Ning Changfeng: "What are you trying to do?"
Ning Su: "I want it to spit out all its memories!"
The black, tree-like entity coiled above the dark room had countless branches.
He had only torn off two of them, causing it to briefly destabilize, and the memories began returning in accordance with their lingering obsessions.
It started with the most recent—first, Wang Zhiqiu and the others’ memories were restored, then the school’s stored memories also began to waver.
But was that all?
If it had been at Qingyi High for four or five years, was it only four or five years old?
Definitely not.
There had to be a long history, countless people’s memories still trapped inside.
Like Ling Xiao’s.
This was a memory monster the system had specifically used to suppress Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao had grown accustomed to losing his memories.
All of this pointed to one possibility—Ling Xiao’s memories might still be inside it.
Ning Su, gripping the two "branches," turned to look at Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao seemed to sense something and glanced back, his eyes more clouded than usual.
At first, Ning Su had just been overjoyed to find him.
He hadn’t fully grasped the weight of fragmented, missing memories.
It wasn’t until this dungeon, seeing the players and students lose their memories, that he realized how despairing and terrifying it must be.
Only after witnessing the players’ unease, confusion, and stark changes did he understand—without memories, a person is incomplete, like an empty shell.
He had only torn off two of this monster’s "branches," and there were still so many left. If he ripped it all apart, would Ling Xiao’s memories return, even just a little?
Ning Changfeng jumped up, cutting off their silent exchange. "Ning Su, have you lost your mind?"
This was the first time he had ever called Ning Su by his full name so sternly. His voice was sharp as he warned, "There’s nothing wrong with wanting to help these high school seniors with their exams, but if you keep going, all these stored memories will be restored!"
"These memories belong to people who don’t need to take the college entrance exam this year. But if the players lose them, they’ll die for sure!"
"Wake up!"
Ning Su: "Who said killing this monster means abandoning these memories?"
He tossed Gui Sheng down. "Gui Sheng, try stuffing them into Huaiyang Village or your little hell!"
Gui Sheng: "Mm!"
This dungeon restricted players from using skills or weapons. In the system’s eyes, both Gui Sheng and Manman counted as his skill weapons.
He had forcibly brought them out, so their abilities were also limited.
But just like players—who couldn’t summon their skill weapons—Ning Changfeng’s bloodline inheritance still worked, allowing him to transform into a snake.
While Manman couldn’t summon her skeletons, Gui Sheng was inherently half-yin, half-yang. He was born with a hellish dimension of his own.
Seeing that Gui Sheng’s Yin Eyes and Yin Ears still functioned, Ning Su guessed his hellish dimension might also be accessible.
If Gui Sheng could store these memory fruits inside his hellish dimension—or more precisely, Huaiyang Village—then it wouldn’t matter whether the monster lived or died. Either way, it wouldn’t be able to breach the boundary and affect the memories.
In the <Ghost Animal> dungeon, the energy rules of that world had tried to deceive him by bringing out the black-robed man from the dungeon, but Snowball easily stopped it.
For players, dungeons of different levels varied in difficulty, but for the ghost masters and demon masters of these worlds, there were no tiers. Their territories did not interfere with each other.
If Gui Sheng could pull this off, their current deadlock would have a solution.
Ning Changfeng froze for a second but didn’t ask questions. Instead, he caught Gui Sheng and lifted him up.
Countless small black fruits dangled from the dark, root-like ceiling.
As the black tree-like structure trembled, the tiny fruits began shrinking and vanishing one by one. The remaining fruits swayed violently, their internal gloop-gloop sounds unmistakable.
Amid the chorus of gloop noises, a few strained hng-hng grunts joined in.
Hearing these odd sounds, Ning Changfeng looked up and saw Gui Sheng forcefully shoving the black fruits into his belly—hence the hng-hng noises.
"…"
"Pfft—!"
Gui Sheng’s eyes widened. "They’re in!"
Ning Changfeng: "Good job, Gui Sheng!"
Ning Su: "As expected of Huaiyang Village’s number one cutie."
Gui Sheng happily jumped down.
Ning Changfeng placed Gui Sheng on a chair and shouted to the other amnesiac players, "Quick, help Gui Sheng pick! One per person!"
The memory fruits were disappearing rapidly, and Gui Sheng alone wouldn’t have been fast enough. But if each player plucked just one—the memory they needed—it would be much easier.
Ning Changfeng added, "Then stuff them into Gui Sheng’s belly."
Dozens of players holding memory fruits approached Gui Sheng.
Gui Sheng: "..."
His stomach ached a little.
Outside the black room, the shouts grew louder. Ning Changfeng guessed the school instructors were about to arrive.
He looked up at Ning Su and asked, "Are we really doing this? What if it doesn’t spit them out?"
He understood the situation clearly. In the standoff between Ning Su and the black tree monster, Ning Su had won—but only by tearing off two of its "branches."
From the very beginning, this dungeon had built up the terror of this memory-devouring monster. When it was formless, it was unavoidable. When the players saw the black tree vines extracting memories, they shied away in fear.
What made it even harder was that the players couldn’t use their skills or weapons.
Perhaps neither the monster nor the system had expected a player to confront it head-on—to physically tear at it with bare hands and actually rip it apart.
In this sudden, unexpected destruction, the monster momentarily lost control, and the memories returned.
But this might only be temporary.
Yet Ning Su saw a possibility.
Since things had come to this, he glimpsed another path—a decisive, no-turning-back solution.
Tear it apart. Release all the stolen, devoured memories.
Destroy it.
Then the school could no longer use it to arbitrarily punish and threaten them. No more high school seniors would lose their memories. From then on, they would regain fairness in the college entrance exams—the chance to change their fates and fulfill their dreams.
Ning Su said, "If it won’t spit them out, fine. If we both have the power to devour, then let’s see who can eat more!"
Ning Changfeng: "..."
The young man gripped a "branch" in each hand and slowly stood up.
The "branches" stretched as he rose—if they didn’t, they would snap.
Even so, the "branches" were now covered in cracks.
The dorm supervisor and instructors, hearing the students’ cries and wild laughter, rushed over.
When they saw Wang Zhiqiu desperately reciting ancient poetry, they were stunned.
Still dazed and unsure what to do, they then heard commotion from the dorms—specifically from the single rooms housing students from prestigious families.
After hearing Wang Zhiqiu’s words, the Gu Witch immediately ran to the top floor.
