After Beating the Game, I Became the Villain BOSS

Chapter 551: Chapter 356: Breaking Through the Illusion

In the early spring afternoon, a gentle breeze whispered by the lake, dispersing the thin mist on the water, as ripples spread across the surface dispersing the sunlight into countless dazzling colors.

Su Mo sat alone by the lake, gazing at the shimmering beauty before him.

The lake water gently lapped against the stones on the shore, bringing a melodious sound. The surface reflected the leisurely clouds and surrounding trees, as the scent of flowers mingled with the cool breeze, seemingly cleansing the soul and bringing a sense of tranquility.

Lately, with his condition gradually improving, Su Mo’s life had returned to its normal course, with the "eraser" in his mind wiping away all the illusory memories.

He lived a normal life accompanied by his parents and friends, and everything that had occurred in his hallucinations turned into forgotten dreams.

No more medication, no more hospital stays, no more making his parents sad; all worries and troubles disappeared, leaving only a peace as still as water.

The sun gradually set; it was dusk, time to go back and have dinner with his parents.

Before Su Mo stood up, a clear voice suddenly came from behind, "Stay a little longer."

Su Mo turned back and saw a silver-haired girl with clear, bright amber eyes. Her naturally upturned smiling lips gave her face a gentle and serene look, so beautiful it seemed somewhat unreal.

Su Mo blinked, "Who are you?"

"Shh..." Qi Ling sat beside Su Mo, gently leaned her little head on his shoulder without speaking, just gazing at the lake at sunset alongside him.

The twilight fell on the shimmering lake water, casting a layer of orange-red light. The sound of waves crashing against the shore seemed to sing the song of the sunset.

Qi Ling’s gaze was calm and ethereal, as if immersed in the beautiful scenery. The gentle breeze lightly touched her hair, some strands brushing Su Mo’s face, bringing a ticklish sensation.

Who is she...

Why is she leaning on my shoulder right away...

The sudden appearance of the girl left Su Mo bewildered, he was sure he didn’t know her.

Yet suddenly, Su Mo felt the girl vaguely gave him a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen her somewhere.

Why is there such a completely contradictory feeling...

Without warning, an indescribable pain surged from deep within his skull, as if hundreds of needles were stabbing in his brain. Su Mo gripped his hair tightly with both hands, letting out a low groan of pain, beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t alleviate the unbearable pain. The intense headache plunged his mind into chaos.

In the depths of his consciousness, some blurry images began to emerge; he saw unfamiliar faces, and unknown places.

He tried to capture those images, but the more he tried, the more severe the pain became. All the images vanished in an instant, fragmented and chaotic, leaving no impression.

Qi Ling remained unpanicked by Su Mo’s change, she just held his arm tightly, still calmly gazing at the lake, her voice low and gentle, "Mo Mo, this place doesn’t belong to you, you should wake up."

The pain within his skull gradually spread throughout his body, Su Mo’s breathing became rapid and irregular, each breath quivering, while those fragmented memories continued to surge chaotically in his mind, quietly erased by some force.

The boundary between reality and illusion blurred, he seemed to fall into a bottomless abyss, unable to escape or break free.

As Su Mo struggled painfully, a startled voice suddenly sounded behind him, "Who are you?!"

Perhaps because they hadn’t waited for their son to come home, Su Xun and Li Huishu came to the lakeside looking for him. Seeing Su Mo holding his head and trembling, they hurriedly rushed over.

"What are you doing! Let go of my son! Can’t you see he’s in pain? Let him go!"

Su Xun and Li Huishu, one trying to pull Qi Ling away by her hair, the other kicking and hitting her forcefully.

"Dongdongdong—" Qi Ling continued receiving heavy blows, even a few punches direct to her head, causing her nose to bleed.

Yet she still held Su Mo’s arm, not letting go, despite Su Xun and Li Huishu’s attempts to pry her off, as blood dripped from her chin, staining her clothes red.

...

Edge underground laboratory.

At this moment, Qi Ling had already connected to the end-brain device, converting her consciousness into wave signals through it, projected to Su Mo via the Earth Navigation Spaceship, attempting to influence his hallucinations and help him break free.

Due to the current technical immaturity of the end-brain device, forcibly using it carries a heavy burden, which ordinary people simply cannot withstand.

But Qi Ling is different; as an artificial receptor born in the laboratory, her physique is inherently unique, and the impacts from the extra-brain experiments she underwent during her childhood at Venus Eden Garden have given her a far greater endurance than ordinary people.

Moreover, according to data, the burden of using the end-brain device is similar to the overdrive mode of the extra-brain experiments, which is within Qi Ling’s tolerable range as long as the output power is controlled, avoiding over-frequency and duration.

Considering this, Future ultimately had no choice but to agree to let Qi Ling use the end-brain device since there was no other way to awaken Su Mo.

To be safe, Future set a program safety lock in the control system to monitor real-time data feedback. If Qi Ling’s body couldn’t withstand it, she could cut off the end-brain device at any time.

As the end-brain device had already been running for a while, Future frowned at the various data on the screen, muttering, "It’s not working, even with the power raised to the safe limit, there’s still no significant improvement."