"Xiao Ye." Li Yuebai said softly, "Can I ask you one last question?"
Ye Qing took another small bite on his neck.
"The last question is," Li Yuebai gritted his teeth, "How many stars are there in the sky?"
Ye Qing was obviously frozen and did not answer.
"Tell me." Li Yuebai asked, "That night on the rooftop, I asked you the same question, and you answered it immediately... Why can't you answer it now?"
That night, although Ye Qing was obviously very tired, he still insisted on going to the rooftop to look at the stars alone. Li Yuebai was worried, so he followed him and watched with him for a long time, and also chatted with him.
Li Yuebai wanted to tease him, so he jokingly asked Ye Qing about the number of stars. As a result, Ye Qing really answered with an astronomical number. Li Yuebai had forgotten the exact number, but Ye Qing could not have forgotten it.
Ye Qing's genius has always been in this area - sensitivity to numbers, talent in mathematics, and extraordinary perception of shapes, weights, and numbers.
"If you can't answer, then you can only explain it." Li Yuebai sighed and touched the other person's hair. The touch was exactly the same as in his memory: "You are fake."
The crow on the windowsill cackles in alarm.
Ye Qing's body suddenly lost strength, and the hand that was pinching Li Yuebai's neck loosened: "You don't believe me, Master?"
Li Yuebai pushed him away and started coughing desperately. He finally managed to catch his breath: "Answer my question first."
"Then Master, please answer me first, how many seconds are there in eternity? How many drops of water are there in the ocean? How many petals are there in the lotus in the hand of the Bodhisattva?" Ye Qing smiled, his voice still so calm: "Then I can answer how many stars there are."
This is a very poetic answer. If it were in a Chinese class, Li Yuebai would give it a high score.
But here, zero points.
"Give me a number." Li Yuebai asked relentlessly.
"Infinite number." Ye Qing smiled and looked at him.
Infinite number is not a number, but a counting unit in ancient India. If explained by modern mathematics, it is about 10 to the power of one million.
"Wrong." Li Yuebai looked at the face that still looked exactly like Ye Qing, and for a moment he felt a little sorry: "It's completely wrong. You pretended to be very similar, everything was exactly the same as him... but it's still wrong."
"Why?" Ye Qing looked indifferent.
"I heard that fantasies will automatically disappear the moment they are shattered. Why haven't you disappeared yet? Are you still waiting for me to expose you completely?" Li Yuebai's tone became colder and colder. After realizing that the person in front of him was not Ye Qing, all his impulsive, apologetic, self-pitying, and fragile thoughts disappeared.
The Ye Qing in front of him was a fake, a trap set by Gao Chengyu.
The real purpose of setting up this trap was not to let Ye Qing kill him, but to force himself to kill Ye Qing with his own hands when he was in despair, and then endure even greater pain and guilt.
This was Gao Chengyu's fault. Since he had pushed himself into a desperate situation, he had to endure his counterattack.
"Am I fake?" Ye Qing's voice became colder and colder: "Reason."
"Because they look too much like you." Li Yuebai smiled and shook his head: "Even if he were to play the role himself, he wouldn't look as much like you."
"This reason is not credible." The blue tears under the fake Ye Qing's eyes disappeared, and the red hair in his hair also disappeared. He was gradually changing back to his original appearance: "Tell me, how did you find the doubt?"
"The biggest doubt is that the Ye Qing you played is always exactly the same as in my memory." Li Yuebai shook his head: "The appearance in my memory, the touch in my memory, the tone of voice in my memory, the behavior in my memory... From beginning to end, you have never done anything beyond my memory."
Vampires' mind control can only control humans, not other vampires, nor VILA. However, vampires with strong enough magic can read VILA's memory, although it is more difficult than reading human memory, but it is completely possible.
That's how one of Gao Chengyu's powerful subordinates read his own memory of Ye Qing - a very detailed and complete memory, and then used this information to create a fake one.
I have to admit that this is a very powerful spell that can completely confuse the false with the true.
At first, Li Yuebai was completely deceived. How could a Ye Qing who looked exactly like the one in his memory not be Ye Qing? Moreover, he felt guilty towards Ye Qing, which was a mental barrier that he could not get over. Therefore, as long as Ye Qing said that she hated him, he could not bear to doubt her.
However, Gao Chengyu asked him to kill Ye Qing. At this time, he was startled and gradually came to his senses.
When people are faced with a dilemma, they often fall into agony and eventually go crazy.
In a flash, after countless thoughts, Li Yuebai came up with a third idea - this Ye Qing was fake.
"Maybe he hasn't changed. Maybe he's just like this..." The disguised person in front of him shook his head. "What really made you make a judgment was the last question, right? What is the answer to that question?"
“I don’t remember either.” Li Yuebai smiled and shook his head: “How many stars are there? I only remember asking Ye Qing this question once, and he answered it, but I don’t remember the specific answer.”
Unlike Ye Qing, Li Yuebai was not very talented in mathematics, especially numbers. He often couldn't remember phone numbers, dates, prices of things... so he forgot that number as well.
"It is precisely because I don't remember that I have to ask you." Li Yuebai said: "Only with this answer can you not read it from my memory...you have to answer it yourself, so the difference between you and Ye Qing is highlighted here."
“…”
"System." Li Yue called out to the system fiercely: "Come out, stop pretending to be dead."
"Dear host, I don't understand what you are talking about. Just now, I fell into hibernation, so..." The system started its disgusting sweet talk again.
"You still pick the right time. You fell into hibernation just when I asked you to contact Ye Qing." Li Yuebai sneered, "The reason must be - this is very interesting."
"Dear host, I don't understand what you are talking about." The system pretended to be innocent: "I am awake now, ready to meet all your requests at any time."
"Then can you help me recall how many stars there are?" Li Yuebai brought up the question just now.
"About 400 billion." The system quickly gave an answer.
Although the system often betrays, it never lies.
"About 400 billion." Li Yuebai smiled. "Xiao Ye is just that kind of person. He is purely rational. When it comes to this kind of question, he will always give a number as the answer, not some romantic poetry... Those have nothing to do with him."
As soon as he finished speaking, a slight explosion sounded in front of him.
Once a person who has a nightmare wakes up, the nightmare will gradually disappear and it will be impossible to stop it.
The fake Ye Qing, who was so real that he could almost be mistaken for the real thing, immediately took off all his disguises after his identity was exposed.
The originally clear body suddenly exploded into countless flying sands and scattered in the air.
Moonlight shone through the window, making the sand crystal clear, but when it floated away, there was nothing left.
"Ye Qing" is not a vampire in disguise, but an illusion made of sand.
Able to read memories, create illusions, and imitate various touches, such spells are powerful and dangerous. Where is the caster?
Li Yuebai looked around, but saw nothing.
I don't know when the crow on the windowsill disappeared.
The door had been closed the moment he entered, tightly and tightly, not a single ray of light could get through.
The parchment was still on the ground. Li Yuebai walked forward and picked it up again. He saw new words displayed on it - I'm sorry that you passed the first level of the test. You won't always be so lucky.
There was a loud rumbling sound from the stairs - it was the sound of a door opening. The door leading to the second floor was opened. Just go up the stairs and you can reach the second floor.
The game feels more and more intense.
Li Yuebai is not very good at playing computer games, but he knows famous games like "Tower of Legends". Dungeons, castles, warriors... are all common elements in Western fantasy games. He did not expect that in this vampire world, he would have to play games to have the final showdown.
There is no other way except to counter the opponent's moves.
Li Yuebai held the parchment in his hand and pondered for a while. Just as he was about to turn around and go up the stairs, he heard footsteps behind him.
Is someone coming?
Turning around suddenly, Li Yuebai saw the person he least wanted to see.
Gaochengyu.
Gao Chengyu looked completely different from what he remembered, and even more different from the corpse in the news - he was wearing a simple dark robe in the style of the Ottoman Empire, a low-key and serious style that would not be out of place even in modern society. He had a feather pinned to his collar, his light grey hair was neatly combed, his face was pale with deep features, and he had a monocle on his left eye. To be fair, he looked very gentle, if you didn't look at the cruelty and ambition hidden in his eyes.
"Welcome." Gao Chengyu was the first to speak, and he started with the annoying formulaic dialogue and tone of a sophisticated but corrupt business elite.
"You don't even dare to show your true self and only use an illusion to welcome me. Your manners are too impolite, the legendary Piercing King." Li Yuebai rubbed his temples and sneered.
Gao Chengyu in front of him, like Ye Qing just now, was an illusion made up of sand grains.
Because, if a real vampire stood so close to him, he would have been unable to control himself.
"What does etiquette mean in the face of purpose?" Gao Chengyu smiled and said, "Mr. Gu, even if I ask you to kneel down to come in, don't you still have to do it?"
"What's so great about being the king of vampires? In human society, you are just a pathetic criminal." Li Yuebai didn't want to engage in endless rhetoric with him, so he quickly changed the subject: "Okay, stop talking nonsense. Your purpose is very clear. Do you need me to say it out loud?"
"Um?"
"This tower has seven floors." Li Yuebai looked around: "Now I'm on the first floor. I've passed it without any injury."
"That's only temporary." Gao Chengyu smiled.
"You have so many vampires under your command, why don't you send them to tear me into pieces?" Li Yuebai shook his head: "Because your goal is not to kill me, not to eat my flesh and blood, you don't intend to kill people, you only intend to exterminate them."
Murder and destruction, a very old-fashioned phrase, but it is always applicable.
"How do you make a VILA your tool?" Li Yuebai carefully recalled what he had read in "Blood Charm Examination": "Destroying its body is useless. The most thorough way is to destroy its mind, making it lose all thoughts and only obey your arrangements. There are many ways to achieve this goal. Now, it's only the first level, and you have already used the most ruthless move - forcing me to kill the person I value most with my own hands."
"I didn't force you to kill him. I just let you make a choice." Gao Chengyu raised his eyebrows. "Besides, even if you killed him, it would just be killing an illusion. There would be no loss."
"But if I firmly believe that this phantom is him, if I didn't see through your tricks." Li Yuebai took a deep breath: "Then the moment I killed the phantom, something deep inside my heart had died. This tower has seven floors. Every time I walk up a floor, a part of my heart dies. When I reach the top of the tower, if it is as you wish, only my shell will be left."
"It's hard not to let you guess the general direction that's so obvious." Gao Chengyu's eyes flashed with something: "But the specific details that follow may not be so easy for you to guess."
"I came here for only one purpose." Li Yuebai tried to put on Gu Xisha's aura: "That is to make this world not what you want it to be."