Chapter 908: Schizophrenia |
"It seems we might have been overthinking things." Liu Xing shook his head, stood up, and said, "To vent my frustration, I'm going to eat a canned yellow peach. Do you want me to bring one back for you?"
"Get me one."
"Get me one too."
Yin En and others raised their hands and said.
So, Liu Xing left the mahjong table and went to the "supermarket."
After entering the supermarket, Liu Xing didn't rush to get the canned yellow peach. After all, a round of mahjong takes more than ten minutes, so Liu Xing decided to eat some snacks in the "supermarket" before going back.
In these few days of underground life, Liu Xing felt more and more like a homebody. Basically, besides sleeping and eating, he was playing mahjong... and losing more than winning.
For some reason, Liu Xing felt that he didn't like to use his brain when playing games, mostly playing by feel.
Except for the Cthulhu RPG Game, because not using your brain would really get you killed.
To be honest, Liu Xing didn't know the difference between "disliking using your brain" and "not wanting to use your brain."
After contemplating life, Liu Xing ran to the canned goods shelf.
Then, Liu Xing discovered a problem, the cans on the shelf seemed to have changed positions again.
Liu Xing was confident in his memory because he could tell at a glance that some cans on the shelf had been moved.
Seeing this, Liu Xing immediately took out his mobile phone and took a photo to send to Yin En and others.
Moments later, Yin En and others came running over.
"That's right, these cans have indeed moved positions again." Ding Kun said after comparing with the original photo on his mobile phone.
Ding Kun roughly explained the changes in the can positions to Liu Xing and others.
"It seems we must ask Shima Mitsuhiro about this matter. After all, it's not a confidential issue." Yin En said, stroking his chin.
Liu Xing thought about it and felt that this matter shouldn't be a confidential issue, so there should be no problem finding Shima Mitsuhiro.
So, Liu Xing and others found Shima Mitsuhiro.
"Hmm? That's impossible. I remember I already notified the people above not to come down casually during this period because I have activated the defense mode of this hidden point. Outsiders can't get in unless they use violent means, and they would be trapped halfway down the slide." Shima Mitsuhiro said, frowning.
Liu Xing and others also frowned, realizing that this canned mystery might not be simple.
"So, does this mean there might be one or more outsiders hiding in this hidden point?" Yin En took out his handgun.
Shima Mitsuhiro shook his head and said seriously, "That's even more impossible because this hidden point also has a character recognition function. All members of our Shimazu Family have a microchip installed on them. So, when I slid down the slide, the hidden point sensed my presence and raised the internal temperature to normal. When unoccupied, the temperature drops to minus thirty degrees. Moreover, there are 24-hour micro-cameras in public areas and corridors."
"Oh, can you retrieve the supermarket's footage now?" Liu Xing immediately asked.
Shima Mitsuhiro didn't keep them in suspense and directly took Liu Xing and others to the conference room.
After turning on the projector, Shima Mitsuhiro pressed a few buttons at the bottom of the projector, and the screen turned into surveillance footage.
Then Shima Mitsuhiro pulled up the video from the "supermarket" and locked the view on the canned goods shelf area.
When the time rewound to two o'clock this morning, a figure suddenly appeared in the video.
"Ryuusei?!"
Yin En and others looked at Liu Xing in surprise.
As for Liu Xing, he was already dumbfounded.
To confirm that the Liu Xing in the video was indeed Liu Xing, Shima Mitsuhiro immediately retrieved footage from other surveillance cameras along the way, confirming that Liu Xing did come out of his room.
So, the person rearranging the cans in the video was Liu Xing.
"Ryuusei, are you sleepwalking?" Zhang Jingxu asked, "I've encountered many sleepwalkers before, and their condition seems similar to yours, with stiff limbs and slightly slow movements."
The Liu Xing in the video had his head down, like a robot that hadn't been oiled enough.
Liu Xing scratched the back of his head and said in confusion, "This shouldn't be. I've never sleepwalked before."
The "Liu Xing" in the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall had no history of sleepwalking.
But the real-world Liu Xing did occasionally sleepwalk as a child, though he hadn't done so in over a decade.
More importantly, this was the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall. If a player were to sleepwalk, the KP should give some hints, not just start sleepwalking out of nowhere.
Liu Xing carefully recalled the situation when he went to bed last night and found nothing unusual.
So, why was he sleepwalking?
But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Liu Xing suddenly felt that it was normal for him to sleepwalk because there seemed to be many reasons for it.
First, normal sleepwalking due to poor sleep quality, leading to cognitive impairment... But Liu Xing had been eating well and in a good mood these days, so it shouldn't be this.
Then, there's the influence of Cthulhu dreams. Although he hadn't been influenced by Cthulhu dreams for a long time, Liu Xing felt he could still be affected, so sleepwalking due to Cthulhu dreams was understandable.
Next, there's the influence of the Yellow King.
After Blackstone Mountain Prison, Liu Xing hadn't seen the Yellow King, and even when he deliberately called for the Yellow King a few times, there was no response. So, Liu Xing guessed the Yellow King was either busy or being kept busy.
In short, due to his relationship with the Yellow King, Liu Xing was sure that if something happened to the Yellow King, he would be affected too.
Finally, there's the fourth possibility - the plot encounter.
Because of the plot, he had to start sleepwalking.
Among these four possibilities, Liu Xing leaned more towards the last one because only the last one could affect him without his knowledge.
But this possibility couldn't be spoken out loud.
Just at this moment, Shima Mitsuhiro pointed at Liu Xing in the video and said, "Look, Ryuusei's actions seem a bit strange now."
Liu Xing took a closer look and found that after he had moved the cans from one end to the other, he continued to move them back from the other end.
"Brother Hirodo, please fast forward a bit and let us see how many times Ryuusei changed the position of the cans," Yin En said seriously.
Shima Mitsuhiro nodded and immediately started fast-forwarding the video.
So, in the video, Liu Xing played with the cans in the "supermarket" for two hours, then suddenly froze in place. After a while, he rearranged the cans one last time and then returned to his room.
"If I remember correctly, I should have gotten up to go to the bathroom at this time," Shima Mitsuhiro said with a frown. "But Ryuusei, is your hearing really that good? Although my room is not far from the supermarket, each room in the hidden point has very good soundproofing, and the floors are carpeted. So even in the dead of night, Ryuusei, you couldn't possibly hear my footsteps, right?"
Liu Xing nodded, his hearing indeed couldn't be that good.
However, Zhang Jingxu suddenly pointed at Liu Xing in the video and said, "Look, Ryuusei is using one hand to move the cans, and although the other hand is not very clear, it should be on the ground feeling for vibrations. So when Brother Hirodo went to the bathroom, Ryuusei couldn't hear your footsteps, but he could feel the slight vibrations from your walking."
Zhang Jingxu paused and then said with a serious expression, "If this is true, then we can confirm that Ryuusei is not sleepwalking but is being controlled by something. Ryuusei's behavior doesn't look like sleepwalking, and most importantly, Ryuusei rearranged the cans fifty-two times during this period, which seems like he was trying to convey some kind of message through the cans."
As soon as Zhang Jingxu finished speaking, Yin En immediately denied it, "No, Ryuusei is not conveying a message but is having a conversation with himself. When he places the cans, it's like asking a question, and when he places them back, it's like answering."
Liu Xing frowned and said with some confusion, "Yin En, do you mean I have schizophrenia now?"
Yin En shook his head and said with a smile, "It's not that serious. I think Ryuusei, you just haven't completely shaken off the influence of that embroidered shoe, which has caused a small problem with your mental state."
Liu Xing thought about it and realized it might indeed be because of that embroidered shoe.
Because Liu Xing suddenly remembered something, in the dream at that time, he seemed to have experienced a special module, so this special module might not have officially ended yet... Liu Xing even began to suspect that he hadn't passed the previous dream module.
Liu Xing shook his head, shaking off the messy thoughts in his mind.
At this moment, Ding Kun said, "If this is true, then Liu Xing should be having a conversation with himself in the dream or subconscious. So what did they say?"
Liu Xing shrugged and said helplessly, "I don't know either because I have no memory of it."
"In that case, things might be more serious than we thought because Liu Xing's primary personality has been blocked," Zhang Wenbing said with a cold smile. "Now there might be two new personalities in Liu Xing's mind, and this personality is preparing to usurp the throne."
Liu Xing looked at Zhang Wenbing helplessly and said, "Don't joke about this, and if I remember correctly, schizophrenia and sleepwalking usually only occur in minors or, more precisely, in those whose three views are not fully established. I attended a relevant course in college."
In general, schizophrenia usually occurs in the patient's childhood, and the main reason is often various childhood traumas.
Liu Xing once watched a video by a certain Bilibili uploader, who described Dissociative Identity Disorder like this: Everyone is like a mecha, and the primary personality is the mecha driver. Usually, the mecha driver drives the mecha to solve various monsters, which are the problems in life.
However, sometimes there will be very powerful monsters, so the mecha will have a hard time, and the mecha driver will be sad or even autistic because of the failure.
But adult mecha drivers can overcome the shadow of failure through various beautiful memories or self-encouragement and continue to drive the mecha to face the monsters... or run away if they can't win.
In short, the mecha can still function normally.
But minor mecha drivers are more likely to become autistic when facing failure and find it difficult to persuade themselves to drive the mecha again. If no other mecha drivers help them with psychological counseling, the mecha driver will remain autistic and refuse to drive the mecha again.
But the mecha has to keep moving, so when the control core sees that the mecha driver is unwilling to drive the mecha again, it can only make a temporary decision - to clone a new mecha driver using the mecha driver's genes and let the new mecha driver control the mecha.
The most important thing is that the new mecha driver is specially enhanced to deal with the monster in front of them, so the new mecha driver can usually solve the monster in front of them.
However, because the cloned new mecha driver is only temporarily created by the control core to solve the monster in front of them, after solving the monster, the control core hides the cloned new mecha driver and lets the original mecha driver control the mecha again, without telling the original mecha driver how the monster was defeated.
So at this time, the original mecha driver will be pleasantly surprised to find that they can defeat the monster just by sleeping.
Therefore, when facing the same type of monster in the future, the original mecha driver will decisively choose to sleep, and the control core will have to call out the cloned mecha driver to control the mecha.
Over time, the cloned mecha driver can stand on equal footing with the original mecha driver.
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