Great! I'm surrounded by villains!-Chapter 436 - 355: Rewind

"That night, where did you go and how did you end up leaving your backpack there?"

Faced with Jiuyue’s question, Duan Mingyuan froze for a moment.

She proposed a seemingly whimsical hypothesis, but upon reflection, it wasn’t entirely implausible. For him, fabricating a piece of the past was not difficult.

Seeing that Duan Mingyuan couldn’t answer right away, Jiuyue continued with her speculation, "Everything that’s happening now is exactly as described in the short story ’The Revival of the Dead,’ from the way to enter the abandoned construction site to the things encountered along the way."

This novel was published shortly after the disappearance of a niche supernatural website blogger, and it closely followed current events by incorporating the site’s recent trending topics.

"To fabricate a memory, it must also be built upon one’s self-awareness, and while collecting news earlier, you must have come across this short story. So, you imagined yourself as one of those four college students and transposed the experiences from the story into your own, infusing it with personal emotional color."

Jiuyue saw anger in Duan Mingyuan, who had barged in; that was the emotion most people felt after reading ’The Revival of the Dead.’

The four characters in the story had encountered inexplicable malice and torment at the abandoned construction site. The twisted monsters and the illusions of fanatics filled the readers, who identified themselves with the four students, with profound despair. Published on a niche site, the story wasn’t subject to rigorous review and didn’t need to give a lucky ending to the characters.

Therefore, the entire atmosphere of the story was like those B-grade movies focused on plasma, where, after non-human torture, all four people died at the construction site, and the evil spirits within it persisted, waiting for the next victim to enter this cursed place.

It was a classic tale where the villain triumphs at the end, and the reviews on the website were mixed; many explicitly said they found such an ending uncomfortable.

"However, from a psychological perspective, this is actually a very common phenomenon. In studies of patients with delusional disorders, researchers found that even though the patients’ worlds differed from those of normal people, their worlds weren’t unfathomable. Those bizarre worlds may have stemmed from novels or movies they had seen, and under the influence of their delusions, they took these fictional events for reality," Jiuyue confidently stated.

"And Mr. Mingyuan, your situation seems more like a memory deliberately fabricated by someone."

Thus, in this fabricated memory, Duan Mingyuan fought his way to the top of the abandoned building, eliminating all twisted beings and phantoms of fanatics he encountered along the way.

After an intense battle, he finally killed the nesting evil spirit, and this land cursed by evil spirits achieved true peace at last.

In the context of ’The Revival of the Dead,’ this was undoubtedly an ending heavy with personal heroism.

"Where did you learn all these theories?"

Duan Mingyuan asked with curiosity. He hadn’t expected this little fox to speak like a professional psychologist and was surprised by theories he hadn’t heard before.

"They were mentioned by a renowned cosmic psychologist named Olive Fox September."

Towards the end, Jiuyue’s momentum seemed to wane slightly.

However, she felt that even though the famous cosmic psychologist was herself, it didn’t detract from the accuracy of the diagnosis.

Because in this inherently uncertain fictional memory, there was no "correct" to speak of.

"Or perhaps that night you simply returned home as usual, and after reading that story, your emotions remained unsettled for a long time, so you improvised a segment of memory."

"But that doesn’t explain how my backpack disappeared."

Because the theory was too outlandish, his subconscious seemed unwilling to accept it, so Duan Mingyuan raised a critical piece of information.

He was a methodical person and wouldn’t lose his usual backpack without cause. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

Even if, as Jiuyue’s theory suggested, he hadn’t actually come here that night, something must have happened for him to lose his backpack.

"Indeed," Jiuyue remained noncommittal.

If this kind of deduction had been applied to her, it would have seemed natural—perhaps she had gotten so engrossed in reading a novel the night before that she forgot to do her homework, and the next day could only tell the teacher that she had lost her backpack.

But such a slip of the mind would not have occurred with Duan Mingyuan.

"But at least, you agree with the possibility that you did not come here that evening."

Jiuyue said, "Then next, we need to find the point of divergence between fiction and reality."

"Divergence point?"

"This is one of the theories proposed by the cosmic psychologist Olive Fox September. It’s the key to distinguishing between delusions and reality in the patient’s mind, Mr. Mingyuan. Let’s go back to the subway once more."

As she spoke, Jiuyue changed her attire.

She discarded the folding fan and the clapper, donning a white coat that represents the medical profession, put on a pair of black-framed glasses, and held a medical record in her hand. She changed her aura to make herself appear as a profoundly knowledgeable and trustworthy psychologist.

"The point of divergence is hidden within the details."

The entire "deep memory" space began to rewind, turning back like a movie being played in reverse.

The two retraced their steps back to the subway station, and once again, they saw the black sedan that brushed past them, this time moving in reverse.

The windows were opaque, and even when they pressed the "pause" button, they could not discern the driver’s appearance.

"What’s the matter?"

Duan Mingyuan asked Jiuyue, who had suddenly hit "pause."

Mr. Mingyuan, according to your initial theory, there are only two possibilities. One is that you didn’t see the person in the sedan at all, so no matter how much we reduce the speed or even pause, we can’t see someone who never appeared in your memory. The other possibility is my theory, that you never came here and never encountered this sedan, so it’s impossible for you to know a person you’ve never seen," Jiuyue explained.

This matched the scene they had witnessed at the high school gate where they saw a sneaky middle-aged man getting into the black sedan, unable to make out the driver’s face.

Jiuyue also noticed that the black sedan had no license plates.

"And this street, we haven’t encountered a single pedestrian all the way here," added Jiuyue.

Jiuyue gestured to Mingyuan to take a good look at the deserted street.

In Duan Mingyuan’s "subconscious" explanation, it was due to recent rumors about the abandoned construction site, causing residents to stay away from this area.

"’The Revival of the Dead’ doesn’t describe the exterior of the abandoned construction site. When the story begins, four university students have already entered the construction site, which is the area that fictional memory could not cover. You haven’t been here, so it’s impossible for you to know who passed by here that night. Hence, your brain did a simplification process," Jiuyue concluded.

Jiuyue paused for a moment.

Void Demon had finished narrating its final round story, and now, it was her turn, "This means that you did not get off at this station that evening."

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m fre𝒆webnov(e)l.com