Inside the egg, a golden-haired girl frowned slightly, as if having a nightmare.
At the same moment, harsh and unpleasant whispers came from all around.
“IA! IA! SHAGGORNYTH!!”
Sophia was shocked, and a terrifying and absurd thought emerged from her mind.
“Is that… my face?”
Could it be that… she had always been inside the egg?
Was everything outside false?
Was she… fake?
“Sophia, focus your mind!”
Suddenly, Andy’s voice boomed in her ear.
Sophia’s bloodshot eyes widened, and she gasped for breath, temporarily escaping that terrifying delusion.
The blurred shadow beneath her instantly solidified; while the figure inside the egg became blurred again.
Her thoughts were interrupted, but the incessant whispers in her ears still caused Sophia’s head to ache intensely.
Li Andy supported her from the side, enduring his own headache, and sternly intervened:
“Focus your mind! Recall how we felt in the room!”
Sophia bit her lip until it bled, closed her eyes tightly, and hugged Li Andy, greedily drawing in his familiar scent to combat that terrifying thought.
‘Andy… Andy is the real one!’
Li Andy let out a long sigh of relief, looking at Sophia, whose breathing was gradually steadying.
He had been puzzled by a question before:
“How did those weak and pathetic monsters capture and utilize the Heart Source?”
Now, he finally understood.
Those monsters had the ability to interfere with human thought!
If Sophia believed she was sleeping in the egg, then she might truly enter the egg!
Human thought was not 100% controllable.
Excessive reminders or suggestions could lead to different associations.
For example, some people, when they saw the word “toilet,” easily thought of unclean things.
Most people were fine, but some with psychological trauma or high levels of persecutory delusion could even conjure up detailed scenarios of themselves being harmed from something completely unrelated.
For such people, even if you explained clearly that it was their delusion, they would still retain the impression, and might even think you were testing them, then start doubting everything from the root, letting all emotions worsen.
Fortunately… Sophia, though a bit silly and easily influenced, clearly trusted him more than the monsters’ whispers!
Li Andy held Sophia, and just as he was about to temporarily retreat into the manor, one terrifying thought after another popped into his mind:
“Could the Sophia in his arms… actually be fake?”
“Perhaps the one he truly needed to awaken was the Sophia inside the egg?”
“Wait…”
“I haven’t recovered my memories… Could it be… that I haven’t woken up at all?!”
“Is this world just his mindscape?!”
Li Andy’s bloodshot eyes widened, and he found that all the dense lights had disappeared.
Only one… incredibly huge egg remained, containing another version of himself…
No!
That’s not right!
How could he be thinking so much in such an emergency situation?!
The whispers… the whispers were gone!
He… was also affected!
Li Andy bit his lip hard, blood spreading in his mouth.
But the scene before him did not change.
The Sophia in his arms had already vanished!
Li Andy suddenly felt a chill in his heart; could it be that… slumber was the truth?
Could it be that… he was the fake one?!
He stiffly raised his hand to grab the giant egg, but saw the ring on his hand.
“Constant as always!”
The figure inside the ovary had no ring!!
At the same time, another message flashed in his mind:
“Forgetting is a form of protection.”
Forgetting… forgetting distracting thoughts… perhaps there was also this layer of implication?!
Li Andy suddenly looked up sharply, glaring.
Forget distracting thoughts, focus on the moment!
The spirituality within him suddenly erupted, and the surrounding illusory images instantly dispersed.
Several sea monsters that had been lurking, intending to attack him and Sophia, were instantly cut into several pieces by the furious sweep of his trench coat!
At the same time, the revolver in his hand squirmed and bubbled:
“Oh~~ My goodness, don’t get distracted! This is a bio-survival mode underwater limited-time event~~ Oh ya—”
“Bang—!”
Li Andy suddenly raised his hand and shot the head of a merman attacking from above.
Zorro’s bullet speed did not decrease, transforming into a silver droplet, continuously piercing through the monsters that followed closely.
Li Andy held the trembling Sophia tightly with one hand, and pointed his gun forward with the other.
There, several warships were sailing in a line.
Leading them was a steam sailboat bearing a jasmine mark.
On its deck, an octopus-headed creature covered in tentacles was staring directly at Li Andy. Broken human words, accompanied by the whispers from the sea, came through:
“You… are not a dream person… You… came from outside!”
Li Andy couldn’t be bothered to listen to his nonsense and immediately fired several shots.
Unusual silver bullets cut through the water, swimming rapidly towards the monster.
“Whoopee~ Firing underwater, a new experience, awesome!!”
Zorro shivered, directly shaking out the accumulated water from its cylinder.
It wasn't a normal pistol, and its bullets weren't normal bullets; it was perfectly reasonable for it to fire underwater.
However, underwater was still underwater. Although the bullets’ spirituality and power could break environmental limitations, they still weakened continuously with distance.
The octopus monster directly shot out several tentacles from beneath itself, crushing those few bullets at the cost of minor skin wounds.
Then, it slowly waved its tentacles.
The two whaling ships on either side aimed their harpoons at Li Andy.
Not attacking me with mindscape abilities?
But attacking me with non-spiritual constructs?
A cold glint flashed in Li Andy’s eyes.
He immediately understood that those monsters couldn't use mindscape abilities as freely as Sophia.
Moreover, apart from their mental interference abilities, their actual combat power was not strong, and like ordinary humans, they needed to rely on various weapons and constructs.
“But… using non-spiritual constructs to attack me…”
“Whoosh—!”
The huge harpoon broke through the water, heading straight for Li Andy, but just as it was about to hit, it suddenly softened, turning into two strange swimming eels that circled around the enemy like fawning dogs.
“Go!”
Li Andy said softly, and the harpoon immediately turned into a sharp blade, flying back with a bang, directly piercing the hulls of the two whaling ships.
If this were on a normal sea surface, this level of damage would certainly sink the ship.
But since the ship was already underwater, there was no question of it sinking.
The sea monsters on the two ships had a false alarm, grinning widely and waving their steel forks, as if mocking Li Andy’s ineffective attack.
However, Li Andy’s goal was not to sink the ships, but to seize control of their bodies!
“Gurgle—”
The two whaling ships suddenly came alive, colliding with each other in a spectacular fashion, exploding into countless fragments. The mermen who had just been relieved that they were fine were now crushed into the debris.
Just as Li Andy was about to continue controlling the constructs to pursue, he noticed that the leading octopus raised a tentacle and pointed behind him.
Li Andy suddenly remembered something and turned around sharply.
He then realized that the manor at this moment was spatially dislocated and twisted into an indescribable shape.
The five Jasmine sisters hiding inside the manor castle were also affected by those damned whispers!
Li Andy looked at the octopus-headed monster, and actually saw a mocking expression on its face.
It raised its hand, signaling the fleet to retreat, and sang loudly with its subordinate monster horde.
As the harsh, sharp sound rang out, the large mountain that Sophia had previously torn apart re-converged and re-formed…
Sophia, in Li Andy’s arms, clutched her head in pain, repeatedly echoing his previous words:
“Focus your mind!”
“Focus your mind!!”