Chapter 394: Chapter 26: The Bias of Memory
The Blood Locust King had prepared for his plan for hundreds of years.
As long as he succeeded, he would gain great benefits, at which point his strength would definitely surpass the limits, reaching the level of the Human Race’s Master of Destiny.
Then, his lifespan would be greatly increased, allowing him to carry out subsequent plans.
But now it seemed that seniors of the Demon Clan were doing the same things, using methods even more advanced and terrifying than his.
“Directly transforming demons into humans, and letting those transformed demons blend into human society; terrifying, this senior could be said to have reached the level of dominator of the Demon Clan. In this light, the seemingly reasonless actions of the Green Lion King and the Heavenly Peng King… they had their reasons after all…”
Initially, the Blood Locust King thought that the Green Lion King and the Heavenly Peng King’s meaningless actions were madness.
But now it seemed they might not have been acting of their own will.
Some senior of the Demon Clan had managed to control other demons, making those demons act according to his own desires.
“…I wonder what the state of the main body is?”
After all, he himself was also of the Demon Clan.
His avatar was unaffected, but what about his main body?
However, the Blood Locust King’s avatar did not panic, for its safety implied that, for the time being, the main body should be safe.
But with such a significant event occurring, a return to inform the main body was imperative.
The Blood Locust King had lost three avatars to various mishaps; now only four remained. Besides the Joy Blood Locust King at the main body’s location, the other three rushed towards where the main body resided.
It was only upon their arrival that they discovered the main body had long been aware of the affair.
For the Joy Blood Locust King was dead!
“At that time, a will descended, and to ensure the safety of the main body, that will had to be shifted to Joy, who was nearest to me—the result was that Joy directly became a human, even attempted to leave, so I had to kill him. Fortunately, that thing was left behind.”
All the avatars fell silent.
They felt nothing for the main body killing an avatar, as they were all essentially one. What mattered most was that the main body had been affected too.
One avatar recounted what it had witnessed. Once their reports were complete, the main body of the Blood Locust King had also nearly grasped the situation.
“Indeed, it clashes with our plans. Over several attempts, how many humans have we managed to control?”
“In the Human Race’s Qian Dynasty, we control two provinces; in the Ming Dynasty, three provinces—and these are merely the ones under our covert control. Originally, as long as those Demon Kings remained, and with a single mobilization using overwhelming strength, several more provincial governments could be seized, enhancing our strength. By then, not even the monarchs of human dynasties would be our match.”
“Alas, it seems a senior of the Demon Clan has also discovered the deepest secrets of the demon and human races and, it appears, has succeeded.”
Able to control so many demons, even to a degree, influencing the Human Race, that unknown senior of the Demon Clan surely knew no less than he did.
The main body was somewhat silent.
“Just when we’re about to complete the final phase, a senior appears to thwart us. But is it really a senior?”
Calling him a senior was merely a nod to his strength and tactics.
Even demons had limited lifespans. According to reason, even if that “senior” was older, he would not be much older and being younger was not impossible.
“All is unknown, but this is not the time to worry about that. Currently, we face two issues,” said the Love Blood Locust King avatar, “One, is there a possibility for that will to descend again? We can’t keep using avatars to die every time; the main body won’t be able to bear it. And the second, what about the plan?”
These were the two most crucial questions.
Without resolving them, centuries of effort would be in vain.
“The first one is easier to address. I’ve retrieved the treasure and had planned to create another avatar of Grandmaster Level. Now, producing a weaker one will suffice, so that even if it dies, the main body won’t suffer too much damage. As for the second…”
The main body of the Blood Locust King and the remaining three avatars began to discuss.
…
It didn’t take long before rumors started to surface within the domains of the Qian Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, and the influence of the Taiping Sect.
“Has a new person appeared by your side? Think carefully, did you truly know this person before? Do you really have such a person who appeared out of nowhere and became close to you? It’s very possible that they’re a transformed demon.”
At first, this rumor was not taken seriously and was regarded as a joke. Many considered it to be nonsense.
Until someone inadvertently confirmed it.
The first validation came from a merchant in the Ming Dynasty who noticed something odd about the guards.
He had almost forgotten about it, but hearing the rumors, he began to doubt again and shared his suspicions with others.
Eventually, for some reason, word reached the guards.
Then the truth exploded.
Guards at the city gates realized there seemed to be a few extra guards around. In their memory, these people had a good relationship with them, having many years of camaraderie and some even with life-saving bonds.
Yet, once they carefully reminisced, it was as if they knew nothing; the bonds seemed to exist, but when asked for specific details, no one could recall any.
In other words, these so-called life-saving relationships lacked any tangible backstory.
Saving a life without any details, such was almost impossible.
Without reflection, it’s manageable, but once recollection began, problems arose everywhere.
And so the matter was set ablaze.
Many people started to doubt those around them, especially those with whom they were close, and indeed, they found a number of similar cases.
Though they had once been on intimate terms, when they tried to recall the details, it seemed they couldn’t remember anything.
In other words, these so-called close intimates had never actually existed.
Yet it was these nonexistent people who had appeared by their sides.
“Who are you, really? Thinking back, I can’t recall the time, place, or anything about this so-called life-saving favor. I’ve been so good to you, it shouldn’t be like this!”
If it were a case of him not acknowledging the favor, that would be one thing, but he did recognize the debt of gratitude!
Yet he had no memory whatsoever.
“…”
This was not an isolated example.
Of course, perhaps because the situation had just started, it was rare among the general populace.
Where there was a real proliferation of such cases was within the major powers.
The Ming Dynasty reacted the fastest because the guard incident had erupted from within their domain and they had begun investigating as soon as it emerged, promptly identifying the problem.
Memory can be deceiving, but data does not lie; there was a record for all the guards in the Royal City, and there was no entry for that additional person in the books.
The issue was actually easy to spot, but as an ordinary city gate guard was of little concern to most.
But since there was a problem even among the city gate guards, what about other departments?
The Royal City began a thorough investigation.
The guard was taken for research, as the first to spread the rumor “a most intimate stranger by one’s side” was proven true. But what of the rumor “they are demons”?
Unfortunately, the investigation yielded no results; no matter how closely they examined him, the guard was unmistakably human.
What was crucial, however, was that the guard seemed to have no memory either and was completely unaware of what had happened.
When it rains, it pours, and the upper echelons’ investigation was far from smooth.
Lower echelon staffers were numerous and easy to vet, but the higher-ups’ records were not as readily scrutinized; there were all too many dubious details, as many of them had issues with their files to begin with.
In the end, they could only resort to the most cumbersome method: checking against their memories.
It was a command personally handed down by Jiang Dao, yet it was still fraught with difficulties.
Even so, a few problematic individuals were discovered.
“What on earth is going on? How can there be so many inexplicable people appearing?”
Jiang Dao and his father, Jiang Cheng, said nothing. They were familiar with these tactics.
It was only after everyone else had left that the two began to converse.
“Such a method, to blur memories, can only be achieved by a Dynasty-level National Guardian or the ancient ancestor of the first dynasty… Could it be that the ancient ancestor has indeed encountered an issue?”
Now it seemed that more and more evidence was substantiating the reality of this affair.
“Even if it is true, what of it? I haven’t even reached the National Guardian Level; in this situation, I am utterly powerless.”
“…”
Jiang Cheng was silent for a moment before saying, “True, for now we need to deal with the dynasty’s internal affairs. This tactic is troublesome, but not impossible to counter. Let’s resolve this first.”
The strength of the dynasty is critical; even if there were issues with power, this was something that had to be addressed.
“A problem with strength, and now this… Wang Sheng, I have a terrible feeling!”
For the first time, Jiang Dao truly felt fear, sensing that things were not as simple as they seemed.
Mo Yang, the Dynasty Master of the Qian Dynasty, and Huangtian, the Sect Hierarch of the Taiping Sect, knew less than they did, but were also aware of the problem and were conducting their own investigations.
At the same time, such a significant matter was naturally known to Wang Sheng, who had been informed by Zhu Xiao.
Upon hearing of this matter, Wang Sheng thought immediately of its implications.
“I’ve encountered this before; did we catch any of the problematic individuals?”
Zhu Xiao nodded and said, “Yes, someone infiltrated the upper echelon of the Yuelai Inn, but everyone’s memories affirm that person truly exists.”
“How did you confirm then?”
“It seems I was unaffected. I remember everyone from the Shopkeeper level up in the Yuelai Inn. That person, I have no recollection of.”
“I’ll go have a look!”
Zhu Xiao was unaffected, likely due to her strength which had broken limits and was also related to the Spirit World.
“Could this matter be related to the Spirit World?”
It was only recently the Spiritual Association had detected anomalies, and now this phenomenon had manifested. He did not believe there was no connection…
(Here I’ll establish a flag according to the old rules, alternating updates: 6000 words one day, 9000 another.)