Four Split Personalities

February 27, 2049

Game Time AM07:56

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[Welcome back, Orderly Good Mor. Loading the Realm of Innocence, wishing you a good night.]

...

Northwest Continent, Spirit Monster Wilderness

"It really feels as if it’s been an eternity."

Motan opened his eyes in a green meadow, instinctively raised his hand to shield the sunlight, and murmured softly, "It’s only been one day... huh?"

He was midway through his sentence when he suddenly widened his eyes, then abruptly sat up, his expression stiff as he looked around.

Lush green grass, unknown small trees, the chirping of birds, the fresh scent of soil...

At first glance, nothing seemed amiss, and he indeed had logged off in this spot. Not far away, there even lay a symbolic pile of campfire ashes.

But the crucial point was...

"Where is my tent?"

Motan leapt up from the soft grass, surveying the empty surroundings—well, not entirely empty, but at least there was no sign of a tent, which stunned him. Then, he paused for two seconds before turning his head sharply back to the crooked tree that theoretically should have been behind him.

Well, the crooked tree was still there, but...

"Where is my horse?!"

Motan exclaimed again in shock, rushing to the crooked tree where his horse should have been tied, stepping on a pile of not-so-fresh horse dung, yet not seeing a single horsehair.

Clearly, both the tent and the horse had ceased to have any connection with him.

"You’re kidding..."

It took Motan a while before he could shrug helplessly, letting out a long sigh, "Are there really thieves around?"

Indeed, when Motan had logged off the day before last, the horse he had bought from Anka Market was still properly tied next to the tree, and he had logged off inside the tent he had purchased from the same market, not just lying on the grass.

Yet, upon waking, aside from himself, both the tent and the horse were gone.

This was truly awkward...

Although Motan (as the Orderly Good personality) was in all respects a rather nice person, he was neither overly altruistic nor foolish. Naturally, he understood the necessity of being wary of others. However, since this area was rarely frequented by others, and both the tent and the horse weren’t worth much money, it really wasn’t worth it for nearby merchants or adventurers to steal them, which is why he had ultimately decided to camp and log off here. But, unexpectedly, they had actually disappeared!

"Ah, but I can’t say I was completely unprepared for this."

Motan sighed again, summoning his Self-Destruct sheep, which, once mounted, allowed his legs to stretch out to touch the ground. He then rapidly left the sparse woods, heading towards the main road a few miles to the south.

Five minutes later, Motan, feeling utterly disheartened, returned from north of the shallow forest, quickened the sheep’s pace and corrected his course towards the true ’south’, and finally rejoined the main road after wasting roughly fifteen minutes.

While managing to control his mount (and keeping his legs tight), he anxiously opened the messaging panel, ready to check the dozens of messages sent by Ji Xiaoge the previous day to see how far back he had been left.

As mentioned before, as ’Mor’, he had been tracking a ’caravan’ along with Ji Xiaoge—and to be blunt, they were tailing slave traders under the Viper Chamber of Commerce. Due to the fact that Motan’s online times were erratic, it had turned out that Ji Xiaoge, who could fly and stay online all day, was doing the close following, while Motan, who was without a horse (now literally) and had an unstable online presence, followed from behind. It seemed tricky, but since the slave traders needed rest at night, and the slaves needed to eat and relieve themselves during the day, the caravan didn’t move very fast. This allowed not only Ji Xiaoge, who was stealthily tracking them, to keep up but also Motan, who couldn’t travel far each day, had gradually closed the distance.

Until the day before last...

Because yesterday was the day of the Requiem Plan, a decisive day for the fate of Misha County, Motan naturally focused all his energy there. Not only as the present ’Mor’, but even when he involuntarily switched to the Chaotic Neutral personality yesterday, he didn’t act rashly but rather cooperatively switched personalities, considerately allowing ’himself’ to continue focusing on Misha County, ensuring the Requiem Plan was successfully completed without any major mishaps during the second phase.

As ’Mor’, he had previously informed Ji Xiaoge, apologetically stating that he might be unable to log on yesterday and hoped the hardworking winged beauty would bear with him, then continued to share the caravan’s route via friend messaging.

This wasn’t a particularly cumbersome task because the people from Viper Chamber of Commerce had to transport a large number of slaves, allowing them to only move so fast. Additionally, they mostly traveled the main roads, resting at population centers like villages and towns they passed through each day. While they never stopped moving entirely, they weren’t in a rush either, which greatly facilitated the tracking operation for both of them.

Especially for Motan, if those slave traders had truly taken shortcuts and wild paths, he, alone and with a peculiar sense of direction, would most likely lose his way completely and fail to find his way back.