In Xian Ling’s current hypothesis, the greatest anomaly in this timeline was that, for some reason, Flame Reaver had failed to advance to the next cycle of reincarnation.
Initially, Xian Ling guessed that perhaps Flame Reaver simply couldn’t endure any longer, whether physically or mentally reaching his limit.
But…
what she saw in the Membrane Maze changed her mind.
The five strange Mems mentioned by the village chief were suspicious to the extreme, both in their behavioral patterns and the timing of their appearance.
If Xian Ling’s guess was correct, they might very well be the culprits behind the abnormalities in Amphoreus—the “Memory Stealers” from the Garden of Recollection.
Previously, although Xian Ling had considered the possibility that Memokeepers had somehow infiltrated Amphoreus and caused a butterfly effect, she had never treated it as a high-priority lead.
The reason was simple.
According to the original story, the mysterious substance surrounding Amphoreus was actually formed from Cyrene’s memories.
That layer naturally blocked all Memokeepers from entering, meaning that, theoretically speaking, Memokeepers should have been incapable of appearing inside Amphoreus.
Yet now, the situation was clearly different from what she had expected.
“Child, we’ve arrived.”
Dolimem’s voice pulled Xian Ling back from her thoughts.
“This is where those fairies live…
Do you need me to knock on the door for you?”
Xian Ling glanced at Fourth Mirror.
Only after receiving confirmation that everything was prepared did she nod.
Knock knock.
“Children, it’s me.”
“Coming, Village Chief!
I’ll open the door right away, mi.”
It was obvious that the village chief enjoyed great prestige within the Membrane Maze.
Even for these Memory Stealers disguised as fairies, hearing that the village chief had come to visit meant they had to respond immediately, otherwise they risked acting out of character.
Creak—
As the door opened, a blue Mem poked her head out from inside.
The “fairy” had just opened her mouth to speak when she noticed Xian Ling standing behind the village chief with an extremely “kind” smile on her face.
Her expression changed instantly.
“Sorry, Village Chief, I think the fire I lit earlier hasn’t been put out yet…
mi!”
“Don’t be in such a hurry to leave, my dear little fairy…”
Xian Ling snapped her fingers.
A powerful torrent of data immediately surged out from Fourth Mirror, lifting the blue Mem into the air.
“You still haven’t explained why Amphoreus ended up like this…
Go on.
What did you do to Phainon?”
“Y-you…
what are you talking about, mi?!
I’m just a little fairy living in the Membrane Maze, mi!
“Fun fact: fairies don’t say ‘mi’ this much.
And…”
Xian Ling glanced into the room before snapping her fingers again.
“Mi mi mi mi!”
Amid a chorus of panicked cries, the other four blue Mems were also effortlessly hauled out by Fourth Mirror.
It couldn’t be helped.
Since there had been far too many Memokeepers harassing the Space Station recently, Fourth Mirror—being the mirror Herta specifically used to imprison Memokeepers—had been enhanced by Herta to the extreme when it came to anti-Memokeeper capabilities.
The number of Memes she carried was enough to make almost any Memokeeper below the level of an Emanator despair.
These Memory Stealers, who only dared to disguise themselves as fairies and hide within the Membrane Maze, were nowhere near her match.
“Now then, are you going to reveal your true forms yourselves, or should I torture you until you have no choice but to reveal them?”
Leaning against a chair by the doorway, Xian Ling crossed her white-stocking-clad legs.
At the same time, a…
banana appeared in her hand?
Of course, this wasn’t an ordinary banana, nor was it the sort of banana used in strange situations.
Although it looked harmless on the surface, to Memetic Lifeforms like Memokeepers, this banana was more terrifying than a hundred million Antimatter Legion soldiers.
After all, this was a memetic banana specifically designed to deal with Memokeepers.
If implanted into a Memokeeper’s body…
Their fate would likely be even worse than that of a Slumbernana Monkey regressed by Dr.
Primitive.
“Milady, even if you’re immune to these Memes, you shouldn’t casually touch something like that!
If Lady Ruan Mei and Lady Herta see this, they’ll kill me!”
Fourth Mirror hurriedly snatched the sealed Meme away from Xian Ling.
Then she viciously waved it before the eyes of the blue Mems dangling in the air like swinging pendulums.
“D-don’t bring that thing near me!”
As expected, under the threat of memetic contamination, the Memory Stealer closest to the banana immediately let out a piercing shriek.
“I-I want to change back too!
But the moment we leave this state, the self-inspection system here will immediately detect us and kick us out of the Scepter!”
“Huh?”
Fourth Mirror and Xian Ling exchanged glances.
The former immediately moved the memetic banana a little closer, while the latter turned toward the village chief.
“Granny Village Chief, could you prepare five isolated rooms for us?
I’d like to conduct separate interrogations of these Memokeepers.”
“If they’re telling the truth, then this world’s anomaly—and the destruction that’s about to arrive—may both stem from their actions.”
A few minutes later, after all preparations had been completed, Xian Ling and Fourth Mirror looked at the lucky blue Mem before them.
As for the other four, they had each been hung in separate locations, cosplaying weather dolls.
“You only get one chance.
If you’re telling the truth, I can consider sparing your life.
“Then congratulations.
You’ll permanently become a banana.
This Meme was extracted from Dr.
Primitive himself, and as the adopted daughter of two geniuses, you shouldn’t cling to any hope that I’ve somehow obtained a fake.”
“Now then…
answer my questions.”
Xian Ling stared directly into the fairy’s eyes.
“First.
How did you get past the memory barrier surrounding Amphoreus and enter it?”
“T-that wasn’t our responsibility!
I’m innocent!
It was done by more powerful Memory Stealers!”
The Memokeeper Mem hurriedly shook herself to demonstrate her innocence.
“I-I only accepted a mission from the Garden of Recollection.
The order was for me to enter this sealed star region…”
“Alright.
You’ve lost your chance.”
Xian Ling snapped her fingers.
Without the slightest hesitation, Fourth Mirror stuffed the banana into the Mem’s mouth.
A moment later, after witnessing the complete process of the first Memory Stealer turning into a banana, the second Memokeeper Mem was already trembling uncontrollably.
“Don’t think I know nothing.
There are no innocents among you.
Or rather, how innocent could a Memory Stealer be if they’re aware that Amphoreus hides an Unsullied One?”
“Besides, do you really think I don’t understand the affairs of your Path of Remembrance?
Do you need me to explain the reason why that Unsullied One within the Garden of Recollection targets other Unsullied Ones?”
“Now, you have one final chance.”
Xian Ling gently kicked a blue banana to the feet of the trembling Memokeeper Mem, frightening her into curling up immediately.
“Speak.
How did you pass through that memory barrier?”
“W-we captured a signal!”
The terrified Memory Stealer blurted out everything in a panic.
“It-it was the signal of that Unsullied One!
A powerful senior Memory Stealer analyzed her composition!”
“Then we discovered that although she and we are both children of Remembrance, there are major differences in our bodily composition.
To pass through that sea of memories, we had to disguise ourselves as a form that those memories would recognize and permit to pass…”
“And that form…”
“The fairies of the Membrane Maze?”
Xian Ling frowned slightly as she finished the sentence for her.