Four Split Personalities

Despite having detected the oddity of "Ji Xiaoge" right away earlier, Motan still wholeheartedly thanked the system, because just a few seconds ago, the mosaic in front of him had been staring at Ji Xiaoge’s face and hugging and holding him too, which was really bad for the blood pressure.

If someone with a weaker mental state were to experience this, they might have been shocked off-line even before the system started pixelating.

However, returning to the point, even though they share the same appearance, the "Ji Xiaoge" in front of Motan still differed greatly from the actual person, with the most significant difference being the aura. Here, it’s not about the youth’s lively and cheerful personality, but an indescribable and unsettling aura, something that the newly logged-in Motan dared not ponder too deeply about.

To give an example, it’s like a beautiful girl... and a photo of a beautiful girl, even if they look the same, the feeling they give is not the same at all.

That’s why Motan had been able to stabilize his mind relatively easily earlier. If it had been the actual person, he probably wouldn’t have recovered so quickly.

Then, while ignoring the mosaic that was approaching him, Motan opened his messaging bar and sent Ji Xiaoge a message: "What are you doing?"

"Being angry!"

She replied instantly and added before Motan could respond: "Why haven’t you woken up?"

[Not woken up?]

After a moment of thought, Motan realized what she meant and immediately replied: "I seem to have been pulled into a sort of illusion."

"What kind of illusion? I see you’re currently lying unconscious next to me."

Ji Xiaoge expressed her curiosity.

"Well, to summarize, a girl who looks exactly like you first threw herself into my arms, and then just as she was about to take things further, she got pixelated by the system."

Knowing that Ji Xiaoge was angry, Motan hurriedly replied honestly; betting that the so-called image-only Last Dragon King might reappear shortly, and if he answered more ’skillfully’ and got caught out later, it would be troublesome. So, it was better to tell the truth.

The next second, a severely distorted sense of touch came from behind him, feeling like the distorted mosaic was hugging Motan from behind, but under the system’s sensory interference, the touch felt no different than carrying a backpack like everyone did in school days; the slight scent from before had also been harmonized away.

So, Motan chose to ignore it completely, treating it as if a soft hiking pack had hit him.

It took nearly half a minute of silence on Ji Xiaoge’s end before she replied...

"A girl, looking exactly like me, threw herself into your arms? And was about to take things further?!"

"By that time, it had already turned into a mosaic, with super low resolution. Forget the features, you couldn’t even make out the species."

Motan hurriedly explained.

"Let’s talk about it later, just focus on finding a way out first."

Ji Xiaoge replied swiftly, adding at the end: "Be careful, I still need to settle some scores with you, in various senses."

"I admit I was wrong before, but this shouldn’t be my fault now, right?"

Motan sighed and asked without much hope.

"I get copied into a cardboard cutout throwing herself at you and it’s still not your fault?! Stop talking nonsense, just focus on getting out. It looks like we’re in a stone chamber, it’s actually pretty bright, not too scary, there’s a door but it’s locked."

After sending this message, Ji Xiaoge didn’t send any more, and Motan decisively closed the friends bar and began to think about how to "leave" this place.

The clump of mosaic sticking to his back seemed to be saying something, but all the system shielded it as "beep beep beep beep," which probably wasn’t anything nice.

Motan chuckled bitterly, utilizing the 5% physical strength value he had just regained to break free from the mosaic’s gentle ’restraint,’ and was about to stand up to look for clues when suddenly, he heard a sound akin to a rush from deep within his brain, and then everything around him collapsed like a mirror, and Motan’s perception twisted back to ’normal’—changing from the somewhat floating unrealistic feeling to... the sensation of his big head facing down, lying on the cold ground.

Shockingly, his character panel had also altered in that instant, his health points and physical strength value rapidly returned to 100%, and the layered bleeding status also disappeared.

[Even if it’s an illusion, to be able to do what just happened is somewhat impressive; it even twisted the panel, system interference still exists, but it feels pretty sharp.]

Motan inwardly sighed, then slowly got up. Although he could have made a swift and energetic movement like a carp flipping over, he chose a more clumsy pose to avoid startling Ji Xiaoge, signaling that he had already awakened.

"Wow! That was fast, huh?"

Ji Xiaoge, who was sitting cross-legged next to Motan, looked at him in surprise and said, "You woke up in less than two minutes?"

Motan chuckled dryly, shaking his head, "I was wondering about that too. It seemed like once I broke free from the illusion, I woke up."

"Broke free?"

Ji Xiaoge sharply caught the key point and asked with a half-smiling, squinted eyes, "So, you mean you were taking advantage of the paper doll version of this lady before?"

"I swear, the second time it approached me, it was entirely a mosaic!"

Motan looked earnestly at the girl in front of him, who felt so real and dear, and said righteously, "I swear on my honor, the system was quite reliable in this regard."

"So, the first time it approached, it was in my form, right?"

Ji Xiaoge didn’t let Motan off hook, pressing further, "So... what exactly happened?"

"It fed me a fake Healing Potion."

"What else?"

"That’s it."

"That’s it?"

"Really, that’s it."

Motan’s expression was extremely stiff, and he nodded sheepishly, "Then it turned into a mosaic."

Ji Xiaoge pouted, gave Motan a disdainful glance, and snorted lightly, "Like I could trust you?"

Motan coughed dryly, and awkwardly said, "Actually, I wasn’t lying just now..."

"Congratulations to you both."

A somewhat familiar voice interrupted Motan; the pair looked up to see a figure suddenly appeared in the center of the small yet brightly lit stone chamber, surrounded by golden torches - it was the Last Dragon King they had encountered before, Bosh·Garon.

"You..."

Ji Xiaoge snapped to her feet, teeth clenched as if about to say something but was interrupted by the other party.

"This is, yes, number sixteen, this is the sixteenth Shadow."

Bosh seemed to be looking at something, murmured while supporting his chin, then chuckled while looking up at their position, "Yes, don’t doubt, this is indeed a Shadow. Even so, I still know what has happened. After all, since you two have triggered the sixteenth Shadow that I am currently recording, I must apologize first; the dragon language in the previous room was deliberately spoken by me, I hope the one who didn’t understand can forgive me, and as for my kin who made a noble decision, although I don’t know whether he convinced, deceived, or forced you out, he is absolutely admirable."

Motan and Ji Xiaoge exchanged looks; both could tell that although the Dragon King in front of them was still an image from a thousand years ago, his understanding of the situation was very comprehensive. This message was recorded with great specificity, not only that, but it seemed that Bosh had also prepared for at least fifteen other possible scenarios.

"And now, congratulations, mysterious Dragon descendant."

Bosh lightly clapped his hands, smiling warmly, "You have passed the first test, proving that you are a person of noble character and strong will. You are not only willing to sacrifice yourself to save your companion but also able to resist the temptation of the most beautiful person in your mind... haha... I am sincerely impressed."

Motan also chuckled, expressionless.

Ji Xiaoge glared at him with a slight blush on her face.

Chapter 583: The End