Chapter 869: Hint

I've never heard of anyone needing a mirror to find something, but since Bai Yang said so, he must have his own ideas.

Although this item wasn't easy to find, I managed to get a small compact powder case the next day. It looked quite modern, even from a brand I'd never heard of before.

This thing was left in a small building and surprisingly still worked.

That meant it didn't appear when the city did, but rather came with the Can Yu Zhe participants.

This place recorded the state of that girl when she had cosmetics with her, indicating she always had makeup items each time she appeared. I even felt a bit envious of her.

When I found Bai Yang with the compact powder case that had a small mirror, he was sitting by the door reading a book.

It seemed just as he said—he'd actually gotten the book directly from Di She.

As I approached, he closed the book and looked up at me. "Did you find the mirror?"

I nodded and pulled out the small compact powder case, handing it to him.

"So small...?" Bai Yang took the case with a puzzled expression, opened it, and examined it. "Is this cosmetics?"

"Yes, larger mirrors are hard to find since they're mostly broken, but this one will do in a pinch."

Bai Yang picked up the mirror and studied it carefully, then murmured to himself, "Too bad... I can only see my eyes."

"What?" I asked. "Is it because the mirror is too small?"

"No, it's because I'm wearing a mask." Bai Yang replied. "What a shame... It looks like I need to find a way to advance to Di Ji as soon as possible."

After hearing that, I was completely baffled.

"Bai Yang Ge... what exactly are you trying to do?" I voiced my confusion. "Isn't your ultimate goal to forget that you're human? How does that relate to the 'motivation to leave' or to the mirror?"

Bai Yang thought for a moment and said to me, "The reason is complicated. I believe that if I really want to 'forget I'm human,' I have to first become a real, flesh-and-blood person with connections and ties. I'll use these things to build the strongest psychological defenses in my mind, and then destroy them all at once with the most terrifying method. If I don't break down mentally after that, I'll have transcended humanity."

Okay, I admit that plan is so abstract I can't even imagine it.

"What about the mirror, then?" I asked again.

"The mirror..." Bai Yang lowered his head and looked at the small mirror in his hand. "I... have things I need to say to myself, so I need it."

"Things to say to yourself..." I blinked, feeling a bit uneasy. "So you want to advance to Di Ji as soon as possible... because you want to..."

"I want to see my expressions." Bai Yang turned his head, looking at me with that withered sheep mask. "In this state, I can only see my own eyes, which makes the success rate too low. I need to capture every micro-expression of mine."

"But what's the point of capturing micro-expressions?" I asked.

"I need to understand myself." Bai Yang answered. "Do you know about Cui Mian?"

"I've... heard of it." I replied. "But Cui Mian is basically just a form of 'suggestion'... its practical effects aren't as powerful as they are in movies."

"That's true, but it does have a subtle influence on a person. The problem is, I've protected myself." Bai Yang reached up and adjusted his mask. "The most important prerequisite for Cui Mian is to completely believe in the hypnotist, but no one would believe a hypnotist wearing a mask."

I think I finally understood what Bai Yang was planning... He wants to hypnotize himself?

"So I need to advance to Di Ji quickly." Bai Yang continued. "That way, I'll have expressions, and I can use them to give myself strong psychological suggestions by observing my every micro-expression."

I was about to nod in agreement, but suddenly a chill ran down my spine.

Something... didn't feel right.

After becoming Di Ji... and then observing your own micro-expressions?

"Wait... hold on, Bai Yang Ge." My voice grew hoarse. "Once you become Di Ji... you won't have human expressions anymore. Your face will turn into that of a cold sheep."

"Even a sheep's face must have micro-expressions." Bai Yang said. "I'll just look at that sheep face and give myself stronger psychological suggestions."

I found that idea terrifying... No matter what psychological suggestions Bai Yang plans to give himself... if he's facing a sheep's face and constantly observing its expressions...

The biggest suggestion he'd end up with is "I am a sheep."

"Wait..."

I paused again.

Isn't that... exactly what he wants?

That must be Bai Yang's original goal... So, is the psychological suggestion he's planning with the mirror "I am not human"?

I racked my brains trying to predict what Bai Yang was going to do, but I still felt like something was missing.

From then on, every time I came here, Bai Yang was talking to himself using that mirror.

I was even afraid he'd go crazy before getting the psychological suggestions.

According to him, his life was now completely occupied by three things: talking to himself, playing games, and reading books.

He'd already taken the first step to escape being human—giving up sleep.

Now, he stayed up all night reading, feeling like his available time was twice that of others.

And since we're all in a soul state, when you start believing you're not human, you really don't feel fatigue from long periods without sleep—though it's unclear how long that can last.

As for "eating," that's a trickier issue. Bai Yang said that every time he returned to the Lie Che, almost all the Sheng Xiao were eating, and the entire Lie Che was filled with an atmosphere of "hunger." It's hard to avoid being affected completely.

Even though Bai Yang had suggested to himself countless times that "he is not human," he still felt hungry, so he chose to keep eating—consuming the air.

Bai Yang also told me that the seemingly lavish feasts on the Lie Che don't actually satisfy hunger; they're mostly illusions from "echoes."

Some foods are made of sand, and others are just empty illusions. Every day, a large number of "train staff" deliver these to the Sheng Xiao rooms.

In essence, the main purpose of these foods is to make you go through the motions of eating, so you think you're full.

It's like they're raising livestock. It seems Tian Long has been treating all the Sheng Xiao on the Lie Che as real animals from the start, fully aware of the impact of the subconscious on these people.