As the last memory fragment dissolved into points of light and vanished into the air, the adventure book in Ethan's hand burst into flames.

Flames without heat wouldn't scorch one's skin, only consuming the entire book that held Scarlet's memories bit by bit into ashes, which fell to the ground forming a blanket of red lotuses; the lingering energy revitalized the Divine Tree, with the parts that had been mechanized fading away at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Argos ceased his invasion of this world, instead settling into calm, patiently awaiting Ethan's response.

Strictly speaking, this was their first meeting, yet it felt as if they had known each other for a long time.

Trust.

The word surged in Argos's mind; for an Old God who stood above all things, it was a laughable word. But when Ethan solemnly told him that Scarlet was already dead, he truly believed it.

Ethan was different from those ancients; he alone would never deceive himself.

This thought inscribed itself on Argos's consciousness like a steel seal, and he felt fortunate to encounter Ethan here, even making these millennia of imprisonment seem meaningful.

He believed Ethan could uncover the truth, just like... before.

Huh?

Why would he have such thoughts?

Argos looked down in confusion at Ethan standing amid the ruins of the treehouse, bewildered by the sudden emergence of many such thoughts.

For Ethan, the nearly explicit clues within the Crimson Adventure Book helped him clarify these complex relationships.

The Goddess referred to the future Lindong, and what Merlin said to Scarlet at the guild's headquarters revealed her true identity—the "boss's" daughter. Although the boss's name has yet to be discovered, various clues so far indicate that he possesses tremendous power, able to make someone disappear without a trace.

This also explained why Lindong became the Goddess.

These chaotic planes were all formed by her disordered consciousness after becoming a vegetative state, explaining why the investigator could be in a city with Victorian Era style one moment and in an instant, appear on a Death Star with only an ocean and no life, or a terrifying planet filled with nameless biological entities.

Ethan easily understood these concepts, as if...

At some moment unknown to him, he had already discussed them many times with others.

After going through Scarlet's adventure logs, many pieces of intelligence not even held by the guild emerged in his mind—like the origin of the "anomalous planes."

They had once met with Lindong's attending physician, for the project team firmly believed that the world's level of stability and danger was entirely correlated with Lindong's mental state.

"Being in a vegetative state doesn't mean completely losing consciousness; her brain is still active, active in a place unknown to us."

Ethan's ears echoed with the attending physician's diagnosis. The middle-aged man with the handlebar mustache was optimistic about the treatment, seemingly very interested in the research conducted by the project team. In his words, the human brain is the most sophisticated instrument in the world, and humans have only explored and understood less than one ten-thousandth of it.

And now, a group of people is trying to open this Pandora's box.

"Anomalous planes" represented Lindong's mental state, and as "Death Stars" and "unsafe" areas continued to grow, it proved her mental state was deteriorating.

The attending doctor thought it might be due to her subconscious warning mechanism detecting the presence of these outsiders; she didn't like having a group of strangers enter her inner world.

"It's time to make a decision, Old Sen."

Ethan heard this prompting in his ear.

These were no longer Scarlet's memory fragments but his own.

The location was still the research institute he once saw deep by the lakeside in the county of Mistwoods, only the personnel structure had become much more reasonable, and the leisurely working atmosphere had vanished, replaced by lab coats surrounding him. Their faces were indistinct, yet Ethan could feel all their gazes focused on him.

Everyone was waiting for him to respond, because he had met Lindong's attending physician, learned about Lindong's mental state from him, and because he was the one to ultimately decide.

Lindong's subconscious warning mechanism was making the project's progress increasingly difficult; too many accidents occurred over the past few weeks—a scenario engineer was attacked by an Ice Age mammoth while constructing a city framework. No one could clearly explain why such an ancient extinct creature appeared in the city, trying to pierce the project's body with its tusks.

If he hadn't swiftly severed the link, disaster might have ensued.

The two colleagues from the historical documentation project team were not as fortunate. After completing their work, they were struck over ten meters by a speeding train the moment they stepped out of the library. This time they no longer "resurrected," falling into a coma similar to Lindong's after death.

Lindong's subconscious was fighting back against them.

And the attending physician dared to assert such attacks would occur more frequently and become harder to avoid as time goes on.

Lindong is a smart girl, rapidly learning to control her subconscious; if no measures are taken soon, everyone on the project team will be in danger, unless...