“Impossible!” He Fei said, clutching his head. “I clearly lived a whole lifetime in that royal mansion. I tasted all the luxurious dishes in that place!”

“How did they taste?” Mu Sichen asked.

“The taste was naturally excellent, especially that Buddha Jumps Over the Wall soup, it really was…” He Fei stopped mid-sentence.

“Is it that you only remember never having eaten such delicious food before, but you can’t recall the specific flavor?” Mu Sichen asked.

He Fei strongly resisted Mu Sichen’s words. He shook his head and said, “No! You don’t understand, that food was so exquisite and delicious, you’ve never seen anything like it. I was very resistant to becoming a princess at first, and I tried hard to escape that world, but it was too long. I was a princess for three years. Such a long time, and the life was very luxurious, so I accepted it. If I hadn’t gone through three whole years, how could I have accepted changing genders? I…”

“He Fei, human memory can be deceptive,” Mu Sichen told him. “And the sense of time can be confused by memories.”

He Fei’s state reminded Mu Sichen of the book “A Few Things About Me and the Moon.”

In that book, the protagonist was originally just an office worker. When working overtime until night, he would always look up at the moon to gauge the time. During the crescent moon, he calculated that the project would be completed in a month, and by the next crescent moon, he could get a bonus.

But when the full moon arrived, the protagonist’s sense of time became chaotic. He looked up at the sky countless times, and countless times he saw a full moon. In his view of time, it seemed that every time he looked up, a month had passed. The story also said he completed a project every month. Under the full moon, the protagonist went from a small employee in the company to becoming the chairman step-by-step. He felt that a long time had passed, and he was omnipotent.

Unconsciously, he arrived at a wealthy family’s home, believing it was his own, but the bodyguard wouldn’t let him in. Under the full moon, the protagonist became extremely arrogant, believing this bodyguard needed to be taught a lesson. He didn’t know where he got the strength, but he snatched an electric baton from the bodyguard, casually knocked out several security personnel, ran into the house to count his safe, and was ultimately shot dead by the arriving police.

Before dying, the protagonist looked up at the sky, gazing at that bright, full moon, and suddenly remembered something: he still had half a month left until his bonus was paid. It turned out it had always been that night of the full moon. He hadn’t experienced a long time; he had just kept looking up at the sky continuously. In his impression, looking at a full moon once meant a month had passed. He went insane within such a chaotic concept of time and the illusion of the full moon, dying in a dream of becoming a wealthy man.

It was very similar to He Fei’s current situation.

Both cases involved a faulty sense of time infinitely amplifying human emotions, making people arrogant, detached from reality, and mentally dominated by the moon.

He Fei’s current state was likely a manifestation of being polluted by Shen Jiyue. Riding his hovercraft, believing he lived in a magical Main God space, taking just over an hour as countless worlds, becoming flamboyant and arrogant. All of this was just a dream beneath the moon.

Words could not purify He Fei’s pollution. Mu Sichen sighed slightly, took out his pickaxe, and gently tapped He Fei on the head. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to use a “Self” sticker, but the power of a Pillar-level “Self” sticker was too strong. If he stuck it on, He Fei would probably immediately become his follower. Within the Boundary Domain, Mu Sichen wasn’t sure if becoming his follower was good or bad for He Fei. So, he acted relatively conservatively, controlling his strength, and only used the “Mining” skill.

Mu Sichen’s current followers were all obtained using “Self” stickers. If the “Mining” skill used his own energy points, it didn’t seem able to convert people into followers; it could only purify pollution. Previously, he had hit Chi Lian, Cheng Xubo, and Ying Mao with the pickaxe and obtained three “Self” stickers, but Cheng Xubo, who hadn’t been given a sticker, was not his follower.

When the head of the pickaxe touched He Fei, Mu Sichen vaguely saw the phantom images of a tentacle, a large eye, a butterfly, and a new moon fly out from He Fei and instantly disintegrate.

Mu Sichen: “…”

He Fei was certainly heavily polluted.

This time activating the skill, the system deducted 2000 energy points from Mu Sichen. When borrowing Qin Zhou’s power in the storybook, he had relied on the “∞” energy to replenish his energy points. But having consumed 2000 trying to enter the unknown area, and another 2000 now, he only had 6000 left. He had to use them sparingly.

“Ouch!” He Fei rubbed his head and looked at Mu Sichen. “Why did you hit me?”

“Is your brain clear now? How long have we been separated?” Mu Sichen asked.

“A day, maybe? I haven’t seen you since I went to work in the morning,” He Fei said.

After saying this, he had a look of sudden realization, numbly saying: “Right… I really did only enter the game for an hour or so. Heavens, why did I feel like I had already experienced nine lifetimes, through countless changes in the world?”

“As for that,” Mu Sichen said, “I have to think about how to explain it to you. Here, not everything can be told to you.” Like Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo, who still didn’t know about knowledge like Star-Hiding, Sun-Obscuring, or Sky-Covering; they only knew to focus their energy on dealing with the “Pillars” and wouldn’t listen, look, or ask blindly. Mu Sichen wouldn’t tell them things beyond their capacity to bear either.

Mu Sichen said: “Before I tell you part of the truth, tell me first: what is your ability, what is your mission, how did you enter the game, and what did you encounter here besides experiencing nine worlds? Don’t leave out a single detail.”

He Fei: “I’m still completely confused and you’re asking me so many questions already? And I’m not a detailed person; how could I remember every detail? I’ll think of what I can.”

Mu Sichen somewhat missed the He Fei polluted by the little octopus; at least that He Fei was meticulous and could definitely tell him everything in exhaustive detail.

He Fei told Mu Sichen about vomiting after seeing the butterfly pillow when he went to work, and then described receiving the text message. After filling in the address on the link, He Fei received a call about a large delivery. He Fei wasn’t in the dorm at the time, so he arranged to pick up the package from the delivery spot himself after eight in the evening. After 8 PM, He Fei slowly went to get the gaming capsule after being well-fed.

He Fei was a member of the Student Union’s Sports Department and had the keys to the gymnasium. Considering the dorm couldn’t fit such a large gaming capsule, he carried it to the gymnasium’s warehouse, planning to store it temporarily and figure out what to do when school started.

“No wonder you hadn’t returned to the dorm so late,” Mu Sichen said.

“I wanted to call you to look at the gaming capsule together,” He Fei said, “but it looked too advanced. After I unpacked the delivery, I really couldn’t resist and lay down inside first.”

Upon entering the capsule, the system told He Fei that because he had three forces on him, he had four login options: Login to Xiangping Town, Login to Butterfly Dream Town, Login to Hope Town, or Login to the Boundary Domain. He Fei flipped through the four options and finally chose the Boundary Domain. Everything after that was what Mu Sichen knew.

Mu Sichen raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing He Fei’s login options. It turned out that people influenced by the game world’s power in the real world logged in differently from ordinary people like them.

He Fei continued: “The first book I opened in the library was “The Little Rainbow Fish.” I was very confused at the time, thinking, why would a bedtime story be written so dark and twisted? I wanted to dive into the author’s brain to see how his brain was wired, and then I was brought in. After changing the fate of the little black fish, I came to the plaza, and there was an extra smiley-face bookmark in my hand.”

He Fei handed a stack of bookmarks to Mu Sichen.

Mu Sichen flipped through them; most were smiley-face bookmarks, just like the one he had received. Only two bookmarks were different.

One bookmark had a mirror drawn on it, and inside the mirror was a thin, curved crescent moon. The other bookmark had an eye drawn on it, with stars twinkling inside the eye.

“What’s the deal with these two?” Mu Sichen asked, picking them out.

He Fei thought for a moment and said: “This mirror bookmark is one I got in the fairy tale of Snow White. In that book, I saw the Queen was particularly, exceptionally beautiful—a mature woman’s beauty. Snow White was also pretty, but she was only thirteen, she hadn’t blossomed yet; she was a little loli. The Queen shouldn’t be jealous yet, right? I felt at the time that it was definitely instigated by the Magic Mirror. In the Snow White story, I was the King, and I had people move the mirror to my warehouse to be sealed away, and the ending of the story changed.

“This other eye bookmark is one I got in a bloody, toxic novel with trashy-submissive literature. That story… was relatively bloody. I was the female protagonist in that book, married to a scumbag who loved his childhood sweetheart, a sister who was about to go blind. After marrying me because of a business arrangement, he wanted to snatch my corneas.

“Could your Brother Fei allow such a thing to happen? If you want to save the ‘White Moonlight,’ use your own eyes! I bribed his subordinates in advance, drugged him before the surgery, and gave the corneas to the ‘White Moonlight.’ After the surgery, I also told the ‘White Moonlight’ that it was me who saved her, and told her to fly far away with the corneas. The ‘White Moonlight’ was very grateful to me, and often wrote to me after going abroad. To be honest, I think she might have a crush on me; every message she sends is particularly ambiguous.”

Two books, one snatched the mirror, one kept its own eyes.

Mu Sichen contemplated the two bookmarks. Could the opportunity to find the “Pillars” be hidden within the bookmarks?