Edited by Cloud Chip Cake.
In the narrow and silent room, a cloaked girl walked to the window and drew the heavy curtains shut. Instantly, a dense darkness filled the entire space, the air was so still you could hear a pin drop. Xiao Jinyu and Zhao Hen sat on the only two chairs in the empty room’s center.
“Tap, tap—”
Dreamer approached.
“When the person involved examines their own memories, my suggestion is for them to ring the bell themselves.”
Xiao Jinyu heard a brief whooshing sound beside him. Shortly after, Zhao Hen, who was sitting next to him, softly sounded his acknowledgement. He raised his hand as if holding something and then asked, “Just ring it directly? Alright, I’ll start.”
“Ding-a-ling!”
The sharp, piercing sound of a handbell abruptly rang out, causing Xiao Jinyu’s heart to stop momentarily.
Before the sound ceased, three crisp bell chimes followed. Zhao Hen shook the bell with one hand and grasped Xiao Jinyu’s hand with the other. Their bodies were connected, and though they couldn’t see the bell ringing in the darkness, a tremendous pull emanated from the bell, passing through their clasped hands to Xiao Jinyu.
Boom!
It felt as if someone had punched him hard, leaving Xiao Jinyu’s mind in a daze. His upper body leaned back, tightly pressed against the chair back.
The three bell chimes stopped abruptly, but Dreamer’s logic skill continued.
At the same moment, dazzling images flashed before their eyes, swiftly extending across their optic nerves like a flickering carousel—
This wonderful experience was unlike anything Xiao Jinyu had ever encountered.
It wasn’t merely observing someone’s memory as a bystander, like watching a movie. Instead, it was an immersive experience!
March 29th, 2043, a Sunday, was the hottest day since spring began, with the temperature soaring to 29 degrees Celsius.
He could clearly see the sunlight piercing through the clouds and the tiny dust particles in the air creating beams through the Tyndall effect; he also saw cars speeding down the road and exhaust fumes blowing dry leaves and sand off the pavement.
From six in the morning to six in the evening, Zhao Hen’s entire 12-hour schedule for the day was compressed into a brief memory, rapidly passing before their eyes.
As a university student, Zhao Hen attended morning classes and rushed to his Samba dance class in the afternoon.
—He wasn’t wearing shorts.
He wore regular tight capri pants. He followed the teacher carefully, learning each dance move, and tried his best to twist his body.
The scent of male sweat quietly filled the spacious dance room. The level one Sexy Samba didn’t involve wearing tight pants, and the five other students danced the same moves as him. Plus the teacher in front.
A total of six people.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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As the light flooded the room, Xiao Jinyu looked up to see the dark-skinned man covered in sweat. His eyes were filled with panic, and his lips trembled slightly. After a while, he also looked up at Xiao Jinyu, revealing a bitter smile. “That figure’s back, was it Ling Yunyun’s?”
Xiao Jinyu paused for a moment and then confirmed, “It was her. When Ling Yunyun had the car accident, she was wearing a thin white jacket and gray yoga pants. She was about 165 cm tall and weighed around 50 kg. That figure’s back resembled her a lot, and in your peripheral vision, you saw her seemingly walk into the neighboring yoga class.”
The two locked eyes but said nothing further.
After discovering that Ling Yunyun had crossed paths with Zhao Hen before her death, no one suspected Zhao Hen, but they did notice an issue: the first real intersection between Zhao Hen and Ling Yunyun wasn’t on the 29th but on the 22nd, a week earlier. However, on the 22nd, Ling Yunyun didn’t have a fever; it was on the 29th that she suddenly developed a high fever and unexpectedly died.
Zhao Hen had never actively triggered his logic skill, but why wasn’t Ling Yunyun affected by Sexy Samba on the 22nd, only to be influenced on the 29th, causing her fever?
Now, everything made sense.
Xiao Jinyu stood up. “To trigger the ‘Third-Party Logic Skill,’ the user and the victim might need to be within a certain distance.”
Zhao Hen nodded. “There might even need to be some ‘eye contact’. On the 22nd, I probably didn’t go out to the restroom, didn’t see Ling Yunyun, and was far enough away from her, so the ‘Third-Party Logic Skill’ wasn’t triggered.”
Xiao Jinyu looked at him. “Zhao-ge, in your memory just now, you went out to the restroom and happened to encounter Ling Yunyun coming out of the elevator. So, you both walked in the corridor, with her walking in front of you. The closest distance between you was about three meters. And you saw her. Of course, she didn’t see you.”
Zhao Hen replied, “Correct!”
Xiao Jinyu summarized, “So now, how the ‘Third-Party Logic Skill’ functions is probably—
“First, once a logic skill is activated, the ‘Third-Party Logic Skill’ will ensure a 100% mortality rate for the victim.
“Second, if the victim encounters a user, with roughly three meters of distance between them and eye contact, the victim will automatically be captured by that user’s logic skill—even if the user did not actively initiate their logic skill and is unaware that their logic skill has been forcibly triggered. Under these circumstances, the victim will also die due to various conditions.”
…
The two left the room.
Zhao Hen handed the worn-out handbell to Dreamer, but she didn’t reach out to take it. The girl, hidden under a large black cloak, lowered her voice, “No need, it’s already broken.”
Zhao Hen replied, “Huh? I didn’t shake it that hard.”
Xiao Jinyu glanced at the golden handbell in Zhao Hen’s hand in surprise. Soon, his gaze settled on two fine cracks at the top of the bell.
Dreamer explained, “These tools are single-use. Once you’ve viewed the memory and the logic skill completes its cause and effect, it destroys itself.”
Zhao Hen scratched his head and, noticing the cracks on the bell, reluctantly threw it into the nearby trash bin.
Dreamer didn’t say much more. She softly reminded Zhao Hen to rest well, predicting he’d have nightmares for a few more days.
“In fact, if you can find another user to share the memory with, the side effects will be much less severe.”
Both of them were stunned by this remark.
Zhao Hen asked in surprise, “Share the memory?”
Dreamer raised her head slightly, revealing part of her lips, “You seem to have a good relationship with Elephant Dance Xu Qi.”
“We’re on decent terms. But what do you mean by sharing the memory?”
Dreamer explained, “It means you and he both enter my logic skill, and your memories are read simultaneously. If you’re viewing a memory from three years ago, then Elephant Dance will have a random memory from within those three years viewed. For example, if you’re viewing a single day’s memory, he will randomly view one day from the past three years. But both of you will have your side effects reduced by half. If you can find a level five user or even a level six user to help you, the side effects will be reduced even more, maybe even to nothing.”
Zhao Hen was speechless.
You could have told me this sooner!
Noticing Zhao Hen’s resentful expression, Dreamer coughed and explained, “However, in this situation, the side effects are also shared.”
Just as Zhao Hen was about to speak, the young man next to him hurriedly asked, “What do you mean by the side effects being shared?”
Dreamer paused and looked at Xiao Jinyu. “It means that while enduring the torment of the side effects, your and the other user’s ‘feared illusions’ will overlap with each other. Your illusions will constantly interchange. Sometimes you’ll see what he fears most, and sometimes he’ll see yours. It’s like sharing weaknesses. Additionally, there’s a minor side effect,” Dreamer added. “The extracted memories will also constantly overlap. Sometimes you’ll see your memory, and sometimes his.”
Zhao Hen commented, “That’s not entirely unacceptable. Maybe Xu Qi would be willing to help me…”
Dreamer glanced at him, “In my experience, when you selectively extract a specific day’s memory, the second user’s random memory is usually their most embarrassing or the one they least want to be seen.” She muttered quietly, “Probably a quirk of my logic skill.”
Zhao Hen was speechless again.
Dreamer spread her hands confidently, “That’s why I didn’t tell you this. Judging by your demeanor, you probably don’t have a relationship with any higher-level user that’s close enough to make them willingly expose their most embarrassing memories to you, right?”
***
“Ding!”
The elevator doors opened, and Su Jiuzhou stepped out. He looked up to see a young man standing at the end of the long corridor, gaze slightly raised towards a mural on the wall. The mural depicted eight naked cherubs circling a nude girl draped in a sheer white veil.
“The Extermination Squad headquarters used to be a French Concession’s merchant house from the last century.”
A deep voice sounded from behind. Xiao Jinyu turned around.
Su Jiuzhou remarked, “Foreigners’ artistic appreciation probably focuses on the human body, mainly on just the body.”
Xiao Jinyu withdrew his gaze. “I was just looking around while waiting for you.”
It seemed a particular word had triggered something in Su Jiuzhou. His gaze lingered on the young man, and then he suddenly smiled.
The two walked towards the door together.
Xiao Jinyu spoke calmly, “How’s the situation with Relativity going?”
Su Jiuzhou replied, “It’s only been six days. Seven more to go.”
Xiao Jinyu glanced at him briefly.
Thirteen days.
It seemed they truly intended to push the Relativity project to its limits, hoping to extract more information from him.
—Would this be considered a form of disguised torture?
He quickly dismissed the thought.
Let alone disguised torture, even actual torture would be easily justified for someone as extremely dangerous and socially harmful as Relativity.
Users had long been detached from normal social systems. For those possessing immense power and who are difficult to control, they were no longer merely human.
Xiao Jinyu’s eyes wandered, his refined face displaying little emotion, but Dreamer’s words kept flashing through his mind.
“Find a level five user, or even a level six user to help you…”
…
Heavy footsteps echoed from not far away, interrupting Xiao Jinyu’s thoughts. He looked up to see Jiang Wentao hurrying over with an anxious expression, a familiar sight that made him pause briefly. Jiang Wentao soon reached them.
He first nodded towards Su Jiuzhou, “Colonel Su.”
Then, Jiang Wentao turned to Xiao Jinyu, “Xiao Jinyu, I think the user of that logic skill might really be in Qingzhou now! Just an hour ago, my friend Surfing Scumbag was arrested again for suspected murder! He was shopping with his new girlfriend at a mall, when suddenly, a man in front of him smashed a glass and slit his throat with the shards. My friend reacted quickly and tried to save him, but five minutes ago, the man died despite all his efforts.”
Thank you for the update 🖤💯
This Surfing Scumbag is too unlucky to encounter two deaths…Poor him 😔
Thanks for the update I think Xiao Jinyu will convince Su Jiuzhou to share memory
Man is going to start doubting his logic skill at this rate (>0<；)