They won the Holy Grail War, but this turned out to be the Virtual Tree Universe.

Chapter 446 Meme Virus
Dan Lei wasn't too surprised when Black Tower suddenly asked about Onfaros.

In the game, Himeko would normally ask Black Tower about Onpharos.

However, when she first asked in the game, Black Tower had never heard of this place. She later asked Screw Gum, who naturally hadn't heard of it either.

After all, the timeline of when the Black Tower captured the Memory Thief is quite clear. At that time, Walter and Sunday went to the space station for help, which must have been after Star and Danheng had already entered Onpharos.

The problem now is that Heita has come to ask him, and Danlei can't say he doesn't know.

Because Screwgoom is handling the firewall, he's easy to fool now. But once he enters Onpharos, the Black Tower will inevitably conclude that this protection was prepared for Onpharos.

Therefore, Dan Lei answered directly.

"Onfaros? I've heard of him. I killed a memory thief who tried to invade my memories back in Pinocchio."

She seemed to have information about this place in her mind. It seemed that only those who could remember could discover that place, and the power of intellect and memory were intertwined, which must have been very special.

The protective measures I commissioned from Nun Screw were specifically for this purpose.

I suspect this place is a special data world. I'll wait until the train crew opens the road and then follow them to take a look.

The memories in the memory thief's mind indicated that the place seemed to hold an important treasure of the Memory Court, but she didn't know what that treasure was.

Dan Lei's words were half true and half false; he had never actually encountered anything like the Memory Thief.

According to the Black Swan theory, those who remember themselves are actually quite afraid of themselves; seeing themselves evokes a fear that comes from their DNA, similar to the fear humans feel when they see a wild tiger.

So after Black Swan made a few deals with Dan Lei, she avoided him, probably because her fear was second only to Huang Quan, who had "skinned and dismembered" her.

Moreover, the protection set up by [Fu Li] in Dan Lei's mind acts like a red warning light, alerting all those who remember.

In this situation, Dan Lei is a super red-name monster in the eyes of Yi Zhe. Defeating him might yield a huge amount of equipment, but if he can't be defeated, he will die instantly.

Reality isn't a game. While those who remember are extremely difficult to kill in the eyes of ordinary people, they are just that easy to kill in the eyes of powerful individuals with targeted methods.

Dan Lei was clearly the latter, so no memory thief ever bothered him.

However, Black Tower didn't know what Dan Lei's situation was in the eyes of the Memory Thief. She had encountered many Memory Thieves, and had even come up with special methods to target them.

Therefore, Black Tower had no doubts whatsoever about Danlei being attacked by the memory thief.

In Black Tower's view, Dan Lei has key memories about the path to immortality, and even a plan to become a god. The memory thief must be extremely envious, so it's perfectly normal for him to harass him.

It's reasonable that the train crew learned about Onfaros from the Black Swan, and Danlei obtained information from the memories of the memory thieves who were also active in Pinocone.

So Black Tower asked directly
"Danlei, if you want to explore Pinocene, why not go with the Starry Sky Train crew?"

Danlei had already prepared a plan for this question, and simply feigned embarrassment as he replied...

"Black Tower, do you think that after Pinocchio's commotion, the Starry Sky Train crew would still dare to explore unknown planets with me?"

To put it bluntly, what I and the Starry Sky Train crew are pursuing are different.

They enjoy making friends, exploring, understanding, building, and connecting; walking alongside the world is their guiding principle.

I'm quite mercenary; I only care about whether something is useful to me and whether the price to acquire it is reasonable.

For me, a sacred object from a certain country on this planet is helpful.

As long as I'm sure taking it won't really cause widespread death, I'll offer a deal. If they refuse, I'll steal it anyway; I don't care what the locals think.

At that point, the Star Train, which has already become friends with the locals, will find itself in an awkward position.

Even if I don't let anyone catch me with any evidence, the locals won't treat me well, and it will also affect the reputation of the Star Train.

Himeko must have realized this through the Pinocchio incident.

She didn't distance herself from me because my behavior didn't cross any lines.

But the Star Train certainly doesn't want to be my enemy again.

They won't risk their lives with me anymore; if I say I'm going to Onfaros, they'll most likely change their destination.

So I'll wait until they've finished developing the area before I go."

Upon hearing this, Heita immediately realized that Danlei's words made sense; he would never stoop to stealing or robbing others.

But Danlei is the kind of person who has principles, but not many.

Double-crossing is Dan Lei's favorite thing to do, because he has no psychological burden when robbing bad guys.

For good people, Danlei would at most offer some advice on methods and approaches, but he wouldn't openly rob them.

Of course, given Dan Lei's current perspective, anything he'd set his sights on stealing would have to be at least a high-level Star God creation or something extremely rare.

The key is that Danlei needs to be able to use it himself.

Therefore, Black Tower is not worried that Dan Lei will become a villain that everyone hates.

Because of the high value of the item, people won't use morality to judge those who fight over it.

Like Pinocchio's embryonic philosophy of order, no one in the universe thinks there's anything wrong with Danley's planning of this.

Such treasures, which are strongly associated with the Star God, are naturally meant for the virtuous.

Therefore, Black Tower decisively stopped mentioning the adventure with the Star Train. She felt it was reasonable for Dan Lei to wait until the Star Train had finished exploring Onpharos before going.

The issue of having Aunt Screw build a firewall was no longer raised; it was something that was meant to be prepared.

After asking a few more questions, Black Tower hung up the call.

After the call ended, Dan Lei breathed a sigh of relief, indicating that he had finally managed to fool them.

Dan Lei isn't afraid of contradicting himself by saying, "Let's wait until they've finished developing the area."

Once the Star Train crew reaches Onfaros, the subsequent events will unfold according to the game's storyline. With Lao Yang and Sunday calling for help, all their subsequent actions will make sense.

After taking down the black tower, the rest of the process went smoothly.

After having dinner at Delmer Food Court, Danlei let Yun have some free time and went fishing at Blues Time.

Then, just half a day later, Danlei received a call from March 7th, and heard her anxiously shouting on the other end.
"Danlei! Come quick to Liumeng Reef! The residents here have all turned into monkeys!!"

I can't reach Xing or Danheng, and Ji Zi and Uncle Yang are still in a meeting. Please come and check on them quickly.

Upon hearing this, Dan Lei thought about how he would have to ask March 7 for "nude photos" (light cones) later, so he decided to focus on building goodwill for now. Zhi Xin's meme protection program had been sent over a few hours ago, and the concert was also at Liumeng Reef.

So Danlei replied

"Don't worry, I'm coming right now."

After saying that, Dan Lei opened a dream portal and arrived at the square of Dream Reef.

Then, Danlei saw a large number of bananas with monkey icons on the screen and various small monkeys around them.

Danlei's sudden appearance clearly startled the little monkeys, and one of the assistants immediately ran over and scolded him.

"Where did you come from? This is the Sleeping Banana Society's event area. Unauthorized personnel, get out of here!"

Faced with this arrogant assistant, Dan Lei did not hesitate to kick him away.

The immense force caused it to disintegrate in mid-air, vanishing into dream bubbles. Then, Dan Lei's eyes revealed golden vertical pupils, radiating dragon might, as he looked at the little monkey and Zhu Jiao around him and said...
"Tell me, where is this place?"

The atavism meme originating from the forest only turns humans into monkeys, it doesn't mean that all biological instincts are erased.

Human thinking has become like that of a monkey, which, in some ways, makes it easier for Danlei to control.

Moreover, Danlei didn't find any bananas; there were only bananas and little monkeys here.

As soon as the dragon's might was revealed, all the little monkeys trembled instantly. Out of their biological instincts, they dared not express any opinion to Dan Lei.

This fear naturally spread to the bananas connected to them, causing them to tremble as well.

Seeing this, Dan Lei said in a low voice

"Now the monkey stands to my left, and the banana stands to my right, understand?"

Dan Lei's last words were practically shouted, which instantly startled the few monkeys on the edge of the area. Without looking back, they rushed straight out of the square, trying to escape.

However, Danlei didn't give them a chance at all; all the little monkeys that tried to escape were instantly caught by the magic hand.

Upon seeing this, the other monkeys immediately stopped running away.

To amplify the monkeys' fear, Danlei deliberately dragged them slowly from the air to his front.

Then he looked at them and said
"Want to run? Did I let you run?"

After saying that, Danlei used a hypnotic technique to put them into a deep, hibernation-like coma.

From the outside, the monkeys' bodies went limp instantly, their breathing "disappeared," and they looked as if they were dead.

Then, these "corpses" were simply thrown on the ground.

The little monkeys, who no longer possess human-like thinking, wouldn't consider why their "dead" brethren hadn't vanished as memory bubbles.

They are now terrified.

At this moment, Dan Lei roared again.
"Didn't you hear me tell you to stand apart and get back in line?!"

At Dan Lei's roar, all the little monkeys present instantly followed their biological instincts and obeyed Dan Lei's command, standing directly to Dan Lei's left.

The bananas, naturally, also happily ran to the right.

At this moment, hearing the commotion in the square, March 7, Potio, and a banana ran over.

Upon arriving at the scene on March 7th, he immediately covered his mouth and exclaimed in surprise.
"Danlei, you killed these little monkeys! Good heavens! They were local residents!"

March 7th's shout left Danlei speechless. He flicked her head and muttered a complaint.

"March, have you lost your memory? Have you forgotten all the information you learned in Pinocchio?"

After being flicked by Dan Lei, March 7th suddenly remembered that one cannot die in a dream.

Moreover, the body that is killed will definitely turn into a dream bubble and disappear.

The bodies of the monkeys here are still intact; they've just been knocked unconscious by Danlei.

So March 7th scratched his head sheepishly and stuck out his tongue to show that he knew he was wrong.

At this moment, Dan Lei saw the Sleeping Banana Society badge on March 7th and immediately complained.
"Talented Person 244 March 7th, March, you've only been here half a day and you've already become a mid-level manager in this organization?"

Upon hearing this, March 7th scratched his head again and replied...

"I didn't want to be so talented either. But Zhu Jiao insisted that I was an outstanding talent, and immediately gave me a very high-level membership card..."

Uh, I'm quite talented in clubs that advocate abandoning thinking, since I often, often... often forget things occasionally, hehe.

Her words about March 7th fully demonstrate that she has a good understanding of herself.

This girl definitely has a good memory; she's quite good at shorthand.

However, given enough time, her memory for details becomes comparable to that of an Alzheimer's patient; she forgets everything without being reminded.

It's as if her brain periodically cleans up junk files, ignoring unimportant memories.

However, the reason she isn't given a banana here is most likely because March 7th is a psychopath with strong mental resistance, and the meme virus simply cannot infect her.

But such a good opportunity couldn't be missed. Dan Lei deliberately looked March 7 up and down and asked...

"What did you see at the Tabushi Temple in Luofu in March?"

No matter what, March 7th wouldn't be enough to forget the shameful things that happened at the Grand Diviner's Office; he immediately raised his fist in protest.
"Danlei, even if you want to confirm my true identity, don't bring this up again!"

Seeing this, Dan Lei nodded, then quietly said...
"Once this is over, give me that light cone."

After saying that, Dan Lei turned and left, as if giving an order to a subordinate.

March 7th was momentarily stunned. By the time she realized that Danlei had actually asked her for such an embarrassing light cone, Danlei was already gone.

At this moment, Danlei had already walked up to Potio, looked him up and down, exchanged a few words, and finally concluded...

"Have you been infected with a meme virus? But you haven't completely regressed; you've experienced cognitive regression."

Indeed, only a bug can fight a bug.

Seeing that Danlei had started to care about Potio's condition, on March 7th, she decisively put aside the matter of him asking her for the Shameful Light Cone and ran over to say...

"Yes, yes, his mind has returned to that of his adolescence."

Seeing this, Dan Lei looked at Zhu Jiao and said
"Meme viruses are viruses that affect cognitive information particles, changing the senses of the infected person towards certain things in a different way."

In this dream world, when a person's perception is altered, their physical appearance will also change.

When a person truly believes they are a dog, they can become a dog in their dreams, and vice versa.

Similarly, when a person believes they have returned to a certain period of their youth, the result is the same.

However, this cognitive interference must theoretically continue for a person to truly believe that they have become something else.

After all, decades of habits are hard to break without leaving a trace, even if you directly alter someone's memory.

After saying that, a golden spark appeared on Dan Lei's index fingertip and flew directly into the body of Zhu Jiao, who had been watching the drama unfold for a long time.

It instantly turned into a golden torch and burned to ashes, leaving not even ashes behind.

With Banana's death, Potio, who hadn't been severely affected by the meme virus to begin with, instantly recovered and immediately began to speak...
"That bastard, he actually tricked me."

After saying that, Potio paused for a moment, then muttered to himself.

"Huh? The synesthetic beacon fixed itself? It's so precious, so incredibly precious! My darling!"

Upon hearing this on March 7th, he suddenly realized the truth.

"Huh? Mr. Potio has recovered. Does that mean he immediately returned to normal after smashing the banana?"

No wonder those banana-making assistants need one-on-one tutoring…

(End of this chapter)