Chapter 557: Loss of Self and Aftermath

"When drinking, one should pair it with No. 45 ribbed steel rebar, because this steamed bun's atmospheric pressure can easily affect the granularity of a tank. When you sit inside, it will cause space to collapse in an instant, commonly known as a sand sculpture, severely affecting Bikini Bottom's air quality."

In the space with the slow time flow rate, Chen Ran was like [Brother Tree], making strange postures with his hands and feet, his mouth uttering disorganized and chaotic words, looking entirely confused.

Qiu Yinong raised her gun and said her Skill command in advance. She had already made preparations to use her Skill at any time, simply because...

She glanced at Lin Xuan and Jiang Zhe lying on the ground, and her heart sank to the bottom of the valley.

At the same time.

The true Lin Xuan, in the space with the same time flow rate, was very anxious.

The reason was that he couldn't perceive what happened in the space with the slow time flow rate.

Right at this moment, a voice rang out in Lin Xuan's mind: [That space has already been covered. I will count to one, two, three. You only have one second of time, don't miss it.]

[Focus your attention!]

But, after a long time there was no follow-up. Just as Lin Xuan was suspecting that what just happened was an illusion.

[One!]

At the same time, on the River of Time, the 12th Half-Step True Self, along with the 9th and the 5th, the three of them exchanged a glance.

[Two!]

The spirits of the three poured out, pointing directly at The All-Knowing and Almighty like covering the sky and hiding the earth.

Buying [One] a trace of a gap to strike.

In the space with the slow time flow rate, Qiu Yinong seemingly heard the entire space echoing with the Skill command: "Ghost Whisperer · Zenith · Eternal Kingdom · Eternal Ban."

The next moment, the covered space, because karma was severed, the coverage disappeared.

At the same time.

In the space with the same time flow rate, Lin Xuan finally heard: [Three!]

In just an instant, he perceived Qiu Yinong in the space with the slow time flow rate, as well as Chen Ran who was like a madman.

The next moment.

In the space with the slow time flow rate, Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong disappeared, appearing in the space with the same time flow rate.

The Chen Ran in this space had already completed the Second Realm Heart Cultivation.

This was what Chen Ran had planned out beforehand.

Simply put.

In the space with the fast time flow rate, there were two Chen Rans. One cultivated the Second Realm, and when his cognition became chaotic, the other Chen Ran would reconstruct his common sense.

After the reconstruction was completed, this Chen Ran who completed the Second Realm Heart Cultivation was transferred to the space with the same time flow rate.

And in the space with the same time flow rate, there was also a Chen Ran cultivating the Second Realm.

When his cognition became chaotic, the Chen Ran from the fast time flow rate space who completed the Second Realm Heart Cultivation reconstructed his common sense.

Now it was, the Chen Ran in the space with the slow time flow rate, which was the true Chen Ran, was in cognitive chaos, and then the Chen Ran in the space with the same time flow rate who had completed the Second Realm Heart Cultivation helped him reconstruct his common sense.

The benefit of doing this lay in that since Chen Ran was constructing common sense for himself, it was inevitable that there would be some common sense that couldn't obtain higher-level responses. But through two screenings, then the true Chen Ran could construct the most perfect and higher-level common sense responses.

…

The Chen Ran in this space, the moment he saw the true Chen Ran, immediately used Distance-Free Technique.

Seeing this, the hanging hearts of Qiu Yinong and Lin Xuan finally settled down.

She felt that True Self Skills should originally all be large-area-of-effect type Skills, but with the increase in Star Rating, or after undergoing a certain qualitative change, it would give True Self Skills single-target directionality. Only in this way could it explain why Lin Xuan's Skill wasn't cracked just now.

Thinking of this.

Wild joy appeared in Qiu Yinong's eyes. She was thinking that if the Wheel of Time could act on a single player, the effect would definitely be much stronger than now.

Regarding Lin Xuan's identity, Qiu Yinong had also deduced it. Same as Chen Ran, they were completely clueless. But through this matter, she could be certain that Lin Xuan must be someone's foreshadowing.

Thinking of this, Qiu Yinong cast a pitying glance at the currently bewildered-looking Lin Xuan.

Of course, regarding what had happened just now, whether it was Qiu Yinong and Shen Yuwei, or Gu Zangsheng's trio and the eighteen people, had all already been reset by Spacetime Samsara. They completely didn't remember how dangerous it was before, nor did they remember what exactly they had done just now.

For example, Shen Yuwei and Liu Anfeng had always been guarding the bar entrance. In their memory, no one had ever appeared.

As another example, the Qiu Yinong at the hotel entrance also didn't remember that she had previously been moved to the bar entrance by Shen Yuwei to use her Skill.

On the true timeline, the only place that could make them perceive something was wrong was:

In the space with the slow time flow rate, Lin Xuan and Jiang Zhe fell unconscious to the ground.

Perhaps this was negligence on the River of Time by the 9th True Self Player. Of course it was also possible that the plans of the four of them were inherently untransparent to each other, resulting in that within the 9th True Self Player's plan, it was impossible for Lin Xuan and Jiang Zhe to appear in that space, therefore the spacetime for these two was not reset.

Pushing the deduction deeper, one would discover.

The 1st, 5th, 9th, and 12th Half-Step True Self Player, the four of them were only bound together by interests. Between each other, there was still more or less some guardedness.

However, what was strange was that Jiang Zhe, logically speaking, was already a discarded piece.

Why didn't he exert his residual heat, but instead was a bystander the whole time?

…

The 12th floor of the Alliance Ancient Tower, Jiang Zhe's True Form was sitting cross-legged in a certain corner.

Simply put, if Jiang Zhe deduced that his inducer was the 5th True Self Player.

Then, Chen Ran would be in danger!

Theoretically speaking.

For Jiang Zhe, this discarded piece, looking at it in the situation just now, the 5th True Self Player truly didn't dare to let him exert his residual heat.

Otherwise, he could make the Future Chen Ran disappear by killing Chen Ran or having someone else kill Chen Ran, thereby disintegrating The Trio's absolute defense, then The All-Knowing and Almighty could kill the 5th and the 9th.

Simply put, if Jiang Zhe deduced who his inducer was, then he would think of a way to make Chen Ran die, thereby utilizing The All-Knowing and Almighty to kill his inducer, and complete the Third Realm of Lingtai, which was the Superego Heart Cultivation.

There might be a question here: why didn't The Almighty tell Jiang Zhe in advance that he was the 5th True Self Player's secondary personality?

Don't forget, the 9th True Self Player's Spacetime Samsara; even if he was told, the 9th could also make him forget.

This wasn't children playing house. For players who had reached their level, every aspect had been taken into consideration. Before Chen Ran started the Lingtai Second Realm Heart Cultivation, The Trio had already avoided the vast majority of risks in advance.

This was the reason why Jiang Zhe was a bystander the entire time in this duel.

However, Chen Ran had promised that after the Heart Cultivation ended, he would tell Jiang Zhe.

Seemingly it was to make Jiang Zhe understand that he could kill his inducer in the future by killing Chen Ran. But Jiang Zhe's True Form was still at the Ego Mental State, and Chen Ran was also at the Ego Mental State. Reasonably speaking, under the condition of the same Mental State, Chen Ran truly hadn't been afraid of anyone. If comparing Skills, then there was even less comparison. With an Eternal Kingdom, the probability of Jiang Zhe killing him was basically zero.

Therefore, as long as Chen Ran passed the Ego's Ordeal of Self-Loss, saying it or not was the same.

However, Jiang Zhe was a discarded piece, and Lin Xuan also became a discarded piece. Maybe these two would become Chen Ran's true teammates.

…

Looking at the entire game, there was still one person who hadn't made a move from beginning to end.

Si Jincheng!

In his world, he unexpectedly didn't make a move to help Shen Yuwei. This instead confirmed his identity as a multi-faced spy.

Being teammates with Shen Yuwei and Liu Anfeng.

Yet letting the players of the two alliances invade his world. He clearly could have caused a change in the situation by taking back his Skill, but he didn't do so.

This was typical of profiting from both sides.

Helping no one.

You guys do whatever you like.

But, to complete this kind of operation, he needed the 9th True Self Player to accompany him in acting.

For example, putting on an act to make him unable to take back his Skill. This way, he would also have an explanation for The All-Knowing.

…

"Two and a half days?"

Qiu Yinong was somewhat surprised. She didn't expect that Chen Ran completing the Loss of Self in the Distance-Free Technique took a full two and a half days' time?

But the problem was, whether it was her or Chen Ran, their spirits didn't have a bit of fatigue, and even their bodies didn't have a trace of hunger.

Along with the understanding of Primordial Limitless, Qiu Yinong increasingly discovered that this Skill was simply ridiculously strong, or rather, after a certain qualitative change, this Skill became more and more ridiculous.

It could actually reset the body, but not reset the memory within the Distance-Free Technique.

But the more this was the case, the more Qiu Yinong wanted to obtain the complete form of this Skill.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Lin Xuan's expression was off, she asked.

"In the space with the slow time flow rate, I can perceive it again. Inside there is a Jiang Zhe and a Lin Xuan lying on the ground."

In the space with the slow time flow rate.

Jiang Zhe stood up staggeringly, and he checked Lin Xuan's condition.

Seeing Lin Xuan's fingers twitch, he thus asked out loud: "Who are you?"

"Don't... know..."

"You lied."

Bang, a gunshot, Lin Xuan died. His speed of drawing his gun was so fast that in the space with the same time flow rate, Lin Xuan's True Form didn't even have time to react.

The next moment.

The true Jiang Zhe was transferred to the space with the same time flow rate by Lin Xuan.

"What do you mean?" Lin Xuan looked at Jiang Zhe with an unfriendly gaze.

Jiang Zhe thought for a moment and said: "Very obviously, the Lin Xuan just now knew what happened before. When he wakes up, do you say he will or won't say what happened just now?"

"I can give you guys a reminder. The lineup that wanted to kill Chen Ran before could be described as luxurious to the extreme. The Nine-Star Players alone exceeded twenty. Their memories should have already been reset, and the coverage of that space has also disappeared, meaning this matter should be able to turn the page."

"What exactly do you want to say?" Lin Xuan didn't understand his meaning.

"Then I'll put it simply. Those twenty-plus Nine-Star Players only appeared in the space just now, meaning there is a karma-type Skill among them. This kind of Skill, although it has flaws and cannot perceive matters related to True Self Skills through karma—simply put, unable to sense who the True Self Players are—"

"But, if that Lin Xuan told you guys everything about what happened just now."

"That karma player, once they used their karma Skill on you guys, they would know the memories they forgot, and could even possibly deduce that Chen Ran is a True Self Player."

Hearing this, Lin Xuan frowned: "Since that person has already forgotten, how could they use a karma-type Skill on us?"

Jiang Zhe rolled his eyes at him: "How are you so naive? With the improvement of Star Rating, us encountering Nine-Star Players is a matter of time, and encountering that karma player is also a matter of time."

Qiu Yinong savored the meaning in Jiang Zhe's words: [Encountering that karma player is also a matter of time], meaning that the karma player wouldn't easily die in this process.

With this thought, Qiu Yinong had a shuddering feeling. Since they came to Hell, the alliance leaders of the two alliances didn't seem to have deliberately targeted them, giving people a feeling that they could rank up step by step.

But in reality, The All-Knowing and Almighty had been waiting for an opportunity to succeed in one strike, just like an experienced hunter waiting for the prey to appear within firing range.

"Aren't you still alive?" Qiu Yinong said with a frown.

"This is simple. When the Hell Great Escape ends, my True Form resetting the Skill can sever this karma." Jiang Zhe said faintly.