I will burn books and slay gods.

Old Li's expression turned serious. "All Night Watchers who have come into contact with high-ranking Nightbane or members of the Cult must undergo periodic conceptual purification. This is to remove external conceptual contamination and solidify the boundaries of their self-awareness. You've experienced Xu Yan's direct interference, so you need a thorough purification even more."

The purification ceremony took place on the second day.

The location was not the training room or the medical room, but a circular room at the deepest part of Morning Star Hospital.

The room had no windows, and the walls, floors, and ceiling were all covered with a pure white material etched with layers of silver runes.

In the center of the room was a shallow pool, which was not filled with water, but with a faintly glowing silver liquid.

When Chen Ye arrived, several people were already waiting.

Lin Su, Wang Xiaoming, Instructor Gui Chi, and three other night watchmen who had participated in missions outside the old factory area.

Everyone was dressed in simple white robes and barefoot.

The person supporting the ceremony was an old woman whom Chen Ye had never seen before.

She was very thin, almost like a skeleton draped in a white robe, but her eyes were exceptionally clear, as if they could see into the depths of people's hearts.

Her codename is "Pure Glass," the most senior concept purifier among the Night Watch.

"We've all arrived."

Jing Liuli's voice was gentle and ethereal, echoing softly in the circular room. "Tonight's purification will focus on clearing away the conceptual remnants of the Guixu Cult, especially the pollution left by the 'Definition Interference.' You may see illusions and feel uncomfortable during the process. Remember—none of that is real. Your true selves are the only real ones."

She had the seven people sit around the pond, with a small oil lamp in front of each of them.

When the lamp is lit, the flame is pure white and has no temperature.

"Now, close your eyes. Recall your experiences with pollution."

Chen Ye closed his eyes, and images of the old factory area appeared in his mind.

Xu Yan's dark eyes, the distorted labyrinth of knowledge, that feeling of being "browsed"...

"Don't resist remembering, but maintain the distance of an observer."

Jing Liuli's voice guided, "You are the viewers of the story, not the characters in it."

The silver liquid in the pool began to glow.

The light was soft, yet it seemed to penetrate the eyelids and shine into the depths of the mind.

Chen Ye felt a cool sensation spreading down from the top of his head, like an invisible spring washing over his thoughts.

The "scent" of the pink mist that lingered during the battle, the conceptual "fingerprints" left by Xu Yan, began to be peeled away.

Then the hallucination occurred.

It wasn't a visual illusion, but a cognitive illusion—he suddenly "knew" some things, things that had never happened before.

He "knows" that he is not actually Chen Ye, but a replica created by a person named Xu Yan, and that his memories have been implanted.

He "knew" that Morning Star Hospital was the real evil organization, and that the Night Watchers were organizing human evolution.

He "knew" that Lin Su had been monitoring him and preparing to eliminate him at the right time.

Every "knowledge" carries a strong sense of reality, accompanied by corresponding "memory images" and "logical evidence".

If it were the usual Chen Ye, he might have gotten into a chaotic argument.

But at this moment, guided by Jing Liuli and bathed in the light of the purification pool, he maintained that "observer distance".

These "knowledges" are foreign conceptual fragments, pollution, not the truth.

He gripped the bookmark on his chest and silently recited his declaration.

My name is Chen Ye.

I am the Night's Watchman.

The illusion began to crumble.

But at that moment, the deepest fantasy surfaced.

He "saw" a scene: Old Li standing next to Xu Yan, the two of them talking.

Xu Yan said, "The seed has been planted."

Old Li nodded: "He will grow into the key we need."

Then there's another scene: Lin Su's mother didn't actually die; she joined the Guixu Cult and is now one of its high-ranking members.

Next is the third: Wang Xiaoming's disappearance was not an accident, but a side effect of an experiment by a certain Night Watchman.

These fantasies were more detailed and "reasonable" than before, and even filled some of the vague doubts in Chen Ye's mind.

Why did Old Li take special care of him?

Why is Lin Su able to control the flames so precisely?

Why is Wang Xiaoming's ability so rare?

Doubts began to grow.

Jing Liuli's voice rang out just in time: "The deepest pollution will disguise itself as doubts that already exist in your heart. Remember, the purpose of pollution is to shake your trust—trust in your companions, trust in the organization, and ultimately, trust in yourself. If these are shaken, your cognitive blueprint will collapse."

Chen Ye took a deep breath.

He forced himself not to analyze the "rationality" of the fantasy, but to return to the most basic point.

Does he trust Lin Su?

Believe.

Those moments of fighting side by side were real.

Does he trust Wang Xiaoming?

Believe.

That figure, gradually disappearing yet still persisting, was not a fake.

Does he trust Lao Li?

Believe.

The old man who gave him the bookmark and taught him the blueprint of cognition was not a fake.

Those questions in the realm... Questions can exist, but they don't need immediate answers.

He can move forward with his questions and wait for real evidence, rather than accepting the "explanation" offered by the pollution.

The moment that decision was made, all illusions shattered like glass.

The light from the purification pool reached its peak, and then gradually dimmed.

Chen Ye opened his eyes, feeling more awake than ever before.

It's not a clarity of knowledge, but a clarity of being as a whole—clear thinking, stable emotions, and keen senses.

The monitoring instrument showed that the concentration of the karmic fog decreased by 15%, and the crystal structure of the soul fire also softened slightly.

He looked at the others.

Lin Su's eyes were clearer, and the stickers on Wang Xiaoming seemed less necessary—his presence was more stable.

The instructor's brows no longer bore the marks of years of tension.

"Purification complete."

Jing Liuli's voice was weary, "But remember, purification is not a one-time fix. As long as the battle continues, contamination will continue to accumulate. Regular purification, maintaining the purity of self-awareness, is a fundamental discipline of the Night's Watch."

After the ceremony, Chen Ye ran into Lao Li in the corridor.

The old man leaned against the wall, twirling a wrench in his hand: "How does it feel?"

"It's clearer now."

Chen Ye honestly admitted, "I also... saw some illusions."

"About me?" Old Li seemed to have guessed.

Chen Ye nodded.

Old Li laughed, but his laughter was tinged with bitterness: "It's always like this after a purification. Those who trust see suspicion and illusions about the Guide, and those who are experienced see suspicion and illusions about the organization. The Guixu Cult is best at planting seeds of distrust between people."

He stopped smiling and looked at Chen Ye seriously: "I won't ask you to believe me unconditionally. But I must tell you: I chose to be a member of the Night Watch because I've seen what a world ruled by the Order would be like. Thirty years ago, they almost opened a stable Gate to the Void in Southeast Asia. I was there on a mission and saw the consequences—a small town of 50,000 people, within three days, were either turned into mindless puppets or killed each other in madness. Fewer than a hundred survived, and all of them permanently lost the ability to experience joy."

Old Li's gaze drifted into the distance: "The cult calls it 'purification.' I call it slaughter. That's the difference between us. You can doubt my methods, my motives, the ammunition—you can doubt this fundamental opposition—we want to protect the integrity of humanity, they want to pursue the nothingness that 'transcends' humanity."

After she finished speaking, she patted Chen Ye on the shoulder, turned around and left.

Chen Ye stood there, processing what he had just heard.

He knew that the doubts would not completely disappear.

But with the experience of purification and the training of cognitive blueprints, he learned how to coexist with skepticism—not to suppress it, not to be gullible, to keep observing, and to wait for evidence.

Back in his ward, he took out his cognitive anchor cards and drew a card with a "handshake" pattern.

The experience of trust.

He recalled the bottle of water Lin Su handed him amidst the flames, Wang Xiaoming's words "You must remember me" as he nearly disappeared, Instructor Gui Chi's "Everyone's here? Trigger" before teleportation, and Old Li's "Come back alive" when he handed him the bookmark.

These moments are real.

This is enough.

He put down the card and looked out the window.

In the darkness of the night, the lights of Morning Star Hospital shone brightly in the dark mountains, like a ship sailing on a night sea.

There was suspicion, fear, and a price to pay on the ship.

But there is also protection, trust, and light.

And the ship is still moving forward.