Four Split Personalities

Although he hadn’t felt anything unusual at the time, after witnessing Ji Xiaoge without hair ornaments in the game numerous times, Motan ultimately couldn’t help but be reminded of that chance encounter outside the game.

Different magnitudes, but the same stunning beauty.

Adding the premise that there had been "no change whatsoever in her appearance," things became a bit eerie.

In terms of lethality, ranked from least to greatest, it would be "Ji Xiaoge in the game wearing headgear," "Ji Xiaoge in the real world," "Ji Xiaoge in the game not wearing headgear," and, in theory only, "Ji Xiaoge in the game not wearing headgear and actively using [A Glance Can Captivate A City]."

Regardless of which state she was in, the girl’s appearance itself remained unchanged; the only difference being that she had short hair in the real world, which wasn’t a significant factor.

So, the question arises...

Why does the same person, with the same appearance, radiate such drastically different charm and lethality under different circumstances?

The most realistic explanation is: due to being a long-time shut-in and single, resulting in astonishment in real life; due to talents triggering the effect in the game; and simply because he had grown accustomed to seeing her and her talents weren’t activated at other times.

But that’s not right...

Although Motan didn’t know why it wasn’t right or where it didn’t match up, he just felt something was off at the moment.

Combining the situations in the game and real life, along with some things he had surmised over the years, Motan always felt that Ji Xiaoge wasn’t dependent on some game-exclusive trait amplification to overthrow a country with her allure.

Moreover, even if one were to step back ten thousand paces, players’ talents in the game were literally just that: talents. Taking himself as an example, whether as "Hei Fan" with the [Affinity] trait, as "Tan Mo" with the [Cunning] trait, or currently as "Mor" with the [Spirit of Dedication] trait, all of these were innate to him. Even talents like [Noble], [Faithless], and others acquired during the game were related to his own actions or attitudes and didn’t just spring from nowhere.

By that logic, what if Ji Xiaoge’s [Allure] talent worked the same way?

Could there be another wildly imaginative explanation—that this girl naturally possessed an out-of-this-world level of beauty, but it was "modified" in the game due to the talent [A Hermit Stands Alone]?

But if that were truly the case, how would one explain that Ji Xiaoge outside of the game hadn’t caused a major sensation? It’s not an issue that could be concealed simply by cutting her hair to shoulder length.

Or was her allure "modified" even outside of the game?

The modification in the game was by the system, but what would it have been outside the game?

Was it the "mystery" he had already perceived but never dared to cross the line?

Or something else...

Motan, his thoughts becoming increasingly chaotic, couldn’t help but start to worry about her.

This was indeed a very serious concern. After all, the real world wasn’t as innocent as the Realm of Innocence. If Ji Xiaoge in the real world possessed the same charm as when she was in the [A Glance Can Captivate A City] state in the game, it would be extremely dangerous, both for herself and for others.

As her friend, even though he hadn’t let "Mor" in the game and "Motan" in the real world equate due to special reasons, Motan still couldn’t help but worry.

He recalled Ji Xiaoge’s appearance, trying to convince himself he was just being a worrywart, yet he gradually realized that the image of the girl in her everyday state was becoming somewhat distorted in his memory. Although he could clearly reconstruct her every gesture and smile in his mind, there was this feeling that seeing a mountain was no longer seeing a mountain, and seeing water was no longer seeing water.

For example, when we look at a Chinese character, we may recognize what character it is at first glance, but if we stare at it for a long time, we’ll find that we slowly start to not recognize it anymore.

It was a hard-to-describe sense of disorientation, but it was indeed present.

Thus, amidst this feeling of disorientation, Motan spaced out...

[Hermit... true... decline...]

In a daze, a voice seemed to echo in Motan’s ear, but he didn’t catch it clearly until he suddenly snapped back to reality after about ten minutes and remembered that he had missed something.

But that wasn’t important.

What was important was that he absolutely mustn’t think about it anymore!

It would be best to completely seal away this doubt starting today!

As for comforting Ji Xiaoge, not to mention that she had lived more than twenty years in complete safety without causing any commotions, even if there were any problems, what help could he, a common person, provide?

It was just needless self-disturbance...

Motan shook his head, giving a cryptic, hollow laugh, but he felt a moment of alarm inside.

If he had "zoned out" for just a bit longer just now, perhaps...

"Ya! Mor, you’re online! You logged in so early today!"

"So, I really am seeing hallucinations..."

Motan sighed, gently tapping his forehead and murmuring softly, "Seriously have a headache."

"Why, why? Are you feeling unwell? Could it be an effect of this tower? Then why am I still perfectly fine?"

The girl, as delicate as a work of art, as if endowed with the right to every accolade, fluttered over with her wings, clasped her hands behind her back, and cocked her head adorably as she gazed at Motan. Her eyes held a pure, faint concern as she drew out her words, "You~are~okay~right?"

"Huh?!"

It was only at this moment that Motan realized that the incredibly beautiful girl in front of him was not a hallucination, but rather the lively and bouncing Ji Xiaoge.

"What’s with the ’huh’? I’m asking if you’re alright!"

Ji Xiaoge rolled her eyes, wrinkling her nose as she said, "You said you had a headache, so what’s actually wrong? Do you have low blood pressure? Do you need to log off and rest for a bit?"

Motan shifted his gaze from her lovely face and awkwardly tugged at the corner of his mouth, "No, I’m fine. That comment earlier was just a random remark..."

"Oh oh, I get it."

The girl nodded vigorously, her smile blooming like a flower, "It’s like when people say ’my balls hurt’ but they don’t actually mean it literally, right?"

Beads of sweat appeared on Motan’s forehead as he stood there, stunned for a good while before giving a dry laugh, "You could say that, you could say that... But seriously, I thought you had already gone back to Sky Pillar Mountain. The cooldown for the teleportation beacon should have ended by now, right?"

"Of course it’s finished, it’s only ten hours after all."

Ji Xiaoge shrugged her shoulders, her smile brimming, "But since it can be used anytime, I can head back whenever I want. Besides, I suddenly thought maybe you might miss me a bit, so I didn’t rush off right after logging in and have been walking the pig outside."

"Walking... what?"

"Walking the pig~"

Ji Xiaoge chuckled, shaking the Iron-Brissled Boar book that had been used for experiments, and said with a grin, "This one here, A Sang had added two new functions before, aside from its original spiky book form, it now has a common book state and the summoning of [Iron-Brissled Boar Spirit] these two forms."

Motan then remembered that A Sang did indeed mention something like this, having said just yesterday that he was handing this book over to the two of them. After reading the item description, Motan had felt that its style didn’t quite suit him, so the decision was made to let Ji Xiaoge use it.

How could he have forgotten...

"Mor, you really seem a bit off today!"

Ji Xiaoge looked at Motan with a surprised expression, asking dubiously, "Are you sure you’re feeling okay? Don’t push yourself. Whether it’s ’ball pain’ or headache, you must go to the hospital if it’s serious."

Motan just stared blankly at the serious-faced winged beauty in front of him, and after deducing she was indeed in earnest, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he waved his hands, "No, no, I’ve just been a bit short on sleep these past few days, see, playing the game is pretty much like catching up on sleep."

"Really? Well, that’s good~"

Ji Xiaoge finally breathed a sigh of relief, then mischievously threw him a flirtatious wink...

"So, was I right? Did you miss me a little?"

...

Once again, Motan felt a headache coming on.

Chapter 577: End