"Brother..."
Youxi looked at him with worry in her eyes,
"Have you not recovered your memory yet?"
Li Andy took a deep breath and shook his head:
"I don't know..."
Youxi was stunned for a moment, then moved her limbs, floating over as if in the deep-sea abyss, and gently hugged him:
"Don't worry, Brother, you'll remember."
Li Andy froze in her delicate embrace, feeling warmth but also a faint ache.
—What he had forgotten was truly precious.
Li Andy didn't linger too long in the tender moment, gently pushing Youxi's shoulders and stepping out of her embrace:
"Alright, let's get down to business first."
Youxi nodded and asked:
"Brother, what are those three light clusters?"
"Sophia and their Mental Worlds."
"Jasmine, Sophia, Irene, Eric, shouldn't there be four worlds?"
"It seems two people's Mental Worlds have merged."
"Just like ours?"
Li Andy froze.
"What's wrong, Brother?" Youxi asked with concern.
"No, it's not the same!"
Li Andy grabbed his hair and said quickly,
"That Mental World is only controlled by you, so I should be the external object who came in later.
"But as an external object, I shouldn't have lost my memory!
"Which means... I lost my memory after unraveling my own Mental World, and before entering your world!
"I... might have already made a transaction with the Bookhouse!"
Youxi was stunned:
"Then what did you trade, Brother?"
"I don't know!" Li Andy's breathing became rapid.
Youxi was speechless, unsure how to comfort him, and could only gently hug him.
A few seconds later, Li Andy finally calmed down, slowly looked up, and asked:
"Youxi, you said there are three things I need to do: 【Find Jasmine and Sophia】, 【Uncover the forces behind the bandits】, and 【Find the professor's stuff】, right?"
"Yes." Youxi nodded.
Li Andy glanced around:
"Then let's start with 【Uncovering the forces behind the bandits】. While these memory fragments haven't dissipated, let's 'read' them separately and then combine our findings. Remember, don't look too 'detailedly'; once you get the information you need, don't keep reading."
Youxi smiled sweetly:
"Okay, you too, Brother."
Li Andy nodded, without much unnecessary talk.
At this moment, he desperately wanted to clear the instance.
What he had done, perhaps there would be an answer in the end.
After he and Youxi divided the responsible fragment areas, Li Andy imitated Youxi's previous action, reaching out to touch the memory fragment of the 【Corpse Controller】.
Instantly, a memory reel that didn't belong to him was poured into his mind, making his head ache.
But through some kind of protective filtering mechanism of his body and the Bookhouse, those memories quickly blurred and compressed, leaving only fragmented impressions:
"My name is Flora. I was born into a humble serf family in the Frankish Empire. I was ugly and no one liked me since I was a child."
"When I was fourteen, my father sold me to the old gravedigger at the end of the village."
"The gravedigger also found me ugly. He tied me to the bed and said he would give me a new body. I was terrified, I screamed, I begged for mercy, but I still fainted."
"When I woke up, I had really become beautiful... Looking at the stranger in the mirror, I didn't feel disgusted inside."
"That night, I touched a man for the first time. His body was cold, hard, and very much like a corpse."
"Flora? The bandit's name?"
Li Andy slowly opened his eyes, not recalling any information about this person from the game.
So after simply noting it down, he floated to another fragment.
Upon touching it, the impression fragments flickered again:
"My name is Flora. I've become beautiful, but I need constant maintenance."
"The old gravedigger said I was his best treasure and wouldn't allow me to go out."
"So, I spent countless days in this morgue cellar. Besides the few minutes each day serving him, I felt like a dead person."
"But fortunately, the gravedigger said that once he died of old age, I could go out and inherit everything he owned."
Li Andy opened his eyes again, realizing these fragments were continuous.
Just as he was about to skip over a section of boring life, he suddenly saw a special fragment.
The image reflected in that fragment was very blurry, and its surface seemed to be contaminated, covered with a disturbing pattern that made one uncomfortable to look at.
"It's a node fragment of Mental Collapse..."
Li Andy pondered for a few seconds and decided to read it anyway; perhaps he could find some useful information.
As his fingertip touched it, the fragment reappeared.
"That day, the gravedigger died, died of old age beneath me. I was finally free."
"I walked out of the cellar. The sunlight outside was blinding."
"I saw an ugly woman. She actually told me her name was Flora, that she was the gravedigger's purchased wife, and had lived here for several years."
"And I was a false life, her shadow, and should now return to her body."
"No!"
"Liar!!"
"You're the fake one!!!"
"I... killed that imposter!"
Li Andy suddenly opened his eyes, his back drenched in cold sweat.
That instant of empathy startled him.
"Imposter..."
Just as Li Andy was lost in thought, Youxi's joyful call came from her side:
"Brother, I found the memory we need, you don't have to keep looking! That bandit is named Flora, a spy from the Frankish Empire. Their goal is the method for making blood coal crystal, which the professor possesses."
Li Andy came back to his senses in a daze, shook his head, and cast aside those destabilizing thoughts, pulling his attention back.
"blood coal crystal?"
What is that again...?
He suddenly wished that comments and bullet screens could appear before him, giving him a recap.
Youxi slowly floated over, frowning slightly, noticing Li Andy's changing expression and also the abnormal memory fragment:
"Brother, are you alright? What's going on with this fragment?"
"I'm fine."
Li Andy wiped the sweat from his forehead,
"That fragment is the node that caused the Mental Collapse... I've read it, don't touch it, it's not pleasant."
Youxi nodded, very obedient and well-behaved, not giving in to curious impulses.
Li Andy let out a soft sigh:
"Since we found the memory we needed, let's go find Jasmine and Sophia next."
Youxi nodded again, but just then, the three light clusters representing Mental Worlds suddenly converged, merging into an even more mottled and massive light cluster.
Youxi subconsciously hugged her brother's arm tightly:
"Brother, it?"
"It's fine, it's better if it turns into one cluster."
Li Andy explained,
"It will be more stable, and the Mental World's changes will no longer be controlled by a single person. The downside is that finding people will be a bit troublesome."
Youxi relaxed, but still habitually clung to Li Andy.
Li Andy felt pressure again internally. With an urgent feeling, he pulled his "stranger" sister and leaped into the light cluster.
After the two merged, outside, unbeknownst to them,
The contaminated fragment, about to dissipate, was blown by an unknown force and drifted into the light cluster.
A murky spot began to spread from the bottom.
The entire light cluster began to tremble, becoming unstable.
......
In the reconstructed Mental World.
A charming maid with golden hair and violet eyes was tidying her attire in front of a mirror.
The maid looked at her nervous reflection in the mirror, took a deep breath, and encouraged herself:
"Today is my first day working as a maid for the Jasmine family, Sophia, you can definitely do it, come on!"