Lin Mo's subconscious did not require intense emotional shocks to enter. Her mental defense was weak, which surprised A9, who had entered the mental worlds of many people.
It had thought Lin Mo's subconscious would be protected layer upon layer. After all, she was someone covered in invisible thorns, yet her mind turned out to be surprisingly fragile.
Entering others' subconscious, planting anchors to enhance memories, or altering their obsessions was its specialty.
This ability had a limitation: it could rarely enter the subconscious of original characters in the comic and could only enter that of outsiders.
Where were her memories?
A9 shuffled toward the person in the center. People in deep sleep were equally inactive within their subconscious, which was why it had dared to enter after Lin Mo fell asleep.
No matter what appeared in the subconscious, the host would believe they were dreaming, thereby rationalizing its existence. But the moment the host of the subconscious woke up, it would be easily expelled.
However, judging by how easy it was to enter this subconscious, A9 saw no need for vigilance.
It felt a bit annoyed. Had it known earlier, it shouldn't have exposed itself so soon; its mental attacks alone would have been enough to break her.
Thinking this, it peeked about, rubbing its plush hands together in the space as it tried to find anything beyond the white world.
The red and black creature was busily absorbed in its work, standing out starkly in the pure white space, bright like a ball of light.
Scrambling on all fours, A9 failed completely to notice a figure that had suddenly appeared behind it, watching its every move.
It mumbled quietly to itself, “Where did she hide her memories?”
Turning its head, it came face-to-face with an enlarged, expressionless visage that sent all the fur on its body standing up like spikes.
A9 froze entirely. Only after recognizing who it was did it regain control of its mouth, trying to put on a show of bravado. “Lin... Lin Mo!”
“When did you get over here?”
She shouldn't have noticed it so quickly. It had been very careful. Besides, wasn't this person supposed to be asleep?
A lump caught in its throat. Not knowing whether it was comforting itself or Lin Mo, it said, “Don't be afraid. I'm the thing that talked to you yesterday afternoon.”
“Everything I said is true, but you don't seem to believe me. I thought communicating face-to-face would benefit us both, but there's nothing I can do if you still don't believe me.”
“However, once I leave, you might never reach the truth of this world, nor will you ever return to your original home. This is your last chance.”
It shrugged. Although being discovered by the subconscious's host wouldn't affect its movements, A9 felt a chill run down its spine, feeling an urgent urge to leave.
It lied, “I can't stay here for long. If you want to find me, you can continue to talk to me in your mind.”
Backing away, it spoke grand words while inwardly regretting its initial carelessness and underestimating the enemy.
It had been caught.
It seemed learning what happened would have to wait for the next opportunity. But after this incident, entering next time would be a bit difficult.
It drifted upward a short distance when suddenly its whole head was grabbed by a large, lightly calloused hand and slammed viciously onto the ground.
Crunch...
Intense pain flared up, leaving A9 thoroughly stunned. Although its entire form was a plushie persona manifested from a spiritual entity, it could actually feel pain.
Its head felt as though it were being crushed like a rag, hurting so much that its vision turned dark.
Discretion was the better part of valor.
“If there's a problem, let's talk it out nicely!” It flailed its limbs in struggle, but no matter how it thrashed, it couldn't escape the hand pinning it down.
A9 lost all desire to live. The aura of intimidation it had managed to put up crumbled instantly. Wearing a twisted, crumpled expression, it yielded. “What do you want to know?”
It seemed it would have to wait until Lin Mo woke up before it could get out.
Walk by the river long enough, and your shoes are bound to get wet.
Still, if they could converse normally, wouldn't half its goal be achieved?
Lin Mo squeezed the unknown entity with one hand. Her face held none of the panic and cowering A9 was accustomed to seeing; instead, it wore a calm, accustomed demeanor.
She raised her other hand and pinched the air, causing a small knife gleaming with silver light to appear in her palm.
A9!
It struggled even more fiercely. In its panic, it heard Lin Mo's somewhat surprised voice: “Where were you hiding? I haven't been able to find you after all this time.”
She wasn't surprised by its appearance; she was surprised that she hadn't found it.
Wait, do I know you?! Who on earth are you?
A9's round pupils widened instantly.
What did that mean? A person in their subconscious was usually in their most relaxed state; she shouldn't be deliberately bluffing it.
So did she know what it was?! Did she know it?
How did she know? Had she read the comic in the real world? But the comic hadn't drawn its existence at all!
“I don't know what you're talking about,” A9 said, stubborn like a fish just washed ashore.
Lin Mo decisively stabbed the knife into its neck. When the knife was pulled out, no blood spattered, but the unknown object in her hand let out a short, sharp scream, its struggles weakening visibly.
It could feel pain.
“I asked where you were hiding before. How come I never saw you?” Lin Mo didn't deliver a second stab, giving it room to breathe. “Since you can take the initiative to speak with me, you should be quite strong.”
“You shouldn't have appeared this late.”
A9 clutched its empty neck, feeling hair-raising terror. The gaze she held on it felt like a venomous snake slithering up its skin.
Having never experienced pain before, it could do nothing but scream.
Lin Mo plunged another stab into it. She was like someone pounding sticky rice cake—up and down, putting full strength into every stab, yet she muttered in confusion, “No, that's not right. Are you a newly born personality?”
She had assumed it was an alternate personality that had been sleeping and hiding. But not only did this personality lack a human form, it had no combat aggressiveness either, and certainly couldn't be considered strong.
A strong personality had no need to hide, which meant this was a newborn one. But even though she had suffered some stimulation recently, it hadn't been so severe as to split off a new personality.
Since it couldn't fight her for control of the body, why could it speak with her independently?
Lin Mo murmured, “I couldn't have missed one.”
She couldn't have missed an alternate personality without killing it.
“It hurts! Ahhhh!” Like a plucked chicken, the moment A9 felt the grip loosen, it scrambled forward desperately, trying to crawl to the boundary and escape.
A lunatic! She really is a lunatic! I'm no fool.
Dissociative identity disorder!
Judging by what she said, she killed every single personality except herself!
Is she even human?! With so many mental illnesses, how can she still function normally in life?!
Is the one controlling her body the primary personality?
Dragging its riddled, stabbed body, pain and terror left it with no strength to flee, all while dreading that the person behind it would drag it back and stab it again.
Now it finally understood why Lin Mo hadn't given a damn about anything it said that afternoon.
She had thought it was one of her other personalities trying to vie for control of her body!
It was already impressive enough that she hadn't flown into a rage, so how could she possibly talk to it calmly?!
Help! Someone help!
It was wrong—disastrously wrong! It shouldn't have voluntarily entered the subconscious of a psychopath. The only reason nothing went wrong before was that everyone it brought in was normal!
Their subconscious minds had all been more or less normal.
What to do, what to do?! Am I really going to die here?!
The host of the subconscious was the ruler of this world, and this blank space didn't even have a single memory fragment. It had no way to escape.
No! Think of something!
“I'm not one of your personalities! If you kill me, you'll never know what happened!”
Its fur was almost completely stripped away. If its body were truly a small animal, it would have been chopped into minced meat long ago.
“You inherited Forsiman's identity, the organization behind him, his influence, and his role in the story! All of this is now concentrated on you, and a single mistake will leave you dead without a grave!”
“Only I can help you! I know his intelligence!”
Lin Mo's grip tightened further, her eyes pitch-black as a deep pool, growing even more vigilant. “Sounds like you know quite a lot.”
A9 cried in panic, “I won't fight you for the body! Believe me, I'm not your personality—you couldn't possibly split off a personality with my temperament!”
Lin Mo examined its appearance closely. It was indeed strange, but split personalities were beyond one's control, whether in terms of demeanor or appearance.
A9 added, “If I were, I should also be able to conjure items out of thin air here, but I can't. That means I have no ability to threaten you!”
“I won't talk to you without your consent ever again! Please, I must survive! You can command me—I'm very useful! I'm far more useful to you alive!”
...
Too terrifying, too terrifying.
Dragging its battered body, A9 crawled out from Lin Mo. Almost weeping with joy at escaping the threat of death, it immediately covered its face and burst into loud wails.
Thank goodness, I survived. I almost dissipated and lost the chance to shine for this world forever.
If it had died inside an outsider's subconscious, it would have been far too pathetic. Next time it saw a subconscious with no memory fragments and nothing but an empty space, it would definitely stay as far away as possible.
Coming back to its senses, it realized that Lin Mo was lying beside it, awakened by its noise, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.
Even though it knew she couldn't see it in reality, A9 was still scared out of its wits, scrambling on all fours to hide in the corner of the room.
It lay on the floor without any composure for a while, then floated up a short distance and spotted Lin Nan lying not far away.
This unfamiliar character was sleeping soundly, completely unaware that an invisible battle had just taken place. His spine was slightly curved, looking quite insecure—an ordinary person.
Forget the fact that Lin Mo was an outsider; even if she weren't, their appearances didn't resemble each other in the slightest. It had no idea how they had come to address each other as sister and brother.
A9 still hadn't given up. Although it couldn't enter the subconscious of natives, it could still view memories related to outsiders.
Wait, this couldn't be another lunatic, right...? After all, anyone living with Lin Mo doesn't seem normal in any sense.
Suspicious and paranoid, it psyched itself up mentally, resolving to flee immediately if anything felt off.
Gathering its courage, it charged over to Lin Nan and tentatively reached out a foot.
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle. Is it really going to let Lin Mo keep pinning it down and stabbing it forever?!
There were very few memories available to view, since this person had only been with Lin Mo for two months.
A9 was plunged into darkness first before light slowly emerged before its eyes.
...
The new construction project had begun, turning the street scene—which used to be somewhat tolerable—into a heap of ruins. One streetlight was broken, and the remaining one cast a dim yellow circle of light at the entrance of the alley. Inside the glow, several moths fluttered around the bulb, the shadows of their wings floating on the puddles upon the ground.
The air was mixed with an unspeakable odor, and a blood-red hand was hidden in a corner.
Some of the fingernails were torn off. In the shadows, only half of the hand was illuminated by the streetlight, and its body was covered in massive patches of bloodstains.
Within the memory, A9 slowly raised its head, and the second person present came into its view.
Rate on N.U.
