"Vague memory"

In Central City District 003, within a luxurious mansion, Qin Yiguan crouches atop a nutrient pod, his expression somewhat ferocious. Clenching his teeth, he repeatedly draws smiling faces on the pod containing 'Ninth Brother', only for them to be promptly erased by a nanny robot.

"Why must one always reminisce about the past?!"

"Must it always be painful?!"

"Your expression, like that of a nightmare, constantly reminds me of that painful memory!

"Fine!"

Qin Yiguan roars, standing abruptly atop the nutrient pod, his eyes bloodshot as he surveys everything around him, as if a demon is about to awaken within him.

But in the next moment, the intensity fades, and he slowly sits back down on the nutrient pod, staring at the boy inside, his expression calming.

"Alright."

After a silence of nearly two minutes, Qin Yiguan lifts his head, breaking the quiet with a slow, deliberate speech.

"My parents' ascension with the Gemini Brain was nothing but a fabricated illusion."

"Because I've always known."

"My parents are dead."

"Though that memory is blurry, I haven't forgotten."

"The amnesia... was feigned."

"My parents... likely... died by my hand."

"More precisely, by the hand of another... me within me!"

"I'm not familiar with him; he exists independently."

"He killed my parents!"

"I don't know how that piece of flesh ended up in my mouth."

"But I ended up swallowing it!"

"Because I must keep all of this firmly in my heart!"

The youth's startling revelation exposes the deepest secret hidden within his heart.

However, the boy in the nutrient pod cannot respond.

And the nanny robot is even less likely to.

In this moment, Qin Yiguan looks towards the glass curtain wall to the side, where his own reflection appears somewhat eerie with the overlapping light and shadows.

The rage within the youth is tumultuous, yet finds no outlet.

Breathing heavily, the youth eventually calms down after a long while.

He quietly watches the nutrient pod, thinking that if the metaverse can extract one's consciousness separately, then someday technology will advance to...

Extract the other self within him!

He wants it to repent, to confess its sins, and he... will eventually erase it!

...

The air is eerily quiet.

Until the cigarette burns Officer Wang's fingers, bringing him back from his reverie as he flicks away the cigarette butt.

The scene has a profound impact on the veteran officer.

Officer Wang steadies himself, "Xiao Li, you should know, to penetrate an adult's skin and scrape against the bone with such depth using that kind of dagger, the resistance is about the same as piercing through three layers of cured cowhide."

"For a six-year-old child, it's absolutely impossible."

"Let alone a total of 23 stabs."

"And what's eerie is, as a residence of Gemini employees, filled with technological devices, all surveillance equipment malfunctioned that day."

"When the footage was restored, the homicide had already ended."

"When I interrogated the young Qin Yiguan, the child just shook his head; he couldn't remember anything."

Assistant Xiao Li is visibly shocked, "Then... how was this case handled?"

"Though there was evidence, the logic didn't hold up."

"Moreover, Qin Yiguan was only six years old."

Officer Wang pauses, "In the end, we sent him to an orphanage in Rust City, as you know, Rust City is home to many with brain diseases."

"That was no ordinary orphanage."

"But it is staffed with many top psychologists."

"We have been observing, monitoring, and testing young Qin Yiguan for 10 years... collecting all his actions."

"Every standard of behavior, psychological sign, even microexpressions, have been meticulously recorded."

"Then, combined with various evaluation algorithms..."

"Such as the 'Anger Hidden Test' from the island country, the 'WDT Psychological Test' from Europe, and countless psychological testing algorithms from our country, all were applied to him."

Xiao Li was completely engrossed in this unbelievable history, swallowing his saliva and asking, "What were the test results?"

However, Officer Wang frowned slightly, then relaxed again, "The result is that there's no tendency for violence in Qin Yiguan's personality, not even a trace."

"No sign of criminal behavior."

"Not in the past, nor in the future."

"He's like a monk ringing a bell in a temple, a rabbit lying quietly in the bushes."

"Harmless to everyone."

"It's a complete opposite of his performance when using [Shadow Syndrome] to mimic criminals."

At that moment.

Officer Wang lit another cigarette, since he is now a 'half-person', he can enjoy the sensation without the harm of nicotine to his body in reality.

"So, even if Qin Yiguan learns more ways to kill, I still believe in him from the bottom of my heart, he won't harm anyone."

"After all, for ten years, his nature... has always been so quiet, harmless to humans and animals."

"A child can't pretend for ten years."

"As for…"

"The explanation we gave to the child..."

Officer Wang paused, "The doctors at the orphanage found he had lost the memory of the murder scene, it should be some form of selective amnesia, after all, the impact of the incident on that young mind was too great."

"So, we wove a beautiful fantasy for him during his childhood, that is, his parents ascended to heaven with the Twin Smart Brain... and he still believes that to this day."

Assistant Xiao Li took a while to digest this, eventually asking, "Then the truth about his parents' murder..."

Officer Wang revealed a hint of helplessness, stating word by word, "Unsolved case, unsolved to this day."

...

At that moment.

Inside the mansion in Central City District.

Qin Yiguan once again applied a bit of chocolate sauce, very patiently and attentively, drawing a smiley face on the 'Ninth Brother' in the glass capsule, only for the nanny robot to immediately wipe it off again.

The nanny robot was about to clean it up but suddenly indicated a low battery and promptly returned to the charging area, looking on helplessly.

Qin Yiguan smiled, "No matter what you carry, you have to live with hope, even if it's just for a moment."

Qin Yiguan stood up.

He opened his backpack and stuffed it full of food.

He also filled his pockets.

He waved goodbye to the boy in the nutrition capsule.

"Friend, I'll take these foods with me, I remember a very great sage said, though I also don't know who that sage was."

"But he said well."

"Taking things by a scholar is not stealing, it's borrowing."

Qin Yiguan made his way back, climbing over the high city wall again.

He looked back at Central City District 003.

The view was very luxurious, like a huge work of art.

Here, although humans immerse themselves in the Metaverse, they also use the technology created in the Metaverse to give back to reality.

Like this Central City District 003, which has even replicated the world's eight architectural wonders.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Colossus of Rhodes...

These grand and magnificent relics from 100 years ago are now like park sculptures scattered in the city center.

Even to the west of the city, there's a vast ocean.

Now, all the oceans in the physical world are crystal clear, free from any pollution, free from any trash.

Because people in the Metaverse have developed genetic recombination technology.

Then, in reality, a type of soft-tissue animal was created, reproducing asexually, swimming in the ocean, specifically to consume ocean trash.

Who says the future of humanity will be buried under environmental degradation?

In fact, quite the opposite.

It's just that people in the past had short-sighted views.

As long as it's used properly, technology can always benefit humanity.

"It's just a pity..."

"Even though the environment is so beautiful, and the scenery is so stunning, they still don't want to wake up."

Qin Yiguan shook his head, "Let's return to my Rust City, where it should be waking up now."