Bai Bai and [Bai Bai]

Mengmeng gently tugged at 87: "Great-grandmother, what did you remember?"

87 looked at the orange cat in the middle of the room. Prompted by Mengmeng's question, she slowly sank into the memories she had just recovered.

Eighty-eight years ago, there was a Mystic in Sixiang City named Baibai.

She had an inseparable companion since childhood, an orange cat also named [Baibai]. Due to her accent, she was more accustomed to calling the orange cat "88."

Baibai had great talent and luck, and was a powerful expert at [Mystery] Level 6.

She was not satisfied with [Mystery] Level 6 and continued to pursue higher levels of power.

At that time, the [Fat Orange Hotel] was not a hotel, but an abandoned building.

Because it was uninhabited, many cats gathered there, and it gradually became a cat building.

The orange cat [Baibai] also liked this building and often came here to play with the other cats.

Baibai often went to the cat building to find [Baibai], and the person and the cat would practice their [Mystery] abilities right there.

One day, the building caught fire, and the entire structure went up in flames.

[Baibai] pushed Baibai out of the building, but failed to escape itself, burning to ashes.

Later, [Baibai] became the Yarn Ball in the [Fat Orange Hotel], while Baibai became the current receptionist girl.

Chen Miemie understood the first part very clearly.

But starting from the building fire, the plot seemed to fast-forward ten times, instantly leaving people confused.

Without needing to be asked, 87 spoke up herself.

"Actually, I caused that fire. Back then, I was exceptionally talented and everything went too smoothly for me, so I lacked reverence for [Mystery].

That day, I was greedy for progress and rashly started the advancement to [Mystery] Level 7 without sufficient accumulation.

Obviously, I failed. I was severely injured and immediately lost my mobility, and the advancement ritual sparked the massive fire.

[Baibai] barely managed to push me out of the sea of fire, but ended up buried within it."

Chen Miemie was still confused: "That's not right. If the advancement failed, you just got severely injured and survived?"

87 nodded slightly:

"That's true. For high-level advancements, once you fail, you cannot survive. I should have died too.

However, [Baibai] unexpectedly became a Level 7 Danger Anomaly. [Baibai] and I had a special relationship, and its reaching Level 7 also affected me, so I didn't die on the spot.

But this was only temporary. It is a rule of the world that those who fail advancement must die, and no one can defy it. My death was only a matter of time.

At this time, [Baibai], which is this [Fat Orange Hotel], was discovered by Sixiang City. According to the usual protocol, anomalies spawned in the city definitely had to be killed.

Waiting for death, I didn't want [Baibai] to be killed by others, so I lied to the city administration.

I said that my [Mystery] could perform consciousness invasion, even if the target was an anomaly, but this ability could only be used once.

After some maneuvering, I successfully convinced the city administration, making them believe that I had a chance to replace the original anomaly consciousness of the [Fat Orange Hotel], giving humanity a controllable Level 7 trump card."

Now, the listeners present all understood the situation.

Chen Miemie's focus was rather strange:

"You mean 'consciousness invasion' doesn't exist, and it's an ability you made up? But you did enter the consciousness of the [Fat Orange Hotel] and fought with Yarn Ball all day long. That doesn't seem made up."

87's eyes did not leave the orange cat:

"Of course it had to look real, otherwise how could those smart people in the city administration be so easily fooled.

Just like Mengmeng and [Mengmeng], my relationship with [Baibai] was the same. A lot of times we were connected. Even if [Baibai] became the [Fat Orange Hotel], as long as it was still it, I could enter its consciousness."

Chen Miemie nodded. Asking any further would involve the core of her [Mystery], but the explanation up to this point was enough for him to understand.

Chen Miemie had no more questions, but Mengmeng did.

"Great-grandmother, our [Mystery] isn't some massive secret. It's also just entering consciousness, so you could have just said that directly. Why lie and call it 'consciousness invasion'?"

87 took a long, deep breath:

"It's different.

At that time, I knew I wouldn't live long. If I said my consciousness was transferred, then when I died, the others would kill the [Fat Orange Hotel], which means killing [Baibai].

But if it was 'consciousness invasion', as long as I could hold on a little longer, since [Baibai] was never tyrannical by nature, even if I died later, it could be said that what remained was the product of a consciousness fusion. As long as there was a human component inside, it wouldn't be completely treated as an alien monster."

"You were clearly the one who lied to the city administration, yet just now you said Yarn Ball was the liar?" Chen Miemie naturally interjected with a question.

"That's right, it is a liar.

After my consciousness entered the [Fat Orange Hotel], it trapped me and wouldn't let me leave until my physical body outside completely died.

Just as I wanted to protect it, it also wanted to protect me and keep me from dying, even if it meant living in the form of consciousness inside the [Fat Orange Hotel].

It wasn't that I was unwilling to do this; being alive in consciousness still counts as being alive, and a bad life is better than a good death.

However, the rules of the world did not let us exploit this loophole.

Death means the dual termination of both body and consciousness, and the death of my consciousness eventually caught up with me.

As a result, this guy once again performed a dangerous operation behind my back.

It linked our consciousnesses together to jointly face a single portion of death.

The result was what you saw before: I lost my memory and became a walking corpse, while it lost its power and remained weak all day.

In the beginning, it was so weak that it fell straight into a deep slumber.

During that time, having lost my memory, I came across the materials I had previously used to deceive the city administration, and so I always believed that I was truly there to invade its consciousness and seize control."

Chen Miemie turned to look at the orange cat: "Yarn Ball, it's your turn. You are clear about everything 87 just said, right?"

"Yes, meow." Yarn Ball replied weakly.

"Since you knew, why didn't you tell her the truth earlier? You just sat back and watched her endlessly fight with you in a love-hate relationship?"

"I couldn't say it, meow~

The portion of death we shared equally still followed us like a shadow. The price we paid was not enough to match a complete death.

Therefore, even after delaying until the end, someone still had to die."

Yarn Ball deliberately spoke vaguely, but the current situation was already very clear.

One of them absolutely had to die, but there was room to maneuver regarding which of the two it would be, so Yarn Ball chose to die itself.

If it cleared up the misunderstanding, then Baibai and [Baibai] would once again choose to let the other survive.

Rather than that, it was better to let 87 continue on with a new identity.

Chen Miemie had one last question: "The number in 87's name is always changing. What's the story behind that?"

87: "That is the number of hotel rules I forced Yarn Ball to establish. Upon reaching 88 rules, it would exhaust its power."

Yarn Ball's answer was slightly different: "It is a countdown. When it reaches 88, death will arrive."

87: "From now on, I will resume the name Baibai. Also, Yarn Ball, do you want to resume the name [Baibai]?"

The orange cat narrowed its eyes: "No, Yarn Ball is quite nice. You've called me by this new name for 88 years, and I've already gotten used to it."

Chen Miemie led Mengmeng and Mian Ruyan out of the room, leaving Baibai and Yarn Ball alone to have some time to themselves.

The three of them found a new room.

Mengmeng was feeling a bit down. "If I had to be separated from [Mengmeng], I'd rather die with it."

Mengmeng's words struck Chen Miemie like a bolt of lightning, making his heart skip a beat.

Mengmeng was the younger version of Baibai; they were cut from the same cloth.

So this wasn't a choice of one or the other. It was a question of whether both lived or both died!

"You two, stay in this room and don't wander off. I'll come find you later."

Seeing that Chen Miemie was about to leave again, Mian Ruyan quickly tried to grab him. "It's dangerous outside! Why are you in such a rush? Where are you going?"

Chen Miemie dodged her grasp with a quick sidestep. "If I don't hurry, I'm going to lose a grand hotel."

With that, he dashed out the door and vanished in an instant.

Room 404.

Baibai and Yarn Ball were having their final catch-up.

The door was pushed open.

Chen Miemie walked in.

"You two, if Yarn Ball can manage to hold on through today, then once this [Tomorrowless Day] passes, I promise you will both survive."

Baibai and Yarn Ball both smiled.

"Over the past few decades, whether by our own efforts or by relying on Sixiang City behind us, we have tried countless methods. The conclusion is always the same: death is inevitable, for such are the rules of the world."

Chen Miemie's expression was calm.

"Through various means and coincidences, through mutual sacrifice and reliance, you have delayed death for 88 years.

The universe comprises fifty elements, with its rules governing forty-nine. The one that escapes the rules is what we call a miracle.

By a stroke of fate, you have successfully held on until the day you met me, and this is the moment the miracle descends."

Following Chen Miemie's voice.

Inside the room, Qinghua, Loop, Bobo, Origami, Pure Water, Red, and Daidai materialized one by one.

Sixiang City.

A theoretical studies teacher at a school was taking advantage of the [Tomorrowless Day] to prepare his lessons at home.

"For the next class, I'll teach the children about the moons. There are three moons above: the Rainbow Moon represents flesh and chaos, while the Frost Moon represents cold and probability."

"Well, those two are easy enough to give examples for, but the Eternal Moon is a bit hard to understand." He fretted slightly.

"The Eternal Moon represents mystery and miracles. How am I supposed to explain that? I don't even understand it myself."