Body: "You've known for a long time that the better your health improves, the harder it is for me to replace you."

Li Zhiyuan: "So this time, I gave you time to learn and imitate me."

Body: "That's another plan of yours. You realized I was studying you, and you wanted to lead me down this path. When the body becomes the same as the Heart Demon, I will disappear, and you will become the only one."

Li Zhiyuan: "But I see you are quite earnest in your imitation."

Body: "Trial and error require proactive steps. I can't do nothing. What needs trying must always be tried. If it doesn't work, stop; if it does work... then it's you who must worry."

Li Zhiyuan: "Let's change the subject. It seems clichéd for us, as the Heart Demon and the body, to sit and talk only about this."

Body: "What do you want to talk about?" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Li Zhiyuan pointed into the distance: "That pond, Grandmaster contracted it this year. Xiong Shan did the cleanup and released fish fry. I went there yesterday; you haven't adapted to it."

Body: "That's because in reality, you haven't been there; how could I adapt?"

Li Zhiyuan: "I know about it, and surely you also know about it. Can't you adapt it without having seen it?"

Body: "Makes sense."

Subsequently, the body closed its eyes. After a while, its eyes opened and said, "It's adapted. Do you want to take another look?"

Li Zhiyuan: "No, when I go back, I can see the one in reality directly."

Body was not angry; it simply nodded.

Li Zhiyuan pointed around the room: "Those books and your notes, why are they still empty?"

Body got up, walked to the room's door, and pushed it open, revealing a room full of books and notes.

These were summaries and essences that the body had deduced from Li Zhiyuan's memories of various skills and Array techniques over the past few days.

Li Zhiyuan walked in and smelled the rich aroma of ink.

He took out a book recording Array techniques, opened it, but it was blank inside.

He dropped this book and opened others; they were all blank.

Li Zhiyuan: "What's the point of making books, but covering all the content? It's just false happiness."

Body: "If you could easily read my research summaries, wouldn't I become your slave?"

Li Zhiyuan: "No need for such harsh words."

Body: "Isn't this the scenario you most desire?"

Li Zhiyuan walked to the bed and lay down.

Body followed and asked again: "You can wake up now."

Li Zhiyuan: "The fish fry in the new pond, did you release them?"

Body: "Here, except for me, there's no living thing; no self-conscious illusion has any meaning in my eyes."

Li Zhiyuan: "Let them be, raise a pond of fish, so when I throw emotional waste, it can be used as fish feed instead of disturbing you here."

"Alright."

Body left.

Li Zhiyuan sat up from the bed, walked out of the room, and onto the terrace, able to see the body walking along the path between the fields.

The boy could indeed have awakened earlier; the outside affairs were surely settled, and judging by the speed of mental recovery, Zhao Yi must have fed himself medicine without much restraint.

The reason for not leaving was that on the day Evil invaded here, there was a significant black rain.

When he and the body joined forces against that Evil, everything nearby became blurred, including the east and west houses and the dam. This building's most areas were corroded, except the body's room, which held out the longest.

Initially, Li Zhiyuan believed the same until he suddenly realized afterward that another place seemed to have held on.

Grandpa's house's basement!

What secret made the body guard it at such a critical moment?

Li Zhiyuan walked downstairs, opened the second drawer of a cabinet on the first floor, took out a key, and went to the basement door.

The iron door still had that rusty old lock.

Li Zhiyuan inserted the key, turned it, and couldn't open it.

The body's voice came from behind: "What are you doing?"

Li Zhiyuan shook the key in his hand awkwardly, "You know."

Body: "I said, the things I research can't be shown to you."

Li Zhiyuan casually tossed aside the key, saying: "You're back so soon."

Body: "I didn't need to waste much time, and before you came here, my time utilization was always high."

Li Zhiyuan smiled and nodded: "Alright, I'm leaving."

He patted the iron door, but it made no sound.

Li Zhiyuan walked outside, passed by the body, and continued straight to the terrace, closed his eyes, lifted his head, and then slowly opened his eyes to meet the sun, after which his figure disappeared.

Body walked over, picked up the key, mumbling:

"Noticed?"

He took another key from his pocket, unlocked it, and pushed open the iron door.

The dusty air spread out as if it hadn't been opened for a long time.

The body reached for a rope extending down from the wall behind the door and gave it a gentle tug:

"Click!"

The light turned on.

In the basement, there weren't those boxes from reality or towering piles of books and notes, only rows of chairs and benches.

On the benches sat Tan Wenbin, Run Sheng, Yin Meng, Lin Shuyou, and others closely connected with Li Zhiyuan.

They all sat with closed eyes, some incomplete and missing arms or legs, some with just a face yet to be further crafted.

Yet in terms of spirit, they were vivid, almost lifelike.

The body picked up the engraving knife from the ground, walked forward, and started carving.

Its craftsmanship was exquisite.

Li Zhiyuan didn't particularly bother with studying Go when playing with Alii, and similarly, with Alii's carving skills present, Li Zhiyuan didn't delve deeply into that area.

But the body was different; it truly studied, for it had a purpose.

Li Zhiyuan's presence these past days had severely delayed the body's work; this was an immense project by nature that, even when completed, required constant synchronization.

"Replacing you, imitating you, disguising as you, to inherit your network..."

The body's engraving knife flicked effortlessly, leaving phantom trails,

"Why not replace the entirety of your network?"