We agreed to set sail, so you'd become the ruler of the deep sea?

Chapter 290 Father and Daughter Reunite! The Inside Story of the [Truth Society]!

Looking at the strange-looking man with a single pair of glasses in front of him, Xia En was shocked and overwhelmed.

Edward is the Undertaker!?

Actually, from the first time they met, Shane felt that Edward's features were somewhat familiar.

But I don't know where this familiarity comes from.

It wasn't until he put on those single gold-rimmed glasses that Shane truly connected him with the [Undertaker]/[Observer] he had seen during the promotion ritual.

This was something Xia En had never imagined.

So, was Edward, whom I met in the past in the City of Giant Trees, just an ordinary prince?

Or was it that, from that moment on, the Undertaker had been watching him with a playful gaze?

Even Xia En felt a chill run down his spine when he thought about it.

"It seems you've seen me before, and more than once?"

Edward, or rather, "The Undertaker," smiled slightly upon seeing Shane's reaction and continued.

"But strangely, I have no recollection of the name 'Shane'..."

Ever since Edward revealed his identity, time in this space seemed to have frozen.

Both the white light shining from the magic circle and the fanatics lying on the ground, groaning softly, became eerily still.

No one was able to interrupt Xia En's conversation.

Therefore, Edward spoke slowly and deliberately, as he pondered the words as he spoke.

"Then there are only two possibilities."

"One possibility is that what you saw was me before I 'awakened'."

"Another possibility is that the time when you meet me will be after I have left my anchor point on this ship."

"Or is it both?"

Xia En carefully considered Edward's words, his expression growing increasingly solemn as he thought to himself.

"The 'unawakened' me? Does that refer to Edward, who was still ignorant and clueless at the time?"

"Could it be that Edward became the Undertaker sometime after that?"

What does the 'anchor point' on this ship refer to?

He had a vague idea.

But these few scattered words are not enough to deduce the whole truth of the matter.

Moreover, Xia En still remembered that this mysterious "Undertaker" came from the "Truth Society"!
The relationship between the two sides is one of enmity, not friendship!

It's not impossible that the other party will attack me.

In this bizarre, constantly resetting space, Shane had absolutely no confidence in defeating the enigmatic "Undertaker."

Even so, Xia En silently mobilized the secret power within his body, ready to fight to the death at any moment.

But that's it.

A confused voice sounded beside them.

"Father?"

Beside Xia En, Joey stared wide-eyed at the man before her.

The moment Edward saw Joey, his previously composed and elegant demeanor underwent a tremendous change.

He frowned, staring intently at Joey's face, and murmured, "Who are you?"

Why do you feel so familiar to me?

"But in my memory, this is the first time I've seen you?"

At that moment, Shane suddenly remembered that Joey was born in one of the large strongholds of the Truth Society.

And her father was one of the researchers who wore a monocle!

During the last promotion ceremony, Shane had tried to probe the Undertaker with the name "Diana," but unfortunately, he did not receive a definite answer.

At this moment, Shane never expected that Joey and The Undertaker would meet under such circumstances.

"Father, don't you recognize me?"

Joey's gaze toward The Undertaker was equally complex.

There is longing, confusion, and bewilderment...

Although she didn't recognize Edward at first, now the face in front of her overlapped with the gentle face in her memory, and they were no longer indistinguishable.

However, what saddened Joey was that her father... seemed to have forgotten her.

She couldn't help but ask, "Have you even forgotten your mother?"

Edward asked blankly, "Father...you mean, I'm your father?"

"But who is your mother?"

"Diana."

At this moment, Xia En stepped forward and spoke up: "Her mother's name is Diana, a genius that the Siren clan sees only once in a thousand years."

"Decades ago, she was abducted by a force suspected to be the [Truth Society] and had a child with one of the researchers."

Do you have even the slightest recollection of these past events?

Upon hearing the name, Edward's body visibly trembled, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Diana...Diana...Diana...Diana...Diana..."

Each time he repeated the name, his expression and tone of voice would change.

Sometimes empty, sometimes joyful, sometimes sad, sometimes angry.

He seemed to be both crying and laughing, appearing almost delirious.

At this moment, Edward didn't feel like a human being, but rather like a malfunctioning radio or a computer program with broken, garbled code.

Shane shielded Joey behind her, watching Edward with tension and vigilance.

In this world, those who have lost their minds and gone mad are especially terrifying.

The secret power within them will go berserk, leading to distortions of both body and soul.

At this moment, Edward in front of me was clearly insane!
Even if he suddenly turned into a deformed monster and attacked him, Shane wouldn't be surprised at all.

Fortunately, the worst did not happen.

Just as Edward was about to lose his mind, his eyes suddenly lit up with a silvery-white light.

Countless streams of data rushed past his eyes like a waterfall.

[An anomaly detected in serial number G23, anomaly type unknown...]

[Personality reboot in progress...]

A cold, mechanical voice rang out directly from Edward's body.

But the next moment.

[Drips of dirt... drips of dirt...]

A shrill alarm sounded.

At the same time, Edward's eyes turned bloodshot, as if they were about to bleed.

His expression was unusually ferocious, as if he were using his willpower to fight against some kind of being.

[Reboot aborted! Reboot aborted!]

[Warning! Serial number G23 is out of control! Serial number G23 is out of control! Please clear it immediately...] Suddenly, the alarm stopped abruptly, and two lines of bloody tears flowed from Edward's eyes, sliding down his cheeks.

When he opened his eyes again, the man's demeanor had changed once more, appearing peaceful and calm.

It was completely different from her previous frenzied state and her elegant, cold demeanor.

Upon opening his eyes, Edward's gaze naturally fell on Joey, and then he gave her a gentle smile.

There was an indescribable sadness and deep regret in his eyes.

"Joey, thank you for all these years."

Upon hearing this, Joey could no longer hold back her tears, which flowed down her face like pearls from a broken string.

At this moment, Edward's expression and tone were exactly the same as she remembered from her childhood.

Clearly, at this moment, Edward reverted to being Joey's father, rather than appearing before the two as the Undertaker or the Observer.

Edward gently embraced Joey, patting her back, his face full of affection.

"I didn't realize you'd grown so much."

"You and your mother look so alike..."

Faced with this touching reunion between father and daughter, Xia En felt somewhat strange.

It feels strange to suddenly switch from a tense atmosphere to this warm one.

Moreover, why do I inexplicably have the feeling of meeting my father-in-law?

At the same time, Xia En had even more doubts in his mind.

Not only Edward's dramatic transformation, but also the information conveyed by that cold, mechanical voice, are all quite intriguing.

After a brief, heartwarming moment, Edward turned to Shane and spoke frankly.

"This personality segment won't last much longer, so please ask us any questions you may have as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Xia En asked directly, "What do you mean by 'personality slice'?"

Edward replied, "The 'me' within this obsession aboard the Diamond Star is not the real me, but merely a program that encapsulates my memories."

"When this program is activated, I will awaken as the personality of [The Undertaker]."

"Within the Truth Society, this form is called personality slices."

“Not only in such narrow spaces, but also in promotion ceremonies and even in certain periods of history, different slices of the personality of the [Truth Society] members may appear.”

Shaen felt a chill run down his spine, and immediately thought of Edward, who called himself the "Observer" in the promotion ritual.

If the Truth Society truly possessed such means, wouldn't they have already corrupted history?
No wonder Augustine called it "a worm that gnaws at history".

It's no wonder that the Truth Society has cast a shadow over many major historical events.

Seemingly sensing Shane's thoughts, Edward shook his head.

"This technology is far from mature and has extremely stringent requirements."

"For example, the soul of the person being sliced ​​needs to be exceptionally strong."

"For example, there can only be one slice of personality in the same era. If multiple personalities exist, they will quickly collapse."

"Even the president of the Truth Society doesn't know the reason behind it."

"To date, only five people in the Truth Society have been able to do this, and one of them even betrayed the Truth Society."

At this point, Edward smiled bitterly and said, "If it weren't for this reason, I probably would have died long ago."

Xia En frowned slightly: "What do you mean by that?"

Edward said, "You should have noticed that I am very different from the Undertaker I used to be."

"You could even say that we don't seem like one person."

Xia En nodded: "That's true."

There's a significant gap not only between The Undertaker and Edward now, but also between The Undertaker and The Observer.

They are like twins who have the same appearance but different personalities.

"the reason is simple."

"A person's character is essentially determined by their memories."

"The same principle applies: by simply deleting or adding to the memories of different personality segments, different personalities can be created."

Edward looked at his daughter and said softly.

"Back then, my acquaintance with Diana was just a task assigned to me by my superiors."

"But later, I truly fell in love with Diana, so I disobeyed the orders of the Truth Society and tried to rescue the mother and daughter."

"Unfortunately, it all fell apart at the last minute. In desperation, I could only let Joey escape through the underground sewers, while I used a forbidden teleportation spell on Diana..."

Upon hearing this, Joey's eyes widened suddenly: "You mean, Mother is still alive?!"

"I do not know either."

Edward shook his head and said sadly, "The situation was desperate at the time, and I could only hastily cast the spell, so much so that I couldn't even be sure whether the teleportation spell had succeeded or not."

"Later I studied it and found that the endpoint coordinates of that forbidden spell were an extremely distant [secret realm]."

"Perhaps it is a distant place that we will never be able to reach in our lifetime."

Joey's bright eyes dimmed slightly, but she still spoke earnestly.

"My mother must still be alive!"

"No matter where that [secret realm] is, as long as we live, we will meet again one day!"

Edward stroked his daughter's head and murmured, "Maybe that day will come..."

Edward quickly continued the previous topic: "In the end, I was still caught by my colleagues from the Truth Society."

"Because of the special nature of my soul, they did not kill me, but instead punished and reformed me."

“Memories of Diana and Joy have been erased from my mind and replaced with many cold and dangerous experiences.”

"This is the origin of the 'Undertaker' personality."

Edward's words were light and casual, but Shane felt a sudden heaviness in them.

"Punishment and reformation" were just two words in his mouth, but considering the methods of the Truth Society, it's not hard to imagine how tragic that experience would be.

"However, memories always leave some traces wherever they go."

"I used this to set up a backup personality in my mind, which would only be activated when I met Joey and Diana."

At this moment, Shane remembered Edward's words, "Time is running out," and his expression changed slightly.

"Since it's a backup personality, it can't be maintained for too long."

"Moreover, over time, my true form might sense it and even discover Joey's existence, which would definitely not be a good thing."

"So, I also added a self-destruct program to this personality slice."

Seeing the change in Shane and Joey's expressions, Edward simply smiled, unconcerned.

"I could die without regrets if I could see Joey safe and sound."

As he spoke, Edward looked at Shane, a satisfied expression in his eyes: "Besides, I also saw the man my daughter chose."

“I saw everything you did in that crevice.”

"They act decisively and bravely, are responsible and have a sense of duty, and at the same time have good intentions, their own principles and bottom lines."

"Shane, you are very good and excellent. I feel very reassured entrusting Joey to you."

(End of this chapter)