Monster Dismantling Company

Chapter 67 Morning Dew and Cola

On the secluded grassland, in the makeshift medical camp, Luo Yinchang stood there blankly. His memory seemed to have been interrupted, the few remaining fragments evaporating like dew. He seemed to have forgotten something, a feeling that made him extremely uncomfortable, like the frustration of being unable to sneeze halfway through.

He was holding a bottle of cola in his hand, and I don't know when it started.

"Hey!" Li Lin patted him on the shoulder from behind. "You haven't forgotten our bet, have you?"

"A bet? What kind of bet?" Li Lin's words left him completely bewildered.

He knew Li Lin, but didn't remember any bet between them.

However, Li Lin was not surprised at all by his forgetfulness—it's good that he forgot; it would be a problem if he hadn't.

He took out his Coke and clinked glasses with Luo Yinchang: "Come on, bottoms up."

Drinking cola was no big deal. Facing the campsite with its long queue, and recalling his harrowing experience of surviving the fall into the Yangtze River, Luo Yinchang tilted his head back and downed the cola.

After drinking the cola... everything became clear.

The lotus leaves were moistened again, and dew covered the leaves once more.

"Li Lin! I remember now! You asked me to get you a dagger!"

His first thought was that he wanted to repay Li Lin.

After drinking the cola, he remembered everything. He remembered that he had made an agreement with Li Lin to help him exchange the "old man's" ceramic steel dagger as a return gift to Li Lin.

He also remembered that he had been able to get out of there with Li Lin's help. In particular, Li Lin seemed to have solved a huge problem for him by inducing vomiting—but he couldn't remember exactly what it was, only that he knew the purpose of inducing vomiting was to forget about it.

"Very good, it seems to be going smoothly." He then checked Luo Yinchang's hands—as he expected, as long as he forgot all the memories of eating the mirage flesh, the mirage's influence on him would disappear, and the symptoms of scaling would stop. However, the scaled parts wouldn't fade away so quickly, as they were already scars.

The spiritual should be left to the spiritual, and the physical to the physical.

"Your hand came into contact with a corrosive liquid down there. Just apply some ointment when you get back." Li Lin steered the conversation away from the mirage flesh, trying not to trigger his memories.

He nodded: "I understand, I understand everything. But, should I continue to induce vomiting afterward? After all, it seems I know too much."

"Hey~ that's the difference," Li Lin replied. "What I gave you is soda. It's pure industrial food; you'll just burp it off in a bit, no need to come here to induce vomiting."

This can be considered an attempt.

This Dragon Palace offers more than just a temporary refuge; it can also serve as a central hub. Without permission, no one can remember what happens within its walls. These things can only happen with Li Lin's permission—because the mirage flesh has a long-term effect and causes painful scaling. Cola, on the other hand, is short-lived, disappearing after a burp.

This is like the story of Peach Blossom Spring. A fisherman from Wuling was invited into Peach Blossom Spring and ate much of its food. After leaving, he broke his promise to the people of Peach Blossom Spring and told the governor everything about it. However, when the governor's men tried to find Peach Blossom Spring again, they could no longer locate it.

By maintaining a utopia-like state, Li Lin can develop some short-term, one-off cooperative relationships.

He is essentially a lazy person and doesn't want to spend too much time maintaining interpersonal relationships, especially those that require confidentiality.

If Luo Yinchang continues to hold these memories, it will put considerable pressure on him. Even if he believes Luo Yinchang is a good person, such cooperation is impossible. Because the better a person is, the more Luo Yinchang will consider issues from the perspective of humanity as a whole, while Li Lin is fundamentally not human, and the differences between the two are irreconcilable.

If the cooperation could be transformed from long-term to short-term, or even a one-off event, then the things he and Luo Yinchang needed to consider would be much simpler—if they owed someone a favor, they could just hand over a dagger, and the matter would be settled.

This also raises some deeper questions: what if Luo Yinchang is arrested?

Under normal circumstances, if Luo Yinchang is arrested, and the coalition government uses methods to extract memories or even torture him to extract a confession, he will eventually reveal Li Lin's affair.

But if he doesn't remember it, he can't possibly confess to something he doesn't even know.

This provides Li Lin with an impenetrable barrier in terms of information.

This is also a way of utilizing mirage energy. It's more advanced and subtle than Taba.

"How long will it take me to forget?" Luo Yinchang asked.

"It won't exceed 8 hours at most—provided you don't do anything reckless and don't leave any written records for yourself within those 8 hours. Otherwise, some uncontrollable problems may still arise."

The transformation into scales was inevitable. This transformation wasn't due to the dragon's malice, but rather the result of the human body's inability to withstand the dragon's power. Even Li Lin couldn't prevent this change from happening.

"No, no, don't worry, I won't do that."

Luo Yinchang assured Li Lin. He was a good man, in every sense of the word. He gave Li Lin a dagger only because he felt guilty—and incidentally, he also wanted to get revenge on the "old man" who went drinking as soon as he got on the bus. If the old man had gotten off with him, he wouldn't be the one suffering.

Although the dagger was valuable, it was nothing special to the base commander; he could simply submit a report later.

Although Luo Yinchang wanted to repay Li Lin in some more way, Li Lin himself didn't need much, and he regretfully forgot all of it—he couldn't possibly remember it anyway. Once the effects of the cola wore off, he would forget it all.

"Well then, let's not delay." Luo Yinchang looked around. "I'll go get the dagger for you right now. The old man's bag is on the seat next to me."

"Okay." Li Lin nodded. "See you in a bit."

The collaboration between the two was swift and efficient, which put Li Lin under little pressure. He could continue to hide here until the medical examination was over and he could go back.

"Ah..." He looked around, "I'm not quite used to going on such a long trip all of a sudden."

He took out the magical conch shell, retreated into his dragon palace, and returned to his psychological safety zone.

He turned on his computer and started sending emails to Lin Zhiqing.