98: Chapter 98 Playing with fire, but wanting to cook it

Shen Xiao did not rush to move.

His back pressed against that cold, broken stele; the rough stone surface made his spine ache.

His fingertips unconsciously twisted the torn corner of his sleeve, the fibers of the coarse cloth rubbing against his finger pads, bringing a faint, real sensation.

"A warning is more valuable than the content itself."

He had seen this phrase on some doomsday survival forum, never expecting to use it today.

The intermittent wailing of the Light Cocoon was not wisdom, but a conditioned reflex, like a mouse that had been electrocuted and would tremble at the sound of a bell.

The root of its fear was exposed; "pollution" or "pollution failure" was the biggest pit in its plan, or... the pit it had fallen into itself.

The path of memory fragments was temporarily blocked.

Passive reception was like dumping trash into his brain, trash that even carried emotional toxins.

Active analysis?

In his current half-dead state, that was no different from seeking death.

He had to change.

He could not follow the rhythm of the chessboard; he had to be the one throwing the dice, and he had to ensure that when the dice were thrown, they would land in a way that made a difference.

Xia Lengbai was still standing.

Her arms were crossed, a posture that was both defensive and scrutinizing.

Her ice-blue pupils were like two polished pieces of cold jade, with light flowing within—the light of calculation.

Even without turning back, Shen Xiao could feel the weight of that gaze, weighing back and forth between him and the Light Cocoon that had shrunk into a quail.

She was waiting.

Waiting for him to play his hand, waiting for him to prove that he was not just a reckless fool who caused trouble, but someone who could pull a thread from this tangled mess.

If a gambler does not place a bet, the dealer will not keep wasting time waiting.

Shen Xiao took a breath; the cold, murky air pricked his lungs, bringing a bout of irritation.

He braced himself against the stele and slowly stood up.

His knees felt a little weak—not from fear, but because his body was protesting the excessive extraction of Mental Energy just now.

He walked toward the Light Cocoon; his steps were not fast, even a bit dragging, but every step was firm.

The weakness in his eyes was suppressed, replaced by a scalpel-like calmness and focus.

He stopped three steps away from the Light Cocoon.

At this distance, he could advance to attack, and retreat—barely enough to retreat to the edge of the stele.

"You said, 'The cost is greater than you imagine.'"

Shen Xiao spoke, his voice still a bit hoarse, but steady, "Be specific. Is it a backlash of power, a regression in cultivation? Or is it consciousness pollution, memory confusion, personality fragmentation? Or worse... permanent cognitive distortion, becoming a... thing that only knows how to repeat a certain command or is driven by some primitive emotion?"

He asked bluntly, even somewhat cruelly.

He wanted to tear away that layer of weak disguise and force it to face the most unbearable possibilities.

The Light Cocoon fell silent.

It was not that kind of profound silence; it was hesitation, a struggle over whether to reveal its very last secrets.

The dark golden halo rose and fell slightly, like breathing.

After about a dozen breaths, just when Shen Xiao thought it was going to continue playing dead, a sliver of consciousness, as weak as a candle in the wind, trembled out.

"Both... exist."

The consciousness was fragmented, but the meaning was clear: "Test subjects... in the end... some... became... empty shells... only knowing how to... execute... the stripping... command... some... became... emotional... storm eyes... if you get close... you will be... torn to pieces..."

Empty shells, or emotional bombs.

Shen Xiao nodded, his face expressionless, but he was calculating rapidly in his mind.

The risk was indeed high, but it confirmed his conjecture: the stripping process was not un-interferable, and it had the potential for "collapse" itself.

The pollution source was the key catalyst and also the biggest uncontrollable variable.

He turned to face Xia Lengbai. His movement stirred up a slight breeze, raising a bit of dust from the ground.

"Passive reception means the information is toxic. Active analysis means the conditions are insufficient. Direct 'pollution' means the risk is unknown."

Shen Xiao's speaking pace was not fast, like stating an experimental procedure, "But there is one variable that has been ignored by us, or rather, deliberately covered up by the 'Heavenly Dao' and the 'Settings'."

He looked into Xia Lengbai's ice-blue eyes and said, word for word: "Your emotions are not monolithic. Even the strongest 'Settings' cannot completely erase a Consciousness Entity's most instinctive resistance and... Impurities."

Xia Lengbai's brow twitched imperceptibly.

She did not speak, but the light in her eyes sharpened a little.

"So..."

Shen Xiao threw out that almost insane proposal, his tone as calm as if he were discussing what to eat for dinner, "Instead of passively being 'polluted' or nervously trying to purify it, why don't... we try it proactively."

"Use a part of your emotional residue—it doesn't have to be 'deep affection'; it can be anything insignificant, or even something you clearly want to get rid of. For example..."

He paused, accurately capturing the fleeting flash of irritation in Xia Lengbai's eyes regarding their current situation, as well as her faint impatience with him, the "source of trouble," "For example, that bit of 'annoyance' or 'guard' you feel toward me right now."

"Use it as a 'pollution source' and inject it into the information flow in reverse. Don't pour it into the Light Cocoon; instead, use the channel we constructed to impact and 'test' this stripping mechanism."

Shen Xiao's gaze did not waver at all, "Let's see if this 'Impurities' triggers a collapse first, or if we can find a loophole in the 'Rules' from the edge of that collapse."

"Do you dare to use a little bit of that 'petty emotion' you want to throw away, and bet that the three of us, or at least the two of us, can pry open a crack in this dead end?"

He asked "Do you dare," but there was no provocation in his tone, only a calm recommendation after stating the pros and cons.

It was as if he were saying: This path has pits, but it might be the only path we can take; will you walk it or not?

The stone chamber fell into dead silence again.

Even the weak rise and fall of the Light Cocoon's halo seemed to have stalled.

Only the water droplets dripping in an unknown corner in the distance, tapping on the stone surface with a "tap... tap..." sound, were clear enough to make one panic.

Xia Lengbai looked at him.

Her gaze moved from the blood-stained hem of Shen Xiao's clothes to his pale but unusually calm face, and finally fell into his bottomless eyes, which seemed to hide another set of schemes.

She did not respond immediately.