Chapter 1916

Lin An, I never imagined our first meeting would be under these circumstances.

On the rooftop of a hundred-meter skyscraper, Jiang Haochen strained to keep his emotions in check, forcing himself to speak slowly and calmly.

But the hand that seemed to be casually resting on the railing had already twisted the poor railing into a tangled knot.

Thirty-seven seconds after he sent the message, Lin An descended from the sky.

He was so fast that he hadn't even decided what opening line to use when meeting this man—something imposing yet still low-key.

"Can you see what's wrong with me?"

Ignoring Jiang Haochen's somewhat strange expression, Lin An calmly asked.

Jiang Haochen—he still had a vivid impression of him, as one of the few Awakened Ones he hadn't blocked, this guy would every few days send him a bunch of nonsensical messages.

According to his usual habit, he normally wouldn't look at them. But the latest message actually piqued his interest.

"Exactly! Right! Lin An, you probably still don't know what's wrong with yourself!"

Jiang Haochen's spirit jolted, and he quickly gave a light cough:

"I didn't say much in the message, but now that we've met face to face, I might as well tell you! Not only is your soul problematic, but your body also harbors a meme that could erupt at any moment!"

"If it weren't for my special ability, I'd dare say nobody in the world knows! You're constantly in danger of dying!"

Suppressing his excitement, Jiang Haochen raised his head to look at Lin An; if nothing unexpected, this pervert must be extremely nervous inside, surely shocked and pale, hurriedly asking him what to do.

Who would have thought that the world's strongest, Lin An, is actually on the verge of death!

However.

"Oh."

Lin An gave a light laugh, lifted his right hand, and slightly removed part of his arm guard; in an instant, an extreme chill burst forth.

"Boom!!"

Almost as soon as he removed his equipment, a dark‑blue vortex seemed to appear out of nowhere above the whole building, wave after wave of death‑directed soul intent suddenly locking onto Jiang Haochen.

It felt as if his soul were being torn away at that moment; Jiang Haochen's face paled and he almost cried out.

"This is…!?"

"Damn!! This is it!!"

What he felt from Lin An's body was exactly this thing!

Bone-chilling cold, facing this terrifying vortex, Jiang Haochen felt his scalp about to explode!

Before he could even think to run, in the next second Lin An put his Equipment back on, and the soul-devouring vortex vanished in a blink, as if it had never appeared.

"If the meme you're talking about is this, then there's no need to waste time."

"I know my soul has a problem."

Lin An shook his head slightly, not surprised that Jiang Haochen was frightened. To be honest, he didn't even know if Shen Yuan's skeleton could beat whatever was behind the vortex. As a Fourth Stage, Jiang Haochen being frightened is normal.

"You... you know!? What's going on!? That thing, that thing, aren't you afraid!?"

Incoherent speech.

After regaining his senses, Jiang Haochen sucked in a breath of cold air, as if realizing something, and stared intently at the armor on Lin An's body.

"Holy shit!? Are you shrinking your soul into your body!? You've died before!? No.. you had your soul ripped out!? You escaped back!?"

It's impossible to imagine what Lin An has gone through.

Heaven pities him; he originally thought Lin An didn't know he had a problem, but he never expected Lin An not only to know his soul was leaking, but also to survive by an extremely unimaginable method!

Lin An furrowed his brows slightly, finding Jiang Haochen before him really noisy.

"Escaped back? You could say that."

If it weren't for this guy's abilities indeed being somewhat special, frankly he'd be too lazy to stay here wasting time.

"Are you done sighing? What do you mean by the meme you mentioned?"

"Alive? You... also have a meme on you?"

Hearing Lin An's tone gradually turn cold, Jiang Haochen didn't dare to speak further; his original little thoughts vanished completely.

Just faced with a script completely different from what he had imagined, for a moment Jiang Haochen didn't even know where to start.

"Exactly, I also have a meme on me, but I integrated it myself."

"Lin An, I don't know how much you understand about memes, but I can be certain that the meme on you is absolutely not something you 'wanted'!"

Three minutes later.

Lin An's brows furrowed slightly as he looked thoughtfully at the human face growing on Jiang Haochen's arm.

In Jiang Haochen's words, he then understood what this guy had actually discovered.

"So, you mean my body is full of chaotic meme fragments that have been pieced together into a meme prototype?"

"Now, has it been completely integrated into my body?"

"Yes! Lin An! Actually, memes are everywhere in this world! This thing is essentially another form of life, coexisting with us!"

"But an unformed meme is like a single-celled microorganism; it can't have much impact on reality."

"But when they gather in large numbers and grow, they become the meme incidents we've seen!"

"I can clearly feel that your mental power, your spiritual energy, and even your rules are filled with this stuff everywhere!"

Jiang Haochen swallowed his saliva, staring at the man before him with a look of utter disbelief.

Frankly, if Lin An weren't still maintaining his normal sanity, he would even suspect that Lin An was already dead, and now it's just a bunch of memes controlling Lin An.

Just carrying one meme on him makes him feel like he can barely bear it.

Good grief, the memes on Lin An's body are like a super hybrid with a hundred legs and a hundred heads!

"Let me put it this way, let me give you an example."

"Humans are made of cells, you should understand that? Looking at genes and cells, the proportion of viruses and bacteria in the human body is actually even higher than the 'human' part!"

"One or ten cells together might mean nothing. But tens of millions together form an organ; even more become limbs; even more still, and it becomes another form of life!"

Meme is also the same!

Listening to Jiang Haochen's explanation, Lin An's eyes twitched slightly.

You mean, the lowest-level meme can be a sentence, an action; these incomplete memes are like cells, and when combined, they come alive.

Exactly!

Just like in ancient times, if people accidentally sacrificed a child and then a "divine trace" really appeared that day, they would mistakenly believe that sacrificing a child could summon a god.

These three parts were originally three meme concepts; when combined, they took shape!

As people repeatedly try, continually improving the sacrificial methods, more and more coincidences will keep appearing.

During this sacrificial process, people might unconsciously or consciously add more meme actions, such as dancing, lighting fire. These concepts originally meant nothing, but as they are combined more and more, the entire meme concept will become ever larger!

Eventually it becomes a deeply rooted idea, deeply implanted in people's minds! Even if no more coincidences appear later, people will still, under the control of this idea, repeatedly sacrifice their own kind.

Furthermore, humans controlled by the sacrificial mindset will become meme events! It's as if it has its own thoughts and limbs, and can kill people!