Chapter 217
Chapter 217
“We’re Little Princess’s alter personalities?” Qin Weiyi said.
Before Qin Nan could answer, Qin Weiyi laughed. “Now that’s interesting.”
“What alter personalities?” Lu Jing looked completely confused.
Wasn’t he himself? How had he suddenly become someone else’s alter personality?
Yellow Hair and the others were too shocked to speak.
“Wait, hold on. Can someone explain this from the beginning?” Yellow Hair asked.
He accepted the answer readily enough, but his mind was still swimming. How had they jumped to the conclusion that they were Little Princess’s alter personalities?
Why couldn’t they simply be themselves? Why did they have to become somebody else?
Yellow Hair didn’t understand.
Jian Fan disliked wasting words, and the theory belonged to Qin Nan, so naturally Qin Nan had to explain it.
“Little Princess was once cherished by her parents, but then the family went bankrupt and her parents died by suicide–or perhaps she discovered that the five men around her had caused everything. The shock was so overwhelming that she developed dissociative identity disorder, otherwise known as multiple personality disorder. We’ve already deduced that much. But…”
Qin Nan took a deep breath before continuing. “We assumed Little Princess split off one powerful career-woman personality, giving her a dual personality. In fact, she created thirteen personalities. Including the host personality, fourteen people with completely different temperaments live inside her body.”
Lu Jing: “???”
Qin Nan continued.
“The innocent, fantasy-loving Little Princess is naturally the host. The second personality is the hardworking career woman. The other twelve personalities are us–the twelve Players. Every Player represents one of Little Princess’s personalities.”
“As I said, multiple personality disorder is like several different people living in one body. That means the place we’re in right now is actually Little Princess’s body.”
Lu Jing: “???”
His confusion deepened.
“The host personality doesn’t necessarily know the alters exist, and alter personalities don’t necessarily know about one another. They might, but they might not. Our process of finding each other should represent different personalities becoming aware of one another’s existence.”
“And Little Princess is a psychiatrist. She understands multiple personality disorder, so it isn’t strange that deliberate effort might establish contact between the host and the alters.” Qin Nan patted the tablet in his hand as he spoke.
Clearly, the tablet was the channel connecting the host personality and the alters.
Host and alter personalities could communicate internally, or one personality could write its thoughts on paper, relinquish control, and allow another to see and answer the message.
Whatever the real method was, once disguised within this world it became the tablet in Qin Nan’s hands.
That also explained why a tablet abandoned for years still worked.
“Then there’s the villa and amusement park,” Qin Nan continued.
“Both places were extremely important to Little Princess and clearly central to the trauma that caused her personalities to split. Those memories remain deeply embedded in her mind, which is why we appeared here.”
“Because this world consists of Little Princess’s inner thoughts, some details have been altered from reality. But every piece of information she wants to reveal to us is reflected here.”
“As for the first layer of illusion, people prefer to preserve beautiful memories rather than recall terrifying ones. So Little Princess covered cruelty with a beautiful shell. To us, that appeared as the abandoned amusement park and villa wearing the pleasant forms she remembered.”
“And the method Little Princess proposed for leaving this place and reaching her real world is actually one treatment for multiple personality disorder: consume every personality until only one remains. She didn’t tell us the whole process. After killing all their companions, the surviving Player would still have to challenge the host personality for control of the body. Only by winning could they truly leave this world.”
Everyone listened carefully to Qin Nan’s analysis.
Until–
“Wait. Killing the other Players lets us leave?” Yang Zhen seized on the key point. She looked at Qin Nan with a faint smile. “You seem to have forgotten to mention something rather important.”
Qin Nan: “…”
He had become so absorbed in his analysis that he’d forgotten about that.
Clearing his throat, Qin Nan said, “It’s not important. We won’t use that method anyway, so the information is irrelevant.”
Yang Zhen scoffed.
Still, she understood his reasoning.
Since they had chosen to cooperate, they would never take that route. They wanted peaceful coexistence, not only within their own team but with the other Players as well.
If they revealed the information, they couldn’t guarantee what other Players might decide. Better not to tell them at all.
Yang Zhen had only been startled when she heard it. She understood their choice and wouldn’t use that method herself.
Had she known from the start, she might have tried. But Jian Fan’s group now looked united and unbreakable. Only a fool would fight them all.
Yang Zhen had no idea that this supposedly unbreakable group had nearly split apart not long ago.
“Continue,” Jian Fan said, bringing them back to the subject.
Qin Nan nodded. “Little Princess hinted there was another method but said killing everyone was simplest. She wasn’t wrong. For personalities to coexist peacefully, we Players have to set aside our distrust and refrain from attacking one another, and Little Princess herself has to accept our existence. Compared with that, killing everyone really is easier.”
“But whether coexistence is easy or difficult, it’s the only option we can choose now,” Qin Nan said.
Yang Zhen did not object.
If everyone could leave together, why resort to violence?
However–
“There are nine of us here. Have you seen the other three?” Yang Zhen asked.
Silence fell.
The difficult part might not be Little Princess at all, but achieving peace among the Players.
None of those present posed a problem. Even Yang Zhen showed no intention of parting ways. But–Xia Zeqin.
Xia Zeqin.
If he refused, peaceful coexistence would be impossible. Would they have to eliminate him first?
“That reaction…” Yang Zhen studied them suspiciously.
Qin Nan cleared his throat. “Two of them are already dead.”
Yang Zhen was startled.
How had those two Players died? This group didn’t look like killers. Perhaps she had grown far too relaxed around them.
Yang Zhen immediately raised her guard.