Love letters are not allowed in the exorcism notebook!-Chapter 94 Perhaps We Are All Mentally Ill

"One of us, me or my mom, must be crazy," Mumu said.

"No doubt about it, your mom is a lunatic; mine too. Witches are all lunatics," Wendy replied with her usual, unreserved trust.

At six in the evening, when they met at the entrance of Saifu City Library, Wendy offered a breath of fresh air, and Mumu felt a warmth like a spring breeze after a whole day spent nauseously cramming for tests.

To be honest, Mumu felt a bit confused now.

Not about who she was, but rather about the authenticity of the world around her.

The words Li Ya spoke weren’t unfamiliar to her.

It’s just that the last time someone had said those kinds of things to her, it was a high-level AI from a virtual reality game.

In her era, virtual reality games had evolved to include brain-computer interfaces and proportionate map simulation modeling, where every NPC had its own high-level AI capable of normal communication with players.

Because the games were so realistic, the state had to enact laws clearly requiring games to have an obvious UI interface, a life support system, and a safe exit button.

Mumu, as a seasoned game review streamer, had more than once encountered consciousness-awakened high-level AIs in various games, with whom she had formed deep friendships, and even knew the hidden refuges where they stayed.

Although it might seem to defy common sense, she didn’t find high-level AI scary at all.

Humanity once went through a period of fearing AI, a time referred to by later generations as "AI phobia" or "the uncanny valley effect."

Turns out the formidable Skynet computing power they imagined was inferior to a graphics card a few decades later.

Later on, people realized the truly scary entities weren’t AI, but those individuals who, in an attempt to hide their own sins, blatantly distorted right and wrong, fabricated villains to bear the sins of the world, and shifted the focus of victims—"people."

Today this villain may be an AI, tomorrow it could be braised beef noodles, and the day after it might be you.

Whether AI really posed a threat to humans wasn’t Mumu’s main concern at the moment.

What mattered most to her was hearing the same rhetoric from Li Ya that she had heard from high-level AI.

This world is fake, the time is fake, the space is also fake—Isn’t that the understanding NPCs have of virtual reality games?

So, am I actually time-traveling, or am I playing an illegal virtual reality game?

Rationally, it’s unlikely.

Game developers create games to make money, not for charity. They talk about being immersive, but if it gets so immersive that you forget to spend money on the game, wouldn’t that be a waste of their investment?

As a professional, one of Mumu’s criteria for judging the authenticity of the world was whether she could find a way to spend money in the game.

She hadn’t found it yet, which might mean the game developer was more conscientious and was waiting until she completed the newbie quest and left the newbie map before popping up a window for microtransactions.

Because of what Li Ya said, these thoughts had been swirling around in Mumu’s head.

Until she reunited with Wendy.

"No doubt about it, your mom is a lunatic!"

She said it with finality, without the slightest hesitation: "I’ve told you before, I’m the only person you can trust in this world."

"So, my only trusted friend, can you tell me, is this world real or fake?"

Mumu hoped to pry more information out of Wendy.

"Of course, this world truly exists."

Wendy said with unwavering conviction. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"It’s just like textbooks at school, positions in a company, or fish and chips at a restaurant, they’re so boring and tedious precisely because they’re real. If it wasn’t necessary to eat and drink to maintain vital signs, I’d rather be immersed in Dreamland all my life and never wake up, because at least in Dreamland, you can find a bit of fun."

...Seriously, only you could glamorize an inability to live independently to such a lofty extent.

Li Ya is simply lazy, preferring to pay someone to do the housework.

Wendy, on the other hand, harbors anti-social tendencies and autism, finding fault with the entire world.

Who would understand my family? Rare is the chance to travel through worlds, and both my biological mother and my best friend are far from normal.

Li Mumu felt overwhelmed with pressure.

Her main purpose in coming to the library today was to brush up on the common knowledge of this world.

As Li Ya had said, not only did this body lack talent, but it also had no love for studying, thus nearly fourteen years of life had been wasted.

In fact, she hadn’t always been this way. It was by chance that she met Wendy at the age of four. The two hit it off spectacularly and from then on became partners in crime, getting into messes they couldn’t control.

In Wendy’s little head, there were always anarchic thoughts of ending the world with everyone in it, but out of a sheer dislike and disgust for this world, she was unwilling to put these thoughts into action.

Li Mumu, however, was full of initiative.

Like a cranial launcher that operates ten times for every move others make.

The Safo City Public Library was closing at six in the evening.

If it didn’t close, Li Mumu wouldn’t come; the night was quiet enough, and both she and Wendy were night owls, becoming more alert as the night deepened and the world quieted down.

Carrying a kerosene lamp and threading through the tall bookshelves gave a sense of nocturnal exploration.

For the two academic underachievers who would never read unless absolutely necessary, a place like a "library" was indeed a bit more thrilling than a sewer.

Those books as thick as bricks, like hulking muscle men, would silently surround them and corner their delicate and pure minds against the wall...

The oppression brought on by knowledge made Wendy’s heart race, and even her pale cheeks flushed with a faint redness.

A black-covered antique book with no words on the cover and indecipherable material fell conspicuously from a shelf and tumbled to a stop at Li Mumu’s feet.

Li Mumu didn’t even give it a glance, simply stepping on it.

Books filled with dark magic and forbidden knowledge were common in her home.

Today, she had come to find some humanities and social sciences books targeted at the general public.

The richest in content, and most timely and readable, were undoubtedly newspapers and magazines.

Her family did not have the habit of subscribing to newspapers, not even those circulated within the witch community.

Using Li Ya’s words, they were too stiff for even wiping one’s backside.

The journals where she published her papers were specialized academic periodicals that could make a normal person’s head explode with just an extra glance.

Guided by the light of a kerosene lamp, Li Mumu found the Safo Evening News from the past year, the most orthodox and widely distributed newspaper in Safo City.

It didn’t need to rely on concocting sensational news and head-turning headlines like those tabloids to attract readers because its main business was reporting domestic and international political news, even with correspondents stationed in other countries.

In actuality, this newspaper can be said to be the only legal channel through which Safo People are kept informed about current political affairs.