Chapter 889: The Mystery of Meme Origin

^*5*Headache splitting, woke up.

Lin An, within 0.1 seconds of regaining consciousness, suddenly burst forth spiritual energy, entering a combat stance.

Instinctive vigilance.

Only after seeing Mo Ling tightly gripping him and the black dragon beneath him did he snap out of it with a look of astonishment.

"How long have I been unconscious!!?"

He spoke up, asking.

At a glance, he found himself high in the air, the ground below a contiguous expanse of cities.

Memory surged into his mind, and he recalled what he had previously experienced.

It looks like he is still within the 【Origin】 area.

"I'm hungry, so tired.."

Before Mo Ling could speak, the black dragon turned its head toward Lin An with a look of grievance, but its icy, ferocious appearance formed a stark contrast with the words it spoke.

"I can't fly anymore..."

"I want to eat something..."

Meanwhile, Mo Ling let out a breath of relief, but looking at him with a solemn expression, he replied:

"Lin An, you've been unconscious for half an hour."

He opened his mouth; little Mo Ling obviously had something to say in the latter half, but he forcibly held it back.

Half an hour?

His heart jolted, Lin An's face showed a bitter smile.

This is probably the third time he has fainted since the Apocalypse.

He also didn't expect that the Meme he encountered this time would be so bizarre, actually spreading to him through its controlled target.

Fortunately, the disconnection was fast enough; otherwise, serious trouble would have ensued.

A thought flashed, Lin An recalled the scene of the thought impact, and a deep doubt rose in his heart.

Under the onslaught of massive information, he not only heard a few garbled bytes but also saw a bizarre, fantastical image, as well as a researcher constantly muttering under his breath, mad.

Putting the clues together, he keenly realized that the researcher was likely the first to have contacted the Meme, or someone who knew about it.

After gathering his thoughts, Lin An signaled the black dragon to descend, and helplessly transferred a portion of his spiritual energy to it like a snack.

The little fellow's transformation time isn't long; flying this long has indeed consumed a great deal.

After the black dragon landed, causing panic in another city cluster, Lin An gazed thoughtfully at the world below the rooftops.

This region is vast, vast enough to seem even larger than an Amoeba Worm dungeon.

A Meme region actually shows the semblance of an entire world?

Is it a fragment of a region, or something else?

Not far off, he even saw warplanes taking off and air raid alarms.

The humans of this world have not yet realized that in the neighboring cities, the Meme has already begun to spread.

Having hidden on the top floor of a skyscraper and knocked out the entire floor's humans, Lin An couldn't help but ask Mo Ling, who seemed preoccupied:

"Did you get the crystal skull?"

It's not that he still wants to court death.

If Mo Ling is fine, that shows the crystal skull's abnormality isn't insurmountable.

Not only is that thing special, it can also enhance one's strength.

After coming into contact with that terrifying information stream, Lin An, in the fragmented images, vaguely saw too many things he couldn't comprehend.

In the dark, he always felt that this region within Heiyu concealed information of utmost importance to him behind it.

"I got it, but that zombie has broken free of my control range."

"It should still be in that city cluster.."

Feeling somewhat worried, Mo Ling gave Lin An a serious look, a flicker of hesitation flashing in his eyes:

"Lin An, why don't we give up on that skull?"

"I always feel something's off... could it be a trap?"

"Isn't our target that gathering place?"

("Not a trap.")

Just as his words fell, just as Lin An was about to respond, the Second Will suddenly burst forth, slowly speaking within Lin An's mind:

("Get that thing, Lin An.")

("You should have seen it, right? In that influx of thought impact, there's information suggestive of the Origin!")

He blinked slightly, then fell silent.

Lin An's eyes flickered.

He never expected that he hadn't sought the Second Will, yet the Second Will came out on its own.

What Mo Ling said was correct; the whole affair is too bizarre.

A Meme region that appeared out of nowhere, plus Heiyu, and in the information he contacted, another strange piece of information appeared.

Behind this, no matter how you look at it, there's a problem.

It's as if an unseen pair of big hands had been thrust into his path, pushing him to make contact.

But..

Lin An lowered his head, and in silence recalled the scene he had seen.

In the Second Will's words, the so-called Origin is not the 【Human Origin】 weird name within this Meme region.

But rather..

Zombie.

He saw a zombie.

Inside a meme zone, a world like a dungeon fragment burst with memes; in the source information, it was actually a zombie.

The mist behind it, like a spiderweb, began to spread.

Not answering the question for now, Lin An countered:

"Why didn't you show up before?"

Logically, whenever there is a crisis, the Second Will should proactively warn him to avoid mishaps.

Having grown accustomed to the Second Will's presence, this time it acted a bit strangely.

("There is no danger, or rather, I didn't know your approach would also trigger a meme attack.")

His expression unchanged, within the Thought Space, the Second Will replied lightly:

("Even if you don't sever your thoughts, I will forcibly help you cut them off.")

("Thus, essentially it is not lethal, and...")

("You also overestimate me too much...")

His expression odd, the Second Will sighed:

("In the simulations I've encountered, similar meme simulations are all human imagination; they differ greatly from real memes.")

("Moreover, whether the memes created by those researchers even count as memes is questionable; often they are merely mental stress tests.")

His tone carried a hint of helplessness:

("I will appear to prevent your death, but I must also make judgments within my cognition.")

("Haven't you noticed? I actually pose little threat to you and rarely ask you to do anything. As the main entity, your understanding of the Apocalypse is actually more precise than mine. After all, my experience in the real Apocalypse is not as extensive as yours.")

He spoke candidly.

Lin An neither affirmed nor denied.

The Second Will always presents itself as harmless, and though that has been true so far, Lin An has never let down his guard.

From a third-person perspective, it must still be hiding other secrets.

For example, its earlier claim that it did not want to occupy his body was because it could not wear down his will under normal circumstances.

But in fact, it is because it was reborn as an aberrant mutant, a monster.

If one forcibly "kills" itself, the Second Will cannot overcome the post-mutation self.

There has never been peaceful coexistence; only mutual wariness and deceit.

Their fundamentally opposing ideas are destined to produce future divergence.

"What do you plan to do?"

No longer pondering that, Lin An softly asked the Second Will:

The skull can be obtained, but depending on the situation I cannot touch it. Without contact, I cannot absorb its power, let alone see what the skull actually is.

("It's simple.")

The Second Will chuckled lightly:

("Go to the laboratory of that thought torrent and find that researcher.")

("Even if he is dead, you can 'revive' him.")

His eyes flickered.

Lin An recalled the researcher in the information fragments, hands holding the skull, whose expression after knowing trans-rational information was...

That was shock, and extreme fear.

"We are one."

He said.