Quadruple split.

Chapter 2849 Past Events

"What's that noise?!"

Mo Tan was startled and almost choked on a mouthful of rice plum extract.

"movement?"

Yi Dong frowned, puzzled, and asked, "What was that noise? I didn't hear anything?"

"That means there's no movement."

Because he was only with his close friend, he had let his guard down. However, he immediately realized that the crisp sound he had just heard was not a physical sound, but some kind of ominous sign. So, he relaxed again and shrugged, saying, "It was probably just my imagination?"

"First of all, you shouldn't have asked me."

Yi Dong stared intently at Mo Tan and said seriously, "Secondly, we all know that you are not the kind of person who is so fragile that you would often have hallucinations."

Mo Tan nodded, replying casually, "Oh, I guess so."

So what exactly happened?

Yi Dong, whose attitude toward Mo Tan had become increasingly rude during this period, said in a deep voice, his brows furrowed, "You'd better make yourself clear."

Mo Tan smiled, casually flicked the cigarette butt that would surely dissipate without leaving a trace before hitting the ground, and said unhurriedly, "Take your time, keep a calm mind. As the saying goes, you have to eat one bite at a time and speak one sentence at a time. Since the ancients said that nothing is more important than death, and we are all still alive and well, why not enjoy this luxury of wasting time?"

Yidong: "You are the best to speak clearly."

"……All right."

Finally giving up on trying to fool his friend A, whom he knew he could never fool, Mo Tan sighed helplessly, switched the cigarette to his left hand, raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and gently poked his temple: "There's a slight problem here."

Explain in more detail.

Yi Dong took a deep breath of rice wine and said expressionlessly, "I knew you had something wrong with your head when I was still a little boy. Now, tell me something I don't know."

Mo Tan shrugged, keeping his index finger pressed against his forehead: "You don't know... For example, these past few months I've been hearing the sound of glass breaking every now and then."

Yi Dong's expression hardened: "The sound of breaking glass? That 'walking' sound you just mentioned, could it be...?"

"It's that movement of the '辶' radical."

Mo Tan nodded and stopped hiding things, explaining simply: "Although I don't know the specific reason, I can guess a little. Simply put, it's because I perfectly embodied three different characters in the game [The Realm of Innocence], and each character has an independent mental state. So the 'unity' that I've been able to maintain all these years has become problematic. The sound of breaking glass is probably a physiological reaction similar to a rumbling stomach when you're hungry."

"Fuck."

Yi Dong was shocked and exclaimed, "Then what the hell do we do? Why don't you just quit the game? The game is fun, but it's not worth risking your life for it. If you really go crazy, the best outcome will be that my parents find you a beautiful sanatorium in the mountains and rivers to be a VIP member. That's basically social death."

Mo Tan shook his head casually and said in a light tone, "It's too late. I've been observing myself for a long time, and unfortunately, this situation seems irreversible. Even if I quit [The Realm of Innocence] now, it will only slightly delay the development of the situation. It's almost impossible to stop or reverse it."

"..."

Yi Dong frowned, and after a long while, he said seriously, "It would be good if we could delay it a little. I know there are many people with incurable diseases who end up in their seventies or eighties. At least let them live long enough to make the most of their lives."

"Can't you say something nice? I might go crazy, but I'm not sure I'll die."

Mo Tan twitched the corner of his mouth, extended his right hand toward Yi Dong while switching his index finger to his middle finger, and casually said, "Besides, I don't really need to consider these things now. If we just consider the frequency, taking my current mental state as an example, let's assume that the sound of breaking glass more than ten times a day is the threshold for me to go mad. Even if I quit the game 'The Realm of Innocence' now, it will only postpone the time it takes for me to go mad by about six months to a year at most, with a fluctuation of no more than three months."

Yi Dong remained silent, only smoking quietly, until the entire cigarette, except for the butt, had turned to ashes before he asked, "So, if you quit [The Realm of Innocence], how long would it take before you go crazy? If you don't quit, how long would it take before you go crazy?"

Mo Tan stroked his chin and asked in return, "Is it possible that even if the corresponding situation were to occur, I might not go crazy?"

That would be best.

Yi Dong twitched the corner of his mouth and asked, "So, what time exactly?"

"I won't quit for six months to a year."

Mo Tan sighed and said helplessly, "If you quit, it will take one to two years."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yi Dong, just as Mo Tan had expected, widened his eyes and stared at the latter in astonishment, saying, "You...you...at most two years?!"

"What's the panic?"

At this moment, Mo Tan was at his most likely to escape reality, but he was surprisingly calm. He simply smiled at Yi Dong and said, "I never said I could only live for two more years. As the saying goes, good people don't live long. If we follow your logic that I deserve to die, even if you die, I won't die."

Yi Dong took a deep breath, took out another cigarette, lit it, and said amidst the swirling smoke, "I don't have time to joke with you right now."

"But you do seem a little too nervous."

Mo Tan walked slowly to Yi Dong, lightly punched the other's chest, and laughed: "Don't forget that, at least until now, I've been using conventional methods to treat my mental illness, but if there really comes a day when I can't take it anymore... you should use your clever little brain to help me think of an 'unconventional' way, right?"

【! ! ! 】

The moment Mo Tan finished speaking, he remembered Xue Yin's 'superpower'. Yi Dong's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "Those people called 'marginalized people'! Aren't they all superhumans?!"

"Yeah, so we'll see if you can find those superheroes to help you out."

Mo Tan grinned and said cheerfully, "What seems like a huge problem to us can be solved by them in the time it takes to yawn. I remember they can modify other people's memories at will. Aren't they seven or eight hundred levels above those neurosurgeons?"

"call--"

Hearing this, Yi Dong finally breathed a sigh of relief. He and Mo Tan casually extinguished the cigarettes they didn't want to smoke anymore, and then changed the subject suspiciously, saying, "Then why didn't you try to find a solution yourself? What's the meaning of waiting until something happens to you before asking me to find someone to treat you?"

"Maybe I'm just enjoying it."

Mo Tan slowly walked to the sofa in front of the French windows and sat down. Looking at the distant, illusory but exceptionally beautiful coastline, she said calmly, "No matter what mental state I am in, I cherish the 'self' I am now. As for the future... even if I am cured, I don't know how or in what form I will be cured."

Yi Dong kicked the back of Mo Tan's chair and said irritably, "So you're planning to give up on treatment before something happens? Making someone like me, who knows far less about those evil sects than you, think about the future?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not joking about my own life."

Mo Tan shook his head and said cheerfully, "I just know very well that if even you can't cure me, then I probably can't either."

Idon: "..."

"Don't underestimate yourself." Mo Tan turned to look at his friend, whose expression was unfriendly, and then said the words that would naturally come to mind no matter the situation: "Don't underestimate my dear friend."

"I'll figure something out."

After a long while, Yi Dong forced a smile and said in a dry voice, "If I can't cure you, then you deserve it."

"Then I wouldn't be surprised at all."

Mo Tan clapped his hands, then pressed on the armrest to stand up: "Alright, let's stop here for today. I have a lot of important things to do... uh."

With a blank expression, Yi Dong pressed Mo Tan back into his chair and stared intently at the former, sneering, "Let's leave the matter of that 'walking' thing in your head here for now. Next, we should continue with the previous topic. What exactly are you preparing for that would make you act out of character and grit your teeth to show off, even in your current mental state?"

"It's nothing serious."

Seeing that she couldn't evade the question any longer, Mo Tan stopped being mysterious and asked directly, "You mentioned earlier that you had a high fever when you were a child, right? It was quite serious."

Yi Dong nodded, looking somewhat nervous, and said, "That's right, so I don't remember much about what happened during that time. When I think about it, I feel completely confused. I only have a vague impression. After that, you seemed to be different from before."

"Actually, I don't have a deep impression of that period over the years."

Mo Tan shrugged and laughed, "Don't forget, that time there was a mass fever, H1N1 or something, the whole hospital was infected, and everyone was in a daze."

Because the two were so familiar with each other, even though Mo Tan's words sounded perfectly normal, Yi Dong immediately noticed something amiss and asked, "You remembered?"

"I thought I would never remember it."

Perhaps because she had been too 'cooperative' with the Rice brothers in sealing her memories, she did recall some old events afterward. However, she had never confronted those memories. Mo Tan nodded slightly and said, "But I don't know if it's good luck or bad luck, I did remember something."

Could you be more specific?

"Be more specific..."

……

Real time, a long time ago, AM 01:39
City B, Sangshan Salesian Hospital

"Ink sandalwood!"

A boy dressed in a simple white jacket, blue shorts, and slightly ill-fitting white shoes, who looked to be only five or six years old, was already quite handsome and would definitely grow up to be a heartthrob in a few years. He nervously hid behind his companion and urged in the softest voice he could manage, "Let's go back, let's really go back!"

"I'll definitely go back. I never said I wouldn't."

The one in front had slightly messy hair, and although his clothes were not much different from the boy behind him, he was much less handsome. At most, he could only be described as another boy who was still somewhat good-looking... Mo Tan, in his cub form, grinned and said, "Wait until I blow up that toilet on the second floor of the teachers' dormitory and then I'll go back."

Even though he was still a cub, Yi Dong's teeth were practically grinding to powder as he whispered, "Why did you blow up the toilet on the second floor of the teachers' dormitory for no reason?"

"Because I've already shut off the water to the toilets on the first floor."

Xiao Motan licked her lips, revealing a pure and innocent smile: "If I blow up the toilet on the second floor too, those two old hags will have to go to the teaching building to take their diarrhea after they finish their steamed buns tomorrow night~"

Little Yidong stared wide-eyed and asked, "Why are Teacher Zhang and Teacher Li taking a dump in the teaching building so late at night?!"

"Because I had already put laxatives in the meat filling of the teachers' meal at the cafeteria beforehand."

Xiao Motan smiled proudly and said in a serious tone, "I guarantee they'll be paralyzed from the waist down!"

Xiao Yidong stared blankly at Xiao Motan: "...So how did you manage to get your hands on laxatives?"

“I used the school’s computer to send messages to pharmacies and online stores, saying that many cute kids have been constipated and can’t poop, so I need to buy some mild laxatives and raw materials for explosives.”

While observing the last two lights on the teachers' dormitory building not far away, Xiao Motan casually said without turning her head, "I already got the payment password a long time ago, but those two monsters were watching it closely a while ago, so I only managed to get it last week."

Little Yidong looked like she was about to collapse, and exclaimed in barely concealed volume, "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Shh!"

Xiao Motan slapped Xiao Yidong across the mouth and angrily said to her friend who couldn't speak, "Keep your voice down, don't disturb the teachers' sleep!"

[I'm yelling because I don't want you to blow up the teachers' toilets, you bastard! And you buying laxatives is one thing, but why did you have to buy raw materials for explosives?! And mild ones at that?! Do you even have mild explosives?!]

Although he couldn't speak because his mouth was covered, Xiao Yidong still conveyed his extremely serious and dissatisfaction to his friend with his sharp gaze.

"Oh, you mean explosives?"

Despite not hearing Xiao Yidong speak, Xiao Motan completely guessed what the latter wanted to say. She shrugged and looked at him with an expression as if he were an idiot: "Hey, didn't I just say I was going to blow up the toilet? Are you out of your mind?"

"Is my brain not working properly!?"

Xiao Yidong immediately became anxious, grabbed Xiao Motan, whose physical strength was not very strong, and angrily shouted, "Isn't it you who has the problem?"

"If there's a problem, why are you playing with me?"

"Isn't it because you're pitiful that nobody pays attention to you?!"

"I should thank you?"

"You're welcome."

"whispering sound."

"So what exactly did Teacher Zhang and Teacher Li do to offend you?"

"Yesterday's lunch was fennel."

"what?"

"I hate eating fennel."

"Just because he's a picky eater!?"

Chapter 2840: The End