Chapter 873: Are You the Same?

Heimu lowered the hand from the chest, waved it, as if to fan all the chaotic emotions in front of them aside.

"Answer the question. If you answer, just answer."

She muttered low, "I'm curious to see what you can ask."

Ke Lai Yin floated up from the ground.

She hovered again to the previous height, her feet ten centimeters above the ground, posture upright, and her mechanical tail behind her resumed its normal swinging frequency.

The pair of hands clasped at her chest also lowered, hanging on both sides of the white coat.

Most crucially, the pitiful expression on her face, at the moment Heimu said "Alright", switched off like a toggle and snapped back instantly.

Clean and crisp, with no transition.

Her left eye returned to its previously lazy, flat demeanor, lips pressed into a line again, and even the stray hair perked up once more.

Heimu watched her fluid expression shift, and the corner of her mouth twitched again.

"Do you think your acting is good?"

"According to my database analysis, my micro‑expression simulation accuracy ranks in the top three among the doll series."

"…Mei Bi Wu Si, what chaotic modules did you install?"

"The Doctor installed a full‑function emotional simulation system in me."

Ke Lai Yin answered in her straightforward tone, deadpan, "But that earlier part wasn't a simulation."

Heimu was momentarily stunned.

"What?"

"It wasn't a simulation."

Ke Lai Yin repeated.

Her left eye looked calmly at Heimu, without blinking or any extra expression change.

"The words I just said are indeed what I wanted to say. Corrosion hasn't overwritten my core personality module. Wanting to hand in the report is true. Waiting too long is also true."

She paused, her bee tail swayed lightly, "Mixing data analysis with emotional expression is also a strategy I chose myself. The Doctor said sincerity is the most effective negotiation tool."

Heimu was silent for several seconds.

Then she sighed, took off the Witch Hat, twirled it in her hand, and fastened it back onto her head.

"Alright. You are Mei Bi Wu Si's good student."

She lifted her chin, and clasped both hands to her chest again.

"Pose the question. The first question—"

"The first question is directed at Black Curtain Lady."

Ke Lai Yin turned her body to face Heimu, her left eye's vertical pupil narrowed slightly, as if a camera were focusing.

She raised her right hand, and a white‑covered record notebook, somehow already opened in her palm, cover up, pages blank, but she clearly didn't need to look; the question was prepared in advance, she just habitually held the notebook.

"May I ask—"

Heimu raised an eyebrow.

"Am I the first?"

"Yes. The question order is generated based on the travelers' energy signatures. Your energy signature is the most complex among the four, so the system placed you first."

"Alright."

Heimu shifted weight to her right foot, her stance fully changing from 'ready for battle' to 'ready for examination', "Ask."

Ke Lai Yin's left eye stared straight at her.

The forest wind suddenly hushed at that moment, as if even the wind knew the upcoming question warranted holding one's breath.

"May I ask, Black Curtain Lady."

—

"Are you the same?"

The air solidified.

It was as if someone poured a whole bucket of colorless, odorless fast‑dry glue into the dense forest, sealing everything breathing in place.

The rustling of palm leaves vanished, the distant gulls' cries faded, and even the faint insects in the soil hushed.

Kesi Mo's propulsion wing plates were frozen halfway open, and the ice‑blue translucent energy cloak hung behind her shoulder like a piece of frozen glass, utterly still.

Ying's right hand hovered about two centimeters above the hilt, fingers still moving toward the hilt, the whole figure like a statue suddenly frozen.

Ge Lei Xiu lifted her head, the pencil tip paused at the middle of an unfinished arc on the paper.

She blinked; those ice‑blue eyes were filled with unabashed confusion.

Her lips moved, and in her usual Calm, soft tone, she dropped a tiny pebble into the solidified air.

"What is copper?"

No one answered her.

Ying's gaze shifted smoothly about five degrees to the right, moving from Ke Lai Yin to Heimu.

That glance lasted only a fraction of a second.

Then she, without changing expression, returned her gaze straight ahead, landing on the row of dark‑green light strips behind Ke Lai Yin, her face as calm as if observing a tactical simulation unrelated to herself.

Yet the tips of her ears, unseen by Heimu, turned slightly pink.

Kesi Mo, clad in armor, stood upright, her back straight as if propped by an iron rod.

Her facial expression was fully concealed by a sealed helmet, but the warm orange geometric patterns on the visor began flashing at a breakneck rate, as if someone were frantically pressing a switch.

If the armor had a body‑temperature monitor, the cockpit temperature would now have exceeded the normal human comfort zone.

Heimu stood at the convergence of everyone's gaze.

The Witch Hat's brim cast a shadow over her face, covering the upper half, but the skin from chin to neck remained clearly visible in the sunlight, its color shifting from cold white toward a light pink.

Her lips were pressed into a line, and the lazy curve that usually lingered at the corner of her mouth had completely stiffened on her face.

She rolled the sentence over in her mind three times in quick succession, wondering, "Are you the same?" Each time it felt more fantastical than the last.

She wondered what Ke Lai Yin would ask.

The history of Past World Paradise?

The correspondence between the Thirteen Heroes' seals?

How many Easter eggs did Aha bury in the underlying data of Letu?

Even if it was a brain‑teaser, she would accept it.

In the end she asked this, in front of three Heroes, with Ying watching, with Kesi Mo watching, with Ge Lei Xiu watching—well, Ge Lei Xiu didn't understand.

But that didn't improve the situation at all.

"Please answer."

Ke Lai Yin's voice remained steady and monotone, as if that question were as ordinary as asking, "What day is it today?"

"The rules are: you must answer correctly. You may not lie. You may not skip. You may not remain silent. Violating any of these forfeits your right to pass."

Heimu lowered his hand from his chest, letting it hang at his side.

Her fingertips opened slightly, then closed, then opened again, as if she were squeezing an invisible pressure ball.

"What does this question have to do with safe passage through Past World Paradise?"

"According to system diagnostics, your energy wave frequency contains long‑term suppressed emotional fluctuations. This fluctuation risks resonating with the current defense mechanism frequency of the core zone. After confirming your emotional affiliation tendency, the system can specifically adjust the barrier parameters to avoid energy mutual exclusion during passage."