Chapter 216
Chapter 216
Yang Zhen led the group toward the castle.
Qin Nan gave her a brief account of their discoveries as they walked.
He readily shared the less dangerous information: how to upgrade card skills, how the tablet could communicate with Little Princess, and the backstory involving the five male leads.
But Qin Nan held certain things back.
He didn’t mention that killing every Player offered a way out, that Mu Xin had already killed two Game Players, or that cards ranked up through killing.
He revealed nothing that could endanger them.
Yang Zhen naturally guessed that they were withholding information, but trading one discovery for so many of theirs still put her ahead.
Besides, after spending some time with them, she was astonished to realize that this group was genuinely cooperating in good faith.
She found that almost inconceivable.
Yang Zhen decided to keep her head down for now and study them more carefully.
“Something just occurred to me,” Yellow Hair said halfway to the castle.
Qin Nan looked over first. “What?”
“Do you think Little Princess knows she has a dual personality?”
That was a good question.
With multiple personality disorder, the host personality sometimes knew about the alter personalities. Sometimes an alter knew the host existed, while the host remained unaware of the alter.
But did the question have any bearing on the larger mystery?
“Could Little Princess have become a psychiatrist because she knew she had the disorder?” Lin Junruo suggested.
That was certainly possible.
While they discussed it, Shi Chen was still organizing everything Qin Nan had just told him. Only after a long while did he suddenly interrupt.
“If Little Princess stayed in contact with those men for revenge, then… what about the men themselves?” he asked.
“If they approached her for her family’s company, then once they achieved their goal, they had no reason to keep seeing her. But according to you, even after Little Princess started working, she maintained relationships with all five that were more than friendship but less than romance. Why?”
The question stumped everyone.
“Maybe… they genuinely fell in love with her while they were using her?” Lin Junruo ventured.
Didn’t romance novels often develop that way?
It was probably one of those grovel-and-win-her-back arcs.
First abuse the wife, then pursue her. After realizing they truly loved Little Princess, all five wanted to be with her. But their actions had tied them together, and none dared throw another out for fear that the rejected man would expose everything and leave all of them empty-handed.
That… almost made sense?
Jian Fan: “…”
He did not find it plausible.
Neither did Qin Nan.
Would scum who manipulated a woman’s feelings, seized her family company, and destroyed her home possess true love?
After thinking, Qin Nan said, “Little Princess knows hypnosis. Could she have hypnotized all five men into cooperating with her? As for why she didn’t simply kill them, this is a society governed by law. She couldn’t murder them. Besides, she probably wants to recover the family business, and she may even plan to bankrupt all five families. She’d have to proceed slowly.”
Lin Junruo considered it and found the theory possible. Qin Nan’s explanation was more credible than her romance-novel idea.
“Then we arrive at the real question,” Qin Weiyi said suddenly.
Everyone looked at him.
“Why do we exist?”
If Little Princess could handle revenge herself, what did she need them for? Surely she hadn’t ended up like Zhao Yingguo–successful in her revenge but mentally ruined, desperate for release, and dragging them here to provide it?
Qin Nan nearly laughed at the thought.
A smile appeared on his lips, then gradually vanished.
“Thought of something?” Jian Fan asked, reading his expression.
Qin Nan looked at him, nodded, then swallowed. “I have an extremely bold theory. So bold that… even I think it sounds dubious.”
“Let’s hear it,” Jian Fan said calmly.
Qin Nan cleared his throat. “Little Princess doesn’t need us to help her take revenge. Like Zhao Yingguo, she may have made herself ill in the process. Zhao Yingguo went insane, while Little Princess developed multiple personality disorder.”
Jian Fan nodded his agreement. “Go on.”
“Then our purpose should be to resolve Little Princess’s multiple personality disorder,” Qin Nan said. He puffed his cheeks. “Do you know the possible outcomes of multiple personality disorder?”
“The personalities coexist, or one consumes the others?” Lin Junruo answered quickly.
Multiple personality disorder was rare in reality but appeared constantly in romance novels. A male or female lead developing it was almost commonplace. Lin Junruo had picked up a superficial understanding from those stories.
Qin Nan nodded. “More or less. One treatment approach strengthens one personality until it absorbs all the others, leaving only one. Another integrates several personalities. Either way, only one remains in the body. More often, though, several personalities continue to coexist. Very few people can live normally that way. To do so, the personalities must establish healthy communication.”
“What are you getting at?” Qin Weiyi asked.
Qin Nan changed direction again. “Do you know what multiple personality disorder actually is?”
“What are you getting at?” Yellow Hair echoed.
“Its academic name is dissociative identity disorder. When someone experiences trauma or an overwhelming shock, their body may create a new personality to protect them. That personality can be male or female, a child or an adult. There may be one, two, three, or any number of them. Each can have a separate identity and name. We can treat each one as an independent person. In other words, multiple personality disorder means several people living in a single body at the same time.”
Jian Fan stopped abruptly.
He turned to Qin Nan and repeated, “Several people living in a single body at the same time?”
Qin Nan nodded furiously.
He knew Jian Fan understood.
And Jian Fan wasn’t the only one. Qin Weiyi had caught his meaning too.