Chapter 170: Premonition
“Reconnect… right?”
【Reconnecting…】
【Connection complete, retrieving character information】
【Welcome back, Absolute Neutral Black Vatican. Loading into Innocent World. Good night.】
…
Misha County, Hofur City, Holy Church United Chapel
Mo Tan, who appeared in his room, stumbled and sat down on a chair. He gently rubbed his forehead, which was seeping cold sweat, feeling somewhat disoriented.
Despite being in the game, he instinctively checked his physical condition…
The result, of course, was as expected: everything was normal.
“But what just happened was far from normal.” Mo Tan didn’t lose his composure for long. After a few deep breaths, he quickly lowered the hand from his forehead, then propped his chin and murmured, “If nothing unexpected happened, I should have just been…”
A system notification suddenly rang in Mo Tan’s ear, startling him.
【You have unlocked a new talent: Premonition】
“Could it be…”
Mo Tan reacted, then immediately opened his character panel and found his new talent.
【Premonition】
Passive Talent (Growable)
Effect: In situations of ???, a strong Premonition will occur, giving you three seconds.
【Note: Don’t mind it. After all, no one in this world is their own master.】
Mo Tan remained stunned for a long time. After a while, he closed the character panel in his sight. Although the troublesome problem from before had been resolved, there was no joy in his expression. A hint of bitterness even appeared between his brows, and he sighed softly, “As expected…”
These four words were not a lament that the content of the new talent was unsurprising, but rather that he could finally confirm that his ‘condition’ had indeed been exposed.
Not only that, he was even consoled by the system’s note.
“Don’t mind it?” Mo Tan gently swayed the cross in his hand, chuckling to himself, “It’s easy to say, but anyone would be on edge about something like this.”
【At least the current me certainly would be.】
He added an extra sentence in his mind, then stood up and walked to the full-length mirror in the room, silently looking at ‘himself’ in the Reflection, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
His biggest secret had been exposed in such an inexplicable way. This feeling was not a good thing for anyone, especially when this secret could lead to extreme consequences.
Mo Tan knew very well that he was not an ordinary mental patient. Leaving aside the deep-seated incongruity issues, others couldn’t even find any side effects that should belong to similar patients. His thinking, emotions, and cognitive functions were completely unimpaired. His ‘self’ was clear and distinct, and there was no Confusion or disorder between his three personalities whatsoever.
This alone was enough to be of research value.
Although each personality had different characteristics, worldviews, preferences, and habits, he could always clearly know who he was under any circumstances.
Although his intelligence was only top-notch within the normal range, far inferior to many so-called ‘child prodigies,’ he was able to perfectly compensate for his shortcomings and gradually transform himself into a monster that, to some extent, far surpassed ordinary geniuses.
Just these two points alone were enough to differentiate Mo Tan from other people with mental problems. One must know that even with today’s technological advancements, there has never been a case like his in this world—an atypical dissociative identity disorder patient who not only has no flaws whatsoever but also lives such a carefree and comfortable life.
This could no longer even be considered a disease; to some extent, it could almost be called a form of evolution.
And this was precisely what Mo Tan was most worried about.
One must know that if there truly existed someone in this world with nicknames like ‘Spider-Man’ or ‘Captain United Nations,’ then when these people completed their first great achievement in life, what awaited them would definitely not be flowers and applause, but rather relentless pursuit and cold experimental tables.
The true reality is far less sweet than in works of art.
Analyzing, researching, capturing, and even dissecting superhumans, attempting to master their abilities and talents, trying to popularize or mass-produce them if possible, and if they couldn't be figured out, directly destroying them fundamentally to prevent unforeseen changes—this is what is logical.
In most cases, ‘society’ always serves ‘correctness,’ and ‘correctness’ never has any romantic cells.
Perhaps in a world full of supermen, the strongest, most righteous, and most responsible superman would become a hero. But if there is only one superman in this world, no matter how strong, righteous, or responsible he is, he cannot avoid the incompatible malice around him, and the countless dangers that follow.
Unless you can make everyone helpless, then you might indeed become a reasonable and legal hero, rather than a reasonable but illegal guinea pig.
And while Mo Tan could indeed be described as ‘unusual’ to some extent, he was only just within the scope of ‘potentially being captured for vivisection.’ Forget about making everyone helpless against him; just a few strong, morally upright, brainwashed men cornering him in an alley would be enough to deal with him.
This also made it impossible for him not to feel a sense of crisis, because under no personality would he be willing to be someone else’s guinea pig.
It was for this reason that, until now, only Yi Dong knew Mo Tan’s true situation. The latter could also be said to be his only true friend, and Mo Tan never let down his guard for even half a second in front of others.
Therefore, although his social circle was not small to some extent, the core part of it always remained tightly closed.
And the game Innocent World provided Mo Tan, who usually rarely interacted with others, with an unprecedented new experience, such as an environment where he could unrestrainedly express his ‘personality,’ and some friends with whom he could chat and joke.
So, whether out of rationality or some factor that even he himself didn’t understand, Mo Tan genuinely liked this game. Even if time could go back to Christmas Day, he would probably still unhesitatingly (have the staff) carry that expensive game pod with a very short return period back home.
So…
“So I have absolutely no regrets.”
Mo Tan made a face at himself in the mirror, then scratched his head and began pacing back and forth in the room. He needed to think now, and fortunately, the current environment was very suitable for thinking.
【At least so far, I haven’t felt any malice from Wu Zui Company towards me, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t watching me…】
He stopped by the square table from before, his right hand unconsciously tapping the tabletop.
【Let’s try another line of thought: what if Wu Zui Company itself doesn’t know?】
Although he wasn’t very good at this kind of deep thinking, Mo Tan could still deduce information based on some clues he had summarized during his other personality states.
【The intelligence level of this world… or rather, the intelligence level of this system is simply too high. Although there are indeed a lot of descriptions and notes in many items here that seem to be written by ‘programmers,’ besides certain established ‘skills’ and ‘items,’ there are many other things that cannot be explained by the reason of ‘being prepared in advance’…】
He took out his Direwolf Whistle and looked at it for a while, then pulled out 【Ned’s Dog Tag】 and examined it carefully, constantly filtering all the skill and item descriptions he had seen during this period in his mind.
Most of them had no major problems, but there were quite a few intriguing things…
【If the dog tags of the Captain and others, and even my wolf whistle, could have pre-designed data, then how do you explain Master Lu Wei’s express?】
Mo Tan narrowed his eyes. He clearly remembered the three remarks for the 【absolute safety express】: the unfinished version, the version with the brake pads removed, and the version repaired by Ji Xiaoge.
There was a problem from the very first time…
【The express was specially made by Master Lu Wei for me when I was ‘Mo.’ In fact, this was a coincidence. The reason for arriving at Tian Zhu Mountain was the activation of that crystal. The crystal’s owner was Cordova. Meeting Cordova was because he had a plane crash, or rather, received a mission from the Forest Sprite Merchant Guild. The prerequisite for taking the mission was that Ya Ya was captured, or perhaps that inexplicable accident before…】
“It was the collision of so many uncertain factors that led to the birth of the express.” Mo Tan quickly completed his calculation, his fingers tapping the tabletop faster and faster: “So the express’s remark definitely wasn’t written by some programmer. There are too many players; no team could handle such a huge workload…”
The seemingly most reasonable points had been proven unreasonable, so the next two times were even more so. Lu Wei accidentally installed a turbocharger instead of brake pads, which was also an accident, but the express’s remark immediately changed. And Ji Xiaoge’s black sesame paste and sticky bean bun repair…
【Wait a minute!】
Mo Tan suddenly slapped his forehead in realization: “Oh right, I actually don’t need to think so much. How many of Xiao Ge’s dishes are normal!”
He had just recently checked the information for that bucket of 【Anti-Personnel Fragmentation Tea Eggs】, and the content in the remark could not possibly have been preset by anyone.
In other words…
“The reason why the BUG on me hasn’t attracted official attention until now, besides them turning a blind eye, is that the game ‘Innocent World’ is basically run by that highly intelligent main system, and only a small number of things require human intervention.” Mo Tan rubbed his temples and murmured softly, “And my situation is within an acceptable range?”
Although Mo Tan currently had no effective countermeasures on an objective level, he still thought for a while based on a guess he had just made, and then came to a conclusion…
【At least I need to thoroughly understand those times when I black out every day first! Leaving aside that BUG, if my three current characters are still within a reasonable range for now, then the most likely place for problems is ‘that’…】
Mo Tan stood up, sent Yu Cheng a message, and after receiving a reply, quickly left his room.
【If ‘that me’ truly exists in this world…】
He walked through the long corridor to the other side of the third floor of the chapel, even politely greeting a nun he met along the way.
【If ‘that me’ is the monster captured by the Holy Church United, and for some reason hasn’t completely lost consciousness…】
He arrived in front of a seemingly high-spec door and gently knocked on it.
【Then, if both of these premises are true, extremely terrifying consequences could occur at any time, and it’s highly likely to attract official attention, so…】
The door opened, and Yu Cheng, holding a heavy holy book, poked out half of her small head, smiled shyly at Mo Tan, and asked softly, “Um, have you already seen your friend off?”
【So even if it’s a futile effort, I must investigate it as soon as possible!】
“Yes, I’ve seen them off.” Mo Tan nodded, then said with a rather serious expression, “I want to talk to you again about that monster who looks very much like me.”
…
Twenty minutes later
Clang!
Yu Cheng’s door was forcefully pushed open from the outside, and a graceful figure in a golden priest’s robe burst in, spinning around, and chuckled at the two people chatting inside, “Aha, I caught you!”
The only person who could appear in such a manner, besides Holy Maiden Xia Lian Zhuye of the Dawn Sect, would be no one else.
“Um, Holy Maiden… you could have knocked first, actually.”
Yu Cheng helplessly covered her forehead and whispered to Xia Lian, who had rushed to her and Mo Tan like a whirlwind, “And I think you’ve definitely misunderstood something.”
“Seconded.” The ‘fellow countryman’ sitting opposite Yu Cheng immediately nodded in agreement.
“Tsk~” Xia Lian rolled her eyes and pouted unhappily, “So it hasn’t reached that point yet, I specifically hid my aura wanting to see a thrilling scene.”
Yu Cheng just slumped onto the table.
‘To be honest, if this were outside, I think we could totally call the police…’
Mo Tan secretly sent her a message.
‘Strongly agree! o(≧mouth≦)o’
Yu Cheng replied instantly.
“Ahem, no more jokes.” Xia Lian casually took the tea in front of Yu Cheng and gulped it down, then, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, said seriously, “Seriously, I happen to need your two’s help with something, but first I need to confirm one thing…”
Yu Cheng raised her head and blinked twice: “What?”
“Your ‘that’ situation.” Xia Lian shrugged at Yu Cheng, then pointed at Mo Tan: “It’s okay for this old flame to know, right?”
“Ah… that, yes, it’s fine.” Yu Cheng first nodded, then after a second of stunned, she shook her head vigorously, waving her small fists and protesting softly, “I told you, he’s not an old flame!”
Mo Tan: “?”
Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Seven: End
