Chapter 233: Causality

"I am Fen Wu... no, I am Yan Yukuan, but I am Fen Wu, I am not Yan Yukuan, I am..."

The female prison guard muttered neurotically, her two red eyes staring dead at her own face in the mirror, her fingernails constantly scratching her face, all ten fingers dripping with blood. She had gone mad.

Ning Zhe felt he probably knew how she had gone mad.

After waiting for a few minutes, Ning Zhe turned and walked into the door, arrived at the washbasin, and said to the female prison guard who was muttering incessantly: "You are not Fen Wu at all."

"What did you say?!" The female prison guard turned her head abruptly, her features, torn by fingernails, twisted and hideous.

"I said, you are not Fen Wu." Ning Zhe said lightly: "You are just a prison guard who has been brainwashed. The original memory in your brain has been cleared, and replaced with the memory of another person, just like a formatted hard drive overwritten with new data. You just mistakenly think you are Fen Wu."

"Your true identity is Yan Yukuan, the prison guard on your work badge." Ning Zhe added.

"No, no, no... that's not right..." The female prison guard shook her head and retreated slowly: "I am Fen Wu, I am not Yan Yukuan, but I am Yan Yukuan, I am Fen Wu, I..."

"Alright, then let's temporarily assume you really are Fen Wu."

Ning Zhe shook his head and continued: "If you are Fen Wu himself, then you should know that the two words 'Fen Wu' are not actually your name, but the ghost's name. This is the code name Fen Wu shows to the outside world. Then... besides this code name, what is your true name, Fen Wu's true name?"

"True name... my true name, Fen Wu's true name..." The female prison guard was dazed, as if her soul had left her body.

"As expected." Ning Zhe nodded upon seeing this: "This is the evidence. If you were him, then it would be impossible for you not to know Fen Wu's true name as a human."

"No... no..." The female prison guard shook her head repeatedly, still wanting to say something.

Ning Zhe didn't pause and continued: "The reason you don't know Fen Wu's true name is that when Fen Wu brainwashed you, he didn't implant all his memories into your brain. Those sensitive information that would pose a risk to Fen Wu himself were selectively shielded by him, such as his true name."

"I... I... Fen Wu, Yan Yukuan... I..." Chaotic memories churned in her brain. The female prison guard spoke incoherently: "I am... it's me... Yan... Fen... I..."

Looking at the abnormality on the female prison guard, Ning Zhe had already understood the reason for her going mad.

"——Rule conflict." Ning Zhe retreated two steps silently, looking at the female prison guard sitting on the ground muttering incoherently. An inexplicable fear couldn't help but surge in his heart.

This prison guard's memory had been modified by some Strange involving "memory" and "cognition," just like Tian Chengyun, whose cause of death was unknown, just like Bai Zhi, whose entire childhood was fragmented.

The memories of Tian Chengyun or Yu Zi Qian were only locally modified by a small segment, and Bai Zhi's memory was deleted and modified more, but from adolescence onward, there were few gaps. But the memory of this prison guard named Yan Yukuan... had been completely deleted and wiped clean.

"Fen Wu used the Strange rules he mastered to delete Yan Yukuan's memory into a blank slate, and then used his own memory to fill it in and replace it, creating a tool person who mistakenly thought he was Fen Wu."

"This tool person possesses part of Fen Wu's memories, inherited part of Fen Wu's way of thinking, and controls part of the Strange abilities provided by Fen Wu. To some extent, he has lost everything that once belonged to Yan Yukuan. He is already Fen Wu..."

"But the Lamp-Extinguishing Ghost doesn't think so."

Peeling the cocoon and piecing together the fragments, Ning Zhe quickly sorted out the general context of the matter:

"The Lamp-Extinguishing Ghost calls people according to their true identity. Even if Yan Yukuan believes from the bottom of his heart that he is Fen Wu, when the Lamp-Extinguishing Ghost calls him, it calls the name Yan Yukuan."

"Perhaps being chased and called by the Lamp-Extinguishing Ghost all the time aroused curiosity in his heart, or perhaps the relative's voice imitated by the Lamp-Extinguishing Ghost evoked the small fragments of memory belonging to Yan Yukuan that remained deep in his brain, or perhaps it was some other reason... In short, Yan Yukuan had some doubts about his identity."

"Especially when facing the mirror and seeing his own face, as well as the ID photo on the work badge, there was a moment when he might have had such a thought in his heart—could I really be Yan Yukuan?"

The moment this thought was produced, the moment he thought this idea might be true, "God" looked here.

Fen Wu's rule of modifying memory made him believe from the bottom of his heart that he was Fen Wu.

The rule of the Unspeakable God solidified his cognition that he might be Yan Yukuan. Two rules collided in his brain, and he went mad.

So why would the Lamp-Extinguishing Ghost chase behind Yan Yukuan and call his name?

"Because his luck is very bad. The Inverted Ghost was just released and inverted Yan Yukuan's gender into a woman." Ning Zhe sighed and looked behind him. The corridor outside the door was gone, replaced by another identical bathroom.

The world had already shrunk to the size of only one room.

"It seems Tuyu isn't exhausted, but knows that 'this' Fen Wu is already mad, so he no longer does useless work, voluntarily shrinks the world, and prepares to pull away."

Ning Zhe arrived in front of Yan Yukuan, intending to take him away before the Strange world completely disappeared. Although this person is mad, the memories belonging to Fen Wu in his brain should still be very useful, even if those memories have already been screened by Fen Wu himself.

"Hmm?"

Ning Zhe patted Yan Yukuan's shoulder, only to find that his body was no longer moving.

Checking his pulse and breath, he was already dead.

"Fen Wu is far more cautious than I imagined." Ning Zhe shook his head, not attempting to resurrect Yan Yukuan with life-buying money. Fen Wu had calculated this far; it was impossible for him not to have precautions against Wealth Wu Tong.

The invisible cage shielding the "world" shrank continuously until it disappeared.

Ning Zhe opened his eyes, took out his mobile phone which had regained signal, and dialed a contact named "Duan Geng."

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Fen Wu and Tuyu had both left, but the Inverted Ghost and Lamp-Extinguishing Ghost were still here. Out-of-control Strange events always need people to handle them.

Lan Shiwen is from Yunzhou; even if his hands were long, he couldn't manage Qinzhou, so it was better to contact local forces in Qinzhou for this kind of thing. Daoist Duan Geng, who studied at Lushan, was a good choice.

Soon, the call was connected.

"Ah, it's Mr. Yeyao. Calling the poor Daoist suddenly today, what is the business?" Duan Geng's voice came from the speaker.

Ning Zhe didn't beat around the bush and said dryly: "I have Strange events here, two of them. I have fully figured out the rules of one ghost, and partially figured out the other, but I don't want to master either of these two ghosts, so I made the call to you."

"I want to ask you, is there any way to make ghosts settle down without mastering them, preferably imprisoning them?"

"Must have." Duan Geng patted his chest to guarantee, the sound of DJ scratching coming faintly from the other end of the phone: "But the old saying goes well, a thief doesn't leave empty-handed. The poor Daoist spent energy to help you, so I can't just run for nothing, right?"

"Who compares themselves to a thief... forget it, I understand the rules." Ning Zhe said faintly: "Hand over the method of imprisoning ghosts, and I will give you one of the ghosts."

"Generous!" Duan Geng shouted: "Where is the benefactor now? The poor Daoist will fly to find you!"

Those who pay are different; the address changed directly from "you" to "benefactor."

Ning Zhe told Duan Geng his location and, for safety's sake, added his WeChat location sharing.

Although he promised to give away a ghost, Ning Zhe didn't feel he was at a loss, because the ghost he intended to give to Duan Geng was the Inverted Ghost—the ghost that once belonged to Fen Wu.

"Don't Daoists believe most in the Heavenly Dao and principles?"

Ning Zhe hung up the phone and smiled slightly: "Taking his things... means bearing his causality."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 234 =====