The Lord of the Upper Realm knelt on the ground in despair, muttering, "It's over... everything is over. We should never have entered this accursed place!"
In his eyes, Ye Ling was already on par with Mr. Bai. Now that even Ye Ling could not resist the room's erosion of memories, there was no way he could turn things around!
Ye Ling paid no mind to the Lord of the Upper Realm's wails and began pacing the room, carefully examining every inch of it.
Although Ye Ling's memories were also being worn down by the room's mysterious power, the rate of erosion was extremely slow. Coupled with Ye Ling's constant use of Creation Force to replenish his soul, even if he spent hundreds of millions of years in this room, he would only lose a second of memory at most.
"If this safe house is a trap specifically modified by Tian Ji to alter the Lord of the Upper Realm's memories, then there's a logical flaw... Tian Ji had no reason to make the Lord of the Upper Realm misremember the location of the safe house. Such a superfluous action would only make me suspicious. He wouldn't do something like that."
"Assuming this safe house is a trap set by Tian Ji, and that Tian Ji also altered the Lord of the Upper Realm's memories to point towards the safe house, then the possibility of the Lord of the Upper Realm's memory being incorrect means someone else secretly modified his memories again. However, Tian Ji possesses the power of the Primal Soul King, and rashly altering the Lord of the Upper Realm's memories could be detected by Tian Ji. Furthermore, taking such a great risk to alter such a small portion of memory is meaningless."
"Excluding the possibility of the Lord of the Upper Realm's memories being altered by a second person, it can only mean that this safe house was tampered with by a second person, and we have consequently fallen into a trap that Tian Ji did not anticipate."
Ye Ling murmured to himself, analyzing the possibilities behind the incident.
The reason he entered, knowing it was a trap, was to use this opportunity to lure Tian Ji out so he could deal with him.
However, judging by the current situation, the trap had encountered an unexpected complication. Tian Ji might not even know he had fallen into it, otherwise, the Twin Children and Seventeen outside would surely have attacked.
"If my guess is correct, there is a third party involved in this matter. They do not wish for Tian Ji to succeed, yet they still want me to enter a trap they have created..."
As Ye Ling pondered, the identity of this third party gradually surfaced in his mind.
"If it really is that guy, things might be more interesting than I imagined." After analyzing the current situation, Ye Ling thought of someone, and a slight smile curved his lips.
To verify his conjecture, he directly condensed the Source Text and spread it over the entire room, then used the Source Text to dismantle the room.
As the safe house was dismantled, Ye Ling and the Lord of the Upper Realm reappeared at the Overseers' headquarters, but not in the city that had been sealed by the combined efforts of the Twin Children and Seventeen.
The Lord of the Upper Realm, who had been plunged into despair, was suddenly stunned to see himself emerge from the memory-devouring room. For a moment, he didn't know how to describe his feelings.
"Wh-why are we suddenly here? Is this an illusion?"
Seeing the familiar surroundings, the Lord of the Upper Realm was utterly bewildered, unable to believe his eyes.
"What? You know where this is?"
Ye Ling, noticing the Lord of the Upper Realm's strange expression, inquired.
"I-I know..." The Lord of the Upper Realm nodded, pointing towards a mansion with a tightly shut gate ahead. "That is Mr. Bai's mansion."
"Mr. Bai's mansion? We've come all the way here?" Hearing the Lord of the Upper Realm's words, a hint of surprise flashed in Ye Ling's eyes. "What does that guy want me to do here?"
The Lord of the Upper Realm still couldn't grasp the situation. He looked at Ye Ling with a worried expression and said, "My lord, we were clearly still in that safe house. Now that we've suddenly arrived here, could it be an illusion created by the trap? After all, it's not impossible for that safe house to devour our memories and create a realistic environment for us."
"No need to worry. We're out now. I can guarantee that."
Ye Ling offered no further explanation for the Lord of the Upper Realm's concerns, simply stating this before walking directly towards Mr. Bai's mansion.
Since the safe house pointed here, it meant there was something he needed to see within Mr. Bai's mansion.
After Mr. Bai was captured, his mansion had been sealed. There were even special seals placed by the Overseers at the main entrance.
The entire mansion was enveloped by an extremely powerful barrier.
"My lord, Mr. Bai's mansion was sealed by 'Brain' himself. If anyone touches the seal, 'Brain' will sense it!"
The Lord of the Upper Realm, having recovered his senses, rushed back to Ye Ling's side and quickly warned him.
"'Brain' is no longer in the Primal Chaos. There's no need to worry about that."
Ye Ling, unconcerned, directly used Myriad World Insight to open a passage in the barrier and stepped through.
The Lord of the Upper Realm was quite startled by Ye Ling's reckless action.
However, the Lord of the Upper Realm also knew that with his own memories being unreliable, his safest bet was to follow Ye Ling. Therefore, no matter where Ye Ling went or what he did, he had to follow, if he wanted to survive.
The two passed through the barrier and entered the mansion's courtyard.
Seeing the empty courtyard, the Lord of the Upper Realm couldn't help but sigh, "Before Mr. Bai was captured, this place was very lively. Talented individuals from all the major universes gathered here, becoming Mr. Bai's retainers and working for him."
"It's a pity that after Mr. Bai was captured, these people either died or fled... In the vast Overseers' headquarters, there was no place for them."
After hearing the Lord of the Upper Realm's lament, Ye Ling asked, "Do all the Seven Pillars have the habit of taking in retainers?"
"No... Only Mr. Bai took in retainers. The other Seven Pillars directly commanded the Overseers."
The Lord of the Upper Realm shook his head. "Mr. Bai is the only one among the Seven Pillars who is a native being of the Primal Chaos. His habits are different from the other Seven Pillars."
"Mr. Bai's retainers were also elites from various universes. They helped the Overseers accomplish many great deeds, so 'Brain' always turned a blind eye to Mr. Bai's practice of taking in retainers."
"I see..."
Ye Ling nodded thoughtfully, glanced around the mansion, and then asked the Lord of the Upper Realm, "Where is Mr. Bai's residence?"
"There is a separate courtyard to the north of the mansion. That is Mr. Bai's residence, but none of the retainers ever entered it. I don't know what the situation is like inside."
"Let's go take a look."
Ye Ling immediately took the Lord of the Upper Realm and teleported to the courtyard on the north side of the mansion.
In the center of the courtyard stood a peach tree in full bloom. Beneath the peach tree was a clear spring, and beside the spring was a stone table with a chessboard, scattered with a few chess pieces.
Upon entering the courtyard, Ye Ling's attention was drawn to the chessboard.
"Mr. Bai also enjoys playing chess?"