I created the Bureau of Anomaly Control

After she said this, Mann immediately replied:

"There's a person sitting right next to you with a piece of white paper on their face. Besides the fact that there's a smiling face on that paper, I can't discern or recognize any other human features. I can only see that they're there."

Cao Yan's expression turned serious:

"There's no smiling face person in my dream. Are you sure this isn't some kind of hallucination?"

Mann replied:

"No, I know very well that he's real, and I know that there's someone with the same ability in the Viktor Sanatorium."

Cao Yan also sensed that he wasn't talking nonsense and that his mind seemed to be fine:

"But I haven't seen or heard of this person, and I can't see the guy you're claiming is here right now. This means I probably can't offer you any help with this matter, but it makes me even more confused…"

"Why am I here in the first place?"

She wasn't really interested in Mann's question. When she still had the ability, countless pitiful people trapped by various curses or misfortunes entered her dreams seeking answers, and she tried her best to answer their questions and provide help whenever possible.

But after she completely lost her power, and only a clear consciousness remained in her dreams, the people who had heard the legends, spent enormous resources to complete rituals, and came to her dreams with their last hope could only receive silence and despair.

She had witnessed countless happinesses and tragedies. Even when her power was strong, dreamers might not get satisfactory answers. If it were before, she wouldn't have been in the mood to pay attention to Mann's doubts. She answered questions simply because she was bored, but the current situation was also very special for her.

Mann didn't seem to have entered here through a ritual. Doing so wasn't worth it in this era, and he had even had interactions and contact with her in reality before, as if something else had guided him here.

The question was, what exactly caused him to be able to see her?

Was it Shenxiao? She could indeed set up a dream entry ritual in advance and guide him into it, even though Mann claimed that the machine was definitely not a magic ritual, but he might not understand Gula's rituals, but this was also unreasonable.

His appearance here served no purpose. She no longer had any magic power, had lost the knowledge to influence the world, and didn't have the wisdom to solve problems. Even if Mann explained the difficulties he faced, she couldn't give any useful advice.

It was more like he accidentally wandered into her dream, which was more in line with the current situation. It was just a coincidence, without any deeper reason, otherwise she would definitely be able to do something about his confusion.

Mann then asked:

"You said this is your dream, but you can't even see his existence, and the other people who appeared here are all people I've met. Would people normally bring these things into your dream?"

Cao Yan blinked:

"Although my memory of this spell is a bit blurry, what you said reminded me that this scene doesn't seem to be pieced together solely from the materials in my memory. It's more like the common ground in your and my memories."

"Normally, my dream would be more bizarre. The materials that make it up would be various scenes from my long life, but what appears before me this time is this activity room. The only reason we would be here is because this is our shared memory."

"It's an amazing thing. I've never encountered this before. You know, although I haven't always provided help through dreams, it's still been a very long time for you. This is clearly not a simple coincidence, otherwise I would have encountered it long ago."

"In other words, our meeting has a reason, but neither you nor I can know what that reason is right now. It doesn't seem like I can have any impact on the problem you're facing. Could it be…"

"Can you provide me with any help?"

Mann asked curiously:

"Do you want to be free from this curse?"

Cao Yan was a little surprised by his question. He spoke as if he had a way to deal with the curse that trapped her.

"Do you really know how strong this thing is?" she asked doubtfully. "Shenxiao might already be the strongest human you know, but even if she said that, I wouldn't think it's really possible for her to do it."

"In fact, Shenxiao can theoretically break this curse. The characteristics of her power determine that she has this potential. Prophecy can guide her to find the answer, but she still can't destroy this magic. Do you know why?"

"Because she's too weak."

Mann raised his eyebrows slightly. He had never heard anyone evaluate Shenxiao like this.

Cao Yan said:

"Yes, I'm not looking down on her. Shenxiao is strong and very talented. I don't know if she can be considered one of the strongest humans of this era right now, but I can guarantee that as long as she doesn't die, she's destined to reach that position. She will become a legend and history of your era."

"But compared to the past me, she's still too weak. The me who cast this spell was the ruler of the Gula Empire, the second strongest magician among the humans alive at that time. If you don't deeply grasp its complex principles, it's impossible to destroy it."

"Shenxiao can see the method to forcefully crack it, but her soul and brain can't accommodate so much information."

"This spell has been with me for a long time, and it can be with me for a hundred times longer."

"And in fact, I don't want to die like this. I did say that I had considered ending my life, but those were all moments when my emotions were particularly extreme and low. When I calm down, I won't be thinking about ending my life."

"The liberation I want is not to stop reincarnating, but to regain my power, knowledge, and memories. This is also theoretically feasible, but this matter is probably not something any creature of your era can challenge, not even Shenxiao."

"I cast this spell on myself. When you heard this, you should have realized how greedy and arrogant I am at heart. I rejected death when I had the most wisdom and power, and made a decision for the future me."

"I will choose to believe in that wisest version of myself."

Mann replied:

"If that's the case, then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to help you."

This also made the two of them fall into contemplation at the same time. If that was the case, why were they here? Although the effect of this meeting might not have been directly caused by Shenxiao, it was also likely the result of her deliberate guidance.

This didn't answer the question of why they "could" meet, but it might answer the question of why they wanted to meet.

Mann's initial thought was that Shenxiao wanted to use Cao Yan to help him regain his memory, but according to her, the reincarnation of this Gula king now seemed to have almost completely lost her abnormal power, and couldn't even see the existence of the smiling face person, and she also felt that she couldn't provide him with any help.

Cao Yan's thoughts were slightly different from his. She also suspected that this was guided by Shenxiao, and she felt that Shenxiao's purpose in doing so was likely not for the present moment, but to bury some foreshadowing and change the world in the distant future through this meeting.

Time was Shenxiao's best ally. Any small change in the present could cause amazing effects through the passage of time. The prophets of the Gula Empire also taught her this principle well. They often looked to the future.

However, neglecting the present was also the mistake they were most likely to make. The "present" was far closer to them than the "past" and "future", and it was the only thing that could truly hurt them, but they were the least concerned about the most dangerous "present".

She suspected that Shenxiao's predicament might also be due to this. The far-sightedness of the prophets doomed them to make mistakes that normal people wouldn't make.

But in fact, for the prophets, that might not be a mistake. When she felt sorry for those prophets, it was because of their current tragedy, but she couldn't see the achievements that had not yet been realized like them.

It was precisely for this reason that her final attitude towards these prophets was not to think about and ponder, not to associate with the things in their eyes, and only to deal with them when the impact they caused truly emerged.

And now she didn't have the last trouble. Now she couldn't do anything at all, she could only accept happiness or tragedy. If in the end she and Mann couldn't determine anything, then she would just pretend that she had never met him and continue living.

Anyway, she couldn't die.

At this time, Mann chose to look at Xu Wen and asked:

"Can you introduce him to me?"

Despite everything they said, this smiling face person still didn't react in any way. Like Cao Yan, he had never looked at Mann. After he came in, he remained still, as if he wasn't a living thing at all.

Xu Wen heard this and continued:

"His name is…,……………………………………………………,…………,……………………………………."

Mann looked at Cao Yan.

Cao Yan also "heard" Xu Wen's answer. When the character in this dream was about to say the name of that thing, the words and phrases he uttered became blurred, difficult to understand and receive, and she could also clearly realize that he did speak.

Sensing this, Cao Yan said:

"I think your and my meeting is definitely not a coincidence or an accident, but it seems that we can't answer this question right now. The advice I can give you is to be patient and remember what we said during this meeting…"

"I believe that when the time is right, this meeting will reveal its true meaning."

"This is also what the prophets like to do. When they want to show you the future, they often don't intend for you to understand it immediately. Only when the time is destined can you understand what they said."

"This is also my remaining valuable experience."

Speaking of this, Cao Yan thought for a while, and then said:

"Although I can't really help you with anything, I can still provide you with some interesting info…"

Just as she said this, the smiling face person who had been still finally moved.

He suddenly stretched out his right hand and pushed towards Cao Yan next to him. Mann immediately tried to stop his action with telekinesis, but only moved other objects around him that shouldn't have been affected, as if telekinesis itself ignored the smiling face person.

His hand touched Cao Yan's body.

The magic king of Gula disappeared.

The smiling face person turned to look at Mann, and then something completely unexpected happened.

The smile on the paper moved:

"You are really tenacious, and you even used the Undead and… to get here."

Mann stared at the mouth drawn with a black pen and said with a heavy heart:

"Unforgettable?"

The smiling face person replied:

"Wrong answer,………………………………,………………………………."

After saying this blank sentence, he smiled at Mann again:

"Look, I said what you wanted to know, but you can't hear it at all. I can understand why you did this, I… so stop trying to do such stupid things, you are destined to get nothing."

"Do you really think you can recall the past? If you really cared about your past, you shouldn't have… in the first place. For you… is a better choice, I really…."

Mann raised his eyebrows and said:

"I can't completely hear your words, but it seems that you are not my enemy."

The smiling face person replied:

"That depends on what you want to do. If you want to retrieve your memories, then I am your enemy, I am… but if you accept the advice I have given you again and again and turn around and leave here, I am still…."

Mann asked in confusion:

"So are you the manifestation of the power of the Unforgettable? Are you my imagination of memory being erased?"

"Are you a living thing?"

The black smiling face on the paper trembled, and at the same time, a giggling laugh came out:

"What am I? Don't ask this question, it will only make you look very stupid."

"You challenged a strong enemy, so you should pay the price. You have already got what you want, so naturally you have to pay the corresponding things. I think all your memories from your previous life are a quite reasonable price, and there is no room for negotiation."

Mann said:

"I am already here, and I firmly believe that I can come back again. Since you are in my memory, you should know what kind of power I have. Although I don't know what you are or what you want to do…"

"But I am basically sure that you can't hurt me by yourself."

"No matter what you are, you can't stop me."

The smiling face on the paper was silent for a few seconds, looking like it was about to get angry, but immediately turned back into a smiling face:

"You are right, I can't do anything to you, but as long as I am here, you can't move forward."

"You really exceeded my expectations, and you actually went deep here, but I can still expel you, and even erase the traces of you coming here, just as we have been doing."

It just takes a little "negligible" price.

When Mann said this, he directly attacked again with telekinesis, but like his previous obstruction of its expulsion of Cao Yan, telekinesis could not perceive its existence at all, and directly passed through it and acted on the things behind it.

The smiling face person looked at him and said:

"You made a mistake, so now you have to pay the price,…"

"Mann, you shouldn't…"

Darkness descended immediately.

Emptiness, like snow, completely engulfed him.

With the sound of mechanical gears whirring, the mind enhancement device forcefully ejected Mann, who, still not fully conscious, staggered and almost fell to the ground, but instinctively used his telekinesis to steady himself.

The same powerful telekinesis as before.

[Mental Strength Ⅳ-5]