Four Split Personalities

In summary, even if Mo Tan had just casually flagged down a taxi and had himself taken here while holding a camera and rapping loudly about his adventure, theoretically, no one should really interfere.

Yet, he still kept his actions as covert as possible, and what’s more, he even unusually ’armed’ himself to a certain extent, giving off an impression that he was taking things too seriously.

But Mo Tan himself didn’t see it that way; in fact, if he wasn’t worried that certain ’possible traces’ might be wiped out in a short period, he would’ve prepared even more thoroughly before coming over.

From the beginning, his concern wasn’t about those conventional ’troubles,’ but the ’truths that might be hidden underneath the surface.’

The world is not simple. Mo Tan had sensed this long before he met the Les brothers, through various subtle details, although only capturing ’traces’ that could hardly even be considered clues. However, he never ignored those ’abnormalities’ that occurred around ’ordinary’ life—at least the Mo Tan under the current personality never did, regardless of whether it was nearly daydreaming, he was still tirelessly keen on uncovering the truth behind those ’traces’ he noticed.

Regardless of whether the answers proved his suspicions to be merely boring conjectures or potentially dangerous unknowns, he didn’t care. For the current ’Mo Tan,’ the pursuit of answers in itself was extremely interesting, while the results might just be an afterthought.

The Les brothers were not simple, and they might very well be part of that ’unknown world.’ Mo Tan had long held such a suspicion but had never obtained solid evidence.

Until a few days ago...

"The guy who exorcised demons in the old power plant~"

Mo Tan quietly repeated the words Ferry Les had said on the second floor of [Oddities and Curiosities], narrowing his eyes slightly: "It was called ’Fringe Person,’ right... Haha... So what exactly does ’exorcising demons’ entail? There doesn’t seem to have been anything interesting happening at this old power plant recently, like a gas explosion or something. Could it be that the act known as ’exorcism’ doesn’t cause much of a commotion?"

The fruitless search in the past half-hour did not make Mo Tan impatient. He strolled leisurely through the empty boiler room, unaffected by the grim and eerie surroundings. Since all abandoned boiler rooms look pretty much the same at midnight, he naturally wasn’t scared.

Of course, under the ’Chaotic Neutral’ personality, even if the place was truly haunted and something like a Slit-Mouthed Woman suddenly leaped out to bite him, this guy would probably happily bite back, although whether he could outbite her was another matter.

"Huh?"

Just then, Mo Tan suddenly widened his eyes; with a flick of his flashlight, he illuminated a seemingly unremarkable concrete pillar.

A trace of excitement crept onto his lips as Mo Tan quickly approached, then snap, he turned off the flashlight, staring intently in the darkness at the pillar before him... On its side were two scratches, both no more than two centimeters in length and one centimeter wide, emitting faint blue lights.

"Interesting, very interesting!"

Mo Tan whispered to himself, his previously excited expression disappearing as if it had never existed. He then pocketed the flashlight and, relying on his eyes that had slowly adjusted to seeing in the dark, quickly scanned the surroundings while reaching for the Nepalese Kukri knife hidden inside his overcoat.

Then...

"Young man, be careful!"

A flash of light burst forth in the darkness as a short middle-aged man dressed in a security guard uniform suddenly charged from behind Mo Tan, pushing him to the ground with force.

Caught off guard and pushed down, Mo Tan’s expression immediately changed. Then discreetly, he withdrew his hand from the inside of his overcoat and looked up at the guard with a flashlight, bewildered: "Ah?"

"Ah what? Look at the danger!"

The guard pulled Mo Tan up and shone the flashlight toward the pillar he had just been observing, grunting disapprovingly, "Look at this!"

Mo Tan scratched his head and, guided by the light from the guard’s flashlight, focused and spotted two exposed wires on the pillar that were emitting tiny sparks.

"Do you have any idea how many volts this thing is? If I had been any slower, you’d be gone!"

Still shaken, the guard patted his beer belly, turned to Mo Tan with a sense of relief mixed with shock, and asked, "By the way, who are you? Why are you here so late at night instead of sleeping, looking for a thrill?"

Mo Tan sheepishly smiled, a bit awkwardly whispering, "Needed a pee, thought nobody was around..."

"Hoh, almost killed by a pee."

The middle-aged man chuckled dryly and patted Mo Tan’s shoulder: "Alright, get going, there’s an old water pond just after turning right outside, it was drained a while ago, if you really can’t hold it, just solve it there. No one’s gonna see you in the dark anyway."

Mo Tan quickly thanked him, then with a face steady from the shock, he hurried towards the exit. Only when half of his body was already past the boiler room did he turn back and shout, "Thank you!"

"Go on, go on, don’t hold it in until you injure yourself."

The uncle couldn’t help but laugh and wave his hand.

"Uncle, are you the security guard here? Isn’t this power plant abandoned?"

Mo Tan continued to ask, clutching at his crotch.

"I’m the security guard of the neighborhood next door."

The uncle shrugged his shoulders and laughed: "I came here to use the restroom."

"Hey, turns out we’re in the same boat; then uncle, you go ahead, I’ll go outside to find a place."

Mo Tan chuckled, then happily headed out and turned right. Soon he found the old water pond the uncle had mentioned, relieved himself there, and then ran to the opposite street corner to hail a taxi home.

It wasn’t until he walked into his house that Mo Tan’s face suddenly darkened. He didn’t even bother to change his shoes, he just stormed into the restroom, facing his reflection in the mirror and stuck out his tongue...

Of course, it wasn’t to act cute, because near the tip of Mo Tan’s tongue in the mirror, there was a particularly clear small cut, although it had stopped bleeding more than an hour ago, it was still very evident it was a fresh wound.

Yes, bitten!

Self-inflicted by Mo Tan, and he had no recollection of the process!

"My memory has issues..."

He squinted his eyes slightly, steadied himself on the washstand and looked at his reflection in the mirror, whispering, "The wound in my mouth is a clue, a clue I left for myself."

Mo Tan breathed out slowly, turned back to the living room, and sat down on the sofa, the corners of his mouth lifting into a contented curve, then he looked up at the electronic perpetual calendar above the TV.

The time displayed was AM05:15...

"Based on my average heart rate of about 1.7 times per second, referring to the current standard time..."

Mo Tan removed his right hand from his left wrist, whispering to himself: "It should be about one hundred and eighty-seven seconds missing."

[So casually erasing three minutes of my memory, huh, this world is indeed thrilling enough to make one want to scream...]

He stared at the electronic perpetual calendar, which was never wrong even by a second, trembling with excitement.

However, in the next instant, Mo Tan suddenly jolted, the slightly sly smile on his face disappearing at once, and he began to tremble again.

This time from fright!

Mo Tan, having suddenly switched to the ’Absolute Neutrality’ personality, became more and more scared, feeling his blood pressure rising sharply.

And then...

The total one hundred and ninety-one seconds of erased memory, suddenly gushed out from the depths of his brain!

Chapter Six Hundred and Fifteen: The End