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"Brother, let's talk this out. Don't try to seduce me, okay?" Sorin frowned, removed Eugeo's hand from his shoulder, and said somewhat displeased.

"Sorlin...you..."

Eugeo was stunned for a long time, because when he had seen Sorin suddenly become strange before, Sorin could return to its original state in a very short time. But the current Sorin still felt somewhat unfamiliar to him, unlike the two versions he had seen before. Moreover, he had a premonition that the gentle and weak Sorin might never return.

“I’m fine, better than ever before, and I’m still Sorin, you can rest assured about that, Eugeo.” Sorin patted his shoulder casually, his eyes gleaming with confidence. “Don’t worry, leave the rest to me.”

February 1, 380th year of the Human Realm Calendar

Sorin simply offered some words of comfort to Eugeo, who had suddenly become inexplicably downcast. His current focus, however, was more on integrating the complete memories he had just regained.

Indeed, after Sorin reintegrated his rational and emotional sides, he also retrieved those previously sealed memories, from his trip to the hospital to use the cross to save Yuki, to being shot, and then to that brief moment of lucidity. He roughly understood the current situation and also realized that this was actually an experimental site for Tetsuya Shigemura's artificial intelligence project.

"This AI is really amazing. I haven't been able to distinguish it from a real person for so long," Solin thought to himself. "But thinking about it carefully, if it were a real person, it wouldn't rigidly adhere to that rule... Wait, if breaking through the [Taboo Index] means that AI has completed its true transformation, then why is the Axiom Church trying to prevent this from happening? What are they thinking?"

As Sorin frantically pondered the situation, he belatedly realized that he was facing a formidable opponent, one with virtually no chance of victory. The figure blocking their path, attempting to capture or kill them, was an Integrity Knight, arguably the pinnacle of combat power in this world. In other words, conventional methods were ineffective against this individual, at least not without the advantage of lacking weapons.

So Solin decided to use a special method—he took two more steps forward, stared intently into Eldorie's eyes, and slowly but firmly uttered a sentence.

"Wait, you can kill me. But first, we need to find out who killed me."

This left Eldorie completely bewildered. He could have easily sliced ​​open the delicate neck of the beautiful woman before him with his sword, but for some inexplicable reason, he didn't, and instead answered Sorin's question.

"Of course it's me."

"Then, who am 'I'?" Solin followed up with another question.

“How would I know who you are?” Eldorie retorted impatiently.

"See, here comes the problem." Solin shrugged, looking completely unfazed.

"What do you mean?"

Eldorie vaguely felt that killing Sorin and Eugeo now was the right choice. But for some inexplicable reason, he didn't act, and instead hesitated for a moment before asking another question.

"That fool really fell for it," Suolin thought happily. "It's definitely easier to fool an AI than a human." Many years ago, when he watched "My Own Swordsman," he thought it was just a simple joke. But when this simple joke is used to fool a simple person... or even a mind more naive than a human's, the effect becomes particularly powerful.

"This has to do with the relationship between humans and the universe. There's been a question that's been bothering you for a long time," he said.

“Impossible. I’ve only been here for a month. How could I be troubled by a long-standing problem? Besides, I don’t have any problems.” Eldoriye shook his head and denied it.

“No, you do. For example… who am I?” Sorin pointed at Eldorie, his words certain.

“I already know that. I am Eldrie Synthesis Satyvan, an Integrity Knight,” Eldrie replied without hesitation.

"No, you don't know. Do you really know? Who are you, Eldoriye?" Sorin smiled suddenly upon hearing his words, then began to press him relentlessly, answering his own questions, "No, it's just a code name. You can be called Eldoriye, I can be called Eldoriye, everyone can be called Eldoriye. So, if you take away this code name, who are you?"

"Screw it! I don't know, and I don't need to know!"

Eldorie was clearly annoyed, while Sorin remained calm and smiling.

"Alright, let's move on to the next question: Who am I?"

"Isn't that exactly what you just asked?" Eldorie felt as if he had been tricked. He pointed his sword and whip at Sorin and shouted, "So you're just stalling for time, you shameless criminal!"

"No, no, no, I was asking about the id just now, now I'm asking about the ego."

Solin stared unfazed at the blade and whip pointed at his face, his tone still sharp and aggressive.

"What's the difference?" Eldorie suddenly felt a little confused.

"Of course there's a difference. For example, when I use the pronoun 'I' to talk to you, does that mean you are me, and I am you?"

Having said that, Sorin stretched out his hand, pointing to Eldoriel, then to himself. Eldoriel was visibly flustered as the discussion delved into such profound matters. He feigned composure, maintaining his expression, and then said nonchalantly:

What's the point of this question?

“Alright, let me ask a few more meaningful questions.” Sorin first revealed a smug expression, but he quickly concealed it and looked at Eldrie with a serious face. “Where did I come from? Where will I go after I die? Why did I come into this world? What does my existence mean to the world? Did the world choose me, or did I choose the world?”

These questions are particularly thought-provoking even for a normal human being, and for an artificial intelligence, this series of questions is no less than a fire burning in its heart, making it impossible for it to find peace for a long time.

"Enough!" he shouted in a panic. But Solin showed no sign of stopping, continuing to press on with a barrage of questions in an aggressive tone.

"Is there a necessary connection between me and the universe? Does the universe have an end? Is time a long period? Where does past time disappear, and where does future time stop? Is the question I asked just now the same question you are hearing now?"

"I...I'll kill you!"

Eldorie roared in fury, but by then it was too late; he had already made up his mind to kill. Sorin held his sword between two fingers, brought it close to his face, and asked one last question.

"Who killed me, and whom did I kill?"

He watched Eldorie tremble for a moment, then sheathed his sword and whip, crouched down with his hands on his head, seemingly lost in deep thought. After a long while, he slowly looked at Sorin, his voice filled with doubt and despair.

"I...I'll kill myself?"

"Please." Sorin waved his hand, and then saw that Eldorie hadn't even finished the self-inflicted suffocation before her whole body began to tremble and gradually become transparent. But at that moment, a hazy ray of dawn and a thick arrow shot in front of Sorin interrupted everything.

February 2, 380th year of the Human Realm Calendar

Sorin sensed danger the moment he saw the arrow descending from the sky. He couldn't afford to continue his verbal sparring with Eldrie, emphasizing that knowledge is power, and quickly pulled Eugeo aside. Although they weren't directly hit, the whistling sound and the lingering pain on his cheek from the near-grab told him the arrow was incredibly powerful.

"It might deal 2d6+2 damage in one hit," Sorin thought. Two more sounds followed. Sorin casually drew Eldrie's sword from his waist, then with a flick of his wrist, deflected another incoming arrow with two strikes, before handing the sword to Eugeo.

"You use this first... wdnmd, where did these troublemakers come from? Why are they even bringing in airstrikes? Unbelievable!"

Sorin muttered a complaint and looked up at the sky with a puzzled expression. Beneath the dawn-lit eastern sky, a dragon was slowly circling. Upon closer inspection, one could discern the figure seated on its back. That was also an Integrity Knight—judging from his terrifying accuracy while riding a dragon eight zhang away, this guy was undoubtedly a regional boss-level figure, at least unlike the younger knight before him.

It's not that Sorin didn't consider using his previous rhetoric to fool the knight. In fact, if he had the chance to talk his way out of things, no Integrity Knight would survive a round against him. However, this guy attacked right away, not giving Sorin a chance to talk back, so he had no choice but to stand there and take the beating.

“Wait a minute, Sorin… if you give this to me, what about you?” Eugeo hesitated, holding the sword in his hand. “And that guy always gives me a dangerous feeling.”

Of course, what Eugeo didn't say was that Sorin in front of him gave him an unprecedented feeling of humiliation. It was a mysterious power from the Firelink Shrine; those who mastered this power of slacking off would have an extremely long health bar and a series of embarrassing quirks, and Sorin at this moment had inherited this power.

“I know he’s dangerous without even feeling it,” Sorin said, drawing the whip from Eldorie’s waist. “I can use this. I’ve said it before, as long as an object meets the definition of a weapon, I can wield it.”

Incidentally, these two have practically stripped Eldrie of all his armor, leaving him with absolutely nothing, not even a single weapon. They don't have much time to think now; the knight on the dragon's back drew his massive bow again, followed by another aerial attack, which Sorin blocked once more.

"Sinners, get out of the way of Knight Satyvan!" Seeing that the air raid could not harm the two, he simply descended from the sky to the ground and shouted, "How dare you try to lead the Integrity Knights of Light to corruption! This crime cannot be forgiven! I will shoot through your limbs and throw you back into the prison!"

Contrary to what Sorin had imagined, he hadn't actually given up on the air raid; he simply planned to get closer and unleash a denser barrage for a saturation bombardment. Seeing that this guy was using his long reach to his advantage, and realizing they couldn't win this attack, Sorin simply grabbed Eugeo and started running away.

"You scoundrel, come here! You dare to challenge me head-on!" He taunted the knight across the way as he ran, and also tried out the same line he had just used on Eldrie, "You know what? There's actually a problem that's been bothering you too."

"I don't know what's bothering me. If I had to say, it would be you fugitives who are currently on the run."

Unfortunately, the knight remained unmoved. In fact, his gaze towards Sorin became even more dangerous, as if he were looking at some high-level being beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. He had now changed from firing one or two arrows at a time to firing four arrows at once. Although his accuracy was slightly worse than before, the high density of bullets was still giving Sorin a real headache.

At this moment, although Sorin intended to let this Integrity Knight experience the 1d100 sanity check, a person's energy is ultimately limited. He might be able to talk his way out while simply running away, but he couldn't do it at the same time, find his way, clear the way, run, and talk his way out all at the same time. That operation was a bit too high-level.

Of course, calling it an escape was really just about navigating around this maze-like area, since the slightly taller bushes served as basic cover. Now that they both possessed weapons far superior to the chains they carried, tactics previously unusable were now available, such as using their swords to violently breach the iron fence and clear a path.

This escape was much more efficient than before, when the two of them had to stack themselves like a human pyramid to get over the iron fence, but it still couldn't help them escape the pursuit of the armed helicopter on the plain. Fortunately, Sorin received some other help at this time, although he didn't know what was helping him. Strangely, whenever Sorin didn't know which way to go, something would pull his hair in a certain direction, and he would follow it. At first, he was a little skeptical, but after being led to the right path several times, Sorin gradually believed in its guidance.

"Stay close to me... That damned scoundrel is never going to stop. I'd rather he didn't get caught. If I do, you're in for a world of hurt..."

"Solin, what does this mean?"

"You don't need to understand, just follow me."

After circling around several times, Eugeo and Sorin, who had been making a lot of noise, finally arrived at a dead end. Just ten meters away was a blocked passage. Now, with no way forward and pursuers behind, they looked like they were about to be killed on the spot.

"What...what should we do, Solin? Why is there no road ahead?" Eugeo asked in a panic.

"Wait, this isn't what we agreed on!"

Solin stared blankly at the blocked road, unsure of what to do. He quickly came up with another emergency strategy—to destroy the nearby fence and break through to find another way out. But just as he was about to do so, a childish voice suddenly rang in his ears.

"Hey! Come here right now!"

February 3, 380th year of the Human Realm Calendar

"Who are these people? And why is the commotion coming from above?"

The voice, seemingly coming from nowhere, momentarily stopped Suolin's thoughts. Although the term sounded rather old-fashioned, Suolin figured the voice sounded about the same age as Ivy, or perhaps a little younger.

He slowed down and looked around. A small door had appeared on the fence to his right, not far ahead. A person was peeking out, waving at him and Eugeo. The person was wearing a large black hat and looked to be a girl of about ten years old. After a glint of light reflected from the small round glasses perched on her nose, the girl disappeared into the depths of the doorway.

“Although we suspected it was a trap, it’s now clear that even if it is, we have to jump in.” Sorin frowned, then looked at the archer closely following behind, “Eugeo, if you don’t want to get shot through the ground by that cheater’s arrow.”

"I understand what you're saying. But what do you mean by 'cheat'?" Eugeo asked, looking completely bewildered.

"Don't worry about the details, let's just go in." Sorin simply brushed off Eugeo's questions, then pulled him into the darkness behind the door. However, he hadn't expected that behind the door lay a vast and deep space—basically, a huge pit.

So he and Eugeo inevitably fell into the pit, letting out a thrilling scream, doing three forward rolls in the air, before their backs slammed into the slightly springy ground, then they bounced up and landed hard on their bottoms.

"Well, it's jumped over there."

Solin rubbed his lower back, sat up from the ground, and shook his head violently. After regaining his balance, he cautiously observed his surroundings.

"Wait, if we just went through that door, we should be in the space behind the fence... so why are we here?"

Eugeo surveyed his surroundings, then voiced his question. Just as Eugeo had said, their current space was a corridor with walls and floors made of old wooden planks, and the springy feel of the floorboards was due to them. Without a doubt, if the floor were paved with stone slabs, the two of them would have been seriously injured from the fall.

The corridor was about ten meters long, with orange light swaying at the end, and even the surrounding air had a dry feel to it.

"Is that even a question? It just looks like a door, but it's actually a portal, it's that simple." Sorin shrugged and said casually, "The real question is where this portal has brought us."

However, this problem would soon cease to bother Sorin. A metallic "crack" suddenly came from behind and above him. He turned around and found himself facing a steep staircase, at the top of which was a small door and a short figure.

“It looks like we should head over there first,” Solin said, pointing to the stairs ahead. “There’s someone else there. If we can talk to them, we should be able to figure out our situation.”

“Alright, you’re the boss, you call the shots.” Eugeo shook his head helplessly and followed closely behind Sorin. The door in front of them had indeed been a bronze gate before they came in, but now it was made of wood, just like the walls and the floor—not the kind of old, worn wood, but brand new white wood.

About three steps from the top, the figure standing with her back to the two in front of the door suddenly raised her right hand, stopping them from going any further. This person held a huge brass keychain, which looked like it had just been pulled from the equally enormous keyhole on the door. The metallic sound they had heard a few seconds earlier must have been the sound of her locking the door. Just then, Sorin heard a sound like some small, hard creature crawling around.

"It's been detected. In that case, this back door needs to be abandoned."

The mysterious man muttered something under his breath and waved his right hand, as if to shoo the two away. Solin could only shrug helplessly, descend the stairs, and return to the corridor. He turned around just then and saw the man had left before arriving.

There were no lights around; the only source of light was the dim light at the end of the corridor, making only a vague outline discernible. The person wore an enormous hat and a magic robe over their short frame. In their right hand they held a keychain, and in their left hand a cane taller than themselves.

The cane... or rather, the magic wand, was waved as if to shoo them away, and the mysterious man's voice followed.

"Alright, hurry up and move forward! This place, along with the entire passage, will be abandoned."

The voice sounded exactly like that of a young girl, yet for some reason it carried more authority than even the teachers at the Imperial Sword Academy. Eugeo was clearly flustered, but Solin, having regained all his senses, remained calm. He led Eugeo, following the mysterious figure towards the light, and they quickly passed through a short passage, arriving at a wondrous place.