel of his level had nerves of steel; no matter what happened, they would remain emotionally unflinching.
Yet now, he was distracted?
A familiar and intense impulse made him raise his gun and fire randomly at the ceiling, as if by instinct.
The bullet hit the ceiling's structure, creating a refraction that struck the wiring behind the low-temperature containment gel launcher overhead.
One batch exploded directly.
The shards from the explosion impacted the entire ceiling and the surrounding defensive weapons, rendering them all inoperative.
Then, amidst the explosion, several seemingly random shots "coincidentally" hit the outer perimeter, taking down all the elite guards.
The tense atmosphere evaporated instantly.
There was a dead silence.
Even the previously agitated main Ouyang Zhao couldn't utter a word.
Yu Zhezhong knew that Qin Xuezhong had undoubtedly succeeded and had done something remarkable.
He casually shouted, "Hey, do you have any other tricks? If not, we'll get to work now."