Chapter 140: Perhaps She Is Also a Many-Headed Snake

Li En discovered with surprise that he was likely the only one in the ambassadorial delegation actually doing real work.

This inevitably felt strangely unsettling—even without the Heroic Soul inheritance, Shaliman had performed abysmally.

"She wasn't this clueless before," Li En puzzled. If Shaliman was this weak, didn't Dennia's choice to entrust her with such a critical role reveal poor judgment?

Li En privately convened a small internal meeting to discuss how to respond next.

Of course, he also noticed something off about Shaliman's current state.

But it seemed only Violet Rose and Kuku—the latter taking notes while listening—were even available to discuss these matters.

"Sorry, perhaps it's my fault."

And at this moment, when no one else was around, Violet Rose stepped forward to take the blame.

"For certain reasons, she directly faced the 'Snake (me)' in its true form, and her original psychological self-suggestion likely collapsed entirely."

Approaching a 'Giant Beast' is never a good thing for mortals.

Even though Violet Rose held back as much as she could—even erasing that portion of the memory—Shaliman still inevitably suffered the impact.

Violet Rose had already sensed that Shaliman now faintly bore traces of the Snake's power; she may truly be infected—and thus, potentially very promising.

The self-hypnosis that normally binds mortals naturally cannot bind the Snake—not even a still-unhatched hatchling.

Even without the Heroic Soul inheritance, she would gradually regain her self—but now it seems far more likely she'll descend into schizophrenia.

"Adding another thought-line isn't simply gaining another version of yourself. Can your emotions, your likes and dislikes, be freely copied?"

Erasing memories can't erase negative emotions—probably not.

In the world of the transcendent, emotions and feelings are fluctuations of the soul—they are tangible 'existences,' the foundational elements of the heart-soul.

Emotions—or humanity itself—are embedded within the soul; even without a clear origin, they accumulate almost without reason.

Because these harmonious negative emotions lack clear targets, they cause the bearer to sink into irrational mania and depression.

Shaliman has long had a clear self-destructive tendency, yet she cannot explain why. Sometimes she's innocent and pure; sometimes she's gloomy and dark—overall, she's in terrible shape.

"Many cases of multiple personality disorder originate when the primary personality suppresses its negative emotions so severely, even discarding and compressing them—until they accumulate to a breaking point and suddenly erupt." Violet Rose might well be qualified as a transcendental-world psychologist; her analysis aligned closely with Li En's understanding.

If multiple personalities emerge, similar emotions or personalities are exceedingly rare.

In dual personality cases, extreme personality divergence often occurs—one reason being that each personality absorbs extreme emotions from the soul and hatches extreme selves.

The clearest example is the newly born Valkyrie sisters: they clearly divided certain emotions; the newborn became more dominant, while the original grew purer and gentler.

"You're saying Shaliman is about to split into multiple personalities."

"It was only a possibility before—but now that she's absorbed the Heroic Soul inheritance, it's essentially confirmed." Violet Rose had seen everything, but said nothing.

She heard the hissing serpent-voice clearly—how could such a level of "psychological denial of anomalies" possibly affect her?

But since these things cannot be externally interfered with, she was merely waiting for the outcome.

The entire incident had been reconstructed by the two of them.

Originally, Shaliman had endured too much; her self-destructive tendency was obvious, so she altered part of her memory to make her past seem less terrible.

Some rootless negative emotions were suppressed, and even in the new Shaliman's perception, they accumulated seemingly without cause—like how the same minor misdeed affects different people in entirely different ways.

Some people frown and forget; others inexplicably remember for years, continuously generating new negative emotions until one day they shatter under the weight.

The old Shaliman never intended to erase herself—she only wished to forget the past and face the future with cheerfulness.

But in outcome, she clearly messed it up: while the new personality became slightly simpler, she kept sinking inexplicably into depression and mania, living a life far from easy.

"She probably just felt profoundly lonely—that's the most common source of negative emotion. The suppressed feelings simply seeped out from there. Unable to pinpoint the true cause, she fell into irrational depression and mania."

Violet Rose sighed. In her view, Shaliman's design was suicide—eventually, negative emotions would drown her.

Schizophrenia is the best possible outcome; the most likely result is complete despair leading to suicide.

"She's subconsciously seeking a 'family member' to plug the only known vulnerability. Your existence, Li En, has worsened her condition, making her emotional layers more distinct and her schizophrenia more severe."

One personality is unrealistically good; the other is bizarrely evil—each seizes the emotions belonging to itself.

If the original Shaliman awakens, how will she face this childish version of herself? Will they pull against each other? Or forcibly merge?

Even if one temporarily "consumes" the other, the emotions and memories remain within the soul—further division is merely a matter of time.

Thus, once a second personality emerges, the process rarely stops—more personalities will keep appearing.

If confined to a single physical body, it becomes near-infinite torment and internal depletion.

"Fortunately, she met you," Violet Rose said with gratitude; she herself felt somewhat helpless about Shaliman's condition.

A single-core system will eventually overload—but if it can be converted into a parallel dual-core system, it's an entirely different matter.

"I'm grateful to Kuku. Without his power, Shaliman's outcome would have been far from good—even if I forcibly suppressed her with my mental abilities, she'd eventually have gone mad after self-destruction."

"Heh, erasing part of your own memories and reshaping your personality? That's suicide."

Li En now understood why her compatibility with Kuku was so high—she'd been severely ill from the start.

But this was fundamentally different from Kuku's ability.

Emotions are humanity; for transcendents, humanity and the heart-soul are power—meaning these candidates may not possess perfect dual thought-lines, destined to battle multiple personalities for life—but precisely because of that—

"Dual heart-soul ability? Possible," Kuku himself affirmed.

"Moreover, the newly formed heart-soul ability might be extremely powerful. The more extreme the heart-soul, the more obsessed it is with altering reality—and the more terrifying its power."

If multiple personalities feed on extreme emotions, might their heart-soul abilities also grow stronger and more extreme due to this "purity"?

Kuku gave theoretical affirmation—and provided Li En with an irrefutable example.

"Isn't your heart-soul ability, the Thousand-Faced Dragon, another form of multiple personality and multiheart-soul?"

Li En fell silent.

There was no definitive answer yet—but the result wouldn't take long to reveal.

If the Valkyrie also awakens her heart-soul, won't that prove this possibility? With her strength, awakening should take little time.

If all this is confirmed, the future Shaliman could become terrifying indeed.

Perhaps she doesn't even need Kuku's full inheritance to maximize it—she can grow on her own. She can become a naturally born Many-Headed Snake.

But now, Li En had to face a reality: among the responsible "ambassadors," none were pulling their weight—some were even becoming a liability. He had to step up.

The known four Beast Princes active in the outside world were simply too many.

"Use this opportunity to eliminate at least two, and redirect the hatred toward the Dark Elves. Then, when these surface cities deal with the Demigod, they won't have to fear a dagger from behind by the Dark Elves."

There was no blood feud before? There soon would be—in fact, tensions had already accumulated over these past days.

Once war begins, a chain reaction forms; stopping it becomes impossible unless one side crushes the other utterly.

But to the Dark Elves, the "Beast" remains merely a weapon. Hatred toward the weapon seller and the weapon user are entirely different tiers.

Without sufficient hatred and ideological division, Li En wouldn't be surprised if a Dark Elf later exploited the Beast's power.

Though unspoken, Li En's group had resolved to take on this mission.

This was indeed a good chance to turn a potential enemy into a future ally.

"Directly assaulting the main brain feels like suicide," someone voiced dissent—but Li En agreed.

"Indeed. So our target isn't the main brain—even if the second Beast Prince might be there."

The map spread before them showed countless branching tunnels and passageways—secrets of the underground world now opened to Li En's group due to this incident.

"Our target isn't the main brain—it's the 'sub-brain.'"

After all, the Mind Flayer's main brain is a collection of countless Mind Flayer brains; in a sense, its strength is the result of merged multiple personalities.

Now, it has expended energy to control the first Beast Prince.

No one would consider this an easy task.

"Scouts have detected many Mind Flayers traveling vast distances—they're coming to reinforce the main brain. We'll start by eliminating them, slowing the second Beast Prince's progress."

(End of Chapter)