Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Nine times… you’re ruthless!

The reply from Mousse made Fu Qian’s eyelids twitch.

Does that mean if he had not stopped it just now, this person might have already triggered the psychological parasite of Hidden Thread?

The situation was already this chaotic, and if they were to contend with the side effects of a Transcendent item, salvation would likely be completely out of reach.

“Of course, I am the only one who knows this number, the current me.”

Seeing that Fu Qian did not respond, Mousse continued to explain.

...

“The sensation of mental tearing is extremely painful. After the fifth consecutive time, I couldn’t help but begin to doubt, and that’s when I faintly realized the misleading influence I had received earlier.”

“It was precisely under such doubt that I rolled the first six.”

“Unfortunately, my mind was already too severely damaged by then. I could only rely on Hidden Thread to barely peel off the erroneous cognition and obsession, forming a new personality, which was the one who just spoke with you.”

“I awakened too late, and facing that truly problematic, tainted personality, I not only couldn’t gain the upper hand but was turned from guest into host. Instead, Hidden Thread considered me the contamination, and my own existence was expelled.”

“I had not anticipated this turn of events, and in the end, to prevent myself from killing myself, I had to exert all my strength to make her ignore this matter at the cognitive level.”

“But after that, three more times were used.”

Fu Qian said impassively.

“There was no choice; under those circumstances, I couldn’t control my actions anymore, I could only conceal the cognition after it happened.”

“However, fortunately, just before the last time, I still waited for such an opportunity. The tainted personality was hit in succession, self-contradictions arose, and finally, I once again took control!”

“I see, so that’s why the person just now, let’s call her Su Gao for the sake of distinction, insisted that she had only used the dice five times,” replied Fu Qian, thoughtfully stroking his chin.

“Was the password that Souffle found in the dream also your doing?”

“Yes, although they are pure, because ‘Su Gao’ was dominating, the only key for them to get out of the mental cage was six.”

“And if they could successfully escape and complete their minds, my self-awareness would also be strengthened, giving me a slight chance to regain control.”

“Still, what I could do was too limited. Because, as Mousse, my self-awareness is very weak, the behavior I guide is very disorganized and nearly devoid of clear conscious intention. Do you understand?”

“More or less,” Fu Qian nodded.

Clearly, what Mousse described indicated an alternative explanation for the events that had transpired along the way.

And logically speaking, it’s hard to find any serious flaw in this explanation.

This should also be why Su Gao was able to dominate after her psyche collapsed.

But fitting logic does not necessarily equate to the truth.

For example, according to Mousse, she had thrown the dice nine times in total, with the result being six on four occasions and not on the other five.

In her view, the first five throws were unproblematic, while the last four, which coincided with her coexistence with Su Gao, were flawed.

This of course made sense, but with a random thought, one could come up with another explanation as well.

For instance, the first five times were indeed problematic; after entering the Forbidden Area, Su Gao’s mind was drawn by a special force and spontaneously split.

After subsequently creating five personalities, she achieved temporary stability, and thus rolled sixes thereafter.

During the entire process, the persona of Mousse didn’t exist at all.

It was not until just now, when Fu Qian breached Su Gao’s psychological defenses, that Mousse’s self-awareness split off in an attempt to forcibly interpret the current situation.

All of these events, from beginning to end, were just mind games within Su Gao’s thinking, a Rashomon of thoughts, nothing more.

At its root, it was all due to the aftereffects of drinking the Fool’s Tree Sap, leading to broken and fused post-effects.

You see, this explanation is equally reasonable, and it doesn’t rely on the hope that your opponent is a criminal genius.

It’s a pity, though, given Su Gao’s personality, it would still be difficult for her to shift her views under logically consistent conditions.

Of course, it’s not entirely impossible.

The simplest way, Fu Qian believed, would be if she rolled Hidden Thread again. The result was likely to be different, just like when she originally split off Violetta and the others.

But the problem was, she had already used it nine times, and the tenth use would cause a psychological parasite to emerge, so this path was reluctantly deemed unusable.

However, if she did nothing, there really would be two personalities in Su Gao’s head at this moment. Under the influence of this place, it was hard to imagine what might happen.

It was highly likely that either the current Mousse or the recent Su Gao would die, and the other would fall deeper into paranoia.

What a headache!

Fu Qian sighed, feeling the Qilin Arm itching to act.

This kind of delicate task, much more complicated than brute force.

After all, dealing with the person asking the questions is easier!

Fortunately, the exchange wasn’t entirely fruitless.

After all, this Mousse, if nothing else, was privy to the most information, and now the current situation was almost fully understood.

“I think I’ve almost got it. From what I see, your job is really dangerous, isn’t it?”

Fu Qian looked at Mousse, his smile inscrutable.

“But I have another question.”

“Go ahead, Mr. Fu.”

“Do you think the me right now, is your hallucination?”

“Of course not!”

Mousse answered almost instantly, with great conviction.

“In that case, give me that.”

Fu Qian gestured towards the object in Mousse’s hand.

“The Hidden Thread?”

Mousse was taken aback, not quite understanding why Fu Qian wanted it, but still passed the dice over.

“How does this work?”

…

“Cut open a wound, let the blood fully submerge the Hidden Thread, and then try to establish a mental link with it. It will start to spin on its own.”

“When the Hidden Thread stops turning in the blood, the number it displays is the locked-in number.”

Although she didn’t understand what Fu Qian was planning, Mousse still answered very seriously.

“Very well!”

Fu Qian didn’t seem to have any intention of explaining; he directly made a cut on his hand.

Blood surged forth, instantly engulfing the dice in his palm.

Controlling the wound to stop bleeding, Fu Qian closed his eyes and focused his mind on his palm.

Very soon, an invisible surge flashed through his mind, and the Hidden Thread in his perception became intricately connected with him.

When Fu Qian opened his eyes, the dice in his palm had stopped spinning, displaying a prominent one.

“Is that it?”

Fu Qian looked at Mousse.

“Yes.”

“That’s quite convenient.”

While praising, Fu Qian used his other hand to pick up the dice.

“So, what do you think I’m going to roll now?”

To persuade someone, facts need to be laid out and reasons given.

Considering that Mousse had finally made a coherent case for herself, it wouldn’t hurt to introduce a bug into her logic.