Starting as a Wallfacer, his defection to the Three-Body Problem shocked the world.

Lin Xuan slowly stepped forward, and the surrounding void began to twist and change as if stirred by an invisible hand. In an instant, the void collapsed and reassembled, transforming into a bright and clean classroom.

Sunlight streamed through the blinds, casting dappled shadows on the floor. The little girl, who was the embodiment of Number One, sat on the edge of the podium, her slender legs dangling in the air, swinging gently. The rubber soles of her round-toed shoes occasionally brushed against the side of the podium, making a soft rustling sound.

"Should I help you recover your memories? Although I can only restore the part that I stored." Number One asked, tilting his head, his childish voice carrying a composure that didn't match his appearance.

Lin Xuan nodded without hesitation: "Of course we need it."

“However…” Number One gently swayed her dangling legs, “your memory capacity is simply too vast. Releasing it all at once might…” She suddenly paused, her slender fingers tracing patterns in the air, countless pale blue data streams converging at her fingertips like fireflies.

Before Lin Xuan could react, Number One suddenly snapped his fingers crisply.

In an instant, Lin Xuan felt dizzy. Countless fragments of memories surged into his mind like a burst dam, each memory like a sharp shard of glass, cutting fiercely into his nerves.

But the pain only lasted a moment. When Lin Xuan opened his eyes again, his gaze had returned to its usual depth. Just as the other party had said, he didn't have many memories stored with the other party. Even if he successfully recovered them, there were only some fragmented pieces, and some of them even contradicted his original memories logically. This was the root cause of the brain pain he felt earlier.

"So... how exactly did they do that?"

"What? How did you do that?" Number One asked in confusion, staring at Lin Xuan in front of him with his large, gem-like eyes.

"Tampering with memories... I still can't understand why, since we are all observers, only you can interfere with my memories?" This point is crucial for Lin Xuan. Since this so-called Xinglan AI can tamper with her memories, it will definitely use the same trick again.

This forced him to be on high alert, not only for the so-called Xinglan AI, but also for the seemingly harmless little girl in front of him.

Who knows if the other party really helped me regain my memories, or if they implanted another memory that wasn't mine?

"It's not as powerful as you think. If I could really alter other people's memories at will, I wouldn't be hiding myself in the core of this machine now. The same goes for her."

"Essentially, we simply overwrote your memory, essentially adding a few more nodes to your original memory, which caused the deviation in your memory. Human memories are very difficult to delete. Even if they are forcibly deleted, they will recover on their own after a period of time. Moreover, this method is extremely risky. Unless the other party cooperates voluntarily, it is probably difficult to achieve."

Lin Xuan caught the key information in the other person's words: voluntary. Seeing that he understood, the other person did not hide anything and said it directly.

"To be precise, this is the fourth time you've met me. Each time we meet, you ask me to store a part of your memories. I've just returned all the memories you've stored here to their rightful owners."

As he spoke, Number One began to recount the details with great familiarity.

"The first time, you said you were being hunted by the end producers and had fled to me."

"The second time, you said you made a deal with an AI called Zhizi, which is why you entered the core of the main machine."

"The third time, you said you didn't intend to enter the core of the machine, but you just felt that there was something wrong with your memory and wanted me, the observer, to help you diagnose it."

"This is the fourth time so far."

Number One counted on his fingers, finally looking at Lin Xuan.

"So, this time, you still haven't told me why you came here?"

Lin Xuan didn't answer him immediately. Instead, she sorted through the newly added memories in her mind and began to try to piece together a complete story.

Lin Xuan's thoughts gradually cleared, and he realized a crucial fact: this was his fourth time arriving at Mechanical Earth—or rather, they had never truly left the memory illusion of the core of the machine. The entire Mechanical Earth was actually divided into two levels: the real world and the illusionary world.

By analyzing his four memory experiences, he discovered a consistent pattern: each time he helped Sophon infiltrate the core of the main machine in the illusionary world, his memories would be fragmented. However, Number One's statement refuted the "memory reset" theory—in fact, he actively requested Number One to delete this part of his memory.

This contradiction plunged Lin Xuan into deep thought. Based on his understanding of himself, there was only one reasonable explanation for this unusual behavior: the enemy in the real world was far more powerful than he could have imagined, to the point that even he wasn't confident he could complete the mission alive. Therefore, he chose to entrust his crucial memories to Number One, ensuring he could re-acquire this vital information each time he entered the illusion, thus enabling him to make the right judgments at critical moments.

“If this inference holds true…” Wenming’s eyes sharpened, “then there must be a verification mark I left in the real world.” He believed that, given his cautious nature, he would never place all his bets on one thing. This discovery gave him a completely new understanding of his current situation.

This is like a roguelike game, and this is the save point. I was stuck at the entrance to a BOSS level for a long time, so I kept rewinding in order to find the final solution to defeat the BOSS.

P.S.: I was writing two books at the same time and got them mixed up, sorry!