IBO -Chapter 57 Which Is Real, Which Is Fake?

This novel contains sensitive and taboo content like R*pe, Mu**er etc. Read only if you are comfortable.

At this time of year, the nights weren’t particularly cold, yet Song Yiran felt as though icy wind had blown straight through his entire body, a chill seeping even into the cracks of his bones.

At this moment, one human and one system sat in the kitchen. In front of Song Yiran was a serving of deep-fried little meatballs.

He had originally wanted to go over their memories with Xiao Zhong’er, but Xiao Zhong’er worried that his stomach would be uncomfortable after he had just thrown up, so he dragged him into the kitchen instead.

Then he took out a portion of deep-fried little meatballs from the fridge and set it in front of him.

“You just threw up—your stomach definitely won’t feel good. Eat a little first to pad it. Your health is the most important thing.”

Xiao Zhong’er generously gave up the deep-fried little meatballs he had planned to have as a midnight snack.

Song Yiran felt that now really wasn’t a suitable time to eat. He was just about to refuse when he met Xiao Zhong’er’s worried gaze, and the words he was about to say were swallowed back down.

Forget it—Xiao Zhong’er was worried about him too. He’d force himself to eat a little first.

Distracted, he stuffed a few meatballs into his mouth. Only after Xiao Zhong’er’s expression turned satisfied did he put down his chopsticks and begin comparing memories with him.

“First of all, in my memory, on the way to the interstellar world, you and I encountered a spacetime turbulence. All the resources we had prepared for this mission were lost, and then we ended up with a completely disastrous start.”

“That’s right. That’s how it is in my memory too,” Xiao Zhong’er nodded.

“At the beginning, we couldn’t even understand the interstellar language and became illiterate. So we could only survive by picking up trash.”

“Right, that’s how I remember it as well,” Xiao Zhong’er continued nodding.

“Then we picked up a few cubs. Later, while picking up trash one time, I was targeted by a man who intended to assault me. He dragged me into an alley and tried to violate me.

“I was beaten until I was sprawled on the ground, unable to fight back, and almost beaten to death in that alley. Fortunately, I was later saved by Guang.”

Xiao Zhong’er frowned. This didn’t match his memories at all. Something was starting to go wrong.

“Wait a second! That’s not how I remember it. In my memory, no one came to save you back then. That day, you really were just one step away from dying in that alley.”

“Luckily, the next morning, a sanitation worker discovered you and called the police. You were sent to the hospital.”

“Since we didn’t have any money, the hospital covered the bill for us first. After you were discharged, we still owed a huge medical debt. It took us a very long time to finally pay it off.”

Song Yiran looked utterly shocked. In Xiao Zhong’er’s memories, was he really that miserable? He hurriedly asked, “Huh? Ah! Then what happened later? In your memory, what did I encounter after that?”

“After we were discharged, we continued picking up trash, raising the cubs while we did so. Sometimes we’d even pick up new cubs.”

“We picked up trash for more than half a year. Through constant exposure, you finally learned to speak some simple interstellar language.”

“Then, on a discarded optical brain we’d picked up, you searched for interstellar language tutorials using voice-to-text.”

“After that, you relied on those tutorials to slowly learn the language, and in the end you were finally able to communicate normally with interstellar people.”

“After that, you no longer needed to pick up trash and planned to find a proper job. But because we had no experience, we got scammed.”

“Your first job was as a bar attendant. The recruitment conditions sounded extremely good—high pay, lots of holidays, and even food and lodging included.”

“But after we went, we realized it was a bait-and-switch. They had tricked you into going there to sell your body, so we ran away overnight.”

“Later, you found several other jobs one after another. But raising cubs costs a lot of money, and on top of that we still had to repay the medical bills every month. At the hardest point, you had to work two jobs a day just to make ends meet.”

“Later, life gradually got on track, and the cubs slowly grew up as well. After the mission was completed, you originally planned to give up the chance to revive and stay in the interstellar world, but just a few days later the timeline collapsed.”

“You could have returned to your original world to revive, but you still chose to do the mission all over again.”

“When we parted in the end, you said I was your friend. So I asked you to give me a nickname used between friends, and you gave me ‘The Loyal Guardian of the Great God of History’ as my nickname.”

“And then later you even thought that name was chuunibyou! Obviously you were the one who came up with it!”

By the end, Xiao Zhong’er looked indignant. What was chuunibyou about that name? It was obviously super cool!

Feeling guilty, Song Yiran changed the subject and picked out the points where Xiao Zhong’er’s memories didn’t match his own.

“Friend? But in my memory, what I said to you was family! I always treated you as family!”

“Oh! My goodness! By the God of History above! So that’s how you saw me? This is so touching for a system!” Xiao Zhong’er was so moved by Song Yiran’s words that his eyes filled with tears.

Song Yiran slowly recounted his own memories. “And in my memory, that day in the alley, I was saved by Guang.”

“She was also very kind—she gave me a translator, a new optical brain, a new set of clothes, and some nutrient solution.”

“Relying on the translator she gave me, I was able to communicate normally with interstellar people.”

“Later, when I went looking for work, I did encounter the bar attendant position you mentioned.”

“But at the time, you pointed out the unreasonable parts of the recruitment conditions and told me that the job was just a scam to trick people into selling their bodies. So in the end, I didn’t go.”

“Later, the job I found was mining at a mine site, and I also met a very kind miner named Saika. She even helped us before.”

“After that, you asked me whether I had any other skills. You said that in the interstellar era, handicrafts were very profitable, so I showed you my grass-weaving skills.”

“And so later, relying on your marketing and my grass-weaving, we made a lot of money.”

“Later, as the cubs gradually grew up, the mission was completed. I planned to stay in the interstellar world, but then the timeline collapsed.”

“You said I could return to my original world and be revived, but I chose to redo the task from the beginning. At our final parting, I said you were my family, and you asked me to give you a nickname used between family members. I gave you the nickname ‘The Great God of History’s Loyal Guardian.’ These are my memories.”

Xiao Zhong’er frowned, propping his chin with his short little hand as he thought deeply. “Why are our memories different? Where exactly did things go wrong?”

“Is there a possibility that neither of our memories is wrong? Could it be that we actually completed the same task three times in total? And because of some kind of accident, we each lost the memory of one of those runs.”

Song Yiran put forward his conjecture.

Xiao Zhong’er shook his head and retorted, “That shouldn’t be the case. Humans might lose some memories due to accidents, but we systems won’t. All our memories are stored in our internal memory. If something went wrong with that memory, we wouldn’t just lose memories—the entire system would malfunction.”

Song Yiran raised an eyebrow. Xiao Zhong’er was still too naïve. “What if it wasn’t an accident, but something done deliberately?”

“That still doesn’t make sense. Even if you were schemed against and had your memories erased, we systems wouldn’t. Our system memory—other than ourselves—no other system can touch it.”

Xiao Zhong’er still refused to believe it.

Song Yiran pressed on, “Really? There’s absolutely no other system that can touch it?”

“Of course not! Memory is super important!” Xiao Zhong’er nodded proudly. Memory isn’t something just anyone can mess with!

Song Yiran smiled. Things were getting interesting. He asked, “Then what if a system’s memory really did go wrong and it became a malfunctioning system? Would that system just stay broken forever, with no system able to treat it?”

“Of course not! Although it’s rare, if that really happens, the department minister would step in to fix it. For example, if I malfunctioned, our department minister—also our boss—111 would save—”

At this point, Xiao Zhong’er seemed to suddenly realize something, and his voice gradually weakened.

Song Yiran raised an eyebrow. So this 111 was the problem after all. “So besides yourself, 111 can also access your memory.”

“But that makes no sense at all! Why would the boss do that? I’m just a nobody little system—there’s no reason for the boss to target me! Could it be that the boss thinks my work efficiency is too low and dislikes me?”

Thinking he had been hated by 111, Xiao Zhong’er’s whole system sank into dejection.

Song Yiran helplessly pressed his forehead and sighed. Xiao Zhong’er was still missing the point, as always. “Isn’t that not the key issue here? I think there might be some huge conspiracy waiting for us behind the scenes! My memory might also have been erased by her. Since she’s the boss managing the entire department, she definitely wouldn’t waste time on trivial matters. Anything that requires her to personally intervene can’t be simple. Xiao Zhong’er, we’re in big trouble.”

“Ah! Ah!! Big trouble! Oh my god, what do we do then? The boss is super powerful—if we get caught by her, we’ll definitely be in deep trouble!”

Xiao Zhong’er instantly became completely flustered. It was over, all over. Grabbing Song Yiran’s hand, he spoke in an extremely grave tone, “Song Yiran! Let’s run!”

Seeing Xiao Zhong’er acting so cowardly, Song Yiran couldn’t bear to look. He shot back, “Where can we even run to? If we run now and get caught later, it’ll definitely be even worse!”

“What do we do, Song Yiran! What should we do?”

Xiao Zhong’er was frantic. He just wanted to accompany Song Yiran on a task—why was it this hard? QAQ

Song Yiran sighed and patted Xiao Zhong’er on the head. “Let’s reconstruct everything first. Based on both our memories, I suspect we completed the child-raising task three times in total.

This time is the third, but for the first two, we don’t yet know which came first and which came second.

My current guess is that the one in your memory was the first, and the one in my memory was the second.

In our memories, we’ve each only done two tasks. Right now, we highly suspect that your department’s boss, 111, erased the memory of one of our task runs.

Personally, I suspect that 111 has prepared a grand play for us, and we’re the protagonists of that play. But I don’t understand what she wants us to do, or why she prepared this whole setup.”

Xiao Zhong’er noticed something that didn’t add up. “But if the one in my memory was the first, then when we did the second task, I should’ve known everything.

I definitely would’ve told you to avoid that alley that day. But I didn’t, which means I had no memory then. That’s not logical.

But if the one in your memory was the first, then the one in my memory would be the second. In the second run, I should also have had my memories and should’ve told you to avoid that alley.

But that time I didn’t have any memory either. That makes no sense at all.”

Song Yiran raised an eyebrow. This was actually very easy to explain.

“If, during your second execution of the task, 111 sealed your memories from the first run,

then when it came to the third time—this time—111 unsealed your first-run memories, but at the same time sealed your second-run memories, then everything makes sense.”

“I still think the boss isn’t that kind of system. Could it be that you’re mistaken?”

No matter how Xiao Zhong’er thought about it, he couldn’t understand why 111 would do such a thing. 111 had no reason to do all this.

Listening to Xiao Zhong’er’s naïve words, Song Yiran sighed quietly in his heart. He looked at Xiao Zhong’er with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Alright then, dear Xiao Zhong’er, please tell me—besides her and yourself, who else could possibly touch your memory? If it wasn’t her, then the only one left is you. You’re not going to tell me you actually have a split system personality, and that all of this was done by your second system persona, are you? Or are you saying you’ve been lying low by my side all along, and have finally revealed your true face now?”