Monster Dismantling Company

"Yes, it's me." Li Lin nodded. "You have something to say?"

"What happened next, is it really...it must be really true, right? Please, you must remember! If I'm the only one who remembers, I'm doomed!"

"Calm down." Li Lin glanced into the distance, then got up and walked with him to a more secluded corner. "You say you remember? Well then, how much do you remember? What do you remember?"

As if grasping at a straw, Luo Yinchang recounted his experiences in detail, without missing a single detail. His memory did not evaporate like dew in the sunlight; instead, it remained deeply ingrained.

Because the signs of scaling had already appeared on his arm.

"My arm... how did it get like this?" He showed Li Lin his cuff. "You must know what happened, right? I remember... I remember you know."

"Tsk." Li Lin shook his head. "That's why I told you to be careful when you eat it. I still admire you for taking the initiative to try it for everyone."

"But wasn't that a dream?!" Luo Yinchang's heart finally died. "I ate the flesh of a mirage in my dream, so why would it turn me into a scale in reality?"

"Why don't you think about it from a different perspective—why can't so many people with squamous cell disease be cured completely? Is it because the toxins or some kind of physical pollution can't be removed? The answer is, you are now experiencing the same thing as them."

Luo Yinchang suddenly realized what was happening.

After Cao Pi usurped the Han throne, he uttered a heartfelt sentiment: "I know the stories of Shun and Yu."

At this moment, Luo Yinchang faced the same predicament—he knew how those squamous diseases came about, and he also knew why they were difficult to cure. This was because the contamination from squamous diseases did not occur at the real genetic level, but at the level of illusory memes.

"Li Lin, am I going to die soon like them? The survival rate for squamous cell carcinoma is only one year!"

"You underestimated it. The median survival is four years. With proper intervention and the willingness to take action on yourself, it's not a problem to prolong it for eight or ten years."

Colonel Ningzhou is a case in point—of course, as a high-ranking military officer, the medical resources he has access to are different from those of ordinary people.

"What should I do... I'm not married yet, I don't want to die! I still have parents at home, I haven't..."

"Calm down, calm down," Li Lin interrupted him. "You've come to the right person. You'll do me a favor, and I'll do you one too, okay?"

"Please speak!"

"This is not the place to talk."

Li Lin glanced around and, finding no one watching, took a small seashell out of his pocket.

The conch shell doesn't look particularly special, except for its sharp, multicolored horn.

He placed the conch shell against Luo Yinchang's ear: "Listen."

"What are you listening to?"

Before he could finish speaking, a tremendous tidal wave engulfed him—Luo Yinchang was transformed into mirage and sucked into the conch shell.

After sending him inside, Li Lin also pointed the conch shell at his ear, somersaulted inside, and landed on the ground after Luo Yinchang.

It was an ordinary room, about 20 square meters. It had his bed, his desk, and his computer.

Luo Yinchang looked around: "What kind of magical conch is this...?"

"Have a seat." Li Lin casually pulled over a stool and sat down in the swivel chair in front of the desk. "Welcome to my Dragon Palace."

"Dragon Palace? Is this the same place as the Dragon Palace below?"

"Yes. It used to belong to a mirage, but now this Dragon Palace is mine—speaking of which, I have high hopes for you. In times of crisis, you showed a fearless spirit of sacrifice. I think that deserves me to buy you a drink."

The newly acquired Dragon Palace hasn't been furnished yet, so this area is assumed to resemble his home. This small 20-square-meter room is the Dragon Palace as it is now.

He skillfully opened the refrigerator and took out a can of Coke for Luo Yinchang.

It was iced cola, but Luo Yinchang dared not open it.

"Sigh, what are you afraid of?" Li Lin waved his hand. "You're already like this, why would you be afraid I'll hurt you? This is just ordinary cola, it's for you."

Li Lin opened a can first: "I really like Coke. I like all kinds except sugar-free Coke. What about you?"

"Me too..." He clutched his can of cola, still unwilling to drink it. "I want to know, how much longer do I have to live?"

"I can cure you," Li Lin said bluntly.

Luo Yinchang was utterly shocked: "You...you can cure scaly disease?! How can you cure it?!"

"Squamous disease is a memetic disease. It sounds scary, but it's actually quite easy to cure—a meme is simply a piece of information. Information doesn't exist in the physical world. In other words, as long as you forget that you ever had squamous disease, you naturally don't have the disease."

"But how can I forget?!"

"Actually, everyone forgets easily. Everything in the Dragon Palace is like morning dew. But you ate the flesh of the Dragon Palace and became a part of it, so you can't forget what happened there." Li Lin pointed to the toilet over there. "So, before you've completely digested it, go to the toilet now and induce vomiting. Throw out the flesh you ate, and everything will be resolved."

As he spoke, he took a bottle of sugar-free cola from the refrigerator, a blue can: "Here, sugar-free toilet cleaner. Drink this and you'll throw up even your leftovers. Hurry, it probably hasn't digested yet, it'll be too late once it's digested."

"Thanks!" He was in a hurry, so he grabbed the blue can of sugar-free cola and flushed it into the toilet.

Hiccup—

The sound of water being flushed.

Hiccup—

Rinse again.

After repeating this process three times, Luo Yinchang emerged from the toilet.

Although his eyes were red from vomiting, he realized that he was alright now—because the near-death feeling that had been pressing down on him had completely disappeared.

"You're lucky. Many people have already digested it, and it would be much more difficult to treat them then."

People like Master Wang and the Colonel are in this situation. However, now that the Dragon Palace is available, Li Lin could try to treat them. But that's a matter for later.

"Li Lin... Thank you! I don't know how to thank you! Actually, you can use this to threaten me."

"You're a good person, and good people aren't threatened by this kind of thing for the rest of their lives. Besides, you know too much, so I was going to erase your memory anyway. We're even now."

"No..." Luo Yinchang lowered his head, "I owe you, I remember... But, no, I don't think I can remember? After I leave, I'll forget everything that happened here."

"Hmm." Li Lin nodded. "You spat out the flesh of the Dragon Palace, so you're no longer a member of the Dragon Palace. Therefore, of course you'll forget everything."

"But I at least have to repay you in some way..."

"How about this? Didn't you give me your 'old man's' terracotta dagger earlier? Actually, you didn't give it to me; it was a simulation from the mirage. But that dagger is indeed quite good. So, if you give me that dagger back, we'll be even. Let's go; the people outside are waiting for you. If fate allows, we can continue to cooperate in the future."

"But how am I supposed to remember all this after I get out?"

"Easy, I'll just give you a hint." He pointed to the Coke in Luo Yinchang's hand. "When we go out later, watch what Coke does. I have another plan here so that we can both meet safely."