(Considering feedback that some readers didn’t understand, this Chapter contains more explanations.)
A person always feels happiest when approaching happiness. However, after truly achieving a result, they gradually become anxious about gains and losses.
Hence, the essence of happiness is the sense of acquisition.
A person lacking money feels happy when they obtain money; a person lacking wisdom feels happy when they gain wisdom.
And the more knowledge and wisdom one possesses, the more they realize their own shallowness.
This is Wen Xishu’s way of breaking through.
Next, he will begin to unify with Yoshida Koki, breaking through the first human hole.
At this moment, Wen Xishu looked at the already vanished "doubt" and began to "mutter to himself."
"You should have realized that you actually live in a fake world," said Wen Xishu.
Yoshida Koki nodded:
"You are me?"
In Lisa’s eyes, their conversation looked like one person talking to himself, as if suffering from schizophrenia.
"I am me, and you are you. You are dead, but I am still alive. I am playing you, and you are overshadowing me," Wen Xishu’s words were somewhat obscure.
But Yoshida Koki soon understood.
Wen Xishu continued:
"You should have discovered that your life comes with a concept of inevitable happiness..."
Yoshida Koki nodded:
"Yes, my life has been too smooth, without any misfortune. This world seems only to allow me to feel misfortune for others."
"But I have never experienced the subjective feelings of misfortune."
Wen Xishu said:
"Because this world does not allow you to be unfortunate. Misfortune is quantified; once you have feelings of misfortune, a corporeal form of those emotions would be born around you."
"If a person does not doubt anything, they often become happy due to rare ignorance. Thus, doubt is one of the sources of misfortune."
"That is why that woman appeared by your side; she is the embodiment of doubt."
Yoshida Koki asked:
"I started to doubt my surroundings, leading to her birth... But why does she look like that?"
"Because of me. I said, you are already dead, or rather, Yoshida Koki is dead. So the appearance of doubt is determined by me, Wen Xishu," said Wen Xishu.
Yoshida Koki was not surprised to hear about his own death; he just chuckled:
"So, in your perception, or rather in my perception, beautiful women are all suspect?"
"Yes, beautiful women are all suspect. This suspicion is my innate wariness towards certain beautiful things. People like me, once happy, feel something is wrong. Once a beautiful woman approaches, I wonder what she wants from me. Probably because I have been so unfortunate before that I always feel undeserving," Wen Xishu candidly said.
"So you like this type of woman," Yoshida Koki chuckled again.
"If the world were peaceful, if I were absolutely safe... if I weren’t so doubtful, I might marry a woman who looks like ’doubt.’
Wen Xishu was also candid. After all, he had always been facing himself.
Yoshida Koki said:
"Well then, since you dared to appear, why not solve the puzzle for me."
Yoshida Koki, after speaking, nodded to himself. Then he turned around:
"Lisa, leave my room."
Lisa’s expression was strange; she didn’t immediately act, but then Yoshida Koki said:
"I need you to leave my room. This is my desire at the moment."
Lisa nodded and finally left the room.
After closing the door, Koki began to formally solve the puzzle.
Or rather, Wen Xishu began to formally solve the puzzle:
"Koki, you are in a human hole. And I am an... explorer of the human hole."
"Human holes are very dangerous, with almost no chance of survival. No... more exaggerated than these words, almost impossible to survive. It can be said that exploring human holes is one of the most dangerous tasks I have encountered so far. To be precise, I survived this time by sheer luck."
"Let me first tell you about the characteristics of human holes. First, once in the human hole, you lose yourself, or to put it another way – forget yourself when the sense of incongruity is not strong enough."
"As soon as I entered the human hole, I became you, starting to forcibly experience your happy life."
"At that time, I couldn’t realize that I was me."
"My memory was temporarily missing, replaced by your memory. I desired what you desired, having the same cognitions as you. I almost became you."
"If nothing unexpected happens, I would feel the happiness you would desire and finally say that sentence at the critical points of my life: ’I am so happy.’
Yoshida Koki was now somewhat afraid of the words "I am so happy."
He didn’t interrupt Wen Xishu’s speech.
Wen Xishu said:
"You should have noticed that at each critical point, for instance, childhood, youth, middle age... as long as you say those words, a count appears on your palm lines."
"I suspect that if the count reaches three... I will die."
"In other words, your life is divided into several critical points. As long as you feel very happy at three of these points and say it... I, who invaded the human hole, will die directly."
Yoshida Koki said:
"So that’s how it is. So this is actually a way to kill you."
Wen Xishu laughed:
"This is just one of the ways."
"My biggest characteristic is doubt. I became you, yet retained my doubt."