“Others?” Lis blinked, looking around suspiciously. “But it’s just us here…”
“Although I don’t find it something to be proud of, I am ranked second on the ‘Twin Wings Mind List – Asura Sublist.’”
“What my nose smells are emotions, what my eyes see are thoughts, and what my ears hear are desires.”
Igura walked over to the record player, picked out a record from the cabinet below that looked like it depicted the end of the world—a reminder of the dream he had a few days ago—placed it in the player, and sure enough, it was very noisy, but surprisingly good.
He took a serious look at the cover, oh, it was angels destroying the world, no wonder it sounded so pleasant.
“Although this kind of music might be premature for you, it’s enough to mask our voices,” Igura said as he sat down. “Let’s have an honest conversation, Lis.”
Lis nervously took the seat farthest from him, near the mirror. “But I don’t want to talk to you…”
“Is it the mirror?”
The little girl blinked, her face no longer feigning tension but showing genuine shock. The fraudster was pleased with this expression—ever since encountering that damned heresy leader, he hadn’t had a successful fraud negotiation, and Igura was almost doubting whether his eloquence had declined to the level of a drunken city council member.
“I’ve been watching you, Lis. Not just the game just now, but last night when you played ‘Sorcerer Duel 14’ with Asho, you also showed a side different from usual: competitive, impolite, straightforward, just like a child…”
“I am a child!” Lis shouted.
“If I had some doubts last night, then in the game just now, you completely exposed your secret,” Igura walked over, joining Lis in the mirror. “Your ‘personality switch’ medium is the mirror. Every time you look into the mirror, it means the inside might have already changed.”
“A very clever constraint, extremely clever. Some might see it as a weakness, but I’ve seen patients tormented by multiple personalities to the point of wanting to die—for a mind sorcerer, there’s no doubt that multiple personality sufferers are very valuable research subjects, and fortunately, mental illness is practically a specialty of the Blood Moon Realm, giving mind sorcerers a locational advantage.”
“Sex workers, Falconer hunters, psychotherapists—these three professions continuously produce the psychological samples I favor—especially psychotherapists, those colleagues who stare into the abyss for too long, will eventually go mad and strip for the abyss.”
“Multiple personality sufferers are severely affected in life due to different personalities taking over the body, entangled and tormenting each other because they cannot escape. In the end, they either become sugar people living in a drunken stupor or accept rebirth, washing away all emotional memories, becoming a blank slate.”
“But you won’t have this worry, the mirror constraint minimizes the impact of multiple personalities, even if other personalities have issues, you can lock them in the ‘mirror,’ at least not affecting reality—”
“My sisters are not locked in the mirror!” Lis said angrily.
“Do the personalities refer to each other as sisters?” Igura asked with interest. “A very common example, but in the cases I’ve seen, female patients are very likely to develop male personalities, or rather, male personalities based on a female’s impression, and likewise, male patients almost always develop female personalities, the longing and approach to the opposite sex seems to be an instinct etched into our biology—do you have a brother?”
Lis was about to say something, but she seemed to hear something and reluctantly looked towards the mirror.
When she turned back, her cute face was overlaid with a tranquility that didn’t match her appearance. Rather than saying she was removing a mask, it was more like she was putting on another layer of masks, masks beneath masks.
Igura raised an eyebrow: “How should I address you?”
“Just call me Lis,” ‘Lis’ said calmly. “Only among ourselves do we have distinctions, in the face of others, we are all Lis.”
A multiple personality that presents a united front to the outside world… Igura thought this was a very rare case indeed. Generally, multiple personalities differ greatly from each other, with dominant personalities often looking down on weaker ones, so the stable organizational mode for multiple personalities is mostly ‘monarchic dictatorship,’ with the monarch personality leading other subject personalities, which are further divided into noble and commoner personalities, with clear hierarchical distinctions, like practicing religion in a snail shell, creating feudalism within a single body.
Lis’s case of multiple personalities respecting each other, a ‘democratic republic,’ was simply the ideal template for multiple personalities. Even after Igura had perused the database of mental patients, he had never seen such a perfect sample. Plus, she had voluntarily added the mirror constraint, and he had some guesses in his mind.
“Lis, in the first question earlier, ‘Would you kill the other five present to seize the deity’s wish,’ you voted ‘yes,’ didn’t you?”
Although it was a question, Igura’s tone was very certain.
‘Lis’ admitted frankly: “Yes, how did you figure it out?”
“I saw it when Asho interacted with you,” Igura said coldly. “The way you looked at Asho then, like you were looking at a piece of wriggling rotten meat, I’m quite familiar with that look—Harvey looks at others the same way.”
“Sorry, to control the voting results, we had to let a rather violent sister vote that time,” ‘Lis’ nodded slightly. “That sister has that attitude towards everyone, we had no intention of harming Asho.”
“The second and third times, you voted against your own persona, right?” Igura said. “I originally thought you wouldn’t give everything for the one you love, yet you voted ‘yes’; I thought you couldn’t possibly trust others, yet you still voted ‘yes’… Why did you want to control the voting results?””Mr. Bokin, if you already know the answer, why bother asking?”
Lis shook her bracelet: “Firstly, naturally, it’s for the reward; secondly, it’s to turn the tables and go along with Annan’s arrangement.”
“Annan…” Igura savored the name as if he were eating an undercooked Lalafell.
“A very beautiful open strategy, isn’t it?” Lis spread her hands and said: “She has limited our ability to lie, while granting us the power to ask questions anonymously… It’s as if she has locked us in an arena and then thrown down swords. She doesn’t need to use verbal inducement because we will voluntarily pick up the weapons and hurt each other.”
“She wants to destroy the foundation of our cooperation, and coincidentally, I want to do the same.”
Lis placed her hands on the table, sitting upright without any fidgeting, her serious demeanor made it impossible for Igura to take her lightly: “Compared to you who have shared hardships, my relationship with Asho is far too weak. But Asho is the ally I can most easily win over. If I can’t even win Asho over, it’s even less likely that others would cooperate with me.”
“So I need to first tear apart your foundation of trust, and then I can form a true alliance with Asho. A mere contract is not enough to make Asho stand with me… On this point, I share a common interest with Annan.”
“So you’re helping Annan muddy the waters, intensifying our suspicions through voting?” Igura sighed: “You almost succeeded, the two ‘yes’ answers to the first question nearly destroyed all my trust in Harvey and Asho.”
“Yes, I almost succeeded.” Lis also seemed somewhat helpless: “If it weren’t for the third question.”
Igura was puzzled: “But in the third question, why did you choose ‘yes’… Ah, you wanted to take the opportunity to improve your standing in the eyes of others!”