Chapter 996

After the communication ended, Lin An sat quietly in his seat, lost in thought.

Meanwhile, Xiong Hanzi sitting opposite, after rummaging over his own body, hurriedly rushed into the toilet, as if trying to find the 'camera' Chu An had hidden on him.

Unbeknownst to anyone, in Lin An's mind, the Second Will stood in the shadow of the Thought Space, his expression grave as he spoke to him:

("Lin An, Chu An must have tampered with you as well.")

("The matter of Mo Ling is not that simple.")

("One or two times can be considered coincidence, accidental.")

("But when accidents happen often, it becomes inevitable.")

His gaze was deep.

("I don't believe you would like being manipulated behind the scenes.")

("Chu An's help to you is indeed great, but have you ever considered that you might be a pawn in his plan? A puppet?")

("For now he is useful to him, so he can pretend everything is for your good, showing 'loyalty' like yours. But what about later?")

("If I were you, I would definitely kill him!")

("No matter how good something is, if it cannot be controlled, it's better to destroy it outright! Destiny must be grasped in one's own hands…")

Meaningful.

The Second Will did not conceal his hostility toward Chu An, just like the glance Chu An gave him during the city defense battle.

Both understood that the other was someone they wanted to eliminate; kill him and be done with it!

Having said his piece, the Second Will fell silent, waiting quietly for Lin An's reaction.

Essentially, Lin An and he are of the same kind; he does not believe Lin An truly has no vigilance toward Chu An at all.

Unexpected.

In the Second Will's judgment, Lin An would surely discuss it with him.

But after a brief silence, Lin An merely gave a calm nod, as if indifferent.

("Lin An?")

A sound of surprise.

What he got in return was Lin An slightly shaking his head, indicating he need not say more.

After a while, realizing Lin An indeed did not want to talk about this, the Second Will had no choice but to disappear into the Thought Space with a doubtful expression.

For some reason, the Second Will, who usually thought he understood Lin An, inexplicably felt that Lin An... seemed to be hiding something from him.

Watching the Second Will slowly fade, Lin An closed his eyes slightly, fingertips lightly tapping the armrest.

He did not want to discuss Chu An with the Second Will, not because he had thought little or lacked any worry.

Quite the opposite.

He had thought a lot.

Regarding Chu An, among as many as thirteen possibilities, he had rehearsed each logical chain.

Chu An's mystery had always kept him highly vigilant.

But in this matter, he keenly noticed another key point.

That is, why the Second Will suddenly became so urgent in persuading him to act against Chu An.

"One body, two souls… Mo Ling and the infant ghost…"

"The prepared precursor fluid…"

"Timed bomb…"

"Heh."

Clue after clue linked together.

Lin An gave a wry, light chuckle, and the clearest logical chain emerged.

Chu An had indeed deceived him again.

Or rather, he was deceiving the Second Will.

Of course, it may not exactly be deception; it is more like sending himself a message, a stratagem in the open.

The so-called pre-placed amoeba worm precursor fluid, supposedly to guard against a runaway infant ghost, is fundamentally false.

What Chu An truly guarded against was the Second Will!

Mo Ling's situation is remarkably similar to his own! The precursor fluid that can kill the infant ghost fused with Mo Ling can naturally kill the Second Will as well!

The so-called loss of control and timed bomb essentially refer to the Second Will.

Including controlling Zhang Tie, as well as Chu An's remark that "concealing information is merely to prevent myself from doubting and distrusting him."

This also hints to him that some messages he cannot directly convey to himself.

After all, given that the Second Will and he are one body, anything he knows—any information or layout—will also be known to the Second Will.

Thus, the entire Meme Dream affair is fundamentally a rehearsal by Chu An to deal with the Second Will!

Mo Ling is merely a test subject in Chu An's plan; what he truly wants is to directly eliminate the Second Will!

However, the Second Will evidently noticed this as well.

That is why he is somewhat impatient, eager to persuade himself not to trust Chu An.

But...

Now the only problem is that Lin An does not believe Chu An would fail to anticipate that the Second Will could think of this.

Behind such an exposed intention, is it that Chu An already has confidence to eliminate the Second Will, or is it merely a threat?

If the former, the logic is simple—just watch the show.

If the latter, it means the Second Will, unbeknownst to him, has been secretly scheming how to replace and devour him, and likely already has the layout nearly ready.

And after Chu An discovered this, he had no choice but to launch his plan early, using the resolution of the infant ghost as a threat to deter the Second Will from acting rashly, buying time.

Even behind, there are third and fourth layers of logic...

For example, the Second Will deliberately pretended to be urgent, making himself and Chu An mistakenly think his plan had been exposed, feeling threatened, thereby concealing the true layout.

Another example, Chu An seemingly had to prematurely launch the resolution of the ghost infant, creating intimidation; on the surface pretending that the intimidation means had been deployed, but actually secretly arranging other...

After all, both of their performances could possibly be feigning weakness.

Given their intelligence, layered layouts are as easy as drinking water.

A simple truth: any trump card is always most threatening before it is played.

He gently rubbed his brow.

Lin An's eyes flashed with a hint of fatigue.

He, the Second Will, Chu An.

The three's relationship is intricately complex, full of open and covert struggle.

Chu An wants to eliminate the Second Will, the Second Will wants to eliminate him, but he needs to eliminate Chu An first.

And what about himself?

Lin An gave a wry smile; he actually didn't care about the two of them—both are currently useful to him, losing either would be a weakening.

Especially, the information he holds is the least among the three.

Both Chu An and the Second Will have concealed a large amount of information from him.

Leaving other matters aside, why was the Second Will merely given a simple memory wipe and released after escaping from the Long'an Project?

Who captured him? Who wiped his memory? Who released him? Who dares to do this?

The Second Will repeatedly says he didn't see the person behind the door—is that really the case?

What did he see? What did he know? And why did he only break the seal shortly before his past life's death?

Did his posthumous mutation truly wipe out half the war zone's humans?

Then, how did he die in that mutated state? And why was he reborn?

As for Chu An's side, the concealed information is even greater.

The Second Will and Chu An are like players in a game, simultaneously vying for his trust while wanting to eliminate each other, yet never willing to tell him the truth.

Is it that they cannot speak, or are they guarding against each other?

Lowering his arm, Lin An silently looked at the astronaut figurine that Xiong Hanzi had obtained.

Heavy doubts, the truth of the facts is bewilderingly elusive.

Unnoticed by anyone, a hint of something unusual flashed in the depths of his eyes.

As it stands now, he knows the least information.

But for some unknown reason, Lin An keeps recalling the face he saw when he first entered the mutated state.

Or rather, that mask.

I...

Do I really know nothing at all?