The memories of all humanity are awakening, except for mine.

Chapter 111 The Crazy and Bizarre "Gift"

"From the very beginning? You could tell from the start?"

"Are you kidding me?"

Xu Linlin felt that Jiang Chuan was playing a trick on her.

She frowned, looking like the girl next door whose toy had been stolen, seemingly harmless.

But Jiang Chuan knew that she was a devil at heart.

He answered without hesitation, calmly stating:
"To be precise, it wasn't that I figured it out from the beginning, but rather that I suspected your identity from the very beginning."

"You don't know, I'm a rather suspicious person."

"And not long ago, I ran into a brat who caused a lot of trouble."

"So when I saw Zhang Bowen carrying you out, I subconsciously started to suspect you."

"According to the logic you want to give us, you are a shield, a kidnapped child."

"If that's the case, why didn't you resist when Zhang Bowen was holding you?"

"However, there are too many reasons to explain this, perhaps it's Stockholm syndrome or something..."

"So at the time I was just skeptical."

"What truly confirmed your problem was the question Zhang Bowen asked."

At this moment, Xu Linlin immediately remembered everything that had happened.

She said "Oh," as if suddenly realizing something.

"That's definitely not a joke..."

"So I was exposed from the very beginning."

"But you do have some skill to notice these things."

Jiang Chuan smiled and said:

“When you were trying to control me with your mental power, Zhang Bowen asked me one more time, ‘Master.’”

"I immediately realized that the one launching the psychological attack was not Zhang Bowen, but you, whom he was holding."

"Because you, who launched the attack, know it, and I, who am being attacked, also know it. This mental power is too strong. Whether the control is successful or not, we will know the result immediately."

Xu Linlin shook her head:
"I had no idea you weren't infected."

"However, your mental strength is quite interesting..."

"how did you do it?"

Jiang Chuan looked at her without saying a word.

After a pause, Xu Linlin continued speaking to herself:
"Then let me change the question."

"Since you discovered my problem long ago, you could have easily killed us on the spot with your skills, so why did you cooperate with me in this charade?"

Jiang Chuan continued in his reply:
"Because I'm not sure if my companions can withstand your mental power."

"I have to admit, your control over your mental power is... so strong that it's beyond my comprehension."

"I never even thought about a way to leave a concept in the brain."

“I may not get infected, but I can’t be sure if she can avoid getting infected.”

"If she gets infected and fights me, I can't guarantee I'll win."

"So we had no choice but to play along."

Xu Linlin pressed further: "So after Zhang Bowen died, when you appeared together at the villa, you just pretended not to notice me?"

Jiang Chuan nodded: "That's right."

I understand the principle of not pursuing a cornered enemy.

"I've been leaving you a way out."

"Otherwise, if you really go berserk, I'll be in a difficult position."

Xu Linlin nodded in realization: "No wonder you dared to forcibly kill Zhang Bowen in front of me."

Xu Linlin then asked, "Then why did you agree to let me go home?"

"Is it also because... one shouldn't pursue a cornered enemy?"

Jiang Chuan shook his head this time and said, "Because I can't make it too obvious."

"Can't be too obvious? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is... if I want to kill you, I have to do a lot of preparation. I have to do it cleanly and with a clear reason."

"Like being in a villa?"

"It's like being in a villa."

Xu Linlin laughed.

But his smile was full of helplessness.

Looking back on everything that happened tonight, she knew she had many opportunities to manipulate others...

But because of Jiang Chuan's calmness and even indulgence, she always believed that she had not been exposed.

Jiang Chuan always left her a glimmer of hope, making her think that she had a chance to escape and return to a normal life.

By taking this step by step, he had essentially led himself down a dead end.

Half an hour ago, the van was her last chance to fight back.

But she silently stared out the window for half an hour, unable to muster any mental energy.

Because she still held onto a sliver of hope.

Xu Linlin knew that as long as she escaped from these people's sight, the cause and effect would be severed, and they would quickly forget her.

So whether she was handed over to the police station or put in that van, she did not resist.

She just wanted to escape, and then she came across a place she used to live in, and Xu Linlin felt that she had seen an opportunity.

And she did.

She suggested going home to visit her family.

It wasn't until Jiang Chuan said, "Brother will stay with you," that she truly realized she had reached a dead end.

Xu Linlin was thinking that if she could plant a few thoughts in the girl named Li Yi at close range while they were in the car, it would definitely create an opportunity for her to leave.

But she also knew that there were no "what ifs".

However, the truth is that even if time could really go back and she were given a chance to choose again, it would ultimately be in vain.

If she launches a mental attack in the van, Jiang Chuan will strike first before she can brainwash Li Yi.

On the car, Jiang Chuan kept his mental energy surrounding her, not daring to relax for a moment.

As long as her spiritual power overflows, Jiang Chuan's dagger will mercilessly pierce her eye sockets and penetrate her brain.

Because her mental abilities are too strong.

Because she was able to leave several different thoughts in Jiang Chuan's mind.

This powerful method of using mental energy led Jiang Chuan to choose the safest course of action.

Jiang Chuan wouldn't say these things.

Xu Linlin wouldn't ask.

She already knew she was doomed to fail, and now she was utterly despondent.

At this moment, the calm conversation between the two was more about Xu Linlin wanting to die with some understanding before she passed away.

At this moment, Xu Linlin asked in confusion, "Why haven't you made a move yet?"

Jiang Chuan: "Because I have questions to ask."

Xu Linlin nodded, indicating that Jiang Chuan could ask questions.

Jiang Chuan said, "I have figured out most of the aspects of the plan you designed."

"Let me tell you whether I'm right or not."

Jiang Chuan briefly organized his thoughts before speaking:
"You just mentioned that you killed so many children just to save your own life."

"So the starting point of everything is that you need to graft other people's karma in order to survive."

"So you and Zhang Bowen started to take action to plunder karma from those children."

"But cause and effect is a mysterious thing. Even if you survive by borrowing the cause and effect of others, many problems still occur."

"Although I don't know what the problem was, Zhang Bowen was cursed with bloodshed because of it."

"That's why you noticed our actions tonight in advance, or rather, you wanted to use this bloodshed to break the deadlock."

"This is your birth chart..."

"This is also Zhang Bowen's dead end."

Xu Linlin smiled, nodded, and said, "That's roughly it."

"You're quite smart."

Jiang Chuan said, "I only just figured it out myself."

"I still have some questions..."

However, Xu Linlin did not give Jiang Chuan a chance to ask questions.

She calmly began to fill in the details that Jiang Chuan had overlooked in the story:
"You guessed right, I need to continue the cause and effect in order to survive."

"But even if I can seize or graft this cause and effect, the cause and effect itself will not disappear."

Even within cause and effect, there are good and bad aspects.

“My destiny cannot bear those bad things, but Zhang Bowen can.”

"Therefore, I take the good karma upon myself, while Zhang Bowen bears the bad karma."

"We tried many ways to keep us both alive."

"We did indeed have a few peaceful days."

She paused, looked around, and said, "It's right here."

"We've lived together for a long time."

"But problems soon arose."

"..."

"As you said, I foresaw Zhang Bowen's impending bloodshed."

"However, I had actually thought of this a long time ago."

"With the accumulation of negative causes and effects, this bloody disaster is bound to occur; it's just a matter of time."

“At first I didn’t think it was a big problem, but when the divination failed to come true for a long time, I realized that this was probably Zhang Bowen’s death calamity.”

"He knew this too, so we started designing a plan."

“As for the plan…” she looked at Jiang Chuan, “you know it.”

"That's what attracted you here."

"There are two purposes in attracting you."

"Firstly, let the bloodshed happen ahead of time, and see if Zhang Bowen can survive."

"Secondly, if it is truly an unavoidable death, then let me live by using this death."

"But no matter what, Zhang Bowen is going to die soon, so we decided to let him go."

"Since the goal is to be discovered by you anyway, I might as well experience a different kind of life."

"Buy a house, buy a car... watch some movies, play claw machines, go to the mall and pick out expensive things to buy, and eat some things you've never eaten before."

As she spoke, she reminisced, thinking of those relaxing and carefree times, and then of how Zhang Bowen had just died…

Before I knew it, tears were already streaming down my face.

She was in great pain, but a smile still lingered on her lips:

"Someone as quiet as him..."

"And she even deliberately acted that way in front of you..."

"you……"

She wiped away her tears, swallowed the words of blame she was about to say, and instead said:

"you are right."

"Anyway, we deserved it."

Jiang Chuan asked, "According to this explanation, it means that Zhang Bowen's attempt to shift the blame onto me is false?"

Xu Linlin nodded and said, "How could he possibly know anything about cause and effect transference?"

"Saying and doing those things is nothing more than seeking death."

Jiang Chuan asked again, "If you don't even know if I've been infected, how would he know?"

Xu Linlin smiled bitterly:
"Such a strong influence can only last for a while, not forever."

"Otherwise, why would we bother with such painstaking planning?"

"It only took about five minutes."

“He knows these things.”

Jiang Chuan rubbed his temples as he listened to this, and began to recall everything Zhang Bowen had said and done.

Looking back now, Zhang Bowen did indeed display some unnecessary sarcasm and arrogance at the time.

I really didn't realize it at the time...

Liang Cheng and the others said they were good actors, but Zhang Bowen was actually not bad either.

Jiang Chuan continued, "Who is Zhang Bowen to you?"

Xu Linlin said, "Foster father, lover, best friend..."

"Whatever you think."

Jiang Chuan was still rubbing his temples: "We couldn't find any of this information."

Xu Linlin said, "Of course you can't find out. I cut off my karmic ties long ago. You didn't expect me to be in the villa either, did you?"

Jiang Chuan lowered his hand, opened his eyes, and looked sharply at Xu Linlin:
"But you will still die by my hand."

He paused slightly:
"Your so-called plan has failed completely."

"If you can shift the cause and effect, then why did things end up like this?"

"Your methods are laughable to me."

Xu Linlin said, "But I did live an extra month."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chuan's face twitched, a mixture of surprise and anger in his eyes: "Just for one month, you killed so many children!?"

Xu Linlin was stunned. She gritted her teeth and asked, "If you were me..."

"what will you do?"

"There's a chance to live... maybe even a good life. Can you give up this temptation?"

"I'm only thirteen years old!"

Jiang Chuan sneered:
Thirteen years old!?

"So vicious at thirteen... how dare you say that!?"

"Those children in the basement are nearly starving to death! No one is cleaning up their excrement in the rooms!"

"More than thirty families have been devastated because of this, and what are you crying about here? It's disgusting!"

"If you had even a shred of conscience, how could you have done such a thing?!"

Xu Linlin did not retaliate against Jiang Chuan's anger.

She struggled slightly, stammering, "If you were me, you would do the same."

Jiang Chuan said, "I know nothing."

"I would choose to die!"

"Even if you can't resist the will to live, why don't you let those children who are still alive, those children who are destined to die, at least have enough to eat and a good living environment before they go?!"

"Is this fucking hard?!"

Xu Linlin's entire body stiffened abruptly.

"what do you know!?"

"What do you know?!"

As she spoke, her face was ashen, terribly pale.

Jiang Chuan suddenly became alert; he could sense that Xu Linlin's mind was in turmoil.

She was flustered and spoke incoherently:

"I...I don't want to either, but...what can I do?"

"Am I going to die? There's still so much left to do!"

"Watching them die before my eyes... yet I get to live a little longer... their karma manifests in me, I can clearly remember their names! I can clearly remember the scene of them nursing! Every single one! Every single one! I wipe their bodies, looking at their faces as they sleep..."

As she spoke, she grabbed her hair, in obvious pain:

"I don't want to see them!!"

"I didn't want this to happen either!"

"But what else can I do!?"

She suddenly raised her head and looked at Jiang Chuan, her eyes filled with confusion!
"You're saying you'd choose to die!?"

A powerful spiritual force suddenly emerged from her body!
At that moment, Jiang Chuan's already tense nerves reacted instantly. In that instant, his perception domain and flow state were fully activated, and his speed exploded to the extreme. The dagger in his hand suddenly stabbed towards Xu Linlin's eye socket!

But that mental energy also suddenly slammed into Jiang Chuan's brain...

At the same time, Xu Linlin even used her mental power to forcibly drag Jiang Chuan's arm, forcefully changing the direction of Jiang Chuan's thrust.

But Jiang Chuan reacted very quickly. Although he didn't hit her eye socket, he went straight for her heart after dispelling Chen Linlin's mental energy!

"Pfft!"

The dagger plunged completely into her frail body, piercing her heart!

Jiang Chuan thought that the spiritual energy would dissipate instantly, but he was wrong...

Xu Linlin's mental energy was still frantically piercing into Jiang Chuan's brain!

"how……"

One impression after another burst forth from the depths of his mind!
Jiang Chuan tried his best to discard those impressions, enduring the excruciating pain in his brain:
“That doesn’t work for me!”

Xu Linlin smiled weakly, yet with a hint of triumph, and said:

"I didn't expect it to work!"

"Jiang Chuan! Didn't you say you would choose to die!?"

"Now I'm giving you the right to choose!"

"One day, you will find yourself in the same situation as me!"

"We'll see what you choose then!!"

Jiang Chuan's eyes widened.

Those methods and knowledge of seizing cause and effect exploded completely in his mind!

Not a psychological attack?

What Jiang Chuan also found incredibly strange was...

Xu Linlin's heart had stopped beating, but she was still talking!

Xu Linlin's spiritual energy flowed within her body, and although it was frantically evaporating and dissipating, it gave her one last chance to speak.

Her eyes widened, revealing extreme pain, yet she still forced herself to meet Jiang Chuan's gaze at such close range:
"With such a strange fate, it wouldn't be surprising if I died at your hands!"

"What path will you take in the future? Will you really choose death as you've said?!"

"Jiang Chuan, I'll be waiting for your answer!"

"On the road to the underworld, I look forward to meeting you!"

Her childish yet frantic voice quickly faded away.

He sat there, head bowed.

It seemed as if she had finally been freed... her last bit of mental energy vanished in an instant.

Jiang Chuan breathed heavily, staring in astonishment at everything before him, his mind filled with newly acquired knowledge.

Chen Linlin's last words lingered in his mind.

"Such a strange destiny?"

"Will you be waiting for my answer?"

"..."

Jiang Chuan never imagined it would end like this.